Eric Woods of St. Louis-based Firecracker Press was one of several artists to give demonstrations as part of the St. Louis Fine Print, Rare Book and Paper Arts Fair presented by UMSL’s St. Louis Mercantile Library earlier this month. (Photos by Evie Hemphill)

Featuring treasures ranging in price from a few dollars to thousands – and even some free Ted Drewes ice cream one afternoon – the St. Louis Mercantile Library’s largest event of the year drew an estimated 750 people to the University of Missouri–St. Louis two weekends ago.

Collectors of every sort explored the colorful and countless materials on hand May 6 to 8 during the library’s 10th annual St. Louis Fine Print, Rare Book and Paper Arts Fair, which coincides with the Mercantile’s 170th anniversary as the oldest cultural institution in Missouri.

“We’re very happy with how it’s proceeded, and it’s truly a very fitting event for our 10th anniversary,” said John Hoover, executive director of the Mercantile Library, during the last few hours of the fair.

Chris Lane, owner of the Philadelphia Print Shop West in Denver, was one of the national dealers who traveled a significant distance to present his materials. For Lane, the St. Louis market is a strong one, with lots of interest in the historic materials he specializes in. The reputation of the library hosting the annual event also brings him back again and again.

Local book artist Joanne Kluba (at right) shares her handiwork with eventgoers May 8 during the final day of the print fair, which took place in the J.C. Penney Building on UMSL’s North Campus.

“The Mercantile Library is one of the great institutions in the country,” Lane said in between questions from those sifting through the antique maps, prints and other items at his booth in the J.C. Penney Building. “It’s very nice to come [to St. Louis].”

That Sunday, Lauren Terbrock, a UMSL graduate student in the Department of English, watched as book artist Joanne Kluba of Paper Birds Studio showcased a binding technique. Kluba’s demonstration was one of several that punctuated the afternoon, and Terbrock said she was blown away by the fair as a whole.

“I’m incredibly impressed,” she said, “and I’m amazed with how much stuff there is and how much history.”

Another highlight came courtesy of Eric Woods, owner of St. Louis-based Firecracker Press. Woods conducted a demonstration using what he described as a miniature version of the machines Firecracker operates to print posters, greeting cards, wedding invitations and books at its two locations in the city.

The relatively compact, 1890s-era device he brought to campus for the fair weighs about 150 pounds, but Woods noted that’s nothing compared to most such machines.

“The presses we use at the shop are between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds, so obviously we can’t be bringing those to UMSL,” he explained during his presentation. “While this thing is tiny, it’s actually got a lot of engineering in it.”

Over its 10-year history, the fair has built a roster of exemplary national and local dealers while always welcoming new participants to broaden the array of offerings presented to the St. Louis audience. Organizers note that it’s not too early to plan on next year’s fair and mark calendars for May 5 to 7, 2017. For more information, click here.

This infographic was created by Sandy Morris, and a full version was originally published in the spring 2016 issue of UMSL Magazine. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Showing off a ukulele built with his own two hands, Nick Offerman performs a song playfully excoriating the ills of social media during last month’s Mirthweek comedy show at UMSL. (Photos by Rebecca Barr)

Collectively delivering nearly two hours’ worth of laughs and poking fun at everything from country music to Ron Swanson to Mirthweek itself, Nick Offerman and Bo Burnham found an enthusiastic, sold-out crowd at the University of Missouri–St. Louis last month.

The comedic headliners drew roughly 1,600 people to the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center for a much-anticipated Mirthweek performance April 30. Backstage, before and after the show, Offerman and Burnham each sat down with representatives from UMSL Daily and The Current to discuss their work, thoughts on the Midwest, some favorite wild animals – and a little bit of what’s wrong with the world.

Esther Povitsky opened for Nick Offerman and Bo Burnham at UMSL’s Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center on April 30.

For Offerman, though, one of the first questions was how the Illinois native and Chicago Cubs and Bears fan felt about being in St. Louis Cardinals territory.

“Are they still playing?” the “Parks and Recreation” star deadpanned.

Asked next for his sense of what works in terms of humor in the Midwest, Offerman said he wasn’t sure, as a relative newcomer to the world of comedy.

“I’m pretty ignorant for all of that. I happened upon Bo Burnham, for example, after everyone else knew about him for four or five years, and I immediately got him on an episode of ‘Parks and Recreation’ I was directing,” Offerman said. “I’m just crazy about him, and I’m so flattered to be invited to appear with him, because I really look up to him. And I feel like a curmudgeonly uncle, like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come do a couple of my songs before the kids get what they really want.’”

He added that the Midwest does seem to respond particularly well to his “bucolic pace,” the “timbre” of his voice and “references to things like cheese” as well as other dairy and meat items.

The Office of Student Life sold approximately 1,600 tickets for this spring’s Mirthweek show – the second ever to sell out.

“It’s funny – one of my employees in L.A. is from Indiana,” said Offerman, who founded Offerman Woodshop in East Los Angeles, “and I was running behind the other day. I was cooking dinner for 10 people, having them over. And I said, ‘Marcus, I’m going to need you to husk the sweet corn’ – 36 ears of sweet corn. And he said, ‘OK. What is husk?’ And I said, ‘I thought you were a Hoosier!’ And he had never husked sweet corn before. But nonetheless, people on average tend to know what the word ‘husk’ is referring to in the Midwest more than, say, San Diego.”

Later that night, Burnham said that although he certainly employed jokes specific to Missouri and St. Louis during his own set, he doesn’t really see the Midwest as having a particular comedic culture.

“Usually I’m just playing off the idea of that, you know what I mean? Just the idea of what people may think the Midwest means,” he said, adding that a crowd like the one at UMSL can be refreshing as compared to places where people can be “a little too cool for themselves.”

“I think the worst crowds you actually get are on the coasts, where it’s like, ‘This is the third coolest thing I’ve seen this week,’ as opposed to here, where they’re, like, excited to have you,” Burnham said. “Sometimes in major cities there’s just a sense of [being] over it.”

Nick Offerman takes a moment to show off his physique while performing at the Touhill. Behind him is a large, framed picture of bacon and eggs, which a UMSL staff member brought to the event hoping the comedian might autograph it. Offerman not only signed the image but asked that it be displayed on stage during his performance.

Both comedians were asked, at the request of a UMSL student, what wild animal they would each tame if they could. While Burnham was quick to say he’d go for a pig – “even though they’re already domesticated” – Offerman took some time to ponder the query.

“I suppose it’s a tossup between a grizzly bear and a wolf,” he answered eventually. “The grizzly bear could harvest salmon and blueberries for me, which ultimately will lead to a longer and more prosperous life of health. But a wolf could bring me a bison, which would be more immediately gratifying. But I’m 45, so I should probably go with the grizzly bear, so I can see 55.”

Best known for the laughter they elicit, Offerman and Burnham each bring a certain depth and cultural critique to the stage. Asked how he balances the comedy with the deeper threads that inform it, Burnham noted that there’s “a conflict” to his shows, in that the thing he most wants to talk about is the thing he participates in: the world of entertainment, one he finds increasingly “awful,” at least in some respects.

“I think we pay a price for it. And I don’t think the price we pay is good versus bad entertainment,” Burnham said. “It’s entertainment period is bad … The floor that dropped out for me is that social media – before it was like famous people and regular people – and now it’s this continuum. It starts at one ‘like’ and ends at Kim Kardashian.”

Convinced that a culture centered around popularity and things going viral and “tastes splitting us apart” makes people feel “yucky” and anxious, Burnham said he’s part of “a generation that hates each other for that reason.”

