The Quad

It is taking more time to compile the information for this special issue than we had been anticipated. As a result, the publication of the “special” issue on faculty and departmental accomplishment highlights in 2009 has been delayed. The Editor appreciates the efforts of faculty and others who will help make the issue as complete as possible. Thanks for your patience.
– Dale Neuman, Editor, A&S E-Zine

ORS has now made available all of the grant data for 2009 so we can again take note of the awards by faculty in A&S. Since we were reporting partial information as it came to us between August and now, these lists may include items that have been previously noted in earlier issues of the E-Zine. But to make sure we do not miss any, the complete listings from ORS are included in this issue.

A&S faculty and staff were among those honored on February 15, 2010 during UMKC’s “Celebrating Excellence” ceremony. They are:

Jara Stewart (A&S Continuing Education) Staff Council Governing Board Award for 2010	Todor Gounev (Chemistry) Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
Jerzy Wrobel (Physics) and James Falls (History) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
Tamera Murdock (Psychology) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring	Pellom McDaniels (History) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Diversity

• www.umkc.edu/provost/awards
  Photos by Bob Greenspan

Since fiscal year 2010 began on July 1, 2009, faculty in A&S have been awarded $2,834,671 in external grants and contracts.

We congratulate the winners and commend them for their commitment to their students. They will be formally recognized at a College awards event in the Fall.

	Alumni Good Teaching Award: Awarded annually to an outstanding regular teacher in The College of Arts and Sciences ($1000). Michael Kruger (Physics)
	Dean’s Outstanding Teaching Award: Awarded annually to one regular faculty member in The College of Arts and Sciences for outstanding teaching ($1000). Caroline “Molly” Davies (Geosciences)
	Dean’s Non-Regular Lecturer Award: Awarded annually to one non-regular faculty member in The College of Arts and Sciences for outstanding teaching ($1000). The nominee should have teaching as his/her primary mission. Bob Riggs (Physics)

Again, because of the large number of those graduating, A&S will have two sessions: 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Each session is for graduate and undergraduate degree recipients in their respective departments.

The alphabetical order is as follows:

• 1 p.m. ceremony: Mathematics through Theatre;
• 4 p.m. ceremony: Architecture, Urban Planning + Design though Liberal Studies.

The commencement speaker will be: Mary Bitterman, President of the Bernard Osher Foundation and Chair of the Board of PBS. For more see:

• http://www.osherfoundation.org/index.php?board_bio

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.