Issue 7 - 2014
About the Cover:
Transformed by the light and beauty of stained glass, student Khristina
Pabon studies in the main lounge in the Fantina Houts Residence Hall.
Several pieces of Gabriella Polony-Mountain’s artwork may be found
on the UCM campus, including this 6-1/2’ by 6’ stained glass window
depicting the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, 1957. Photo
Credit: Bryan Tebbenkamp; Photo-manipulation: David Babcock.
See the related story on pages 22-25.
table of
contents
2-3 Message From Dean
4-7 Playwright Nikki Harmon Changes
UCM Student’s Trajectory
8-11 Reflections
12
UCM Media Network
13
Theatre in the BlackBox
14-17
Women’s Studies at Central
18-19
Gail Crump
20-21
The King Lives On
22-25
Discovering Gabriella Polony-Mountain
26-27
One Campus, One Book, One Story
28-29
The War to End All Wars
30-31
Reaching A Dream
32-35
The Art of Producing Music
36-39
Foundations of Learning
40-41
Lessons from Two Careers on the
Value of Social Studies Education
42-43
Global Perspective
44
Dr. Masa Higo: Social Gerontology Faculty
45-47
Dr. Billy Hu: From a Tiger to a Mule
48-49
Dale Carnegie Hall of Fame
50-52 Remembrances
1
A Message from
Dean Gersham Nelson
organization from the Department of Art and Design), their
faculty advisor and graphic design expert, the late Professor
John Lynch, and the leadership of University Relations. It was
soon clear to all parties that something special was about to
happen. After much discussion, diligent labor by many faculty,
staff, and students involved in various aspect of the project, the
first issue of the magazine appeared. The process of envisioning
and designing this magazine created more than the intended
high-impact learning experience for students and a means of
communicating with alumni and friends. It helped to change the
image of UCM to alumni and friends. As Jeff Morris (director of
University Relations at the time) declared, “We could no longer
distribute UCM Today on news print.” Professor Lynch’s expertise
was sought to help that publication fall in line with the look and
feel of Renaissance. But that was not all, the current issue of
Renaissance speaks to a much greater impact over the years
that followed, and the future seems remarkably promising.
For those of you who are familiar with our many assets in the
College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science (CAHSS), the
addition of radio and television should have special meaning.
These long standing assets include: the only Missouri state
college with national accreditation in all of the arts: Music,
The current issue of our college magazine reports on the
Theatre/Dance, and Fine Arts; a regional annual Film Festival;
activities of those who are busily working with students to create and Pleiades, an international journal of original works. Now,
the preferred future. Your interest in and support for this work
we are poised to scale-up high-impact learning in a way that will
has always been deeply appreciated. Now, as we embark on
make alumni and other stake-holders proud and excited. This
new initiatives to advance student learning and strengthen our
path-breaking approach to effective teaching and learning will
local community and communities around the United States
provide our students with a major competitive advantage while
and the world, we solicit your ongoing engagement. We are
at the same time offer opportunities for you to create or extend
thrilled to bring you this issue of Renaissance because our
your legacy on this campus.
work is being affirmed and is expanding in ways that could not
have been anticipated seven years ago when the first issue
The new umbrella initiative, Renaissance OnLine and the
appeared. A brief review of the magazine’s origin and what it
new UCM Media Network, will touch disciplines within and
represents will heighten understanding and appreciation of our
outside of the CAHSS, every profession, and every age group.
high-impact learning focus.
Although the roll-out will be purposefully gradual and subtle, you
will eventually recognize its impact as it gathers momentum.
Emerging out of the College’s first strategic plan, Renaissance
The thrust, involving the conversion of theory to practice, will
sought to combine the aspirations of students, the passion and
create more opportunities for students to experiment with
expertise of faculty, and the skills of professionals in University
and develop original works that will be produced and made
Relations to facilitate an experience for students and develop a ready for television and or radio. The bar will be raised and
product for all of us. To that end, the College leadership brought incentives provided for professional quality production. With a
together a few members of the Creative Engine (a student
highly qualified faculty and a network of well-placed partners,
2
we hope to expose our students to all areas of multi-media
production. Coupled with original theatrical productions, films,
music, dance, and other creative works by students and faculty,
our emerging multi-media program promises unprecedented
synergy and therefore depth of learning for our students.
In addition to the foundational and ongoing activities in
the CAHSS during the calendar year 2013-2014, there
are highlights that deserve to be mentioned here. Theatre
continues to maintain a commanding regional presence in
garnering awards from the Kennedy Center American College
Theatre Festival. To top it all off this year, Richard Herman,
Chair of Theatre and Dance was awarded the Gold Medallion
for “extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing
of theatre.” Our Mock Trial Team as well as our Debate Team
continue to distinguish themselves. Additionally, the impact of
our teacher/scholar model is evident in the number of scholarly
volumes being published. The energy and momentum are
gratifying and infectious, spreading well beyond the College.
We are collaborating with other UCM constituencies to
implement a number of initiatives aimed at capturing and
sustaining the interest and imagination of students enabling
them to develop the habit of mind required for life-long learning.
One such initiative, “One Campus, One Book,” was launched in
the fall of 2013. All in-coming first year students were required
to read The Story Telling Animal (Haughton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing, 2012) by Jonathan Gottschall. Students taking the
first year composition class had an opportunity to examined
issues raised by the book with their faculty, and then Gottschall
was invited to the campus for a presentation and additional
discussions. This initiative helped to stimulate intellectual
engagement that went well beyond the classroom and involved
students, faculty, and staff. Moreover, the discussions helped
students to more fully appreciate connections between and
among disciplines. For fall 2014, the “One Campus, One Book”
selection is Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta
Lacks (Broadway Books, 2011). Look for the announcement of
Rebecca Skloot’s visit to campus and plan to participate in the
discussion if possible.
1888 a French newspaper headlined his obituary as followed:
“The merchant of death is dead,” and went on to declare that
“Dr. Alfred Nobel, who made his fortune by finding a way to kill
the most people as ever before in the shortest time possible,
died yesterday.” The paper was in error. The deceased was
Alfred’s brother Ludvig, but to the reflective Alfred, the message
was profound. Chastened at the legacy he was poised to leave,
Alfred Nobel decided to change his image and legacy. Today,
few individuals associate the Nobel name with explosives that
made war deadlier than they had ever been. Instead the name is
used in relationship to intellectual exploration and world peace.
It is worth remembering, however, that one does not need large
sums of money to leave an enduring legacy for good.
Major scholarships, fellowships, and prizes make a difference
in our nation and world, but so do small gifts. As I engage in
conversations with alumni and friends, it is always gratifying to
hear about the far-reaching impact of the education provided by
our College and University. It is not unusual for alumni to make
statements such as, “I would not have the many opportunities
presented to me in my career had it not been for UCM.” Some
alumni have organized to explore ways in which they can pass
on, through scholarships, the opportunity of a college education
to the next generation. A few weeks ago I met with a group
from St. Louis, MO that visited the campus to award a number
of scholarships to current students. The value they place on the
time they spent here has motivated their selfless and fervent
desire to help other students succeed. As you share UCM’s
commitment to student success, give thought to ways in which
you might help us with our sacred trust for the next generation.
Our package of: high-impact learning initiatives captured by
Renaissance OnLine and the UCM Media Network; teacherscholar model; initiatives to facilitate intellectual engagement;
and partnerships to inspire and celebrate excellence represents
a recipe to secure the preferred future of our students and
substantially increase the value of the UCM degree. Be sure
to visit us at http://www.ucmo.edu/cahss/createchange.cfm and
learn more about our initiatives to challenge and inspire our
students to excel beyond expectation.
Let me again thank those who are helping us to create and
strengthen the culture of philanthropy on this campus. As you
know, philanthropy has had a marked impact on our society and
world. Probably none more than the endowment that created
the Nobel Prize. Biographers of Alfred Nobel (1833-1896)
paint the picture of a complex but extraordinarily reflective
individual who had a deep and abiding appreciation for the arts. Gersham Nelson
Many credit the establishment of the prize bearing his name
Dean, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
to the capacity that a well-rounded education provided him to
appreciate the precarious nature of the human condition. This
along with an early alert obituary motivated him to earmark
his fortune for human advancement. As the story goes, in
3
Playwright Nikki
Harmon Changes
UCM Students’
Trajectory
By: Julie Rae Mollenkamp
Two of the greatest gifts a theatre artist can receive are the
opportunity to create a new play from the ground up and the
chance to learn from working professionals and past masters.
Nikki Harmon has provided all of that for the University
of Central Missouri students in the Department of Theatre
and Dance. As a three-time winner of the Department’s
Theatre for Young Audiences Playwriting competition,
Harmon’s contributions have given countless students
the experience they need to have an edge on the market
as playwrights, scholars, actors, designers, dramaturges,
managers, and technicians.
4
Ms. Harmon is a native New Yorker and the award-winning
author of over 40 plays that range from social and political
satires to murderous comedies to children shows. Her
plays have been produced throughout the United States,
Canada, England, and Australia. As an alumna of Pasadena
Playhouse College of Theatre Arts, the Sorbonne (top
university in Paris, France) and Carnegie Mellon, Harmon has
also been active as a stage manager, lighting designer, and a
casting director. She is a dedicated traveler who has served
as a participant in many eco-tours. Her many adventures in
other countries inspire her work.
Students Kevin Stidman, Kello Jo Blake, and Nicole Hall
performing in Escape from Central Park (upper left);
students Jamie Veltre, Nathan Potter, and Zach Woods
performing in Kalifa’s Amazing Adventure (right); and
students Christopher Henricks and Lauren Gardner
performing in A Thai Tale.
Harmon’s plays are at the center of innovation for the
department. Kalifa’s Amazing Adventures, the delightful
story where Kalifa, a baby elephant who falls into a well
in the jungles of Central Kenya, Africa, is saved by a Masai
warrior, brought Harmon together with UCM in 2003. The
play was the first main stage produced in the newly acquired
BlackBox Theatre, and unique in that students designed
the entire production, a tradition that continues today.
Harmon went on to win the playwriting contest two more
times, making her the most produced playwright in UCM
history. In 2005, Harmon’s Escape From Central Park Zoo
brought together the rich characters of an Arctic polar bear,
a Singaporean parrot, a Balinese grey monkey, and a North
American grizzly bear all attempting to journey back to
their native lands.
5
Students performing in A Thai Tale. Over
2,000 school-age children enjoyed A Thai Tale
in the James L. Highlander Theatre.
This past fall, UCM produced Harmon’s A Thai Tale, the
story of three birds trapped in the Banyan Tree of Sai Ngam,
Thailand, who embark on a magical adventure of escape.
Harmon came to campus as a Meridith Harmon Sauer Guest
Artist to work with students on the show, to give a workshop
on playwriting and professional careers in the theatre, and to
engage in a talkback with the elementary and middle school
audiences.
Harmon brought with her a collection of her father’s television
scripts, along with other materials from his career. David
P. Harmon, a writer for radio, television, and film in the
1950’s-60’s, was recently honored by the Writer’s Guild of
America and is best known for his work on the TV series
Star Trek, All in the Family, The Rifleman, and Young Daniel
Boone. Included in the primary documentation is a rare find:
an original recording of 1954 radio broadcast The Investigator
starring Zero Mostel, a scathing satire on the McCarthy era. It
is an honor for the UCM Department of Theatre and Dance to
house this archival material, which will undoubtedly become
the substance of a master’s thesis and perhaps a doctoral
dissertation for a UCM student. Harmon sites her father’s
work, which included much social commentary, as inspiration
for her own writing.
Students have received a total of ten Kennedy Center
American College Theatre Festival Meritorious Awards for
their production work on Harmon’s plays. They include
achievement in costume design, sound design, set design,
lighting design, ensemble acting, and stage management.
6
Both Kalifa and Escape are published by Pioneer Press and
include UCM Theatre photographs and production team
names and notes from the premier.
Harmon was so impressed with the work of the students on
A Thai Tale, she re-imagined her script based on innovations
from the production, created three new characters developed
by student performers, and added technical elements
originated by the student designers to her play. She is in
the process of completing the final draft of the script for
publication. This time, in addition to listing UCM as the
place for its world premiere, Harmon gave the entire UCM
production company of A Thai Tale “first right of refusal”. This
means that if a professional company decides to produce the
play, all the students involved in the original production will be
given the opportunity to reprise their production role, either
on-stage or off, in that company’s production. The potential of
this is unprecedented for UCM students, who could easily add
a professional credit to their resume directly related to their
experience of working with Harmon at UCM.
The contributions of Nikki Harmon will have a lasting impact
on the future of UCM graduates who had the privilege of
sharing her words for the first time. Her legacy will endure.
