43 minute read
On Campus
UMSL PRIDE
Military Times ranked UMSL No. 1 in Missouri
and No. 37 nationally on its
“Best for Vets” colleges list.
INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine honored UMSL with a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award
for the fifth time. U.S. News & World Report rated UMSL No. 118 among public universities and
jumped the university 42 places in the overall rankings over the past two years.
‘Build it, they will come’: Betty Van Uum makes UMSL campus her legacy
Betty Van Uum was unsure exactly what her role would be when she started at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. It was 1983, and then-Chancellor Arnold Grobman had invited her to join his staff as assistant to the chancellor for public affairs and economic development after a storied career in politics fighting for civil rights and women’s equality.
Van Uum found her footing quickly. She recalls discovering that UMSL was poised to lose out on allocations from a $600 million Missouri bond issue Grobman hoped would fund a new science building.
“We leaped into action,” Van Uum says. “We put together some lobbying effort, and we got the building moved up the priority list. The legislature agreed to give us $26 million, which built the research wing of the science complex and library extension, which became the Mercantile
Library. Back in those days, we thought if we build it, they will come. And they did.”
Van Uum’s impact on the university has only grown in the 38 years since while serving under seven permanent or interim chancellors.
In that time, she’s helped facilitate every expansion on or off campus, leading impactful initiatives such as the negotiation to bring the UMSL North, UMSL South and N. Hanley MetroLink stations to the area and the funding of the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center.
She led the reconstructions of I-70 – which helped UMSL attract Express Scripts’ headquarters to campus – and then Natural Bridge, through the East-West Gateway
Council of Governments Great Streets Initiative.
“People say, ‘How long does it take?’” Van Uum says. “It takes 10 years. That’s what it takes.
You’ve got to think of it. You’ve got to plan it. You’ve got to fund it. You’ve got to build it.”
It’s safe to say that UMSL would, quite literally, not be the same place without Van Uum.
“I have enjoyed my work,” she says. “I felt useful and meaningful. It is a blessing. Very few people have the opportunity to have a meaningful career in one place. It’s like watching your children grow up.”
Betty Van Uum’s license plate is one of 100 so-called “governor’s
plates.” It was awarded to her fatherin-law, State Sen. Maurice Schechter, by Gov. Phil Donnelly in the ’50s. When he died, the plate reverted to Gov. Mel Carnahan to reassign, and he offered it to Van Uum.
O Cybersecurity student Faith Clarke was selected to participate in the Diversity Cyber Academy, a joint effort from the International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals and the SANS Institute.
UMSL STUDENTS SELECTED FOR HONORS, SCHOLARSHIPS
P Biochemistry and biotechnology student Keona Hughes was awarded the
Rooted in Science Scholarship from Proctor & Gamble. The scholarship is given to Black women who are pursuing degrees in STEM fields at HBCUs or United Negro College Fund-member schools.
M Accounting and information systems student Torin Samuelson has been awarded a Public Company Accounting
Oversight Board Scholarship.
The scholarship covers tuition and fees and benefits students who are likely to become auditors and to make a difference for students who might otherwise choose a different career path. College of Nursing DNP student Ayomide Aruwajoye was named one of five inaugural recipients of the Loretta Ford Centennial Scholarship. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners Zori Paul won the National Board of Certified Counselors Minority Fellowship Award, which included a $20,000 prize to support her PhD research on established the scholarship in December 2020 to honor Loretta C. Ford, who helped create the curriculum for the first nurse practitioner program in 1965. identity affirmation of bisexual+ women of color.
DOCTOR OF NURSING PRACTICE STUDENTS tackle COVID-19 with clinical scholarship projects
When it came time to pick a Doctor of Nursing Practice clinical scholarship project amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Robert Bohnert and Elise Schaller knew they wanted to do something helpful.
Neither had a clear picture of what that would look like until the St. Louis County Department of Public Health reached out to the University of Missouri–St. Louis College of Nursing inviting the DNP students to make COVID-centric projects. “It’s exciting to be doing something so relevant and time sensitive,” says Schaller, who is also an assistant teaching professor of nursing at UMSL. The two decided to tackle COVID from an unusual angle. In conjunction with the Department of Public Health, they produced “County Youth Athletics Response to COVID-19 Pandemic,” a formative evaluation of the county’s youth sports guidelines. Their idea was to figure out if the policy put in place was being implemented in schools, how well it was implemented and then how well it was followed. They created an observation tool and attended 24 games, looking at differences among high schools in communities of different incomes and between high- and low-contact sports. They tracked their findings against cases published in Missouri’s Covid-19 Dashboard, looking at case rates for 15-to-19 year olds in the school districts they reviewed. Though the dashboard data wasn’t specific enough to identify correlations, Schaller and Bohnert thought about potential barriers to compliance from their study that could, hypothetically, be used to create or revise future guidelines after further study. “Sports are, obviously, important for your physical health, but there’s a lot of important aspects to people’s mental health that youth sports play a role in,” Bohnert says. “There’s a lot of research that shows that it is important to be interacting with other people. But at the same time, we’re living in a pandemic, and how do you do that safely?” Seven other UMSL projects took up the St. Louis County Department of Public Health’s call, including: Daria Kester – “Proactive Text Messaging for Public Health Surveillance” Erin Moran – “Digital Contact Tracing During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic” Michelle Arrington – “Attitudes Toward SARS-CoV-2 in Frontline Healthcare Workers and First Responders” Julie Ingle – “Mental Health Concerns of Frontline Registered Nurses Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic” Elizabeth Kerr – “Mental Health Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Older Adults” Lindsey McIntyre – “A Telehealth Palliative Care Objective Structured Clinical Examination”
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2 3
1During the annual Serendipity Sendoff, UMSL students kickedoff the year by signing the UMSL Trident, rubbing the Wayne Goode Statue book for good luck and enjoying some sweet treats. 2 The University Program Board welcomed students to the new semester with a free UPB T-shirt, a tie-dye kit and boba tea. 3 Students got involved, made connections and found new friends at the 2021 Fall Involvement Expo.
