The Quad

Dr. Patricia McIlrath, archive photo

On January 11, the Theatre Department and the K.C. Repertory Theater celebrated the legacy of Dr. Patricia McIlrath who became chair of the Department of Speech and Theater at KCU in 1954 and started the Missouri Repertory Theatre in 1964. The “Rep” is now the Kansas City Repertory Theatre and owes its legacy to McIlrath who created the new theatre by gathering a team of artists all personally invested in the work.

More than 125 faculty, students, staff and guests joined to hear stories about “Dr. Mac,” reminisce about the past, celebrate the present and dream about the future.

For two looks back at the theater in which Dr. Mac opened the Rep, go to:

• UMKC “recycled” decades ago
• Playhouse marks birth of UMKC theatre

University Playhouse, c. 1948

A&S faculty need to alert their students that the deadline for applying for A&S Scholarships for AY2010-2011 is February 5, 2010. The form can be found here:
http://cas.umkc.edu/SCHOLARSHIPS/PDFs/Application.pdf

If you are advising those who are returning to college after a break of at least five years, be sure to point them to the Bernard Osher Reentry Scholarship. For more details on this award with a March 5, 2010 deadline, go to:
http://cas.umkc.edu/SCHOLARSHIPS/Osher.shtml

Liz Barton is the A&S Scholarship Coordinator at bartonliz@umkc.edu and you can see the list of A&S scholarships at Scholarship Web site:
http://cas.umkc.edu/SCHOLARSHIPS/

The new format of the A&S E-Zine allows quick overviews of a variety of stories of possible interest to all in the College and its friends on and off campus, with links to more information. Since this change in format, the editor has received content that did not fit the format and some concerns that the format ignores certain forms of scholarly and creative efforts that faculty would like to share with others in the College.

To address these concerns and highlight the achievements of our entire faculty, we will offer an “Extra Edition” that will appear after faculty members complete their annual Faculty Accomplishment System (FAS) reports in February. Since each faculty member will be recording their accomplishments of the past calendar year, this is a great opportunity to share an achievement for each faculty member in the College.

Faculty: Please submit one achievement you would like included in the “Extra Edition” and a link to a site where the full reference can be found.  Send your information to Neumand@umkc.edu.

The A&S Advising Office had 9,566 in-office visits with students in calendar year 2009. This was an increase of 818 over calendar year 2008. This does not include the many e-mail and phone advising sessions also handled each year by this office.

In case you are not subscribed to the ORS listserv and your scholarship and research is in the humanities, here is a site for humanities grants.

• www.arts.gov/grants/apply
• ORS Listserv: www.umkc.edu/ors/home/listserv.cfm

We welcome these new staff:
Teresa Crew – Administrative Associate I – High School College Program
Kathleen McCoy – Administrative Assistant – Geosciences
Ladonna McCullough – Administrative Assistant – Black Studies Program

And we congratulate Lester Porter (Physics – Senior Research Engineer) who gained his 15 years of Service Award in December.

As of this issue, A&S has a total of 24,825 living alumni. Of these, 13,094 reside in the KC Metropolitan area.

The A&S Theatre Department’s Undergraduate Spring Production is set to open February 24. For more details about this period piece written entirely in verse, see:
http://cas.umkc.edu/theatre/Playbill/09-10/LaBete.htm

Also, remember that their World Premier of Slammed is February 12. http://cas.umkc.edu/theatre/Playbill/09-10/Slammed2.htm

Jim Falls both looks back over his years at UMKC and to the future in this interview.
Renowned History professor to retire

In Spring 2010, total UMKC initial enrollment was 12,157 of which 4,139 were in A&S. In Spring 2009, the numbers were 11,639 and 3,911.

A recent count indicates that fewer than one third of A&S faculty have joined the “experts” list established by the UMKC public relations office. Join the experts list and be available to the media. Help put A&S out into the community. Go to:
http://www.umkc.edu/news/experts/add_expert.asp

In Spring 2010, A&S will have 34 percent of UMKC’s enrollment in its classes and A&S faculty will teach 41.3 percent of all credit hours earned at UMKC. In Spring 2009, the counterpart percentages were 33.6 percent and 42 percent.

We know that all A&S units are being cost conscious in these lean budget years. But for those with approved activities and programs that have need for guest lodging convenient to campus, we call your attention to a current offer from The Raphael hotel that can further save money. Because UMKC holds a preferred client status at The Raphael, they are holding our negotiated rates of $135 per night valid through 2010. As an added bonus, they are offering a special Renovation Celebration rate of $99 for a standard room and $139 for a suite through April 2010. The renovation increased their capabilities to accommodate small meetings.

For more information contact: Nancy D’Amico at 816-802-2142 or nancy@raphaelkc.com.