T H E M A G A Z I N E 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 SPRING 2007

UMSt.Louis Vocalist Brian Owens is

UM–St. Louis’ own
Man of Soul
New book of
short stories
by UM–St. Louis
author excerpted
Photo story
unveils new
residence hall
 Dear Readers,

This issue of UM St. Louis magazine is, more than anything, about
trying something new. It wasn’t an intentional theme, but rather
an observation of the final outcome.
Chancellor
Our cover story looks at the remarkable, young career of singing Thomas F. George

sensation Brian Owens. The cover represents our first solo portrait Vice Chancellor
for Advancement
of a current student at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. It’s
Tom Eschen 4 NewsBriefs
about time, eh?
Director of
Media, Creative 7 Student leads unique
Kedra Tolson’s piece on UM–St. Louis historian Minsoo Kang and his sorority for mothers
and Printing Services
book, “Of Tales and Enigmas,” includes the short story “The Well of Bob Samples
Dreams.” The article marks the first time we’ve excerpted a work of 8 Brian Owens is one
Editor
Tom Hockett magnetic musician
fiction by a faculty member in the magazine.
Photographer 11 UM–St. Louis faculty
And on page 21, you’ll find another first. A photo story. The words August Jennewein
earn national recognition
and photographs of August Jennewein will take you inside Oak Hall 18
Designer
and show you what it’s like to live at the $26 million student Sandy Morris 13 Chuck Smith, the patriarch
residence. of UM–St. Louis men’s basketball
Production
Cindy Bertram
Beyond the issue’s novelty, I hope these pages continue 16 Scholarships: How giving
to demonstrate the quality that increasingly defines the Printer a little bit, means a lot
Cenveo
University of Missouri–St. Louis.
Writers
18 Historian pens new book;
Jack Crosby, Jennifer Hatton, Short story excerpted
Ryan Heinz, Tom Hockett,
Tom Hockett August Jennewein, Bob Samples, 21 Photo story explores
Kedra Tolson, Linda Tracy
Editor new student residence
UM St. Louis magazine
One University Blvd. 26 Students create the book
414 Woods Hall ‘Bellerive’
St. Louis, MO 63121-4400
magazine@umsl.edu
http://www.umsl.edu/services 29 Patient simulator gives
/creative/pubs/ nursing students hands-on
(314) 516-5827
experience
21
30 Alumni & Friends
(On the cover)
UM–St. Louis music senior
The University of Missouri–St. Louis publishes UM St. Louis magazine for Brian Owens is making a 35 Alumni Notes
alumni and friends. The magazine highlights excellence at UM–St. Louis. name for himself in the
Circulation is 72,000, and the magazine is released twice a year. St. Louis music scene.
See Page 8 for the full story.

2
 UM St. Louis
NewsBriefs

Recent corporate giving to boost math, science education UM–St. Louis earns A for percentage of women tenure-track faculty

T
he University of Missouri–St. Louis is Other indicators used in the report are promotion
tops in Missouri when it comes to the to full professor, average salary for full-time faculty
university’s percentage of women faculty and employment status (full- and part-time).
who are tenure-track, according to a report UM–St. Louis also is above average in terms of the
released in October by the American employment status of women faculty. According to
Association of University Professors. the report, women make up 34 percent of the full-
“AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators time faculty population at doctoral institutions
2006” provides data on four measures of nationwide. At UM–St. Louis, 41 percent of full-time
In our daily work, we
support the efforts of those
gender equity for faculty at more than faculty are women.
seeking to improve the 1,400 colleges and universities across the Data for the report was pulled from the AAUP
quality of life worldwide. country. Among those measures is tenure Faculty Compensation Survey, with additional
With this contribution, status for full-time faculty. information on part-time faculty provided by
we seek to inspire others
The data shows that 58 percent of women the U.S. Department of Education.
to continue those quality-
full-time faculty at UM–St. Louis are tenure- The full report is available at http://www.aaup.org/
of-life improvements by
track, a higher percentage than any other AAUP/pubsres/research/geneq2006.
making education accessible
and exciting, leading to
public university in Missouri.
continued innovation in
the life-science and high-
technology markets we serve.
—Jai Nagarkatti
(in front) Jai Nagarkatti, president and chief executive officer of Sigma-Aldrich, with (from left) Kirk
Richter, UM–St. Louis alumnus and treasurer of Sigma-Aldrich; UM–St. Louis Chancellor Tom George;
Mike Hogan, chief financial officer and secretary of Sigma-Aldrich; and Charles Schmitz, dean of the
College of Education at UM–St. Louis

Nursing college caps 25 years

T
argeting math and science “The future competitiveness of our economy depends
education, three St. Louis-area on producing students who have critical technical skills

companies have made significant
investments in the region’s K-12
students and teachers by con-
tributing to the University of
Missouri–St. Louis.
Sigma-Aldrich, Boeing and MasterCard Worldwide
have all made gifts in the past six months to
support the university’s College of Education.
T
to fill the demands of our future work force,” he said.
MasterCard contributed a total of $1 million to seven
area organizations. At UM–St. Louis, the gift created
the MasterCard Mathematics in Gear Program. It will
provide professional development for more than 50
middle school math teachers in 33 partner schools.
“Our support for this program is a key highlight of
our new local corporate-giving initiative to advance
he College of Nursing at the University
of Missouri–St. Louis has come a long
way from its humble beginning as a
two-year baccalaureate completion
program for registered nurses that had
11 students in its first graduating class.
The spring 2007 semester brought an end
to the college’s yearlong 25th anniversary Juliann Sebastian

Sigma-Aldrich’s contribution of $150,000 is the
largest in the company’s history. It will help build
the college’s Science and Math Education Central.
The facility will be housed in Marillac Hall on South
Campus and will provide resources to area teachers,
including a science lab, updated computers, library
and rooftop observatory.
Boeing contributed $180,000. It too will support
the establishment of the Science and Math
Education Central.
Randy Maier, Boeing’s education relations manager,
said the company is invested in math and science
education in the region.
the teaching of math by underwriting professional
development for math teachers,” said Maria Palumbo,
who directs community support at MasterCard. “We
are keen to see how UM–St. Louis’ leadership steers
the evolution of the Mathematics in Gear program.”
UM–St. Louis Chancellor Tom George says St. Louis-area
corporations have been vital partners to the university
over the years.
“We rely heavily on the kindness of corporations in
St. Louis, and we value the relationships we’re building
with them,” he said. “Corporate gifts are essential to the
success of our students and faculty.”
celebration. It was a time for not only
celebration, but also one of reflection,
says Juliann Sebastian, dean of the college.
“The college has accomplished so much,” she said.
“We are grateful to Dean Emeritus Shirley Martin
and the wonderful faculty, staff, students and alumni
from our first 25 years for the impressive foundation
upon which we can build.”
Martin, who was the college’s founding dean, first
proposed creating the program in 1968, but it didn’t
win final approval until the 1979-80 academic year.
The first class enrolled in the fall of 1981.
Today, the College of Nursing at UM–St. Louis enrolls
nearly 750 students in a comprehensive program that
offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. And
student pass rates for nursing licensure exams are
consistently ranked among the highest in Missouri.
“We do a terrific job of preparing excellent nurses,”
Sebastian said. “Our programs address both the critical
shortages of clinical nurses and nursing faculty mem-
bers. The future holds many opportunities for our
college to expand the ways it helps improve the
health of people in the St. Louis area and beyond
through both education and research.”

4 UM St. Louis 5
NewsBriefs
UM–St. Louis historian named Fulbright Distinguished Chair
S
teven Rowan, professor of history
at the University of Missouri–
St. Louis, has been named to the
2007-08 Fulbright Distinguished
Chairs Program. He holds the
Fulbright-Karl Franzens University
of Graz Distinguished Chair in
Cultural Studies at the Karl-Franzens-
Universität Graz in Austria.
From March to June, Rowan is teaching courses
in history, German and American literature, the
American West and American religion.
“I am looking forward to this opportunity,”
Rowan said. “I think the experience will expand
my teaching scope, and I’ll have plenty of free-
dom to research. It’s great to have this kind of
experience.”
‘Man the Hunted’ nabs top book honor
D
onna Hart, adjunct associate
professor of anthropology at the
University of Missouri–St. Louis,
won the 2006 W.W. Howells
Book Prize from the American
Anthropological Association
for “Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators
and Human Evolution.” Hart shares the award
with co-author Robert W. Sussman, professor
of physical anthropology at Washington
University in St. Louis.
6
Awards in the Distinguished Chairs Program are
among the most prestigious appointments in the
Fulbright Scholar Program, which was established
in 1946 and is administered by the Council for
International Exchange of Scholars on behalf of
the U.S. Department of State. According to CIES,
distinguished chair recipients are senior scholars
who “have a significant publication and
teaching record.”
Rowan joined the Department
of History at UM–St. Louis
in 1970. During his time
here, he’s held appointments
at King’s College in London,
the Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation in Germany,
Institute for Advanced Study
at Princeton University in
New Jersey and Missouri
London Program.
Steven Rowan
“I am very pleased to be receiving this acknowl-
edgment,” Hart said. “Re-evaluations of human
evolution, such as the one we offered in
‘Man the Hunted,’ are important because
they ultimately reflect a more holistic position
for humans within the natural world.”
The American Anthropological Association
created the annual Howells prize in 1993 to
recognize the best biological anthropology book
written for a wide audience. The award is named
for Professor Emeritus William White Howells
of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University
in Cambridge, Mass.
“Man the Hunted” dispels the myth of “man
the hunter” and replaces it with the theory
and supporting evidence that early hominids
were vulnerable to predation. Contrary to the
familiar image of aggressive, spear-wielding
cavemen, humans’ early hominid ancestors
evolved not as hunters but as targets to many
predators, according to the book.
Westview Press released “Man the Hunted:
Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution”
in March 2005.
Student leads
unique sorority
for mothers
Danielle Cooney receives national attention for establishing Mu Tau Rho
By Ryan Heinz
When Danielle Cooney created her own sorority in the The group, and their children, meets two Saturdays a month. One meeting
fall at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, she had only is held on campus, while the other is a health-food party held at a member’s
one goal in mind. She wanted to fill a void by establish- home. According to Cooney, who serves as president of Mu Tau Rho, the
ing a student organization for a typically overlooked children play together while the mothers meet and socialize.
group: mothers. “Mu Tau Rho has provided a much needed resource for the working mothers at
The result was Mu Tau Rho, a group for student-moth- the university,” said Lori Tagger, a UM–St. Louis psychologist and the sorority’s
ers that now has 13 members. That number may soon adviser. “They have so many things to balance, and this has been a great place
be bolstered by the considerable attention the news for them to bond, find support and be involved in the ‘college experience.’”
media has paid to the unique sorority. Having existed for just six months, Mu Tau Rho has begun community
In March, dozens of newspapers from across the outreach initiatives. Members are busy with fundraising for Relay for Life,
country published articles about Mu Tau Rho. People a nationwide event that benefits the American Cancer Society. Also, a nonprofit
magazine was on campus in April. Members of the organization has approached Mu Tau Rho about speaking to teenage mothers
sorority were interviewed and photographed for a story. and encouraging them to attend college.
Since then, Cooney, of University City, Mo., has been “We’re really interested in getting the word out to young mothers that they
bombarded by e-mails from students at several other can go to school if they had a baby,” Cooney said. “They need to know that’s
universities seeking permission to create a sister chapter. still possible.”
“When I created this sorority, I honestly didn’t think
it was going to be such a big deal,” said Cooney, a 22-
year-old mathematics sophomore. “I was really just
looking for a way to make new friends.”
As a teenager, Cooney’s own dreams of attending
college and joining a sorority were temporarily put
on hold when she gave birth to her son Jourden, who
is now 4. After enrolling at UM–St. Louis, she still
aspired to join a sorority. However, a busy schedule of
work, school, child care and homework left little time.
Cooney says she thought she wasn’t alone in this
predicament. So she began posting fliers around
campus to see if she could generate enough interest
to meet the required number of participants to form
a student organization. Her grassroots effort led to the
establishment of Mu Tau Rho, which when translated
to English letters is “MTP,” for “Mothers Together
Parenting.”
Danielle Cooney, the founder of Mu Tau Rho,
a sorority for student-mothers at UM–St. Louis,
plays with her 4-year-old son Jourden at a park
near their home in University City, Mo.

