Discover SEARCH

The first Students Engaged in Artistic and Academic Research (SEARCH) event of the academic year is the Kick-Off event for eager students to meet with faculty and student alumni of the program. They share enthusiasm for inquiry and learn about research opportunities and training offered through SEARCH. The Kick-Off is followed by a “Brain-Storming” session where students at discipline specific round-tables speak with faculty mentors and other students about ideas for projects and how to go about finding a mentor. Students can also get help finding a mentor at the SEARCH web-site or by talking to the SEARCH director, Dr. Jim Murowchick. Next a workshop on “How to Write a Proposal” helps students to promote their project, develop a budget, and understand the proposal review process, including the view from the reviewer’s perspective. In the Spring Semester, workshops include presentations like, "Using the UMKC Libraries’ Research Tools." Leading up to the SEARCH Symposium, workshops are offered on writing an informational Abstract, Preparing a Poster Presentation, giving a PowerPoint-Based Oral Presentation, and importantly, what to expect during judging at the Symposium. The culmination of the year is the upcoming 9th Annual Symposium!

The 9th Annual SEARCH Symposium is Friday, April 17, in Pierson Auditorium. This year’s symposium exhibits the results of academic and creative endeavors of 51 UMKC undergraduate students supported by their dedicated faculty mentors. UMKC students, faculty and staff, student family members, and the general public are invited to come and support the researchers’ accomplishments and to be part of the celebration. The best times to view the poster and model displays and to listen to the reading of papers are 10 am-2 pm.

Any student in any discipline who has completed or is working on an undergraduate research project, whether funded by SEARCH or not, was encouraged to present at the Symposium. The projects will be described in an Abstracts volume; posters and models will be displayed, and papers will be read. The presentations will be judged by faculty members and local professionals, and winners in each category will receive a certificate and a prize. The Awards Ceremony begins at 4:00 pm with a presentation by Dr. Bibie Chronwall on “SEARCH: From Project to Profession” highlighting SEARCH alumni, followed by the announcement of the award winners.

SEARCH also organizes UMKC's participation in the UM System Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol

(URD@C). Student Research Ambassadors are selected for this special honor from candidates nominated by faculty mentors. Students from all four UM campuses

present their research to state legislators and staff members in a 1-day poster session in the capitol’s Rotunda in Jefferson City. The event provides a showcase for the cutting-edge research in all disciplines being conducted by undergraduates at Missouri’s research university. Emphasis is placed on projects that benefit the people and state of Missouri, including the arts, engineering, sciences, health fields, economics, urban planning, and many others. Because space is limited, up to 10 students may be selected from each campus.

Undergraduate research experiences available at UMKC have proven to be valuable educational experiences for students. Any student at UMKC who is interested, should visit the SEARCH website (http://www.umkc.edu/searchsite) or contact Dr. Murowchick (SEARCH@umkc.edu ).

-Written by Bibie Chronwall and Jim Murowchick

Pharmacy School Program Receives National Award for Community Service

The UMKC School of Pharmacy was recently selected to receive the “Student Community Engaged Service Award” by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). UMKC was one of only four pharmacy schools in the nation to receive this inaugural award recognizing student-led community engagement projects. Sponsored by Teva Pharmaceuticals, this annual award program is intended to encourage pharmacy students and faculty to design and build programs of community-engaged service learning, deliver consumer education about medication use, expand access to affordable medications and improve the public’s health.

The School of Pharmacy program selected for this honor is the “Patient Assistance Program” (PAP) operating out of the Jackson County Free Health Clinic in Independence, MO. The program has been in operation for over eight years and serves a diverse indigent patient population representing over 20 zip codes in the Kansas City metro area. The program provides assistance to low income patients who would otherwise go without needed medications to manage their chronic illnesses. Volunteer students at the clinic are responsible for obtaining the patient’s medical history and helping them to complete the proper paperwork for medication assistance. Since the program’s inception, over 350 patients have received more than $2,000,000 worth of medication donated by pharmaceutical suppliers (as of December 2007). Student pharmacist volunteers train junior pharmacy students how to interact with patients, interpret medical records, make therapeutic substitutions, practice troubleshooting skills, and integrate with other health professionals.

UMKC School of Pharmacy faculty advisor, Cameron Lindsey, Pharm.D., and pharmacy student/team leader Kristen Fish (Class of 2010) joined Dean Robert Piepho on February 23rd at the AACP Interim Meeting in Arlington, VA for the awards presentation. Other student members of the project included Michelle Campbell, Kara Miller, Danielle Nagel and Cassie Peters. AACP presented a check to UMKC for $10,000 to be used for expansion of the project and an additional stipend of $5,000 for student program and travel support.

