Archive for the ‘Activities’ Category

Faculty Activities

Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

Xanath Caraza (Foreign Languages and Literatures) has been invited to present readings from her two recent books Corazón Pintado and Conjuro at the 2012 Obermann Humanities Symposium on “The Latino Midwest,” which will take place at the University of Iowa from October 11-13, 2012. This interdisciplinary symposium will examine the history, education, literature, art, and politics of Latinos in the Midwest. She also has been in Spain and Mexico this summer. She was awarded a writer’s residency in Spain, where she participated in a Poetry Festival in Barcelona at the 2012 Festival de Floricanto Barceloa: a Chicano-Charnego Encounter of Poetry. In Mexico, she was interviewed by Radio Universidad Veracruzana and one of her poems will be part of an art show at El Museo de Antropologia de Xalapa.

The Department of Art & Art History hosted two internationally-known visiting artists, Keith Achepohl and Lynn Manos, for a two week summer residency in July. Both artists gave lectures about their work in the Fine Arts Building located on the UMKC Volker Campus. The Department also held their first fall exhibition – the En Plein Air Painting Show.  This exhibition included artwork selected from the first annual Brush Creek Art Walk which was a public event held July 27 – July 29 along the scenic trail from Roanoke Road east to Elmwood. Painters registered for the event had three days to complete paintings en plein air (French for “in the open air”) along the creek. For more on the art walk, see: Brush Creek Art Walk. (These items first appeared in U-Matters.)

The Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design hosted a presentation by R. Crosby Kemper, Jr. in April to inaugurate the first in a series of presentations on how design happens in a city. According to their event announcement, “ A design patron is someone who challenges a professional designer to solve a pressing problem— be it furnishing a signature bank or leading a civic coalition to save a historic building.” They went on to say that R. Crosby Kemper, Jr. has exemplified what it means to be a design patron in Kansas City for well over five decades.

Michael Frisch (Architecture, Urban Planning and Design) has been elected to the governing Board of The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), a consortium of university-based programs offering credentials in urban and regional planning.  Acting together, the ACSP member school faculties are able to express their shared commitments to understanding the dynamics of urban and regional development, enhancing planning practices, and improving the education of both novice and experienced planners. The other board members are from Cornell University, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Memphis and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

The Theatre Department has announced a new program of discounted tickets for UMKC faculty and staff at $10 (with campus ID card). For more see:

The UMKC School of Social Work held its 2012 Field Day event in the Student Union on August 24, 2012. This event brought together students in the Masters of Social Work Program who are in the field placement phase of their programs of study with their Field Supervisors, other agency representatives and UMKC Social Work alumni employed in their profession in the area for a morning of presentations and discussions. About 200 were in attendance.

Beth Miller (Political Science) has published an article titled: “Exploring the Economic Determinants of Immigration Attitudes.” (2012). Poverty and Public Policy, Volume 4, Issue 2.

Sookhee Oh (Sociology) taught Social Organization of East Asian Cities this summer at the International Summer School at the University of Seoul, Korea. The course focused on urban issues in East Asia and the dynamic social contexts of East Asian Cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, and Shanghai. This 5-week intensive summer school program offers courses in English in the areas of Asian Studies, International Studies, and Korean language. The program draws hundreds of students and faculty from the Americas, Europe, and Asia who wish to explore the densely populated megacity, Seoul, South Korea, and other parts of East Asia. Students generally take two courses and participate in many extracurricular cultural activities including a four-day trip to either Beijing, China, or Jeju Island, Korea, and to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), as well as experience Taekwondo and K-pop culture. For more see:

The International students wear a traditional Korean dress in this photo.

 

The UMKC High School College Partnership held its 2012 Annual faculty Conference at the Student Union on July 20, 2012. Eleven A&S departments were among the 15 academic programs present at the session.

Max J. Skidmore (Curators’ Professor of Political Science and Thomas Jefferson Fellow) has been invited to join the Scholars’ Strategy Network that Harvard professors Ben Veghte and Theda Skocpol are forming. Professor Veghte has called Skidmore’s work on Social Security “fascinating,” and says that he and Professor Skocpol wish to highlight it on the new Network.

