For a more recent look at the Warko on Royall Hall as well as notes on restoration work see:
www.unews.com/2.4805/take-it-from-an-expert-umkc-s-observatory-sees-stars-1.656819
Warkoczewski Observatory on Royall Hall. Photo by Ashley L. Butler
Under the leadership of Dana Tulodziecki and Kayla Sosa, its Honors Society, Phi Sigma Tau, won FOUR of this year’s UMKC Student Government awards.
The awards were: Best Adviser: Dana Tulodziecki; Best Professor: Jim Sheppard; Best Undergraduate Society: Phi Sigma Tau and Best New Student Group: Phi Sigma Tau.
In an effort to help raise funds for endowed scholarships in the Department, Professor George Gale will be donating a number of his infamous shirts (with certificates to their authenticity) to donors who make contributions in the amounts of $250 and $500. For more see: http://cas.umkc.edu/onthequad/pdfs/QuadSp10.pdf
Cathleen Burnett (Criminal Justice and Criminology) has a new book coming out in May 2010.
See: www.rienner.com/title/Wrongful_Death_Sentences_Rethinking_Justice_in_Capital_Cases
In 2009, A&S faculty obtained over $3,400,000 in external grants. There were 50 grants awarded to 31 individuals in 13 academic departments, the Dean’s Office and New Letters.
Robert Stewart, editor of New Letters journal, will read his poems in a program with novelist, essayist, and short-fiction award winner Thomas E. Kennedy, who lives in Copenhagen.
| Date | Tuesday, April 20, 2010 |
| Time | 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CDT |
| Where | Johnson County Library, 9875 W. 87th St, Overland Park, Kan. |
| Event Type | Arts & Culture |
| Event Sponsor | New Letters & The Writers Place |
| Event Contact | Ashley Kaine 235-1168 See also http://www.newletters.org/eventsReading.asp |
Gayle Levy, director, Honors Program
The UMKC Honors Program just completed its 30th year of activities. Established in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1979 with 12 students by its first director, Bruce Bubacz (Philosophy), the program now serves almost 90 students campus-wide. Forty-four percent are A&S students; 16 percent are in Biological Sciences; 11 percent in Education; 9 percent in the Bloch School; 9 percent in Pharmacy; 5 percent in Medicine and the rest in other schools with undergraduate enrollees.
Several A&S faculty have served as Honors Directors or Co-Directors: Joan Dean (English), Harris Mirkin (Political Science), and Dick Murphy (Physics). The current director is Gayle Levy (Foreign Languages and Literatures) and the associate director is John Herron (History).
John Herron, associate director, Honors Program
Honors students come to UMKC with high expectations, high ACT scores (the average for those entering in 2009 was 30), and have the opportunity to be part of a living-learning community in Oak Street Hall. They leave with high achievements, often with double or triple majors. They have been active in the Southwest Early College Campus math and science program and publish their own journal of undergraduate research, LUCERNA.
For more, go to: http://cas.umkc.edu/honors
Fall 2010 applications for admission in A&S are up by 11.7 percent.
|
Fall Semester 2009 and Fall Semester 2010 |
||||
| Type | Fall 2009 | Fall 2010 | ||
| First-time College | 880 | 1064 | ||
| Graduate | 33 | 62 | ||
| Transfer | 159 | 228 | ||
| Other | 26 | 20 | ||
| Total | 1098 | 1374 | ||
| (Applications) | (1766) | (1973) | ||
| Admitted Rate | 62.2% | 69.6% | ||
Bob Stewart of BkMK Press has written to tell us of the good word that a BkMk Press book of stories, Homicide Survivors Picnic, by Lorraine M. Lopez, is a finalist for the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The PEN/Faulkner Award is the largest peer-juried fiction prize in the country. The winner of this award — the “winner among equals” — will be announced on March 23. The other four finalist books were published by Grove Press, Harper, Knopf and Doubleday.
Beth Miller (Political Science) has been interviewed by media from several continents about the results of the research she and Jennifer Lundgren (Psychology) recently published on obesity and political candidate evaluations. For two of these interviews see:
Randy Wray (Economics), at the invitation of the President of the Dominican Republic, participated in program hosted by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development in San Domingo during the week of January 19, 2010.
New Staff
Years of Service Awards
Spring 2010 enrollment by student credit hour (SCH) in A&S is 71,851. In Spring 2009, the number was 64,842.
