Archive for June, 2012

“Desire for Medieval Past” Manuscript Exhibit to Run June 1-30

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

This event (in the Dean’s Gallery of Miller Nichols Library) features a wealth of materials from Midwestern monastic libraries.  The books include a variety of religious materials, including donations from mother houses in Europe, gifts from benefactors, and purchases by the communities themselves.  Focusing on three Benedictine libraries near Kansas City–Mount St. Scholastica (Atchison, KS), St Benedict’s Abbey (Atchison, KS), and Conception Abbey (Conception, MO)–this exhibition will feature manuscripts and early printed books from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, some in original bindings.  The majority of items in the exhibition include individual leaves from medieval manuscripts that can be dated back to the eleventh century and early printed books or incunabula.  Examples of books in these collections dating from the seventeenth through the twenty-first centuries illustrate the persistent interest in producing religious texts by hand.  As a complement to these items, there are prints of individual leaves and bound reproductions of the celebrated St. John’s Bible, which was finished in April 2011 by renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson for St. John’s Abbey (Collegeville, MN).  All items will be on display in the second-floor Dean’s Gallery from 1-30 June 2012.

The Department of English Language and Literature hosted the second of three conferences on ‘Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe II’ at the University of Missouri–Kansas City from 5–8 June 2012.  It brought together specialists working on diverse geographical areas to create a dialogue about the Latin and vernacular texts nuns read, wrote, and exchanged, primarily from the eighth to the mid-sixteenth centuries.  International experts addressed these issues.  The papers resulting from this conference will form the chapters of a published volume.  This conference is the second in a series of three: the first conference was held in Hull from 20–23 June 2011; a third meeting will be held in Antwerp in June, 2013.

See more:

New Scholarship Created

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

A scholarship has been created for former longtime faculty member and colleague, Geraldine Fowle, who died on October 8, 2011.  Geraldine was a key member of the faculty of the Department of Art and Art History at UMKC for more than 45 years.  To honor the contributions of this outstanding educator, the Geraldine E. Fowle Art History Scholarship Fund was recently established with a lead gift from Geraldine’s sister, Rosemary Deen of Stone Ridge, New York.  In addition, generous gifts have been received from many of her colleagues and friends here at UMKC and Kansas City.  The fund will provide scholarship support to deserving undergraduate or graduate students who are seeking a degree in Art History at UMKC.  We hope you will join with your colleagues and support this special scholarship fund for the students Geraldine dedicated her life to educating and serving at UMKC.  For questions, please contact Phil Watson, Director of Development and Gift Planning at the College of Arts & Sciences, at 108 Scofield Hall, ext. 5776, or watsonp@umkcfoundation.org.

Truman Center Interns Head to Washington

Friday, June 22nd, 2012
Once again, the UMKC Truman Center is sending two UMKC undergraduate interns to work for a month in Congressional offices all expenses paid under its Bootstrap Internship Program. This program honors Harry Truman’s life-long commitment to encourage the civic education and engagement of young men and women.

Lola Oduyeru, Dean Vaught and Emalea Black

This year, the two Bootstrap Award recipients are: Emalea Black and Lola Oduyeru.  Emalea, a Political Science major with a minor in Classics, will be working in the office of Representative Jo Ann Emerson (Republican, Missouri 8th District). Lola, a Political Science major with a minor in Economics will be working in the office of Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (Democrat, Missouri 5th District.)

This is the fourth set of Truman Center Interns to spend part or all of their summers in D. C. since the program began. The interns are competitively chosen from among all applicants by an advisory committee made up of UMKC alumni who have been Congressional interns, internship coordinators, or otherwise active in civic engagement efforts in the KC area. The internship carries academic credit based on a successful completion of a reading and writing project mentored and monitored by Professor Beth Miller of the Political Science Department. For more on what interns do and how they have reacted to their experiences in the past, see:

 

Fast Fact

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

Tuition Bases of A&S Majors in Spring Semester, 2012    

    Missouri Resident   Metro Rate Other
           
  FROSH (N=656) 76.70%   15.10% 8.20%
  SOPH (N= 710) 77.70%   16.80% 5.50%
  JUNIOR (N=940) 71.50%   21.10% 7.40%
  SENIOR ( N=1286) 70.90%   23.50% 5.60%
  MASTERS (N=599) 62.90%   15.50% 21.50%

