The Quad

Thanks Dale!

The College of Arts and Sciences would like to sincerely thank Dale Neuman for his vision and effort in putting together our faculty and staff newsletter. Dale has done a terrific job over the past three years in keeping everyone up to date on what is happening in the College and highlighting faculty and staff achievements.

In July, Dale accepted the appointment as Interim Chair of the School of Social Work.  After this edition of the e-zine, he will be passing his editor responsibilities on to the incoming Marketing Specialist for the College. Watch for some changes in the coming months as the e-zine continues to evolve.  Thanks, Dale for creating a great foundation!

Dean F.  Wayne Vaught

I am excited to have the opportunity to serve as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  I have enjoyed being able to work more closely with so many talented faculty over past few months while serving as interim dean.  The College truly has an amazing collection of scholars who provide tremendous resources for the campus and the community.  As Dean, I will work to ensure that our scholarly activities are recognized by the community and strive to secure the resources necessary to further the mission of the College.  I believe there are some exciting times ahead for UMKC, and for the College of Arts and Sciences.

We continue to face economic challenges due to threats of cuts to our state appropriations.  This, combined with declining graduation rates for Missouri high school students over the next few years, will necessitate that we look closely for opportunities to create efficiencies in our day-to-day operations and to improve our ability to recruit and retain students.  Efforts are currently underway to dramatically improve our ability to retain our first-year students and to improve the number of students completing their degrees in 4 years.  We are also enhancing our recruitment efforts, and will soon have a marketing director who will focus on promoting the College.  However, our success in these areas will require active participation by faculty and staff in every department.

Over the next several years, we will work diligently to establish our reputation as the destination of choice for high school students in the region.  We will work together to implement a strategic plan that will enable us to grow quality graduate and undergraduate programs.  We will continue to build upon a culture that nurtures academic success, both for our faculty and for our students.  We will ensure that the College builds its visibility and is recognized as a vital resource for the Kansas City community.

I am delighted to be serving as Dean of the College and greatly appreciate the support I have received over the past few months.  There are some exciting times ahead for the College of Arts and Sciences, and I look forward to sharing them with you.
Dean Vaught

Since arriving at UMKC as a faculty member in 1998, I have been impressed by the quality of the student body and the dedication and expertise of the faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. During this time I have had the privilege of working with some truly exceptional people and am honored to have this opportunity to serve as interim dean.

Over the next few months, the College will be faced with some significant challenges but also with real opportunities for growth and innovation. As interim dean, my primary commitment is to help guide the College through these challenges toward achieving its strategic goals in both education and research. In so doing, I hope to continue previous efforts aimed at enhancing the College’s reputation as a vital community resource and a destination of choice for prospective students, faculty, and staff.

While the landscape of higher education is rapidly evolving and we are likely to see more changes in the next 20 years than in the past 100, our commitment to our students and our community remains unchanged. We must continue working to ensure that our students have access to high quality educational experiences and the resources necessary to complete their degrees in a timely fashion. We must also foster an environment that promotes innovative research and creative activities, allowing our faculty to continue to be recognized with prestigious honors and awards.

I have greatly enjoyed being a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences and my administrative roles as chair of the department of philosophy and associate dean. I am looking forward to serving in this new role and the opportunity to work with such an exciting group of faculty, students, and staff.

Welcome back! Here we are at the beginning of another academic year. There is always much excitement about a new beginning and especially this year when we engage our largest incoming class at UMKC ever! As one of our challenges is to recruit and retain more students, we know that our increased numbers were made possible by the dedication and hard work of so many of our faculty and staff. This service to the College is important and we are seeing the results. In addition to the service that faculty and staff do to help make our College run as smoothly as possible, you will read in this issue and others throughout this year about the teaching and research efforts of our faculty and the many other important things going on in the College. Please celebrate with us as you read about the many activities and accomplishments of our great faculty, staff and students. Go Roos!

Karen S. Vorst
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

We are delighted to roll out this special issue of the A&S College’s E-Zine. It celebrates the many accomplishments of our faculty during 2009, though clearly it does not represent everything that faculty have been doing. We would need a much bigger venue for that.

Not only do we want to highlight faculty activities, but we also want to share information across the College and the campus. Often we know what is happening in our own departments but we may not know what is going on elsewhere. The interdisciplinary nature of our College necessitates data sharing and we hope that presenting the accomplishments of our faculty here will lead to more collaboration within and across departments.

As you’ll see in these pages, we have so much to celebrate. We have an amazing collection of published books and articles on a wide variety of topics. There are important conference presentations, invited lectures and bestowed honors. Included also are myriad art exhibitions, play and film creations and directorships. Grant production in the College has expanded as well, including funding from national and international organizations.

Congratulations to our faculty for a very productive year!

Karen S. Vorst
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences