UMSL Magazine – Spring 2021 by University of Missouri–St. Louis

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A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S O U R I – S T. L O U I S–

FALL 2019 SPRING 2021 SPRING 2021

LL 2019

In this issue

THE OLDEST LIBRARY WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI CELEBRATES 175 YEARS PAGE 20

Student nurses administer COVID-19 vaccinations Page 6 Bringing broadband to rural Missouri Page 9 Making a happier world through design Page 10 Using gold to target cancer Page 31

YOU BELONG

UMSLNETWOR

Senior nursing student Lauren Maclin administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a patient under the supervision of faculty member Susan Traylor (at left) at a mass vaccination clinic held in the Century Rooms of the Millennium Student Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. More than 2,000 people received their second dose of the vaccine at the March 13 clinic held by the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, the Missouri National Guard, the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Turn to pg. 6 for more.

TALK OF THE T

WHERE TO NE

IN THE SPOTLIG

SHUTTER STOP

Community health

IN THIS ISSUE IN THIS ISSUE –

A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S O U R I – S T. L O U I S–

6............. On Campus

FALL 2019 SPRING 2021

LL 2019

ON CAMPUS

SPRING 2021

LL 2019

In this issue

THE OLDEST LIBRARY WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI CELEBRATES 175 YEARS PAGE 20

Student nurses administer COVID-19 vaccinations Page 6 Bringing broadband to rural Missouri Page 9 Making a happier world through design Page 10 Using gold to target cancer Page 31

The St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis celebrates its tenure this year as the longest continuously running library west of the Mississippi with an exhibition, “A Nation, A City, & Its First Library: Americana as a Way of Life at the St. Louis Mercantile Library for 175 Years.” For 25 of those years, the library has made its home at UMSL.

28.......... A Minute With

Donnalyn Weir, Nidec application engineer Sunshine Miles, Deaf individual and nursing student Sharon Pruitt-Young, Oxygen Network writer Dharmendra Neupane, FDA postdoctoral researcher

32.......... Class Notes Chancellor Kristin Sobolik Chief of Staff Bob Samples

Design Marty Baragiola Erin Hart Writers

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications Justin Roberts

Burk Krohe

Editor-in-Chief Jessica Rogen

Printer

Art Director/Design Wendy Allison

Company

David Morrison Jessica Rogen Steve Walentik Tim Wombles

Walsworth Publishing

Photographer August Jennewein

The University of Missouri–St. Louis publishes for alumni and friends. The magazine highlights excellence at the university. Circulation is 102,503, and the magazine is released twice a year.

A unique collaboration Optometry and computer science join hands to benefit vision worldwide

Love and design

The doctoral department

St. Louis' first library

A decade of impact

Pretend Friends

A high school science

The Mercantile Library

The Opportunity Scholars

at work, husband

staff unlike any

celebrates 175 years

Program provides tuition,

and wife at home

in the region

with 25 at UMSL

wraparound support

Address Updates | Office of Alumni Engagement 414 Woods Hall | 1 University Blvd. | St. Louis, MO 63121 umslalumni.org | 314-516-5833

UMSL student nurses administer vaccines across greater St. Louis area Janssen Blackmon and Emma Melton both felt a wave of nerves when they walked into BJC Health Christian Hospital and realized they’d actually be administering COVID-19 vaccinations that day.

The two University of Missouri–St. Louis College of Nursing students had been stunned to learn just a week prior that they’d be helping with the vaccine rollout efforts. Even taking and passing an educational module and quiz comprised of materials from the Centers for Disease Control hadn’t quite made it sink in. “I probably was nervous up until I had the first person come to my station,” Blackmon says. “I remember talking to them and how excited they were that this vaccine was here. It put me in the moment. I’m like, ‘This is huge. We’re here. Now you’re administering this to this person, something that’s huge and life changing for them.’ Then it was like, ‘Now I’m just excited.’”

Photo courtesy of Shawne Manies

From left: Student nurses Rachael Strzembosz and Katlyn Fisher administer COVID-19 vaccines during a mass vaccination clinic on Feb. 20 hosted on the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus and held by the Missouri National Guard and the St. Louis County Health Department.

Goalkeeper ANTON MUKHIN INFORMS, ENCOURAGES with ‘Operation Exercise’ podcast Anton Mukhin, exercise science major and goalkeeper on the men’s soccer team, became the creator and host of “Operation Exercise” by accident.

“I recorded something for a class, and there was extra credit to push it out on social media,” Mukhin says. “A couple of people listened to it, and they go, ‘This is really good information. You should really make some more.’” The podcast, which Mukhin records and produces himself with the Anchor app, offers listeners a wealth of information about athletic training, kinesiology and nutrition and is available to stream on Spotify. Over the course of the first seven episodes, he covered topics such as core stability, muscular imbalance and the nutritional requirements of college athletes.

The two aren’t the only UMSL student nurses participating in the fight against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. On Feb. 1, all BSN students began administering vaccines at sites across the greater St. Louis area in groups of eight under the supervision of UMSL nursing faculty members. Assisting with the vaccine rollout efforts has long been an objective of those in the College of Nursing and fits with its overall ethos. Interim Dean Roxanne Vandermause, Director of Clinical Operations Shawne Manies and Associate Teaching Professor of Nursing Diane Saleska were instrumental in setting up the partnerships. “It was really cool to get to be part of the entire process from the vaccine all the way up to scheduling the second dose and be able to connect with a community and see all the excitement,” Melton says. “No one’s ever been excited about getting a vaccine or shot before, but the excitement in the room that day was unbelievable. It was just an awesome experience.”

ACROSS

Senior Lexi Neal sings the Habanera from “Carmen” during a masterclass with opera star Denyce Graves, held virtually on Feb. 18 and sponsored by the Des Lee Fine Arts Education Collaborative and Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Student-athletes relish their OPPORTUNITIES TO COMPETE Student-athletes have faced the same challenge as their peers across campus at the University of Missouri–St. Louis over the past year: adjusting to a new normal.

“Everything is constantly changing, and finding a way to roll with all the punches while maintaining at least a little bit of consistency has been difficult,” senior volleyball player Kaileen Herman says. Having practice and competition remain a part of day-to-day routines has provided a welcome foundation. UMSL’s cross country and golf teams got a taste of competition in the fall, while the men’s and women’s basketball and swimming teams completed something closer to normal schedules over the winter. The athletics calendar has been full this spring with the volleyball and soccer teams shifting from the fall to hold seasons alongside the baseball, softball, golf, tennis and track and field teams. “With all the protocols that we've had to put in place – or the guidelines that have been given to us by the NCAA or St. Louis County or the University of Missouri– St. Louis – it's been a lot,” Director of Athletics Lori Flanagan says. “I'm not going to lie. It’s been a lot to juggle. But there’s been a huge commitment from our coaches and our kids that we were going to make this work.” Student-athletes such as Herman are grateful for the efforts of the staff to look after their health with regular COVID-19 testing and to keep the facilities as safe and clean as possible. “I’ve learned a lot throughout the past year,” she says, “and a big thing that is always in the back of my mind is to never take any opportunity for granted.”

COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARSHIP opens doors for Justin Johnson Friends Justin Johnson made through his involvement in St. Louis' pickleball community helped steer him to the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Receiving the full-tuition Community College Presidential Scholarship ensured that he would "have as many doors open as possible." A

“I didn’t have the best life Famous growing up,” Johnson says. “I Aria grew up in downtown St. Louis, not the best neighborhood. I grew up in a single-parent chalk with household. My dad wasn’t around. So I knew that’s not the life I wanted to live one day. I just wanted to do my best in everything I do.”

THE

QUAD Education student Wyatt Kircus (left) and business student Karli Dean chalk the names of notable women in history in front of Anheuser-Busch Hall during a Women’s History Month event held on March 22.

UMSL Accelerate accepts six founders into first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Accelerator cohort UMSL Accelerate announced the first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Accelerator cohort during a virtual event in December. The program is designed to boost early stage, scalable for-profit startups and companies that directly and positively impact underserved communities. It includes $50,000 in funding and an eight-week business development program focused on supporting entrepreneurs from marginalized communities. It’s funded through sponsorships from Ameren, Edward Jones, Express Scripts and private donors. “We created the UMSL DEI Accelerator because we know that there is an abundance of talent among minority entrepreneurs and yet they are still underrepresented in the ecosystem both locally and globally,” says Monique Bynum, program director and senior director of development at Boone Center Incorporated.

“UMSL saw an opportunity to fill a gap, specifically the gap of funding and investment.” The winning founders were: George Holmes and Keiry “Katie” Moreno Bonnett of Hire Henry, which developed a heavy-duty robotic lawnmower to provide landscaping services Tyrean Lewis of Heru Urban Farming, a farm providing healthy sustainable produce options, cooking classes and health education Eric Love and Darren Williams of St. Louis Assembly Pros, a full-service furniture assembly company

Lav Gupta This is

Michelle Robinson of DEMIblue Natural Nails & Creative, a vegan-friendly nail polish line that provides safer nail services

Assistant Professor

Akeem Shannon of Flipstik, a customizable kickstand for smart phones that sticks to any surface to enable simple, hands-free use Darren and Charlene Lopez-Young of The Fattened Caf, a Filipino barbecue pop-up restaurant created in an effort to make firstgeneration and Filipino immigrants feel at home in the St. Louis community

of Computer Science

By Steve Walentik

Gupta is part of the University of Missouri System Broadband Initiative, a team working to encourage the statewide build-out of reliable, high-speed internet infrastructure. Why is this technology so important? Photo courtesy of Joan Phillips

JOAN PHILLIPS NAMED NEW DEAN OF UMSL’S COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

The University of Missouri–St. Louis has tapped Joan Phillips to serve as dean of the College of Business Administration following a national search launched late last summer.

Photo courtesy of UMSL Accererate

Phillips had been serving as the dean of the Andreas School of Business at Barry University in Miami since 2018 and has nearly 25 years of experience working in higher education. She is a widely published marketing scholar with expertise in research methods, consumer behavior and political marketing.

From left: Darren and Charlene Lopez-Young of The Fattened Caf 8

“I’m very attracted to urban, metropolitan universities and am really excited about engaging with the community,” Phillips says. “Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion are other passions of mine, and I’m committed to providing a powerful, transformative experience for students.”

Today, you cannot think of the quality of life that people deserve without broadband. There are so many great uses, and it could be, in some ways, necessary for survival. Rural areas depend on agriculture, and agriculture has become very precise and data oriented. You need broadband to know when to sow seeds or what kind of seeds, manure, fertilizers ... You’re talking about moving terabytes of data. Rural hospitals are also under stress and could be at risk of closing if they don’t have broadband to run telemedicine. What was your experience working on broadband before you got your PhD and went into academia?

I was in the corporate office of the largest ISP and telecom company in Delhi, and there was no broadband at that time in India – no ADSL and no broadband, and the cable network was not as big as what we traditionally have in the U.S. I was put in charge of the broadband project for India, planning and deploying broadband for initially about 200 cities and then expanded to hundreds of additional cities and rural areas, villages. We built a complete backbone network with high-speed routers and fiber-optic cables connecting them and an access network with ADSL variants. I chose ADSL because I was familiar with it, and I thought it was the best technology at that time for the country. What made you want to work on the Broadband Initiative?

I wanted to make use of my experience. There were other very enlightened, knowledgeable people in the group from different areas, including law, but they wanted a technical person, and I filled that slot very well. It’s very exciting work. We did a webinar over the summer of 2020 with a focus on bringing high-speed broadband to Bollinger County. We’re doing similar work for other counties. I’ll be very happy the day we are able to make this happen. There are a lot of stumbling blocks, like funding and who should be roped in for providing it. Who would do the actual deployment – should it be electrical cooperatives or municipalities? It’s all so complicated. We’re trying to straighten that out by preparing a broadband planning guide for community members as they work to enhance and expand broadband connectivity in their areas. 9

Then, in 2014, eight months after giving birth to their daughter, Anna left her job and started freelancing full time. Five years later, Daniel turned to her and asked why they were splitting their efforts when it might be easier to land large clients together. The next day they got an email from an agent who’d found Daniel’s Instagram page. She was looking for illustrators to design large graphics to be installed at a brand-new children’s hospital. They rushed to imagine Pretend Friends, listing words to land on “make believe,” which became “pretend.” Picking “Friends” as a reflection of their relationship came naturally.

Pretend friends

They created branding and a bid, and soon Pretend Friends had the job. “We had our dream project thrown into our laps on day one,” Anna says, describing how they’d created themed graphics for every floor. “We wanted to play with the space, so some things are really large-scale – maybe things are resting on water fountains or on top of doorframes, kind of working in this space. That way it doesn’t just look like an illustration made on paper stuck onto a wall.”

An UMSL love story blossoms into a successful design studio

That project not only launched Pretend Friends but ended up steering their practice toward illustration-based projects. Since then, Anna and Daniel have built up a portfolio of client work, including illustrations for two children’s books.

By Jessica Rogen

Far left: Anna and Daniel Clark sell products such as posters and books through their Pretend Friends website. Below: Pretend Friends’ first client was the Oishei Children’s Hospital.

They also have moved toward making products and selling them through their website and social media pages. They attend an annual convention, Designer Con, in California where they set up a booth and sell directly. Though it’s the clients – and Daniel’s day job at New Honor Society – that pay the bills, some of the most fun comes from creating those products. She’s a hands-on, crafty type of person. He’s a pencil-and-paper guy. Together, they’re Pretend Friends, a successful St. Louis-area design studio with clients such as the Disney Parks and Resorts, Universal Studios Hollywood and Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, New York. They’re also Anna and Daniel Clark, parents to Edie and Peter, and University of Missouri–St. Louis alumni who fell in love 10 years ago while earning their Bachelors of Fine Arts in graphic design. Photos courtesy of Anna and Daniel Clark

“She’s just my best friend,” Daniel says. “We’re very weird but the same sort of weird,” Anna says. “It’s the kind of situation where you’re completely yourself around somebody.” They started out as friends, connecting over Mary Blair, a ’50s Disney illustrator known for her ethereal work on films such as “Peter Pan” and “Cinderella,” while creating inspiration boards during a computer design course.

“I thought, ‘No Midwestern boy knows who Mary Blair was,’” Anna says. “So that was very exciting. Disney brought us together, which is cheesy but true.” They hung out, talked about collaborating and then parted ways at the end of the school year. Things changed when Daniel switched his major to graphic design the following year. Pretty soon they were dating. Four months later, they were engaged. After graduating, both began working at different design firms, freelancing and adjunct teaching a few design classes at UMSL at the behest of Associate Professor Jennifer McKnight, a friend and advocate for her former students.

The fun also comes from working together. Though Anna and Daniel divide jobs based on their strengths, there’s almost no piece that isn’t at least a little bit a joint effort. The key, they say, is checking their egos and not forcing the collaboration. Plus, designing together is their passion. “We love creating stuff, and we want to keep it fun,” Daniel says. “We both have the same optimistic sense when it comes to our art. We want to make stuff that makes the world a happier place.”

Friends kept asking the Clarks if they’d start their own studio, but Anna and Daniel shrugged that off. “We always had separate paths,” Anna says. “Coming out of school, you’re figuring out your style still and what you enjoy doing because there’s so many different parts to graphic design.” 10

Optometrist Tareq Nabhan, computer scientist Sanjiv Bhatia investigating a way to use smartphones to improve diagnostics By Steve Walentik

Tareq Nabhan has circumnavigated the globe over the past seven years, helping to bring vision care to underserved communities. Nabhan, an alumnus of the College of Optometry at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and now an assistant clinical professor, has made visits to countries such as China, Jordan, Peru, Rwanda and Thailand through his involvement with OneSight. The nonprofit organization is committed to bringing eye exams and glasses to the estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide who lack access. In 2019, he spent time in Brazil on a floating clinic that traveled up the 12

Amazon River, going from village to village and providing eye care services. “We would manufacture the lenses on the boat, so the patients would get their glasses either the same day or the next day,” Nabhan says. “These are custom made. They’re not donated. We make the glasses that the patients needed, exactly to their prescription.” Such trips always seem to come with a few hiccups with clinicians such as Nabhan often forced to divide hundreds of pounds of equipment between them and fit it in their luggage. They have to transport it through airports, on planes and ultimatelyinto the field so they have

the tools they need to make diagnoses. It can be a difficult and costly endeavor, and there’s always a chance they’ll be stopped at customs and barred from carrying an important piece of equipment into a country. Nabhan started wondering if there was a way to use something as ubiquitous as a smartphone to perform the functions of those existing tools. He’s been working with Sanjiv Bhatia, a professor in UMSL’s Department of Computer Science to develop a diagnostic tool that relies on computer vision and image processing technology – Bhatia’s area of research expertise.