English Department Involved in New Service Learning Project

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

The lead story in their most recent departmental newsletter tells us that: “’Story City,’ a new UMKC service-learning project, is giving urban children the opportunity to author their own short fiction.  UMKC Service- Learning is working in partnership with the UMKC Institute for Human Development, UMKC English Department, and three community organizations to connect 100 elementary-age students with 25 “Introduction to Fiction” students enrolled in ENG 214, to learn and grow together.”  This ten week program will culminate in a published anthology of stories drawn from the students’ oral stories with each student getting his or her own copy.

We also learn that the department has created and funded a “Best Essay” contest for those High School/College Partnership students enrolled in English 110 throughout the KC Metro area.  One of this year’s four winners will be attending UMKC this fall to study English.  And, they announce that their Graduate Certificate in the Teaching of Writing in conjunction with the School of Education and the Greater Kansas City Writing Project has been approved and the first students will be admitted this summer.

This 17-page newsletter includes so many stories of interest, including achievements and recognitions (with photos) of faculty, students and alumni, that we do not have room in the Zine to properly cover them.  So we applaud them and send you to their site for the stories.
See:

A&S Again Hosts Latinos for Tomorrow Program

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

The 6th Annual Scholarship Fest for Latinos of Tomorrow was hosted by The College on Arts & Sciences on Saturday, March 10.  More than 65 students participated in the event–a dual-tracked college access/college retention program designed to identify and bank scholarship packages to encourage a college-going culture and develop a scholarship/financial plan to allow current college students to complete their degrees.

Once again, this year’s event was co-sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures, the High School College Partnerships and Arts & Sciences Continuing Education.  A special campus welcome was provided by Dr. Kevin Z. Truman, Dean of the School of Computer Sciences and Engineering.  Sessions included Preparing for College, Navigating a Seamless Transfer to a 4-Year Institution, Financial Literacy, FastWeb, College 101: Scholarship Essays and Resumes—An Introduction and Engaging with College Recruiters.

Those completing Scholarship Fest continued the annual program for Latinos of Tomorrow members, attending Essay and Resume Workshops from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., Saturday, March 10 and 17, 2012.  Assisted by Kelley Young, Alice Reckley Vallejos and Lynne Clawson-Day, the students finalized a minimum of three scholarship applications each.  Students participating in this series of workshops have earned more than $13,000 per year in scholarship funding for an upcoming academic year to complement merit scholarships in their quest to meet the ever-increasing costs of higher education.

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:

A&S Students and Faculty Win Fulbright Scholarships

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

Julie Bates, a German major with an art history minor, will teach English in Germany.  Sa Shea Gaston, a graduate student in romance languages, will teach English in Mexico.  The faculty member is Thomas Stroik (English) who will teach in Poland.  Once again UMKC and A&S do well in national scholarly awards.

Read more here:

Five A&S Faculty to Retire

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Carla Klausner, Curators’ Teaching Professor of History, Rebecca Roberts, Lecturer in Mathematics, Yanching (Jerry) Jean, Curators’ Professor of Chemistry, Robert Evanson, Associate Professor of Political Science and Wayne Lucas, Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology will be joining the ranks of the retired by summer’s end.  We thank them for their service to the College and UMKC and wish them well in their retirement.  Each was asked to reflect on their days at UMKC.  The replies that have arrived are printed below.
 

Y.C. (Jerry) Jean (Chemistry) will become Curators’ Professor Emeritus as of September 1, 2012 after an academic career at UMKC of 32 years.  The first 8 years were in Physics and the remaining 24 years were in Chemistry.  He also served as Chair of Chemistry between 1994 and 2006.  His research is in the areas of physical chemistry and materials science.  It has been recognized numerous times when he was named the UMKC Trustees’ Fellow and received the N.T. Veatch Distinguished Research Award.  He has been a Fellow of American Physical Society since 1994.  He has published over 340 scientific articles and 8 books while at UMKC and mentored over 50 M.S. and Ph.D. students in addition to some others doing postdoctoral work . He will continue to serve as Senior Pastor at Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church in Lenexa and continue his scientific research at UMKC after his retirement.
 