“That’s why my show’s a mess,” said Burnham, whose performance was also, incidentally, carefully choreographed and energetic. “My show’s just meant to be kind of a portrayal of that confusion to me.”

Offerman didn’t hesitate to take issue with the world of social media, either, saying there are “more delicious ways to live” than via gadgets and screens. He also shared a few thoughts on his favorite writer, Wendell Berry, whom Offerman has been reading and recommending to others for ages.

“I was working at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, and this great guy named Leo Burmester, who is no longer with us, gave me a book of his short stories,” Offerman said of his first introduction to Berry. “And they just bowled me over. They reminded me so much of my family, much of whom are farmers, and he’s such an eloquent and prolific writer. But it’s his common sense that is running throughout his work that really moves me, and so I just continue to consume all of his writing voraciously.”

Offerman was delighted to finally meet Berry a while back – an experience he said was like sitting down at his grandparents’ kitchen table.

“I’ve gotten to be friends with their family now, and they’re just hard-working farmers and writers with their heads on straight,” Offerman said. “His life’s mission has been to just wake us up to where our food comes from and subsequently how our farmers use the land and how therefore we treat our farmers or not. And you know the vast majority of our population is completely ignorant to our farmers, which is a bad situation that is allowing us to ruin the soil that feeds us – which is a weighty thing to say. But he’s also terribly funny, and his stories have a wonderful empathy that really moves me.”

Before wrapping up each interview, UMSL Daily and The Current also made sure to ask which historical figure Offerman and Burnham would most love to portray. The answers?

“A lot of people say I look like Laura Dern from ‘Jurassic Park,’” Burnham said. “So that’s what I’ll probably be. Laura Dern, 1994.”

Offerman settled on the 26th president of the United States, giving Mark Twain as a runner-up.

“The answer everyone wants to hear is Teddy Roosevelt, and I’m fine with that,” he said. “Teddy Roosevelt. I’ve missed a lot of the good stuff – I’m too old – but perhaps we could pull it off in medium-to-wide-shot flashbacks … Conan [O’Brien] really wants to produce something with me as Teddy Roosevelt. He’s kind of obsessed with it. And we’ve had some meetings about it, and we have yet to come up with an idea that we think will fly.”

(Photo by August Jennewein)

For the first time ever, the University of Missouri­–St. Louis’ Writers in the Schools outreach program will be offering a summer camp. Taking place over a two-week session on the UMSL campus beginning June 20, the WITS camp offers students the opportunity to work with award-winning writers and create their own literary zine, all while enhancing their writing and creative abilities.

“Our intent is to help students improve their overall writing process while having fun,” said Myrta Vida, a fiction student in the MFA in Creative Writing program at UMSL and the WITS student liaison. “No other program in the area will have the high quality, hands-on approach we do – and certainly not at this price.”

Vida has been working with WITS for several years and helped initiate the new summer camp. She said she sees this as a unique opportunity for high school students who may be struggling with their writing.

The first week of the camp, June 20 to 24, will be an open house of sorts, with each day focusing on a particular writing genre. Then, over the course of the second week (June 27 to July 1), participants will provide the content for and design their own literary zine. A graduation ceremony will conclude the program.

“The WITS summer camp is a result of a demand for something to continue the work and excitement built up during the academic year,” said the program’s founder, Mary Troy, who is a professor of English and creative writing at UMSL. “Parents, grandparents, teachers and students have all asked for it.”

Started in 2000, WITS has been working in area high schools to provide lessons, discussions and activities to young writers on a variety of topics and themes, and the program has seen a lot of success in the region.

“WITS nurtures talent, encourages creativity, builds on enthusiasm and helps keep the written arts alive,” said Troy, who is also the editor of “Natural Bridge,” UMSL’s nationally distributed literary magazine. “The high school students we work with could be future literary greats, part of the next generation of writers who inspire and delight us all.”

She added that this summer’s pilot program, which has been a long time coming, aims to bring together high school students from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“It will work best if private and public school students from across the metro area can read one another’s work,” she said. “Literature is borderless.”

Organizers note that space is limited, and registration is required by June 10. The $300 registration fee for the camp includes lunch and beverages. Payment plans, support grants and materials will be available to students in need of assistance. For further details, contact Vida at mamgh2@mail.umsl.edu.

This story was written by Liam Cassidy, a fiction student pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at UMSL.

Assistant Teaching Professor Mike Bovier (center) celebrates the remission of his cancer with his class of nursing students who saw him through a tough teaching semester, surgery and chemotherapy. (Photos by August Jennewein)

When University of Missouri–St. Louis nursing students showed up for the spring semester and the first day of their Adult Health 1 course, they expected to get the syllabus, but they didn’t expect what came next.

Mike Bovier, assistant teaching professor in the College of Nursing, told his class he had cancer. The diagnosis came in late fall of 2015, but he refused to let the illness pull him away from the classroom.

“We were actually surprised that he was still going to go through the semester,” senior Terri Hickman said. “He was about to go through chemo, but he promised he was still going to be here every day.”

“And he stuck with it,” classmate Travis Wool said. “He told us from the beginning, he expects us to come to class because he holds himself to high accountability, and he wants us to do the same.”

It sounds unimaginable, but Bovier didn’t miss a single Monday or Wednesday lecture, not even after his treatment kicked in full force in February.

“I experienced excruciating pain on lecture days with intense symptoms during and shortly after my chemotherapy,” he said. “But my kids, my students, were with me every step of the way. I was an open book with them as I recovered from surgery and then chemotherapy.”

Some may question Bovier’s choice, but he found it more beneficial for all involved parties.

“I chose to be candid with my kids to help them make connections between the topics I was lecturing on, including cancer,” he said. “I realized I would be giving them a rich experience from the patient perspective.”

His students appreciated the up-front approach as well.

“He taught us that there can be major strength in vulnerability,” Hickman said. “He laid himself out and what he was going through. He wasn’t afraid to cry. But he also wasn’t going to let it keep him down. Keep going. That was the message. The man is amazing.”

Bovier’s dedication to teaching his students, not just about nursing, but about the importance of human connection, has made a lasting impression as well.  Hickman will forever remember him showing up to her clinical site and praying with her patients.

“He’s definitely going to change the way I do my nursing. Period,” she said. “He showed me a whole new level of empathy because of what he’s gone through.”

“He represents everything we’re taught that nurses should be,” Wool said. “It’s truly inspiring – his dedication and his commitment to consistently help others.”

And his students emulated his giving nature, often helping Bovier carry his books and helping him to his car.

“Anything we could do to make his life easier,” senior Nicole McDonald said. “He was giving us so much.”

If Bovier needed to get a message out to the class, they would do so on his behalf. The students agreed – everyone pulled together like family.

“The fact that I received so much support from this cohort from the beginning of the semester until now has given me a reason to get up and move forward in the light of pain, discomfort and immobility.”

And on April 25, all efforts paid off.

“He had a new spring in his step that day,” Hickman said. “ He kept lifting his cane and pointing to the board. I was thinking ‘He seems really chipper today.’”

Serious shot. Mike Bovier didn’t miss a single lecture despite his ongoing cancer treatment throughout the semester.

“We were all on this journey with him,” McDonald said, “so we were constantly wanting to know how he was doing. As soon as lecture was over, he flipped up the board and it said ‘REMISSION’ in really big caps on the chalkboard. We all cheered and there were some tears shed.”

McDonald also took the lead on planning a special surprise for Bovier a week later.