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) is a national organization whose mission is to serve the 105 pharmacy schools in the United States and their faculties by acting as their advocate on a national level.

-Written by Jana Boschert, Director of Alumni & Development, UMKC School of Pharmacy

In picture: Kristin Fish, Pharmacy Student (left) and Dr. Cameron Lindsey (right)

University of Missouri Enhances Security of Social Security Numbers

COLUMBIA — March 16, 2009 — It may be only March, but the university is already in the midst of a system-wide spring cleaning—of Social Security numbers. The project, which takes place on all four campuses, University of Missouri Health Care, Extension and UM system, will replace all Social Security numbers necessary to UM business with alternate identification numbers and delete all those unnecessary.

“The university takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard the personal information and identity of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, retirees, friends and donors” said UM President Gary Forsee.

Forsee went on to say, “This project will go a long way toward protecting the security and personal identity of our associates.”

A Division of Information Technology team has been created to initiate the process of securing Social Security numbers in a centralized database and replacing them with alternate identification numbers. Social Security numbers that are no longer necessary will be deleted to prevent exposure to outside sources. This is a huge project and will require the cooperation of everyone across the entire system.

What can you do?Begin by searching your electronic and paper files for Social Security numbers and deleting or shredding those that are no longer necessary.
Additional information can be found at https://doit.sharepoint.missouri.edu/sysops/public/SSNProject.

UM system will keep you informed of this project as it progress.

The Development of a Faculty Writing Group at UMKC’s School of Education

Dr. Juan Carlos González and Dr. Jennifer Friend are assistant professors in their fourth year in the Urban Leadership and Policy Studies in Education Division in the School of Education. One of the School of Education’s faculty induction and retention practices is to assign mentors to all tenure-track faculty. The importance of publication is communicated by mentors as a cornerstone of the evaluation and promotion process, however there is no formal structure for providing regular feedback for mentees’ writing. The idea to form a faculty writing group came about during an informal conversation between Drs. González and Friend at the beginning of their first semester at UMKC. As young scholars and first-year professors, the formation of a writing group led to the creation of a monthly program to advance faculty writing through collaborative critique.

The framework for the monthly faculty writing group meetings involved any interested faculty member attending with five copies of five pages of writing. The writing was reviewed in small groups during a constructive feedback conversation, and the author received the copies back with commentary. As the faculty writing group evolved, Drs. González and Friend decided to write about the experience. They presented a paper at the American Educational Research Association Annual Conference that was well-received. Shortly afterward, they contacted Academe about the possibility of publishing the paper. The editors were excited and said this was exactly the type of article that was popular among their readers. The revised paper was shared with the Faculty Writing Group during a collaborative critique session, and feedback informed the revision process prior to publication in Academe.

Time spent together during faculty writing group sessions has fostered greater collegiality and the formation of friendships among the regular participants. Throughout this process, senior faculty members have collaborated alongside junior faculty members. Faculty Writing Group participants engaged in multiple writing, learning, and critique activities that have been instrumental in the growth of junior faculty into scholars, and in the contributions of senior faculty to the writing process and understanding the politics of publication.

The co-facilitators look forward to continued growth of the Faculty Writing Group. Last year some meetings were held at the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET) at Miller Nichols Library, and included a group of faculty from multiple disciplines across campus. The Faculty Writing Group currently holds monthly meetings at the School of Education, and any interested faculty member is invited to attend. Contact Dr. Friend for more information: friendji@umkc.edu 816.235.2550

The article by Drs. Friend and González is available in the January-February 2009 issue of Academe (read it here).

NEW WEB SITE DESIGN

UMKC is redesigning its web site and is looking for feedback from you – the user!

To provide your feedback visit www.umkc.edu/website, starting March 16, 2009. The survey only takes 5 minutes or less to complete.

The site presents two design ideas for review. We want and appreciate your honest and constructive critique about the designs and the navigation.

The web site designs will be up for one week, ending on Sunday, March 22, 2009. After this time, the feedback will be used to provide direction for the final web site design.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

In addition to the online feedback, information has been gathered from governing groups across campus, including the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Council, Student Government Association, Faculty Senate and the Dean’s Council.

Research efforts also included:

1. Focus group sessions with future students and their parents from the Kansas City metropolitan region.

2. Review of peer institution’s web sites.

3. Web industry research for user expectations and behaviors, as well as best practices.

After you have taken the survey, continue to use the web site to keep informed of the project’s progress.