BIRD SKINS WORKSHOP helps biology students get up-close look at feathered fliers
Last summer, 16 University of Missouri–St. Louis undergraduates got an unusual look at a little-known side of biology research – taxidermizing migratory birds.
The Bird Skins Workshop was organized by Assistant Teaching Professor Meghann Humphries. “Most people don’t know what these are, but ornithologists occasionally go to natural history collections – the Field Museum in Chicago has a huge one – and there are these bird skins which have been preserved roughly in the shape of a bird,” Humphries says. “It is just the skin, and it’s stuffed with cotton. We use them for all sorts of things – body measurements but also things like ectoparasites. We can get genetic information from these, so having a good collection is really important.” The workshop came about when Tara Hohman, a conservation science associate at the Audubon Center at Riverlands and a member of the board at the St. Louis Audubon Society, let Humphries know that the St. Louis Audubon Society was surveying birds that collided with windows in downtown St. Louis and had permits to collect the remains of those that perished. The UMSL group, which included biology student Sarah Holder, taxidermized five dozen birds. “It’s not the same as with a dissection where you have to open up everything,” Holder says. “You don’t want to make any holes, so you just have to be really careful. It can be tedious, trying to get everything out from inside the body cavity.”
”UMSL has always been such a good fit.”
Chris SullivanThis is
The clinical director for UMSL Health, Counseling and Disability Access Services and campus health officer talks shop
25 years at UMSL as a student, faculty and staff member:
UMSL has always been such a good fit. I’ve identified closely with the challenges and the difficulties of those here – working professionals, people with families, with complicated life situations, trying to take big steps forward for themselves and the people they care about. We all come from very different backgrounds. It’s felt like the right place to be.
Bringing the Health, Counseling and Disability Access Services together under one umbrella:
Being a place where students can get assistance on being physically and psychologically well goes together because the body and mind are not separate. Then, with Disability Access Services, we have this incredible opportunity to assist people that have identified, diagnosed disabilities. There are a lot of different concerns that we work with in HCDAS, but they’re all pointed in the same direction.
Applying his specialty of multicultural counseling:
I’ve always been interested in the mosaic of cultural backgrounds and identities. Although difficulties can arise from our life experiences, they can be a tremendous source of strategies to thrive, be successful and move forward. That’s my core vision of how I see people. I’d like to think that it’s also reflected in the way we provide services by working closely with every student who comes to us and knowing that each will have different needs. Our job is to help find out how we can be of the most assistance.
Overseeing UMSL health and safety as campus health officer during the pandemic:
I stopped looking at it as treating a specific client or patient but as the entire campus that’s made up of all these individuals. What do I need to do to support the entire campus? How can I listen to what’s happening and attempt to provide assistance or some kind of approach to treating the campus as a whole?
The evolution:
With the availability of the COVID vaccines, our entire situation is dramatically different than where we were a year ago. We’ve learned so much about the virus. We’ve developed a lot of strategies and approaches for campus, but at the same time, COVID is not done with us yet. This year will present new and different challenges, so it will be important for us to continue to be flexible and adaptable.
What’s worked:
This has been such a campus effort. We’ve worked so closely together. There were so many people involved and that’s a testament to what UMSL is really about. We look out for each other. There’s a real willingness to engage, support and assist.
Missing home-state Wisconsin flavors:
Fresh cheese curds, like so fresh they are still warm. I probably have somewhat of a reputation for only eating “healthy,” but I have a hard time turning down fried cheese curds. The pandemic would have been a bit easier on me if I’d been able to find a steady supply.
BRIEFLY
Liane Constantine was named executive director of UMSL Global after serving as interim director since
April 2020. She provides leadership over international programming in the areas of recruitment and admissions, student services and study abroad, as well as international partnerships with universities, and works with endowed professors and the Global Faculty Ambassadors Network to further expand UMSL’s international mission.
Two UMSL programs win
D’Andre Braddix was promoted to dean of students in April after 14 years working in the Division of Student Affairs.
He has direction and oversight of students’ support services, advises the UMSL Chapter of the Associated Students of the University of Missouri and serves as Deputy Title IX Coordinator.
Reggie Hill was named associate vice chancellor for strategic enrollment in May.