7
Reflections
By: Jill Szoo-Wilson
8
This past summer, I spent 12 days in Poland with holocaust
survivor, Eva Mozes Kor. I traveled with her so she could
tell me the details of her story in the very places those
details emerged: Auschwitz I and Birkenau, also known as
Auschwitz II. Eva entrusted me with her journey so I could
write and perform her story in a one-woman show called
Throwing Stones, which will premiere on the UCM campus
next year. An alumna of the Department of Theatre and
Dance, I am proud to share this work with our community.
I initiated this playwriting process by composing blog pieces
of my experiences in Poland. This is an entry from that body
of work:
As a ten-year-old girl in Auschwitz, Eva
Kor began to forget what she looked
like. There were no such luxuries as
mirrors in the barracks or in the latrines,
and she was too short to peer at her
reflection through the thin panes of glass
in the windowsills of her barrack. Part of
the dehumanization process the Nazi’s
purposed to create at Auschwitz was in
their demand that once the prisoners
were tattooed with numbers they lost
their names, their cultural markings,
such as clothing items and jewelry, and
they lost their reflections.
I have heard it said that part of the way in which we learn
to see ourselves is by seeing ourselves through others’
eyes – when we squint into a soul that is filled with love,
kindness, and gracious intentions toward us, we see Life
staring back. There are dreams, courage, and peace in
the unconditional light of a gaze that hopes for the best and
walks with us through the worst. Like a child lifting her hand
to her forehead to create a small spot of shade while looking
toward the sun, so do all of us wish to lift our hands to our
own foreheads and see radiant acceptance shining back onto
our faces.
The eyes that fixed themselves on Eva most often in the
camps were like those you would see on a snake: they
blinked and darted. The movements of the snakes were
smooth and measured one minute, the next they wrapped
around her soul so tightly they almost took her life. Dr. Josef
Mengele, for example demonstrated this. Since Eva and her
sister Miriam were twins, the guards at the selection platform
sent them to Mengele instead of sending them to the gas
chambers along with the rest of their family. Eva recalls the
moment she and her family, after 70 hours of travel, stumbled
out of a hot and crowded train car and into a frenetic rhythm
of activity and noise. “When we first got here everything was
fast. The trains were fast, they were getting us off the train
fast, they were yelling, ‘schnell, schnell,’ which means hurry,
hurry.” As she was explaining this moment to our group she
paused to look around at the very place her memories of
Auschwitz began and she continued, “We couldn’t linger like
Illustrations by Alexander Long and David Babcock.
9
we are now. Lingering means we are okay.” There is no
room for lingering when you are sent into the nest of a snake.
Under the watchful eye of Mengele, Eva and her sister
were injected with poisons on some days of the week and
on other days they had to walk from Birkenau to Auschwitz
I, regardless of the weather, to undergo experiments in
Block 10. Even as I type the words “Block 10,” a darkness
swishes past my mind, like a bird of prey dive-bombing my
skull. I have not heard Eva speak specifically about all of the
experiments she underwent but I do know that they lasted for
hours—from morning to evening. I also know that they were
painful, mortifying, and disorienting. Eva was being treated
like an animal by animals. And yet, she maintained that core
of herself that we still see today—the determination to keep
on living. How did a ten-year-old girl mount up on the wings
of dignity to fly from the nest, first in her spirit and later by
walking out of the camp when the Allies opened the gates?
10
There were moments when Eva was absolutely lying on the
welcome mat of Death. She remembers being injected with
something that made her very ill, gave her a high fever, chills,
confusion, and pain. She was in and out of consciousness
when Mengele looked down at her through his slithering
eyes and said, “It’s too bad she’s so young. She only has
two weeks to live.” Hearing his words fall onto her face,
Eva thought of her sister, Miriam. Eva knew that if she
died, Miriam would be immediately sent for and killed for the
purpose of doing a comparative autopsy. “I must survive,”
she chanted to herself, and not for herself, but for her sister.
About five weeks after she was injected with the poison that
was supposed to kill her, she rejoined Miriam in their barrack.
Miriam was very ill. Eva asked her, “What did they do to
you?” Miriam said she did not want to talk about that, and
they never did until 20 years later. The important thing to
Eva was that she saw her own life when she looked into her
sister’s eyes and her soul was nourished by that light.
In Block 6 at Auschwitz I, there is a photograph of Eva and
Miriam that was taken on the day of their liberation. The first
time Eva saw the photograph she did a quick double take
and said, “That is Miriam!” What was even more surprising
to her was that the little girl holding Miriam’s hand was her. “I
didn’t recognize myself in that picture. I saw Miriam and then
I said, ‘who is that chubby little girl holding Miriam’s hand?’ It
was me! I don’t know how I got so fat in that camp but I was
fat!” Eva remembered her sister’s ten-year-old face but not
her own.
Also in Block 6 there was a wall of framed photographs
taken by the Nazi’s that featured the faces of hundreds of
prisoners. There was one face, in particular, that seemed to
stare back at me. Her name was Helena Rozanska and she
was a teacher. Knowing that Ms. Rozanska had not been
able to see herself in the camp . . . she never knew what she
looked like with her head shaved, her face emaciating, she
never saw the scars she incurred at the hands of the guards,
the dark circles that spread themselves below her eyes.
Without the knowledge of this new reflection, Ms. Rozanska
looked into the camera the way she would have at any other
time in her life – she probably assumed that her essence,
those parts of her that made her truly unique, were shining
through just as they always had. Looking at her photograph
I felt as though I was looking into the eyes of a woman
who was holding on to her humanity and not telling anyone
she still had a firm hold on it. It broke my heart to learn of
how quickly she died upon her arrival at Auschwitz. I was
inadvertently holding my breath as I looked into her eyes,
hoping somehow she would blink and that I could whisper to
her, “I see you.” But she didn’t blink.
A moment later I realized that the reflection of my eyes
aligned with her eyes inside the frame. I see you, Helena
Rozanska. And I hope I will see you, again.
11
HIGH IMPACT LEARNING
UCM Media
Network
By: Joe Moore
The UCM Media Network was created two years ago to
provide a web presence for streaming athletic events on
campus, and to provide streaming and archiving of various
campus activities. The UCM Media Network emerged
from curricular discussions four years ago when the faculty
combined the various mass communication disciplines offered
in the department (film, television, radio, news) to create a
media “hub” whereby students could learn to plan, develop,
promote, and “air” a story or stories across all media platforms.
The first step to establishing the hub was creating the UCM
Media Network, which took place during the fall of 2012
(on the web at www.ucmo.edu/comm/medianet/). While
the web presence continued to be refined, faculty also
discussed the creation of a radio station that could be “aired”
on the UCM Media Network. In the spring of 2013, Charter
Communications recommitted to provide a public, educational,
and government (PEG) channel to the University (Channel
989, Channel 12-9 with a digital tuner); access was developed
and the channel released to the Digital Media faculty in early
summer of 2013.
Today the UCM Media Network provides live streaming
of most home athletic events, a weekly newscast, original
programming developed and provided by students, and
coverage of various university events. In the past year, the
UCM Media Network has covered UCM Commencement
ceremonies, presentations of the Visiting Writers Series,
performances associated with the Performing Arts Series, and
productions of the Center Stage Academy for the Performing
Arts. Additionally, the UCM Media Network provided a live
stream of the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, the State of
the University Address, and Military Appreciation Day at
the Missouri State Fair. The high point for the UCM Media
Network was the opportunity to provide a live stream and live
telecast of President Barrack Obama’s visit to UCM.
12
All these activities have provided students wonderful hands-on,
high-impact learning opportunities as they prepare for careers
in media production. But the program does not stop there. In
the spring of 2014, the faculty created a new course, Mule
Productions, to develop more studio, live remote, and singlecamera productions. Additionally, students in the digital media
production program formed a radio club intended to provide
opportunities for developing talk shows, music broadcasts, and
in-studio recordings, once the online radio station is officially
launched.
Currently, the digital media production faculty is in phase
one of a five-year plan designed to upgrade facilities and
technology, which will provide even more high-impact learning
opportunities. Included in the plans are an increase in media
management and sales training, outreach to area high schools,
and increased involvement with community groups.
HIGH IMPACT LEARNING
Theatre in the
BlackBox
By: Richard Herman
As a result of the high impact learning opportunities provided by the
Richard Herman BlackBox Theatre Program, UCM theatre students
have been receiving regional and national playwriting honors. One of
the major missions of the program is to foster new student playwrights
and give them an opportunity to stage their plays in this experimental
setting. Since the program’s inception in 1988, over 160 new student
plays have been presented on UCM’s campus. As a result, a number
of these plays have been entered in the Kennedy Center American
College Theatre Festival’s (KCACTF) National Playwriting Program.
Most recently, graduate student Aaron Scully’s one-act play Sleeping
With Hitler was selected and presented at the KCACTF Region V
festival in Lincoln, NE. It was one of three regional finalists for the
John Cauble Short Play Award. In January 2013, students Jonathan
Peck and Sherri McCartney’s plays Wedge and Inside the Lines were
KCACTF Region V Finalists for the Ten-Minute Play Festival. In 2008
Paul Rundle’s one-act play Forever and A Day was selected as one of
three regional finalists for the John Cauble Short Play Award and was
presented in Omaha, NE at the regional festival. And in the following
year, 2009, Jeremy Fraizer’s one-act We’ll Always Have Paris was a
Region V finalist and was selected as one of four national finalists for
the John Cauble Short Play Award. Jeremy received an all expense
paid trip to the KCACTF National Festival at the Kennedy Center
in Washington DC where his play was presented and he attended
workshops with professional playwrights including Paula Vogel and
Marsha Norman.
Since 1988, more than 160 new student plays
have been presented in the BlackBox.
The department faculty members who have a vested interest in
producing new plays for the American theatre have fostered the
student success in playwriting. I currently serve as the KCACTF
National Member at Large for the National Playwriting Program (NPP)
and was recently elected to be the National Chair of Playwriting,
after previously serving as the Region V Chair for the NPP program.
Dr. Julie Mollenkamp is currently the Region V Vice-Chair for NPP.
John Wilson teaches playwriting at UCM and a duet scene that he
wrote propelled UCM student Peter Macy to the National Finals of the
Irene Ryan Acting Auditions at the Kennedy Center where he won the
Mark Twain Comic Acting Award.
13
Women’s Studies
at Central:
The Legacy of an
Inclusive, Engaged
Model of Education
By: Karen Bradley
In May 2014, Dr. Carol Heming will be retiring from UCM.
She has been a vital member of the Department of History
and Anthropology for 19 years and is also a long time member
of UCM’s Women’s Studies program. The occasion of her
retirement provides a good moment for reflection on the legacy
of Women’s Studies on this campus and the sometimes hidden
work of important women like Dr. Heming.
The strength and the complexity of Women’s Studies lie in
its interdisciplinary and unique position on knowledge that
inherently links academic study with civic advocacy. First,
Women’s Studies scholars believe that issues of gender
are best studied from multiple perspectives allowing history,
sociology, political science, biology, psychology, economics,
the arts, and humanities to contribute to the discussion in
interrelated conversations; social complexity transcends the
traditional boundaries of disciplines. Secondly, they believe
that learning necessarily extends beyond the classroom and
should be tied to civic and social action. The approach was to
create a multidisciplinary academic program and to engage in
campus advocacy as a practice of that knowledge.
For UCM, it began in January of 1981 when Provost Catherine
Tisinger established a committee to explore establishing a
Women’s Studies minor program on campus (a good ten
14
years after the first accredited programs were established
in the United States). This Women’s Studies Committee,
eventually headed by Dr. Patricia Ashman concurred that
the traditional curriculum on campus had generally been
inattentive to women’s experiences and contributions. A minor
was established in 1984 along with a tiny budget of $400.
The teaching of the courses and the oversight of the program
were not compensated, resting on the volunteer efforts of
hard-working faculty.
The multidisciplinary program was originally housed in the
College of Arts and Sciences and the Women’s Studies
Committee began sponsoring events to raise awareness of the
program, creating a supportive network of persons interested
in these issues, and eventually identifying concerns over
inclusion on campus.
As the university sought to improve the status of minorities
on campus, President Ed Elliott eventually responded to the
committee’s request to more appropriately fund the program.
In fall of 1992, Dr. Amy Levin became the first compensated
coordinator of Women’s Studies and the program gained new
office space and a graduate assistant. Seeking to be more
inclusive and develop broader support, the Women’s Studies
committee changed their name to the Women’s Council and
Dr. Karen Bradley (Director of Women, Gender
and Sexuality Studies) and Tara CliffordNapoleone (Chair, President’s Commission on
the Status of Women) work together on campus
initiatives focused on inclusivity.
continued to pursue their goal of creating not just a program in
Women’s Studies, but also an equitable campus environment
in which the program could thrive.