The two, along with Senior Research Engineering Technician Michael Howe, are building a prototype for a tool that can be used with a smartphone. It works with the phone to collect data that is analyzed using computer vision techniques. “You can reduce the cost using the power inside the smartphone to do things that are dependent on very expensive instruments otherwise,” Bhatia says. The tool doesn’t even require a trained clinician at the controls. Smartphones can also store data when there is poor or no connectivity and be used to deliver information asynchronously to a trained clinician for evaluation and to make a diagnosis. “What we want is to develop a tool that has essentially low degrees of freedom – that guides the operator in

not just making a diagnosis but learning how to use the tool and understanding what they see,” Nabhan says. “It can’t be inferior to current standards. That’s where we draw the line. I think that’s where others have failed in the field.” He adds, “If we take advantage of that technology, we think we can penetrate not just the market but penetrate communities that are hard to get to and provide more access to care.” They hope the tool will be ready for testing by the fall. They’ve already received funding to beta-test it on campus, and OneSight has granted them permission to test the device at its clinics. Nabhan and Bhatia have had a fruitful partnership since they first started collaborating on hardware-software solutions in 2015.

That was the year they met at an institutional research workshop, though Nabhan had been aware of Bhatia and his expertise. Nabhan had been looking to connect with Bhatia when the workshop began. “I don’t remember if I heard his name during roll call or he raised his hand and asked a question and they responded back with his name, but I was in the back, looking around trying to see where this guy was,” Nabhan says. “I made a beeline as soon as that meeting was over to introduce myself.” Much of Bhatia’s research had been connected to the defense industry when they started working together, but collaborating with an optometrist made a lot of sense. “I teach computer vision, and early on in the class, we talk about the human vision system because that is what we are trying to replicate,” Bhatia says. The software driving computer vision technology attempts to mimic the way the eye and the brain work to process information. The pixels of data captured by cameras can serve the same function as the photoreceptor cells in the eye that read color or gray scale. The technology he’s developing with Nabhan can afford to process things at a little bit slower speed than when he’s working on defense projects. “When you are flying an airplane and trying to look for threats, you cannot afford to drop any frames,” Bhatia says. “The computers you need to have are much more powerful. Over here, it’s still very important, but if it takes a couple of seconds longer to make a diagnosis, it’s not going to be a matter of life and death.”

science identity

Nabhan and Bhatia have learned a lot from each other through their shared efforts, and they plan to continue tackling other challenges in the future. “It’s great being around people who don’t do what you do because they think about it in different ways,” Nabhan says. “I see it as a no-brainer to try to work with computer scientists to solve these problems, and Dr. Bhatia has been my No. 1 advocate and mentor. We’re really excited to be solving problems together.”

From left: Assistant Clinical Professor Tareq Nabhan, Professor Sanjiv Bhatia and Senior Research Engineering Technician Michael Howe have collaborated to develop a diagnostic tool that relies on computer vision and image processing technology.

A cohort of UMSL graduates benefits science education at Maplewood Richmond Heights High School By Burk Krohe

RYAN MASSEY physics teacher

WHEN THE SCIENCE STAFF

of Maplewood Richmond Heights High School meets, the salutations tend to be rather tonguein-cheek nowadays. “When we’re all together in the same space, which isn’t that often now, we can say, ‘Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor,’” Ben Nims says with a laugh.

“We were interested in motivation and what gets students interested in wanting to do science, not just succeeding in science classes – but wanting to be a scientist.”

KATHLEEN DWYER chemistry teacher

–Ben Nims

It’s a joke but not an exaggeration. Nims, the natural and environmental sciences teacher at MRH, and his colleagues chemistry teacher Kathleen Dwyer, physics teacher Ryan Massey and biology teacher Chuck McWilliams all hold doctorates.

The program provides a collaborative environment for educators to pursue EdD or PhD coursework, while enhancing science literacy and expertise.

Together, they comprise the only multi-faculty science department in the state in which each member has a terminal degree.

“I got lucky to be accepted into the program, which provided a lot of funding and allowed me to take coursework much quicker,” Massey says. “I was able to take a lot of grad school classes and be part of a group, a support network of science teachers.”

The road to this unique situation runs directly through the University of Missouri–St. Louis, where they all earned their doctorates – Dwyer, McWilliams and Nims doing so in the same EdD program.

Massey completed the bulk of his PhD work in the program but finished his degree a few years later at UMSL with Keith Miller, Orthwein Endowed Professor for Lifelong Learning in the Sciences. For his dissertation, Massey investigated the applications of computer science and coding in teaching physics.

Though there’s far more that joins them, including the friendship and mentorship of Charles Granger and a shared drive to continually pursue knowledge.

Dwyer, McWilliams and Nims began the STEM THEMES cohort in 2017, one of the College of Education’s innovative EdD programs, which emphasizes collaboration and is designed to be completed in three years.

“I think all four of us are lifelong learners, and we like to go to school,” McWilliams says.

McWilliams and Nims were encouraged to apply after participating in the Missouri Science Teacher Education Partnership, yet another program Granger shepherded with E. Desmond Lee Professor in Zoological Studies Patricia Parker, former Executive Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center Patrick Osborne and former Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning Joe Polman.

Charles Granger, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor

Granger, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of biology and education at UMSL, is a tireless advocate for science education in the region. Over the years, he has directed 18 science education programs, and the MRH science staff has directly benefitted from several of them.

Around 2008, Massey entered the Cooperative Approach to Doctoral Research in Education program, a partnership between UMSL and Washington University in St. Louis’ Center for Inquiry in Science Teaching and Learning funded by the National Science Foundation and coordinated by Granger.

With the two of them on board, Dwyer quickly followed suit. “It was the design of the program itself that was attractive to me,” Dwyer says. “The fact that it was a cohort. If Ben and Chuck had not also been on it, I don’t know If I would have registered. I was really intrigued by the opportunity to work with them on this level.” The cohort made it possible for them to conduct research and write a dissertation together. It took some time to land on the final topic, but McWilliams notes they were all in agreement to study something that would inform their everyday instruction.

CHUCK MCWILLIAMS biology teacher

“We were interested in motivation and what gets students interested in wanting to do science, not just succeeding in science classes – but wanting to be a scientist,” Nims says. “We moved from that to a parallel track, to this idea of identity and the social research behind identity. What are those things that help formulate a science identity in students?”

BEN NIMS natural and environmental sciences teacher 16

> 2,000

High school students focus on chemistry in Kathleen Dwyer’s classroom.

Photo courtesy of Ed Rich/MRH

After interviewing former students pursuing undergraduate degrees in STEM fields, common themes emerged. It’s clear that “authentic research experiences” are incredibly important to cultivating a science identity. Students who conducted their own research or worked in a lab in high school and early in college were challenged but also developed a sense of belonging in the field. Students who didn’t have those experiences felt like they had to achieve more and more – another class, another research paper, a degree – to actually consider themselves scientists. “The other emerging pattern was really about relationships,” McWilliams says. “The students that went into STEM majors had some adult in their life – it was either a parent or a teacher – who they saw as a support system. Someone who could really guide them and motivate them in that pursuit of their interests.” They successfully defended their dissertation last year and are examining how they can leverage what they learned to benefit MRH High School and the school district at large. At minimum, it furthers their case to preserve the elective research science class at MRH. “We have evidence for the impact that it’s had on our students,” Dwyer says. “It’s a really important class to preserve, not just for the students who take it and learn through the research project. They present to other students, and the other students get a sense of what real science is, how it’s conducted, and that pulls them in. It is rare for high schools to offer science research as a class, but it is really critical.” As their dissertation showed, those early research opportunities are often the key to building the confidence to enter STEM fields. MRH students are uniquely positioned to benefit from a class dedicated to those opportunities and educators who have conducted research at the highest level. Not only are their students receiving highcaliber instruction, they’re also seeing the dayto-day work that goes into being a scientist in the research elective and core science classes. Few other high school students in the region

certified K-12 teachers

experience such expertise on a daily basis or the encouraging environment it fosters. “It’s really about blurring the lines between what’s a teacher and what’s a researcher,” Massey says. “It’s more powerful when you have both of those tools.” The science staff hopes to eventually apply their work more broadly, but the COVID-19 pandemic has put things on hold at the moment. McWilliams says they’ve been preoccupied with redesigning their lessons for remote and hybrid instruction. However, he adds that they would like to condense some of their research into a workshop for other teachers in the district to underscore the importance of building science identities through supportive teacher-student relationships and hands-on experiences. The collaborative aspects of their research programs also reinforced the value of intra-department communication. McWilliams says it made him aware that being on the same page – even teaching different classes – can positively impact students. “The students that we get in our school, they see all of us,” he says. “At the end of four years at this school, what is their story? What is their experience going to be?”

