Fast Fact
April 26th, 2011One hundred and eight graduating seniors received departmental honors from the departments in which they majored at the May 2011 A&S Commencement.
New Letters Discusses the Power of Art
April 26th, 2011
The new edition of New Letters discusses the theme of power in relation to the enduring nature of art and its ability to lend us a reprieve from the forward momentum of time. In keeping with the theme of the enduring power of art, this issue features an essay memorializing poet Phil Miller, a teacher and a leader in the Kansas City literary community, alongside one of his poems, a New Letters retrospective. Other highlights include poetry, fiction and an essay by the New Letters Literary Award winners, poetry by Kim Addonizio, an interview with Walter Cummins, and an essay and photo spread of Paris, France’s, legendary George Whitman on his 97th birthday. The cover art for the edition is by Lisa Grossman.
Student Art Exhibit Opens in May
April 26th, 2011The Department of Art and Art History is hosting the 2011 UMKC Student Art Exhibition in Room 106 of the Fine Arts Building’s Gallery of Art, 5015 Holmes St., Kansas City, Mo. The opening reception was on Thursday, May 5 at the Gallery of Art, and the exhibition will run through July 30. UMKC Gallery hours are 1-5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and 1 to 7 p.m. Thursday.
The exhibition is open to any student enrolled in classes at UMKC and includes painting, photography, sculpture, prints, graphic design, video and motion graphics. Featuring works by 37 artists, this year’s exhibition is juried by Cara Megan Lewis. Lewis is the curator at Cara and Cabezas Contemporary and works independently on curatorial projects in Kansas City and San Francisco. Lewis received her Master’s Degree in June 2007 from the Curatorial Practice Program at the California College of the Arts. Her professional experience includes three years as a registrar at Fraenkel Gallery, registration work on the Diane Arbus Retrospective at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and curatorial assistance for the arts programming at Mamá Art Cafe in San Francisco.
For more see: http://cas.umkc.edu/art/
UMKC Theatre Presented World Premier of SHOOT HORSES
April 26th, 2011
A world-premiere adaptation for UMKC by Emmy-award- winning writer Ron Hutchinson of an American classic story was presented April 23-May 1, 2011. The craze of marathon dance competitions sweeps through 1930s Los Angeles, where the unemployed and desperate dance for weeks, and sometimes till death, to win money and fame.
Two Summer Writing Conferences Offered for Creative Writers
April 26th, 2011UMKC continues its service to community writers, readers, and want-to-be writers with two annual workshops tailored for both lay people and students. Beginning writers and those more established can attend each course for college credit or for noncredit.
The Mark Twain Writers Workshop runs each weekday morning for three weeks, starting Monday, June 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and offers instruction in fiction, creative nonfiction, stage and screen writing, and poetry from New Letters editor Robert Stewart and novelist Michael Pritchett. Featured this year will be a symposium, “Getting Published,” with guest speakers and publishers.
The New Letters Weekend Writing Conference: Friday evening, June 24th, marks the start of the New Letters Weekend Writers Conference, held off campus at UMKC’s conference center and retreat in midtown, Diastole, running through Sunday, June 26th. The keynote address will be given Friday at 5:30 p.m. by two-time National Book Critics Circle Award winner, essayist, novelist, and poet Albert Goldbarth. The conference features instruction on how to write plays, scripts for TV and movies, poetry, fiction and journalism. For more see: http://www.newletters.org/writingConferences.asp
Truman Center for Governmental Affairs “Bootstrap” Scholarship Winners
April 26th, 2011
Two A&S students have been awarded the 2011 Summer Scholarships to intern in Missouri delegation Congressional offices. David Jordan, a Communications Studies major, will work in Representative Cleaver’s office and Alex Conaway, a Political Science major will work in Representative Clay’s office. Support for this academic credit-earning opportunity comes from the Truman Center and its donors as well as the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. Assistant Professor Beth Miller (Political Science) mentors the students. This is the third summer in which two UMKC students have had the chance to work in Congress under the sponsorship of the Truman Center. For more on the Truman Center and its activities, see: http://cas.umkc.edu/TrumanCenter/
Fast Fact
April 26th, 2011The College of Arts and Sciences graduated more than 850 students on May 6, 2011 with undergraduate majors, minors or graduate degrees.
New Books
April 26th, 2011Three A&S faculty are among co-authors of an interdisciplinary book on Germany.