In 1995, under Dr. Renee Betz as coordinator, the Women’s
Council was expanded into the Central Women’s Consortium,
reporting to the Provost. The Consortium’s wider mission
included a commitment to advocacy for all women at Central,
including students, faculty, and staff. Supervision of the minor
program remained in the College of Arts and Sciences.
By 1999, with Dr. Carol Atkinson as coordinator, the Women’s
Consortium had increased to 89 women and 15 students.
The agenda of the Consortium had rapidly expanded,
bringing some strain between the balance of initiatives and
the volunteer support to complete them. Moreover, the
political nature of the Consortium’s initiatives clearly created
controversy and resistance on campus. Some Consortium
members wanted to step away from that overt struggle, while
others felt it a necessary aspect of grounding the academic
program. Intense debate over the relationship between the
Consortium and the academic “minor” program eventually
yielded common agreement during a 2002 retreat that, yes,
both aspects were necessary. It is important to point out that
this model of linking civic advocacy and academic study was
something that hadn’t been pursued in mainstream academics.
The intense debate should have been expected in light of the
magnitude and innovative nature of what they were trying to
accomplish.
President Bobby R. Patton responded to the intense
disagreements by discontinuing sponsorship of the Women’s
Consortium and creating instead the President’s Commission
on the Status of Women at Central. This decision officially
severed the advocacy arm of Women’s Studies from the
academic program.
But these Women’s Studies pioneers persisted. Under the
coordination of Dr. Yvonne Johnson, a Graduate Certificate
in Women’s and Gender Studies was created in 2006 and
implemented by Dr. Ann Legreid in 2007. In 2008, Dr. Mary
Kelly was designated the Director of the Center for Women’s
and Gender Studies, aligning the Women’s Studies program
with the other interdisciplinary minors as centers, and
importantly, providing a framing context for the advocacy work
that had continued even without a formal group to oversee it.
In 2012, Dr. Karen Bradley, in an effort to be more inclusive of
sexual minorities on campus, expanded the program to include
sexuality. A new name, “Women, Gender and Sexuality
Studies,” and a new curriculum were approved in 2013.
15
The great irony is that the Women’s Studies program, despite
being officially severed from the Women’s Consortium,
continued to follow their commitment to the interrelationship
between academic study and civic advocacy. From its
inception, the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program
has continued to create programming and to advocate around
issues of gender and sexuality. The President’s Commission
on the Status of Women, while originally viewed as somewhat
disconnected from the academic program, now works closely
with the Women, Gender and Sexuality program to pursue
the vision of creating an inclusive and equitable campus
environment at Central.
The Women’s Studies unique perspective of maintaining the
link between academics and civic advocacy has also been
seen in a new light as the legitimacy and importance of civic
engagement and service learning are becoming models of best
teaching practice on campus and across the nation. It was
a good albeit complex idea that the women at Central forged
ahead on. Their diligence and persistence yielded a space for
the emerging program to thrive while also establishing a nowpopular model for academic study linked to civically engaged
learning. Echoing Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s sentiment that wellbehaved women seldom make history, Dr. Betz once referred
to feminists as “impatient and testy women.” The pioneers
of Women’s Studies at Central called for inclusion and equity
early on. They had a vision not just for the program but for
the entire university. Because of their work, UCM is a more
equitable, inclusive campus today. We profit from the model
they established for integrating academic knowledge and civic
practice. The process wasn’t always pretty, but their legacy
is unquestionable.
PAT ASHMAN Scholarship
The Pat Ashman Scholarship was established to celebrate the
contributions of Pat Ashman and to affirm excellent students
in Women’s Studies. Dr. Ashman headed the committee that
created the Women’s Studies program in 1985 and served
as the program coordinator for seven years. Later, she was
interim director for two years and established the student
organization Women Scholars at Central, acting as the group’s
faculty advisor for seven years. Today, Ashman continues to
be a strong advocate for the Women, Gender and Sexuality
Studies at the University of Central Missouri.
Detached (2012) is a steel and found object creation by Cody
Bryant, UCM graduate in Art. It was a generous purchase for
the Women, Gender and Sexuality Program by Dr. William
Vaughn, UCM Professor of English. Cody Bryant is also the
son of Dianna Bryant, UCM faculty member. Stop into the
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies office in Wood 110 if
you would like to view the piece. It is spectacular.
POWER /K N
16
DR. CAROL HEMING
Dr. Carol Heming is retiring after 19 years at Central. She
is a graduate of UCM obtaining both her BA (1982) and MA
(1986), and later a Ph.D. from the University of MissouriColumbia in 2000. Her academic specialization is the German
Reformation, Modern Germany and Women’s History. Her
book, Protestants and the Cult of Saints in German-Speaking
Europe, 1517-1531 was published in 2003. She taught a wide
variety of courses including Early Modern Civilization, Writing
in the Social Sciences, Reformation and the Wars of Religion,
Women in Modern Europe, The Holocaust, Germany and the
Nazi Experience and Historiography. For Women’s Studies
she has served on the committees and boards for many years.
She manages the annual Women’s History Month Writing
Competition which continues to collect and recognize strong
writing about women and gender. Elizabeth I is Dr. Heming’s
favorite historical character. In Heming’s characterization,
Elizabeth I managed to make use of the stereotypes and
assumptions about women while she simultaneously defied
them all. It is Heming’s eye for the ironic use of power that
will be missed. As a very quiet, modest personality, one might
overlook her critical insight and tireless battles on behalf of
equality. But one would be remiss to do so.
Designated Leadership in
Women’s Studies
Dr. Patricia Ashman (1985-1992)
Dr. Amy Levin (1992-1995)
Dr. Renee T. Betz (1995-1999)
Dr. Carol Atkinson (1999-2001)
Dr. Yvonne Johnson (2001-2007)
Dr. Ann Legreid (2007-2008)
Dr. Mary Kelly (2008-2012)
Dr. Karen Bradley (2012-present)
NOWLEDGE
17
Gail Crump:
Sets Standards
By: Bill Vaughn
Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. Peyton Manning’s now five MVP
awards. Gail Crump serving as Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Science and chairing three different
departments—English & Philosophy, Modern Languages, and Geography—over the course of his forty-two and a
half year career at UCM.
Some records will never be broken.
In a different world, Gail Crump’s achievements might be more commonly acknowledged. Indeed, even as we seem
to want to quantify more and more of the academic world, there are other impressive numbers we might cite
to illustrate Gail Crump’s Hall of Fame career at the University of Central Missouri.
3
the number of different names
this university has had over the
course of Gail’s career;
number of classes he taught
300 the
during those years;
approximate number of
7,500 the
students in those classes;
estimated number of student
35,000 the
papers Gail marked and graded;
approximate number of
7,700 the
submissions Gail has reviewed
for UCM’s literary journal,
Pleiades;
number of major institutional
10 the
policy documents he helped
craft.
Illustration by Heather Witt.
18
Consider just that last statistic. How do you get to the point
where—whatever the challenge—your colleagues look to
you for help? Here is how. You get there because of your
past achievements. You get there because of the trust
you have earned. You get there because when a serious
challenge emerges, someone in the room proposes, “I
know what we’ll do: we’ll get Gail Crump.” And then Gail
Crump—being Gail Crump—says, “Yes.” Every good thing
in this world starts with “yes”—yet “yes” is a hard word to
say.
I would argue, though, that the most important number by
which to measure Gail Crump is one, which is the exact
number of Gail Crumps we have.
I have known Gail for thirteen years. I met him on my
campus visit, and what has impressed me from the
beginning, long before I had the metrics by which to
measure his legacy, was his combination of personal
qualities and professional energies. His warmth and wit.
His concern and commitment. His memory. His example.
Gail and fellow emeritus professor Mark Johnson are
the two colleagues who most helped me understand the
work we do here. Well-published scholars and masterful
teachers, they both built important lives in the Warrensburg
community. When Gail is not serving our school directly,
he might be acting in a local production of Dog Gone,
John Haug’s historical play about Old Drum, or editing at
Cave Hollow Press, for which he has been a partner since
2005. When you give that much of yourself to a place and
a profession, you necessarily shape—and in Gail’s case,
improve—it. Not all of what he has accomplished was
defined in a job description, but the fact that he goes so far
beyond what is asked remains a source of inspiration to
anyone who has ever worked with him.
Just one example will illustrate. I remain amazed at his
ability to turn back tests and papers so quickly—something
both his colleagues and students have noticed over the
years. Indeed, Gail told me he was especially proud of the
promptness and quantity of feedback he was able to supply
his students over the years. And that feedback came after
the countless hours he spent in designing and teaching the
classes that enabled his students’ work. He is also to be
commended for being the first faculty member in English,
and one of the first across campus, to publish a book with
a university press (The Novels of Wright Morris: A Critical
Interpretation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1979).
Is Crump, then, unassailable? No, he is not. For one
thing, he undervalues the films of Francis Ford Coppola,
while overestimating the talent of Brian De Palma. (And
whatever you do, don’t tell him you admire Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid.) Are these his gravest sins? I will
let other scholars arbitrate our ongoing disputes . . .
Of course, perfection is not the relevant metric. It is
enough, I think, that Gail is brilliant, and funny, and
inspirational, and resolutely committed to the work of the
academy.
Gail is at his core an educator—maybe the best I have ever
known. And even though he has scaled back his formal
work in the classroom, he continues to enable our students’
success both through his generous, ongoing support for
department scholarships and for his efforts to foster a
greater culture of giving among current UCM faculty. Gail’s
generosity has greatly benefited his “home” department
of English and Philosophy, but he has also spread his
support for students, faculty, and programs (indeed, for all
that contributes to lifelong learning) across the disciplines
of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
Given this broad and deep dedication to higher education,
it should come as no surprise that the commitment he
has shown to our institution is equaled by what he has
evidenced to his alma mater, Truman State, on whose
Foundation Board he has served since 2009.
Few can hope to equal DiMaggio, Chamberlain, Manning,
or Crump. We should be grateful, though, that each
continues to dazzle and inspire us.
19
The King Lives On
By: Melissa Conger
Over the past half-century, the name Elvis Presley has become
a household name as the musician, the legend, and the
religious explorer. Through his version of rock n’ roll music and
in affirmation of his public faith, people could reflect on their
own beliefs and morals. Through his early death, a legacy was
created that may never be duplicated.
Although “The King” has been dead for 35 years, his legacy
is still reaching millions worldwide. In recent years, one
person on the UCM campus focused attention on the work,
perseverance, and uniqueness of Elvis Presley the person,
as opposed to Elvis Presley the artist. Dr. Marla J. Selvidge,
Professor and Director of the Center for Religious Studies,
read nearly 100 books, watched countless videos, and listened
to all of the King’s music. This was accomplished in an effort
to spread inspiration all over campus through a year-long
series of events and activities, which culminated in an online
class, centered around Elvis Presley.
20
Drawing from her extensive knowledge of Elvis Presley,
Selvidge created an online course for the Spring 2014
semester, which took three years to develop. The course,
‘Elvis: Memphis Messiah’ was offered as an elective for
three credit hours. It utilized multiple bibliographies, music,
interviews, and documentaries to heighten interest and
learning.
“The journey of learning is a wonderful thing,” Selvidge said.
“After studying Elvis, I began to realize that he had become a
‘god’ for many. He had inspired many people to be creative in
new ways. There are numerous plays, books, tunes, and more
that have been created in his name.”
Illustration by Emma Booth.
Along with the class was Channeling Elvis, a year long
celebration of Elvis Presley that began this past fall. However,
Selvidge did not originally anticipate organizing an entire year
filled with Elvis events. “After I began developing the class, I
wondered if there were others on campus who were interested
in his life and work,” Selvidge said. “I found many people.
Almost everyone I asked wanted to contribute something to
exploring Elvis.”
And those contributions soared. This spring, the upcoming
events include an Elvis display in James C. Kirkpatrick Library,
the “Capturing Elvis” art contest, which was opened to all
students, tribute music played by faculty members, and a
performance put on by the Department of Theatre and Dance
about Graceland, most of which will be free events. To top off
the year’s festivities, an Elvis impersonator from Las Vegas,
Matt Lewis, who is also a UCM alumnus, will perform for all.
“His life was a symbol of freedom for his generation and to
those who came after him,” Selvidge said. “Tribute artists who
remember Elvis are in effect re-living his life and music.”