UM–St. Louis student Brian Owens sings at the “Soul
of the Season Holiday Concert” in December at the
Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at UM–
St. Louis.
8 UM St. Louis
Magnetic Musician
Talented UM–St. Louis student blends vocal styles
to evoke timeless sound
By Ryan Heinz
Brian Owens is a soulful guy. Just don’t
call the University of Missouri–St. Louis music senior
a soul singer. And, for that matter, it’s best to avoid
pigeon holing him as a jazz or gospel vocalist.
“I don’t think music should be defined by what it
sounds like,” said Owens, 26. “It should be defined
by what it says, the message.”
Owens is certainly not the first artist to defy genre
classification in describing his sound. Rarely, however,
do singers exude such seemingly effortless versatility
when stepping behind a microphone. This was appar-
ent after catching a pair of his dynamic performances
earlier this year.
In 2006, MoJones Musick released two albums by
Owens (“B Natural” and “Inspired”), while he contin-
ued to establish himself as a talented, hard-working
performer on the rise. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has
taken notice, deeming Owens a “name to continue
watching in 2007.”
But that’s just the beginning. The confident singer says
he plans to give the St. Louis area plenty more reasons
to follow his career.
It’s January. The spring semester is underway, and there’s one
thing in the forefront of Owens’ mind: school. He’s taking
extra classes to ensure he graduates as scheduled in August.
But the added workload does little to deter his momentum.
In a month’s time, Owens will have led a local concert
tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., started a three-month run
of weekly performances at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Clayton,
Mo., and participated in a concert series in the Virgin Islands.
The King tribute is a low-key storyteller setup in a quaint
room at the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis head-
quarters in midtown St. Louis. Owens is wearing fashionably
tattered jeans and brown dress shoes, V-neck sweater and
ball cap. He sits on a folding chair facing an audience of 50.
Behind him are a bassist, drummer, guitarist and utility man
who roves between saxophone and clarinet. Each song is
prefaced with a short historical reading from Owens.
9
As the set unfolds, Owens and his band
perform incendiary renditions of songs by
Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder
and Curtis Mayfield. A charismatic vocalist,
Owens appears to give his all when singing.
He can hardly remain still for the sit-down
affair. He rocks back in his chair and then
forward to the microphone, delivering each
of the African-American spiritual
tradition and its later influences on
African-American composers of various
genres. The ambitious project also will
feature Owens’ original compositions
and could include a recording, video
documentary and educational
workshops.

–St. Louis
line with his eyes tightly shut. The audience
hangs on each note Owens sings, and he
clearly relishes the energy.
Keith Miller, a 2006 UM–St. Louis
music graduate now attending the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, M
How U res Up
Measu
“Man, you all had some good music in will play bass on the project. Miller
the ‘60s,”he exclaimed before going on and Owens have begun work on
UM–St. Louis student Brian Owens
ies
universit
a short diatribe about the shallowness new material by swapping digital (singing) and UM–St. Louis Chancellor
of modern music. “It needs to be about recordings via e-mail. Tom George deliver an impassioned
.research
more than entertainment. It needs to If anyone can pull off a project
version of “Come Sunday” by Duke
a m o n g small U.S
Ellington at “A Black History Music 1th
faculty 1
be a vehicle for social consciousness.” of such gravitas, Miller said, Owens Celebration,” which was held Feb. 25
x ranks
New inde
tton
He then launches into “A Change Is is the guy to do it. at the university’s Blanche M. Touhill ifer Ha such as
B y Je n n
Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke, the artist Performing Arts Center. iversity un
“There are a lot of people who sing,
public re
search o is the
to whom Owens is most often compared. but there isn’t really a lot of substance e o f a g te a c hing, als
kbon in
the bac outstand
“You can hear a lot of Sam Cooke in behind it,” Miller said. “But with
re se arch is It , alo ng with
holarl y ouis . s.”
what Brian does with his range and Brian, there’s that substance and a M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at UM–St. Louis uality sc uri–St. L program faculty
of Misso cademic er capita