“I remembered him telling me that at night he suffered from tinnitus from chemo,” she said. “So when he would go to sleep, he would listen to Elton John ‘I’m Still Standing.’ We brought a boom box in, and we’re going to play it for him at the end of our last lecture. It’s a great song. So upbeat and powerful. What better way to honor and celebrate him.”

“He’s a rare and special person,” Wool said. “We all will never forget him.”

Bovier has surveillance cancer tests every three months and will continue to teach in the College of Nursing at UMSL.

Earning her bachelor’s degree plus a Pierre Laclede Honors College certificate in record time since transferring to UMSL just last spring, Nousheen “Bri” Ehsan looks toward law school this fall. (Photo by August Jennewein)

The legal field first piqued Nousheen “Bri” Ehsan’s curiosity when she was in high school. But it was her observations of a north St. Louis County community in the fall of 2014 that turned that early interest into a solid career plan.

The University of Missouri–St. Louis graduate, who earned her bachelor’s degree in criminology and criminal justice earlier this month, was working on her associate degree at St. Louis Community College–Florissant Valley at the time. After Michael Brown’s death in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, she watched local residents – and also met some lawyers – doing “amazing things.”

Ehsan also recalls some of her own peers as well as college employees getting involved during the days when the Flo Valley campus was closed. They made the most of the time spent out of class by painting positive messages on boarded-up windows, cleaning up streets and interacting with people in Ferguson.

“That’s how I realized I wanted to do public service,” Ehsan says, “because I saw the unity. And you would go home and watch TV, and the news media were talking about how, ‘Oh, Ferguson is all this chaos and stuff,’ but then you come out into the community and just see all of these people banding together, charging ahead. That experience definitely impacted me.”

Soon afterward, Ehsan applied to UMSL, transferring to the university with an ambitious goal of finishing her four-year degree – and earning a Pierre Laclede Honors College certificate – in three semesters flat. This fall, she’ll begin her studies at Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale, where she’s accepted a full-tuition scholarship.

“She impressed me immediately, and even though Bri has not been with us very long, she has made a big impression on us,” says Daniel Gerth, interim dean of the honors college at UMSL and Ehsan’s academic adviser. “And she pulled off her plan. The honors college does not even offer a three-semester plan … She earned the certificate in record time.”

Ehsan was born in Bangladesh and moved to the U.S. at the age of 13. She decided to transfer to UMSL a year and a half ago because of its highly acclaimed criminology and criminal justice program, which she was confident would provide strong preparation for law school. In the meantime, she’s developed a particular passion for immigration law, something she hopes to practice in St. Louis eventually.

“For me, the immigration process was very smooth – my grandparents sponsored us, we settled down and life has been good,” she says. “But lately, with the Syrian refugees and everything that’s been going in the political world, that has had an impact on me. You hear a lot of hateful things people are saying, like, ‘Oh, send them all back,’ and Donald Trump is all about building this wall. I look at my own life, and I realize that there are so many people like me who are trying to help their communities where they live, and we should be able to give a chance to those people. Just because they came from a different country or just because somebody else is threatened by them doesn’t mean that they should have to suffer.”

On top of balancing an average of about 20 credit hours per semester at UMSL, Ehsan has become a familiar voice on WGNU 920AM’s “Community Conversations” show. Doubling as her independent study project, her role at the station evolved from an internship to something more. Eventually she became an on-air personality and occasional fill-in producer for the show.

“It’s every Sunday, from 1:30 to 3 p.m., and we talk about various issues, including current events, gender issues, racial issues, religious issues, immigration, politics – anything that affects our community directly,” she says. “We also have people call in and give their opinions, and we sometimes have heated debates between people. We talk about community-oriented policing a lot, and since I’m a criminal justice major, that’s been kind of my responsibility there.”

Ehsan’s time at UMSL has been relatively short, given her accelerated, three-semester approach. It’s also been a critical building block toward a future she’s passionate about. From what she describes as the campus’s tightknit, community-service-oriented atmosphere to the deep academic experience, particularly in the honors college, her days at UMSL have been full ones. And she’s full of gratitude.

“The honors college faculty worked every single day with me for so long – people like Dan [Gerth] and Jennifer Richardson put in a lot of time just helping me prepare for my next steps,” Ehsan says. “I cannot thank them enough. I would not have gotten my scholarship without the help of the honors college.”

Senior psychology major Beth Wiese (left) and fellow researcher and recent psychology alumnus Tom Mauer present one of the many research projects Wiese is involved with at UMSL during the Undergraduate Research Symposium this spring. (Photo by Marisol Ramirez)

Alzheimer’s Disease, stone lithography and plant hormones are just a few of the research topics undergraduate students are pursuing this year at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

As the largest public research university in eastern Missouri, it’s not surprising that UMSL offers such diverse research opportunities for undergraduates, getting them in the lab and writing formal papers early in their academic careers.

Building on that tradition, the College of Arts and Sciences awarded eight undergraduate students the CAS Undergraduate Research Award, which funds them up to $1000 each for their proposed projects. It’s an annual and competitive award.

“My research gave me the chance to dig into an area of interest that hadn’t been as heavily covered in the classroom,” said Beth Wiese, a senior psychology major whose project on alcoholism in relation to the Greek economy received funding. “It helped foster a passion for an area that I may have never found without the opportunity to do the research. I also get a hands-on understanding of the scientific method.”

In addition to the CAS Undergraduate Research Award, Wiese got the chance to present one of her projects earlier this month at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, organized and run by UMSL students in the Golden Key International Honour Society.

“URS is great for undergraduate researchers looking to practice presenting their research,” she said. “Plus, it’s an affordable way to do so if they can’t fit a conference into their schedule.”

The eight students who received CAS Undergraduate Research Award funding this year include Abigail Eaker, Rahmah Ghazal, Samantha Kennedy, Michael Mason, Sarah Myers, Victoria A. Rogers, Stephanie Theiss and Beth Wiese. Read more about their individual projects below.

Abigail Eaker
Major: Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Research adviser: Teresa Thiel
Exploring Alternative Carbon Sources for Cyanobacteria
Eaker’s research investigates the ability of different strains of cyanobacteria to use different plants’ sugars as an alternate energy source for photosynthesis. This will help lead to a better understanding of the way cyanobacteria establishes symbiotic relationships with plants, which is crucial because symbiotic cyanobacteria/plant relationships are a rich source of nitrogen, a main ingredient in most fertilizers. Increased understanding of these relationships could help produce a greener source of nitrogen or alternatives to commercial fertilizers in crop production.

Rahmah Ghazal
Major: Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Research adviser: Teresa Thiel
Study of Global Transcription regulator NtcA in cyanobacterium A. variabilis
Cyanobacteria are one of the few organisms capable of photosynthesizing sugars and fixing nitrogen at the same time. The protein NtcA, from the gene ntcA, regulates the production of fixed nitrogen in the cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis. Harnessing the ability to control nitrogen fixation can provide an abundance of fixed nitrogen for fertilizers and an alternate form for fossil fuel. Which nitrogen fixing genes are directly or indirectly regulated by NtcA is poorly understood, which is the focus of Ghazal’s project. She will make an ntcA gene mutant to observe its function and study the differences between the mutant gene that completely lacks the function of NtcA and the expression of genes regulated by NtcA.