“It’s really about blurring the lines between what’s a teacher and what’s a researcher. It’s more powerful when you have both of those tools.” –Ryan Massey

> 200 principals and superintendents

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI–ST. LOUIS

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION’S

Impact by the Numbers The College of Education has played a dominant role in the regional education workforce. Over the last decade, UMSL graduates have become more than 2,000 quality certified educators in K-12 schools and classrooms, more than 200 much-needed school principals and superintendents leading their buildings and districts, more than 500 licensed school and mental health counselors working daily with their clients and over 50 trained school psychologists providing careful evaluations and interventions.

With four doctors on staff, it’s safe to assume the kids will be alright. It’s an unusual reality, but it’s perfectly in line with their collective ambition to explore new topics and unanswered questions. While it’s novel now, perhaps it will be less so in the future. “I hope other departments are given opportunities like Chuck Granger was able to give us,” Massey says. “It made such an impact for us. I’d love to see it happen at other schools.”

> 500 licensed school and mental health counselors

> 50 trained school psychologists

Across all these fields and more, College of Education graduates, especially those with advanced or terminal degrees, become leaders and champions for their students and the region.

19 19

Major Mercantile Library collections

1846 Established

St. Louis Mercantile Library Art Museum

1984 Established

John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library

1985 Established

Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library

Mercantile Library celebrates

years

175

with AN exhibition honoring its

place as ... By David Morrison

It’s a question that John Neal Hoover, executive director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, gets quite often. One that is both simple and exceedingly difficult to

In this St. Louis Globe-Democrat photograph, a triumphant President Harry S. Truman holds up the Chicago Daily Tribune on Nov. 3, 1948 during a stop at St. Louis Union Station to display the famously erroneous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline. The paper misjudged the outcome of the presidential election and declared Thomas E. Dewey the winner.

answer: “What is your favorite item at the Mercantile Library?” It’s simple in the sense that Hoover has spent the past 37 years immersing himself in – and gaining intimate knowledge of – the pieces that make up the library’s unique collections. It’s exceedingly difficult in the sense that he has a hard time narrowing his list down to just a few favorites. “I could go on and on,” Hoover says. Around 350 of Hoover’s favorite pieces are on display as part of this spring’s exhibition, “A Nation, A City, & Its First Library: Americana, as a Way of Life at the St. Louis Mercantile Library for 175 Years.” The exhibition spans the library’s atrium and levels 1 and 2 and is broken down into seven main sections, each centering on a different aspect of the library’s extensive, eclectic holdings.

Hoover and the Mercantile Library staff envision the exhibition, its accompanying book and the year’s worth of events surrounding it as a celebration of the longest-tenured continuously running library west of the Mississippi River and its place as a St. Louis institution. The original print of the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” picture is on display, part of the library’s St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper collection. So is the handwritten 1832 Rocky Mountain Fur Traders’ Rendezvous account book early library member Robert Campbell kept. Also the only known photograph capturing someone “marking twain” – or checking the depth of the water – on the Mississippi River, a term that would serve as the basis of the pen name for a rather famous American literary figure. George Catlin (17961872) specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West including “Mato-Tope, second chief of the Mandan people in 1833,” a hand-colored lithograph produced in 1844.

Those are all among the most impressive pieces in the Mercantile Library’s possession. And there are many, many more. “The library has always been a collection of great depth and breadth,” Hoover says. “It’s one of the few that does that. A lot of times a library will collect deeply in one or two subjects or they’ll collect broadly. We do both. If it’s recognized what a special circumstance that is through this exhibition, that’s a wonderful achievement.”

... THE oldest library west of the mississippi

‘A nation, a city, and its first library’ The main theme running throughout the spring exhibition is how, since the Mercantile Library first opened its doors in April 1846, its collection has been a multifaceted reflection of the history of St. Louis and the nation. The first level of the library contains separate exhibitions celebrating the people and places of Americana. Highlights include selections from the papers of Silas Bent, a notable St. Louisan of the 19th century who was the first lieutenant on Commodore Matthew Perry’s expedition to Japan. The atrium level contains manuscripts from presidents such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and James K. Polk, and pieces of artwork from painter Charles Deas, who gained national renown for his portraits of the fur trade and Native Americans. Books containing artwork of Native Americans from the collection of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman – a former Mercantile Library board member – are also on display on Level 1 in the Bates Gallery. The second level focuses on the idea of “firsts”: first accounts, first publications, first almanacs, novels and textbooks printed in St. Louis. Level 1 also contains representations of how the library looked when it was founded in the 1840s, through enlargements of old photographs and furniture and artifacts from the period.

“We were founded in the era of Manifest Destiny, the Mexican War: 1846 was an important year in the country,” Hoover says. “We’re trying to show how diverse the exhibition is as well. In the large gallery on the first floor, the centerpiece of the entire exhibition is the story of the African American experience within the city and how that related to this institution. We collected widely around African American history, the history of slavery and slave narratives.” Library staff is planning a yearlong celebration of the exhibition and the Mercantile Library’s 175th anniversary, which also happens to coincide with the 25th anniversary of its affiliation with UMSL. While COVID-19 health and safety guidelines preclude the library from offering some of the trappings that normally go with exhibitions of this nature, Hoover anticipates virtual events and lectures in the late spring and summer followed by some events and special programs in the fall as as health protocols allow.

Above: The exhibition includes “Trapper,” a small oil painting by St. Louis artist R. H. Dick, who was born in in 1943 in Kansas City, Missouri, and became inspired to devote his career to depicting the American West after a trip to Taos in 1956.

“This allows us to savor this for an entire year,” Hoover says. “That seemed to make sense to us, since we’re all trying to get back to normal as carefully as we can.”

Above, at right: A German émigré to St. Louis, Joseph Paul Vorst (1897-1947) made public art for the Works Progress Administration and taught and created art in the city, including “Mother and Child,” oil on Masonite, circa 1940.

As the community takes in the exhibition and the suite of programming that surrounds it, Hoover hopes that people come away with a new appreciation for the Mercantile Library.

Opposite page: Executive director John Neal Hoover has had a 37-year-career at the St. Louis Mercantile Library.

All culminating – hopefully – with a big celebration in April 2022.

And, just maybe, a few favorite pieces of their own. “I’ll feel like it’s a very successful exhibition if I see pride in viewers,” Hoover says. “Sometimes we get this from people – and it’s a little backhanded: ‘We didn’t know this was here.’ If people are reacquainted with the library and its importance to the city, the nation and the university in a very proud sense, that’s credit enough.” 22

“The library has always been a collection of great depth and breadth.” – John Neal Hoover

A DECADE OF OPPORTUNITY:

Opportunity Scholars Program impacts students and St. Louis area By Jessica Rogen

Jalen Rhodes walked into class at Belleville East High School one early March day in 2019. He was dressed for the weather wearing a heavy coat, scarf and hat. The then-senior was a bit surprised when his teacher gently suggested that Rhodes remove his hat.

“I feel honored that I got to be a part of the program and to know that it is still going strong and helping so many local students.”

But that mild surprise was immediately banished in the face of much larger astonishment. “I took my hat off, and I saw everybody bursting into the room like, ‘You won the scholarship,’” Rhodes says, describing how the room filled not only with classmates but his family and representatives from the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

-Kyra Chappell

“I was happy. I was embarrassed because it was all about me. It was a great feeling. Having UMSL do that, taking the extra step to come to your school. I had never even heard of that.” Rhodes had good reason to be thrilled. He’d just landed a spot in UMSL’s Opportunity Scholars Program. The all-inclusive, four-year Pierre Laclede Honors College program focuses on academically gifted students who are either first-generation college students or are underrepresented in the workforce in their intended fields.

In the 10 years since it was founded, the program has impacted the lives of more than 50 students. It provides not only tuition but wraparound support that extends to housing, books and equipment such as laptops as well as faculty support, peer mentors, internship assistance and a social program. “The immediate impact is simply that we are able to support students who would probably have a very different college experience otherwise,” Honors College Dean Edward Munn Sanchez says. “The ability to take really strong students who would have to work and could not fully focus on college and allow them to do that makes a huge difference.” That’s equaled a retention and graduation rate of 89 percent. Those results were part of the rationale for the program, which was founded in 2011 as a joint effort between UMSL and Emerson. The global manufacturing and technology company donated an initial $1.65 million in funding and internships. Ameren, AT&T, Bellwether Foundation, Energizer, Enterprise, Wells Fargo, and David and Thelma Steward of World Wide Technology also provided financial support. OSP was originally intended to be an investment in keeping talent in the region while helping recipients achieve a superior education with no debt. “It’s really freeing,” Lorne St Christopher II says. “Having that freedom of whenever I’m not doing schoolwork, I’m not stressed out because I’m not thinking about paying for anything. That helps.”

