The New Bb9: Blackboard gets a facelift, new features

UMKC has upgraded to Blackboard 9. The new interface has many improved features. In fact, most of the improvements were suggested by the faculty who use Blackboard.

The latest release allows instructors to:
• customize their site through drag and drop editing, inline editing and dropdown contextual menus
• provide one grade for all members of a group or assign individual grades to each group member
• give all or specific students an additional attempt at assignments
• set up sites so that students can now belong to multiple groups, create their own groups, create a group task list and manage all group work from within one group page
• receive notification when assignments, tests and surveys have been submitted (or not) and when discussion board entries are posted
• disable system announcements within a course site
• decide which modules are displayed on course homepage and control the organization of the modules

To find out more about the new features, download the Blackboard 9 Overview Guide. To find out when you can take a Blackboard 9 Guided tour or to schedule your own workshop visit the ITS Training Opportunities website.

[A special thanks to Instructional Technologies for sharing this information.]

Kansas Students in Eleven Counties Pay the Same Rates as Missouri Students

UMKC is Expanding its Metro Rate for Neighboring Counties

Beginning with the summer semester 2010, Kansas residents of Atchison, Douglas, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, Osage, Shawnee and Wyandotte counties in eligible programs will now pay the same rates as Missouri residents.

Graduate students in eligible programs will also benefit from the new metro rate. Students pursuing majors or professional programs in the School of Dentistry, School of Law, School of Medicine or the School of Pharmacy are not eligible for the Metro Rate.

The Metro Rate applies to current students and will continue to be an attractive incentive for future students.

For more information see the Metro Rate website or contact UMKC Admissions

Video and Slides from the Strategic Plan Implementation Town Halls

If you missed the Town Halls last week or would like to review the presentation on the Strategic Plan Implementation, the video is now posted on the Provost’s and Strategic Plan websites. We have also added the presentation slides from the Town Halls on the Strategic Plan website.

Join the discussion!
We encourage you to share your comments and questions about the Strategic Plan Implementation by clicking on the comments link below or by using the “Suggestions” box in the column on the right.

Celebrating Commencement

In May we honor and celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates. The first commencement ceremony at the University of Kansas City was held in 1936; 80 students and their guests attended the first commencement exercises. Today an estimated 2,238 students will be graduating at 12 different ceremonies.

I encourage faculty to participate in these commencement ceremonies. We all play an important role in ensuring student achievement—it is fitting that we be present to celebrate their success.

Commencement Schedule:
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Nursing
5:00 p.m. School of Nursing Commencement Ceremony (Swinney Recreation Center)
6:00 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. School of Nursing Pinning Ceremony (Swinney Recreation Center)

Friday, May 7, 2010 (all in Swinney Recreation)
Computing and Engineering, Arts and Sciences and Business
10 a.m.: School of Computing and Engineering
1 p.m.: College of Arts and Sciences—Mathematics through Theatre;
4 p.m. : College of Arts and Sciences— Urban Planning + Design though Liberal Studies.
7 p.m.: Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration

Saturday, May 8, 2010
Education, Conservatory, Pharmacy, Biological Sciences, Law and Dentistry
10 a.m.: School of Education (Swinney Recreation Center)
10 a.m.: Conservatory of Music and Dance (White Recital Hall)
1 p.m.: School of Pharmacy (Swinney Recreation Center)
1 p.m.: School of Biological Sciences (White Recital Hall)
4 p.m.: School of Law (Swinney Recreation Center)
7 p.m.: School of Dentistry (Swinney Recreation Center)

Friday, May 28, 2010
Medicine
4 p.m.: School of Medicine (Music Hall)

UMKC Strategic Plan Implementation - Ideas and Suggestions Needed

The UMKC Strategic Plan provides a guide for all to follow as UMKC moves into its next decade as Kansas City's University. Creation of the plan involved a year of self-study by UMKC, faculty, staff, students, community members and friends, and is now at a point where the first phase of the plan’s implementation has been developed.

The implementation of the Strategic Plan will be presented at two Town Hall meetings :

• April 28, 8:00 – 9:30 a.m., Room 4307 HSB, Hospital Hill
• April 29, 8:00 – 9:30 a.m., Plaza Room, Administrative Center, Volker campus

At these meetings, the University community will have the opportunity to offer ideas and suggestions and to be involved in the next important steps in the process. We invite you to come, participate and give us your feedback.