Samantha Kennedy
Major: Studio Art
Research adviser: Jeff Sippel
Understanding Stone Lithography
Kennedy is exploring stone lithography processes through the development of her own portfolio by experimenting with multiple drawing techniques and mediums, a variety of stone sizes, paper registration processes and multiple stone color prints. At the end of summer 2016, she will have five editions of stone lithograph prints. Her research aims to determine how to register paper for multiple color stone prints, how to work with reduction applications and how to correctly register and apply color separation techniques while perfecting the stone graining and etching process. In addition to research conducted at UMSL, Kennedy is attending Frogman’s Print Workshop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, this summer.

Michael Mason
Major: Psychology
Research adviser: Matthew Taylor
The Contradiction of Black Masculinity: The Role of Afrocentrism, Self-Compassion and Narcissism
Mason’s project explores the meaning of black masculinity in relation to a variety of worldview and psychological variables. He will examine the role and influence of Afrocentrism, self-compassion and narcissism on black masculinity. Specifically, he will look at the effects of unity and kinship, self-compassion’s influence on practicing empathy, and narcissism’s drive towards self-enhancement, possibly at the expense of and detriment to others. The results have implications for the development of interventions aimed at curtailing violence among black men in communities where such occurrences are frequent.

Sarah Myers
Major: Psychology
Research adviser: Carissa Philippi
The Relationship Between Self-leadership, Psychopathology, and Self-Related Thought
Myer’s research examines relationships between self-leadership, psychopathology (e.g. depression, anxiety) and self-related thought. This is the first study to investigate the relationships, particularly in internal family systems. She is measuring mental health and self-related thought to determine whether there are correlations between self-leadership and psychopathology, and self-leadership and self-related thought. Myer’s hypothesis predicts a negative correlation between self-leadership and pathology as well as a positive correlation between self-leadership and self-related thought.

Victoria A. Rogers
Major: Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Research adviser: Michael R. Nichols
Characterization of an Alzheimer’s Disease-Specific Antibody
Rogers’ research looks to slow neurodegeneration by decreasing the inflammatory response of Alzheimer’s Disease in the brain that is caused by a sticky protein called amyloid-β 42 (A-β42). Protofibrils are a soluble intermediate form of the A-β42 protein and cause a strong inflammatory response. Rogers is examining a new Alzheimer’s-specific antibody being developed at UMSL that targets A-β42 protofibrils, specifically in microglia cells (immune cells that take up foreign material in the brain). She is observing the development of the microglia cells, testing a new assay provided by R&D Systems and then incorporating the new antibody into an assay similar to R&D System’s. If it is selective, the inflammatory components of Alzheimer’s can be targeted and neurodegeneration may be slowed.

Stephanie Theiss
Major: Biology
Research adviser: Bethany Zolman
Characterization of the Arabidopsis DAO gene in auxin metabolism
Auxin is an important plant hormone involved in many growth and developmental processes, including root development in seedlings. Theiss’ research looks to expand on the recent findings that the deoxygenase for auxin oxidation (DAO) gene plays a key role in auxin degradation. Because DAO encodes an auxin degradation enzyme, a loss-of-function mutation in this gene results in auxin accumulation. Using a reverse genetics approach with Arabidopsis thaliana lines that have potential DAO mutations, she is comparing DAO mutants to wild type (non-mutant) Arabidopsis lines by measuring root lengths of seedlings. She is also comparing DAO mutants to wild-type plants. Overexpressing the DAO gene (accomplished by cloning) may reveal consequences of decreased auxin accumulation in parallel with the loss-of-function mutant lines.

Beth Wiese
Major: Psychology
Research adviser: Bettina Casad
Economic Crisis and its Effects on Alcohol Consumption
Wiese’s study looks at the effects of the economic crisis in Greece on social identity and how those effects are related to alcohol consumption. She hypothesizes that the citizens of Greece will now feel a stronger tie to their national heritage instead of feeling like a member of the European Union. The greater the conflict felt by the Greek members of the EU will result in greater amounts of alcohol consumption as a coping mechanism. Wiese is conducting her research in Greece with participants from a partnering university, American University in Greece. Participants complete in-person interviews and focus groups to evaluate their perceptions of how the other members of the EU view them and their current rates of alcohol use.

During their first of many rehearsals this spring, the “Telling: St. Louis” cast and crew conduct a read-through of the original production, which premieres June 3 at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Pictured (from left) are UMSL student assistant Madelyn Boyne, Assistant Professor of Theater Jacqueline Thompson, UMSL student veterans Michael Lato and Harold Taylor, and John Scates, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. (Photo by Evie Hemphill)

Although they’ve just met each other for the first time, the eight people quickly moving chairs into a circle at the University of Missouri–St. Louis aren’t spending much time on small talk.

Under the energetic direction of Jacqueline Thompson, an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Cinema Arts at UMSL, the group is already diving deep into the task at hand: telling the St. Louis region about their military experiences. Together, Joshua Arnold, Darcella Craven, Karen Cross, Michael Lato, Raleigh Muns, John Scates, Margaret Schreffler and Harold Taylor add their voices to script, where each of their stories comes to life.

Taylor describes jumping from airplanes in Georgia. Cross remembers learning to drive a stick shift in Afghanistan. Schreffler opens up about the struggle for support during a spouse’s deployment. Muns finds value in the months he spent assigned to funeral detail. Lato discusses going back to school and pursuing a college degree.

“Telling: St. Louis” debuts June 3 at Kranzberg Arts Center (501 N. Grand Blvd), weaving together the stories of eight individuals in an effort to deepen civilian understanding of the military experience. A total of six performances are set for the first two weekends of June. The event is free, but reservations are required. (Click on the image of the flier for more details.)

With stories as wide-ranging as the places they’ve served around the world, each participant’s words weave around the others’ in fascinating and often moving ways. The seamless, three-act script is the work of Max Rayneard, who individually interviewed all eight cast members at UMSL several months ago.

Rayneard is senior writer and director for The Telling Project, a national performing arts nonprofit that employs theater to deepen society’s understanding of the military and veterans’ experience. And that’s something Jim Craig, chair of UMSL’s Department of Military and Veterans Studies, was eager to bring to St. Louis when he first began spearheading UMSL’s collaboration with The Telling Project this past winter.

“There are lots of historical and cultural references to warriors coming back and then telling their stories as a part of their integration process,” Craig recently told St. Louis Public Radio’s Dale Singer, “and the community that sent them, or the community that they represented, listening to those stories, honestly, openly, trying to comprehend what they just asked their citizens or their warrior representatives to do. We don’t have that in our country, outside of small programs like this. But there’s a move afoot that says this might be what we’re missing.”

Beginning at 7:30 p.m. this Friday, those stories will be in the spotlight at Kranzberg Arts Center (501 N. Grand Blvd), with Thompson, the cast members and two UMSL student assistants putting on a total of six free performances the first two weekends in June (advanced reservations are required).

Since 2008, The Telling Project has developed 40 original productions in cities throughout the country, putting local veterans on stage at well-known venues such as the Guthrie Theater and the Library of Congress. This spring’s partnership marks The Telling Project’s debut in St. Louis, which has the highest concentration of veterans in Missouri.

The Telling Project staff note that because less than one percent of the U.S. population currently serve in the armed forces, Americans have become increasingly separated from those who serve.

“With such a small percentage serving in the military today, contact with veterans must be created and supported,” said Jonathan Wei, The Telling Project’s founder and executive director. “And to have this work supported by UMSL and the Kranzberg Arts Center is truly an honor and means so much to veterans and military family members.”

For more information and to reserve seats, click here.

