Goses are Northwest Family of the Year, celebrating generations of Bearcats

Warren Gose surely would have been proud to see his family recognized Saturday on the turf of Bearcat Stadium as Northwest Missouri State University’s 2024 Family of the Year.

Warren, who died in 2014, served as the vice president of finance at Northwest from 1980 until retiring in 1996.

“He’d just be very pleased. He really lived for the University,” said Peter Gose, Warren’s son and a 1987 Northwest alumnus, with emotion showing in his eyes after the halftime recognition at Saturday’s Bearcat football game. “It’s difficult to describe. We’re so glad to be back.”

The Gose family of Parkville, Missouri, received the recognition bestowed each fall during the University’s Family Weekend festivities on a family who represents Northwest and demonstrates a strong commitment to the institution.

Sponsored by Student Senate, Campus Dining and the Northwest Alumni Association, the Family of the Year designation includes, among other prizes, a $750 scholarship award for a member of the family who is a current Northwest student.

Grant Gose – a senior cyber assurance major at Northwest who is the son of Peter and grandson of Warren – nominated his family to honor their legacy at the University. In addition to learning about his family’s history with the institution, he has developed an appreciation for Northwest that is all his own.

“It means the world to me,” he said. “The friends I’ve made here will probably last longer than my previous college and high school experiences. It’s a fantastic school. The professors here are fantastic. I have connections here.”

The Gose family’s roots in northwest Missouri can be traced to the late 1800s when their ancestors settled in a community east of Maryville.

A century later, the Gose family began their association with the University when Warren began his employment as its vice president of finance. During his tenure, Warren oversaw financial aspects related to the construction of the B.D. Owens Library, the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts and Northwest’s alternative energy programs. He also worked closely with then-President Dr. Dean Hubbard and Dr. Jon Rickman to obtain the funding needed to launch Northwest’s innovative “electronic campus” initiative in 1987, making it the first public institution in the nation with networked computers in every residence hall room and faculty office.

Warren also taught accounting courses at Northwest, in addition to his membership with the Maryville Rotary Club. Warren’s wife, Barbara, was a local pharmacist, avid supporter of Bearcat athletics and advocate for student organizations as well as a leader with the American Association of University Women.

The dinner table conversations at the Gose house were insightful, Peter said, and seeing his parents’ affinity for Northwest inspired him to pursue his college degrees at the University.

“When I was in high school (in Maryville), Dad was so instrumental in getting the Owens Library, getting the performing arts center built, and just his enthusiasm was so infectious,” Peter said. “That’s what made us want to come (to Northwest).

Peter graduated from Northwest with a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics and completed a Master of Business Administration at the University in 1988. He was active with Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and Student Senate while serving as a student ambassador. He also was a Freshman Seminar instructor as a graduate student.

He is employed with Lumen Technologies as regulatory affairs director. Throughout his professional career, he also has served as an instructor for the Executive MBA program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and as a guest lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis.

“All the individual attention you receive, you are not a number at this university,” Peter said. “So it was just really instrumental, and the academic preparation that I got was, quite frankly, second to none. I think of all the great professors I had – Ed and Sharon Browning, Ben Collier and so many others – and had I gone to a flagship institution, I would not have had a relationship with those individuals. It was that extra care and special attention that really helped me achieve.”

Grant’s mother, Diane Scheneman Gose, is a 1989 graduate with a bachelor's degree in elementary and early childhood education. She was a member of the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and a SigEp Golden Heart. She also was a Residence Hall Council member and participated in numerous education-based organizations.

She went on to earn a master’s degree in special education from the University of Northern Colorado and is employed as a special education teacher with Omaha Public Schools in Nebraska.

Grant’s uncle, Chris Gose, graduated from Northwest in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in public relations. He also was active with Sigma Phi Epsilon and Student Senate.

He is the founder of CCI Communications, an integrated telecommunications firm providing global enterprise-level voice and data services. He and his wife, Michelle, reside with their children in Holladay, Utah.

With a father and uncle who are proud alumni of Northwest and Sigma Phi Epsilon, Grant fondly recalls visits to the fraternity’s house and attending Bearcat football national championship games in Kansas City during his youth.

After completing an Associate of Applied Science degree at Metropolitan Community College, he was determined to attend Northwest and joined Sig Ep also. He serves as vice president of the fraternity’s Learning Community, which has him overseeing educational programs and community outreach activities. He also is a member of the National Society for Leadership and Success and the Phi Theta Kappa honor society.

In addition to his coursework at Northwest, he is in his fourth year of a college-level apprenticeship with Oracle Cerner, which has helped him apply the technical skills he is learning at Northwest while building the soft skills needed for his professional success. After graduating from Northwest next spring, Grant plans to start his career in digital forensic analysis.

The Family of the Year is selected from submitted applications and announced during Family Weekend activities at the University. Student recipients shall maintain a 3.00 GPA, be involved in at least one student organization at Northwest and a second organization in the community, and demonstrate a family legacy through generations of involvement with Northwest.

For more information about the Family of the Year award and to nominate a family for future consideration, click here.