A pre-engineering student, St Christopher is in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps and would have gone into the military otherwise. Nora Stith, a pre-dental student, would have attended community college before transferring to a four-year school. Kyra Chappell, who graduated in 2020 and is now a geodetic orbit scientist at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, looked at schools outside Missouri before OSP brought her to UMSL. For criminology and criminal justice student Bana Sultan, whose parents immigrated from Kurdistan, becoming a scholar was meaningful for her family. “My parents grew up in an environment where education wasn’t the easiest thing to achieve,” she says. “They came here from war and poverty to make sure that their children would live the life and get the education that they were never really able to have. When they first heard that I was getting a full ride, their minds were blown away.” Sultan initially had a difficult time adjusting to school and turned to her peer mentor, Chappell, who reassured Sultan that what she was feeling was completely normal. A first-generation student, Chappell had looked to her mentor for support and that had made her want to do the same for other OSP students.

“The mentorship program is invaluable,” she says. “I feel honored that I got to be a part of the program and to know that it is still going strong and helping so many local students.” Chappell started at NGA as an intern, working summers and part-time during the school year, then converted to a full-time position upon graduation. OSP’s emphasis on internships also served Eric’el Johnson well. She found the Boeing Future Leaders in Thought and Experience Internship Program thanks to the Honors College. That led to further internships, and when she graduated in 2016, Johnson moved into the Boeing Engineering Career Foundation Program and then into her current role as an electrical systems design engineer.

Johnson likes the structure of the program and would like to build on it by bringing back alumni to share career advice. Munn Sanchez also has big plans for the future of the program, and the Honors College is in the process of fundraising with the hopes of deepening its impact. “It’s a great program, and it needs to grow,” he says. “Our first graduates have been out of school six years now. The impact of a program like this starts showing up 10, 15 years down the road. But all the early signs are there that it’s going to have that impact. Our students are moving through their careers exactly like we’d hoped they would.”

Like many OSP recipients, Johnson has stayed highly engaged with her cohort, the program and the Honors College. She returns regularly to help interview prospective scholars. “I definitely love to help interview the students,” she says. “Just to give back and then also to help calm the nerves of the students interviewing because I’ve been in their shoes. Like, ‘Hey, guys, just breathe, it’ll be OK.’”

Deaf student

SUNSHINE MILES fights through perceptions to become a nurse

DONNALYN WEIR

Engineering grad makes her American dream at Nidec By Jessica Rogen

Ask Donnalyn Weir her defining characteristic and she’ll tell you that she’s hardworking. That’s undeniably true of the University of Missouri–St. Louis/ Washington University in St. Louis Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program alumna, a Filipino immigrant who started from the ground up in the U.S., often sleeping just five hours to fit everything in. But it’s her boldness that’s central to Weir’s success. “I was very aggressive,” Weir says, recalling her insistence on testing out of English courses. “I'm a go-getter. Even if I feel like I'm not going to be good, I fake that confidence at first. Because I was like, ‘I want to have this. I want to go to school.’” One could classify her whole story as daring: Weir immigrated to the U.S. in 2008 without finishing her college degree in math, found a job at St. Louis Lambert International Airport and rose to multi-store supervisor, and mastered community college despite an initial unfamiliarity with technology such as the TI-84 calculator and English as her second language. She enrolled into the joint engineering program, landed the Boeing Engineering Scholarship, built relationships that led to a co-op at Nidec Motor Corporation, found a mentor there, impressed with her work ethic and personality and earned a job as an application engineer. Along the way, she has inspired those around her to better their lives. Now she’s determined to give back as an advocate for women and immigrants in STEM.

By Jessica Rogen

“It's something I'm very passionate about,” Weir says. “I want to set an example to other immigrants who don’t have anything and want to be successful in any field that they choose that you can do it. I think, in a way, I helped my Filipino friends see that they can be successful.”

Sunshine Miles kept getting no. No, she couldn’t be a nurse. No, she couldn’t be a CNA. No, she couldn’t be part of the medical world in any way. That’s because the University of Missouri–St. Louis student was born Deaf. But Miles, who is in the sixth generation of her family with no hearing due to a genetic condition, knew she shouldn’t be limited.

After graduating in 2020, she became a mentor with the joint engineering program’s Mentor Collective and now works with four students – two women and two men – who are immigrants.

“My parents made me feel that there was nothing wrong with us,” Miles says through her interpreter. “We're not broken. We don't need to be fixed. We just process the world differently.”

“I want them to feel, as an engineer, as female or immigrants and minority, that they can be successful,” Weir says. “I was very scared at first, going into engineering because I said, ‘Oh, my God. I'm a woman. They probably think I don't know anything.’”

At 19, she started community college, learning English as a second language after growing up with American Sign Language, and eventually transferred to UMSL’s College of Nursing. She’s now poised to graduate with her BSN and hopes to work in palliative care or oncology while being an advocate for Deaf individuals.

Weir has benefitted from mentors such as her first boss, Nidec Senior Engineering Consultant David Eisenbraun. She recalls interviewing and being open about her lack of experience but displaying eagerness to learn. Not knowing how to answer a question about the real-life manifestation of negative frequency, Weir looked it up to include in her thank you note, clinching the position.

The tipping point for Miles was her daughter, who had myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease where the brain doesn't send the correct signals to the muscles. Too weak to breathe on her own, she needed a tracheotomy and a ventilator at birth.

The September before she was due to graduate, she intrepidly reached out to Nidec’s vice president of engineering and asked if she had a future there. That January, she became a fulltime employee.

Though her daughter eventually grew out of the condition, that hearkened back to when Miles was a little girl and saw a kidney transplant save her mother’s life.

“Coming here with nothing, finishing school and becoming an engineer is a big thing,” Weir says. “Now, I'm a professional. I'm part of something bigger that helps people. It's really my American dream to be an electrical engineer. I started from nothing, and now I’m doing what I love.”

Those experiences inspired Miles to return to her childhood ambition and become a nurse. 28

“I started trying when I was 19,” she says. “But I was told that I couldn’t. I switched over to being a full-time mom. I had three children. But I still wanted to be a nurse. It kept pulling at me.” Just as in patient care, Miles notes the importance of continuity and fit with her two interpreters, who have been with her throughout her nursing journey. In class, the two switch off signing and voicing every 15 to 20 minutes. Miles also uses facial and body language to communicate, which has built unique connections with patients but has been a challenge during the pandemic with masks and social distancing. Throughout school, the nursing faculty and staff have encouraged and supported Miles. “Not all Deaf individuals are the same,” she says. “We have different experiences. We have our own culture, which might influence what we need for accessibility and how we approach learning. The teachers have been wonderful about meeting me where I'm at and accepting me, not only as a Deaf person but as a person.” Miles hopes that in addition to providing superior care to her patients she’ll be able to help the Deaf community feel that they can be part of the medical world, just as meeting a Deaf nurse through the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss had done for her. “I love helping people,” she says. “I want to show the world that the Deaf community is capable of doing anything, and I want to show my community that people can do these things. We've faced a lot of oppression and barriers, and we continue to be creative in eliminating barriers, however challenging it may be.” 29

SHARON PRUITT-YOUNG showcases versatility at UMSL in writing career

By David Morrison

Sharon

Pruitt-Young started as an independent contractor for the Oxygen Network in 2015, shortly after she graduated from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She was one of the first writers the television network hired to produce website content that accompanied its femalecentric programming.

Photo courtesy of Dharmendra Neupane

be released. She hopes to one day turn her love of writing toward short stories, poetry and novels. "When I was in college, I was looking into ways to write for a living because you can’t really start out as a novelist and say, ‘That’s going to be my day job,’" Pruitt-Young says. "I found out that I really liked it, and I stuck with it and explored different kinds of professional writing. UMSL has a lot of opportunities for that.”

Two years later, Oxygen made a rather abrupt pivot: true crime. 24/7. So Pruitt-Young pivoted as well. “When I started out at Oxygen, it was mostly lifestyle content, entertainment news and interviews with inspirational women,” Pruitt-Young says. “When they made the switch, I had a good relationship with them, so I decided to stay on as a crime writer. I had done it before here and there, but I hadn’t done full-on crime writing all the time. Definitely an adjustment.”

DHARMENDRA NEUPANE creates big solutions on a nanoscopic scale

Pruitt-Young’s experience working for student publications at UMSL prepared her well for the versatility she has showcased as a professional writer.

By Burk Krohe

Dharmendra Neupane knows that better than anyone after fabricating nanoporous gold in Professor Keith Stine’s chemistry lab at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Pruitt-Young, who earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from UMSL in 2015, was a contributor to Brain Stew, a student publication in the Pierre Laclede Honors College. The St. Louis native also worked her way up the ladder at The Current student newspaper, serving as a staff writer, columnist, opinions editor and news and managing editor. She was The Current’s editor-in-chief during the 2013-2014 school year.