Media Coverage:
St. Louis Public Radio feature
“St. Louis on the Air” conversation

Associate Professor of Graphic Design Gretchen Schisla (center) motivates her students to pursue projects that endorse social good. (Photo by Dan Younger)

In the last 14 years, University of Missouri–St. Louis Associate Professor of Graphic Design Gretchen Schisla has jump-started student careers. She engages students in the classroom with the same passion and professional expertise she brings to her strategic design firm, Enrich Creative. And Schisla has learned her students have no problem matching her drive and enthusiasm.

“UMSL students are a resourceful group of gifted creatives who work harder than anyone I know,” she said.

Schisla believes design thrives best when it reaches beyond project demands and serves as a platform for social progress. In the spirit of Design for Good, a positive change initiative launched by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, her graphic design seniors identified capstone projects that focused on good causes and showcased their work on the Enrich Creative website.

For her contributions to student success and the design industry at large, Schisla has been named a 2016 AIGA Design Fellow and also the AIGA St. Louis chapter’s member of the month this May.

“This is a great recognition for Gretchen and speaks well of her years as a dedicated professor at UMSL,” said Art and Art History department chair Maureen Quigley, “and as a practicing designer in her professional role as the founder and principal of Enrich Creative. Gretchen embodies both the pedagogical rigor and the entrepreneurial spirit that is so welcome in our program.”

Schisla founded Enrich Creative to work with individuals, organizations and companies who act as agents for positive change. Barnes Jewish Hospital, The Plantrician Project and Green Lagoon Wellbeing Resort (Costa Rica) are a few organizations that enjoy Enrich Creative’s services. Balancing a business and a full course load could be stressful, but for Schisla, it’s an opportunity and joy.

“It has been gratifying to help build and sustain a distinctive program with a reputation for graduating outstanding students,” she said. “Literally hundreds of young designers have gone on to pursue rewarding careers in the St. Louis design community and beyond. It means the world to know I’m a part of their success.”

Just graduated, newly employed and eager to apply lessons from UMSL’s Gender Studies program to the world of cosmetology, Mattie Lindsey emphasizes “the tremendous amount of support” available to UMSL students facing life’s challenges and surprises. (Photo by August Jennewein)

“I think it is important for all of us to ask ourselves, ‘Does the world need more of this?’ And yes, the world needs more love, compassion and embracing each other’s self worth.”

A few days away from earning a much-anticipated bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Mattie Lindsey is describing a freeing decision made roughly a year ago. Inside the café of a campus library that Lindsey first explored as a high school student, the conversation keeps returning to UMSL faculty, staff and fellow students – and to gratitude for their support.

Linder Williams and Tara Cramer in Disability Access Services. PRIZM, the queer-trans-straight alliance on campus. Faculty advisers and mentors. Associate Dean Beth Eckelkamp, whose counsel proved especially pivotal in the spring of 2015, when Lindsey was seriously doubting long-time plans to become a physician.

“To know that someone at that level will take that time with students – it is inspirational and refreshing,” Lindsey says of Eckelkamp’s guidance and care, which led to a significant shift in major. “That was definitely a turning point.”

Even before transferring to UMSL as a pre-med student in 2013, Lindsey had already invested a lot of time and energy in the field of medicine. After impressing a leading stem cell researcher during a high school research symposium held at UMSL many years ago, Lindsey moved to California at the age of 18 and worked in a stem cell and gene therapy lab in Sacramento.

“But a few years after moving to California I lost all control,” Lindsey says. “After spending time in four psych wards, I was given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Then the six-year journey of recovery began. Working with my treatment team and having the support of family and friends, I continued persevering to overcome the challenges involved with managing a mental illness and learning to live a stable and successful life.”

In partnership with sister, best friend and Beautiful You founder Stephanie Lindsey, Mattie Lindsey aims to help grow the St. Louis-based hair and makeup business in ways that serve each individual and challenge society’s typical definitions of beauty. (Photo courtesy Mattie Lindsey)

The Fenton, Missouri, native speaks frankly and with a lot of positivity about the diagnosis, the time spent in psychiatric wards, and the difficult days and months that followed. Family members, and especially Lindsey’s sister, Stephanie, proved to be a critical network of support, especially early on, and traveled to the West Coast to assist.

“When Stephanie asked me if I was ready to go home [to St. Louis], I completely surrendered,” Lindsey recalls. “It was realizing that sometimes you have to lean into people. If I had not leaned in and surrendered and allowed them to support me, I wouldn’t have survived.”

Meanwhile, Lindsey continued to push toward becoming a doctor and started strong at UMSL after a year at St. Louis Community College–Meramec.

“When I first came here I was still on the pre-medicine track,” says the former biochemistry and biotechnology major. “I was pretty successful in my first set of classes, but then something just wasn’t connecting, and things were rather rocky. But I was in contact with the Disability Access Services office, and that connection was very valuable. I was just very vulnerable, and they were there to receive that and to support me in any way they could.”

That’s what Lindsey has found striking time and again as a UMSL student – the countless campus community members who “give from their hearts” to see students succeed. And the interactions with Eckelkamp at another critical crossroads, in the spring of 2015, are yet another example.

“As I became more stable, my interests shifted, and I realized I didn’t want to do medicine, but I still wanted to serve people,” Lindsey says. “And I realized I could still serve people in this [beauty] industry – and get to work with my sister and best friend. What’s most exciting is that there’s so much science, math, psychology and gender studies in cosmetology.”

From there, in consultation with campus mentors, a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies took shape for Lindsey, who used a capstone project in the Gender Studies program to evaluate and refine the aims of Beautiful You, the local hair and makeup business Lindsey’s sister, Stephanie, founded.

“We are looking at what the standards of beauty have been and defining from there what our mission statement and core values are,” says Lindsey, who is now chief creative officer for Beautiful You. “I am so grateful for the knowledge and vocabulary that I have gained from the gender studies coursework. I now have tools to continue evolving our business design and services to welcome and honor all people.”

That message is reflected in Beautiful You’s newly redesigned website, which Lindsey has taken the lead on.

“We don’t want it to showcase unrealistic models, when the mission of Beautiful You is to personalize the experience for the individual,” Lindsey says. “We want people to see on our website that hey, they’re having fun. And our idea is to bring out the inner beauty in people.”

Like beauty, life “does not have to look a certain way,” Lindsey adds, looking back on the journey to this place.

“If you’re caught up in these expectations of how something’s supposed to look, you can really miss an opportunity that could be the most fulfilling experience of your life. I thought I was going to be a physician, and then life happened and my interests shifted. That doesn’t mean I write off everything I’ve learned – no, I utilize that even more to find something that I really want to do.”

A pair of recently aired TV spots showcase the beauty of the UMSL campus and its collaborative, hard-working community.

The Cardinals win. Carpenter extends his multi-hit streak. It might rain. Traffic is light – unless of course you’re on your way to work.

Traditionally, viewers are all tuning into morning and evening television newscasts as a source of news, weather, sports or traffic. For the month of May, viewers also were greeted with a heavy dose of the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Taking a year to produce, UMSL created what’s referred to as a campus “beauty spot” to give viewers an often-first and surprising look at the campus, students, academics and culture. The lengthy production duration was required in order to show the campus at its seasonally most attractive, capture the excitement of campus events and feature the new Recreation and Wellness Center. UMSL Marketing & Communications then placed 30-second and 60-second spots in the local news segments on KTVI (Channel 2), KMOV (Channel 4) and KSDK (Channel 5) in order to primarily reach parents of potential local students.

