The Quad

Although it took a while to get all of the logistics in place (A&S began to plan for this in February 2011) since it requires appropriate space, a number of workers and the availability of a Community Blood Center collection crew that numbered eight technicians, we did it and we did well! We will let Melanie Somogie, President of UMKC Psi Chi tell you about it as well as express our collective thanks to all who turned out to donate. Here is the thank you message she composed for the students who were there.

“Every day the Community Blood Center (CBC) needs 580* donors to meet the local needs of hospitals. This number seems huge and overwhelming, but on January 23rd the A&S community came together to provide the CBC with 7.5% of that need. This success was because of students like you who were willing to give a little to save the life of a person they don’t know, and will never meet… that’s incredible!

Over 55 students, faculty and staff came to the 5-hour blood drive ready to give the gift of life. That’s 11 potential donors per hour! The turnout was so great that some opted to return for future drives, or donate at the CBC’s location at 4040 Main Street, because the line was so long! We obtained 42 units of blood from those who were able to donate. And we had 29 first-time donors which I hope will translate into regular donors in the future.

It was a fantastic experience to assist in this project and see the outpouring of support from our academic community. I would like to thank everyone who assisted in this project: those who coordinated the event, created promotional materials, posted flyers and table toppers, announced the event to their classes, signed-up potential donors, volunteered to help at the event, and especially those who were able and willing to donate! Every person’s contribution, even if they were unable to donate, made this event a success.

I’m excited to hear of plans to continue and grow these efforts in the future. I encourage all students, student organizations, faculty and staff to consider what role they can play to help in future drives. A relatively small effort gives people in our city, in your neighborhood, a chance at life. Those in need of blood donations are our family members, friends, classmates and co-workers. 1 in 55 Americans need a blood transfusion every year, how many people that you know will likely be that person?”

The College would also like to express its thanks to the faculty and staff who donated; to UMKC Parking Services for its assistance in finding parking for the CBC truck and staff vehicles; to the UMKC Bookstore for donating a $25 gift card as one of the raffle prizes and to the staff of the Student Union for working to make this event go smoothly in their space. We especially want to thank Melanie Somogie and Psi Chi (the International Psychology Honor Society) for their assistance. And last, but not least, we thank Jane Vogl, Assistant to the Dean of the School of Computing and Engineering, who invited us to observe their drive last year, created much of the publicity for this year; managed our donor sign-up site and came early to place signage in strategic places to generate walk-in donors. It was a team effort and we won! (Photos courtesy of Melanie Somogie.)

   
*Numbers came from the CBC’s website and www.redcrossblood.org

Editor’s Note: Several of this issues “Fast Facts” refer to pageviews as measured by Google Analytics where a pageview is defined as a view of a page on your site that is being tracked by the Analytics tracking code. Data provided by Alia Herrman, University Communications.
   

The percentage of new visits to A&S sites was 54% during the period August through December 2011. 57% of all visits came from outside Kansas City, MO. 8% of all visits came from outside the United States.

We again have the sad task of reporting the passing of two member of the A&S faculty community. They are: Carol Koehler who was Chair, Department of Communications Studies and Pierre Rener, retired Lecturer in Communications Studies who also served in a staff role in the A&S Dean’s Office a number of years ago.

Koehler’s remembrance can be found at:

. www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansascity/obituary-search.aspx?daterange=180&firstname=carol&lastname=Koehler&countryid=1&stateid=28&affiliateid=1164.
  

Rener’s remembrance can be found at:

. www.legacy.com/obituaries/theoaklandpress/obituary.aspx?n=pierre-james-rener&pid=155225579.

Jennifer Phegley (English) gave a talk at the Kansas City Public Library downtown on Thursday, February 9, 2012 on her new book, Courtship and Marriage in Victorian England. For more see:

. www.kclibrary.org/event/jennifer-phegley-courtship-and-marriage-victorian-england.
 

Beth Miller (Political Science) appeared on KCTV-5 on November 10, 2011 discussing lobbying by the city of Kansas City, See:

. www.kctv5.com/story/16012947/kctv5-news-investigates-the-l-word.

She also was on Fox 4 News January 11, 2012 discussing the New Hampshire primary. See:

. grandview.fox4kc.com/news/news/69951-political-science-professor-shares-projections-2012-presidential-race.
  

Max Skidmore (Political Science) had two articles published in The Journal of American Culture: “The Mothering of the President: Rocking the Cradle to a Different Drummer,” See:

. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1542-734X.2011.00789.x/abstract

and “Restless Americans: The Significance of Movement in American History (with a Nod to F. J. Turner).”

. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1542-734X.2011.00772.x/abstract.

His “The Old, the Young, and Medicare,” was part of “Sunday Dialogue,” in The New York Times. See:

. www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/opinion/sunday/l03dialogue.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20old%20the%20young%20and%20meidcare&st=cse.
 