Erik Olsen (Economics) presented an invited Lecture at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Department of Economics: “The Economics of Cooperatives, Employee Ownership and Self-management”, March 19, 2012.

Judy Ancel (Economics) attended the United Association for Labor Education meeting in, March, 2012 in Pittsburgh. She organized and chaired a plenary discussion on Global Union Alliances Step by Step with Leo Girard, President United Steelworkers, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, President, Los Mineros, Bruce Klipple, President United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers, and Benedicto Martinez, co-President, Authentic Workers Front.

W. Robert Brazelton (Emeritus, Economics) published “Towards a Synthesis of Institutional and Post Keynesian Economics” (with Charles J. Whalen), in Financial Instability and Economic Security after the Great Depression, edited by C. J. Whalen, 2012, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. For more see:

L. Randall Wray (Economics) gave a presentation at the Institute for Global Law and Policy Pro-Seminar, Harvard University, June 2012. He was Co-organizer of conference, “Global Financial Fragility and the Development of Capitalist Finance”, Nankai University, Tianjin, June 2012, and also gave the plenary lecture. He was co-organizer of the Hyman P. Minsky Summer Seminar at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, June 2012; at which he gave two lectures.

Frederic S. Lee (Economics) published a number of items recently including “Heterodox Economics and its Critics,’ Review of Political Economy, 24.2 (2012) and “Pricing and Prices” with G. C. Gu in The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics, 2nd ed., edited by J. King, Edward Elgar, 2012. For more see:

and

He also presented a paper at the Political Economy and the Outlook for Capitalism Joint Conference 2012 on “The UK Research Assessment Exercise and the Narrowing of UK Economics”.

UMKC ‘Border Wars’ Workshop Draws Educators from Across the Country

A teacher’s workshop entitled Crossroads of Conflict: Contested Visions of Freedom and the Missouri-Kansas Border Wars was held in late July 2012. Sponsored by the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the workshop is part of The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops for Teachers and was funded by an $180,000 federal grant from the NEH. The workshop, directed by Diane Mutti Burke (History), drew a total of 80 educators for its two sessions. The group aimed to better understand the clash of cultures that played out on the Missouri-Kansas border. For more see:

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Faculty Activities

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

Maria Calderon, (Art and Art History) along with Kansas City artist Lacey Wozny, was awarded a Rocket Grant through the Charlotte Street Foundation and KU’s Spencer Museum of Art for “POP!” – a series of interactive art events to engage and celebrate locality, health, art, and education.  First up is POP! Community Picnic! in mid-June.  Visit the Rocket Grant website for more information on Calderon and the grant project:

Max Skidmore (Political Science) published “Economics, Adjudication, and (Above all) Politics: Health Care Reform and the Public Good,” New Economic Perspectives (April 3, 2012),  See:

He also will have a chapter entitled “Obama’s Legislative Record,” in The Obama Presidency:  A Preliminary Assessment by Robert P.  Watson, Douglas M. Brattebo, Jack Covarrubias and Tom Lansford ( SUNY Series on the Presidency: Contemporary Issues July, 2012).  For more see:

Mona Lyne (Political Science) with undergraduate students Andrew Sperry and Parker Webb, presented the paper “Analyzing Autocracies:  They Didn’t Steal that Election, They Bought it Fair and Square” at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 13, 2012.  See:   

The paper was written up in the Atlantic Monthly’s blog post on the conference:

Alex Holsinger and Ken Novak with the assistance of the UMKC Foundation secured a $30,000 grant from LISC to conduct this research.  Andrew Fox, who is joining their department as an assistant professor in the fall, will play a critical role in the project.  For more see:

Ken Novak (Criminal Justice and Criminology) published his paper, “The decision to search: Is race or ethnicity important?” in the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.  The research examines whether Black and Hispanic motorists are more likely to be searched during traffic stops with the police.  Novak also served as guest-editor for the volume.  His co-author is Seth Fallik who received his Master of Science in CJ&C from UMKC in 2010 and is pursuing his Ph.D. at Sam Houston State University.  For more see:

Robert Stewart, editor, and staff members of BkMk Press, New Letters, and New Letters On the Air made presentations on editing and writing to a visiting group of faculty and students from Missouri Western University.  Also among those taking part were: BkMk Press managing editor Ben Furnish and New Letters on the Air producer Angela Elam.  The event was held at University House, UMKC, on Thursday, April 19, 2012.
 

