Update:
Dean Vaught affirms commitment to tenured faculty. P. 7A
Sports:
A&E:
Ramos brings versatility to UMKC softball season. P. 6A
‘Street Scene’ depicts jazz culture and honest living. P. 5A
UNIVERSITY NEWS UMKC’s Independent Student Newspaper
Volume 81, Issue 24
Tuesday March 18, 2014
Fundraiser benefits Kansas City’s Medicine Cabinet
Kate Baxendale Managing Editor
Kappa Epsilon fraternity hosted its second annual Rx Factor, a fundraiser talent show featuring contestants from the Schools of Pharmacy, Dentistry, Nursing and Medicine. Kappa Epsilon is a national professional pharmacy fraternity. Caroline Zeller of the School of Dentistry was named Miss Rx Factor and Tim (Tri) Tran of the School of Nursing and Health Studies was named Mr. Rx Factor. Mr. and Miss Rx Factor split 25 percent of the proceeds to donate to charities of their choice. Zeller chose to donate her portion to JayDoc Free Clinic, a student-run program that provides non-emergency medical care to uninsured and underinsured patients in Kansas City. Tran said he will donate his portion to a charity he feels needs it the most. “I decided to participate in this year’s Rx Factor because it sounded like a fun event for a great cause,” Tran said. “I thought I may be able to contribute to a greater cause with my charisma and talents and wanted to show the healthcare school just who I am.” The remaining 75 percent of the funds will go to Kansas City’s Medicine Cabinet, a program that provides immediate, shortterm emergency healthcare for underprivileged patients in the metropolitan area. Tickets for the talent show were $10 and contestants paid a $25 participation fee. “The whole idea behind this is twofold: one is to raise money for a fantastic cause, the KC Medicine
Cabinet,” said Maggie Bruce, who dressing up as a parrot and singing such as, “When I say ‘R’ you say organized Rx Factor. “And two is to in a human-sized cage in front of ‘N.’ When I say ‘Pharm’ you say ‘D.’ get all the schools working together as many people as possible,” Zeller When I say ‘floss’ you say ‘daily.’” because we all have different said. “My favorite part was looking Katelyn Lutz from the School of missions that we’re doing but really out in the audience and seeing my Pharmacy performed a tap dance it’s to better our patients’ lives and biggest fans: my parents. Everyone in a white flapper-style dress. to make sure they’re taken care of …” I met during the experience was Tran played the ukulele and sang a Bruce said mash up of “Over Kansas City’s the Rainbow” Medicine Cabinet by Israel was a perfect Kamakawiwo’ole choice this year and “I’m Yours” because it benefits by Jason Mraz. patients from all Maggie Light four branches from the School on Hospital of Nursing and Hill: dentistry, Health Studies pharmacy, nursing performed “Ice Ice and medicine. Baby” by Vanilla The show was Ice. a Miss AmericaViraj Patel style competition from the School that featured of Pharmacy scrubs modeling, painted himself talent, a mystery blue and danced round and a to “Friend Like question portion. Me” from Disney’s Each of the eight “Aladdin.” Patel contestants, four called himself men and four the genie in a women, modeled medicine bottle. creatively altered Tiffany Stewart scrubs in the first from the School round. of Pharmacy sang Round two a lullaby to her was talent, in baby while sitting which contestants Rx Factor donates 75 percent of funds earned to Kansas City’s in a rocking Courtesy // UMKC chair, showed off Medicine Cabinet. and their special skills. Zeller sang a absolutely wonderful and I’m so Patrick Badami from the School of humorous parody of “Let It Go” glad I was able to be a part of it.” Pharmacy did a rap. from Disney’s “Frozen.” She was Giovanni Brown from the School Emcees Aaron Blevins and Jenny dressed as a parrot and sang a of Pharmacy did a rendition of Cochran kept the night moving modified version of the song while Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ But a G Thang” with introductions to each round confined in a large bird cage. entitled “Nuthin’ But a Pharm and medical-related jokes. “I’d jump at any opportunity Thang.” Brown got the audience The mystery round was “Chubby to raise money for JayDoc while to participate in a series of chants Bunny,” in which the contestants
Market yourself with LinkedIn
Sam Littlefield Staff Writer
At UMKC, students who have polished their resume and have made a list of professional references may feel they are fully prepared for the job hunt. But are they? What could be missing? Some may say it’s an online profile on LinkedIn. “I believe LinkedIn is necessary in the job environment we are in today,” said senior business administration major Kate Sanders. LinkedIn has many benefits to offer, such as the ability to “network with other professionals in a safe environment, and have a digital resume floating around at all times,” Sanders said.