Randall Wray, Fred Lee, Jim Sturgeon, Stephanie Kelton and Bob Brazelton (Economics) were quoted or noted in the front page story in The Kansas City Star on the UMKC Economics Department, January 17, 2012. The story dealt with its central role in the field of “heterodox economics”. For the full story see:

. www.kansascity.com/2012/01/17/3374675/umkc-teaches-unorthodox-economics.html.
 

Alice Reckley-Vallejos and Kelley Young (Foreign Languages and Literatures) with Lynne Clawson-Day (Continuing Education) hosted the Latinos of Tomorrow Scholarship Fest at the College on Saturday, November 19, 2011. This all-day event is designed to help plan for college with workshops that help with practice for the ACT, building portfolios, writing essays and other essentials of the college application process. For more see:

. www.hccgkc.com/images/stories/pdf/2011%20fall%20scholarship%20fest%20facts%20sheet.pdf.
 

Jennifer Lundgren (Psychology) gave a public lecture on body image, gender, and psychological wellbeing at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. The talk was part of the Kemper’s Double Vision Series entitled “Masks and Mirrors.”
 

Ian Besse and Rebecca Roberts (Mathematics and Statistics) have redesigned Mathematics 110: College Algebra in response to the Missouri Course Redesign Initiative. This course redesign proposal was selected by the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) in summer 2011, and the redesign effort has been supported by the course redesign team that includes other members from the entire university: Jie Chen, Rita Barger, Molly Mead, Cindy Amyot, Andy Goodenow, and Cindy Pemberton. The redesigned course is being offered in SP2012 by Roberts as a pilot course and the full implementation of the redesigned Math 110 will be offered by Besse in FS2012. For more information about Course Redesign at UMKC, please visit:

. info.umkc.edu/courseredesign/
 

Frances Connelly (Art and Art History) published an article titled “Authentic Irony: Primitivism and Its Aftermath” in Critical Interventions: Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture, Vol. 7, 2011, pp.16-27. For more on this publication series see:

. www.aachron.com/editions/critical_interventions/
  

Greg Vonnahme (Political Science) presented a paper entitled “A Preferential Attachment Model of State Legislative Campaign Finance” at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in September. He also had an article published in Political Behavior called “Registration Deadlines and Turnout in Context.” For more see:

. www.springerlink.com/content/2752q184pk610224/
  

Linwood Tauheed, John Henry, Stephanie Kelton and Mathew Forstater (Economics) presented a panel program at the UMKC Student Union on January 19, 2012 titled: “Jobs Now: MLK’s Dream and FDR’s Vision”.
  

The English Department’s most recent newsletter reports (among many things) its recent partnership with Miller-Nichols Library’s Stuart Hinds and Diane Hunter to create a more interactive experience for showcasing teaching in English during campus visit days for prospective students. Faculty in Fall 2011 highlighted courses in their Manuscript, Print Culture, and Editing track, and Stuart Hinds created exhibits in Special Collections used in these courses, such as manuscripts, from medieval to contemporary (girls’ diaries), periodicals, and Shakespeare memorabilia. Faculty who participated included Lorna Condit, Laurie Ellinghausen, Jennifer Phegley, Virginia Blanton, Steve Dilks, and Jane Greer. For more on the publications, other activities and achievements of the Department’s faculty, students and alumni see:

. cas.umkc.edu/english/documents/Newsletter–Fall%202011%20Issue%202.pdf.
 

The Theatre Department’s Spring 2012 “Training News” has gained a wide audience. For more see:

. www.umkctheatre.org/pdfs/UMKC-Theatre-Training-News-2012.pdf.

For more on the department see:

. umkctheatre.org/home.html.
 

Delwyn Catley, (Psychology) in response to the American Lung Association’s grade of F on its report card for Missouri’s tobacco control effort, was interviewed by reporters from KBMC Channel 9 News about Missouri’s tobacco control efforts and KC QUEST, a $1.5 million NIH funded research study about motivating unmotivated smokers to quit. For more see:

. www.kmbc.com/health/30264219/detail.html.
 

Clovis Semmes (Director of Black Studies) recently published the article, “Entrepreneur of Health: Dick Gregory, Black Consciousness, and the Human Potential Movement,” in the Journal of African American Studies. For more see:

. www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s12111-011-9208-8.

New Employees:

Megan Ruplinger, Administrative Assistant – Academic Advising

Ashley Webb, Administrative Assistant – High School/College Partnership

Years of Service Awards:

Betsy Beasley, Administrative Assoc. I – NewLetters, 10 years of service

Susan Schurman, Editorial Assistant I – NewLetters/BkMk Press, 10 years of service

Deborah Bopp, Academic Advisor – Academic Advising, 5 years of service

The top A&S websites in terms of relative percent of pageviews in the period August through December, 2011 were: A&S Home page and Chemistry at 8%; Economics and Psychology at 7%; Mathematics/Statistics at 6%; English and Physics at 4 %; History and the Writing Center at 3%. The remaining other academic departments combined were at 3%. (Theatre site views could not be measured by UMKC.)