Davin Watne (Art and Art History) has had his work reviewed in the New American Paintings Juried Exhibitions in Print Blog.  For more see:

Ricky Allman (Art and Art History) was the featured artist in the Harvard Business Review May, 2012 issue.  Allman’s artwork was used throughout the magazine’s ‘Spotlight on Innovation for the 21st Century’ theme.  For more see:

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Student Activities and Achievements

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Liz Duval, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate, has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan.
 

Carrie Spresser, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Candidate, has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
 

Sarah Williams, a Fall 2011 graduate of the Art History MA program, will attend the University of Missouri – Columbia’s Ph.D. program in Art History.  Her doctoral program is fully funded by a stipend and scholarships.
 

The Department of Psychology held its 1st Annual Poster Session on April 20th.  Nineteen students, undergraduate and graduate, presented their research.  Sofie Champassak was the 1st place graduate student winner and Mark Poirer was the 1st place undergraduate winner.
  

Sixteen Department of Psychology undergraduate students participated in the 12th Annual SEARCH Symposium for Research and Creative Achievements on April 19th, 2012.  The winner of the Behavioral Sciences division of SEARCH Symposium 2012 was Angela P. Gutierrez of the Department of Psychology! Her poster was titled “Effects of Priming Religious Words on a Measure of AIDS-Related Stigma.  Her faculty mentor is Kathy Goggin and her graduate student mentor was David Martinez.  Second Place in the Behavioral Sciences division went to  Mark Poirer.  His poster was titled “Emotional Valance and Depth of Processing: An exploration of the Positivity Effect in Older Adults.” His faculty mentor is Joan McDowd.  Congratulations to Angela, Mark and Sofie!
 

Are we the France of the Plains?

Assistant Teaching Professor, Lindsy Myers (Foreign Language and Literatures) posed this question to students of French 350 (French Civilization) during the Fall 2011 semester.  They attempted to answer it by researching French culture in the region.  Their answers were found in a variety of locations and resources off campus including the Nelson-Atkins, local schools and restaurants, the Chouteau Society and more. 

*Photo is of French students Kevin Linn and Nathan Hoffmann looking at the manuscript.

On campus, the class worked with Stuart Hinds and Teresa Gipson at the LaBudde Special Collections department at the Miller Nichols Library (library.umkc.edu/spec-col-home) to identify and contextualize a variety of original French language documents including a collection of poetry dedicated to Napoleon II*, posters, letters and political pamphlets.

Another source of original French documents was David Boutros at The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center- Kansas City in Newcomb Hall (www.umkc.edu/whmckc/).  There, the students explored the Ecole des Beaux-Arts assignments of French architect E.J. Eckel who later moved to St. Joseph, MO.

Additionally, the class visited the Toy and Miniature Museum with Laura Taylor and Amanda Clark (www.toyandminiaturemuseum.org/) and were able to identify miniatures depicting elements of French architecture and style.

In the end, students created a blog with their findings and answers to the guiding question.  The conclusion?  There is much more living French culture here than anyone expected.

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Faculty Activities

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Ken Novak (Criminal Justice and Criminology) published his paper “Racial threat, suspicion, and police behavior: The impact of race and place in traffic enforcement.” in Crime and Delinquency, March 2012, Vol.58, no. 2, pp. 275-300.  See

His publication was highlighted by the Sentencing Project, which is a national organization promoting a fair and effective criminal justice system.  See:Ken Novak (Criminal Justice and Criminology) published his paper “Racial threat, suspicion, and police behavior: The impact of race and place in traffic enforcement.” in Crime and Delinquency, March 2012, Vol.58, no. 2, pp. 275-300. See

His publication was highlighted by the Sentencing Project, which is a national organization promoting a fair and effective criminal justice system. See:

He also was interviewed by the AP in stories that appeared in the Washington Post and the Kansas City Star on the Trayvon Martin killing.