“Q
to singing on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and e rs it y o u r a d in g p s
vocal control,” said Shaun Robinson, lot of respect for the older music.” the Un iv ngth to inclu citation
BET’s “Jazz Discovery.” But he said the biggest highlight a t g ives stre e ra te the FSPI, tio n , journal
a St. Louis music scene fixture who
muscle th g en publi ca facu y lt
often backs Owens on guitar. “But I
On a frigid February evening, Owens
of his young career was performing at Carnegie Hall L o u is Provost u rn a l and book n t d o llars per
–St. jo , g ra
sets up his audio equipment in the
s of UM it’s no research
think he has a wider music vocabulary swank lobby lounge at the Ritz. He’s
in New York for a master class presented by jazz great
a re the word e rs p ective, o f faculty rd s receive
d.
Dianne Reeves. Owens was one of only four vocalists Tho se n h e r p
’s c h ie f a nd a w a g mean
than Sam did. Brian’s a very original voice.”
dressed in a dark suit and fedora for C o pe. Giv
e
th e universit y
x membe r
L o u is ’ rankin
worldwide selected for Reeves’ class. Gle n pe, as ind e UM–S t.
Jim Henry, associate professor of music at his first in a series of performances that Co by a new t does
surprise d elighted p ro- So wha ?
UM–St. Louis, echoed Robinson’s sentiment. at the luxury hotel. It’s been a wild ride to a career just taking off. Does officer, w a s 1th m o st
research
ers ere
h munica-
academic o u is as the 1 u n tr y. to fe ss o r of com t
He called Owens a fearless vocalist with a Owens ever feel overwhelmed? What if he burns out?
rts UM–
S t. L in th e c o tty, p ro tion tha
Owens has come a long way to get
that cha a rc h u niversity ic o r M ic hael Bea it’s o n e indica
true artistic sensibility and encyclopedic se cadem F Louis ,
to this point. He lives in Ferguson, “I never feel like it could burn me out,” Owens said small re pany A UM–St.
ductive fit com its tion at bs.
knowledge of music. during a break between sets at the Ritz. “I won’t let r- p ro a se d g their jo ca-
Mo., with his wife Amanda, a UM–
ary, the
fo Pa., re le
y are do
in her edu
“You can talk intelligently with Brian St. Louis graduate who teaches music it burn me out, because (music) is not my life.” In Ja n u C h e ste r,
m e a su re fa c ult
o rt a n t in hig g
s, based
in
Index, a very im
p re lea inrn
about jazz singers in the ‘20s, ‘30s and at Jennings Junior High in Jennings, Analytic y P ro d uctivity 0 d o cto ral “ R ese arch is w h a t st udents a a rc h ,
What is then? Scholarl y 7,30 “It’s o rese
‘40s,” Henry said. “He’s listened to them Mo., but he grew up in Belleville, Ill., Faculty rc h at nearl itie s in the ti o n ,” he said. m e o n e has to d o u t
a nivers m. So d see k
lty rese an 350 u classroo ions an
all, but you never get the sense when where he honed his vocal skills in a “My faith, my wife, my family,” he said, emphatically of facu o re th a l ra n k ings in th e e q u e st
s and m tion th
you’re watching him sing that he’s neighborhood church. He later studied tapping a red velvet couch where he’s sitting. “That’s program ll institu er- e to ask
te s. T he overa e re se a rch univ continu n
ta rg ague Ala
imitating anybody. Brian draws from at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., my life. Music is probably around No. 5.” United S two grou
ps: la
ral prog
rams) answers
.”
uis colle
these artists for his own unique style.” which led to Owens joining the lit in to d o c to – S t. L o c o m-
were sp r more 14 is UM ucted
acappela group Chapter Six. He went
Really?
h o se w ith 15 o ie s (t h ose with Be att y and h e is e l h a ve cond
si n g
It’s worth noting: Owens has a soft spot sities (t niversit s 13. H
on resea
rch u
on to enlist in the U.S. Air Force and “Yeah,” he replied. “What if I woke up tomorrow a ll re search u M – S t. Louis ha u n ic a ti p h ,
in his heart for a wide variety of music and sm less); U m alogra
became a lead vocalist with the United and couldn’t do music? Does that mean my life’s l p ro g rams or n e le c tr oenceph e le c-
styles, including folk. He says he loves doctora i- a asure s
States Air Force Band of Mid-America over and I have no other purpose? I’m not just a w e , a s an organ d e v ic e that me in .
Peter, Paul and Mary, and his Bob Dylan ly are i- a the b ra
impression is less a caricature than an at Scott Air Force Base, before leaving singer. I’m not just a speaker. I’m a person.” The “Not on w it h th e recogn ic a l ac tivity in a te d
appy ’s tr vest ig
accurate and adoring imitation of the the military to attend UM–St. Louis. conversation is interrupted as a manager from the zation, h d o f ou r faculty h e y a ls o have in e rn s
prou T on pa tt
folk legend’s trademark voice. “We had an audition with Brian where Ritz approaches. He’s smiling as he thanks Owens tion and b u t w e also are o rt ic a l activati e ll as
ance , c on, as w
we had him sing a few different things,” before shaking his hand and saying, “This is going perform
e in d e x as an d u ri n g decepti lt s o f
“It was intelligent music, but not only in
looking
at th . he resu
terms of what they were playing,” Owens recalled Henry, the music professor at to work out.” o l,” C ope said lie d e te ction. T e b e e n
on to rk ha v
said. “It was also what they were saying.” UM–St. Louis. “It was like we do with evaluati & W orld e ir re cent wo a l
It looks as though Owens will perform his music ew s th Jou rn
every student, but it was just obvious, U.S. N grad- d in the
Owens says he wants to leave a legacy tomorrow after all. And if what he’s accomplished Un l i k e a l ra n king of publishe d Social
ann u n
this kid is incredible.”
Report’s o f w hich is f P e rsonal a an
as large as his legendary heroes. thus far is any indication of his future, he won’t
grams (m
u c h o and Hum
Since enrolling at UM–St. Louis, he’s uate pro su rv e ys), the R e la tionships se a rc h.
One potential step down that path is caught the ear of many throughout
have any trouble singing professionally for many
d o n opinion c ti v it y m u n ic ation Re
years to come. base y Produ Com
a major performance piece that’s in its the St. Louis area and beyond. He’s Scholarl bjective
Faculty ly o n o
infancy. Owens is dubbing it “The Revival done everything from organizing Visit http://www.brianowens.net for more lies sole ana- rovo s t
Project.” He will use it to explore the roots Index re ic A nalytics L o u is P
well-attended shows at the Blanche information on Brian Owens. . A c a d e m
su re s to U M – S t. C o p e
data of mea G le n
number
lyzed a
10 UM St. Louis 11
Hung-Gay Fung is the Dr. YS Tsiang Professor in
Chinese Studies at UM–St. Louis. He says finding
answers to research questions makes him a better
classroom teacher.
“The Department of Communication (at UM–
St. Louis) has some of the top publishing faculty
in our discipline,” said Heisel, who’s an associate
professor of communication. “We want faculty
who not only want to teach, but who want to
be active researchers and to publish the research
that is taught by others.”
The FSPI, while embraced by many academics,
is not without controversy. Some have questioned
Academic Analytics’ data-collection methods and
the company’s for-profit status. Others have com-
plained that the index does not assess teaching.
Provost Cope says the FSPI and other measure-
ment tools all have limitations.
“This faculty productivity index, the U.S. News
rankings and others each describe limited aspects
of academic programs,” she said. “None of these
indices captures the full picture. Each is valuable,
however, because the university wants to use any
information that can help us improve.”
Victor Battistich, a professor of education at
UM–St. Louis who has written more than 50
professional publications, said he appreciates
12
concerns about Academic Analytics’ methodology,
particularly that the criticism that FSPI does not
gauge teaching.
“I understand where the critics are coming from,”
he said. “However, I don’t know many productive
researchers who don’t engage their students. A
scholar who is passionate about his or her work
will convey that motivation in the classroom.”
Hung-Gay Fung is another UM–St. Louis researcher
who, like Battistich, says that productivity as a
researcher pays off in the classroom. Fung is the
Dr. YS Tsiang Professor in Chinese Studies. His
current areas of research include international
finance and the challenges of economic globaliza-
tion in China.
“(My research) has helped me as a teacher, by
providing me with the knowledge to answer my
students,” Fung said. “I can go back to my students
and provide them with the tools to work through
any question, because I’ve seen the process through
and know how to find the answers.”
UM–St. Louis names basketball court for patriarch of men’s hoops programs
Visit http://www.academicanalytics.com for more By Jack Crosby
information on the Faculty Scholarly Productivity
Index.
E nthusiastic and determined basketball fans shook off the subfreezing
air Jan. 18 as they filed into the Mark Twain/Athletic & Fitness Center
at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. They came to cheer on men's
and women's basketball. But this night was special: The crowd also was
on hand to pay tribute to Chuck Smith, the founding father of b-ball at
UM–St. Louis.
Chuck Smith (holding plaque), retired UM–
St. Louis head men’s basketball coach and
athletics director, was joined by four former
UM–St. Louis basketball All-Americans (from
left): Bob Bone, Jack Stenner, Chris Pilz and
Greg Daust. The players attended an event
honoring Smith in January at UM–St. Louis.
The university’s basketball court was named
“Chuck Smith Court.”
S
hortly before the men's game tipped off,
a collection of university coaches, admin-
istrators and former basketball All-Ameri-
cans gathered on the court, where the
Department of Athletics formally unveiled
and named the playing surface for Smith, who
in 1966 became the university's first athletics
director and first head coach of the men's
basketball team.
It's unlikely that any of the people assembled
that night on the new Chuck Smith Court were
aware of a pivotal fact regarding Smith's tenure
at UM–St. Louis: He almost didn't take the job.
"I turned them down twice," Smith said in a
recent telephone interview. "The dean then
asked me to serve as a consultant to the pro-
gram. Eventually, he made me the athletics
director, and I took it."
14
Another reason Smith said
he accepted the job was the
building in which the court
dedication took place. The
Mark Twain center opened
in 1971 as the Multipurpose
Building. Built at a cost of
$3.5 million, the complex
houses equipment, classrooms
and offices for intercollegiate
athletics, physical education
programs, intramural athletics
and recreational activities.
The building's centerpiece is
the 4,736-seat basketball arena.
The first game was played there
on Dec. 6, 1971, when a capaci-
ty crowd saw UM–St. Louis
defeat the Razorbacks of the
University of Arkansas, an NCAA Division I
team, by the score of 85 to 79.
But the building existed in mind only when
Smith joined the university. In fact, the men's
basketball team was nothing more than a
concept at the time. That's when the Bellerive
Country Club, which previously owned the
land where UM–St. Louis was built, came
in handy.
"They had a club team (at Bellerive)," Smith
said. "They played the local junior colleges,
Sanford-Brown, those kinds of teams. So they
made up the bulk of the team, and I only had
to recruit three players, all of whom started."
Recruiting got even easier, once the plans
for the center were finalized.
"Well, that's what attracted me," Smith said.
"Of course, we had to coach five years before
moving into the building, but it was a great
recruiting tool. Just showing a mockup of
the Multipurpose Building was a big help
in recruiting players."
The 1971-72 team, in addition to their
season-opening victory against Arkansas,
amassed 21 wins (and only five losses)
and earned an invitation to the NCAA
tournament.
"I really enjoyed the fellows on that team,"
Smith said. "They were just outstanding people."
Smith went on to coach UM–St. Louis for 13 years,
compiling a 171-143 career record. He remained
athletics director for another 13 years, retiring
in 1992.
Smith began coaching at high schools in
At left: Chuck Smith, retired UM–St. Louis basket-
Leadwood, Mo., and Bonne Terre, Mo., before
ball coach, and his 1968-69 team went on to win
moving back to the St. Louis area, where he coached
the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
basketball and baseball at Parkway Central High District Championship.
School.
Below: Chuck Smith stands inside the Mark
From there, he landed the head-coaching job at Twain/Athletic & Fitness Center on the playing
his alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. surface that was named for him in January.
Chuck Smith Court is now home to UM–St. Louis
Smith and his WU teams enjoyed success, going
basketball.
to the NCAA tournament three times in six years.
In the 1964-65 tournament, they faced Southern
Illinois University Carbondale, whose star was
Walt "Clyde" Frazier. He was drafted by the New
Photo by Leon Photography
York Knicks and went on to become a Hall of Famer.
"We had the lead at halftime," Smith said. "But
Frazier came out hot in the second half and beat
us up pretty good."
Smith spent a year as the basketball coach at
the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg
before he was persuaded to accept the UM–St. Louis
post in the fall of 1966.
"My former dean at Wash U came over to UM–
St. Louis," Smith said. "He was one of a group
of people who were responsible for getting the
athletics program going. My first boss was Harold
Eickhoff, dean of students."
With no facility of their own, the UM–St. Louis
team lived something of a vagabond existence.
"We practiced at Normandy Junior High," Smith
said. "The court was 10 feet short of regulation
size, but they let us install the square glass
backboards we needed to practice on."
At the court dedication in January, Jack Stenner,
a former UM–St. Louis star athlete who played on
Smith's early barnstorming squads, described what
the program's beginning was like.
"The old (Bellerive) clubhouse was serving as the
administration building in those days," said Stenner,
who was named the university's first All-American
in 1969. "Games were played all over the place,
Normandy Senior High, Florissant Valley, Concordia
Seminary, even the old Arena and Kiel Auditorium.
I can't think of a better exclamation point to his
career than to have this court dedicated in coach
Smith's honor."
Visit http://www.umsl-sports.com for more
information on the UM–St. Louis Department
of Athletics and its history.