Robert K. Evanson (Political Science) came to UMKC in 1980 as an Assistant Professor teaching comparative and international politics.  His research interests have been focused on east-central Europe, Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, and international relations theory.  In 1989 he was invited by then Dean Max Skidmore to serve as an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, after which he worked as a faculty intern in the office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Marvin Querry, and as chair of his department.  For many years he was principal advisor in the Master of Arts program in Political Science.  He greatly enjoyed these various experiences and is grateful to the colleagues who made them possible.  He most enjoyed, however, his time spent with his undergraduate and graduate students, and the pleasure of working with so many congenial colleagues, including those in his own department.  Bob has been nominated for emeritus status and has been appointed a James C. Olson professor.

He and his wife Nan are relocating to the Seattle area, where Nan’s daughter and family live.  They will spend their summers at Bob’s family cottage in Wisconsin.  Bob will be finishing a book this summer which he is co-editing and to which he is contributing two chapters.  He looks forward to completing other writing projects and enjoying the great outdoors in both Washington and Wisconsin through hiking, birding, and golf, as well as spending time with family and friends.
  

Carla Klausner (History) received her doctorate from Harvard University in History and Middle East studies in 1963, in the first year that Harvard granted the Ph.D. to women.  She began her teaching career at UMKC with a part-time appointment in 1964 and received a tenure track position in 1966.  In her years at UMKC, she taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in Medieval European, Islamic, Ottoman, Middle East, Jewish and Holocaust history.  She also enjoyed participating in the NEH grant that established the Cluster Course program and teaching the “Courts and Culture in the High Middle Ages” course with emerita professor Linda Voigts.  Carla received the Shelby Storck award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Interfraternity Council Good Teaching Award, was a Mortarboard Honoree, received the UMKC Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Faculty Award from the Doctoral Student Association, and in 2004 was named Curators Distinguished Teaching Professor.  As the only full-time female faculty member in the History department for at least twenty years, and among the handful of women on the faculty in those early days, she also was tapped for service on countless College and University committees.  She is gratified and thankful that there are now so many wonderful and accomplished female colleagues in the department and throughout the system.  For many years, she served as the History MA advisor and IPhD coordinator.  Her expertise on the Middle East led to countless lectures to academic and community audiences on various aspects of the history, culture and politics of the region, as well as numerous media appearances.  Her textbook with Ian Bickerton on the Arab-Israeli conflict (Prentice Hall) is now in a sixth edition, and she is working on a seventh edition as well as on a sourcebook on the modern Middle East for Oxford University Press.  She loved being in the classroom and now, in her emerita status, looks forward to teaching part-time for the next three years as an Olson professor.
 

Wayne Lucas (Criminal Justice & Criminology) will retire and become Professor Emeritus as of September 1, 2012.  He has also been appointed as a James C. Olson Professor.  He came to UMKC in 1976 as an Assistant Professor, and was the first faculty member hired by the first department Chair, Abraham Blumberg, in the newly established “Administration of Justice” program.  The program name was changed in 1999 to “Criminal Justice & Criminology.”  Over the 36 years at UMKC, Wayne rose through the ranks to Full Professor, and taught a number of courses from the CJC curriculum.  Recently he focused on courses in research methods, criminal behavior systems, and a course reflecting his research emphasis in drug use and control policies.  Wayne received the College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Teaching Award, and the first Annual Teaching Award presented by the combined Sociology-Criminal Justice & Criminology department, in 2000.  His research has been published in several journals devoted to the drug abuse area, and he worked extensively with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and local forums such as the Jackson County ComBAT Program, in the development of effective drug abuse treatment and prevention programs.  Under the Olson Professor program he plans to continue offering his drug use and control policies course, as well as work in further developing links between the CJC department and local community.