Due to the ‘50s and ‘60s being a time of turmoil throughout the
country, Elvis provided not only an outlet for entertainment,
but also a positive influence that promoted change during
events like the Cold War, civil rights, the arms race, and
assassinations. “He chose to be different and was never
apologetic for being different,” Selvidge said. “He could be a
role model for many. Elvis inspires many because he rose from
abject poverty to the highest paid actor in Hollywood. Elvis was
[also] on his own personal spiritual quest to find happiness.”
Hoping to inspire students and faculty with this heartthrob hero
was no easy task for Selvidge, though it has been a rewarding
one. “Bringing events centered in the discovery of one of the
most important folk heroes and singers on the 20th century is a
daunting goal,” Selvidge said. “It has been a lot of fun working
with many people to make it happen. I think that we need to
celebrate great and influential people and Elvis was one of them.”
For more insight into the King’s legacy, check out Selvidge’s
book For the Love of Elvis, released January 2014.
Melissa Conger, senior Digital Media Production major, is the
News Editor for the Muleskinner
Matt Lewis: Elvis Impersonator Extraordinaire.
21
Discovering Gabriella
Polony-Mountain
By: Christian Cutler
Tanvi Gawde, (B.S. Studio Art, 2013), Christian Cutler,
Gabriella Polony-Mountain, and Margaret and Royal
Scanlon, friends of the artist.
22
Tobias and the Angels, 52”x35” stained glass window (left), and (L to R) Feeding Fish, 47”x45” weaving;
Frozen Fish – Abundance from the Sea, 27”x3”x11” marble; and Moving Galaxy, 56”x40” weaving.
When you visit Gabriella Polony-Mountain’s home in the
Mission Hills neighborhood of Kansas City, you are introduced
to her talent and the beauty of her art before you even enter
the house. Greeting you on the doorstep of this unassuming
ranch-style home are the most glorious double doors you’ve
ever seen. Abstract nude figures dance and flow from
the hinges to the handles. Gabriella (Gaby to her friends)
hammered and shaped the copper panels in low relief, a
process known as repoussé, which she learned while living in
Rome.
Repoussé is not her only talent. Gaby is also equally
accomplished with pastels, stained glass, tile mosaics, stone
carving, and weaving. Her achievements are as numerous as
her artistic skills, but this immensely talented 95-year-old artist
isn’t a household name . . . yet.
Gaby was born in Sasvar, Hungary, in 1918. She studied law,
like her father and brother, but switched her concentration to
art, first studying art in England before continuing her studies
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. “I was very lucky
that I didn’t get to be a lawyer,” Gaby told me. “When I finally
could immigrate here, I couldn’t have done anything,” referring
to the laws of different counties. She spent years traveling
across Europe and studied more in Rome, before finally
arriving with her first husband in America in 1951 with nothing
but suitcases and $120.
Eventually Gaby’s first husband, a fellow Hungarian artist,
landed a teaching position at the University of Missouri–
Kansas City. “It was meant to be,” Gaby says about settling in
Kansas City. Here is where Gaby would make her most lasting
works of art and the place she would meet the love of her life,
her second husband, Mr. Herman “Rocky” Mountain.
Gaby has told me a lot about Rocky over the course of a year;
he died suddenly in February of 2013. Gaby says of Rocky,
“He was a self-made man.” But Rocky was not the only
self-made person in the house. Gaby too was “self-made,”
supporting herself by making art for nearly a decade before
meeting Rocky. Within a few years of her arrival in the U.S.,
Gaby was winning awards for her architectural commissions
through prominent architects like Hungarian-born Peter Keleti.
Her achievements would include the Huntington-Hartford
Fellowship in 1954, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Fellowship in
1955, and the American Institute of Architecture Craftsmanship
Award in Kansas City for her repoussé doors at the Taliaferro
residence in St. Joseph in 1958.
Gaby aimed to be a conventional exhibition artist in Kansas
City, showing her work to prominent players in the city’s art
scene of the 1950’s and 60’s. However, she was told that her
art was “too primitive.”
23
Despite these critiques, Gaby persevered and continued to
receive commissions and awards. Today she will tell you, “I
am my own gallery.” Her art can be seen throughout Kansas
City; Boonville, Independence, and St. Joseph, Missouri; in
Leavenworth, Leawood, and Mission Hills, Kansas; on the
Whiteman Air Force Base; and here on the University of
Central Missouri campus. I discovered Gaby’s work at UCM
and her amazing talents through an unusual treasure hunt.
I had been employed at UCM as gallery director for a little over
a year when, just after Spring Graduation of 2013, a woman
from Iowa came into the Department of Art & Design looking
for Gaby’s works on campus. Mrs. Mary Kay Vogel, whose
mother lives in Kansas City, had seen an exhibition of Gaby’s
art at Kansas City Upholstery in 2009. She was also familiar
with the mosaic baptistery that Gaby created for St. Ann
Catholic Church where her mother worships. A Kansas City
Star article about Gaby and the 2009 exhibit told her that UCM
also had some of Gaby’s installations. As the manager for
UCM’s outdoor sculpture collection, I assured Mrs. Vogel that
I would find the works. Neither Department Chair Dr. Mick
Luehrman nor I was familiar with Gaby’s work, and nothing
was in our files about her art installations. Where were they?
What do they look like? I was determined to find out.
“Every Fiber of Her Being” exhibition at the UCM Gallery of
Art & Design, September 30—October 25, 2013.
24
My first step was to familiarize myself with Gabriella PolonyMountain’s work. I knew that if I could find some examples
of her work online, I could match her artistic style and
composition to anything that might be on the UCM campus.
A brief search uncovered only a handful of images, but a
distinct style and sense of color was present in the mosaics,
stained glass, and repoussé that I saw. Ethereal figures and
harmonious lines flowed through and across the works that my
“Googling” had revealed. I now had something to go on.
Mrs. Vogel had mentioned that UCM supposedly had a stained
glass window and some repoussé work installed somewhere
on campus. The two known locations on campus with stained
glass were the Elliott Student Union and the Alumni Memorial
Chapel. I visited both locations with high hopes of finding
stained glass in Gaby’s style. In the Union there were a few
blue and green stained glass windows, but these were a bit
generic. The chapel’s windows were also not indicative of
Gaby’s figurative work. I felt like I was reaching a dead end.
(I would later discover that Gaby also created the colorful
geometric stained glass windows for the campus chapel.)
A day or so later, after Dr. Luehrman and I consulted with
the McClure Archives and University Museum and visited
with veteran UCM employees, a lead came in. There was
Horse and Rider, 70”x30”
stitched weaving (left),
needlepoint; Dragons, 78”x33”
door, repoussé (right).
reportedly a stained glass window in the Houts-Hosey
Dormitory on the west side of campus. I dropped everything
and headed to Houts-Hosey. This was it! Inside the common
room of the dorm was a 6-1/2’ by 6’ stained glass window
depicting the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. It was
installed in the south-facing wall, now glorifying some rough
furniture and a ping pong table. Despite its surroundings and
some condition issues from over 50 years of inattention, the
window was stunning. There was not a plaque or marker
indicating who created this glorious window, but it was
unmistakably Gaby’s.
Now that I had found the stained glass, I was determined to
locate the repoussé. I took another walk through campus,
looking in every corner and courtyard. After getting a
little lost in the hallways that connect Grinstead to the Utt
Music Building, I arrived above the main entry doors to Utt.
There, framed in copper, was a stained glass mosaic of
four musicians mounted to a steel and copper architectural
partition. Below the partition, facing the glass entry doors,
were seven aluminum and copper repoussé panels illustrating
the Seven Virtues. The stained glass musicians’ bodies and
instruments flowed seamlessly into one another, and the
repoussé panels featured art deco style figures and text,
meticulously shaped into the metal. The stained glass mosaic
and the repoussé panels were unmistakably Gaby’s style.
There too, at the bottom right corner of the panels, were
Gaby’s initials. UCM did indeed have art work by Gabriella
Polony-Mountain.
Since discovering these connections between UCM and
Gaby, The UCM Gallery of Art & Design has exhibited a miniretrospective of her work and plans are being made to restore
and relocate the Wise and Foolish Virgins stained glass
window. We expect to have this work of art greet you from a
prominent location the next time you visit the UCM campus.
25
One Campus,
One Book,
One Story.
By: Phong Nguyen
Fall 2013 marked the beginning of UCM’s One Campus, One
Book program. Conceived of as a campus-wide effort to
encourage “engaged learning” and to create a unifying academic
experience within the community at large, this initiative takes
education outside the classroom and into public life through the
use of a shared text intended to reach students, faculty, staff, to
the rest of Warrensburg and beyond.
The One Campus, One Book program is the product of a
collaboration between the Composition program, the Pleiades
Visiting Writers Series, and the American Democracy Project.
Each year, a committee representing these groups puts out an
open call for nominations for a common reader text and then
selects a book to be used in the first-year composition courses,
culminating in a visit and keynote speech by the author, to which
the whole campus is invited.
The criteria for selecting UCM’s common reader is contained
in the emphases of its constituent programs: the Composition
instructors strive to find a text that is accessible and teachable,
with critical depth; the Pleiades editors are looking for writers
with an apt literary style and the ability to engage audiences; and
the American Democracy Project staff look for works that are
politically engaged and socially relevant. Running underneath
these disparate agendas is desired by all parties to make the
book communal, thus to seek texts that are cross-disciplinary,
and potentially relevant to every student’s course of study.
Author Jonathan Gottschall
26
The first common reader text at UCM was Jonathan
Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal. The book’s
simultaneous contributions to the fields of literary study
and to evolutionary psychology—and the author’s longstanding interest in reconciling the “two cultures” of the
Arts and Sciences within the academy—made this text an
appealing trailhead for the series. The Storytelling Animal
elegantly justifies its own subject matter by demonstrating
the universality of story-telling in every human culture, and
the sway that story has upon the human mind. Exploring
the question of “why” the human mind is so constituted,
Gottschall surveys the history of ways that scientists,
scholars, and public intellectuals have attempted to answer it.
By scrutinizing something as near to us as the universal
story-structure of dreams, daydreams, religious texts, literary
texts, therapy sessions, primetime news, and everyday
gossip, Gottschall allows us to see the familiar anew, and
in so doing reveals our strange tendency to think in, and be
susceptible to, narrative. Full of research and revelations
about our most current understanding of how the mind
works, The Storytelling Animal has become a touchstone
for conversations both formal and informal across campus.
According to student testimonials, UCM students took the
experience of reading the book into their dormitories and
workplaces, and found themselves actively participating in an
intellectual community.
Gottschall’s visit to UCM on November 13th was the
culminating event of the One Campus, One Book program.
With more than 500 people in attendance, Gottschall took the
stage and, with humor and heart, distilled his research into a
45-minute presentation that covered terrain as diverse as the
Chauvet caves, the !Kung San people of the Kalahari Desert,
comedian Louis CK, Jack Links Beef Jerky, and Chipotle
commercials. Engaging with students directly, demonstrating
through his enthusiasm for his subject that learning is a
passion with its own rewards, Gottschall reminded everyone
in attendance that education is more than merely that which a
classroom can contain.
We look forward to finding out what happens in 2014 with the
second year of UCM’s One Campus, One Book program.
27
The War to
End All Wars
By: Celia M Kingsbury
A working class woman
measures flour in this British
League of National Safety
poster. Some heavy laborers
ate as much as 14 lbs. of bread
a week. Britain did not ration
flour, although other foods and
commodities were rationed.
On August 4, 1914, German forces invaded Belgium, and
the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. When the Great War
ended on November 11, 1918, roughly 9 million combatants
had been killed, as well as countless civilians. In the fall of
1918 and through the winter of 1919, the global influenza
pandemic took an additional 30-50 million lives, an estimate
because many deaths occurred in places that did not keep
birth and death records. Apocalypse indeed did seem at
hand as the second decade of the twentieth century ended.
Understandably then, as the century unfolded and melted
into the next, the First World War became a focus of historical
study, literary study, cultural study, film study, propaganda
study—virtually every social, cultural, and political discipline
has turned to the First World War to answer questions about
how we got to where we are today. The war informed a
whole generation of writers and artists, a generation Gertrude
Stein referred to as “the lost generation.” The new medium
of film captured the horrors of the war firsthand, and at the
same time it served as a propaganda tool for recruitment.
Music became more dissonant and frantic. Class systems
crumbled, and long-standing empires came to an end.
Women who had participated in the war retained at least
some of their new-found freedoms.
As we commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of
the beginning of the war to end wars, a paraphrase of a
statement made by British author H. G. Wells, it behooves
us all to pause and examine the past. As a regional state
university, UCM has a unique opportunity to bring together
faculty from across disciplines to review this tragic moment
in history which according to many, defined and still defines
the present. To that end, the College of Arts, Humanities, and
Social Sciences is planning a number of special events, many
of which will be open to the public. Beginning in the spring of
2014, the department of History and Anthropology will launch
a lecture series organized by Dr. Jessica Cannon entitled
“The Great War.” The series began in February with a panel
discussion on the origins of the war.
