After years of discussion and prompting from the Student Senate, the roads on Missouri Southern’s campus will be named.

Signs have been ordered and should arrive within next week.

“I think it will be great for the College,” said Doug Carnahan, dean of students. “We really needed it, it is something we should have done a long time ago because it is difficult to explain to people how to get around on campus.”

Safety is the main reason the College is posting street signs.

Street signs would help the Post Office, emergency response vehicles as well as delivery vehicles.

Senate unanimously voted to allocate $1,000 toward the cost of the signs. The physical plant will absorb the remainder of the $1,500 cost of the signs. The physical plant will be installing the signs when they arrive.

“We have all the locations for the signs staked out and my mechanical people have checked to make sure they don’t cut utility lines or something of that nature,” said Bob Harrington, physical plant manager.

The signs were supposed to have been here this week, but Missouri Vocational Enterprises ran out of the reflective material needed to produce them.

“I think this (naming the streets) will increase school spirit and pride in Southern,” said Zack Odem, Senate president. “It’s a beautification project with practical benefits. This shows a lot of trust and respect from them (the administration) toward us.”

The signs have a reflective dark green background with yellow lettering and a yellow lion head.

“The Student Senate president came to see me and asked if they could spearhead the project,” said Dr. Terri Agee, vice president for business affairs. “I think we are big enough now that we warrant signs.”

The Senate gave a list of prospective names to León. With his approval, the list was forwarded to the city for approval. One prospective name, Scenic Drive, was rejected because Joplin already has a Scenic Drive, and this would cause confusion with the 911 system.

León then named the road Julie Hughes Drive in memory of a former Southern faculty member. Hughes retired from teaching at Southern in 1985.

“I have always had a great fondness for Julie Hughes because she was an outstanding faculty member,” León said.

“She was, in a sense, the original study abroad person. She traveled a lot and always encouraged student travel, and she lead some student groups abroad.”

“We were officemates since 1964 until she retired in 1985,” said Annetta St. Clair, associate professor of political science. “We stayed very close until her death. I was with her through her illness and spoke at her funeral [in May 2002].”