Fast Fact

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
    Ethnicity of A&S
Undergrads Spring, 2012
By Percentage
           
  Ethnicity FR. SO. JR. SR.
           
  Asian 5.9 4.4 3.8 5.5
  Black/African American 30.5 18.50 19 15.9
  Hispanic/Latino 7.5 5.9 6.2 6.4
  White 47.4 60.3 59.8 61.1
  All Other 8.7 10.9 11.2 11
           
  Percent 100 100 100 99.9
  Number 656 710 940 1286

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 MartinezSecond 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.

In Memoriam

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

We again sadly must report the passing of members of the Arts and Science family: Shona Wray, Ed Goebel, Stephen Gosnell and former Associate Dean Mary Merryman.

History Chair Gary Ebersole wrote these words of Shona on May 7, 2012.

“It is with great sadness that I write to report that Shona Kelly Wray, Associate Professor of History, passed away yesterday in Florence, Italy.  Shona suffered a massive aneurism, which led to cardiac arrest and severe brain damage.  She was in a coma on life support until her husband, Randy, her son, Shane, daughter, Alina, and her sister, Maggi, reached her side.  Generous to the very end, Shona had requested that her organs be donated.  Shona was a brilliant scholar-teacher, beloved by her colleagues and students.  A student of medieval and Renaissance Italy, medieval feminist scholarship, medical history, and more, Shona was one of the brightest lights of her generation.  She had received to two most prestigious honors in her field—the Rome Prize and a Harvard I Tatti Fellowship.  Shona was in Florence at the I Tatti Villa during AY 2011-2012 doing research for what promised to be a ground-breaking social history of the family lives of the faculty of the University of Bologna in the medieval ages.  Her social history of the Black Death in Bologna will long remain a model of archival scholarship.”
See:

Ray Coveney (Geosciences) alerted us to the passing of Ed Goebel in early May.  Ed’s career spanned service to the State of Kansas as senior state geologist; as technical director for the Federal Power Commission and as Professor of Geology at UMKC.  He was 88.  For more see:

We also learned from Ray, in his role as acting Chair of Art and Art History, about the passing of Stephen Gosnell on May 27, 2012 when he wrote: I am sorry to have to tell you that associate professor emeritus Stephen Gosnell passed away in his sleep last night after a brief illness.  He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou Pagano, his children, Anna and Andrew, and five grandchildren.  Steve taught, painted, and made prints at UMKC for more than thirty years, retiring in 2001.  May he rest in peace. See:

We have learned   that Mary Merryman, who served as an Associate Dean for the College for many years before retiring almost 20 years ago, passed away on May 27, 2012.  Mary’s primary duties dealt with the undergraduate students of the College.  See:

Faculty Recognitions

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Joy Swallow and Tony Caruso Win Presidential Awards

At a ceremony held April 12, 2012 in the AUP+D conference area these awards were announced.  Tony Caruso (Physics) was awarded the 2012 UM President’s Award for Early Career Excellence. 

Photos of UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton, 2012 UM President’s Award for Early Career Excellence winner Tony Caruso (left) 2012 President’s Award for University Citizenship-Leadership winner Joy Swallow (right), and UM President Tim Wolfe [Photos courtesy of Beci Edmundson].

Joy Swallow (Architecture, Urban Planning+Design) was awarded the 2012 President’s Award for University Citizenship-Leadership.

For more see:

Robin Aupperle (Psychology) was awarded a University of Missouri Research Board (UMRB) grant for a study titled “Cognitive Training in PTSD: Effects on Cognitive and Emotional Processing”.
 

Robin Aupperle (Psychology) and Jared Bruce (Psychology) were awarded Frontiers: The Heartland Institute for Clinical and Translational Research grants.  Aupperle’s study is titled “A pilot study investigating effects of cognitive training for PTSD” and Bruce’s study is titled “Improving medication adherence in Multiple Sclerosis”.
 

Jennifer Lundgren (Psychology) will be inducted as a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders at the International Conference on Eating Disorders May 5th in Austin, TX.  She has a forthcoming edited volume, Night Eating Syndrome: Research, Assessment, and Treatment, to be published by Guilford (in print August 2012).

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