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Each year the Mizzou Legislative Network of the Mizzou Alumni Association awards the Henry S. Geyer Award, named for Representative Geyer of St. Louis, the author of the Geyer Act of 1839, which established the University.

The award recognizes the work of public officials and citizens who have made a positive impact on higher education and Mizzou. Nominees do not have to be alumni of MU.

2013 Geyer Award Nomination Form 

2012 Geyer Award Recipients

Senator David Pearce

Sen. David Pearce, who received his Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural journalism from the University of Missouri, represents District 21, the Warrensburg area, in the Missouri Senate.  He was elected to the Senate in November 2008 after completing three, two-year terms in the Missouri House of Representatives.

Pearce serves as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, chairman of the Educated Citizenry 2020 Committee, and chairman of the Joint Committee on Education. He plays a key role in developing funding formulas for higher education.  Pearce was appointed to serve on the Missouri Veterans Commission in August 2009. He was also reappointed to the Midwestern Higher Education Compact in September 2010, and was honored to serve again as an Executive Committee member.

In addition, Pearce serves as a member of the Senate Committees on Appropriations and Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government. He also serves as vice-chairman of the Senate Veteran’s Affairs, Pensions and Urban Affairs Committee.

Sen. Pearce has been a strong advocate for the state’s public universities, including Mizzou.  In 2012, he sponsored legislation to improve remedial education and credit transfers for public institutions.  He also sponsored the MU Extension districting proposal and helped guide it through the Senate Agriculture Committee. He supported inclusion of the University’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math initiative in omnibus budget legislation which passed in 2012, having sponsored the initiative in 2010 and 2011.

Sen. Pearce’s efforts have advanced the institutional governance priorities of the University of Missouri curators.  In 2011, he sponsored legislation which clarified that more than one curator may be appointed in the same congressional district.  He sponsored the university’s proposal to equalize Access Missouri awards in order to ensure that public and private institutions receive equal awards. The same legislation also increased the award levels for Bright Flight scholarship recipients.

Sen. Pearce resides in rural Warrensburg with his wife, Teresa, and their children, Molly and Andrew.

Steven Dickherber, Ben Levin and Zach Toombs

Missouri Student Association leaders Steven Dickherber, Ben Levin and Zach Toombs created and led the 2012 “More for Less” campaign, which opposed the Governor’s proposed 12.5% funding cuts for higher education and raised awareness among Mizzou students of the consequences such a cut in funding would have for the university’s instruction, research, outreach, and economic development. In February, 2012, the students personally delivered more than 6000 student-written letters to members of Missouri’s government, including every member of the legislative branch.

Dickherber, Levin and Toombs hosted a Legislative Panel on campus in April, in which students made their views known directly to Senator Kurt Schaefer, House Appropriations Committee Chair Chris Kelly, and Representative Steven Webber. Later that month, as budget negotiations continued, they organized a student trip to the Capitol to visit with elected officials.  Four busloads of Mizzou students traveled to Jefferson City and met face-to-face with their own state legislators.  The campaign effort was deemed an overwhelming success on May 10, when the General Assembly sent a revised budget to Governor Jay Nixon’s desk proposing level funding for higher education in the state.