The Quad

On November 10, 2010, a Town Hall Meeting to review developments in the College over the past two years was held in the U-Center. Dean Karen Vorst  provided a commentary as the slides of the Power Point were viewed by the faculty and staff who attended. After the presentation, there was a Q&A session.
See:- http://cas.umkc.edu/docs/townhall%2011-08-10kv.ppsx to view the ppt.

Kathy Goggin, Jannette Berkley-Patton and Delwyn Catley (Psychology) were awarded a three-year, 1 million dollar grant from NIH to create the Heartland Health Network (HHN). HHN is slated to become a coalition of community partners working together to address health disparities  among African-American people by promoting wellness, facilitating health research and the dissemination of effective health interventions.  Founding partners include the Calvary Community Outreach Network (CCON), KC Free and UMKC.  The grant was one of approximately 30 proposals that were funded from 600 submitted grant proposals across the nation.
The “kick-off” event for HNN, a Community Health Fair, drew over 1000 people to the campus of the Calvary Temple Baptist Church on Saturday, October 30th. Chancellor Morton, Dean Vorst, Senator Clair McCaskill and Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver were on hand to express their support for the event and the mission of the HHN. Over 15 community health serving organizations including UMKC’s School of Medicine distributed vital health information and conducted health screening.
See:- http://heartlandhealthnetwork.org/ and http://umkcpsychology.blogspot.com/

Dr. Ken Kramme, a Science teacher at Liberty High School, with more than 31 years of service  to UMKC through the  A&S High School/College Partnerships dual credit program, was recently recognized for teaching excellence by the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). This Outstanding Teacher recognition program by SCI rewards teachers for motivating students to pursue careers in chemistry or chemical engineering. The award carries a cash stipend of $1000 to be used for classroom purposes or professional development.
To support science education in the Unites States, one of SCI’s goals is to encourage students to pursue degrees in chemistry. Its SCI Scholars Program is a nationwide competition for college students in chemistry or chemical engineering. SCI Scholars may nominate a teacher who encouraged their interest in science and through their excellent teaching, gave them the foundation for their academic success. Dr. Kramme was nominated by Erik Nordwald, a former student at the Liberty High School, who now attends the University of Missouri – Columbia.
See:- http://www.soci.org/Membership-and-Networks/Regional-Groups/America-International-Group.aspx

Congratulations to Lauren Buscher, an undergraduate psychology student, and her research mentor, Jared Bruce.  Lauren’s poster was selected for The Dr. Ted Blau Student Poster Award at this year’s National Academy of Neuropsychology  Conference. The title of the poster was “The relationship between self-reported cognitive difficulties and medication adherence in multiple sclerosis”.
See:- http://www.nanonline.org/NAN/Award/Award.aspx
Congratulations also to David Martinez, a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology.  David recently received a highly competitive NIMH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award to fund his dissertation work.  This $100,000  award will provide funding to support David as he completes his project “HIV Stigma Reduction and Screening in the Hispanic/Latino Church Setting.”  Faculty members Kathy Goggin and Jannette Berkley-Patton will serve as David’s research mentors.
See:- http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm

We report with sadness the passing of C. Neil Bull, Professor Emeritus of Sociology  on Sept. 26, 2010, after a brief illness.  During his years at UMKC, Neil had served as Chair of the Dept. of Sociology and as Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences. He also served as Director of The National Resource Center for Rural Elderly.  He published many books and articles on sociology.  Neil was a lover of gardens, nature and learning.  His memory is treasured by his wife, family and friends.  A memorial service was held at 3pm Friday, Oct. 1, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 6401 Wornall Rd, Kansas City, MO.

In Fall 2010, A&S students came from 40 of the 50 states. The top six states in order of ‘contribution’ to the total are Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Nebraska and California.

In AY 2010, the A&S awarded 914 BA degrees, 173 MA degrees and 4 Ph.D. degrees (Psychology). In AY 2009, those numbers were: 829, 187 and 4. In AY 2008, they were: 713,198 and 2.  That is an increase of 28. 2 % in awarded BA degrees between 2008 and 2010 and a decrease of 12.2 % in awarded MA degrees over the same period.