28
Panelists included History Department Chair Dr. Eric
Tenbus, along with faculty members Dr. Micah
Alpaugh and Dr. Carol Heming. In March, Dr. Celia
Kingsbury spoke on British and American propaganda.
Complementing the lecture on propaganda, the
University Archives displayed a collection of propaganda,
including paper ephemera and recruiting posters. In
April, Jessica Cannon will speak on “Flyboys: The True
Story of World Story of World War I Aviation.”
(Left) “Keep the Hun Out!” by Columbus, OH,
cartoonist Billy Ireland. War Saving Stamps and
Liberty Loan posters solicited money for the war
with frightening images of “the Hun.” (Below) Early
British recruiting poster, “Women of Britain Say –
GO!” by E.V. Kealy.
The series continues over the next two years on various
interdisciplinary topics. For Fall 2014, on September 9,
Dr. Dan Crews will discuss the latest on Mexican-American
relations and WWI; on Oct. 22, Dr. Eric Tenbus will
discuss the effects of WWI on the modern Middle East.
Undergraduate research on WWI directed by Dr. Jessica
Cannon will be presented on December 2. Additional series
information can be found at the blog, gwhis.blogspot.com, or
by contacting the Department of History and Anthropology.
In addition to the evening lecture series, individual
departments are offering classes on the war. In the English
and Philosophy Department, Celia Kingsbury will offer a
class looking at war fiction and film. While Ernest Hemingway
perhaps garners the most notice as an American war writer,
a number of British and American authors, including the
Midwestern writer Willa Cather, focused on the war and its
effects on individual lives and culture. The course will include
a guest speaker who will discuss war memorials and the
effects of the war on personal and cultural memory, an event
open to the public. While the Great War is a painful moment
in history, a moment that divided communities with large
German immigrant populations, a moment that saw the first
coordinated use of mass propaganda, and a moment that
saw the development of new weapons including airplanes,
long-range guns, poisonous gas, and flame throwers – a
forerunner to napalm – it is a moment worthy of revisiting.
The departments in the College of Arts, Humanities, and
Social Sciences are seizing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to come together for a singular remembrance of history and
culture and a reminder for those for whom the war is a vague
and distant spot in time.
29
Reaching
a Dream
By: Kristin Scott
A chance to travel to Paris and London through a study tour
offered by the Department of Art & Design seemed like a
dream that might be out of reach. Since I am working my way
through college, I thought the trip might be an extravagance
that I couldn’t afford. But, once I realized the trip would also
count for an art history course, I knew I wanted to go. As a
freshman, I started working and saving.
During my junior year, it was time to get on the plane. I had
never been to an airport let alone on an airplane. I was
excited to sit in a window seat that afforded me a great view
of the changing landscape. As we took to the sky, I watched
Kansas City became just a tiny little dot.
The Eiffel Tower seen from Trocadero plaza, Paris.
Photo Credits: Mick Luehrman
30
Thirteen hours later, when we landed in Paris, it was
immediately apparent that I was no longer in the United States.
I do not speak a word of French, so trying to read the street
signs and communicate with the locals were big challenges.
The whirlwind museum tour in Paris was amazing. The pieces
of art we learned about in class were right in front of me. I
saw famed Mona Lisa (which isn’t very big) and the Wedding
at Cana (which is huge). I had mixed feelings about exploring
The Louvre. It had many great works of art and the building
itself was a feast for the eyes, however, it was so big we got
lost several times and I had sore feet that night from walking.
(Left) A mounted trooper of the Royal Household
Cavalry on duty at Horse Guards on Whitehall,
London. (Above) Queen’s Guard, Changing of the
Guard, Buckingham Palace, London.
Paris is very different from Kansas City. The food was a treat.
One meal even came complete with a glass of wine. I soon
became familiar with a handful of French words and the Paris
Métro system. At midday the entire country seemed to be in
slow motion. No one was running to or from the Métro. No
one was eating on the go. Even sounds softened. When
eating a meal at a restaurant, it was perfectly normal to be
there for hours. It was a wonderful time to enjoy life, discover
shared experiences, and strengthen bonds of new friendship.
Paris! We had to ask for the check—waiters didn’t just bring it
to you!
The Paris & London Museum Tour group
pose in front of Les Invalides, Paris.
After a week in Paris, we took the train under the English
Channel to London. London was very different from Paris.
Paris was very “Old World.” Even new buildings in Paris
conform to the architectural style of existing buildings. London,
on the other hand, has a mixture of old and new architecture.
We visited the famous landmarks such as Big Ben, the London
Eye, and Westminster Abbey. We also visited the Tate Modern
to see Damien Hirst’s exhibit. If you are not familiar with his
works, it can be somewhat disturbing. He tries to make people
uncomfortable and question their boundaries and beliefs. After
seeing his work in person, I must say he succeeds.
My trip to London and Paris really helped bring all of the
history of art and architecture to life, but it did more than just
help with my studies. After coming home from Europe, I have
new respect for anyone who decides to study abroad or take
a long trip to a different country. The culture is so different in
other countries, one really has to step back and remember
that as a guest one must respect the way things are done in
the host country. The Paris and London Tour provided a lot
of firsts for me—my first plane ride, my first trip outside the
United States, and my first experience learning and using a
second language. Since I am now such a “seasoned” traveler,
I am looking for an opportunity to return to Europe. It is an
adventure that I recommend highly and I hope to repeat.
Evening in London, Big Ben and
Houses of Parliament.
31
The Art of
Producing
Music
By: Eric Honour
The Lake Cottage Duo, featuring UCM’s Dr. Sheri Mattson,
performs in the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Photo Credit: Oberon Leslie.
32
In the mid-twentieth century, Glenn Gould was among the
leading classical pianists, performing regularly with the world’s
greatest orchestras. He was widely considered one of the
foremost interpreters of the music of Bach, and a champion of
contemporary music. When he abruptly withdrew from public
performance in 1964, to concentrate on producing recorded
music and radio documentaries, it shocked the classical music
community.
Two years later, he wrote a controversial article for High
Fidelity magazine, titled “The Prospects of Recording.” In the
article, he asserted that “… the public concert as we know it
today would no longer exist a century hence, that its functions
would have been entirely taken over by electronic media.”
Reactions to Gould’s article were predictably intense. The
editors’ decision to place choice comments in the margins of
the article from other musical luminaries of the day, including
composer Aaron Copland and conductor Leopold Stokowski,
added fuel to the fire.
It was, perhaps, time for such a controversy to arise. In the
mid-1960s, audio recording technology was nearly 100 years
old. The introduction of the phonograph in the late nineteenth
century, and radio in the early twentieth century, led to very
significant changes in the means through which listeners
engaged with music, with concomitant impacts on the
production of music. As Nicolas Collins wrote, in his article
“Ubiquitous Electronics—Technology and Live Performance
1966-1996,”
Society split into two distinct categories:
a small group of professionals who made
music and the large mass of society that
consumed it. The phonograph represented
a milestone in the gradual distancing of
people from the act of making music, a
process that had commenced with the rise
of art music in eighteenth-century Europe.
Edison’s invention effectively replaced the
Victorian amateur musician with the modern
consumer.
The development of the vinyl LP record in 1948, with the
subsequent addition of stereophonic capability in 1958,
represented the apex of analog recording technology for
distribution. It became easy for consumers to obtain very highquality recordings of the music they liked, and to enjoy it in the
comfort of their homes. While the digital audio and Internet
revolutions would each eventually develop this new listening
paradigm further, by the mid-1960s, music consumption
norms had already achieved a new stasis, with consumption
of recordings significantly outnumbering attendance at live
concerts. Further, the technology of music production had
developed apace: the introduction of magnetic tape in the
1940s was truly revolutionary, as it made editing possible.
33
By the time of Gould’s writing, things had come to a head.
It was then nearly possible, via editing, to craft a “perfect”
performance: to realize utterly, down to the last detail, exactly
the performer’s interpretation of the composition. Gould
himself did not consider his statements particularly radical,
and a number of the marginal comments in his article showed
that those involved in the recorded music industry felt similarly.
Given the obvious strengths of the new technology—of giving
listeners perfection, whenever and wherever one chooses—
why would anyone continue to attend live concerts?
Decades later, it has become clear that the dichotomy
established in Gould’s article, like those proposed in the
other arts (such as painting vs. photography, or theatre vs.
film), is a false one. Live music performance and recordings
coexist. Each has its strong points, and it seems unlikely that
recordings will ever supplant live performance. Instead, music
recordings are best understood as a new art form, serving a
different purpose and pursuing different aesthetic goals from
live performance. These differences have given rise to a new
class of musical artist, the producer.
The primary creative output of the producer is the recorded
artifact. His or her tools include the various implements
found in the recording studio—microphones, mixers, signal
processors, and computers—as well as the ability to make
many other decisions throughout the recording process. In
the same way that the work of a film director transcends the
contributions of the screenwriter, actors, set designers, and
34
all the other artists involved in the production of a film, the art
of the music producer synthesizes all the others involved, to
arrive synergistically at a whole that is greater than the sum of
its parts.
These developments in the world of music are very much
at play on our campus in Warrensburg. Among its other
strengths, UCM’s Department of Music is home to the UCM
Center for Music Technology. Established in 2000, the
primary goal of the Center is training musicians as music
producers. Additionally, in recent years, various members of
the department have been increasingly involved in recordings,
most of which are available at major music retailers, including
iTunes and Amazon.com.
Tenor David Adams, an Artist-in-Residence on our faculty,
was featured as a soloist with the Kansas City Chorale, on
Life & Breath: Choral Works by René Clausen (Chandos
CHSA5105), which won two GRAMMY Awards in February
2013. Composer and trumpeter David Aaberg, head of
the jazz-commercial music program, performed on The
Christmas Album (Mahogany Jazz MJ1225), a release by
Kevin Mahogany and the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, which
received a favorable review in DownBeat magazine. The CD
also features Aaberg’s arrangement of Oh Come, Oh Come
Emmanuel. Adjunct professor of music theory Lee Hartman,
an award-winning composer, served as co-producer for the
Simon Carrington Chamber Singers CD Soul Mates, which is
scheduled for release on Delos records in spring 2014.
In my own role as director of the Center for Music Technology,
I have been involved as a producer, engineer, composer,
and/or performer on many recordings. In the last few years,
these include (among others) my solo album of music for
saxophone and computer, Phantasm (Ravello Records
RR7815); multiple CDs with the Athens Saxophone Quartet;
and a record of music for clarinet and electronics titled Quirk
(ElectroacusticoRecords), with clarinetist Mauricio Salguero.
I am currently producing two new recordings with faculty
members Alan Wenger (associate professor of trumpet) and
Tian Tian (assistant professor of piano). We expect these CDs
to be released in 2014 or early 2015.
Oboist Sheri Mattson, associate professor of double reeds
and member of the Lake Cottage Duo, released Dutch Music
for Oboe and Piano (Centaur CRC3234) with pianist Juanita
Becker in June 2013. This recording, like many of those
listed above, was produced at the UCM Center for Music
Technology, which provided an opportunity for students in
the program to work on a record scheduled for commercial
release. Speaking directly to this aspect of the project,
Mattson says:
I also really liked the fact that our students helped create
this recording. Centaur Records let us put their names in
the credits, too. After the recording was published, I was
able to give some of these students’ copies of the CD. I
really enjoyed seeing their faces when I showed them the
credits. Not only was it my work, but their work, too.
Mattson considered the process educational for herself as well,
since it gave her the opportunity to closely observe the roles of
the producer and engineers in crafting a recording:
While I don’t know much about digital editing, I do know it
takes a deep knowledge of the classical music style and
the oboe’s sound to create a recording that isn’t distorted.
Carefully placing microphones that capture both the
instrument and the “warmth” and resonance added by the
room is an art in itself . . .
The technologists have to follow a similar process that I
follow when preparing a piece of music for performance.
Just as I have to learn the music and think about style,
interpretation, and presentation, a good technologist
is doing that same preparation without actually playing
the instrument. Then, of course, when I am finished
performing, there is more work to be completed by the
editors, producers, and engineers in creating the best
artifact possible.
In the end, producing great musical recordings requires the
relentless pursuit of perfection. We have amazing tools
available in the modern recording studio, which enable us
quite literally to transform any sound into almost any other
sound imaginable. Nevertheless, achieving the very highest
level of artistry in production requires extraordinary attention
to detail, intense collaboration, and the occasional bit of sheer
luck. In these ways, then, producing art in the recording studio
is the same as producing any other kind of art: it is a matter of
inspiration, dedication, and spirit!