THE HAPPY BURDEN OF HISTORY: From Sovereign Impunity to Responsible Selfhood. Andrew Stuart Bergerson, (History) K. Scott Baker, (Foreign Languages and Literatures, Clancy Martin, (Philosophy) and Steve Ostovich ( College of St. Scholastica)
The Happy Burden of History takes an integrative approach to the problem of responsible selfhood. Exploring the lives and letters of ordinary and intellectual Germans who faced the ethical challenges of the Third Reich, it focuses on five typical tools for cultivating the modern self: myths, lies, nonconformity, irony, and modeling. It was published by: De Gruyeter, March 2011.
For more see:
http://www.degruyter.com/cont/fb/li/detailEn.cfm?id=IS-9783110246360-1&ad=he
Steve Dilks (English) has had his new book Samuel Beckett in the Literary Marketplace published by Syracuse University Press.
. http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/spring-2011/ samuel-beckett.html
For a review of Dilks’ book see: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/23/2817381/readorama-umkc-professors-book.html
For more activities and achievements of the English Department see:
http://cas.umkc.edu/english/documents/Newsletter–Spring%202011%20Issue%202.pdf
Note from the Editor
April 26th, 2011I am planning a mid-summer issue for July and then a back to school issue for early September. Suggested Items on new faculty and staff, summer achievements and awards by faculty, staff and students are welcome. Send suggestions and comments to Dale Neuman at Neumand@umkc.edu.
UMKC Faculty Symposium on GIS Education and Research Held in March, 2011
April 26th, 2011
The Advanced Certificate Program in GIS of the College hosted the UMKC Faculty Symposium on GIS Education and Research on March 25, 2011. More than 40 faculty, staff, administrators, students, and invited guests participated in this event at the Administrative Center of UMKC. Faculty from the College departments of Geosciences, Economics, AUP+D, Sociology, and Criminal Justice and Criminology, as well as from the School of Computing and Engineering, the Bloch School of Management, and UMKC Libraries presented their teaching, research, or application activities with geographic information systems (GIS) -related techniques.
In addition, led by Lynne Clawson-Day, Director of High School/ College Partnerships (HSCP), high school representatives of HCSP also participated in the symposium and presented their dual-credit teaching projects. Currently, Columbia Area Career Center/Columbia Public Schools have adopted Geosciences’ GIS course as part of their dual-credit programs with UMKC. Prior to the symposium, Prof. Wei “Wayne” Ji of Geosciences, Director of Advanced Certificate Program in GIS, visited Columbia Area Career Center and talked to the students there. (See photo).
The Advanced Certificate Program in GIS of the College was established in 2006 and has been growing rapidly. It has enrolled over 90 students including many working professionals. Through related teaching and student research activities, the program supports many academic programs of UMKC. For more see: http://cas.umkc.edu/Geosciences/advGis.asp
Fast Fact
April 26th, 2011Ninety –Eight A&S graduating seniors were awarded Latin Honors at Commencement on May 6, 2011. Forty were summa cum laude; 58 were magna cum laude.
A&S Professor and HSCP Program Director win Hispanic Collaborative award for helping students plan for College
March 30th, 2011On January 18, 2011, UMKC’s Alice Reckley Vallejos, Associate Professor of Spanish and C. Lynne Clawson-Day, Director of the High School/College Partnerships program received the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Collaborative’s 2011 Award in Higher Education. The Award recognizes their efforts to develop the Latinos of Tomorrow Scholarship Fest and then to expand it from a one-day event to a six-week Scholarship Essay Workshop.
The Scholarship Fest teaches participants how to plan and prepare for post-secondary schooling and finding scholarships that fit the student’s and parent’s profile and circumstances. It introduces students to the planning time-line and process of enrolling in college or any post-secondary training institutes, scholarship search engines, and current information on specific organizations that provide scholarships and college support to students.
The Scholarship Essay Workshop is intended to help students in an individualized way throughout the college scholarship essay-writing process. Participants in the one-hour university course are assigned a mentor teacher who is available to offer assistance during both essay workshops and via several UMKC resources: email, web and library resources.
Six From A&S are Among Campus Award Recipients
March 30th, 2011UMKC honored 21 winners of its outstanding achievements in teaching, research and service awards on March 8th at it “Celebration of Excellence”. We congratulate all of the winners and are especially proud that among them there are six from the College of Arts and Sciences. The A&S awardees are:
In a surprise announcement at the end of the campus ceremony, the Provost reported that Gary Ebersole (History) had received the UM President’s University Citizenship Award for Leadership. For more see:
