By Kevin McClintock
Globe Staff Writer
PITTSBURG, Kan. —
The red and yellow colors of Pittsburg State University will soon be appearing on specialty license plates in Missouri.
PSU is the first Kansas-based university to be featured on an official Missouri plate.
The blue-sky color of the standard Missouri plate will be swapped for a red-and-yellow Gorilla logo. The license plate also will feature, in red, the words “Pittsburg State University.”
“This has been a long time coming, and we are very excited,” said Johnna Schremmer, director of alumni and constituent relations for PSU.
There are nearly 10,000 PSU alumni living in Missouri, so the proposal to introduce a specialized PSU plate there simply made sense, Schremmer said. Roughly 3,500 of those graduates live in the Joplin area, she said.
“When we started the initial process, we put out a call to see if there was interest,” she said. “We needed at least 200 (applications). More than 500 people responded.”
Rob Herron, a Missouri resident, was president of the PSU Alumni Association when the drive to collect the 200 applications began.
“I was one of the first to sign up,” Herron said. “I know there are many loyal PSU alumni in the Show-Me State who are as eager as I am to get our PSU plates and show our Gorilla pride wherever we drive.”
In 2010, the university sent its specialty plate request to the Missouri Legislature. State Rep. Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, sponsored the bill, and PSU’s request was approved in 2011
The PSU plates have proved to be popular in Kansas since their introduction in 1999, Schremmer said. She said 1,700 PSU plates have been issued in Kansas.
The first PSU plates in Missouri are expected to be on the road within the next two or three months, she said.
Schremmer said Missouri residents who want to purchase a PSU license plate will need complete registration information from the Missouri Department of Revenue along with $30 to be mailed to PSU at 1701 S. Broadway, Pittsburg, KS 66762.
The school then will send the applicant an Emblem Use Authorization Statement in the mail. The state of Missouri will need this statement from PSU, a completed Application for Missouri Personalized and Special License Plates Form 1716, and $15.
Missouri Department of Revenue forms may be picked up at any state licensing office or may be downloaded in PDF form by going online to http://dor.mo.gov.
Want a plate?
For information about the new Pittsburg State University license plates being issued by the state of Missouri, people may call PSU Alumni Relations at 620-235-4758 or email alumni@pittstate.edu.