He leads the Office of Admissions and the Office of the Registrar while overseeing the implementation of UMSL’s first-ever strategic enrollment plan to ensure the university’s long-term sustainability through enrollment and retention growth.
Roxanne Vandermause was confirmed as the dean of the College of Nursing in July after serving as interim dean for the previous
18 months. She is focusing on enhancing already strong relationships with health care community partners and increasing enrollment so that the college can continue to produce superiorly prepared nurses and help fill the state’s nursing shortage.
NSIGHT into Diversity magazine recognized the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ commitment to promoting inclusive excellence and building a stronger St. Louis in July by awarding the Inspiring Programs in STEM Award to two I
UMSL programs – Eyes on Diversity and
Collaborative Laboratory Internships and
Mentoring Blueprint.
The award recognizes initiatives that encourage the entry of women and underrepresented students into STEM fields, and both programs are aimed at area high school students.
“It was definitely a nice surprise,” says Brittany
Wright, an assistant clinical professor and coordinator of diversity, equity and inclusion for the College of Optometry.
She helped relaunch Eyes on Diversity this summer after conversations about the need to increase representation in the profession.
TWO NEW DEGREES AIM TO OFFER UMSL STUDENTS SUPERIOR JOB PREPARATION The University of Missouri–St. Louis continues to expand its degree offerings to address its students’ ever-changing needs and aspirations. This summer, the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development approved two such offerings. The BS in Data Science and Analysis will help students get the knowledge and skills they need to understand and analyze data. The interdisciplinary degree includes emphasis areas in biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, social science and supply chain analytics. The MS in Applied Behavior Analysis, housed in the College of Education, addresses the growing demand for professionals trained in applied behavior analysis – a set of principles that serves as a basis for studying and managing behaviors through individualized interventions. Both degrees are aimed at providing superior workforce preparation for UMSL students – something employers already seem to be keen to. “It’s not a problem for students to get jobs – the jobs that they want,” ABA Graduate Program Director and Assistant Professor Andresa De Souza says. It’s run collaboratively with the Office of Precollegiate Services and sponsored by VSP Global. “Through this program, we want students to realize there are many options in the health care field,” Wright says. “We want students to see all that optometry can offer, beyond prescribing glasses. The different specialties and modes of practice provide a fun, diverse career option. The other part is giving them the tools and resources and connecting them with people that are here to support and help them achieve their goals.” E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor in Zoological Studies Patricia Parker is of a similar mind. She launched CLIMB in 2015 in conjunction with the Jennings School District. Even more than the short-term benefits of spending time side by side with researchers and graduate researchers, the high school students that take part benefit from the exposure to new possibilities. “Every time we get a recognition like this, it validates our efforts that we’ve made to meet this need,” Parker says. “We’re really very proud of that, especially when you are recognized in this way, by an organization that is not local. To get this kind of recognition more broadly, that means an awful lot.”
L
By Ben Westhoff aint cans, sneakers and recording equipment saturate Brock Seals’ studio in the Grove. On a top shelf sits a Lego action figure he designed of himself. The scene feels like controlled chaos, a merging of artistic styles befitting a man who works across mediums. The 2019 University of Missouri–St. Louis Department of Art and Design graduate is in full creative swing, no longer working a day job but instead supporting himself painting canvases, performing hip-hop and fashioning custom cleats for sports stars, such as Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader. Both book smart and street smart, Seals draws on a wide range of influences, from pop culture to ancient philosophy. Today wearing thin blond braids, a vintage KISS T-shirt, camo pants and sneakers running the color gamut, he’s a walking visual statement who pushes boundaries. Having painted “REPARATIONS” in huge letters on the street by City Hall – as well as created roller skates that look like ice cream cones – his art is both political and commercially viable. “It involves a lot of reflecting on who I am, being from St. Louis and being Black, and my culture,” he says. He’s succeeding on his own terms in the worlds of art and activism, in the process creating a body of work both unique and inspiring. At age 28, his list of accomplishments grows weekly. He has presented at Art Basel in Miami; organized a celebrated Mad Art Gallery event, Art, Mimosas and Pancakes; and recently recorded a critically regarded album called “The Artivist.” To call his ascent unlikely is an understatement. Coming from a hardscrabble North St. Louis County upbringing, Seals was raised without art-world role models. During part of Seals’ childhood his father was imprisoned, and his mother has long worked in food service. “My mom did a good job providing for me, so I didn’t have to worry – so I could dream,” he said. “I always knew that I was different.” His ascent to local avant-garde leader began at Jennings High School, when he and two friends produced a T-shirt line called Hello Tomorrow, a graphic-heavy lifestyle brand.
PArtist Brock Seals’ background fuels his ascent “In every St. Louis high school, people had it,” Seals recalls. He pursued fashion on scholarship at Columbia College Chicago but dropped out and returned home feeling like he’d failed. He learned to paint at St. Louis Community College - Florissant Valley and then enrolled at UMSL, where his mentors included Phil Robinson, associate professor of art, and Michael Behle, associate teaching professor of art. “They offered resources and guidance and helped me bring my crazy ideas to life,” Seals says, adding that he’s especially thankful to Behle for teaching him the business of art, including how to get work into galleries. “He showed us all the possibilities. We took a trip to New York my senior year and saw Warhols and Basquiats.” Before long, Seals began exhibiting paintings at venues, including St. Louis’ Contemporary Art Museum, and he’s now well-known on the local scene. A February 2021 St. Louis Magazine profile gushed about his “colorful, geometric style rooted in both Black traditions and postmodern aesthetics.”
use my art as my voice.”
–Brock Seals
Meanwhile, he’s earning real money designing custom sneakers for his 10,000 Instagram followers. He also creates pieces for hip-hop stars and professional sports teams, including the Los Angeles Rams. For the Cardinals’ African American Heritage Night at Busch Stadium in September, he designed a special ballcap, an impressionistic spin on the team’s traditional red and white, of which 30,000 were set to be distributed. His background growing up in an area of concentrated poverty informs his creations. He says Michael Brown’s 2014 killing in Ferguson by a white police officer inspired him to go harder in his craft, to put in more hours than ever. “Mike’s killing led me to take my painting more serious because I realized that it could all be taken at any moment,” he says. “I learned how I could use my art as my voice.” His protest work from a June 20, 2020, block party next to City Hall has become legend. In conjunction with the Black business network For the Culture STL, he painted the word “REPARATIONS” in giant yellow letters on Market Street, as a group of supporters locked arms in a circle, so police couldn’t disrupt him. The goal was to raise awareness about the issue, locally and nationally, and though the letters were soon scrubbed off, their impact continues to reverberate.
“That protest is still being talked about to this day,” he says. As Seals’ career has progressed, he’s become increasingly comfortable in his skin, shifting away from popular styles and into his own lane. His latest rap album, recorded at his Grove studio, often sounds more like jazz than contemporary hip-hop, while his videos eschew genre tropes in favor of his unique dance moves and wildly ornate, selfdesigned jackets and shirts. His advice for the sartorially challenged? “Wear what you like. Take risks! That’s how you develop your style,” he says. The same wisdom informs Seals’ art, which grows increasingly impactful the more he disregards the rules.
WORKING
FOR AN EDUCATION
UMSL STUDENTS’ TALES OF PERSEVERANCE, SUPPORT, SACRIFICE AND SUCCESS
– Staci Shelton
By Jessica Rogen
EDUCATION SHOULD BE FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS IT – and that’s how it is at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. As the only public research university within the St. Louis metropolitan area, UMSL serves all willing to work for their educations, while providing the support and services necessary to make that happen. UMSL students often balance multiple responsibilities – as parents, caretakers, employees, athletes, reservists – while striving for a college degree to kickstart careers and better lives, families and communities. Regardless of whether they come straight from high school or transfer in, UMSL students balance seemingly impossibe loads on their paths to earn degrees. Here are four of their stories.
> > > > > >>>> Staci Shelton, Wells Fargo business liaison consultant
Since enrolling at UMSL, Staci Shelton has earned a BA in communications and a business minor in 2020, achieved four promotions at Wells Fargo and bought a house. But Shelton didn’t have an easy path to those triumphs. She’d enrolled in college after high school, but left after getting caught up in a party scene. She served a short stint in the military, struggling afterward until renewing her faith and her involvement with the House of Deliverance Church.
Things changed when Shelton started volunteering with The Mission Continues, a nonprofit benefiting veterans, and helping with Wells Fargo’s Susan G. Komen efforts. That led to a job with the financial services company. “God provided me the means to afford college by providing a job,” says Shelton, whose tuition was covered through employer reimbursement.
She earned an associate degree at St. Louis Community College – Forest Park and transferred to UMSL.
“I kept saying to myself, ‘You’ve got to finish something,’” Shelton says. “It was daunting. But it was encouraging because UMSL had a program for working adults, where you see people like you working full-time and trying to finish college. In all of my classes, we were talking about, ‘Oh, I just left my job. I’m so tired. But let’s get this thing done.’” That camaraderie alongside support from UMSL Career Services, Assistant Teaching Professor Ryan Krull and Pastor Eric Battle helped Shelton power through days that started at 4:30 a.m. and ended studying into the early morning after evening classes. Her key was reaching out and never giving up. Shelton wasn’t shy about asking for help in reviewing her resume, doing mock interviews or for extensions when work sent her to India. There were times when she ran out of tuition money before reimbursement came in, but her instructors told her to come to class, and they’d figure it out together. “People were more than willing to help as soon as I opened my mouth and said I needed it,” she says. “Having teachers and my church family that went the extra mile encouraged me not to give up.”
> > > > > >>>> Lawrence Brazil, accounting student and guard
For Lawrence Brazil, getting though every week requires a plan. After practice every Monday, the accounting major and guard for the men’s basketball team sits down with Assistant Director of Athletics for Academics Lindsay Pickering to schedule out the next two weeks. “Whatever she puts that day, I try to do the day before,” Brazil says. That’s necessary since Brazil maintains a 3.89 GPA while juggling the intense time requirements of basketball alongside a job at Academy Sports – where he works full-time during the summer and part-time in the school year to cover non-school expenses. “It took a lot of nights staying up late,” says Brazil, a two-time academic all-conference player. “When I first came to UMSL and practices started and workouts started, it was pretty tough. I was really frustrated, and I broke down once or twice because everything was coming so fast toward me. I didn’t know how to control it. I sat down with one of my coaches, Scott Gauthier, and he was like, ‘Everything’s going to be fine. Just continue to get better at something every day.’ “No matter what it is – if it’s emailing a teacher, if it’s staying up really late to do homework, or asking my professors or Lindsay questions – I will do what’s necessary in order for me to have a better grade.” Brazil has loved basketball and played competitively since he was a kid. Though the game led him to UMSL on a full-ride scholarship, it was touring the College of Business Administration and hearing about its nearly 100% job placement that clinched his choice.