35
Foundations
of Learning
By: Julie Stephens de Jonge
“Did you ever stop to think,
and forget to start again?”
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh may be on to something. Most of us think
quickly and automatically and do so without much regard
for the quality of our thinking, nor do we spend much time
contemplating the kinds of dispositions and traits that would
make us good thinkers. Most of us look for evidence that
we are right, that our thoughts and beliefs are affirmed
by the world, and conclude that those who approach a
problem differently or who disagree with us are misguided,
ill-informed, or wrong. Moreover, we may take mental short
cuts and think carelessly. Likewise, most of us are not
inclined to analyze and evaluate our own thinking to make
sure it adheres to certain standards. Undesirable and even
harmful consequences often result from poor thinking. If we
do not fully think through problems or concepts, pose the
wrong questions, infer incorrectly, rely on flawed or vague
information, examine an issue superficially, or ignore relevant
alternatives, we cannot begin to successfully confront and
solve problems.
Given our tendency to confirm, rather than disprove, what we
think we know, how can educators and students tackle the
most vexing problems society faces and maximize the wellbeing of living creatures on the planet? How can university
courses and programs address careless or biased thinking?
In short, how can the pivotal experience of a college education
play a central role in developing thinking skills, critical to our
well-being?
Educational professionals, both past and present, have
often championed goals such as the development of higher
order thinking or critical thinking. Such pervasive terms risk
becoming so commonplace that their meaning is both taken
for granted and only vaguely understood. In 2013, faculty in
36
the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at UCM
joined faculty from the other three colleges in a new initiative
to collaboratively develop strategies and goals to promote
higher quality thinking in all courses and programs.
In summer 2013, Dr. Gerald Nosich, a professor of philosophy
at the University of Buffalo and a fellow of the Foundation
for Critical Thinking, led interested UCM faculty in a twoday workshop on ways to revise courses and programs to
promote the development of critical thinking skills across the
curriculum. The Foundation for Critical Thinking uses the
Paul-Elder model for critical thinking, which promotes teaching
students eight key elements of reason, specific intellectual
standards to evaluate the quality of one’s thinking, and
intellectual traits that people should cultivate to become fairminded critical thinkers (criticalthinking.org).
The College, along with the Center for Teaching and Learning,
provided key leadership in support for the workshop.
Approximately 25 faculty from across the university attended
and were inspired to make changes in their courses. Dr. Sara
Sundberg, Professor of History, reflected on the impact of the
“Begin challenging your
own assumptions. Your
assumptions are your
windows on the world.
Scrub them off every once
in a while, or the light
won’t come in.”
Alan Alda
Photo by Dick Kahoe
workshop: “I value the opportunity to stop and consider
exactly how we currently encourage critical thinking in the
classroom and then plan how we can do it better. It is
even more rewarding to engage in this process along with
colleagues from across campus.”
Likewise, Dr. Kathleen Desmond, professor of art, decided to
use a specific technique she learned at the workshop called
SEE-I, which encourages students to clearly express concepts
and ideas by (S) stating them clearly, (E) elaborating on the
idea further, (E) exemplifying the idea by giving examples
and (I) illustrating the idea through an analogy or illustration.
Dr. Desmond reports that she found “SEE-I to be very useful
for eliciting more meaningful, well organized, and clear
responses.” She says she sees a difference in the quality of
the course online discussion boards from the beginning of the
semester threads as compared to the threads later on in the
semester when SEE-I was required. She summarizes the
purpose of this change: “My goal, of course, is for students
to learn SEE-I in their General Education course so they
will carry that practice throughout their college careers and
beyond.”
Dick Kahoe, associate professor of professional photography,
reported that he used materials from the workshop to
revise an activity in order to move students from egocentric
reasoning to more confident reasoning. He explains: “Our
students often look for affirmation of what they already think.
It’s common for them to draw conclusions based on long held
beliefs instead of evidence. Students sometimes say that the
results they obtained in a media survey assignment could not
represent reality because if the results were typical, ‘someone
would have said something by now.’ That the students
distrusted the data suggests that something was missing from
the activity. Students were gathering their own survey data –
but they needed to collaborate to share the information before
they drew conclusions to give meaning
to the data.”
37
Upper left above: Detainment, by
Mick Luehrman, handmade paper,
found objects.
Upper left below: Immigration, by
Mick Luehrman, handmade paper,
wood, found objects.
Two-Page Spread Photo: The
Mourners, by Mick Luehrman,
handmade paper, wood, earth.
Photo Credit: Mick Luehrman.
Other faculty who attended the workshop have developed
assignments to help students learn to identify the assumptions
and inferences they make as they reason through problems
or course activities. Additionally, Dr. Nosich encouraged
faculty to rethink the balance between the rush to cover
course content and the development of the kinds of thinking
skills that will transfer to other courses and to any number of
situations and problems we face. By helping students zero in
on what he has termed “fundamental and powerful concepts,”
students are more likely to leave courses with ideas that
help them understand other topics within the discipline. Jon
Talabreza-May, Assistant Professor of Social Work, attended
the workshop and decided to make adjustments in his course
to nudge students into a more active learning role: “Weekly
writings based on course readings have allowed me to get
away from teaching content solely through a lecture format
and opened the door to move students from passive to active
learning. The students are encouraged to read the chapter
because they have a weekly paper to turn in, and their
38
knowledge of the subject leads to lively group discussion
and participation.”
Although most faculty tend to assert the centrality of critical
thinking in their courses, this initiative seeks to clarify what
critical thinking is and to integrate the most effective strategies
into academic endeavors. Indeed, university instructors
recognize the importance of spending this relatively short
time in students’ lives in a way that has positive future
consequences for the student and for society. Notably,
when the Association of American Colleges and Universities
released a 2013 report that summarized a national survey
of nonprofit and business leaders, they found that 93% of
employers said they wanted employees with a “demonstrated
capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve
complex problems” and that those abilities were “more
important than [a candidate’s] undergraduate major.”
(http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/2013_EmployerSurvey.
pdf, p. 1).
Education based on developing critical thinking skills may
upend the tendency of academics to silo knowledge within
disciplines and challenge the preference of students to
memorize and repeat rather than question and analyze.
The modern media environment in which students are
immersed complicates, yet makes more urgent, the teaching
of critical thinking. Students have unprecedented access to
unfiltered knowledge and younger adults, in particular, live
with a barrage of visual stimuli. Arguing for the development
of critical thinking regarding images, the famed film director,
Martin Scorsese, argues that “young people need to
understand that not all images are there to be consumed like
fast food and then forgotten – we need to educate them to
understand the difference between moving images that engage
their humanity and their intelligence, and moving images that
are just selling them something” (New York Review of Books,
August 2013, p. 26). To be sure, the power and quantity of
both images and information require instructional strategies that
teach students not to absorb stimuli but to be poised to think
profoundly and critically about it.
“It is the mark of an educated
mind to be able to entertain a
thought without accepting it.”
Aristotle
The summer 2013 workshop at UCM was an important catalyst
for future professional development opportunities and for
ongoing faculty collaboration. “No problem can withstand
the assault of sustained thinking,” according to the 18th
century French philosopher, Voltaire. Voltaire’s confidence
in “thinking” is shared by instructors who persist in improving
critical thinking skills and who are optimistic about confronting
our most troublesome problems. Centuries earlier, the Greek
philosopher, Socrates, underscored the task of an educator:
“I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them
think.” Indeed it may be possible to teach students to repeat
knowledge presented in a course, but it’s much more powerful
to make them independent thinkers who possess the tools to
think through any problem or content.
39
Lessons from
Two Careers on
the Value of Social
Studies Education
By: Sara Brooks Sundberg
It is generally known that studying social studies results in
salable skills in the form of teacher certification, but the lives
and legacy of former UCM Social Studies graduate Paul
Rorvig (B.S. Ed. Social Studies, 2005) and his uncle and
mentor, the late Dr. Paul E. Rorvig, demonstrate that social
studies education prepares students for varied challenges and
opportunities. A Social Studies education at UCM provides
skills and experiences to which it is very difficult to assign a
market value.
Paul Rorvig’s career in education is a fine example of the way
social studies education can prepare students for unexpected
career opportunities. After completing his Social Studies
degree, Paul worked as a graduate assistant coach for
UCM while he completed his Master’s in Secondary School
Administration. Upon completion of his Master’s degree in
2007, Paul moved to Kansas where he taught Social Studies
for three years at Shawnee Mission North High School. He
also served as the junior varsity boys’ basketball coach and
40
as an assistant football coach at North. Today, Paul is an
Associate Director of High School Review for the National
Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA requires that
athletes who participate in athletics at a Division I or Division
II member institution be certified by the NCAA Eligibility
Center. Paul works on the academic end of that certification.
He is part of a team that evaluates high schools throughout
the nation to make sure they provide a sixteen-course core
curriculum required by NCAA. He also investigates cases
that may involve issues pertaining to academic integrity.
Paul may have moved out of the high school classroom, but
he relied upon his training in social studies education to make
that transition. He credits his knowledge of the social studies
curriculum noting that “the first subject I always look at is
social studies and I can quickly tell if the curriculum is going to
meet NCAA requirements for a core course.” He also draws
upon the writing and organizational skills he practiced as a
Social Studies education major and teacher.
The late Dr. Paul E. Rorvig and nephew Paul Rorvig.
Like other students who majored in Social Studies before
and after him, Paul also credits the excellent mentorship
and instruction he received at UCM from his uncle and
namesake, the late Dr. Paul E. Rorvig. Dr. Rorvig served as
Social Studies Program Coordinator and Professor of History
for the History and Anthropology Department from 1999 until
his death in September, 2013. He earned his Ph.D. from
the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he specialized
in post WW II US history. An award-winning teacher,
Dr. Rorvig earned the respect of colleagues and students
alike for the clarity of his lectures, critical pedagogy, and
for the countless hours he spent in Social Studies advising.
Paul agrees heartily, “I can honestly say that he is the best
teacher I have ever had. I always use him as an example of
what a quality teacher looks like and tried to model myself
after him when I taught and in life.” He is surely correct
when he says that Dr. Paul E. Rorvig left a lasting legacy,
“evident in the numerous social studies education teachers
that he mentored during his lifetime.”
“Don’t be afraid to try out new
things in the classroom. Do
whatever you can do to gain
experience . . . you cannot
put a dollar figure on the value
of these experiences and
exposure.”
What advice does Paul have for students currently majoring
in Social Studies? “Don’t be afraid to try out new things in
the classroom. Do whatever you can do to gain experience
. . . you cannot put a dollar figure on the value of these
experiences and exposure.”
Dr. Paul E. Rorvig would have agreed.
41
ALUMNI PROFILE
Global
Perspective
By: Michael Sawyer
42
ALUMNI PROFILE
of the positive changes it made for her. She returned to UCM
more confident and independent, with a deeper understanding
of cultural differences that is critical to her career today.
While she was happy to be back in Warrensburg—she still
speaks fondly of its small-town atmosphere and of UCM’s
small classroom approach that allowed her to work closely
with her professors—she was already planning to see more
of the world. After graduating with her B.A. degree in 2009,
Quinn was accepted into the M.B.A. Program in UCM’s
Harmon College of Business, and it was not long before she
embarked on a second study abroad adventure, this time in
Belfast, Ireland. She graduated in May 2011, and immediately
began working as a consultant for UCM’s Small Business
Technology Development Center. Within a few months,
contacts from that job led her to apply for a position at the
Cerner Corporation, where she works today.
UCM graduate
Quinn Oglesby in
front of the Cerner’s
Vision Center.
Photo Credit:
Michael Sawyer.
How one student’s interest in
languages and travel led to a
career that will improve lives.
The Cerner Corporation provides healthcare management
solutions to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies around
the world, allowing them to work more effectively and improve
patient care. To UCM graduate Quinn Oglesby, it’s a job that
matters.
As an undergraduate at the University of Central Missouri,
Quinn studied Spanish and Business Administration, gaining
a valuable toolset that continues to serve her today. Hailing
from Osage Beach, Quinn chose to study at UCM because
it was her father’s alma mater, and because of the school’s
reputation for having high job placement rates for its
graduates. From the start, she knew she wanted to see more
of the world, so she had no hesitation in taking advantage
of UCM’s study abroad opportunities, spending a summer
in Cuernavaca, México. Like many students, she found her
time abroad to be a hallmark experience in her university
education; improving her language skills was only one facet
As a Consultant and Solution Architect in Cerner’s Iberia and
Latin America divisions, Quinn works directly with clients in
Spanish-speaking countries, helping them to optimize their
business workflows, metrics, and revenue through Cerner’s
business solutions. She is the first line of contact for the
clients, and she often leads week-long sessions conducted
entirely in Spanish. While it was her language skills that
landed her the job, she finds the intercultural knowledge she
gained at UCM to be equally valuable in managing global
relationships and communication, which often involves
bridging cultural differences.