The material is a type of permeable nanostructure, measuring a billionth of a meter, and it could be the answer to more effective cancer treatments. Neupane’s PhD research at UMSL focused on its applications in medicine and biotechnology, and since successfully defending his dissertation in 2020, he is continuing similar research at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

“Some of my best memories involve The Current,” PruittYoung says. “It’s definitely a bonding experience. We would meet to lay out the paper and put it together Sunday night. Sometimes we’d end up being there really late – a small, bare-bones skeleton crew putting the paper together every week. That was a really cool experience, even though it was hard at the time.”

In addition to her work with Oxygen, Pruitt-Young finds time for freelance assignments covering tech news, entertainment and other topics that pique her interest. The former fellow with the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life also recently contributed mini-essays and sidebars to a young adult book on feminism that has yet to

The ability to use chemistry for cross-disciplinary solutions is what attracted Neupane to the field. “Chemistry and biochemistry are the center of every science,” he says. “We can understand physics, microbiology or biology with chemistry.”

Photo courtesy of Sharon Pruitt-Young

Pruitt-Young also benefited from an internship at St. Louis Magazine during her time with UMSL, as well as opportunities as a national contributor for publications such as USA TODAY College and Her Campus.

Sometimes big solutions come in small packages.

Neupane began his academic career in his native Nepal, earning a bachelor’s and a master's at Tribhuvan University. After teaching high school and college chemistry for a few years, he decided to apply to doctoral programs.

Several of his friends studied at UMSL, and their experiences encouraged him to apply to the university. Neupane was accepted to the PhD program in chemistry and biochemistry in 2015. The transition from Nepal to the U.S. was mostly smooth, except for some language and cultural differences, but Stine quickly made him feel at home in the lab. “He let us have freedom about choosing research topics and conducting research,” Neupane says. “He let us participate in different seminars in St. Louis, as well as outside of Missouri, and he was ready to answer questions and solve problems.”

Neupane’s work focused on using nanoporous gold to encapsulate and steadily release anti-cancer drugs in tumorous regions of the body. This approach shows promise to overcome persistent challenges in cancer treatments. Cancer drugs can kill healthy cells as they treat the disease, and many are insoluble in water, making them difficult to absorb in the body. Neupane was able to more effectively target cancerous cells and improve solubility by using nanostructures in combination with macromolecules – large, complex molecules made up of smaller subunits – designed to aid the delivery of drugs. “The side effects of the drug can be minimized, and we can enhance the tolerability,” Neupane says. He is excited to begin a new vaccine development project during his one-year fellowship at the FDA. During his PhD research, Neupane also became interested in glycoconjugates and glycans, carbohydrates linked to other biological molecules, and their potential for therapeutic use. Vaccines might be one of the most encouraging, transformative applications. “I was very interested to impart my knowledge and the skill I earned during my PhD in the field of glycans in the field of deep science, with immediate and life-changing outcomes,” he says. “I am very excited to conduct fruitful research.”

What are the main differences between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage?

Traditional Medicare allows patients to select most any eligible medical service they wish to receive from authorized Medicare providers and pays about 80 percent of cost. Those who purchase a supplemental insurance policy to cover the remaining 20 percent of costs may find the policy to be prohibitively expensive, especially as they grow older.

Stay Connected

We want to hear from you! Share your news, photos and follow us at @UMSL.

Under Medicare Advantage, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services collaborates with private companies to enroll patients into commercial insurance plans. Many Medicare Advantage plans are available at little or no monthly premium costs for patients and shift financial risk and administrative burden to the private sector. The plans often enrich the benefits beyond the mandatory levels to entice patients.

Let us know what you're up to! Send class notes and life updates to: alumni@umsl.edu umslalumni.org

What drove you to focus in this area?

My research interest in Medicare stems from my careers as a hospital system executive and an entrepreneur who has worked closely with Medicare Advantage companies for 25 years. There are many nuances in the operation of the Medicare program, and I want to understand and report what is working well and not working well. Why did you pursue a DBA at UMSL, and what’s next?

Cornell Thomas, BM 1978, was

1970s Doris Graham, MEd 1970, received the 2020 Lifetime Achiever in Education Award from the St. Louis American Foundation. Doris worked as a teacher and an administrator

director of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine. Cornell also serves as assistant dean for admissions and student services.

for the St. Louis Public School

James Torti, BSBA 1979, retired

District for 38 years and is on the

from Schowalter & Jabouri, P.C. after

St. Louis Community College Board

41 years. Jim began his career at

of Trustees.

S&J as an intern while attending

Denny Reagan, BSBA 1974, will retire in December 2021 as

of the firm.

1980s

Tom Minogue, BA 1976, was named

Stephen Butz, BSBA 1980,

a 2021 “Lawyer of the Year” in

won election for a second term

Corporate Compliance Law by Best

representing District 81 in the

Lawyers. Tom serves as chairman

Missouri House of Representatives.

of the Thompson Coburn law

Steve is also the president of

practice in St. Louis.

Crawford-Butz Insurance Agency.

Barbara Bufe Heidolph, BA 1978,

Sara Foster, BA 1983, won a 2021

joined Mason Dixie Biscuit Co. as

St. Louis Business Journal C-Suite

vice president of innovation

Award. Sara is the executive vice

and quality.

president, talent and corporate

Dale Oberkfell, BSBA 1978, will

administration of Commerce Bank.

retire from Midwest BankCentre

Keith Manzer, BSBA 1983, became

at the end of 2021 after serving

a luxury real estate specialist at

as CFO until 2012 and as bank

Gladys Manion Real Estate.

president since 2017.

What recreational activities or hobbies do you like to do to stay healthy?

Q&A

DOCTOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

after a 52-year career. He will January 2022.

ALUMNI

UMSL and became an integral part

president and CEO of the Muny assume the role of senior advisor in

I came across the UMSL DBA website, and it was very compelling. After meeting Dr. Ekin Pellegrini and some of the faculty, I knew the program would be a very good fit for me, and it was. Having graduated, I hope to continue my research in partnership with UMSL faculty and students, and I may seek an adjunct faculty position while continuing with my consulting business.

appointed chief diversity officer and

GRAD AND PRESIDENT OF ENDEAVORS OF ST. LOUIS

STEVEN STOUT STUDIES HOW MISSOURI UTILIZES MEDICARE By Timothy Wombles

John Pleimann, BA 1983, MA 1994, MFA 2003, published a collection of poems, “Come Shivering to Collect,” with Slant. 32

My bucket list includes hiking on every continent. My wife Terri and I have had the privilege and pleasure of some amazing adventures together, such as climbing to the eighth tower on the Great Wall of China, attempting to summit Mt. Kilamajaro and backpacking across the Grand Canyon. Today, only Australia and Antarctica remain, so we hope to schedule those trips soon after the pandemic subsides. Meanwhile, I golf.

Photo courtesy of Double Date

The University of Missouri–St. Louis Alumni Association celebrated Valentine’s Day, love and the enduring power of UMSL couples on Feb. 11 with an evening of song performed by the barbershop quartet Double Date. The Pierre Laclede Society and members Dennis and Maggie McCarthy presented the event as part of its Community Confluence Series.

Joshua Risch, BSAcc 2013, to Jenna Conway on Oct. 2 Megan Slattery, BSN 2016, to Robert Wilson, Jr. on Sept. 26 Hannah Williams, BSN 2020, to Pierce Krieger on Dec. 19

retire as Clayton School District’s

Amy Hunter, BA 1994, joined

superintendent at the end of the

Caleres as vice president of

2020-2021 school year. Sean has

members and couples Michaela Slamka, BM 2015, and Nathan Johnston, BM 2015; and Blair Brown,

won election for a second term

Emmy Award in the Breaking News

representing District 95 in the

category for his photography

Missouri House of Representatives.

from a helicopter. He is a managing

In addition to his legislative duties,

editor and a FAA-licensed

Michael is a fixed income securities

commercial drone pilot at KFOR-TV

trader for Wells Fargo and a

in Oklahoma City.

Lieutenant Commander in the

Barbershop in Germany’s world mixed quartet competition twice and their lives since school. “We feel very fortunate to be together and able to actually sing in person,” Blair says. “It’s pretty special right now.”

Lori Myers, BSBA 1994,

U.S. Navy Reserve.

BS 2011, was named director of

Kathy Torrington, BSEd 1998,

the department of workforce and

was honored with Emerson’s 2020

DeAnn Brunts, BSBA 1985, joined

Ann Sutter, BSBA 1989, was

Karen Rosewell, MBA 1992, was

business development by the

Excellence in Teaching Award.

