The Quad

The department began video-taping courses this summer with a General Physics II course. This semester they offered General Physics I (Physics 210) and Calculus-based physics II (Physics 250) on YouTube. Students enrolled in the “video” course came in for all the tests and labs, but could watch the lectures from home whenever they wanted.

The department saw this as a way to reach students who might not be able to make it to campus on a regular basis as well as having the side benefit that “traditional” students could go back and look at the lectures for a refresher or if they missed day. Check out a course at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/UMKC

Associate professor Caroline Davies was the UMKC liaison and host for the 2009 Bio eConference “Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability” that was sponsored by 14 Midwest state universities and hosted from Iowa State University on December 1, 2009. This meeting allowed more than 30 area experts to participate in a major national conference while keeping costs and their carbon footprint down.

See these sites for more details:

• http://www.bioeconomyconference.org
• http://www.bioeconomyconference.org/agenda2009

Assistant professor Julie Urbanik has focused her teaching on environmental issues and learns from the students in her environmental studies courses in the process.

Check these sites for more:

• www.kansascity.com/637/story/1605809.html
• http://media.www.unews.com/media/paper274/sections/20091207SpecialSection.html#2

Carla Klausner (History)
A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
(with Ian J. Bickerton)
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/product/History-of-the-ArabIsraeli-Conflict-A/9780205753383.page

We heard from many of the high school students who visited the Art and Art History Department in November 2009. They liked what they saw and did:

“I thought the whole day was pretty awesome. I was stunned by what UMKC looks like.”

“I had a great experience at UMKC and now I am going to consider going there.”

“The guest speakers were very kind and the students who already attend are really focused.”

“I liked everything about it, especially the teachers. There is nothing I didn’t enjoy.”

“I had a great time learning on campus and going into classes and experiencing this with the college students.”

Prep-KC’s Board is chaired by UMKC’s Chancellor Leo Morton. For more information, see: www.prepkc.org

Fast Fact  The average years of service for all regular faculty in the College is 15.2. Total years of service for professors is 1,478 years; for associate professors it is 970 years of service and assistant professors have 176 years of UMKC service. For non-regular faculty, the average is 10.5 years of service as of the start of AY 2009-2010.

You will notice that we have put in a link to an online version of the newsletter for you to preview. We are experimenting with alternate ways of keeping A&S news available, interesting, timely and searchable when archived. At this point this is in preview mode only.

Also, as we move into the new year, please note that the general target for publication is the end of the third week of each month so “suggested copy” needs to be to the editor by the 15th of each month.

Happy New Year—Dale Neuman