That’s because he holds both the possibilities of playing professionally and becoming a certified CPA and earning a doctorate dear – which is why he works so hard at both.
“When I was younger, I didn’t take school as seriously,” Brazil says. “I had a coach in high school who would always say, ‘Good grades are the key to success.’ After I heard that, I pushed myself hard, studying wise. It was a wakeup call for me. I want to get a job. I want to live a successful life – no matter if it’s in sports or if it’s not in sports.”
“Oh, my God. Look at this.We're making it work."–Morgan Heitert ‘JUST A LOT OF HARD WORK’
> > > > > >>>> Morgan Heitert, Mercy Hospital South neurology nurse
Morgan Heitert hadn’t planned on college. But getting pregnant at 18 changed things. “I was a horrible high school student,” Heitert says. “After I had Ava, I knew I had to better myself, go get an education, make money for my daughter.” Inspired by her delivery nurse, Heitert thought back to her childhood fascination with hospitals and realized she wanted to become a nurse. She enrolled at St. Louis Community College – Meramec, then transferred to UMSL, drawn by the College of Nursing. She balanced school, raising Ava and work, first as a server, then at the UMSL University Child Development Center and as a student nurse tech. “Having a little baby, studying and going to work or to school was difficult, but I found so many ways that made it easier,” she said. “Nursing school was something I looked forward to every day, and I thought I was finally making a difference in my life and my daughter’s life. It gave me a sense of confidence and pride.” At orientation, Heitert discovered the Triton Student Parent Success resources and the Childcare Assistance Fund. That, alongside her parents, grandparents and daughter’s father helped Heitert care for Ava and balance her other responsibilities. Finding time to study was the hardest part. Heitert would stay up till 2 a.m. or wake up early. Sometimes, she’d bring Ava to class or to lab during the weekends.
“I’d bring her coloring books, and I would study for a few hours in the lab,” Heitert says. “I remember being like, ‘Oh, my God. Look at this. We’re making it work.’”
Being accepted to nursing clinicals was one of her happiest moments. But that was nothing compared to graduating and getting hired full-time. “It was amazing,” Heitert says. “It was the best feeling in the world to be done. I never thought I could be a nurse, and to find out that I had that in me was so rewarding. For anyone who has kids or wants a career, you can 100% do it. UMSL is really good at helping you succeed, no matter what. It’s just a lot of hard work.”
> > > > > >>>> Alexander Frost, political science student
When Alexander Frost returned to school, he supported his education through a series of temp, factory and warehouse jobs. “I hated these jobs so much. They were brutal, boring and soul sucking,” he says. “I didn’t have a car at the time, and I was riding a bus two-and-a-half hours one way, five days a week. I would remind myself, ‘Just do it.’ It’s going come out the other side a lot better.”
Frost wrote the Nike slogan on a whiteboard in his apartment, glancing at it throughout his studies at UMSL. It reminded him not to procrastinate and to keep giving education his all. Those efforts paid off for Frost, who is poised to finish his bachelor’s in political science this December. He’s made almost straight A’s – one A- – during his second go-round at earning an undergraduate degree. After two years of college following high school, Frost dropped out and started working for a recycling company as a scrap buyer and account manager. When the company folded, Frost realized he wanted to finish his degree. “I had student loan debt, and I didn’t have anything to show for that debt,” he says, explaining how he went on to enroll at St. Louis Community College, earned his associate degree, then transferred to UMSL.
He resumed studies in political science. Frost immediately found himself impressed by the professors in the Department of Political Science, especially Assistant Professor Anita Manion. “She’s one of the most effective teachers I’ve ever had,” Frost says. Those classes have helped him improve his argumentative writing skills, which Frost believes will be key for his future aspirations – law school and consumer advocacy. He’s balanced full-time school with a job at Lee BioSolutions. As a Pell-eligible student, Frost was able to get scholarships and grants to help out with costs but still had to take out loans. When he leaves UMSL, he’ll have a definitive path toward a strong career. “This right now, today, is what I was dreaming about,” Frost says. “Being about to get my degree after all these years, being able to move forward to that next step – I’m so excited to see what comes next.”
SUCCESS IN SIX University of Missouri–St. Louis alumni have found success within six months of graduation through employment, further education, service, entrepreneurship and more. MONTHS Note: Data spans academic years 15-16, 16-17, 17-18, 18-19 and 19-20, and it was compiled by UMSL Career Services through an annual survey.