Thank you for your time and participation.

- UMKC Web Site Redesign Team

Curators’ Professorships and Curators’ Teaching Professorships

A Curators’ Professorship is the highest and most prestigious academic rank awarded by the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri. It is awarded to a select few “outstanding scholars with established reputations.” Each Curators’ Professor becomes a resource of the University and is expected to contribute to the entire University through such teaching, scholarship, service and outreach activities. Appointments to these prestigious positions are for five-years, and are renewable at the discretion of the Chancellor.

Appointments to Curators’ Professorships are made by the University of Missouri Board of Curators’ on the recommendation of the Chancellor. Faculty members and deans may nominate faculty members for these appointments by sending the provost a recommendation and a portfolio containing a narrative of nominee’s accomplishments, the nominee’s curriculum vitae, letters from nominators, and testimonial letters from UMKC peers and others. In assessing the nominations, the Provost solicits the advice of a review committee that evaluates the portfolios. Following the review, the provost sends his/her recommendations to the Chancellor. If approved, the Chancellor forwards a recommendation and the portfolio to the President of the UM System who, if approving, presents the candidate for approval by the Board of Curators. Appointment to a Curators’ Professorship includes a salary stipend and support for creative/research activities. Policies on this appointment are available here.

A current list of active UMKC Curators’ Professors appears below, including name, title, academic unit, and year of appointment.

• Felicia H. Londré, Curators’ Professor, A&S Department of Theater (1987)
• Wai-Yim Ching, Curators’ Professor, A&S Department of Physics (1988)
• George J. Thomas, Curators’ Professor, School of Biological Sciences (1988)
• J. David Eick, Curators’ Professor, School of Dentistry (1989)
• Bruce Bubacz, Distinguished Teaching Professor, A&S Department of Philosophy (1998)
• James Mobberley, Curators’ Professor, Conservatory of Music (1999)
• Max Skidmore, Curators’ Professor, A&S Department of Political Science (1999)
• David Atkinson, Distinguished Teaching Professor, A&S Department of Political Science (1999)
• Yanching (Jerry) Jean, Curators’ Professor, A&S Department of Chemistry (2002)
• Ashim Mitra, Curators’ Professor, School of Pharmacy (2002)
• Charles Wurrey, Distinguished Teaching Professor, A&S Department of Chemistry (2002)
• Joan Dean, Distinguished Teaching Professor, A&S Department of English (2003)
• James Durig, Curators’ Professor, A&S Department of Chemistry (2003)
• Carla Klausner, Distinguished Teaching Professor, A&S Department of History (2004)
• Khosrow Sohraby, Curators’ Professor, School of Computing and Engineering (2004)
• Paulette Spencer, Curators’ Professor, School of Dentistry (2004)
• Lynda Bonewald, Curators’ Professor, School of Dentistry (2005)
• Nancy Levit, Curators’ Professor, School of Law (2005)
• Joan Gallos, Curators’ Teaching Professor, Bloch School of Business, Administration and Finance (2008)
  

-Written by Ronald MacQuarrie, Vice Provost, and Rebecca Edmundson, Faculty Affairs Specialist

Celebrating Accomplishments

Bibie Chronwall, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Faculty Development, is retiring at the end of March following 20+ years of service to UMKC.

On Monday, March 16th we will be celebrating her accomplishments and tenure at UMKC. In 1988, Dr. Chronwall began her work at UMKC as an Associate Professor of cell biology and biophysics and has continued to teach courses throughout her career. She was Assistant Dean and Director of Curriculum and Undergraduate Programs in the School of Biological Sciences and since 2003 has served as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. Having published nearly 100 scientific papers and edited three books, gained support through grants topping over $1,000,000, she is well respected for her accomplishments. You can see her most recent efforts in the New Faculty Teaching Scholars program, the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching (FaCET), and the Students Engaged in Artistic and Academic Research (SEARCH) program.

Please join us in celebrating Bibie Chronwall’s retirement at the following event provided by faculty & staff donations:

Ice Cream Social
Honoring Dr. Bibie Chronwall
Monday, March 16, 2009
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Plaza Room, Administrative Center

You are encouraged to share your farewell remarks and favorite Bibie memories by clicking on the comments link below. Or email your remarks/memories (including photographs) to Beci Edmundson for compilation and presentation to Bibie at the party. There will also be a memory book at the party for everyone sign or write comments for Bibie.

Academic Affairs looks forward to sharing our appreciation for Bibie Chronwall’s legacy of work at UMKC with you on the 16th, and hope to see you there.