“We have used several marketing techniques quite effectively over the past several years,” UMSL’s Assistant Director for Marketing Jackie Schlarman said. “Everyone sees our billboards. And we’ve heard very positive things about them. We’re also heavily involved in radio and digital marketing to specific audience segments most likely interested in undergraduate or graduate programs. Because digital marketing is highly targeted and exclusive, only those that we’re trying to influence would see or hear our messages.”

UMSL has in the past created and placed spots on local cable programming geared toward niche audiences. The new spots are intended for a broader audience and to address a specific concern.

“We know that most people who haven’t visited UMSL aren’t aware that the campus is so attractive and the communities which immediately surround it are safe and quite vibrant,” UMSL Chief Marketing Officer Ron Gossen said. “The combination of aerial, classroom, laboratory, service and athletic shots provides a fuller, more accurate picture of UMSL.

“We have 470 verdant and rolling acres that attractively present UMSL’s buildings of varied and interesting styles,” Gossen said. “UMSL students enjoy their educational pursuits in an appealing traditional campus setting. Not all universities can say that.”

Gossen said that network television advertisements can be expensive to produce and costly to run. Those factors have been a deterrent for UMSL with its very tight marketing budget. Producing the ads internally was a substantial cost-savings, and finely targeting parents’ viewing habits was an efficiency that made it possible. He noted that no other medium could visually present the beauty of the campus and dispel the misconceptions that abound about UMSL.

Schlarman said the new spots would be used in a variety of other ways in the near future – including social media, as video pre-roll and for internal promotion to build campus pride.

Spring grad and Delta Zeta member Cameron Nunn will research black holes through a Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Arkansas. Here, she poses in front of Benton Hall, where she spent many hours completing her undergraduate degree in physics from UMSL. (Photo by Lindsey Smith)

When Cameron Nunn visited the University of Missouri–St. Louis as a high school freshman, she noticed something she appreciated: There were female professors in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

“Knowing that there were women in the department and my fond memories of campus during the Missouri Junior Science, Engineering and Humanities Symposium helped me choose UMSL later,” Nunn said.

Now she’s working her way to being a female professional in the field as well. After graduating from UMSL this spring with a bachelor’s degree in physics with an emphasis in astrophysics, Nunn is headed to the Space and Planetary Science doctoral program at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She said she owes a lot of her determination and discipline to her time at UMSL.

“The Department of Physics and Astronomy showed me that it is not only possible for a woman to get a degree in physics, but that women can be equally successful in the field,” she said. “A physics degree isn’t all roses all the time. It’s not the easiest field of study, but a supportive department goes a long way helping students get through.”

Nunn also received financial support along the way with a large part of her scholarship money coming from the Pierre Laclede Honors College, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Missouri Department of Higher Education’s Bright Flight Scholarship.

While at UMSL, Nunn took advantage of the undergraduate research opportunities available to students. She worked with comet specialist and physics Professor Erika Gibb on analyzing data and identifying different organic molecules found in comets.

“I was also able to help with two or three actual observation runs,” Nunn said. “That means that I was able to take control of the telescope remotely (the telescope we were using is in Hawaii) and have a hands-on data-collecting experience.”

Nunn found that hands-on experience in her classes as well. For her Observation Astronomy capstone course, she and her classmates received training on the UMSL Schwartz Observatory’s telescope and were able to conduct research at the facility.

“We were allowed to do any kind of astronomical research we felt appropriate,” Nunn said. “Originally I was going to track the period of the Galilean moons [the four moons closest to Jupiter and visible from Earth], but you really need a lot of clear nights in a row to do that well. Since spring weather in St. Louis doesn’t always cooperate, I ended up taking photos of the moons on four different nights.”

By tracking their movement, Nunn determined it is possible to identify each of the moons by their movement alone.

Along with her extracurricular commitments – Student Government Association Senate Speaker, ResLife Engineering Living/Learning Community Mentor, honors college SMART mentor, and member of Colleges Against Cancer, Delta Zeta, Golden Key and Physics Club – Nunn said that UMSL provided her the social network and academic foothold she needed to get into graduate school.

Nunn’s headed to a Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Arkansas. It’s the highest award the university can give out, covering all the costs of attending school while also providing Nunn a generous stipend.

“I will be a research assistant in a lab that uses Hubble data to study black holes,” she said.

In the future, she hopes to study the satellites of gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn and their potential for life, but she’s keeping her options open.

“Who knows, I could fall in love with black hole research.”

The painting “Union Pacific” isn’t Afton Joiner’s first work to appear in Litmag, but it is her favorite, says the UMSL art major. (Images courtesy Kate Watt)

Driving home to Illinois from the University of Missouri–St. Louis one day, art major Afton Joiner noticed a freight train chugging along beside Interstate 64. The way the sunlight was hitting the locomotive took her breath away – and also revealed her next steps on an abstract oil painting she’d been puzzling over.

“At that precise moment I knew what had to be,” says Joiner, whose finished painting appears within the latest issue of Litmag, an annually published, UMSL-student-driven literary magazine. “I had not until that point created a piece of work with my father in mind. He used to work for the Union Pacific railroad. I decided to photograph a few trains and use the images as my inspiration, also changing the engine number to 0823, his birthdate.”

Amber Scholl’s visual piece “Ascension” appears on Page 54 of the newest edition of Litmag, a literary magazine she also helped produce alongside fellow UMSL students on staff this past year.

“Union Pacific” is one of 20 artistic and literary pieces that fill the 2016 edition of Litmag, which was released last month and is in its 28th year. Produced by a team of UMSL students working under the guidance of faculty adviser Kate Watt, it’s a publication that Joiner considers central to her time on campus as a creative individual.

“After my first submission and the pride I felt along with the excitement I saw from the Litmag staff, I knew I had to continue submitting work until I graduate,” she says. “Litmag is truly a wonderful outlet – it encourages students to continue doing what they love and that no matter how many ups or downs they have with their passion, there is always someone else who will take pleasure in what you create.”

Watt describes the process as “not unlike preparing a meal,” with much care and consideration going into choosing “the best ingredients” for readers.

“We reviewed hundreds of submissions, so many of which were laced with memorable characters, rich imagery, keen insight and remarkable craft,” Watt says. “It was a momentous challenge to choose which pieces to showcase. The artistic and literary talent we have on campus is truly impressive.”

Sarah Hayes, who was part of this year’s Litmag staff, says she wouldn’t trade the practice putting together a professional, high-quality literary magazine for anything.

Senior education major Grace Gogarty’s “Burger of Life” cover art was Litmag’s Best Art Submission contest winner.

“That’s the kind of experience you can’t get in most other classes,” says Hayes, who is also editor of The Current’s arts and entertainment section. “The most challenging part would probably be choosing which pieces go into the magazine. There were so many great pieces that didn’t get in for one reason or another.”

As a member of the production team, Hayes helped organize and design the pages and the page matter. Her personal project was the cover design, featuring the work of fellow student Grace Gogarty.

“I think the cover came out rather beautifully and eye catching, so hopefully people see it and pick it up,” says Hayes, whose own short story “Yuki-Omba,” inspired by Japanese mythology, also appears in the publication.

To access a digital version of Litmag’s 2016 edition, click here. And for a free hard copy, stop by UMSL’s Department of English in Lucas Hall.

Submissions open in October for the 2017 issue. Those interested in submitting fiction, poetry, nonfiction, photographer or other artwork will find guidelines here.