A Powerful partnership
A collaboration between UMSL and Ameren benefits St. Louis, industry
By David Morrison
From left: UMSL Supply Chain and Analytics Professor and Department Chair Haitao Li, Ameren Senior Sourcing Specialist Logan Ward and Assistant Teaching Professor Mitch Millstein. WHEN A TRANSFORMER goes down, electric company customers affected by the outage don’t care how the replacement transformer gets where it needs to go in order to restore their power. They just care that it gets there. Quickly. St. Louis-based power company Ameren has a Supply Chain Transformation Initiative in place that’s aimed at determining the best, most efficient and cost-effective ways to distribute materials through its network when a need arises. In this effort, Ameren has enlisted the assistance of University of Missouri–St. Louis researchers to find possible solutions. UMSL Supply Chain and Analytics Professor and Department Chair Haitao Li and Assistant Teaching Professor Mitch Millstein have worked with Ameren to develop optimization models and propose ways in which the company can streamline its massive equipment warehousing and shipping network. “Supply chain and analytics is a field driven by real-world practice,” Li said. “The past couple of years during the midst of the pandemic have shown how important logistics and supply chain is to people’s everyday lives. This is a perfect project. It provides an avenue for our department, faculty and students to contribute to a local business in St. Louis, helps Ameren to address their business needs and supports our faculty research as well as our PhD program.” Ameren has nearly 100 locations throughout its network that contain thousands of items classified into nearly 40 product categories, all of them crucial to the continued operation of Ameren’s power supply for millions of customers.
The company employs a “hub-and-spoke” network, with two central distribution centers and numerous operating centers from which it disseminates needed materials across its 64,000-square mile service territory in Missouri and Illinois.
Logan Ward, a supply chain specialist in Ameren’s Transformation team, has brought his valuable expertise to the UMSL team on this project for the past year and a half. The UMSL team also included PhD student Juan Zhang, who graduated in May and is now an assistant professor of management and marketing at the University of WisconsinEau Claire. and methodology – as well as the domain of supply chain and logistics,” Li said. “There is no doubt that our academic field always welcomes real-world, relevant research using real data and working with real companies. In a collaborative project like this, it is important for us to deliver impactful research that goes beyond the goal of publishing in scholarly journals.” The first phase of the project, with Millstein and Li as the lead researchers, was to identify six figures’ worth of potential cost savings for Ameren in network improvements: where materials such as poles, transformers and other hardware are stored and how they are delivered. Phase 2, headed by Li and Zhang, involves coping with the supply-side risks and uncertainty to Ameren’s supply network. That includes modeling the uncertain lead times and the possible aftereffects of natural disasters, such as tornadoes or an earthquake, on the supply network. “We wanted to partner with UMSL to build a model of our current environment and then optimize that,” Ward said. “They’ve shown us the most efficient way to deliver materials throughout our network to our operating centers, as well as some other benefits like business continuity planning and giving us a playbook if certain situations were to arise. We’ve had a lot of very smart people with business know-how at Ameren, but we’ve rarely been able to have this level of data-driven discussions. It has allowed us to have better data-driven decision support around our choices for potential improvements, which has been incredibly helpful.”
The collaborative research project is just another example of the mutually beneficial relationship that UMSL and Ameren share. Ameren holds a seat on the UMSL Department of Supply Chain and Analytics advisory board, participates in mentorship opportunities for department students and provides real-world projects for students to take on in coursework. Ameren employees are also frequent guest speakers in class sessions and participants in student supply chain club events.
UMSL, in turn, provides the academic backing and research for projects such as the Supply Chain Transformation Initiative and produces work-ready graduates that have entered Ameren’s supply chain operations. Millstein said UMSL has appreciated the support of Ameren Chief Procurement Officer Pardeep Gill, former Director of Supply Chain Operations Ty Lindhorst – who has since moved to a new position – and current department advisory board member and Ameren Director of Supplier Diversity Byron Witherspoon throughout this project. “You can go right down the line of what we look for in an engaged industry partner to make sure our students are learning what they should be learning, interacting with industry, knowing what the work environment looks like and doing research we can publish, and that’s Ameren,” Millstein said. “They are very invested in our department, and they’re getting the payoff in terms of research output and students they’re hiring.”
BUILDING COMMUNITY
THROUGH LANGUAGE:
Japanese flourishes at UMSL
By Burk Krohe
Molly Motes stands in the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in Kyoto, Japan, during late December in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Molly Motes)
Molly Motes had a penchant for international music as a preteen – German, French, anything she could find online. When she was 11, she stumbled across a few Japanese pop songs.