Xanath Caraza-de-Holland (Foreign Languages and Literatures) was the featured poet at Park University’s International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8. The program tells us that Caraza won the 2003 Ediciones Nuevo Espacio International Short Story Contest in Spanish and was a 2008 finalist for the first international John Barry Award.

Mitch Brian (Communications Studies) had his play “A Bucket of Blood” open March 23, 2012 at The Living Room. This is his third play (the previous two now published by Dramatic Publishing) and, like the others, is a conversation between cinema and theater. Based on the 1959 Roger Corman cult classic “A Bucket of Blood”, a dark comedy about a put upon busy boy at a beatnik café who aspires to be an artist — and uses murder to achieve his dream. For more see:

Clovis Semmes (Director of Black Studies) lectured on “Regal (Theatre) Women in African American Business, Civic, and Entertainment Culture” to the Lorenzo Green Chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) in February. See:

He also contributed a chapter, “The Problem of Race and Chicago’s Great Tivoli Theater,” to the forthcoming book, The Black Chicago Renaissance, edited by Darlene Clark Hine and John McCluskey, to be released this June by University of Illinois Press. See :

Greg Vonnahme (Political Science) presented two papers at the State Politics and Policy
Conference in Houston, February 16-18. “Inequities in Campaign Money and Contribution Mandates in State Legislatures” and “Election Day Vote Centers, Voter Participation, and the Spatial Distribution of Voting” For more see:

Pellom McDaniels (History) is featured in the PBS documentary “More Than A Month.”

McDaniels and the film’s producer, Shukree Tilghman, (http://kcur.org/term/shukree-tilghman) spoke with KCUR Central Standard’s Jabulani Leffall. McDaniels has an exhibit opening at Emory University on April 18th on the artist, Benny Andrews entitled “Like A Purple Haze Across the Land: The Art of Benny Andrews.” For the opening, McDaniels will be giving a paper presentation on the artist.

Finally, in honor of this summer’s Major League Baseball All Star Game, McDaniels is contributing to the creation of an exhibit at the National WWI Museum, entitled “WWI All-Stars: Sports and the Inter-Allied Games,” opening April 5th

Max Skidmore (Political Science) was interviewed March 19th on Ohio State University Public Media as part of an AARP program on Social Security and Medicare Reform. He joined the program by telephone See:

He also participated in the Sunday Dialogue on Equitable Health Care in The New York Times on March 24, 2012. See:

Beth Miller (Political Science) has done a number of interviews for Fox 4 News on the Republican Primaries this year. One of the more recent was on March 13th. See:

Stephanie Kelton, Randall Wray and William Black (Economics) who have been instrumental in developing and promoting a new school of thought that runs counter to the economics of the Chicago School have had their arguments appear internationally. The Economist magazine featured their contributions in its January issue. The Washington Post ran a feature story in February as did The Financial Times. See:

As a result of the buzz about their theory, and concerns over the on-going financial mess in Europe, Kelton and Black were invited to Rimini, Italy, where they addressed an audience of more than 2,100. They have also garnered attention for developing a top-ranked economics blog called New Economic Perspectives. The blog is currently ranked #17 in the world (out of more than 150 blogs). For more see:

Cathleen Burnett (Criminal Justice and Criminology), a nationally recognized expert on capital punishment, testified on February 15,2012 on Missouri House Bill 1520, to repeal the death penalty in Missouri, before the House Corrections Committee in Jefferson City, MO. See

Courtesy of the English Department’s most recent newsletter we learn of the following faculty activities.

Joan Dean has published “‘Getting Known’: Samuel Becket in Ireland in the 1950s,” in The Binding Strength of Irish Studies: Festschrift in Honour of Csilla Bertha and Donald E. Morse, edited by Marianna Gula, Mária Kurdi, and István D. Rácz, Debrecen: Debrecen University Press, 2011, 15-25. She also published “In the Classroom” in The John McGahern Yearbook 4 (2011): 96-105.

