Cottey College faculty profile

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Steve Reed

Name: Steve Reed

School: Cottey College

Position: Director of Public Information

What inspired you to become an educator?

I actually began as a secondary English and journalism teacher in the early 1980s. This was before the days of minimum salaries, however, and after five years, I decided to pick a related field that paid better. I was a freelancer for the Springfield News-Leader newspaper for a couple of years, writing and designing special advertising supplements, before I moved to Nevada to work in the marketing department of Farm & Home Savings. After three years there, the position at Cottey was open, so I moved a mile down the street to become the director of public information. I have been fortunate at Cottey in that I have also been the instructor for the Cottey yearbook class as well.

What is most challenging in your role and why?

The speed of news and the proliferation of media outlets have added to the pressure for immediacy on several levels. When I began at Cottey over 23 years ago, sending a paper press release (along with a fax) was standard operating procedure. Now in addition to that, we send electronic versions of the releases, post them to the Cottey website, create Tweets, and Facebook posts, submit digital photos with several of those options, and try to coordinate it all in a timely fashion. Even with all the changes and time pressures, it's still a great job, and I love it!

What teaching moment is most memorable?

I love my Wednesday night yearbook class. Getting to interact with students and show them how to use the tools I use every day is a pleasure. Some of the students come in with highly advanced skills, but it's always fun to see a student, who may have never worked on her high school newspaper or yearbook, create a page in the yearbook for the first time. Over the two years most of them are in the class, they really get proficient at taking good photos, creating solid layouts and nice pages.

Experience and where

Farm & Home Savings -- 3 years.

Springfield News Leader -- 2 years.

Crane and Seymour public schools -- 5 years.

Education

I have a BA in English and Religion from Drury College (now University).

I also have a lifetime teaching certificate in secondary education in the state of Missouri.

Hometown

Springfield, Mo.

Family members

Mom- Beth Reed, retired.

Son-Kevin Reed, 31, career military.

Son-Mark Reed, 26, fourth-year medical student.

Grandson-Alex Reed, 6, exceptionally cute elementary school student.

Civic involvement

I was the Scoutmaster for Troop 42 in Nevada for almost 15 years and also served six years as the Mo-Kan District Chairman of the BSA.

I am a member of the Nevada Rotary Club, and a past president of the club.

Several years ago I served on the city's board of zoning variance.

I have been an active member of the CCPA, performing in several plays over the last 20 years.

Interest/hobbies

I was a long-time runner until a hip injury and surgery sidelined me. Today I am an active bicyclist. I love the outdoors and go backpacking and climbing mountains over 14,000' every summer in Colorado with friends who live there. Performing on stage has always been a fun outlet for me. I also like to read and take photos.

Notable achievements, awards, and recognition

I was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship from the Nevada Rotary Club.

I was presented the Silver Beaver Award from the Ozark Trails Council BSA. This is the highest award a council can present a volunteer.

I've earned a few awards for writing, marketing and design from my professional organization, CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education). Most recently, this January we were recognized with a gold award for Magazine Publishing Improvement for Cottey's magazine, Viewpoint.

For fun, I like to tell people that I am a male model, an international correspondent, and was elected to a county office. Those statements are all true. Male Model: Cottey professors Bruce Holman and Michel Denison did a photo exhibit a few years ago chronicling some of the historic outfits in Cottey's costume shop. They used current students as the models, but needed a male for one of the shots. When the photos were exhibited, I was the only male featured in the gallery. International Correspondent: On the years I have traveled with Cottey on the spring break trips to Europe, I have written several articles from abroad and they have been published in the Daily Mail. Elected to Office: In 2008, my oldest son Kevin created a Facebook campaign to have me written in as the candidate for county surveyor. It was so successful, I was elected to the office. Not being qualified for the position, I resigned, but I still have the certificate of election framed in my house.