erry Manderbach came to the
University of Missouri–St. Louis
straight from Central High School
in St. Louis more than 30 years ago.
Two scholarships He drifted and dropped out. That’s
not unusual, he told a crowd attend-
ing the university’s annual scholar-
ship reception in February. Lots of
found Kerry Manderbach
young men and women drift in
and out of college, I thought,
as Manderbach spoke.
But the story of his journey back
A commentary by Bob Samples to UM–St. Louis was prefaced
at a fine time with the kind of heartbreak that
could only be evoked by a sad
country song. (Kenny Rogers’
“Lucille” is stuck in my head.)
Manderbach’s eyes moistened
as he talked. His voice cracked.
You could tell it hurt. Eventually,
though, it felt good to everyone at
the reception, including me.
Manderbach was working at a decent
hourly job. He got married and had
five children. Life was fine. Nothing
special. He was annoyed when co-
workers with better educations began
passing him by, but he had his chil-
dren and wife. Then, he said, “his
whole world turned upside down.”
Manderbach’s wife left him and the
children. His daughter died suddenly.
And then Manderbach, left to raise
UM–St. Louis student
Kerry Manderbach and support his remaining children,
(center) said his was diagnosed with a thyroid disease
education “wouldn’t that sapped his strength. “I didn’t
be possible” without
help from UM–St. Louis know how much longer I could hold
alumnae Marie Casey things together,” he said.
(left) and Kathy Osborn
(right). Manderbach After “many long hours of soul-
is the recipient of the searching,” Manderbach decided that
Casey Communications, earning a college degree was the best
Inc. Undergraduate
course for him and his family.
Scholarship and the
Kathleen T. Osborn Federal and campus aid and student
Alumni Scholarship.
loans have helped make college possi-
ble, but they don’t cover everything.
College loans and other debt add up
fast. That’s where private scholarships
make a huge difference.
16
Tiffany Robinson, UM–St. Louis student and
recipient of the Interco Minority Scholarship,
tells Michael Loynd, administrator for Interco
Charitable Trust, that the scholarship has
made her a better student.
Manderbach, a senior in media studies, has
two scholarships: the Casey Communications,
Inc. Undergraduate Scholarship and the
Kathleen T. Osborn Alumni Scholarship.
Both donors are UM–St. Louis alumnae.
Marie Casey runs a marketing and communi-
cations firm in Clayton, Mo., and Kathy
Osborn is executive director of the St. Louis
Regional Business Council.
“My education wouldn’t be possible without
the wonderful people who choose to make
these scholarships available,” Manderbach
said. “This allows me to concentrate more
on my studies and less on figuring out how
to pay for college and raise my family. I hope
one day to be a donor myself.”
Eileen Lambert can relate to Manderbach. She ships. Those are totals that Vice Chancellor for
came to UM–St. Louis straight from Aquinas
High School in St. Louis in the mid-1970s, but is working hard to boost.
didn’t drift. She graduated with an accounting
degree, passed the certified public accountant’s
exam and today heads a consulting firm in
west St. Louis County.
“My father pushed us into higher education,
because he didn’t have a degree,” Lambert
said. “He knew what a difference it would
make.”
Her father’s message was both effective and
correct. Lambert, two sisters and her mother
all eventually earned degrees from UM–St.
Louis. And the difference in their lives was
immediate.
So, Lambert, who endowed the Edward and
Catherine Condon Scholarship in honor of
her parents, said the notion to “give back”
and help others was a primary reason for her
donation. Another contributing factor was the need and importance of giving to UM–St. Louis
escalating cost on students to attend college. scholarships, they’ve been generally supportive,”
“Between Pell grants and state support,
I graduated without any debt,” Lambert
said. “I figured that government still funded
education (adequately). I didn’t realize
(the government) doesn’t do that anymore.”
Twenty-five years ago, public colleges and
universities in Missouri received a majority of
their funding from the state. Today, less than 30
percent of UM–St. Louis’ budget comes from the
state. While the $8,000 or so it costs to attend
UM–St. Louis full-time today is less than
one-third that of a comparable private university,
UM–St. Louis students still feel the pinch.
“I was ecstatic when I received my acceptance
letter to the University of Missouri–St. Louis,
but my emotions changed when I received
my first bill,” said Tiffany Robinson, who now
receives the Interco Minority Scholarship. “The
Interco scholarship has made a tremendous
difference.
“I have become more active in school organiza-
tions, committees and externships, and I’ve
become a better student. One of the greatest
gifts is the gift of education.”
UM–St. Louis has a $12 million scholarship
endowment. It covers about 200 private scholar-
Advancement Tom Eschen says the university
“This issue is important, because the need is
great,” Eschen said. “As St. Louis’ public research
university, we have a unique responsibility to
make high quality education as accessible as
possible. We can’t do that without private
support.”
But giving to a public university is a foreign
concept for some. I know it’s a problem for
Eschen and his fundraising team. I’ve heard
friends say public dollars support public schools,
and private donors support private schools.
Not everyone has caught on – as Eileen Lambert
has – to the fact that public higher education
funding is down, while private universities
receive millions of dollars in public money
each year through grants and scholarships.
“Once potential donors learn more about the
Eschen said. “It’s just a matter now of reaching
more people with the message.”
Kerry Manderbach and Tiffany Robinson hope
Eschen is right. So should all St. Louisans.
UM St. Louis 17
 “THE WELL OF DREAMS” older than the well-keeper himself, who gave him
a broken scepter from his earlier life as the tyrant of
People made their journey to the well of dreams out
a vast empire. The people of his realm had revolted
of despair, seeking at least the relief of illusion from
against his cruel and despotic rule, and had sent him
the weight of regret and sorrow. But before they could
away on a permanent exile. He would dream that night
take a drink from the well, which would grant them a
of the demise of his enemies, his triumphant return to
dream of their wish that night, they had to pay the old
power and perpetual reign as a god-emperor. The third
well-keeper who lived in a tiny shack by the well. What
was a prisoner in chains, brought to the well by a pair
he demanded in payment was an object, whatever its
of militiamen for his last wish, as he was condemned
worth, that was related to the dream each person desired
to be executed the following day for the murder of
to have. On the day I visited the site, three people had
his wife and brother. Driven mad by jealousy over his
come to the place before me.
beautiful wife, he had become convinced that she was
Historian explores fantasy, The first was a young woman who gave the well-keeper
the dried leaves of a rose, the last gift from her lover
unfaithful to him with his brother, when they had
merely been on friendly terms. He gave the well-keeper
science fiction who had left on a merchant ship, never to return.
That night, she would have a dream of their reunion
his wedding ring so that he might dream on his last
night of their miraculous resurrection and a scene of
in new book and a happy life together. The second was an old man, reconciliation.

By Kedra Tolson Minsoo Kang is an assistant professor of European

‘of tales and enigmas’

history at UM–St. Louis. His new collection of short
stories, “Of Tales and Enigmas,” was released in
November.

Minsoo Kang, assistant professor of European history at the University

of Missouri–St. Louis, spins an intriguing web of fantastic fiction in his
first book, “Of Tales and Enigmas.”
It’s a collection of 15 short stories that range from the haunting
remembrance of a rendezvous with a spirit in “The Ghost Child”
to the surprising metafictional conclusion of “The Dilemma of
the King and the Beggar.”
Robert A. Rosenstone, professor of history at the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena and author of “Mirror in the Shrine: American
Encounters with Meiji Japan,” said Kang’s book has “echoes of chivalric
poems, the Arabian nights, medieval romances, Victorian adventures
and East Asian ghost stories.”
It’s difficult, for Kang, to pin down what inspires his storytelling.
“The stories just come to me,” Kang said. “I don’t have any choice.
They just appear in my head. I find if I try to write something ordinary,
it’s hard. The stranger stories are a lot easier to write.”
His historical essays have been published in journals such as Rethinking
History and Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies,
and “A Fearful Symmetry,” a story from “Of Tales and Enigmas,” will be
featured in the upcoming edition of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror,
an annual anthology published by St. Martin’s Press.
“Of Tales and Enigmas” was released in November by Prime Books.
The 220-page book is $29.95 (hardcover) or $17.95 (paperback), and
is available at http://www.amazon.com or in St. Louis-area bookstores.
With permission from the author, “The Well of Dreams” from
“Of Tales and Enigmas” is printed here.

18
 “How naive you are,”
grin.“For all you know, you may be dreaming
That night, as I sat in the well-keeper’s shack,
sharing a modest meal of rice and fish stew
with him, amidst great piles of all manners
of objects that were the payments for dreams,
I asked the old man how he had come to be
the well-keeper.
“I was once the poorest citizen of the nearby
city at the foot of the desolate mountains,
an orphan who lived in its rat infested slums,”
he told me. “I knew that I was the poorest
because while every fellow orphan had at
least one object to his name, I had nothing,
not even a stitch of clothing on my back.
One day, I was wandering out here, searching
for a scrap of something to eat, when I came
across the well, which was without a keeper
then. As I had heard about the power of its
water, I wished to have a dream of having
one thing that I could call my own. And so
the well became mine, and I became the
well-keeper.”
So you got your dream for free,” I pointed
out, “whereas you charge everyone a price.”
The old man chuckled. “No, my dream
was not free. As it happens, I had to pay
the highest price of all.”
“What price is that?”
“The knowledge of whether I am truly living
my life, or dreaming it. Every night I go to
sleep in terror of the thought that I could
wake up and find myself a destitute orphan
20
the well-keeper said with a sardonic
this moment yourself.”
once again. You cannot imagine what a
torment that is.”
I thought about that for a moment. “It is true
that you cannot know whether you are dream-
ing this life, with myself as a mere figment of
your imagination. But I myself know that I am
real, and that this is not a dream. So, I know
that yours is a happy story.”
“How naive you are,” the well-keeper said
with a sardonic grin. “For all you know,
you may be dreaming this moment yourself.
Perhaps you, a storyteller, came upon the well
and wished to have a dream which you could
shape into a story. Perhaps the well arranged
it by having you share in my dream, that of
an orphan boy lying somewhere, dreaming
that he is an old well-keeper.”
The old man let out a deep sigh before
continuing. “The truth is, I envy you
storytellers, for you have the ability to
create something real out of dreams, whereas
others wake up and can only despair at the
loss of the world of their wish-fulfillment.
“If you should awake and find that all of this
was indeed a dream, then I beg you to take
pity on this orphan boy and give me another
existence, if only in a modest story. Perhaps
that will also be a way of defying the well
itself, which I have come to believe is an evil
demon that delights in the shattering of
Oak Hall
happy illusions.”
Photos and text
by August Jennewein
A look at life in a grand student residence
UM St. Louis 21
 Trish Detwiler is an accounting freshman
from Oakville, Mo. Her smile is infectious.

Previous page: UM–St. Louis students celebrate, Oak Hall style.

1. Sean Hanebery 2. Gabriel Santos 3. Amanda Lucido
4. La’Ondrill Brown 5. Mayuko Kinno 6. Aqsa Ahmad
Chaudhry 7. James Heckman 8. Matthew Hanebery
9. Natsuki Takahashi 10. Giovanna Mendoza
11. Mariana Lanes Fernandes 12. Daniela Blum
13. Nick Bisho 14. Marina Watabe

(from left) Shivani Desai, James North,

Zed Davis and Jalyn Davis (back to camera)
shoot the breeze after class in the lobby.

UM St. Louis 23
 Oak Hall, the new $26
million student residence
at the University of Missouri–
St. Louis, towers before me.
It beckons. I was asked to shoot
a photo story on the hall, which
opened to students in the fall.
I felt the best way to do that
was to move in for a few days
and get an up-close-and-personal
point of view.
My cozy room, which shares a
bathroom with three other rooms,
includes its own microwave and
refrigerator. They’ll help take care
of my midnight munchies and
a whole lot more.
I settle in right away and then begin
Game on. (from left) Grace Marie Ritter, Ken Newell,
to wander the spacious six-story build- Tim Volkert and Anthony Padgett duke it out on
ing, meeting students in their home Nintendo Gamecube. La’Ondrill Brown and Beth Kruse
away from home. Hearing shouts of cheer them on.
joy as I pass the game room, I’m
drawn to the first-floor kitchen, where
a group of students prepare a commu-
nal international feast. The aroma of
the simmering tomato sauce mixes
delightfully with the brownies baking
in the oven.
In the kitchen, I meet Gabriel
Santos, an Oak Hall resident from
Recife, Brazil. I remember his words.
“My stereotype of Americans has
changed. Everybody lives together
in one building. We have a bunch
of dinner nights. I’ve made good
friends here.”
I gobble a couple delicious meatballs
and continue on my way. A ripple
of laughter follows me up the
stairwell as I leave the impromptu
mealtime celebration.
Before I know it, Saturday morning Above: (from left) Stefani
has arrived. Time for me to “check Benz, Mayuko Kinno and
Marina Watabe cook edible
out.” I feel like lingering, though.
delights in the community
I don’t want my stay to end. Breakfast kitchen.
sounds promising, but my fridge is
Far left: This midnight card
empty. I consider catching a MetroLink game is not for the faint of
ride to The Loop. The nearest station is heart. It’s fast. Players slap
a mere five-minute walk away. But the and snatch to claim cards
from the pile.
ethereal sound of a violin calls me to
At left: Mariana Lanes
journey anew through the hall. I real-
Fernandes, of Sao Paulo,
ize there’s much more for me to dis- Brazil, lights up her room
cover in these inviting student digs. with an impromptu violin
concerto.
Visit http://www.umsl.edu/services/
creative/photo for more images from
24 Oak Hall. UM St. Louis 25
 At left: UM–St. Louis student Caleb Miller
contributed several poems to the literary
publication “Bellerive.”

pagebypage
Honors College students work together to create book
UM–St. Louis students (standing, lower right) Justi
Montague and (from left) Nathan Hunton, Missy Yearian,
Shannon Pendleton and Justin Riddler discuss the cover
image for “Bellerive,” which was released in February.
The students are part of a class that creates the book.
By Tom Hockett

Nathan Hunton speaks with an apparent fondness and sincerity when he describes his
involvement in producing the creative publication “Bellerive.” The recent graduate of
the University of Missouri–St. Louis chooses his words carefully and delivers them with In addition to handling more traditional aspects of
“Ballot Box,” photograph by a college class (piles of reading and a final paper, for
a steady cadence. Kate Drolet Kimble, BA mass
communication 2006, from example), students in the “Bellerive” class are respon-
“I just enjoy the process,” he says. “First off, it’s really a group class. It’s certainly not
the 2007 issue of “Bellerive” sible for every facet of assembling the book. Editing.
the teacher just getting up there and lecturing. It’s a discussion. There are always good
Proofing. Layout and design. And deciding what gets
people in the class … Generally, the submissions are of very good quality, so it’s like I’m
in – perhaps the most crucial, and certainly most
getting credit to read good literature.”
talked about, part of the process.
“Bellerive” is an annual collection of poetry, short stories, essays and artwork published
UM–St. Louis faculty, students and staff are invited
by the Pierre Laclede Honors College at UM–St. Louis. The 2007 issue, titled “Everything
to submit work, but most submissions come from
Can Change,” was released in February.
students. This year, about 260 pieces of creative
Hunton, a 24-year-old from Hazelwood, Mo., completed a bachelor’s degree in physics writing and photography were submitted. They
in May. He’s been an editor and contributor on each of the past four issues of were culled to the 54 entries that comprise the book.
“Bellerive.” This year, he was one of 17 undergraduate students who took the honors
The class uses a roundtable process to make selec-
college class (also called “Bellerive”) that produced “Everything Can Change.”
tions. Each person has one vote, including Gleason.
Nancy Gleason, associate dean of the college, is the faculty advisor for the class. She Nancy Gleason is associate dean of the Pierre They rate every piece on a five-point scale, with “1”
nudged “Bellerive” into existence seven years ago, when the college released the first Laclede Honors College at UM–St. Louis. She being the lowest and “5” the highest.
issue. serves as faculty advisor for the annual student-
produced literary publication “Bellerive.” Justi Montague, an energetic junior and member
“When we started the class, we really felt like we wanted the college to celebrate art of the book’s layout and design team, said reaching
and liberal arts education,” Gleason said. “We wanted students to be able to explore a consensus can be challenging because opinions
the humanities and fine arts. about submitted work often are widely varied.
“I recognized that we had a lot of studio art and music students in the college. I wanted “There are some days, when you know you’re going
to tap into that whole atmosphere, to invite writing to be used in a new way for us, and to talk about certain pieces,” said Montague, 19, of
for art and writing to merge.” Bloomfield, Mo. “Everybody walks into the class,