Christie Hodgen’s short story, “The Drip,” appears in The Southern Review 48.1 (Winter 2012). See:

Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s poems, “Mary Todd Lincoln’s Obsession” and “Spring River Swimmers” appear in the new issue of Little Balkans Review 16.1 (2011). Her review of Denise Low’s poetry collection, Ghost Stories of the New West, appears in the current issue of Flint Hills Review Issue 16 (2011, Emporia State University).

John Barton’s essay, “‘The Necessity of an Example’: Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition & the Ohio Anti- Lynching Campaign,” appears in the Arizona Quarterly 67:4 (2011): 27-58.

Michelle Boisseau, published two poems in the January 2012 issue of Poetry: “Death Gets into the Suburbs” and “Among the Gorgons”. See

She reads these poems on the Poetry Foundation’s podcast and the editors discuss her and other poets’ poems in the January issue

Jennifer Phegley was on KCUR’s “Up to Date” with Steve Kraske on February 6 to discuss her book Courtship and Marriage in Victorian England (Praeger 2011). The interview is archived at

She also gave a talk at the Kansas City Public Library on 3 February 9 that focused on alternative Victorian courtship practices. Audio and video recordings from the event can be found at

Jeff Rydberg-Cox has published an article “Social Networks and the Language of Greek Tragedy” in the Journal of the Chicago Colloquium on Digital Humanities and Computer Science 1.3 (2011), available at

He gave a lecture at the Hall Center at the University of Kansas in November called “Social Networks as a Tool for Visualizing Linguistic Data in Greek Tragedy.” He taught a workshop on Statistical Methods for the Humanities at KU in September with a tutorial on-line at

Rydberg-Cox was awarded a $2,000 Teaching Enhancement Grant from FACET with the title, “Online Spaced Repetition Exercises for Ancient Greek.”

Tom Stroik and Michael Putnam (Penn State University) have just co-edited a special issue of Linguistic Analysis 37.3-4 (2011), entitled “Sharpening the Edges.” The issue offers five essays on derivational syntax, including one written by the co-editors, titled “Syntax at Ground Zero.” See:

He also was interviewed by the AP in stories that appeared in the Washington Post and the Kansas City Star on the Trayvon Martin killing.
   

Xanath Caraza-de-Holland (Foreign Languages and Literatures) was the featured poet at Park University’s International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8.  The program tells us that Caraza won the 2003 Ediciones Nuevo Espacio International Short Story Contest in Spanish and was a 2008 finalist for the first international John Barry Award.
   

Mitch Brian (Communications Studies) had his play “A Bucket of Blood” open March 23, 2012 at The Living Room.  This is his third play (the previous two now published by Dramatic Publishing) and, like the others, is a conversation between cinema and theater.  Based on the 1959 Roger Corman cult classic “A Bucket of Blood”, a dark comedy about a put upon busy boy at a beatnik café who aspires to be an artist — and uses murder to achieve his dream.  For more see:

Clovis Semmes (Director of Black Studies) lectured on “Regal (Theatre) Women in African American Business, Civic, and Entertainment Culture” to the Lorenzo Green Chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) in February.  See:

He also contributed a chapter, “The Problem of Race and Chicago’s Great Tivoli Theater,” to the forthcoming book, The Black Chicago Renaissance, edited by Darlene Clark Hine and John McCluskey, to be released this June by University of Illinois Press.  See :

Greg Vonnahme (Political Science) presented two papers at the State Politics and Policy
Conference in Houston, February 16-18.  “Inequities in Campaign Money and Contribution Mandates in State Legislatures” and “Election Day Vote Centers, Voter Participation, and the Spatial Distribution of Voting” For more see:

Pellom McDaniels (History) is featured in the PBS documentary “More Than A Month.”

McDaniels and the film’s producer, Shukree Tilghman, (http://kcur.org/term/shukree-tilghman) spoke with KCUR Central Standard’s Jabulani Leffall.  McDaniels has an exhibit opening at Emory University on April 18th on the artist, Benny Andrews entitled “Like A Purple Haze Across the Land: The Art of Benny Andrews.” For the opening, McDaniels will be giving a paper presentation on the artist.

