Recognitions
Tina Niemi (Geosciences) was granted a Fulbright Specialist award (www.cies.org/specialists/) to work with the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa in Israel (http://marsci.haifa.ac.il/about.htm). Niemi spent five and a half weeks in Summer 2010 at the new Department of Marine Geosciences doing a workshop on the Quaternary Evolution of the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba. Niemi and colleagues will edit a special volume on the topic in Quaternary International, the Journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research.
Pellom McDaniels (History) received the 2010 Julius E. William Distinguished Community Service Award from the NAACP at its national convention in Kansas City this summer. The award is for his exhibit “They Came to Fight” and the website and outreach related to African Americans in WWI.
See:- http://www.theycametofight.org/docs/the-came-to-fight-press-release.pdf and www.theycametofight.org
The Dept. of Communications Studies congratulates Walt Bodine on the recent celebration of his 90th Birthday and thanks him for his many years of service to the department and its students as an adjunct professor. as well as KCUR 89.3 FM. For the past 25 years, Walt has worked at KCUR 89.3 FM hosting KCUR’s Walt Bodine Show. An endowed scholarship is planned.
See:- http://www.kansascity.com/2010/09/10/2214033/kcur-reworking-bodines-monday.html and http://www.kcurmultimedia.org/WaltBodine/default.asp
Jim Sheppard (Philosophy) has had his course Environmental Ethics and Policy recognized as one of the top five environmental classes in the nation by the Sierra Club in August 2010.
See:- http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201009/coolschools/fantasydraft.aspx
Clancy Martin (Chair, Philosophy) continues to get accolades for his novel How to Sell.
See:- http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-30/jonathan-franzen-recommends-4-overlooked-books/
Katie Kline (English) and the teachers affiliated with the Greater KC Writing Project were featured on Monday evening August 2, 2010 FOX 4 News broadcast! The news story focused on the ways in which area teachers are meeting the needs of ELL (English Language Learning) students. Check out the video link below. Congratulations for Katie and the GKCWP!
See:- http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-story-english-second-language-080210,0,2592912.story
Veronica N. Wilson-Tagoe ( Black Studies) has told us of her chapter “Feminism and Womanism” in A Concise Companion to Postcolonial Literature published earlier this year.
See:- http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405135034,descCd-tableOfContents.html
Richard Delaware (Mathematics and Statistics) has reported on the work of the Southwest Early College Campus Mathematics Team (that included Dr. Frank Gardella of Hunter College ) over the last two years. Since the completion of that report in June 2010, the team has grown from 7 to 17 with expansion of the school from under 500 to over 1600 students. He also has prepared over 40 Mathematics Video Shorts featuring the students of Southwest with the help of an $18,000 grant from PREP-KC. These can be viewed below on the Southwest YouTube Channel which Dr. Delaware maintains.
See:- http://cas.umkc.edu/mathematics/MathTeamReport06-01-10.pdf and http://www.youtube.com/user/southwestecc
Linna Place, Director of International Academic Programs reported in May that Maria Iliakova, a triple major in Biology, Chemistry and Spanish in May 2010, had been awarded a Fulbright to study biology in Barcelona, Spain. Maria also had been in the High School Science, Mathematics and Technology Institute taught by Charles Wurrey, (Chemistry) Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor.
The UMKC Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society, was chosen to be among the 12 Best Chapters (out of more than 700) in AY 2009-2010. This recognition is based on an evaluation of the local chapter’s activities program over the academic year according to Beth Miller, their faculty adviser. The award carries a cash prize as well.
Two Sociology majors Kianda Simmons and Dorian Johnson decided to empower and lead fifth to eighth grade girls at Central Academy through a program they created and funded called “Precious Minds.” They were to be recognized by Mayor Funkhouser for their volunteer efforts in May 2010.
See:- http://www2.kcmsd.net/Lists/News1/DispForm.aspx?ID=1185
Deborah Smith (Sociology) has seen a revision of her 2007 award winning paper from The Gerontological Society of America’s Civic Engagement in an Older America Initiative published in Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare.
See:- http://info.umkc.edu/umatters/books-etc-2/
Foreign Languages and Literatures faculty, Kathy Krause had an article published, Xanath Caraza had a short story included in an anthology , and Gayle Levy completed a translation that will be a chapter in a book to be published later this year.
See:- http://cas.umkc.edu/ForeignLanguages/FacultyNews.asp and http://cas.umkc.edu/ForeignLanguages/Students-Alumni.asp
Kerri Stowell, who graduated from A&S with a degree in Communications Studies, is now part of KMBZ 9 “First News”. Her career has taken her to Louisiana, Iowa and Nebraska prior to returning to Kansas City.
See:- http://www.kmbc.com/station/24576658/detail.html
Barry Anderson (Art and Art History) had a showing at the Lawrence Art Center June 18 through July 17 that included this piece “Treebeasties”.He also works displayed as part of an exhibit of videos and short films at the Walter Maciel Gallery in Los Angeles, July 10 through August 20.
Clancy Martin (Chair, Philosophy) published an article in Harper’s magazine in June, 2010 and one in The London Review of Books in July, 2010.
See:- http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/06/0082994 and http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n14/clancy-martin/things-they-dont-want-to-hear.
He also was interviewed about the themes in his forthcoming book Love, Lies and Marriage, the writing of which was supported by UMRB grants.
See:- http://umresearchboard.org/resources/162
Elijah Gowin (Art and Art History) had his work ‘Into the Sun” exhibited in May 2010 at Dolphin.
See: http://elijahgowin.blogspot.com/
Caroline Davies (Geosciences) reports that she and four environmental studies majors have been awarded a grant for $10,000 to develop and test desiccants and solar collectors to address water needs in developing countries. This is part of the national EPA P3 National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet. They will be presenting their design and research results at the National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington DC, April 2011.
See:- http://www.epa.gov/ncer/p3/index.html