26 UM St. Louis 27

head held high, shoulders back, boxing gloves on. You can
feel the tension in there, because you know people are ready
to duke it out.”
That tension has a way of getting amplified. Many of the
students in the class also submit work to “Bellerive.” Seated
around the table, members of the class debate and select
submissions blindly. Only Gleason knows the identity of
the work’s creator, who might be at the table.
“To watch them struggle through disappointing comments
from others or getting something voted out that they felt
strongly about, it’s been the biggest challenge for some
students, and for me to keep the class together,” Gleason
said.
As touchy as the selection process might be, the staff agrees
that it’s helped hone their notion of what makes art and
creative writing good. Of course, that notion is different
for each of them.
Missy Yearian, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English in
May, selected the order of the content for the last two issues
of “Bellerive.” She places a lot of value on a piece’s first and
last words.
“When I look at a short story, the ending has to feel shock-
ing,” Yearian said. “But it also has to feel inevitable, like this
could not have ended any other way. That’s really important
to me, and the first sentence of a short story can’t fall off
the page.”
Montague offers another perspective. “Does this piece make
me feel a certain way, and did this person figure something
out while they wrote this?”
The process of producing “Everything Can Change” culmi-
nated Feb. 23 at the honors college with a book-launch party,
which was orchestrated by two of the students in the class.
For Hunton, that day was the end of his run with “Bellerive.”
“I really think ‘Bellerive’ is something special,”
he said. “The vast majority of people proba-
bly never get a chance to have something
published or help get something published,
and we’re getting to do that, even if it’s on
a small scale. It gives me this great sense of
accomplishment.”
“Bellerive” is 120 pages. It’s available in
paperback for $6 at the Pierre Laclede
Honors College and University Bookstore.
Call (314) 516-6629 for more information.
28
Sam’s condition is fragile at best.
Father Figure He seems fine one minute. The next, his heart is failing, and he’s not
By Caleb Miller breathing. Sam’s unpredictable health could put any attending nurse
on edge, let alone a nurse in training. But there’s something even more
frustrating. Occasionally, Sam dies. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
A grey jaunty man with a child in hand With the click of a computer mouse, Sam is brought back to life
charges out an elevator gate. and a nursing student walks away with a valuable lesson learned.
Sam, of course, is not a human patient. He’s a high fidelity, computer-
Sirens; a two-year-old yell vibrates operated mannequin — or as it’s spelled in the medical world, “manikin”
— used by the College of Nursing at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
windows, stings the old woman’s ears. “You have to make some mistakes to learn,” said Diane Saleska,
clinical assistant professor of nursing at UM–St. Louis. “And what better
Relentless, lung-burning cries. opportunity than to do so with a simulator that can be turned back on,
as opposed to making a mistake with a real person, then losing them.”
Even
Spoiled ... she mutters, backhands Working with manikins actually leaves little to the imagination, despite
their outward appearance. As Sam lies on a bed in a replica hospital room
her palm, rolls her eyes, chuckling. at UM–St. Louis, his chest rises and falls with each respiration. He makes
Her sons never screamed, they had manners.
Never hit their own father, never.
lung, cardiac and bowel sounds. He has active pulses, audible blood
pressures and fluctuating oxygen saturation levels.
While isolated from instructors, nursing students must act accordingly
to attend to the patient. They administer medications, monitor vital
signs, insert intravenous lines and perform cardiopulmonary
better than the real thing
Do not spare the rod. resuscitation.
Meanwhile, a nursing professor sits behind a wall just outside the virtual Student nurses gain valuable
hospital room. Through a one-way window, the instructor uses computer
Embarrassed, the man quickens pace software to control the simulator’s responses while observing student
experience through simulation
to the exit, child on shoulder. interaction with the patient. Students also must respond to the patient’s
By Ryan Heinz
voiced complaints of pain or discomfort, which is actually the instructor
speaking through a microphone.
Young tears become crisp; mumble “I like to think of myself as the Wizard of Oz, the man behind the
build words of a mantra: curtain if you will,” Saleska joked.
Of course, it’s no laughing matter for the student. One false step
You’re not my daddy. could send the patient’s condition spiraling.
Sometimes a patient simulator is intentionally programmed to take
From “Bellerive: Everything Can Change,” with permission from the publisher an “inexplicable” turn for the worse. A student must then react quickly
to save the patient’s “life.” Such critical thinking opportunities are often
missed by nursing students working in real clinics, where instructors
intervene when a patient experiences sudden health deterioration.
“Students are generally shoved out of the room or told to stay out
of the way and be quiet,” said Erin Cattoor, a graduate nursing student
at UM–St. Louis, who helps operate Sam. “Working with the simulators
enables them to do what they will have to as a real, on-duty nurse.”
By the end of the school year, the college will have expanded its
patient simulation capabilities with more equipment, including
a birthing simulator. Saleska said her long-term vision is a virtual
hospital floor with each room dedicated to patient simulation.
“Patient simulation is the wave of the future,” Saleska said. “It’s definitely
where nursing education is going.” Sarah Yates, a nursing senior at the University
of Missouri–St. Louis, administers care to a patient
simulator, while Diane Saleska, clinical assistant
professor of nursing at UM–St. Louis, monitors
the student’s work.
UM St. Louis 29
Alumni&FRIENDS
Judith Aronson
artfully gives to UM–St. Louis
By Linda Tracy
Judith Aronson recalls the moment she and Adam, her late husband, became
collectors of art. “We bought our first pictures on our honeymoon. They were
dreadful paintings of fish floundering on a black background,” she said with
a laugh.
Nearly 60 years have passed since that day in Bermuda, and Aronson has gone
on to become an integral participant and supporter of the St. Louis art scene.
She says she loves to spend time around artists and those within the art com-
munity.
“My husband and I weren’t raised around art, but we began to enjoy the
museums in each city we visited, and we read and learned more about art
and artists,” Aronson said. “For us, art was a marriage binder. It drew us
together and kept us together.”
Aronson’s growing interest in art led her to a 35-year career in art education.
She worked for several years at Webster University in Webster Groves, Mo.
While there, she developed a master’s degree program in aesthetic education.
As an evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, she worked from
1991 to 1993 on the teacher education program at the Metro Theatre
Company in St. Louis. In 1993, President Clinton appointed her to a
two-year term on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
Aronson said it’s also because of art that she first became involved with
the University of Missouri–St. Louis more than 15 years ago. She and Adam
learned that the university needed artwork for its new Computer Center
Building, which was completed in 1992.
“Not only were we happy to contribute, but we asked many of our friends
to contribute pieces, as well,” Aronson said. “Their response was so over-
whelming, that some of the art overflowed to the library.”
For many years, Aronson served as a member of the UM–St. Louis Chancellor’s
Council and Performing Arts Center Advisory Council. The couple also estab-
lished, at UM–St. Louis, the Adam and Judith Aronson Scholarship in Art
History and the Aronson Endowed Professorship in Modern and Contemporary
Art History.
Glen Gentele has served as the Aronson professor since 2001. He’s also the
director of Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills, Mo. Gentele described
Aronson as not only an inspiring and knowledgeable benefactor, but also a
close friend.
“Judy readily offers her own time and expertise, and she’s highly motivated in
helping many cultural organizations succeed in their mission,” he said. “She’s
also a very warm and humorous person, and I truly value her wisdom.”
30
Judith Aronson has been collecting art for
nearly 60 years. Her support of the arts and
education are legendary in St. Louis.
UM–St. Louis Chancellor Tom George echoed Gentele’s
sentiments.
“Judith is a true friend to this institution,” George said.
“Her support has been tremendous, and her guidance,
throughout her time on the Chancellor’s Council, has
had a lasting, wonderful impact on the campus.”
Along with her involvement in several St. Louis arts
and cultural institutions, Aronson continues to
support public higher education.
“I give to UM–St. Louis, because the university reaches
many people who wouldn’t otherwise have the oppor-
tunity of higher education,” she said. “There are so
many who don’t have the chance to go to college, but
it is of utmost importance because education is the best
gift one can give.”
Gary Belsky
his writing career as a reporter for the St. Louis
Business Journal.
However, his passion for writing began long before
that. In 1983, he joined the UM–St. Louis student
newspaper, The Current, as a humor columnist.
“At UM–St. Louis, I learned how to write and think
critically,” he said.
He moved to New York in 1986 and began working
as a reporter for Crain’s New York Business, where
he won the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished
Business and Financial Journalism. In 1991, he
began working at Money magazine, where he was
a regular contributor to CNN’s “Your Money Show”
Photo by Joe Rodriguez and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He landed an
Gary Belsky, BA political science 1983, is an executive editor at ESPN editing job at ESPN The Magazine in 1998, and rose
The Magazine. He hails from St. Louis, but lives and works in New York.
up through the ranks.
Still, Belsky says he hasn’t forgotten the energy
Job at ESPN The Magazine is only half of the college classroom he enjoyed at UM–St.
Louis. That energy is one reason why he became
the picture for 1983 graduate an adjunct professor of journalism at New York
By Jennifer Hatton University.
“I love it,” he said. “It feels like the right thing to
Ask Gary Belsky what interests him the most, and he’ll tell you it’s a toss up
do since many people helped me along the way.
between sports and the psychology of decision making.
Plus, I edit a magazine aimed toward 18- to 34-year-
Fortunately, for Belsky, his career as a writer and editor enables him to indulge old men, so it gives me a reason to be on a college
in both subjects. campus and hear what our target audience talks
As executive editor of ESPN The Magazine, he oversees the publication’s coverage about and is interested in.”
of the NFL, NHL, golf and action sports. He’s also an accomplished author. Among His latest book, “23 Ways to Get to First Base:
his books is “ESPN The Magazine Presents Answer Guy: Extinguishing the Burning The ESPN Sports Uncyclopedia,” was released
Questions of Sports with the Water Bucket of Truth,” with Brendan O’Connor and in May.
Neil Fine.
The Answers
“I have always loved sports,” Belsky said. “I have a very good memory, and I read
a lot. Plus, I have very talented and creative collaborators.”
So why is a basket worth two points?
“Answer Guy,” Belsky explained, gave him the chance to explore questions that
Around 1902, some leagues needed a way to differentiate
have always intrigued him. Why is a basket worth two points? Why do football field goals from foul shots. Officials decided to make field
teams get four chances to make a first down? (See capsule for answers.)
goals worth one point and foul shots worth a half point,
but fans and players didn’t like using fractions. So the
Belsky has shown he can switch gears, effectively writing on more serious, practical
two-point basket was born.
topics. He wrote, with Thomas Gilovich, the book “Why Smart People Make Big
And why do football teams get four chances
Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them: Lessons from the New Science of to make a first down in football?
Behavioral Economics,” which covers many of the simple financial mistakes people
Early on, teams were given three chances to go five yards,
make every day. but it became too easy, boring and dangerous. Shorter
“I’m passionate about (behavioral economics), because it’s extraordinarily relevant
yardage meant offenses used the gang-rush to move the
ball, which led to injuries and deaths (18 players died on
and interesting,” Belsky said. “And more to the point, it can help people improve college fields in 1905). By 1912, college football officials
their lives.” had increased the yardage to 10 and added a fourth down,
in hopes that the game would open up and scoring would
A St. Louis native, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and speech
increase.
communication from the University of Missouri–St. Louis in 1983, and began Source: “ESPN The Magazine Presents Answer Guy:
Extinguishing the Burning Questions of Sports with
the Water Bucket of Truth”
UM St. Louis 31
Alumni&FRIENDS
Margaret G. O’Dell
UM–St. Louis connection
continues for history major
who landed her dream job
By Jack Crosby
When Margaret G. “Peggy” O’Dell returned
to the University of Missouri–St. Louis in
2004, she was surprised by what she saw.
“The first time I went to the campus, I couldn’t
find my way around,” O’Dell said. “I was just
blown away by the improvements and
the growth.”
O’Dell was visiting for the first time in nearly
30 years. She grew up in Webster Groves, Mo.,
and graduated from UM–St. Louis in 1976
with a bachelor’s degree in history.
O’Dell said she hadn’t returned to the university
in all that time, because her profession had
taken her away from St. Louis.
She began her career with the National Park
Service in 1972 as a seasonal worker at the
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial,
better known as the Gateway Arch, in down-
town St. Louis. She became a park ranger in
1975 and took a position as supervisory park
ranger in 1986 at Ozark National Scenic
Riverways in Van Buren, Mo. O’Dell was
promoted to superintendent in 1998, and
assumed that post at Jewel Cave National
Monument in Custer, S.D. That assignment
was followed by a stint at the park service’s
national media center in Harper’s Ferry, W.Va.
O’Dell said her three children, who are now
adults, didn’t seem bothered by all the moving
that resulted from her and her husband Ben’s
careers.
“Well, the first move was the most significant,”
O’Dell said. “Moving from Van Buren with
a population of 500, to Rapid City (S.D.), not
exactly a bustling metropolis itself, the kids
came to us about six months later and said,
‘Thank you for moving us out of the boonies.’
We didn’t know.”
32
In 2004, Margaret G. “Peggy” O’Dell, BS history 1976,
was named superintendent of the Jefferson National
Expansion Memorial in downtown St. Louis.
In 2004, O’Dell scored the job of her dreams: superintendent
of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
“It’s just been exciting to be here,” she said. “It’s been very
gratifying to have the memorial be a part of the continuing
development of downtown St. Louis.”
Asked about her experience at her alma mater, she said
UM–St. Louis was still a new campus in the 1970s, and
she remembers the “strong connection between the
teachers and the students.”
“Blanche Touhill was one of my history teachers,” O’Dell
said of the retired UM–St. Louis chancellor. “Now she’s on
the board of the Jefferson National Parks Association.
So, the connection continues.”
Jan. 6 was fast approaching, and that
day was really going to mean some-
thing to the grandchildren of legendary
St. Louis builder I.E. Millstone. The
date was significant for two reasons.
It would be their grandfather’s 100th
birthday, and it meant they had to
answer an important question: What
gift should we get for him?
Grandson Bob Millstone and his
siblings decided to create a scholarship
honoring their grandfather at the
University of Missouri–St. Louis.
“We wanted a meaningful and signifi-
cant way to commemorate my grandfa-
ther’s 100th birthday,” Bob Millstone
said. “My grandmother, Goldie, already
has a scholarship named after her at
UM–St. Louis. We thought this would be
the perfect way to honor my grandfather,
as well.”
The Millstone family established a $100,000
endowed scholarship named the “I.E. Millstone
Centennial Scholarship.” Recipients must be
full-time students at the university, and they
must demonstrate a strong commitment to
public service, community collaboration and
leadership.
For years, I.E. Millstone has been demonstrating
his own commitment to public service in St.
Louis. Millstone, who at the age of 22, founded
Millstone Construction, Inc., served as president
of the company for more than six decades.
During that time, he headed several major
construction projects, including the first Busch
Scholarship celebrates
100th birthday of
I.E. Millstone
By Linda Tracy
(from left) Bob Millstone, Colleen Millstone,
David Millstone, I.E. Millstone, Hans Schacke,
Susan Millstone Schacke and Linda Robertson
celebrated I.E. Millstone’s 100th birthday in
January. The family established a $100,000
endowed scholarship at UM–St. Louis in
his honor.
Stadium, Interstate 64 and the Federal Building
in downtown St. Louis.
Millstone cannot be described as retired, or even
semi-retired. He goes into the office every day
as acting president of K & M Investors and the
Millstone Foundation. He also supports the local
Jewish community, educational institutions and
many professional and community organizations.
Bob Millstone, president of The Millstone
Company, says his grandfather has always set a
tremendous example and has played a profound
role in his life.
“My grandfather’s sense of integrity has
had such an impact on our family and
community,” he said. “It’s his deep
respect for, and interest in, others that
has made him a success.”
I.E. Millstone says his family supports
about 100 scholarships in a number
of St. Louis-area schools.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to have the
ability to help individuals, who then,
in turn, help our city and country,”
he said. “I’ve enjoyed watching the
accomplishments of the students
we support, as they complete their
education and enter the working
world.”
I.E. Millstone says the availability of afford-
able, public higher education is a key factor
in the future of St. Louis, and scholarships
are of utmost importance.
“There are many who can’t afford to attend
a private university,” he said. “Today’s tuition
costs make scholarships a necessity, so I’m
very pleased that my grandchildren have hon-
ored me with this scholarship at UM–St. Louis.”
Over the years, I.E. Millstone says he has come
to understand the satisfaction in helping others,
and that everyone can do something to
contribute.
“A person’s economic level isn’t important,
because everyone can play a part,” he said.
“In my 100 years, I’ve found no greater
reward than giving back to the community.”
UM St. Louis 33
 1967
Lynn V. Martin, BA German, is a special
Alumni
Stephen Wade, MA political science,
has been posted in Beijing with The
Associated Press to cover preparations
1985
NOTES

Martin A. Harry, BA political science,

education teacher at the Missouri Eastern
Correctional Center in Pacific, Mo. The
for the 2008 Olympic Games. Wade has
been a journalist in Europe for 15 years
Jia-Ji Gu, MS chemistry, is a senior
fellow at Novartis Corporation in East
Hanover, N.J. For the past 12 years, she
served five years as a judge advocate in has done pharmaceutical and analytical
the U.S. Navy after graduating from law development. She lives in Millburn, N.J.

Shirley Martin center named Martin the 2006 Educator

of the Year.

1969
with AP, reporting from Madrid, Spain,
and London. Wade also worked in
St. Louis for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
school. Now living in Austin, Texas, he
recently opened his seventh law office Stephanie (Schloemann) Lange,
in central Texas. He represents applicants BSBA, is a full-time mom in San Antonio,
for Social Security Disability Insurance. where she lives with her husband Steve,

created her own Joseph P. Bono, BS chemistry,

and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

is laboratory director for the U.S.
UM–St. Louis legacy Secret Service in Washington.
Jane E. Brooks, BS education,
is a teacher at Pinewood Elementary
With a charitable gift annuity School in Mounds View, Minn.
benefitting the College of Nursing 1973
James M. Arcipowski, BSBA, is a
financial representative at Northwestern
Mutual Financial Network in St. Louis.
1979
Pauline Bellavance, PhD chemistry,
relocated to Greenville, S.C., and is
teaching physics at St. Joseph’s Catholic
School. She retired in 2002 as professor
of chemistry from Fontbonne University
in St. Louis after serving on the faculty
there for more than 20 years.
Mark G. Hardin, BSBA, is vice
president of operations at Benchmark
Medical in Malvern, Penn.
MS accounting 1991, and their two
Lisa McChesney-Harris, BA chemistry, children, ages 8 and 6.
was recently selected as the Rising Star
Award recipient by Protocol Link, Inc.
She is the program director at Protocol
Ko-Chung Lin, PhD chemistry,
is chair and chief executive officer of
PharmaEssentia Corp. in Taipei, Taiwan.
Link, which is located in Vernon
Lin is an accomplished scientist with
Hills, Ill.
more than 17 years of industrial
experience in drug discovery and
1986
development. He led the team that
Tyrone Daulton, BS physics, is at discovered a drug candidate that was
Washington University in St. Louis, later licensed to Merck. He is the
where he earned a doctoral degree. inventor of more than 30 patents.
He’s a research scientist at the

