Spring Break
UMKC Provost Gail Hackett released a statement at 11:42 a.m. giving some details of an agreement reached with Drs. Keith Haddock and Walter S. Carlos Poston II. The professors have agreed to leave their tenured positions on Sept. 30, 2008. They will continue to receive their salaries until August 31, 2009, the end of their contract year.
UMKC School of Dentistry student Ashley Knight spends most of her spare time doing volunteer work, and some people have taken notice of this - including President George W. Bush. The President, in Kansas for a fundraising event Thursday, May 29, met Knight at New Century AirCenter, an airport in Gardner, Kan.
More than a year has passed since UMKC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the university is starting to take stock of the progress made in increasing diversity and improving opportunities for minority students, faculty and staff on campus.
Mary Kay McPhee, a local volunteer, has spent more than 30 years contributing to the well being of UMKC, and now administration is taking the time to thank her. Chancellor Guy Bailey, along with community volunteer Adele Hall, nominated McPhee for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Distinguished Friend of Education Award.
Three lawyers are hoping to become the next Democratic candidate for Missouri Attorney General and in a debate May 22 at Whitehall, the Performing Arts Center, they stated their cases as only attorneys can. Organized by the Committee for County Progress (CCP) and UMKC College Democrats, with more than 200 people present, the event was extremely well attended considering it took place between the spring and summer semesters when the UMKC campus is basically deserted.
During May, UMKC sent a new group of graduates on to the next stages of their lives. On Friday, May 9, UMKC held graduation ceremonies for the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration. On Saturday May 10, ceremonies were held for the School of Biological Sciences, Conservatory of Music and Dance, School of Computing and Engineering, School of Dentistry, School of Education, School of Law, School of Nursing and School of Pharmacy.
Four women from UMKC were selected to attend the 21st Leadership Academy, a program put on by the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life (SSIWPL). The four women from UMKC included Jumoke Balogun, senior, communication studies; Tara Kloeppel, senior, English; Sarah Linneman, junior, environmental studies and political science; and LaDonna McCullough, junior, communication studies and political science.
Freshman enrollment is up 26 percent this year as of May 1 at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU), according to an MU news bureau press release. UMKC enrollment is also up for the 10th year in a row, but not for freshman students. Enrollment is up 30 percent for the fall semester, according to Jennifer DeHaemers, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management.
The Lambda Theta Phi Latino fraternity has made its way to Missouri - and the inaugural colony is established at UMKC. A group of UMKC students completed initiation into Lambda Theta Phi on April 12. "With this initiation, we have established our first Latino Fraternity at UMKC, and also, the first colony of Lambda Theta Phi in the state of Missouri," said Jose Vasquez, president of the fraternity.
Sodexho has long been the dominating force for food at UMKC. But students have another choice for a home-cooked style meal. The Central United Methodist Church, located next to the UMKC Volker campus at 5144 Oak St., has opened its Break Away Café. John Pinkston II, director of Student Life Ministries, described the new café.