The Cerner Corporation licenses its solutions to more than
10,000 clients worldwide. Having reliable systems for
maintaining medical records—just one of the company’s many
functions—is critical to healthcare organizations’ ability to
serve patients. Quinn is fully aware of the importance of the
work she does, and she credits her education at UCM with
helping her build the necessary skills to make a difference.
Says Quinn, “My time at UCM was one of the most loved
experiences of my life. I am still friends with many of my
professors from UCM.” Having successfully parlayed an
interest in languages and cultures into a career, her advice
to students just entering college is clear: learn a second
language, and study abroad. “No matter your career path,”
she says, “it is guaranteed that another language will make
you more competitive in the job market. All industries
interrelate in our globalizing economy, and there is no down
side to being able to communicate with others in their
own language.”
43
ALUMNI PROFILE
Dr. Masa Higo
Assistant Professor
Social Gerontology
By: Robert Fernquist
Dr. Masa Higo graduated with a Master of Arts in Sociology
from the University of Central Missouri in 2001. Prior to
earning his Master’s degree, he earned an undergraduate
degree in Criminal Law from Kokushikan University, Tokyo.
Dr. Higo went on from UCM to earn a Ph.D. from Boston
College in sociology with an emphasis in social gerontology.
Then to close part of the loop, Dr. Higo was recently hired
into a tenure-track faculty position in the Department of
Communication and Sociology this past fall semester in his
specialty area of social gerontology.
Prior to arriving back at Central, Dr. Higo taught sociology
courses at Boston College, Emerson College, Montserrat
College, Pine Manor College, and Anderson University. His
evaluations consistently showed that his students appreciate
his love of sociology and social gerontology. Dr. Higo has
already demonstrated a passion both for teaching and for
service. Sociology faculty have been working diligently
on program changes to the M.A. degree in sociology and
Dr. Higo, though new, has worked right along-side his
colleagues to improve the quality of the M.A. degree.
44
Dr. Higo’s research interest centers around social gerontology,
and he has worked for the Sloan Center on Aging and Work
as a research assistant, a research associate, a project
manager, and a research affiliate. He was also a Community
Intervention Specialist at Pathways Community Healthcare,
Inc. while he was pursuing his Master’s degree in sociology.
Dr. Higo has also been actively involved in conducting and
publishing research. Since 2004, he has published nine
articles in peer-reviewed journals, six different book chapters,
six policy articles, and four other professional publications.
He is currently working on a number of research projects,
including an edited volume on retirement in Japan, four
book chapters, and several articles that will be submitted
to peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Higo has also been active
in presenting his research at professional conferences. He
has presented research in a number of different countries,
including Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Malaysia, and
the Netherlands. Dr. Higo is very dedicated to his profession,
and inspires through his teaching, scholarship, and mentoring.
ALUMNI PROFILE
Dr. Billy Hu:
From a Tiger to a Mule
By: Mary E. Kelly
Dr. Billy Hu has not always been a mule; he started out as
a tiger in Taiwan. Now Dr. Hu declares, “I made the right
decision to come here and build my career,” but he was not
always so sure. In fact, he had grown up with the Chinese
saying that “you should never take a mule to school!”
Dr. Hu graduated from a small elite private university in
Taiwan that had only 890 students. He became interested
in the United States when an American exchange student
moved into his dorm. According to Billy, they didn’t party at his
school. They would relax by drinking canned milk with butter
from the United States. He was impressed by the fact that
while he and his friends were adopting American style clothes
and refreshments, the American exchange student, Jimmy,
wore a Chinese jacket and drank tea while reading Chinese.
This, Dr. Hu remembered thinking, “is the hope of the world.”
Jimmy’s hard work and humility were examples of American
culture that Dr. Hu took with him.
While he was there, he took classes from an American
sociology professor, Dr. Mark C. Thelin, primarily to improve
his English. He was quite impressed with this professor
who became very involved with his students. They would
sometimes meet at his home and even join him for breakfast.
Young Billy ended up taking every class Dr. Thelin offered and
became interested in studying sociology. Not only that, but
Billy was one of the very few students to write his senior thesis
in English. When Billy graduated, he asked Dr. Thelin, “In
ten years, what will be your dream?” He replied, “I just hope
in ten years I will be able to teach Sociology in Chinese, how
about you?” Billy replied, “My dream is to teach Sociology in
English in America”—and he did!
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ALUMNI PROFILE
Dr. Billy Hu
Social Gerontology
Scholarship
However, Dr. Hu did not fulfill this dream right away. Although
he graduated in 1964, he first served in the military for a year,
and then earned money in order to travel to the United States.
Before he left, he saw an advertisement in the newspaper for
jobs with a team preparing for an American movie company
to come to Taiwan for a film project. Although Billy had a
job with Air Asia, he wanted to practice his English, so he
volunteered to translate the English script into Chinese for all
the people who were hired to work on the technical aspects of
the production. They were so impressed, that they hired him
full-time to work on the film, “The Sand Pebbles” with Steve
McQueen and Candice Bergen, directed by Robert Wise.
They wanted to call him something easier than Yuh Hu, so
he ended up picking the name Billy out of a book. He ended
up working with the crew for several months, translating and
doing environmental painting. For example, Billy used paint
to make a boat look rusty and threw paint on another to make
it look as though a cannonball had hit it. He became known
fondly as “Billy the Painter.” Billy earned money on this job,
but, perhaps more importantly, he also learned about the
American way of doing things. In particular, he learned that if
you want to be respected, you have to earn it.
Dr. Hu enrolled at the University of Missouri in the Sociology
program, and earned his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1974. He
began teaching at Central Missouri State University in 1975.
After two years, he went back to Taiwan to visit family and
friends and looked up his former professor, Dr. Thelin, who
was still teaching Sociology in Chinese, while Dr. Hu was
teaching Sociology in English in the United States. They had
both fulfilled their dreams.
46
Dr. Billy Hu began teaching sociology at Central in 1975,
and did so for 35 years. In addition, under the leadership
of Dr. Novella Perrin, he and Dr. James C. Britton helped
create the M.S. in Social Gerontology program at Central
Missouri State University.
When Dr. Hu retired in 2010, Jean Nuernberger, chair
of the Department of Sociology and Social Work,
suggested creating a scholarship for Sociology and Social
Gerontology students in his name. Dr. Hu agreed, and
also added a special emphasis on international students as
a criterion for the scholarship.
For close to thirty years, Dr. Hu served as the graduate
coordinator for Sociology and was also the adviser for the
Chinese Student Association. He saw, first hand, how
difficult it could sometimes be for international students.
He always did whatever he could to make their lives more
comfortable, and saw an enduring way to continue helping
international students even after his retirement.
Dr. Hu asked Central graduates working in Taiwan to help
support international students at UCM. Their response
was so great, that after his trip to Taiwan, he had enough
money to establish an endowed scholarship. Other alumni,
family, friends, and colleagues also contributed. He is
particularly proud of the fact that this is the first scholarship
at UCM offered under an international name. The Billy Hu
Sociology and Social Gerontology Scholarship is awarded
each year to a full-time, international, graduate student at
UCM who is pursuing a M.A. in Sociology or M.S. in Social
Gerontology.
ALUMNI PROFILE
He insists that he does not just teach sociology, rather he lives
sociology. He uses examples from his own life to demonstrate
different perspectives. When he first came to Warrensburg,
he thought it would just be a stepping-stone for him. Instead,
he created a life for himself and his family. He remembers
being proud to represent CMSU/UCM and enjoys chance
meetings with his former students from time to time. Once
when he gave a talk about international culture in a school, the
teacher came up to him afterwards and told him, “I graduated
from Central.” Another time, he had an accident in Lee’s
Summit, and the police officer asked, “Oh, Dr. Hu, are you
ok?” His former students are everywhere—in corrections and
law enforcement—Dr. Hu taught criminology for most of his
years at Central. After retirement, when he was a translator
for a court case involving a Chinese family, he discovered the
caseworker was a graduate from UCM. The probation officer
asked him, “Are you Dr. Hu?” and the judge said, “Dr. Hu, I
graduated from Central too!”
In 2006, Dr. Billy Hu won the prestigious Byler Award at UCM,
the first international recipient to do so. He said it made him
very proud to be an international faculty. He is a proud mule
who says, “Our University helps provide middle-class status
to people who are the backbone of society.” He has mules
everywhere in his home today, which represent his pride and
loyalty to Central. At 74, Dr. Hu declares that he has never
experienced discrimination in his life in Missouri. He feels that
UCM has given him much, and he is honored to return the
favor.
47
Dale Carnegie
Hall of Fame
By: Gersham Nelson
Like most universities and colleges, the University of Central
Missouri has a number of luminaries. It is in the nature of our
enterprise to attract the bright and ambitious who, as a rule,
go on to distinguish themselves. No surprise there. We have
also enrolled some ordinary and at times even unmotivated
students who become inspired and proceed to perform well
above expectation. As you know, we are an enterprise of
opportunity for cultural enrichment, socio-economic mobility,
and exceptional achievement. The perpetuation of this rich
legacy that we have all come to treasure is represents a
sacred trust. While we celebrate the achievements of all our
alumni, every now and then we are obliged to pay special
attention to exceptional achievements.
It seems only appropriate for us to use Dale Carnegie’s legacy
as a source of inspiration for students, friends and visitors to
our campus. This is why when next you visit the campus a
bust of Dale Carnegie will greet you in front of Hendricks Hall.
In addition to mounting the bust of Carnegie on campus, we
have created the Dale Carnegie Collegiate Honor Society.
This organization, with UCM as its headquarters, grew out of
the debate program that gave Carnegie his start. The debate
tradition has remained an integral part of the UCM culture, and
our graduates uniformly speak of the confidence they acquired
from this program. The new Honor Society will carry the torch
of personal responsibility, engaged learning, and service
forward for generations to come.
Among our alumni fitting the designation “exceptional” is
Dale Carnegie. This famous Missourian was named one of
Life magazine’s “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th
Century,” and American Heritage contends that How to Win
Friends and Influence People, Carnegie’s best known book, is
one of the 10 most influential books that shaped the American
culture. Carnegie’s most recent biographer, Professor Steven
Watts from the University of Missouri, Columbia, calls him
the “Self-Help Messiah” who has profoundly influenced
the American culture of self-fulfillment. This culture has
proliferated and is now truly global. Carnegie’s influence goes
well beyond the books that he wrote. In addition to setting
out in writing the how to of “self-improvement,” Carnegie
proceeded to develop courses and training programs to
translate ideas into action. These have mushroomed into a
global operation. The franchise that bears his name is in all
fifty states and over 90 countries. Instruction is provided in
over 30 languages, and the number of millionaires who credit
the Carnegie courses and programs for their success are too
many to track.
The above Carnegie related initiatives are vital to
promulgating the legacy of this outstanding alumnus, but
based on conversations I have had with business and civic
leaders around this country, it became clear that we need to
do even more. We need to identify and celebrate the work
of individuals who have exemplified the mission and spirit of
the “self-help messiah.” That is why we are partnering with
Dale Carnegie and Associates and a number of individuals
and organizations who have been influenced by the spirit of
Carnegie to establish the Dale Carnegie Hall of Fame on the
UCM campus. Look for forthcoming announcements about
this initiative and plan to join us to inaugurate this hall of fame
in the fall. We plan to induct our first class of hall of famers
and accept nominations for subsequent years.
48
Bronze busts of Dale Carnegie, sculpted by Columbia, MO, artist Sabra
Tull Meyer, are on display in the Hall of Famous Missourians at the
state capital in Jefferson City and on the UCM campus.
49
Remembrances
SFC Trenton L. Rhea
SFC Trenton L. Rhea, UCM Graduate and member of the
United States Army Reserve, died May 15, 2013 in Kandahar,
Afghanistan, during combat operations. Rhea was a member
of UCM “Fighting Mules” Army ROTC Battalion while earning
his degree in History from the University of Central Missouri in
2006. He was well respected by his peers, faculty members,
and his commanders in ROTC. In 2006 he married Leah Reid,
who survives of the home. Rhea was a life member of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member of the Platte City First
Baptist Church. In addition to his wife, Leah Reid Rhea, of the
home; and his parents, Marshall Rhea (Julie), and Rebecca
Breeden Rhea; he is survived by his three daughters, Autumn
Lee Rhea, Joanna Lynn Rhea, and Abigail Christine Rhea;
twin brother, Travis Rhea, of Ft. Collins, CO; sister, Samantha
Repshire, of Oakley; step-brother, Jody Kruse, of Oakley;
step-sister, Jade Kruse, of Oakley; paternal grandmother,
Eileen Rhea, of Oakley; maternal grandfather, Kenny Breeden
(Shirley), of Stockton, KS; his father-in-law and mother-in-law,
Harlan and Lynn Reid, of Sweet Springs; and aunts, uncles,
nieces, nephews, cousins and a multitude of friends and fellow
comrades.