Students from the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning & Design made a presentation on November 17, 2011 on what makes a resilient Joplin. The public presentation was sponsored by the Kansas City Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) and the Kansas City Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and took place at the AIA office in Kansas City, MO. For more see:

. cas.umkc.edu/pdfs/11-17-11%20AIA%20Event%20Flyer.pdf.

The Planning and Design Student Organization of AUP+D hosted a Regional Transit Forum on December 6 where city and county officials discussed the future of regional transportation for the KC area. For more see:

. info.umkc.edu/aupd/2011/11/29/regional-transit-forum/

Theatre Department lighting and scenic design graduate students are the focus of an exhibit titled “Form Follows Function”

. www.theboxgallery.org/?p=154.

The exhibit runs through February 24 at the Box Gallery which is in the Commerce Bank building at 1000 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO. The exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free and open to the public. “Form Follows Function” is curated by Sarah Oliver, assistant professor of Costume Technology and Lindsay Davis, associate professor of Costume Design.

Mona Lyne (Political Science Chair) learned that her book The Voter’s Dilemma and Democratic Accountability: Latin America and Beyond received the Choice Award for an Outstanding Academic Title. For more see:

. www.cro2.org/default.aspx?page=reviewdisplay&pid=3465899.

Richard Gentile (Geosciences Emeritus) was honored for his contribution to the profession of Geology by the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists: Kansas City/Omaha Section at a reception in September, 2011. He started his career at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in 1958 and came to UMKC in 1966. For more see:

. www.aegweb.org/files/public/KCO-SEC_August_2011_
Newsletter.pdf.

Delwyn Catley (Psychology) was awarded a University of Kansas Cancer Center Pilot Project Award, for $27,703, for a project entitled: The Role of Implicit Attitudes in a Motivational Smoking Cessation Intervention. The purpose of this study is to assess whether Motivational Interviewing changes implicit attitudes (relative to a cognitively oriented health education control intervention), and whether any changes in implicit attitudes lead to more quit attempts.

New Letters has again done well in its field. One of the most highly regarded national prize anthologies for literary presses and magazines has reprinted two more works from UMKC’s New Letters. The Pushcart Prize XXXVI: Best of the Small Presses 2012, released in November 2011, includes an essay, “Logophilia,” by B. H. Fairchild, and a short story, “Rockaway,” by Lydia Conklin, both from New Letters vol. 76 no. 4 (summer 2010). “It is rare that a magazine or press receives multiple Pushcart Prizes in a single year,” says New Letters editor Robert Stewart. “Even one is an honor.”

They go on to say that these two new awards combine with a Pushcart Prize “triple crown” in 2010 to place New Letters among the top 10 Pushcart Prize winning magazines in the country over the latest three years, from 2010 to 2012. Other magazines that equaled five or more awards during that time period include Ploughshares, Tin House, Threepenny Review, and The Kenyon Review.

Theodore Seligson, (AUP+D Visiting Professor) recently received two achievement awards. The American Institute of Architects – Kansas City Chapter presented a Presidential Award and The Historic Kansas City Foundation presented a Lifetime Achievement Award in early December. In addition, to honor Seligson’s contributions to architecture and design, the faculty and advisory board of AUP+D and Seligson’s friends recently established the Seligson Fund for AUP+D. The fund will provide financial backing for lectures, special events and other projects that support and advance the AUP+D program.

The A&S College spent more than $6,700,000 on student scholarships and fee remissions in FY 2011. $5,035,417 was debited from the College’s tuition income by the campus to contribute to the automatic scholarship pool for the campus. The College paid $1,297,296 from its own accounts to cover student fee remissions. And more than $369,000 was paid out from A&S-based scholarship fund accounts.

Three of the five graduating students who were selected as the Fall 2011 Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Honor Recipients were from A&S.  According to the notice in UMatters, the selection was based on the students’ high academic achievements, leadership roles and service to the university community. We add our congratulations to these students.

Emma L. Frank Nominated by Dr. Kathleen Kilway	Ramanda Hicks Nominated by the late Dr. Carol Koehler	Anthony McDaniel Nominated by Dr. Eric Grospitch

Chris Fowler (Psychology doctoral student) earned a student research award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Schizophrenia Special Interest Group for his poster presentation: “How skill knowledge and capacity influence real-world skill performance in persons with serious mental illness.” Co-authors on this project were Psychology graduate students Amy Barnes and Meghan Murphy, and their faculty mentor, Melisa Rempfer. For more see

. www.abct.org/Members/?m=mMembers&fa=SIG.

Between August and December 2011, the Websites in the College experienced an average of 94,000 pageviews per month.  In every month during that period the College had more views than any other academic unit at UMKC.  The average pages visited per visit was 3.12.