1974
university’s Center for Material 1989
1981 Innovation. He recently received a
National Science Foundation grant. Steve Anderson, BSBA, was named
Mary K. Edwards, BM, received the
David Beckel, BA political science, a principal with Edward Jones’
2006 Excellence in Communication
is a credit manager at Mitek Industries 1987 holding company, the Jones Financial
Award from the Greater St. Louis
in Chesterfield, Mo. Beckel was re- Companies. Anderson is a member
Photo by Stephanie Zettl Association of Black Journalists. Edwards
elected vice chair of the central region Steve Dardas, of the Information Systems Board
is the producer of “St. Louis on the Air”
for the National Association of BSBA, recently was of Visitors at UM–St. Louis, and he’s
on KWMU (90.7 FM) in St. Louis. She
Credit Management. named a principal active in the MIS mentoring program.
won the award for her work on an
with Edward Jones’ He lives in O’Fallon, Mo.
installment of “St. Louis on the Air” Marty Mlynczak, BS physics, is
“I enjoyed every minute that I worked at UM–St. Louis, that covered HIV testing and AIDS. a senior research scientist at NASA
Langley Research Center in Hampton,
holding company,
the Jones Financial Todd Farrell, BSBA, founded Tempo
Companies. He lives Enterprises, a business consulting
Jacqueline Kofsky, MEd, retired
and I’m happy to be able to give back.” from the Ritenour School District
after 35 years of teaching.
Va. He visited the Department of
Physics and Astronomy at UM–St. Louis
in Harrison, Ark., with Suzie, his wife,
and their three children.
firm in San Francisco. In addition
to his business, Farrell also is one of
in April and presented the colloquium the founding members of his church,
Shirley Martin became the first dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Missouri–St. Louis David Vogler, BA economics, is chief “Adventures with the first law from Ravi Kumar Laxman, PhD chemistry, Freedom in Christ Evangelical Church
procurement agent at Boeing in St. Louis. Earth’s surface to the edge of space.” works at Air Liquide in Fremont, Calif. in San Francisco. He is the president
in 1980. During her tenure, Shirley worked hard to support the faculty and ensure student success
He is director for business development of the Evangelical Network, a network
at the new college.
1976 1982 and is involved in marketing advanced of Christians and churches that are
electronic materials in the United States. open and affirming.
Although 27 years have passed and she is now retired, John Adkins, Andy Pauk, BSBA, He and Vijai, his wife, have two children.
her goals remain the same. BSBA, was named was promoted to
Selected Charitable Philip Thoman, BA political science,
1990
chief financial chief operating
“With the two charitable gift annuities I established Gift Annuity Rates officer at Life Skills officer at Dierberg’s joined Pharma Solutions business unit Charles R. Coker Jr., MEd, is director
for the College of Nursing, I can continue to support in St. Louis. Markets in St. Louis. of Wolters Kluwer Health. Thoman is of secondary education at Timberlane
Age Rate* the global director for training and
the faculty and students, plus, I receive tax benefits In addition to his Regional School District in Ralston,
and fixed payments for life,” she said. 60 5.7% new role, he will key account management. He lives N.H. He lives in Rye, N.Y.
continue to serve as senior vice president. in Chesterfield, Mo.
65 6.0% K. Michael Malolepsky, BS physics,
Shirley says her years at UM–St. Louis are truly memorable,
70 6.5%
1978 His career with Dierberg’s Markets spans
is a computer support specialist and
and she often thinks about the many friends she made 30 years. 1988
Lisa Bedian, BA political science, was system administrator in the Department
while at the university. 75 7.1% Barbara Willis Brown, OD, was
married in November to Bob Kurtz. of Biology at Washington University
80 8.0% 1983 awarded the 2006 Administrative- in St. Louis. He also is the president
They live in St. Peters, Mo., where Bedian
“I was blessed to be surrounded by a number of wonderful Lisa M. Geers, BSBA, is a regional Professional Staff Chancellor’s of the St. Louis Astronomical Society.
85 9.5% is the director of community relations
people,” she said. “I enjoyed every minute that I worked for the city. recruiting specialist at Edward Jones Award of Excellence at the 15th Malolepsky presents planetarium
at UM–St. Louis, and I’m happy to be able to give back.” 90 11.3% in St. Louis. annual UM–St. Louis Founders Dinner. shows at the St. Louis Science
*Rates subject to change and restrictions may apply. Brown manages student and special Center’s McDonnell Planetarium
services in the College of Optometry on a part-time basis.
UM–St. Louis offers many planned at UM–St. Louis.
giving options. For more information,
call (314) 516-6503.
34 UM St. Louis 35

