For the second straight year, Lindenwood University hosted the regional kick-off event for the FIRST Robotics competition season. More than 1,000 students, parents, and teachers representing 44 area teams gathered on Saturday morning, Jan. 5, at the J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts for a livestream of the video announcing this year’s challenge, which has a space exploration theme. Students also received a kit of parts, with which they will build industrial grade 170-pound robots to complete the assigned challenge. Students also had the opportunity to interact with the challenge in virtual reality in the Scheidegger Center’s Emerson Black Box Theater.

Lindenwood graduate and football standout Pierre Desir, now with the Indianapolis Colts, was the subject of a Jan. 3 feature story in the Indianapolis Star in advance of the team’s upcoming playoff game against the Houston Texans on Saturday.

OnlineMasters.com has named the Lindenwood University online Master of Fine Arts in writing degree the number-2 online creative writing program in the United States while naming it “Most Innovative” of the ranked programs.

Lindenwood University students competed for a good cause on Dec. 5 and 6 in the Pepsico/Salvation Army Bell Ring Challenge.

Lindenwood University will close for the winter break from 3 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2018, through Jan. 1, 2019.

Brandi Rackers, who earned a master’s in studio art from Lindenwood University in 2015, was recently spotlighted as the Jefferson City News Tribune’s “featured artist” for her work in ceramics, painting, and art education.

LindenWell, the Lindenwood University employee program that promotes wellness and opportunities for healthy living, coordinated a food drive with St. Louis Area Foodbank, collecting nearly 1,300 pounds of food.

Lindenwood alumnus Joshua Scott will receive an awards citation from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) at the 49th annual National Athletic Directors Conference on Dec. 17, 2018.

Lindenwood University’s Robert Steffes, from the School of Education, was recognized as top professor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Best of St. Charles reader poll, the results of which were published on Dec. 13, 2018. Julie Turner, professor of nonprofit administration in the Plaster School of Business and Entrepreneurship, was runner up.

For the second year in a row, Lindenwood University is serving as a sponsor of FIRST Robotics, hosting a regional event to kick off the 2019 season 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 5.