Robert C. Jones
Dr. Robert C. Jones, professor emeritus of English, died
June 17, 2013. Dr. Jones earned his bachelors and masters
degrees in journalism and his doctorate in English from The
University of Texas at Austin. He married Nancy Dale Torrance
in 1953 and the couple had four children. Dr. Jones began his
career at the University of Colorado-Boulder before teaching
for three years at William Jewell College. Dr. Jones accepted
a faculty position at Central Missouri State College in the fall
of 1961. During his tenure at the university, Dr. Jones became
involved in various projects, sponsored the English Club and
Sigma Tau Delta, advised the fine arts magazine Cemost,
initiated a system for contract grading and created individual
student tutorials, which still exists on campus. He was well
published and contributed to many musical publications and
festivals on campus and in Warrensburg. Among his many
honors, Dr. Jones received the Faculty Distinguished Lecture
Award, the Kansas City Star Poetry Award, the CMSU College
of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award, the Byler
Distinguished Faculty Award, and he delivered the GreerOppenheimer lecture in 1986. He was a Danforth Foundation
representative, a member of the
50
Poetry Committee of the Jewish Community Center in Kansas
City, participated in Training Teachers of Teachers program,
coordinated a Title III program called Tapes and Techniques,
was an active member of The Writers Place, gave workshops
and presentations at public schools and colleges with other
Missouri poets and teachers, and founded the Warrensburg
Writers Circle. With all of his awards and honors, Dr. Jones
remained dedicated to his students whom looked up to him
with great admiration. He retired from the university in 1991
but stayed engaged with his colleagues, students and the
community serving on committees, editing, collaborating,
and contributing on many projects, publishings, and groups.
In addition to his wife, Dr. Jones is survived by three of his
children, Susannah Louise, Amy Robin, and Elizabeth Ann.
Their son, Christopher, died in 2012. He is also survived by
his brother, Paul Jones, and four grandchildren.
Sandy Russell
Sandy Russell, friend and contributor to the College of
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, died July 5, 2013.
Ms. Russell was married to her husband, Bob of nearly
50 years and they lived in Warrensburg for the past 45 years.
Russell served on many boards and committees at the
University of Central Missouri, including the UCM Foundation.
She contributed to the Warrensburg community as a board
member of the Chamber of Commerce, serving as chairman
of the Military Affairs Committee, and past president of the
Whiteman Air Force Base Community Council and was civilian
air boss of the air show at Whiteman for 25 years. Sandy
was known for her amazing sense of humor, her musical and
artistic abilities, and incredible sense of adventure. In addition
to her husband, Bob, she leaves behind her son, Rob, and
wife, Kelly, of Sedalia, MO; her son, Randy, and companion,
Ann Bailey, of Warrensburg; and her daughter, Beth, of Jupiter,
FL. Additionally, she leaves behind four grandchildren; a
daughter-in-law, Kelly; and many nieces and nephews.
Susan Lee Pentlin
Dr. Susan Lee Pentlin, professor emeritus of Modern
Languages, died December 25, 2013. Dr. Pentlin earned
her doctorate from the University of Kansas. She joined the
faculty at Central Missouri State University in 1970. In 1971,
she married Floyd C. Pentlin. Dr. Pentlin’s interest was in
the Jewish Holocaust, which she worked on for more than
40 years. She was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher from
1973-1974, received a Fulbright Summer Seminar in 1977,
and a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Grant in 1986-1987.
She was appointed commissioner for the Fourth District of the
Missouri Commission of Human Rights, serving from 1996 to
2012. She presented papers nationally and internationally,
twice at Oxford, as well as in Berlin, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and
Prague. She was a prolific scholar of articles and reviews in
numerous journals; she edited a book and was working on
a biography at the time of her death. Dr. Pentlin served as
contributor and editor of the newsletter of the Johnson County
Historical Society from 2002-2008. She is survived by her
husband of 42 years, Floyd, her two daughters, Lara and
Jennifer; her sister, Linda Pietila; her brother, Mark Riddle; her
in-laws Judith Pentlin, George and Joan Pentlin; and nieces
Michelle Pentlin, Theresa Alexander, and Melissa Schmidt;
Timothy D. Murdock
Timothy (Tim) D. Murdock, friend, graduate, and member
of the Warrensburg community, died on January 3, 2014.
Mr. Murdock graduated from Central Missouri State University
with a degree in sociology and later earned his professional
designation as a Chartered Financial Consultant from the
American College in Bryn Mawr, PA. He was united in
marriage to Paula for 39 years, who survives the home. After
working in Kansas City and New York for years, Murdock
decided to leave the corporate world and moved back to
Warrensburg in 1973. He started Murdock Financial Group
and later took on a partner becoming the Murdock Banner
Financial Group we know today. Murdock was a proud
supporter of Warrensburg and the university serving on many
boards and committees including the Chamber of Commerce,
First Methodist Church, and chaired the local American Red
Cross Chapter and Johnson County United Way. He served
as president of the Central Missouri State University Alumni
Board and also was a member of the Warrensburg Rotary
Club. He served as a member of the managing directors for
Prosperity Advisory Group, was a registered representative
of Cetera Advisors LLC, and a licensed insurance agent, and
most currently served on the board for the Western Missouri
Medical Center. Murdock is survived by his wife, Paula; one
son, Brian Neal, and wife, Clarissa, of Overland Park, KS; one
daughter, Tiffany Driver, and husband, Ryan, of Pleasant Hill,
MO; two brothers, Charles A. Murdock IV, and wife, Betty, of
Springfield, MO; and Dan Murdock and wife, Sue, of Liberty,
MO; six grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Paul Rorvig
Remembrance
The beloved director of the social studies program from
1999-2013, Dr. Paul E. Rorvig, died after an eight-month
illness on September 24, 2013. Rorvig joined the Department
of History and Anthropology as a historian and social studies
coordinator in 1999, after teaching history for seven years
at Central Methodist University. Prior to joining Central
Methodist, Rorvig had earned his Ph.D. in History at the
University of Missouri-Columbia in 1993 with his dissertation
titled “The Controversial Contribution: American Diplomacy,
Western European Security, and the Problem of German
Rearmament, 1949-1955.” Rorvig also had a thirteen-year
high school teaching and coaching career prior to entering
higher education. He taught social studies for one year
in Lebanon, Missouri, and from 1975 until 1987 he was a
high school social studies teacher and basketball coach in
Carrollton, Missouri. Rorvig earned his bachelors degree in
Education from Southwest Missouri State University in 1974,
graduating summa cum laude. Throughout his life, Rorvig
maintained an active interest in sports; he had even attended
Southwest Missouri State University as an All-State high
school basketball player. At UCM, he taught twentieth-century
American history courses, including American Diplomacy, the
Vietnam Era, Great Expectations 1945-1980, and Our Times
1980-2008. He also taught the social studies methodology
courses and advised and mentored hundreds of social studies
majors and future teachers across the state of Missouri. A
buff of presidential history and an avid reader, Rorvig had an
extensive collection of books on the American presidency
and liked to tell stories about his favorite presidents, including
Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan. He is
deeply missed by his colleagues in the department.
Dr. Rorvig is survived by his wife Vickie and daughters Anna
and Kaela. The Rorvig family has established a scholarship
in his name to assist senior social studies students in their
final year of college. Contributions in Dr. Rorvig’s name may
be sent to the UCM Foundation, Smiser Alumni Center, UCM,
Warrensburg, MO 64093.
51
to Kansas City for the funerals, making the second of those
trips after he had already become quite ill and weak. I know
that I am not alone in cherishing many such stories of Paul’s
character. We miss him deeply, but his memory and legacy
continue to inspire us.
Colleague Sean Kim
Paul, (he wouldn’t let me call him Dr. Rorvig after I graduated)
you were an absolutely remarkable man. What a privilege it
was to have you as a social studies methods instructor. You
ignited a passion in me for teaching that I didn’t know was
possible. You challenged me to push myself beyond what
I could even imagine for myself. You were always a great
example of kindness, gentleness, humility, and integrity. I’m
so glad to not only call you my adviser and teacher, but my
colleague and friend. I can only hope to be half the educator
you were.
Your legacy lives on in each of those lives you touched. Mine
included. Your reach is beyond measure. I’m a better teacher
because of you. My students are better learners because of
you. Thank you for investing in us so wholeheartedly. We
knew beyond a doubt that you loved and cared for each of us.
I hope to make you proud. ‘Til we see each other again . . .
Paul and I became friends through a mutual dependent, the
late Professor Raymond Leonard. Opposites must attract
because Raymond and Paul were as unlike as any two people
could be. Paul was an early riser while Raymond didn’t go to
bed before 4 a.m. Nonetheless, Paul and Raymond joined
forces to team-teach a course on the Cold War. I often heard
the two of them talk just before class. Raymond would still
be feverishly writing notes for his lecture while Paul tried his
best to explain exactly what needed to be covered to keep
Raymond on track. Despite the exasperation, Raymond
never breached Paul’s wall of calm. Being from Kansas,
Raymond detested all things Missouri and often sarcastically
commented, “that must be a Missouri thing.” Everything in
Kansas was better: roads, schools, restaurants, toilet paper,
you name it! After Raymond passed, Paul laughingly retold
those stories, yet he was a Missouri native and an MU grad
to boot. That too was Paul, never a bone of contention in his
body. His colleagues greatly miss him.
Colleague Dan Crews
I first met Paul nine years ago when I came to UCM for my
job interview. He was the chair of the search committee. So
I was in his debt even before I started my position, and as
his junior colleague in the department, I benefited immensely
from his mentoring. Paul taught me all the things that I didn’t
learn in graduate school, foremost among them, how to teach.
And he not only kept abreast of the scholarship in his own
field but would frequently refer me to new works in my field.
Yet, of all the ways in which Paul has enriched my life, what
stands out for me is his loyal and generous friendship. When
I lost my parents recently, he drove all the way from Columbia
52
Tina Ellsworth, B.S. Ed. Social Studies, 2003,
M.A. History, 2010
When I think of Dr. Paul Rorvig, there are certain adjectives
that come to mind: quiet, measured, deliberate, intelligent,
introspective, expectant, honest, encouraging, caring, loving,
and courageous. Dr. Rorvig listened more than he spoke as
he considered what his students had to say. He carefully and
skillfully challenged us to think beyond the confines of our own
opinions and politics. He was honest about the difficulties
we would face as teachers, but encouraged us to make the
most of our opportunities as role models for our students and
to expect the best from them as he did of us. He faced his
illness in the same manner; in his quiet and deliberate way, Dr.
Rorvig demonstrated a courageous spirit that I will not forget.
Yet, what touched my heart was his obvious love for his family
and concern for his students during a difficult and personal
time. He is greatly missed as my teacher, mentor, and friend.
Desi Eller, B.S.E. Social Studies, 2013
Paul Rorvig. The teacher. The myth. The legend. I did not
have Dr. Rorvig as a teacher until his last year of teaching
at UCM, but he was my advisor for two years. At first I did
not know who he was, but every student that I ever talked to
shared positive experiences they had within his classroom.
His courses were difficult, but those were the ones in which I
learned the most. I was terrified about my entrance interview
for the program with Dr. Rorvig, but during the whole thing
he knew exactly what I was thinking before I could find the
words myself. I will remember that Dr. Rorvig always had
encouraging words for students and would do anything for
them.
Jeff Lynde, B.S. Ed. Social Studies, 2013
Renaissance Magazine is published by the College of Arts, Humanities, and
Social Sciences at the University of Central Missouri. This 2014 issue was
made possible through the generous efforts of many contributors. Thanks to the
following individuals for their hard work, guidance, and support in making this
publication possible: Gersham Nelson, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities,
and Social Sciences; associate dean Steve Boone; student illustrators Heather
Witt and Alexander Long; student designers Samantha Dupuis, Emma Booth,
and Madison Yost; faculty mentor David Babcock, associate professor of Art &
Design; David Barabas, director of printing production; Jessica Lund, academic
advisor; Jeff Murphy, assistant director of University Relations-Media relations;
Bryan Tebbenkamp, photography manager, University Relations; and the
students, staff, and faculty that “penned” and “proofed” the articles.
© 2014 University of Central Missouri
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