BSN major Madison Bick works a shift at the front desk of Oak Hall. She concluded her freshman year at UMSL this spring with a 4.0 GPA and two campus awards including “Desk Assistant of the Year” and “Shining Star.” (Photo by August Jennewein)

With New Student Orientations kicking off this month for the fall semester, it’s exciting to learn of all the opportunities the University of Missouri–St. Louis offers to incoming freshman. Just ask College of Nursing student Madison Bick, who wrapped up her first year at UMSL this spring, and she’ll tell you incoming freshman are in for quite a year.

“As a whole, my freshman year was nothing short of a dream – I learned, I grew, and I definitely treasured every single moment,” said Bick, who chose UMSL for its outstanding nursing program and the Pierre Laclede Honors College. “The community I found here is incredible and so supportive.”

Bick’s UMSL journey began with a career path already in mind. She’s earning a nursing degree to get into graduate school for midwifery – an interest she discovered at 15 while watching the Netflix documentary, “The Business of Being Born.”

“I began researching and reading about midwives in more underprivileged, low-income areas and the importance of that work,” Bick said. “I started to see the issues surrounding birth – the ‘them and I’ and ‘them and us’ issue – and I realized when I grew up, that would be an issue I faced, and it became personal.”

As a future midwife, she wants to promote “birth without fear.”

“It’s not some medical procedure or process,” Bick said. “It’s the gift of delivering a person into the world.”

She takes that stance seriously, realizing that her experience at UMSL is the start of something greater in her life.

“I’m here because I want to make a difference,” Bick said. “I know everyone says that, but college is a platform for me to help these moms and babies that otherwise might not be helped. I want to be a woman for other women.”

Her goal is to one day open a nonprofit for mothers and children who need a little extra treatment and maybe can’t afford prenatal of postnatal care.

And while Bick’s future looms large in her mind and studies, she is also making the most of her present by tapping into the campus community.

In her first year, she joined Student’s for Life, Triton Health Educators and UMSL’s Residential Hall Association, where she worked as a desk assistant in UMSL’s Oak Hall.

“Being a desk assistant gives you a unique opportunity to get a snippet into the lives of people,” Bick said. “A lot of people will come up and confide in you, tell you how their day’s been or tell you what’s going on in their life. You’re kind of a fixture in their new home, so you’re in a unique situation to interact with them.”

At this spring’s One is Done Celebration, Residential Life awarded her the 2016 “Desk Assistant of the Year” and the Office of Student Involvement named her the 2016 “Shining Star.”

Both recognitions are not surprising, considering that Bick was certainly a new face to know on campus. She was featured in UMSL’s 2015 Founders Dinner video and has also had quite a presence in the honors college community.

“The honors college was by far the most cherished and impactful part of my freshman year – the professors there quickly became my friends and the students, my family,” she said.

Looking ahead to sophomore year, Bick will join the honors college’s Student Mentor Advisory and Recruitment Team and be the Honors Living Learning Community residential peer mentor in Oak Hall, which has her living with, mentoring and tutoring fellow honors college students in Professor Kimberly Baldus’ class.

Bick also plans on working with nursing faculty to start a new interest group for incoming nursing freshmen called “Connect,” which will further establish a sense of community and pride within nursing cohorts.

Undergraduate research pertaining to obstetrics and gynecology, maternal health and community health is in Bick’s future as well.

“I’m at a school I love, surrounded by people I love, studying to enter a field that will allow me to better love and serve people every single day,” she said. “Freshman year was unimaginably joyful, challenging and fulfilling. I can’t wait for sophomore year to be all these things and more.”

For more information on New Student Orientation or to register click here.

Coming full circle in her academic and professional career, School of Social Work alumna Angela Ruppel is now the manager of Mercy Hospital’s oncology center where she had completed her practicum only a few years earlier. (Photo by August Jennewein)

When Angela Ruppel decided to go back to school at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and pursue a master of social work degree in 2008, she felt a little nervous. And her family shared the sentiment.

“I had to consider my husband, kids and all the stuff day-to-day life entails, but my family was really supportive and understood I needed a career,” Ruppel said. “I had friends who asked me, ‘Are you going to walk at graduation when you earn your degree?’ and I had to tell them, ‘Yes! My kids need to see me cross that stage!’”

Having earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UMSL in 2001 and working as a crisis counselor at Magellan Health for seven years, Ruppel knew she wanted to make a deep impact in the helping profession.

After grueling semesters of attending graduate level courses in the evening and managing 40-hour workweeks at her day job, all while finding time for home life, Ruppel began her MSW practicum at Mercy Hospital’s Clayton/Clarkson Oncology and Hematology Clinic.

Upon graduation, Ruppel was hired on as an oncology social worker at Mercy Hospital, and just two years later, she became the manager of her department. Counseling clients through high-stress situations prepared Ruppel for her new role.

“When I tell people I’m a social worker in an oncology center, they get defensive and grim and say, ‘Oh,’ expecting me to dwell on the worst. But even though there’s struggle, there are bright spots too,” Ruppel said. “Patients might be overwhelmed and believe their lives are over. My team and I talk with them, go over resources and listen. Sometimes that’s exactly what they need – someone who can listen. Previous patients will come back once they’re feeling better and update us on how their lives are going. This lets us know we made a difference, and that feels good.”

Ruppel believes the organizational, critical thinking and empathy skills she learned in UMSL’s School of Social Work have allowed her to be effective in a field that constantly requires quick thinking and flexibility.

“We don’t know the patient’s background when they walk through the door, so we assess and meet their needs where we can,” Ruppel said. “They can feel a loss of control. Their lives become unfamiliar to them, but we’re there to provide them with resources and be a vessel that helps guide them through diagnosis, treatment and recovery – the whole journey.”

Ruppel confided that she respects the power of a listening ear and genuine support, as without guidance and encouragement in her academic journey, she wouldn’t be in a position to help others.

Although going back to school is daunting, Ruppel proved the challenge can be met. For prospective students on the fence as to whether seeking a new degree is the right move, she has a few words of advice.

“Talk to your family. Let them express their feelings about it. Do your homework. Weigh your pros and cons. Don’t give up. Don’t accept no for an answer.”

The incoming class of Opportunity Scholars stand on the steps outside the Pierre Laclede Honors College at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. They are (from left to right) Kyra Chappell, Danielle Friz, Jalen James-Patterson, Madison Koogler and Mickkell Abrams.

The moment marks their first steps into budding college careers at UMSL, thanks, in part, to their all-expenses-paid scholarship.

The occasion was caught by UMSL photographer August Jennewein and is the latest to be featured in Eye on UMSL.

UMSL archaeology instructor Daniel Pierce (at left) leads an excavation at Regent Spring as part of the summer Excelsior Springs [Missouri] Field School he started in 2015. This year’s dig was featured in a mini-documentary made by Missouri School of Journalism Professor and KOMU (Channel 8) reporter Jamie Grey. (Photo by Kevin Morgan, Kevin Morgan Photography)

A group of University of Missouri–St. Louis students spent time in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, earlier this summer digging, quite literally, into the history of the small town as part of a field school offered through UMSL’s Department of Anthropology and Archaeology.

Last year, archaeology expert, alumnus and adjunct instructor Daniel Pierce began the Excelsior Springs Field School, which accepts up to 15 students each summer who want to get their hands dirty and learn about archaeology fieldwork for two weeks. This year’s efforts caught the attention of Missouri School of Journalism Professor and KOMU (Channel 8) reporter Jamie Grey, who documented the dig and uncoverings. (Click here to watch her piece or scroll below to play the embedded video.)

Using toothbrushes and water, Daniel Pierce (center) and UMSL students clean artifacts unearthed earlier in the day. (Photo by Jamie Grey)

After watching Grey’s mini-documentary, UMSL Daily caught up with Pierce on Excelsior Springs and the opportunities field experiences present UMSL students.