Michele L. O’Keefe, BSBA, is service
delivery manager at Shell Oil in Houston. senior laser engineer for Cutting
1991
Steve Lange, MS accounting, is vice
president and chief financial officer
for VIA Metropolitan Transit. He lives
in San Antonio with his wife Stephanie,
BSBA 1998, and their two children,
ages 8 and 6.
Michael R. Meyer, MS physics, is an
associate professor of astronomy at
the University of Arizona in Tucson.
He continues his studies of the formation
of stars and planetary systems. Meyer
is the principal investigator on research
grants with NASA’s Spitzer Space
Telescope and is a member of the
Science Team for an infrared camera
being developed for the James Webb
Space Telescope.
1993
Ken R. Cella Jr., BS marketing, was
inducted as an honorary member in
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
He is a partner in mutual funds
marketing at Edward Jones in St. Louis.
Additionally, he is the president of the
UM–St. Louis Alumni Association.
Tim Giblin, MS physics, is an
assistant professor at the College
of Charleston in South Carolina.
He visited the Department of Physics
at UM–St. Louis in November. He
presented the colloquium “Gamma-
Ray Bursts, Shocks, and Relativistic Jets.”
Gloria J. Hardrict-Ewing, BS
education, is a gifted teacher
in the Hazelwood School District
in Hazelwood, Mo.
Michael D. Stolte, MBA, was
promoted to chief financial officer
of the international law firm Bryan
Cave in St. Louis.
1994
Michael Kuan, PhD political science,
completed a stint in February as a
visiting professor at the Institute for
Advanced Study at Indiana University
in Bloomington. He will return, as a
full professor, to the Department of
Social Welfare at National Chung
Cheng University, Chiayi in Taiwan.
36
Mark Kushina, BS physics, is a
Edge Optronics in St. Charles, Mo.
The company is owned by Northrop-
Grumman. In November, Kushina
visited UM–St. Louis. He discussed
physics careers at the class Windows
on Physics.
1995
Sohrab Abdollahi, PhD chemistry,
is a faculty member at Payamnoor
University in Iran. He has responsibility
for interaction with petrochemical and
other industries in Iran. He lives in
Abadeh, a town near Shiraz, the beautiful
city of the great poets Hafez and Sadi.
Don Linhorst, PhD political science,
is an associate professor at Saint Louis
University. Linhorst wrote the book
“Empowering People with Severe
Mental Illness,” which was published
by Oxford University Press.
Loraine P. Watrous, BSBA,
is a cost accountant at Meridian
Medical Technologies in St. Louis.
1996
Siu Wa Au-Yeung, BA chemistry,
founded a small company with his
cousins in Toronto. They research
biomaterials. Au-Yeung was formerly
a polymer chemist with Triton Systems
in Chelmsford, Mass. He earned a
doctoral degree in polymer science
and plastics engineering in 2001 at
the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
Leslie Gralnick, MEd, gave
birth to Hannah Rose on Jan. 7.
Stephanie Hayden, BSN, is an
organizational trainer at the
American Red Cross in St. Louis.
Laura R. Miller, MSN, is a registered
nurse. She’s a group director of patient
care at Hannibal Regional Hospital in
Hannibal, Mo.
1997
Steven L. Albart, MPPA, is vice
president at Enterprise Bank & Trust
in St. Louis. He serves on the board
of directors for Kids in the Middle.
Alumni
Mark Counts,
BSBA, joined
RubinBrown
as director of
internal technology.
Michael N. Edwards, BS computer
science, was promoted to senior
technical architect at AT&T in St. Louis.
He has been with AT&T for 10 years.
He lives in Granite City, Ill.
Susan Keenan, BA chemistry, is
assistant professor of biological sciences
at the University of Northern Colorado
in Greeley. She earned a doctoral degree
in pharmacological and physiological
sciences from Saint Louis University
in 2001 and spent five years doing
postdoctoral research with Dr. William
J. Welsh at the University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.
Carol A. Kruchowski, MEd, is
director of MERS Goodwill-North
in Florissant, Mo.
Steve Roberds, PhD political
science, is teaching at Avila University
in Kansas City, Mo.
1998
Elizabeth Amin, MS chemistry,
is assistant professor in the College
of Pharmacy at the University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Tracy Berry-McGhee, MEd, has a
private counseling practice in St. Louis.
She recently was a guest speaker for the
course Counseling the African-American
Client, which was offered by the College
of Education at UM–St. Louis.
Chahine Ghais, PhD political science,
was appointed dean of the faculty of
political science, public administration
and diplomacy at Notre Dame
University-Louaize in Zouk Mosbeh,
Lebanon. He lives there with Amalia,
his wife, and Joy, their daughter.
1999
Judith Haggard, MS nursing, was
appointed curator of the University
of Missouri System. She is a family
nurse practitioner at the Southeast
Missouri Health Network in Kennett,
Mo. Haggard is a certified substance
abuse counselor and is an examiner
for the Missouri Substance Abuse Board.
Lorenzo Hester, MBA, is an attorney
with Centene in Clayton, Mo.
Anita Madison, BS criminology
and criminal justice, is a therapist
at the St. Vincent Home for Children
in St. Louis.
Patrick Mickey, BA political science,
is a trial attorney practicing insurance
defense litigation for Hahn, Enright
& Hansen in St. Louis. Last winter he
served as a coach of the trial advocacy
competition team at Saint Louis
University.
Fern Mreen, BGS, was inducted as
an honorary member in The Honor
Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Mreen is an
administrative associate in the Institute
for Women’s and Gender Studies at
UM–St. Louis, and she’s a member
of the Governing Board for the
UM–St. Louis Alumni Association.
William F. Reinecke, BS management
information systems, is a programs
analyst at Accenture in St. Louis.
He recently completed his 17th
marathon and is working to
complete a marathon in every state.
Erika Schutte Teneyck, BA art history,
is a researcher in early European art at
the Saint Louis Art Museum. Over the
last three years, she collaborated on
the design, research and reinstallation
of the Early European Galleries at the
museum, which reopened to critical
acclaim in fall 2006.
2000
Ricardo Delgado, PhD chemistry,
joined the faculty as professor of
chemistry at Lindenwood University
in St. Charles, Mo., in the fall.
Kevin Dolan, PhD physics, is a
senior scientist at Philips Research
in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Dolan
completed a successful postdoctoral
position at the Research Centre
Jülich in Germany.
Christine Hallowell, BS accounting,
is team leader at Laclede Gas in St. Louis.
Kathleen Butterly Nigro,
graduate certificate in women’s
and gender studies, is the director
of the Institute for Women’s and
Gender Studies at UM–St. Louis.
Karen Sieve, MPPA, is the first
recipient of the Distinguished
Alumni Award presented in May
at the commencement ceremony
at St. Charles Community College
in Missouri. She served as a litigation
support specialist with the John Danforth
Office of Special Council in the Waco
investigation and went on to become
a project director for Healthy
Communities of St. Charles County.
In 2004, Sieve helped pass the Children’s
Tax Initiative, a sales tax that established
a community services fund used by local
agencies to benefit children.
Tendik Tynystanov, BS public policy
administration, is in a postgraduate
program in policy studies at the
University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
2001
Gábor Balázsi, PhD physics, has
accepted a tenure-track research
position in the Department of
Molecular Therapeutics at the
University of Texas in Houston.
Balázsi just completed a successful
postdoctoral position at the Center
for Biodynamics at Boston University.
Paul Brittain, BGS business, accepted
a position in Rural Development at
the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Brittain lives in Hillsboro, Mo.
Christine Grib, BSBA, is pursuing
a master’s degree in advertising and
marketing at Webster University
in Webster Groves, Mo.
Lisa L. Sample, PhD criminology
and criminal justice, is a professor
of criminology and criminal justice
at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha. In April, Sample received an
Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award
from the UNO Alumni Association.
2002
Tonya A. Hutchinson, MSW,
is assistant director of the Drury
House at Child Center-Marygrove
in Florissant, Mo.
Christine M. Kahle, BS accounting,
recently returned from a 12-week
exchange. She worked at a chartered
accounting firm in London. Kahle is
an auditor for RubinBrown in St. Louis.
Jessica Portis, BS accounting, is senior
consultant at Summit Strategies Group
in Clayton, Mo. She recently obtained
the designation of chartered financial
analyst.
Laura Schmidt, BA political science,
helped write successful grants to help
two recycling companies expand their
business. She set up two middle school
reading clubs in Jefferson County, Mo.
Schmidt volunteered with Jefferson
County Disability Support System,
and is treasurer for Jefferson County
Women’s Democratic Club. She is
pursuing a master’s degree in public
policy administration at UM–St. Louis.
2003
Sean Hayes, BS education, and Kimberly Commerce. Kraus has traveled to
Snethen, BSBA 2005, were married Sept. Amsterdam and Brazil for the agency.
15. Hayes is a realtor with Coldwell
Banker Premier in Richmond Heights,
Mo. They live in Brentwood, Mo.
Annette G. House, MSW, was recently make happy, wise decisions in the areas professor in the Department of
promoted to assistant regional director of hygiene, listening, diet, family and Political Science at the University
at the Missouri Department of Social
Services.
Jamie Kerry, BA English, is pursuing
a master’s degree in publishing and
writing at Emerson College in Boston.
Kerry does freelance manuscript
preparation for Elsevier.
Michelle Kirchoff, BS physics,
recently earned a doctoral degree
in earth and planetary sciences at
Washington University in St. Louis.
Her dissertation is “Mountain Building
on Io: An Unsteady Relationship Between
Volcanism and Tectonism.” She has a
postdoctoral position at the Lunar and
Planetary Institute in Houston, where
she studies cratering statistics on the George Meskheli, MA political
Saturnian satellites.
Brianne Lindemann, BFA communica-
tions, is a senior advertising-editorial Grant
steno in the corporate communications information systems and accounting,
department at Ameren in St. Louis.
2004
Zoltan Baker, BS accounting, was
promoted to senior accountant in
the accounting services department
of Huber, Ring, Helm & Co.
Carlita R. Barnes, BS criminology
and criminal justice, is a claims
adjuster at Allstate Insurance in St. Louis.
ALUMNI NOTES
John M. Curtright, MBA, recently
completed and passed the certified
public accountant exam. Curtright
Andrea Scott Bixler, BSBA, is teaching
English in South Korea on a one-year
contract with a children’s academy.
is an auditor for the Defense Contract
Nancy Devine, BS education, is
Audit Agency in Hazelwood, Mo.
a teacher’s aide at Parkway Central
Sabrina Heidemann, BA psychology, Middle School in Chesterfield, Mo.
recently earned a master’s degree in
Stephen Grelle, BSBA, is financial
professional counseling from
center manger at the Fifth Third Bank
Lindenwood University in St. Charles,
in St. Louis. Grelle is pursuing a master’s
Mo. Heidemann is supervisor in
degree in finance and economics at
pregnancy counseling and supportive
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
services at Missouri Baptist Children’s
Home in Bridgeton, Mo. She volunteers
Zinaida Karapetyan, PhD political
at a teen-mothers group at Fee Fee science, took a position as a senior
Baptist Church in Bridgeton, Mo. research specialist with Remuda Ranch
in Wickenburg, Ariz. The ranch is
David Kurt Kraus, MA political science,
a treatment center for women with
is an international trade compliance
eating disorders.
analyst with the U.S. Department of
Nadir Kinossian, MA political
science, is a doctoral student at
the University of Cardiff in Wales.
Teondra Lyles, BSW, has created the
children’s compact disc series “Happy Claude Louishomme, PhD political
Choices.” The series helps children
science, was promoted to associate
manners. Lyles lives in O’Fallon, Mo. of Nebraska-Kearney.
Susan Mason, PhD political science, Elizabeth McGee, MBA accounting,
is the founding director of the graduate
was promoted to senior accountant
certificate in community and regional in the audit department of Huber,
planning at Boise State University in
Ring, Helm & Co.
Idaho. Mason was awarded a fellowship
Michelle Pierson, BA communications,
to attend the International Canadian
is engaged to John Kilper, a law student
Studies Institute in British Columbia
at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
and the Yukon in summer 2006. In
The couple plans to marry next year.
addition to teaching research methods
and courses in the planning curriculum, Malaika Roglon, BSBA, works as
Mason is co-writing the forthcoming a patient care technician. She plans
book chapter “Linear Correlation and
to return to school to pursue a degree
Regression” for the second edition of
in nursing and a master’s degree in
the “Handbook of Research Methods business administration. She lives
in Public Administration.” in St. Louis with her 9-year-old son.
Sara Martin Schmitz, OD, practices
science, is working for the Georgian optometry in Troy, Mo., at Finklang
Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania. Eye Health Associates. She married John
Schmitz in October. The couple lives in
Slover, BS management
Wentzville, Mo.
is a data management associate at Kimberly Snethen, BSBA, and Sean
PricewaterhouseCoopers in St. Louis. Hayes, BS education 2003, were married
Sept. 15. Snethen works for Enterprise-
2005 Rent-A-Car in St. Louis. They live in
Brentwood, Mo.
Cheryl Begin, OD, completed the
Pikes Peak Ascent, a 13-mile course Rainah E. Townsend, BS education,
that starts at 6,295 feet above sea level. is a teacher in the Francis Howell
Begin practices optometry in St. Louis. School District in St. Charles, Mo.
UM St. Louis 37
ALUMNI NOTES
Andrea (Williams) Turner, BS
education, married Cedric Turner
in October in Las Vegas. They live
in Indianapolis, where Andrea Turner
is a middle school reading teacher.
Heather M. Wallen, BSBA, works
in the accounting department at
Continental Title.
Robert Wild, PhD education, was
promoted to assistant to the chancellor
at Washington University in St. Louis.
Michael Wiseman, BSBA, works for
the Big Bend branch of National City,
where he’s a universal banker and
banking-at-work program specialist.
2006
Megan Baldenweck, BA communica-
tions, is assistant to the vice president
of human resources at the St. Louis
Science Center.
Scott Bopp, BSBA, is an associate
at Colliers Turley Martin Tucker
in St. Louis.
Kyle Dohm, OD, earned an optometry
degree in May 2006. He got married
and then reported to fulfill his
obligations in the U.S. Navy. Dohm
is serving and practicing optometry
on the USS Ronald Reagan, which
houses about 6,000 personnel.
Corneille Ewango, MS biology,
has been named a National Geographic
Emerging Explorer. He’s one of eight
individuals to receive the annual award
this year. Ewango is a tropical botanist
from the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. He risked his life to protect the
Congo’s Okapi Faunal Reserve during
a civil war from 1996 to 2002. The
explorer program “recognizes and
supports uniquely gifted and inspiring
adventurers, scientists, photographers
and storytellers who are making a
significant contribution to world
knowledge through exploration
while still early in their careers.”
38
Randall Gerke, BA communications,
is assistant retail manager at Federal
Express in Chesterfield, Mo.
Jordan Gwaltney, OD, and Kevin,
her husband, welcomed Madison Kaye
into their family in June. They live in
Dodge City, Kan.
Elizabeth A. Holdefer, BSBA,
is an insurance agent for American World champion alumni
Family Insurance in Chesterfield, Mo.
Karie Pennington, BS criminology
and criminal justice, is attending
Florida Coastal School of Law
in Jacksonville, Fla.
Joshua G.H. Smith, works as a
financial analyst at UPS in Earth
City, Mo.
Joan Turnure, MEd, is a teacher
at St. Gerard Majella School in
Kirkwood, Mo.
Deirdre J. Walker, MEd,
This
is partner and behavior analyst
at ASA Consulting Services in
Ballwin, Mo.
Photo by Larry State, St. Louis Cardinals
Award
William Winter, PhD political
science, and Laura, his wife, Six UM–St. Louis alumni received 2006 World Series rings
welcomed the arrival of their for their work in the front office of the St. Louis Cardinals
son, Robert Rudolph Winter,
organization. They are (from left): Rex Carter, director of
is for
in November. They also have
finance, BSBA 1989; Mark Murray, director of season and
a daughter, Julia.
premium tickets, BSBA 1992; Julie Nienhuis, supervisor
Zarley Zafe, BA anthropology,
of luxury suites, BSBA 2002; Jennifer Needham, manager
is an archaeologist at the
you
Archaeological Research Center of the Prime Seat Club, BA communication 2002; Scott
Benack, programmer-analyst, BSBA 1980; and Marty Hendin,
2007
of St. Louis.
vice president of community relations, BA history 1970.
The alumni received their rings May 8 at a ceremony
in the Cardinal Club at Busch Stadium.
Distinguished
Alumni Award
The University of Missouri–St. Louis Alumni Association is seeking nominations for
its 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award. The award is the association’s highest honor.
Share your It’s presented annually to five university alumni who’ve made extraordinary career
news
achievements, distinguished themselves through community service or went above
UM–St. Louis Alumni Association and beyond in their support of UM–St. Louis.
101 Woods Hall The nomination deadline is July 10. Recipients will
One University Blvd.
be recognized Sept. 25 at the university’s Founders
Update your St. Louis, MO 63121
fellow alumni Dinner. Send the nominee’s name and UM–St. Louis
Or you can e-mail text and photos
by mailing news major, along with a nomination letter to:
to alumni@umsl.edu. Please send Call (314) 516-5864 for more information.
and photos to: Awards Committee
high-resolution (300 dpi or greater)
images. UM–St. Louis Office of Alumni Relations
101 Woods Hall
One University Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63121
 Why Go To Graduate School?
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Those with master’s degrees earn
almost twice as much.
Those with professional degrees
earn three times as much.

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