Faculty Affairs Newsletter
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2021 ACUE Graduates
The UM System was selected by the National Association of System Heads (NASH) to participate in Scaling Instructional Excellence for Student Success, a strategic initiative focused on improving quality instruction, and ultimately student success, through intentional, high-quality professional development for faculty. The course focuses on practices that have been proven through independently-validated research to improve student achievement and close equity gaps. Faculty who are ACUE Fellows will be awarded ACUE’s Certificate in Effective College Instruction, which is recognized and endorsed by the American Council on Education (ACE). Faculty can learn more about this program here.
“I think opportunities such as this ACUE course provide a unique chance to engage with our colleagues beyond our own silos...faculty are drawn from their insular roles, enriched by new relationships, cross-pollinating at many levels, and ultimately adding value to our various institutions.” - Larry Wigger
“I was a bit of a doubter at the beginning of the ACUE program, thinking since I had my course already created and posted, I wouldn’t learn anything meaningful or that I could use for the current semester I was in...I learned so much and was so excited each week to delve into the content. These modules spoke to me and lit a fire! I learned of many strategies I could use in the classroom like forming Community/Study Groups so students could make connections and finding areas where I could give grace and incorporate more inclusive techniques.” - Jamie Hatchett
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Roos Rock!
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of our talented faculty
Dr. Debra Leiter (leiterd@umkc.edu), Associate Professor of Political Science, and Dr. Beth Vonnahme (vonnahmeb@umkc.edu), Associate Dean and Professor of Political Science, published a new study of how social connections and contexts influence Americans propensity to comply with social distancing. Their article, which was published in Social Science Quarterly, was featured recently by KCUR.
Dr. Alberto Villamandos (villamandosa@umkc.edu), Chair and Associate Professor in Foreign Languages, was recognized by KSHB for guiding translations of nine stories from English into Spanish during Hispanic Heritage Month. Dr. Villamandos worked with Gracey Saavedra and Janelle Moreno on this project, which you can read more about here: KSHB news.
Alex Matlack (matlacka@umkc.edu), Director of E-Scholars and Instructor in Entrepreneurship and Organizational Behavior, was recognized by the Kansas City Business Journal. Entrepreneurship Scholars is an accelerator program at UMKC that helps companies in their early stages develop anything from business plans to investor networks, and also provides entrepreneurial mentorship. Read more about how E-Scholars is helping Ronawk LLC, a biotech startup.
UMKC faculty, researchers and staff were awarded nearly 6 million in grants in September 2021.
Congratulations to….
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Dr. Cynthia Lorraine Lippincott
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Faculty, do you have more good news to share? Your FAN Team wants to know! Email news of your recent (since August 2021) awards, grants, major publications, and promotions to: meadmo@umkc.edu.
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A new column where we talk about disability and share our thoughts on what we need access to as professors, researchers and colleagues. If you have an idea or topic that you would like us to talk about, please send an email to edwardsmatt@umkc.edu.
“Hybrid not Hybrid”
Alison Graettinger, Assistant Professor
There is a meme circling social media that shows a picture of Dolores Umbridge, one of the villains of Harry Potter, saying that classes cannot have a hybrid class environment, but instructors must record all courses for students who cannot be physically present. This hyperbole reflects the challenge instructors are facing as we push for in person experiences that many students want, while not punishing students who do not feel comfortable in class or must quarantine. This quandary is yet another facet of the liquid situation that is the COVID-19 pandemic in classroom settings. Many of the resources we as instructors need can be time consuming to request/obtain because they require retrofitting many classrooms with recording capabilities, and the semester has already steamrolled onwards.
Consequently, many instructors are winging it trying to find solutions that get the job done without too many additional burdens on their time. I started experimenting with one of my upper division courses that is cross listed graduate and undergraduate. This way I knew my students would be better prepared to communicate with me or troubleshoot technological challenges, and be more prepared to work independently on some activities should things not work the way I envisioned. My teaching style involves a lot of in class activities, and a lot of me running about the room. A static microphone camera set up for an in person did class not seem compatible.
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Provost's Faculty Fellows
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We are honored to introduce two Provost’s Fellows in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) who are opening minds and affecting positive change for students, faculty, and staff at UMKC:
Sandy Rodriguez is Associate Dean, Librarian, Teaching Professor, and Affiliated Faculty in Latinx and Latin American Studies; and Dr. Michelle Smirnova is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Faculty in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. In addition to engaging in research centered on DEI-related issues, Dean Rodriguez has worked with the Roos Advocate for Community Change Recruitment and Retention Task Force, and Dr. Smirnova has served as a board member of the Anti-Racist, White Allies and Advocates (ARWAA) staff/faculty group, among other initiatives.
Dean Rodriguez and Dr. Smirnova share their expertise on inclusive hiring practices as Provost Fellows in DEI and as members of the Faculty Search Support Team (FSST). This year, they will meet with 75 search committees to implement best practices in inclusive hiring by evaluating data and processes that impact the size and diversity of applicant pools, exploring issues around implicit bias, and creating strategies to improve hiring practices. The FSST is a collaborative group of administrators, faculty and staff who are committed to this essential and challenging work, which, in Dean Rodriguez’s words, moves “us from critical examination to transformational action.”
You can learn more about Dean Rodriguez and Dr. Smirnova in the following interviews.
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Interview with Dr. Smirnova
FAN: Why did you want to be a Provost’s fellow for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? What are you excited about?
Michelle S.: As a sociologist, all of my teaching and research focuses on issues of inequality and power at structural and institutional levels. As a result, I have sought to become involved in changing the practices and policies at my own institution, UMKC, such as serving as a board member of the Anti-Racist, White Allies and Advocates (ARWAA) staff/faculty group and serving as the co-chair of Educate-Advocate-Organize (EOA), UMKC’s social justice conference.
I am also excited to be working collaboratively with faculty and staff to remedy the persistent retention and recruitment gaps that exist between our Black and Latinx students and our white students. In tandem with other important programs at UMKC, such as FirstGen Roo, I am hopeful that the Provost’s commitments to increasing the diversity of our faculty and supporting students from historically marginalized backgrounds may remedy longstanding inequities at UMKC.
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Interview with Dean Rodriguez
FAN: Why did you want to be a Provost’s fellow for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? What are you excited about?
Sandy R.: Having served on the Roos Advocate for Community Change Recruitment and Retention Task Force, I was excited to join the team implementing recommendations to improve our faculty hiring practices. As a faculty member of color, I’ve experienced the effects of navigating narrowly-defined institutional norms while also performing the under-valued and precarious labor of challenging these norms so that students, staff, and faculty of color have access to more equitable conditions.
As a Provost’s DEI Fellow, I serve on the Faculty Search Support Team. This group of faculty, staff and administrators understand that a diverse faculty will improve gaps in student success by providing more equitable support to our underserved student populations. Engaging in an inclusive faculty hiring process is a critical point of intervention that we hope will address a long overdue issue.
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Have something to share in the Faculty Affairs Newsletter? Email Molly Mead with your brief text and an (optional) photo.
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University of Missouri-Kansas City | Kansas City, MO 64110 | (816) 235-1107
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