Typically, each  MSW student  must complete 1,040 hours of supervised field work as part of the MSW degree program over a two-year period. The UMKC MSW fieldwork interns and their supervising instructors provide in-kind service valued at almost $1,000,000 to the community.

The A&S School of Social Work placed 143 MSW graduate students into 92 different agencies in the metro area in Fall Semester, 2010. They are being supervised by 86 on-site field instructors who are guided by 15 members of the Social Work faculty.

Two A&S Faculty retired at end of AY 2009-2010

We report the retirements of Jim Falls (History) and    Gary Holcombe (Theatre) and wish them the very best for what they now move on to do.

New Staff

• Mary McDonough — Administrative Assistant
  (Geosciences)
• Gregory Rozell — Academic Advisor
  (Advising)

Years of Service Awards

• 5 years: Stella Szymanski
  (AUPD)



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

With this “Summer 2010” issue of the A&S E-Zine, we start our second year of high-lighting and reporting on happenings in the UMKC College of Arts and Sciences that mark achievements by its faculty, staff and students (past and present). We hope our readers find the enterprise of interest as we strive to make this information available in ways that can be communicated more widely and at less cost than hard copy news. It also can be explored through the links we provide to the extent that the reader chooses. And it can be shared quickly with others who may have an interest in the College. All of these depend on remaining as true to our format plan as we can where we publish the essentials and rely on links to other sources for the details. Otherwise, the e-Zine would get unwieldy.

This issue also is the first one that will be produced completely in the College. As we were learning to ride this new vehicle, we had able assistance from staff in the Provost’s Office. Now the training wheels are off and we hope we can continue to ride smoothly to our destination.Our expectation is to publish approximately once every month near the end of the month except during vacation breaks and the summer. And our requirements remain the same: one or two sentences about the achievement and then an internet link to a more detailed source. We look forward to receiving your suggested items at Neumand@umkc.edu.

Finally, as in the past, the newsletter will be accessible in two formats: a PDF and a WordPress version. The former can be printed (if need be) and the later is keyword searchable. And the links in each are active so you need only click on them to go further. Both are archived at: http://info.umkc.edu/thequad/newsletter-archive/

Dale Neuman – Editor

In FY 2009, ORS records show that there were 49 external grants or contracts awarded to 28 faculty in the College with an average value of $129,755. For FY 2010, those same records show 43 external grants or contracts awarded to 26 faculty in A&S with an average value of $ 141,441.

A&S had an enrollment head count of 4,386 one week before the start of classes in Fall, 2010. In Fall 2009, that number was 4,090. Those enrollments led to 63,314 SCH in Fall 2010 and 59,524 in Fall 2009. The average SCH load for Fall 2010 is 14.66; for Fall 2009 it was 14.56.

Fall 2010 Campus headcount (as of one week before classes) was up 5.9% while the College was up 7.2%. Fall 2010 Campus SCH is up 5.9% while the College SCH is up 8%.

As of one week before classes, there were 2,665 continuing students and 1,721 new students in the College in Fall 2010. In 2009, those numbers were 2,503 and 1,587.

New Letters on the Air is among 10 finalists in the Culture and the Arts category for the 2010 New York Festivals International Radio Programming Awards, which were announced on August 11. Other finalists include programs from BBC Radio 4, RTE Radio 1 (Ireland), and Radio Television Hong Kong. The winner of the competition will be announced by September.

(From left to right Dennis Conrow (Assistant Producer), Angela Elam (Producer & Host), Annie Walsh (Technical Editor) and Max Mosley (Student Radio Staff))

On June 24, 2010, The Applied Language Institute (ALI) hosted a delegation of 13 ESL professors and instructors from the West Bank (Palestine), who were chosen by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs for the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). The 13 visitors participated in the “Teaching English as a Second Language” program to meet with their U.S. professional counterparts. These professionals have travelled across the USA learning about the United States and about English Language teaching in U.S. Universities.
See:- http://www.umkc.edu/ali/about_us.asp