Agtech firm Benson Hill as CFO and

promoted to president of

honored with Emerson’s 2020

St. Charles County Council.

Kathy is a first-grade teacher at

a member of its board of directors.

Congruence Talent Solutions, Inc.

Excellence in Teaching Award. Karen is an art teacher at Living

Richard Baniak, BS 1986, MA 1997, was named vice president of fiscal affairs and chief financial officer at

1990s

Lindenwood University.

Previously, Ella served as Ferguson

2021 St. Louis Business Journal

city councilor and had a successful

C-Suite Award. Susan recently

career as a chemist and Mary Kay

retired from Boone Center, Inc.,

consultant and sales director.

vocational skills.

Sean Doherty, BSEd 1997, will

of Famous Footwear.

Michael O’Donnell, BSBA 1998,

resident elected mayor of Ferguson.

employment and develop

promoted by Caleres to president

awarded a Heartland Region

Susan Cutler, BSBA 1984, won a

developmental disabilities find

in O’Fallon, Missouri.

Steve Johnson, BA 1994, was

as the first woman and Black

people with intellectual and

Michael Edwards, BA 1994, was

Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies Jim Henry hosted, interviewing quartet

Ella Jones, BA 1986, made history

a nonprofit dedicated to helping

the general manager of Sweetology

been superintendent since 2016.

and the married couples talked about falling in love while in school, forming the quartet, winning the

Daniel Friedel, BSEd 2013, to Jamie McGowen on Aug. 7

licensed minister and works as

and Statistics.

diversity, equity and inclusion.

BA 2013, and Ravi Raghuram, BM 2013, over Zoom. Interspersed among the quartet’s songs, Henry

Bliss

Department of Mathematics

Scott Ream, OD 1987, was elected president of the Missouri State Board of Optometry. Gov. Mike

Water Academy. Jennifer Bouquet, BSBA 1993, was elected to the SITE Improvement

Jeff Camilleri, BSBA 1990,

Association Board of Directors.

was promoted to president of

Jennifer is the president of J&J

commercial and mortgage

Boring, Inc.

banking at CNB St. Louis Bank, expanding his previous role as a regional president.

became STL.works leader and

St. Louis Women’s Business Center.

champion of workforce development

Paula Knight, MEd 1996, EDSP 2008, EdD 2014, was named superintendent of the Jennings served as chief academic officer

honored with Emerson’s 2020

for St. Louis Public Schools.

Julie is a teacher at St. Mary’s

joined health and wellness brand

High School.

corporate markets.

Art McCoy, MEd 1999, PhD 2002,

Urban League of Metropolitan

Julie Guelker, MEd 1993, was Excellence in Teaching Award.

Ronita Mathias, MA 1996, was elected to serve a three-year term as trustee of P.G. Chambers School.

Qiang Dotzel, MA 1993, was honored with Emerson’s 2020

Parson appointed Scott to the

Excellence in Teaching Award.

board in 2019.

Qiang is a professor in UMSL’s 34

St. Frances Cabrini Academy.

hired as executive director of the

School District. Previously, Paula

Andrew Spellman, BSBA 1991, Therabody as vice president of

Tasha Pettis-Bonds, BA 1995, was

for the Regional Business Council in December. Previously, Art served as superintendent of the Jennings School District, a position he’d held since 2016. Rene Wilson, BSEd 1999, was honored with Emerson’s 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award, for

hey alumni!

ALUMNI

QUESTION

What was your most memorable date while in school? Email your answer to magazine@umsl.edu. We'll run some of our favorites in the next issue.

her achievements and dedication to the field of education. Rene is a

Wauneen Rucker, BS 1996, was

second-grade teacher at Journey

crowned Mrs. Missouri America

Elementary School.

2020 by the Mrs. Missouri America Pageant. Wauneen is a practicing 35

ALUMNI

QUESTION

From the fall 2020 issue:

Do you have a career that surprises people based on your degree?

In Memoriam 1960s —

Arthur Clark, Jr., BA 1968, on Aug. 19 Viola Berryman, BSEd 1969, on Sep. 28 David Lane, MEd 1969, on Feb. 9 1970s —

2000s Opal Jones, BSBA 2000, MBA 2017, won a 2021 St. Louis Business Journal C-Suite Award. Opal is president and CEO of DOORWAYS, a nonprofit that provides affordable, secure housing and related services for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Dolores Houser, BA 1970, on Dec. 15 Loeta Jerome, MEd 1970, on Sept. 6 Susan Stoeberl, MEd 1972, on Dec. 26 Randall Ferber, BS 1974, on June 2 William Werner, MBA 1977, on Nov. 8

Wendy Mickley, MEd 2000, was one

1980s —

2001, joined NPower Missouri as

Sandra Cuneo, BA 1980, on Sept. 22 Linda Struble, BSBA 1983, on Oct. 26 Sr. Marie Wiederholt, MA 1985, on Sept. 11

executive director.

1990s —

Elementary School.

of the Festus school counselors awarded the 2020 Gysbers Missouri Comprehensive School Counseling Program Award. Kimberly Vrooman, BA 2000, was named executive director of the Belleville Area Humane Society. Wendell Covington, Jr., MEd

Cheryl Eschmann, BSEd 2001, was honored with Emerson’s 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award. Cheryl is a teacher at Hancock

Royal Lee Gunter, MEd 1991, on Oct. 6 Laurence Thomas, BA 1991, on Sept. 5 Joan Steele, MEd 1994, on Jan. 15 Leslie Cunningham, BA 1997, on Dec. 30

Orvin Kimbrough, MBA 2002, was

2020s —

and inclusion at the Missouri

Andrew Ameer, BSBA 2020, on Sept. 27

Botanical Garden.

elected to the Core & Main LP Board of Directors. Orvin serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Midwest BankCentre. Amanda Shields, BA 2002, was named director of diversity

I am an attorney and people seem surprised when I tell them I have a BA in philosophy from UMSL. I usually explain that the intellectual rigor required to study philosophy is perfect preparation for law school and that I declared my major after deciding that law school – University of Missouri–Columbia, JD – would be my goal. Honestly, I think I would encounter surprise regardless of my present career because there aren’t many of us floating around, and the discipline is misunderstood by the general public as esoteric and impractical. The lodestar of undergraduate philosophy education is learning how to think and write clearly and with purpose. It provides a skeleton key to whatever endeavor life presents you with next. I am profoundly grateful to UMSL’s excellent philosophy program. —Mark Lyons, BA 2003

Samantha Williams and Missouri American Water pay it forward Samantha Williams isn’t sure if you can be too involved at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, but she likes to joke that she might have been getting close. “I was really engaged in school because it gave so much to me, so I just wanted to pass that along,” Williams says. “Being a part of student government made me realize that, despite my young age, I have a platform.” Though Williams is now graduated and is the external affairs manager at Missouri American Water, she’s still giving back. Recently, she has helped facilitate a $10,000 donation from Missouri American Water and company President Debbie Dewey to the Peter and Helen Goode Scholarship. The scholarship was established by Wayne Goode, the longtime Missouri state senator and father of UMSL. Goode also served on the company’s board for more than a decade. After his passing in October, Williams says the company was looking for a way to honor his legacy at Missouri American Water, and UMSL seemed like a perfect fit. Williams supported the idea of a scholarship donation, having benefited greatly from various scholarships at UMSL as a first-generation student. Now, she wants to pay it forward and hopefully bring more Tritons to Missouri American Water. “Volunteerism is a huge part of our culture,” she says. “That’s why I was excited and wanting us to get more involved with UMSL. UMSL has always been at the center of the community.”

Andrea Vent, BSW 2002, was

Journal’s Diverse Business Leaders

Tori Gillespie, BSME 2007, was

Leaders 2020. Rachel is the founder

named executive director of The

2020. Jomo is a regional manager of

promoted to director of operations

and principal of Gladiator Consulting.

Child Center, a nonprofit serving

external affairs at AT&T in St. Louis

at Ross & Baruzzini.

victims of child abuse.

and Southeast Missouri.

Cathy Farrar, BSEd 2003, MEd

Adam Schwadron, BA 2005,

2009, became a principal in tax at

2006, PhD 2012, was honored

was elected to a two-year term

Anders CPAs + Advisors in St. Louis.

with Emerson’s 2020 Excellence in

representing District 106 in the

Teaching Award. Cathy is a science

Missouri House of Representatives.

teacher at Marquette High School.

Adam is also owner/operator of

John Hartmann, BSEd 2003, was

Clean Carpet Company.