Yet some, like senior Connor Coday, lack faith in LinkedIn. “LinkedIn appears to be a very necessary application for employers,” Coday said, “though I haven’t seen any benefits of LinkedIn through my job application process.” Alumnus Max Seipple, an audience analyst for MAGNAGLOBAL, sees other benefits to using LinkedIn. “I wouldn’t say it is necessary,” Seipple said, “but it is an important piece of a larger puzzle.” Part of that piece Seipple referred to is the ability to network with other professionals. “It’s another touch point, another point of contact in which you and colleagues within the same field can
connect,” Seipple said. According to its website, LinkedIn is, “the world’s largest professional network,” with currently 250 million users. Facebook still trumps LinkedIn in the social networking realm, boasting more than one billion users worldwide. While Facebook may be a great place to connect with friends and family, LinkedIn gives you the ability to market yourself and your talents to potential employers. LinkedIn’s differs from Facebook in that it focuses on professional networking. “LinkedIn is an essential marketing tool for just about anyone,” said Gene Brown, professor of marketing. “Not only can you network online with
LinkedIn, you can use it as a targetmarketing tool while searching for groups, companies and influencers.” Brown encourages all his students to create and maintain a profile on LinkedIn. He believes it could help students better market themselves to employers. While professors like Brown may be in favor of LinkedIn, the question to ask is, ‘are employers using LinkedIn to find new hires?’ Lori Funk, assistant branch manager at Arvest Bank, would say the answer is yes because her husband landed a job thanks to LinkedIn. “My husband got a call from a bank recruiter last week who had found him on LinkedIn,” Funk said. Although Funk said her bank
had to put jumbo marshmallows in their mouths and say “chubby bunny.” The contestants added another marshmallow after each round until they could no longer keep the marshmallows in their mouths. Patel won the competition, stuffing approximately 20 marshmallows in his mouth. In the final round, the contestants were asked two questions: one from the three judges and one that was the same question for each contestant. The first questions were related to the medical field and the second question prompted contestants to choose which medical device they would be and why. After each round, the audience voted on their cell phones in a live poll for their favorite contestant. The judges’ votes counted for 75 percent of the results and the audience’s votes counted for 25 percent of the results. The judges were Dr. David Cohen, assistant professor at the School of Dentistry; Dr. Ann Cary, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies; and Dr. Patricia Marken, associate dean for Student Affairs and professor at the School of Pharmacy. The judges helped plan the events for the talent show. “Unfortunately [the School of] Medicine couldn’t make it tonight but the show goes on and we hope that they’ll be here next year,” Bruce said. “Working with dentistry and pharmacy and nursing is a great opportunity. We can all work together now before we enter the professional health field. We can work better and be better for our patients.” kbaxendale@unews.com
doesn’t use LinkedIn as a way of finding new employees, she would use it if given the opportunity. Funk explained that company recruiters often use LinkedIn to find potential employees looking for a job in their relevant fields. “There are other companies that will view a LinkedIn profile before interviewing,” Funk said. LinkedIn may not get you your next job, but the possibility exists. While for some, it’s just a great way to connect with colleagues. For those who believe it’s not what one knows, but rather who one knows, LinkedIn could be what they’re looking for in preparation for their next job search. slittlefield@unews.com