The Quad

Jennifer Lundgren (Psychology) is one of the editors of a new book, Night Eating Syndrome: Research, Assessment, and Treatment, to appear in August. It will be published by Guilford Press. For more see:

• www.guilford.com/cgi-bin/cartscript.cgi.

Xánath Caraza  (Foreign Languages and Literatures) will have her book Conjuro: Poemspublished in September, 2012 by Mammoth Publications. (www.mammothpublications.com). This will be tri-lingual, in Spanish/English/Nahuatl.

 She also has a new chapbook out: Corazon Pintado: Ekphrastic Poems (Kansas City: TL Press, 2012).

 (The following are abbreviated versions of stories and photos previously provided in “Perspectives” and elsewhere in Alumni News. For the full stories see: info.umkc.edu/perspectives/features/honor-roll/)

David Westbrook (B.A. 1971), Defying the Odds Award. Unhindered by the juvenile glaucoma that took his sight at age 17, David Westbrook has proven that vision has nothing to do with one’s ability to see. Westbrook founded Corporate Communications Group, one of the nation’s leading communications and public relations firms. In 2008, Westbrook took his talent and dedication to longtime client Children’s Mercy Hospital. As a volunteer, he has provided his energy and expertise to many community initiatives and organizations, including Alphapointe, American Federation for the Blind, the American Jazz Museum and many more. For Perspectives, he said:

“I think I got my passion from my experience at UMKC as chair of the Kennedy Symposium,” Westbrook says. “I was privileged to be with some truly remarkable thought leaders of the day. Being with those thought leaders and trying to make an impact on issues like the environment, civil rights and the war in Vietnam were experiences that prepared for a life of dealing with change and managing it on my own behalf as a blind man and also on behalf of clients.”
  

Michelle Wimes (B.A. 1988), College of Arts & Sciences. Wimes has used her UMKC Spanish and Communications degrees to spearhead workforce diversity and inclusion across the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Currently she is director of Professional Development and Inclusion at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart. Wimes previously served as the director of Strategic Diversity Initiatives at Shook, Hardy & Bacon and its nine city offices in the U.S., and abroad. She has garnered many professional and community awards for her work, including The Daily Record’s Leader of the Year Award.

 The ethnic distribution of the total of 599 A&S students enrolled in Masters level work in Spring, 2012 was as follows: Asian 1.5%; Black/African American 10.4%; Hispanic/Latino 6.2%; White 64.9%; All Other 17%.

Brent Rogers, an undergraduate student in Mathematics and Statistics, won first prize in the “Biological and Health Sciences” category at the 12th annual SEARCH Symposium for Research and Creative Achievements in Pierson auditorium April 2012 for a project on “Mathematical Model to Quantify Dosing and Evaluate Effects of Modifications of Cancer Virotherapy.  His research was funded by a grant from SEARCH.  Swati DebRoy, Lecturer in the department of Mathematics and Statistics, mentored him for this project.  Further details can be found at

• cas.umkc.edu/mathematics/MathStudentAwardsUG.asp#2012ug.

On May 2, 2012, the Mathematics & Statistics Department learned that Jesse Hamer, an undergraduate mathematics major, had won the Ninth Annual HOMSIGMAA (History of Mathematics Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America) contest for papers written in History of Mathematics courses across the country for his paper “Indivisibles and the Cycloid in the Early 17th Century.” Jesse’s paper will be posted on the HOMSIGMAA web site.  Students from the UMKC department had previously either won or co-won first place in this contest five times: in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, and 2011.  Jesse will receive an MAA student membership and some MAA books provided by HOMSIGMAA, a complimentary CSHPM (Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics) membership, and books donated by Johns Hopkins University Press.  His paper was written in Spring 2012 for Math 464 WI (History of Mathematics, Writing Intensive) taught by Richard Delaware.  For more, see: 

•  www.homsigmaa.org.

A&S Dean’s Office Administrative Assistant, John Adicks, served as “the man on the street” for a TV 41 News Story on taxes. See:

• www.kshb.com/dpp/news/local_news/Kansas-City-Mayor-Sly-James-to-propose-property-tax-increase.

Once on that page, click the image of Mayor James under the video player. When you move the cursor over the image, it should say KC tax increases.

New Staff

Dr. Carla Mebane is the new Manager/Director of the High School College Partnership effective June 11, 2012. She comes to us from a similar position at Northwest Missouri State University.

Christa Byer is the new and first ever Marketing Manager for the College and assumes her duties on June 18, 2012. She comes to us from a similar position at the Missouri Western Institute of Missouri Western State University.

(Editor’s Note: We will have more details on each of these new members of the College family in the next issue of the newsletter.)

Staff Retirement

Teresa Crew, Administrative Associate, High School College Partnership.