Finally, in honor of this summer’s Major League Baseball All Star Game, McDaniels is contributing to the creation of an exhibit at the National WWI Museum, entitled “WWI All-Stars: Sports and the Inter-Allied Games,” opening April 5th

Max Skidmore (Political Science) was interviewed March 19th on Ohio State University Public Media as part of an AARP program on Social Security and Medicare Reform.  He joined the program by telephone See:

He also participated in the Sunday Dialogue on Equitable Health Care in The New York Times on March 24, 2012.  See:

Beth Miller (Political Science) has done a number of interviews for Fox 4 News on the Republican Primaries this year.  One of the more recent was on March 13th.  See:

Stephanie Kelton, Randall Wray and William Black (Economics) who have been instrumental in developing and promoting a new school of thought that runs counter to the economics of the Chicago School have had their arguments appear internationally.  The Economist magazine featured their contributions in its January issue.  The Washington Post ran a feature story in February as did The Financial Times.  See:

As a result of the buzz about their theory, and concerns over the on-going financial mess in Europe, Kelton and Black were invited to Rimini, Italy, where they addressed an audience of more than 2,100.  They have also garnered attention for developing a top-ranked economics blog called New Economic Perspectives.  The blog is currently ranked #17 in the world (out of more than 150 blogs).  For more see:

Cathleen Burnett (Criminal Justice and Criminology), a nationally recognized expert on capital punishment, testified on February 15,2012 on Missouri House Bill 1520, to repeal the death penalty in Missouri, before the House Corrections Committee in Jefferson City, MO.  See

Courtesy of the English Department’s most recent newsletter we learn of the following faculty activities.

Joan Dean has published “‘Getting Known’: Samuel Becket in Ireland in the 1950s,” in The Binding Strength of Irish Studies: Festschrift in Honour of Csilla Bertha and Donald E. Morse, edited by Marianna Gula, Mária Kurdi, and István D. Rácz, Debrecen: Debrecen University Press, 2011, 15-25.  She also published “In the Classroom” in The John McGahern Yearbook 4 (2011): 96-105.
 

Christie Hodgen’s short story, “The Drip,” appears in The Southern Review 48.1 (Winter 2012).  See:

Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s poems, “Mary Todd Lincoln’s Obsession” and “Spring River Swimmers” appear in the new issue of Little Balkans Review 16.1 (2011).  Her review of Denise Low’s poetry collection, Ghost Stories of the New West, appears in the current issue of Flint Hills Review Issue 16 (2011, Emporia State University).
 

John Barton’s essay, “‘The Necessity of an Example’: Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition & the Ohio Anti- Lynching Campaign,” appears in the Arizona Quarterly 67:4 (2011): 27-58.
 

Michelle Boisseau, published two poems in the January 2012 issue of Poetry: “Death Gets into the Suburbs” and “Among the Gorgons”.  See

She reads these poems on the Poetry Foundation’s podcast and the editors discuss her and other poets’ poems in the January issue

Jennifer Phegley was on KCUR’s “Up to Date” with Steve Kraske on February 6 to discuss her book Courtship and Marriage in Victorian England (Praeger 2011).  The interview is archived at

She also gave a talk at the Kansas City Public Library on 3 February 9 that focused on alternative Victorian courtship practices.  Audio and video recordings from the event can be found at

Jeff Rydberg-Cox has published an article “Social Networks and the Language of Greek Tragedy” in the Journal of the Chicago Colloquium on Digital Humanities and Computer Science 1.3 (2011), available at

He gave a lecture at the Hall Center at the University of Kansas in November called “Social Networks as a Tool for Visualizing Linguistic Data in Greek Tragedy.” He taught a workshop on Statistical Methods for the Humanities at KU in September with a tutorial on-line at

Rydberg-Cox was awarded a $2,000 Teaching Enhancement Grant from FACET with the title, “Online Spaced Repetition Exercises for Ancient Greek.”
 