Despite not understanding a word of it, she was captivated. With the click of a mouse, she opened a gateway to a new culture and a lifelong passion. “It introduced me to the world of Japanese culture and language,” Motes says. “From there, I found things like manga, anime, but the whole time I was thinking, ‘I really want to try learning this.’” It’s a familiar story. Many University of Missouri–St. Louis students become acquainted with Japan through cultural exports, and those interests quickly evolve into a love of Japanese culture, history and language. Over the past decade, many have found a community of likeminded and equally enthusiastic scholars in the Department of Language and Cultural Studies, which began offering a bachelor’s in Japanese in 2010. Since that time, the program has grown considerably, adding faculty members, offering study abroad programs and exchanges and fostering an active presence on campus through the Japan-America Student Association or JASA. Many graduates have also gone on to participate in the prestigious and competitive Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Beth Eckelkamp, vice provost for student success and academic innovation, was instrumental in launching the program. Her parents were missionaries, who raised her on Japan’s northernmost island Hokkaido. Eckelkamp’s bilingual background and an MA in Asian studies put her in an advantageous position to lead a new Japanese program at UMSL in 2000. By that time, Japan’s cultural impact on the U.S. was evident and interest in learning Japanese soared. In its early days, the program offered lowerlevel undergraduate courses and a minor. By 2010, there was enough demand and institutional support to create a major. Amy Michael, associate teaching professor, was the first addition to the faculty, which continued to grow in the ensuing years. Laura Miller, the Eiichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese Studies and professor of history, helped the program take an important step forward by helping secure a Japan Foundation grant, tapping into her experience as a member of the advisory committee. That funded an additional faculty member – Associate Teaching Professor Keiko Ueda.
“It is truly significant that UMSL received one of these highly competitive grants,” Miller says. “It demonstrated that others believed in the potential of our Japanese language program.” Ueda advanced the curriculum and paved the way for more progress. “She really developed our reading classes, and she’s an amazing, amazing teacher,” Michael says. “Then, three years ago, we were able to add Hiroko Yoshii. Now that we have Hiroko on the team, we’ve been able to even better develop the final year of classes for the majors.” High-quality instructors have been a boon to the Japanese language program’s success, but the soul of the program lies in cohort after cohort of dedicated students.
Like Motes, senior Danielle Bischoff’s path to learning Japanese began with pop culture. At a young age, Bischoff saw Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated film, “Princess Mononoke,” which led to an interest in Pokémon. That soon turned into YouTube searches for subtitled Japanese anime. Spicy miso ramen, meanwhile, was the entry point for junior Michael Hendricks.
The three, like many of their classmates, also share an innate fascination with languages and the impulse to piece together linguistic puzzles. A middle school French class awakened Bischoff’s interest in languages, while Hendricks previously took stabs at learning French, German, Russian and Spanish. Bischoff and Motes both tried to teach themselves Japanese. “Nobody comes to it thinking it’s going to be easy,” Michael says. “Everyone knows Japanese is a challenging language for English speakers to learn. They come in with a semi-realistic understanding of what they’re getting themselves into. I think the community is the first thing that helps them stick with it, being around other students who share that curiosity and who know they need to work hard to keep walking down this path.” The experience quickly forges strong bonds and a group identity that Miller likens to an academic guild. Motes, now a senior and president of JASA, experienced the phenomenon in her very first class. “I found that everyone else in class with me had that same level of passion,” she says. “We all immediately made a group chat, and we were messaging each other. We all had some previous interest in Japanese culture, language, music, anime – something that brought us all onto this common ground where we instantly became friends, and we stayed friends throughout the program.” Hendricks adds that older students were always willing to provide guidance when he began the program. That dynamic is reminiscent of the concept of senpai and kōhai. “In Japanese culture, older people are supposed to take care of the young, and the young people eventually take care of the younger,” Yoshii explains. “A pay it forward system, so eventually everyone contributes to the society.” Students enrich their understanding of Japanese culture and history through Miller’s courses, which cover everything from Japanese art history to religion; JASA cultural events such as calligraphy lessons and Rakugo storytelling; and most of all, study abroad opportunities. In the past, students have taken part in semester-long or yearlong exchanges with institutions such as Kansai
University, Rikkyo University and Toyo University. However, the most popular trip is the Japan Study Tour – a two-week summer session during which students visit businesses and cultural sites in Nagano, Nikko and Tokyo with faculty members. “I try to help students maximize their opportunity to use Japanese,” Ueda says. “Sometimes, before we go to a restaurant together, I ask them to make an order for me. I might go to the restroom so when the server comes, they don’t try to talk to me. “When they get to communicate with Japanese people, they seem so happy. I think seeing their excitement is the best part.” Michael says students often come back with a clearer idea of how they intend to use their degrees in the future. “ Community is the first thing that helps them stick with it, being around other students who share that curiosity and who know they need to work hard to keep walking down this path.” –Amy Michael Several alumni have gone on to work for Japanese companies in the U.S. such as Mitsubishi Motors and Nidec Motor Company, where their language skills and cultural knowledge make them valuable intermediaries. Others aspire to work in the billion-dollar video game industry or for Japanese media properties. Teaching English in Japan, through the JET program or otherwise, and translating are other popular options. Bischoff is considering the JET program, and Hendricks is still weighing his options. Motes, who expects to graduate in December, is applying to master’s programs in Japan. “I ended up falling in love with the idea of teaching English in Japan,” she says. “I’ve started working toward the goal of moving to Japan, ideally Tokyo, but anywhere, and teaching English as my career.”
