WEST PLAINS, Mo.– Two members of the Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) organization at Missouri State University-West Plains won awards at the recent PBL State Leadership Conference at Osage Beach, Mo.

Melissa Hinton, West Plains, placed second in the international business written exam competition, and Joshua Dye, Bakersfield, placed fourth in the client services performance competition.  Megan Combs, also of West Plains, attended the event and participated in the competitions.

With her second place finish, Hinton qualified to compete in the same event at the PBL National Leadership Conference, set for June 24-27 in San Antonio, Texas.  While at the national conference, Hinton will attend various workshops, participate in a volunteer service event and network with peers from colleges and universities across the United States, said local PBL chapter sponsor Barbara Nyden, assistant professor of accounting at Missouri State-West Plains.

Phi Beta Lambda is an educational association of postsecondary students who are preparing for careers in business.

Funding for the trip to the state leadership conference was provided by the Philanthropic Women for Education organization.  Founded in 2003, Philanthropic Women for Education is a group of area women who share a passion for education and have shown their support for education through donations to the university.  They meet three times a year and vote annually to determine what university programs to support.  Their choices have included a five-year commitment to fund the Honors Professorship while a search is made for an endowment, funding tutors at the Student Advisement and Academic Support (SAAS) Center, equipment purchases, and travel to conferences for various student groups.

For more information about PBL, contact Nyden at BNyden@MissouriState.edu.  For more
information about the Philanthropic Women for Education, call the Missouri State-West Plains development office at 417-255-7240 or visit the website, http://wp.missouristate.edu/development/PWE.htm.