The Christian County community of Ozark will end its public masking mandate on Thursday at 11:59 p.m., eight days earlier than previously determined, the city announced late Monday night.
As in Branson, its Taney County neighbor to the south, Ozark municipal government had already planned to end required masking in the near future, but voters weary of public-health measures stemming from a pandemic that began in late 2019 sped up the process.
Ozark initially adopted a mask mandate Oct. 21 during the deadly fall phase of the pandemic, as the News-Leader reported last year. Then-Mayor Rick Gardner issued the mandate using emergency powers granted to him by a vote of the Ozark Board of Aldermen in March 2020, as COVID-19 began affecting Missouri.
University Announces Tuition Freeze for 2021-22
February 18, 2021
Posted in About
University of the Ozarks’ Board of Trustees has voted to freeze tuition for the upcoming academic year, the seventh time in the last nine years that Ozarks has not raised tuition from the previous year. Since 2013, tuition at Ozarks has risen just 5 percent, compared to a nearly 30 percent national average increase in tuition at four-year colleges over the past decade.
The Board voted on Feb. 5 to hold the annual cost of tuition for the 2021-22 academic year amid the uncertainty brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We know that many families continue to struggle in our current economic conditions and the University and the Board felt it was imperative to freeze tuition during these difficult times,” said U of O President Richard Dunsworth. “Our students and their families have had to face many challenges in recent months and a tuition increase for next year shouldn’t have to be one of th
Board Chair to Present Black History Month Talk Feb. 18
February 4, 2021
Posted in About
Dr. Sherilyn W. Poole, who in January became the first African American to chair the University of the Ozarks’ Board of Trustees, will present a virtual talk at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, as part of the University’s Black History Month celebration.
The event will be presented live on the Zoom platform and is open to the public. The link to the presentation is: https://ozarks-edu.zoom.us/j/93131547400?pwd=VkpvR21hVXpWTUVIa29PU1VaV1h2UT09
Poole, of Park Forest, Ill., is a retired higher education administrator who most recently served as associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students for Governors State University in University Park, Ill.. She first joined the U of O Board in 2016 and was elected to lead the board last October. Her two-year term as chairperson began on Jan. 1, 2021.