Be a Donor

Mel Tyler, UMKC Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, was diagnosed with stage 3 multiple myeloma in April 2009, and wants to increase awareness about the need for bone marrow donors. His physicians have indicated he will likely need a donor stem cell transplant in the future and at the present time there is no match for Mel in the national registry. Registry members from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds are especially needed. Mel was told that because he is African American, there was only about a 15% chance that he would find a match.

You can provide financial assistance or be a bone marrow donor by joining the registry or making a donation in Mel’s name. Joining the registry is as simple as getting a cheek swab to see if you may be a match. UMKC will be hosting two upcoming “cheek swab clinics”:

• Friday, April 23, 2010 (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) at the UMKC School of Dentistry, Room 434, Health Sciences Campus
• Tuesday, April 27, 2010 (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) in the University Center, Room 106, Volker Campus

(Please bring personal identification and contact information for two family members or friends who would know how to reach you.)

To meet registry guidelines you need:
• To be between the ages of 18 and 60
• To be in overall good health and meet medical guidelines
• Live in the US or Puerto Rico
• Not be in the US military

Learn More

University of Missouri South African Educational Program

24 years ago, the University of Missouri System began a relationship with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) located just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Although started as a school only for “colored” students during apartheid, UWC became one of the intellectual centers of the anti-apartheid movement. Almost one third of President Mandela’s initial cabinet were faculty members of UWC. Over the past 24 years there have been 437 faculty exchanges between our two schools involving over 40 academic disciplines. UWC has made remarkable progress and is now the 7th ranked university in all of Africa and 5th in South Africa in terms of rated researchers.

Every year 8-10 faculty members travel either to one of the Missouri campuses or to Cape Town to participate in this faculty exchange. Although there have been numerous teaching collaborations over the years, increasingly most of the recent grants have been given to fund research collaborations. The grants run up to $10,000 and are awarded by the University of Missouri South African Education Program(UMSAEP) committee consisting of 3 representatives from each of the UM campuses. A fuller description of the application process and reports of past grants can be found at our website. The application must be submitted to the campus international director by July 15th and awards are generally made by Sept.

We hope that you might come to a TelePresence session at the Administration Center 210 on April 22nd at 2:00 where we will explain the application process and answer any questions you might have about the UM/UWC faculty exchange program or the SA Partnership Program.

UWC has achieved excellence in a number of research areas. In particular, UWC:
• Is the only place in Africa undertaking comprehensive work on the hydrogen economy, researching the use of hydrogen instead of fossil fuels as an energy resource.
• Is the African leader in bioinformatics. The South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) is one of a small group of comparable top-level centers worldwide, and hosts Africa’s only Cray supercomputer. SANBI conducts cutting-edge research in key diseases facing Africa.
• Is a leader in biotechnology, with a special interest in the genetics of life forms that thrive in extreme conditions, and their implications for our understanding of microbial molecular ecology. UWC’s newly completed Life Sciences building is Africa’s finest.
• Holds the UNESCO Chair in Geohydrology and plays a leading role in networks across Africa in water resource research and training.
• Has the largest and most productive School of Mathematics and Science Education in Africa.
• Is home to The International Centre for Indigenous Phytotherapy Studies (TICIPS), a UWC-University of Missouri project exploring the interface between Indigenous Knowledge systems and empirical science.
• Has three World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating centers for capacity development, teaching and research in Dentistry, Pharmacology and Public Health.
• Has a Center for Humanities Research exploring humanities theory about social and cultural transformation in Southern Africa and the continent.

For more information about UWC and a description of its faculty departments, see http://www.uwc.ac.za/

The UMSAEP committee also sponsors the South Africa Partnership Program. Each year, the committee awards 3 or 4 grants a year to UM faculty members who want to engage in a research project with a South African partner or partners. If there are a multiple partners for the project, then one of them can be a faculty member at UWC.

-Rodney J. Uphoff, Elwood Thomas Missouri Endowed, Professor of Law, University of Missiouri & Director, University of Missouri South African Education Program and Linna Place, Director, International Academic Programs, UMKC