Students take the spotlight over the summer:

Emily Geminder wins Creative Non-Fiction Prize

From her ground-level position as a journalist, Emily Geminder was immersed in the sights and sounds and events that inform a writer’s work. While covering stories and editing pieces in New York and Cambodia, she developed a keen eye for the ways in which history remains tied to an invisible past.

A second year MFA student at UMKC, Geminder’s talents have earned her the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) 2015 award for “Nausicaa,” a piece of creative non-fiction that relates, in letter form, her reading of “Ulysses” while she was in India. The Tampa Review will publish her winning entry in a forthcoming issue.

“The AWP award is the most prestigious and competitive national award that a creative writing student can receive,” said Whitney Terrell, assistant professor in the Department of English and the New Letters Distinguished Writer-in-Residence. Read more.

Two UMKC Students Awarded Prestigious Gilman International Scholarship

Two University of Missouri-Kansas City College of Arts and Sciences students are among 860 American undergraduate students from 332 colleges and universities across the U.S. selected to receive the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to study or intern abroad during the fall 2015/academic year 2015-2016 academic term.

UMKC senior Danisa Dan-Irabor will study abroad at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea. She is majoring in Criminal Justice and Criminology. Karina Dunn, a UMKC senior, will study abroad at Universitat de Valencia through ISA in Valencia, Spain. She is pursuing a double major in English with a concentration on Creative Writing, and Spanish.

Gilman scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply towards their study abroad or internship program costs. The program aims to diversify the students who study and intern abroad and the countries and regions where they go. Students receiving a federal Pell Grant from two- and four-year institutions, who will be studying abroad or participating in a career-oriented international internship for academic credit, are eligible to apply. Read more.

Courtney Frerichs sets records in track

Junior distance runner Frerichs became the university’s first four-time NCAA All-American, earning the honor twice in cross country, once in indoor track and another time in outdoor track. She broke her own school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a WAC-record time of 9:32.12 to move into the top spot in the NCAA. The Olympic hopeful’s time also ranks No. 2 in the world this year.

Frerichs plans to pursue a professional running career, then go on to medical school and a career as an orthopedist.

Governor announces boost to need-based scholarships

Gov. Jay Nixon came to UMKC to announce a substantial boost in need-based scholarships for college students across Missouri.

At the July 15 press conference at the Atterbury Student Success Center, Nixon said the maximum award amount for Access Missouri scholarships will increase by more than 23 percent – to $1,850 from $1,500 – for students attending participating four-year institutions including UMKC, and by nearly 30 percent – to $850 from $660 – for students attending participating two-year institutions in the current fiscal year, FY2016.

Nixon stressed the importance of the investment to the state’s overall economy, as well as to individual students and their families. “Institutions like UMKC are essential to Missouri’s ability to compete and win in today’s high tech economy,” the governor said. “Education is the best economic development tool we have.

Introducing the governor, UMKC Chancellor Leo E. Morton noted the importance of need-based scholarships to an urban-serving university. “By providing an affordable path to higher education, we provide a strong and productive workforce for our communities, help people achieve a higher standard of living, and keep our best and brightest young people here at home,” Morton said.

He noted that more than 1,300 UMKC students received Access Missouri scholarships last year, and that 60 percent of UMKC applicants are classified as having high financial need.

“We need to provide as many gap-closers as we can,” Morton said. Read more.