Top left: Assistant Teaching Professor Hiroko Yoshii holds up calligraphy, , meaning “appreciation of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” which is often applied to meeting new people. Bottom left: Yoshii leads students in a Japanese calligraphy lesson. Top right: Molly Motes visits the Kaminarimon, the thunder gate, in Asakusa, Tokyo, in January 2021. (Photo courtesy of Molly Motes) Bottom left: Every Wednesday during the school year, the Japan-American Student Association hosts a Japanese-English language exchange table in the Pilot House in the UMSL Millennium Student Center. Attendees practice both languages, play games and make connections.
he sun had only recently peaked over the horizon, and the campus lay quiet as members of the University of Missouri–St. Louis cross country team ran together for the first time this August. Sophomore Sean Ede and his teammates chatted easily, no one around to interrupt them, as they moved through the humid morning air and across the rolling terrain a week before the start of the fall semester.
They had to work not to set too brisk a pace.
“We could feel the energy,” Ede says. “I had to warn everyone before we started running.
I said, ‘I don’t want this to turn into some energy-fueled run where we’re all running 6:30s for 7 miles for no reason. We’ve got to stay constant. We’re going to have workouts this week. We’ve got to make sure we’re not going crazy.’”
The excitement was understandable as they kicked off training for the program’s first full season of competition after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their inaugural year, limiting them to only two races amid quarantines and cancellations.
It was not the debut Coach Steve
Picucci ever envisioned, and he’d had plenty of time to dream about it since being hired in September 2019 to relaunch a men’s team that had been dormant since 1983 and establish a women’s cross country team.
COUNTRY
Kennedy Moore (right) pushes the pace during a practice led by Coach Steve Picucci (left).
Picucci brought a track record of success, most recently at Division I Morehead State, where he guided the men’s cross country team to two runner-up finishes and a third-place showing in the Ohio Valley Conference over the previous five seasons. He and his wife, retired elite marathoner Tina Muir of Great Britain, saw St. Louis as a good place to raise their family, and Picucci welcomed the opportunity to return to the Division II level, where he’d gotten his coaching start at his alma mater, Ferris State. “At the Division II level, it’s more of an even playing field than in Division I, and there’s more focus on the student part of student-athlete,” Picucci says. “These kids need to leave here ready to join the workforce or get a master’s. They need to be ready for that next phase. I like being able to help kids mature and prepare for life after college.” Picucci used the year he was on staff but before he had any runners as an opportunity to meet high school coaches across the region and spread the word about UMSL’s fledgling program while slowly assembling the men’s and women’s rosters. “Every week, I was going to two or three cross country meets, getting out and meeting coaches and watching kids race and talking to them,” he says. “I emailed every coach in Illinois and Missouri two or three times throughout that fall and said, ‘Hey, if you don’t have anybody now, keep us in mind for the future.’” Benjamin VandenBrink remembers Picucci being the only college coach on hand to scout him when he ran in an indoor track meet in Columbia, Missouri, during the winter of his senior year. “I actually did not run great that day, but he was able to look past that,” says VandenBrink, who graduated from Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience in south St. Louis. “We had a conversation after the race. We talked about what it was going to be like to be on the team. It was encouraging to see somebody show interest.” VandenBrink paid a visit to UMSL and toured the campus and athletic facilities, and he decided to join Picucci’s initial recruiting class. The university and its academic programs have been an asset for Picucci in attracting talent. VandenBrink was drawn to the strong reputation of the College of Business Administration. Ede, a graduate of Mascoutah High School in Illinois, is studying exercise science with the hope of getting into college coaching. Multiple members of both the men’s and women’s teams are part of the Pierre Laclede Honors College, taking advantage of some of its scholarship opportunities and benefitting from its smaller class sizes.
Women’s runner Kennedy Moore, who grew up near the
UMSL campus and graduated from Parkway Central
High School, is picking between psychology or another STEM field for her major. Like so many others in the program, she was grateful for the chance to continue her athletic pursuits.
“I liked the idea of starting from the bottom and building something or helping the “I thought it was an awesome opportunity,” school build she says. “I liked the idea of starting from the bottom and building something or something. helping the school build something. I
I thought it thought it was really awesome UMSL was creating this team.” was really The runners on the cross country teams awesome UMSL are also competing on the track in the was creating winter and spring, and as the programs get more established, Picucci will look to this team.” recruit more sprinters and field athletes – Kennedy Moore, to compete during those seasons. women's cross country But for now, the focus remains on distance running. Benjamin VandenBrink (left) and Despite the ups and downs of Jacob Warner lead the Tritons to a fourth place finish in the Walt the 2020-21 academic year, the Crawford Panther Open, hosted Tritons had a chance to get by Eastern Illinois in Charleston, acclimated to campus, college Illinois, in September. coursework and training for the longer college distances. They also got their first taste of competition, which served them well this fall when – bolstered by a second class of recruits – they completed a full schedule with some notable successes. Sophomore Jacob Warner, a Mississippi State transfer, won the H.W. Wright Classic at Millikin University, took second at the Border War XC Championship and earned all-conference honors with a 16th-place finish at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship. Warner helped the men place second in the H.W. Wright Classic, and they finished 11th in the conference championship. On the women’s side, freshman Lily Wagemann showed off her promising future with 16th-place finishes in the H.W. Wright Classic and the Border War XC Championship, and she led the team to a 12th-place finish in the GLVC Championship. “Every year, we want to build on something that we did the year before,” Ede says. “Maybe a few years from now, we’ll be bringing a conference championship or something crazy to UMSL. That’d be really, really good.”
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