Justin Marty, BSAcc 2007, MAcc

Elizabeth Pickard, MA 2007, wrote the children’s book, “Ruth’s River Dreams,” published by the Missouri Historical Society Press. Elizabeth

honored with Emerson’s 2020

Scott Stallman, MEd 2006, was

is a consultant for The Rome Group

Excellence in Teaching Award.

appointed the provost of Dunwoody

in St. Louis.

John is a fourth-grade teacher at

College of Technology.

Ellisville Elementary.

James Cash, MAcc 2008, was

Shannan French, BSW 2007, was

promoted to director at Schowalter

Rokas Varanavicius, BSMIS 2003,

named executive director of Caring

& Jabouri, P.C., Certified Public

was named senior vice president,

Solutions, a nonprofit that provides

Accountants and Advisors.

senior director of IT at Concordance

services to children and adults

Academy of Leadership.

with developmental disabilities

Jomo Castro, MS 2005, was

and their families.

Rachel D’Souza-Siebert, MPPA

2010s Michelle Brune, PhD 2010, received the Faculty Merit Award for excellence in teaching from the Alumni Association at Southeast Missouri State University, where she is a professor of interior design. Nathan Williams, BSEd 2010, was honored with Emerson’s 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award. Nathan is a seventh-grade science teacher at Bayless Junior High School.

2008, was featured in the St. Louis Business Journal’s Diverse Business

featured in the St. Louis Business 36

UMSL alumna Natalie Sago makes NBA history Natalie Sago scanned the latest NBA officiating schedule around Christmas Eve last year and stopped on the Jan. 25 game, Charlotte Hornets at Orlando Magic.

Natalie Sago (right), an UMSL physical education alumna, and her colleagues Jenna Schroeder (left) and Sean Wright (center) were part of the first three-person NBA officiating crew to feature two women.

She assumed the assignment was a typo. Next to her name, the schedule read “Jenna Schroeder.” “I texted her and was like, ‘We have a game together,’” Sago says. “She was like, ‘What? No freaking way!’ I mean, there might have been some profanity in there.” Sago, a University of Missouri–St. Louis education alumna and Farmington, Missouri, native, made history when she walked onto the court that night. It was the first time a three-person NBA officiating crew featured two women.

Stephanie Cernicek, BS 2011, MS 2013, PhD 2017, won a 2021 St. Louis Business Journal C-Suite Award. Stephanie is chief science officer at the BeLeaf Company. Leonora Muhammad, BSN 2011, was promoted to associate vice president of patient care services of Corizon Health. Keisha Mabry Haymore, MEd 2012, was named director of entrepreneurship of WEPOWER, a nonprofit committed to building power and wealth opportunities for Black and Latinx people. Reginald Jones, BSBA 2012, of alumni engagement at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Meaghan Pijut, MAcc 2012, was promoted to manager at SFW Partners LLC. Travis Rainey, BSEd 2012, was

Photo courtesy of the NBA

became senior coordinator

partner in the Brown Smith Wallace advisory and litigation support services practice. Darrion Cockrell, BSEd 2013, BIS 2013, was named the 2021 Missouri Teacher of the Year by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Darrion is a certified physical education teacher at Crestwood Elementary.

for the St. Patrick Center, a nonprofit

2020s

She was invited to try out for the NBA D League, now the G League. That opportunity turned into the WNBA, then the NBA. Over the last three years, she’s become more comfortable and confident on the court. Nonetheless, there are still moments that seem surreal.

is the first Latinx member of the

“He comes straight to me, and he stuck his hand out and said, ‘Hey Natalie, LeBron James. Nice to meet you. So glad to have you, congratulations,’” she says. “I thought that was really neat, and he talked about how he has a daughter and how he’s so glad that she can see my presence out here on the court.”

Missouri S&T as assistant teaching

Carmen Palencia, BSBA 2020, joined

professor in teacher education and

Boeing as a financial analyst intern.

certification.

Mitchel Round, AB 2020, joined

Ramona Marshall, MPPA 2019,

the supply chain and logistics

helped interview refugees from Iraq,

department at R&S Machining

Afghanistan, Syria, Bosnia and the

after becoming the first graduate

Democratic Republic of Congo for

of UMSL’s organizational

a puppet show titled “We Came As

leadership program.

Refugees: An American Story.”

Elizabeth Scherer, BS 2020, was

Alisha Sonnier, BS 2019, received

hired by Pluton Biosciences as a

Travis is a teacher at Fairview

was promoted from principal to

became special events coordinator providing services for people

Excellence in Teaching Award.

Jason Buhlinger, MBA 2013,

Christian Adams, BA 2019,

She’d first come in contact with an NBA scout in 2015 while officiating a Fontbonne University game one February weekend and gained further attention working the McDonald’s High School All-American Game in 2015, which was televised on ESPN.

honored with Emerson’s 2020

Elementary School.

Outside of St. Louis? Interested in advocacy? Want to get more involved? Contact alumni@umsl.edu.

who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Jancarlos Romero, EdD 2019, was elected to the Orleans Parish School Board in New Orleans. Jancarlos LGBTQ community elected to public office in Louisiana. Alan Byrd, PhD 2019, joined George

Lindsey Gevers, BSEd 2020, joined Flint Hill Elementary School as a long-term substitute teacher. John Gentilini, BSCiE 2020, was hired full-time on the site development team at Civil Design, Inc. Keaton King, BSAcc 2020, joined Abeles and Hoffman.

Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia,

Ruth Kvistad, BA 2020, became an

as dean of admissions.

emergency medical technician at

Mary Gillis, EdD 2019, joined

Alton Memorial Hospital.

Angela Moore, BFA 2013, MPPA

in league history that two women

Natasha Dupee, MEd 2014,

Matthew Freeman, MFA 2015,

Joel Glasscock, MPPA 2017,

$10,000 in funding from “The

research associate.

2017, received a 2020 Award

worked in the same contest.

was sworn in as St. Louis Ward

wrote “Exile,” a book of poems

joined Steadfast City Economic

Divided City: An Urban Humanities

7 Advisory Neighborhood

published by 2River.

& Community Partners as a

Initiative” for her podcast BlackTea,

Amy Seidel, BA 2020, BS 2020,

project manager.

which brings attention to local and

of Excellence from the U.S. Green Building Council, Raising the Standard category. Angela is facilities and sustainability coordinator for the Missouri Historical Society. Natalie Sago, BSEd 2013, made sports history on Jan. 25 as one of two women to officiate the Charlotte Hornets at Orlando Magic NBA game. It was the first game

Samantha Williams, BA 2013, was hired to manage external

Commissions in January.

Jennifer Fisher, PhD 2016, was

communications and community

Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, PhD

named the 2021 Missouri Art

Brent Martin, BSAcc 2017, MAcc

outreach for Missouri American

2014, received the 2020 Stellar

Education Association Art Educator

2018, was promoted to senior

Water’s eastern service areas.

Performer in Education Award from

of the Year, which is the overall

assistant at SFW Partners LLC.

the St. Louis American Foundation.

award for art educators in the state.

Abram Brummett, MA 2014, joined the Oakland University William Beaumont School of

Sharonica is superintendent of University City schools.

Medicine as assistant professor

Rick Hoops, BSSE 2014, was hired

in the Department of

by KAI as an electrical designer.

Foundational Medical Studies. 38

Adam Morgenthaler, MBA 2017,

Cameron Roark, BA 2016, became

was promoted to senior accountant

an attorney with Behr, McCarter &

at SFW Partners LLC.

Potter, P.C. in Clayton, Missouri.

national issues of economic and racial disparity. Farhan William, BS 2019, was hired by Pluton Biosciences as a research associate.

relocated to Japan to become an assistant language teacher of English at Interac. Sarah Thomas, BS 2020, became a content marketing intern at FleishmanHillard. Hannah Williams, BSN 2020, joined the pediatric intensive care unit at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. 39

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paid

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St. Louis, MO

St. Louis, MO 63121-4400

permit no. 3

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“The UMSL faculty have had a great impact, not just educationally, but also personally and professionally. That keeps me motivated to continue to strive forward.” –JASMINE LEWIS

“I knew UMSL was a quality institution with an affordable program.” –JASMINE CLAY

Alumni Choose UMSL for Graduate Education Educational leaders and UMSL alumnae Jasmine Clay, MEd 2018, and Jasmine Lewis, MEd 2018, want to change the narrative surrounding underrepresented student success and connect firstgeneration and low-income students with resources to help them earn their degrees. The two turned to UMSL’s graduate school to make that happen. After meeting in their master’s program, they chose UMSL again and are working toward their Doctor of Education degrees. Together, they’re researching the barriers students face the summer after high school that prevent college enrollment.

GradAdm@umsl.edu | umsl.edu/admissions

Choose the University of Missouri–St. Louis to advance your career. Meet with a graduate advisor today to learn more.