Tom Stroik and Michael Putnam (Penn State University) have just co-edited a special issue of Linguistic Analysis 37.3-4 (2011), entitled “Sharpening the Edges.” The issue offers five essays on derivational syntax, including one written by the co-editors, titled “Syntax at Ground Zero.” See:

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2012 A&S and PSI CHI BLOOD DRIVE IS A SUCCESS!

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

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

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Faculty Activities

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

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.

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Student Activities

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

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.

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Activities and Achievements

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

Jennifer Phegley (English Language and Literature) delivered the keynote address to the Victorian Popular Fiction Associa­tion at the University of London on July 19. She organized and chaired a roundtable discussion on teaching with Victorian peri­odical databases for the Research Society for Victorian Periodi­cals at the University of Canterbury on July 23.  See:

Barry Anderson (Art and Art History) has had an active autumn. Two video pieces, Pigeon (2001)

and Janus (2) (2011)

will be featured in The Big Reveal, a group exhibition of recent acquisitions at the Kemper Museum

of Contemporary Art in Kansas City. The exhibition opened September 23 and will be on view until April 15, 2012. He also will be giving a lecture at the museum on November 22. The current issue of KC Studio Magazine features

an article on the exhibition and highlights his work.  Two images from his video Junk Yard are currently featured on the

Missouri Bank Artboards in the Crossroads Arts District in Kansas City. The billboards will be on view for the remainder of the year.

Maude Wahlman (Art and Art History) lectured and signed copies of her book Signs and Symbols – African Images in African American Quilts at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego in conjunction with their exhibit of quilts  BOLD EXPRESSIONS.  For more see:

The Department of English Language and Literature reports that the department’s Fall 2011 Newsletter is available at:

The many recent activities and achievements of their students, faculty and alumni can be found documented there.

 

The Department of History reports that U.S. Department of Education has granted a two year extension (2011-2013) of the Teaching American History grant ($260,000) to the Blue Springs School District  for which Louis Potts and Cynthia Jones are the lead historians in this program for high school teachers. They also report that Jessey Choo was awarded a University of Missouri Research Board grant and a Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation grant, which will allow her to spend the 2011-2012 academic year in Taipei and in mainland China pursuing her book-length study of death rituals in medieval China.
      

 

George Gale (Philosophy) had his new book, Dying on the Vine: How Phylloxera Transformed Wine, reviewed by The Economist this past summer. For more see:

Kathy Krause (Foreign Languages & Literatures) presented a paper at the European Science Foundation’s Humanities Exploratory Workshop on “A European commercial Trinomial: Italy-Champage-The Netherlands (12th –14th c.)” in Rome, Italy, October 13-15, 2011. Her paper, entitled, “Les Voies de Transmission de “La devisions des foires de Champagne”, explored the complicated manuscript transmission of a small text in Old French about the Champagne merchant fairs. For more see:   

The Hand Print Press of the Department of Art and Art History held its national print exhibit in September and October, 2011. The exhibition included works by artists around the country whose pieces combine a variety of media with traditional printmaking processes. Juror for the exhibition was Leesa Fanning, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art for The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and adjunct professor in UMKC’s Department of Art and Art History.

Clovis E. Semmes (Black Studies) presented a paper entitled “Black Cultural Entrepreneurs and White Ownership of Black Culture” at the 96th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in Richmond, Virginia, in October, 2011.  His paper was part of the session on New Studies in African American Business History.  Semmes also published an article, “Charitable Collaborations in Bronzeville, 1928-1944:  The Chicago Defender and the Regal Theater,” in the Journal of Urban History, November 2011 37: 975-991.  For more see:

He also was an invited speaker for the program, “Constructive Lessons From 9/11,” sponsored by the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, Kauffman Foundation Conference Center, Kansas City, Missouri, September 22, 2011.

The Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology reports that it had about 140 people attend its open house in September. The CJC Department provided food, T-shirts and program information. Several students also decided to apply to UMKC’s chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma — the largest official criminal justice honor society in the U.S. For more about the activities and achievements of the CJC Department, visit

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