What drew you to Excelsior Springs?
The city has an amazing history that is all around you. Excelsior Springs, which today has only around 12,000 people, used to get over 10,000 visitors a day at just one of the mineral springs – not to mention the amazing spas and hotels that drew visitors from around the world. This was a real tourist hot spot for the first half of the 20th century, and hardly anyone even knows about it today. Even Al Capone loved the place, and there is no shortage of stories about him and other celebrities from the area who frequented the city. There are few cities that I have been to with such a rich and interesting history. When I got the opportunity to start my own field program, Excelsior Springs was my first choice. I want to be a part of rediscovering that history. Plus, the city is great to us, and we are incredibly grateful for their hospitality. So it is our pleasure to help them promote their unique and interesting past before it is lost forever.

On hands and knees, students spend the day carefully brushing away dirt from artifacts and old structures covered by earth. (Photo by Kevin Morgan, Kevin Morgan Photography)

What does the field school offer UMSL students?
It offers students an opportunity to learn the ropes in a real archaeological site. This is not some site that has already been combed through and is just being used as a training site. We are doing real work here, making discoveries together that not even the local historians and museums know about yet. It’s a pretty incredible feeling to discover something – an object, a wall or even just new information –that no one has seen or known about for generations.

Do you have any specific goals in mind with the field school?
I want to teach the students all of the things that may be asked of them if they take a job in archaeology after graduation. If their new boss tells them, “Can you go set up an excavation unit over there?” or “Can you map out that unit?” I want them to be able to get right to it. This will make their job easier and make them more valuable in the workforce. Being pre-trained for the field will give them a leg up on other potential employees that don’t have real-life field experience.

Daniel Pierce (at left) teaches students what to look for as they sift through earth and dirt, often finding bits of broken glass, but occasionally finding an unusual artifact. (Photo by Jamie Grey)

Besides excavations, what else do students experience at the Excelsior Springs Field School?
This year and last, we got to tour some of the historic sites and museums in Excelsior Springs, as well as the Archaeometry Lab at the University of Missouri – Columbia Research Reactor. This lab is one of the top archaeological science labs in the world and analyzes things like ancient pottery and stone tools through chemistry and physics.

What’s one of the best parts of the field experience?
I believe a big part of the field experience is the camaraderie that is developed with the rest of the crew. Being able to spend two weeks side by side with your fellow students working, eating, relaxing and basically living together is a great way to develop that. A group of students who previously barely knew each other can become such great friends by the end of two weeks together.

How can students get involved in the field school?
Students need only to sign up for it like a normal summer class. We make all of the arrangements for lodging out there. Once enrolled, I will get them all of the information they need. Students don’t even need to be anthropology majors. This year, we had students from history, sociology, chemistry, biology and even music.

To read about additional UMSL archaeology field experiences, click here. Students interested particularly in the Excelsior Springs Field School can contact Daniel Pierce via email or come by his office on campus in 512 Clark Hall.

As participants in the Kakehashi Project this spring, a group of UMSL students spent several days in Tokyo and several more on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. Two of the students, Kristy Gammill (far left in front row, with scarf) and Kristin Wyninegar (center back, in purple), shared some reflections with UMSL Daily. (Photo by Hosea T. Covington)

Nine days goes pretty fast – just ask the University of Missouri–St. Louis students who flew to Japan for a jam-packed week there earlier this year. But a relatively short period of time can also make a lasting impression, as it did in this case.

It was a return trip for a few of the students, including senior Japanese major Kristy Gammill, whose initial experience in Japan occurred before she began studying the language. For Kristin Wyninegar, a now-graduated communication major, it was her first opportunity to travel internationally – and her second trip ever on an airplane.

For both of them, selected alongside 21 fellow UMSL students to participate in the Japan Foundation’s Kakehashi Project this past March, the experience is still underway, in a sense. And that’s exactly the sort of outcome the Kakehashi Project, which aims to deepen mutual understanding between Japan and the U.S., seeks for students of both countries.

Wyninegar sees useful connections between her own feeling, in Japan, of being outside her comfort zone and the experience of international college students and others on her home campus. Gammill is now looking into an unexpected area of interest as she takes steps to work in Japan after she graduates from UMSL this fall.

“I realized that Japan-U.S. relations are so important and that the countries really complement one another in good ways,” Gammill says of her lessons from the Kakehashi trip. “And it makes me want to really reach out and have a more active role in those relations.”

Together with several other Japanese majors as well as UMSL students in fields ranging from graphic design to criminology, Gammill first explored Tokyo, the nation’s capital. Under the guidance of UMSL faculty member Beth Huebner and Associate Dean Beth Eckelkamp, the group visited shrines, traversed the electronics district and saw many sights. They also traveled to Fukuoka, a city located on Japan’s southernmost major island, to interact with Japanese university students, stay with families, experience Noh theater and further explore the culture.

“We got to meet the only female Kyogen performer, and she taught us special moves,” Wyninegar recalls. Wyninegar was also impressed by the country’s food, the cleanliness and, quite specifically, the toilets – many of which have heated seats.

“It’s just a button you push,” she adds. “It doesn’t have to be heated.”

At a Japanese university, the UMSL crew attended lectures on the history of U.S.-Japan relations and spent time with Japanese peers.

“We showed them the UMSL YMCA song, and they loved it,” Wyninegar says. “And that was one of my favorite parts, meeting the students there. They were happy to see us, and we were happy to see them.”

Students received individual tours of a campus one day, and Gammill was delighted to be paired with a peer tour guide who did not speak English. She further sharpened her language skills during a two-day homestay, where she served as an informal translator between the family and the other UMSL student they were hosting.

“I felt like we had so much in common,” Gammill says of the time with Japanese people during the trip. “ It was especially touching for me to hear them describe – whether they were government officials or host families or professors – how they felt about America. I mean, of course there are people who harbor hostilities towards the U.S. and Japan. But the dominant opinion was that, wow, we have a really good relationship with this country. And they want to continue attracting Americans and teach people English, teach them about American culture. So that was really cool.”

Wyninegar notes that it was UMSL’s first time participating in the Kakehashi Project, something that faculty member Laura Miller, the Eiichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese Studies, has championed. Fully funded and free to the student participants, approximately 100 UMSL students applied last fall, with about 40 selected for interviews before 23 were chosen for the trip.

“I’m so glad that UMSL got to participate,” Gammill says. “It was really nice to see us not only being on the same trip as prestigious schools like the University of Denver but also being just as involved and performing just as well.”

This fall, as she wraps up her bachelor’s degree at UMSL, Gammill intends to apply to the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, a competitive employment opportunity that places U.S. citizens in schools and local government roles somewhere in Japan. She’d originally been thinking she’d teach English in an elementary school, but while in Japan this spring she met a current JET participant who is working in community relations.

“It’s a much more intensive role within JET, and after this program and learning about the position and seeing how important it is, I’m really determined to get that position,” Gammill says.

Another UMSL student is applying her experience on the trip at a local grocery store, Wyninegar notes.

“We were challenged to bring the experience back, and she works at Schnucks, so she’ll be taking some different Japanese flavors and foods to Schnucks corporate, and we’re just going to try and keep reaching out to the community,” Wyninegar says. “I’ve been to different leadership conferences and such, and you get all of this excitement, and then you come back but nothing really happens. So I think it’s really great that we’re still working on it.”

Both Gammill and Wyninegar came away from the trip amazed at the hospitality they experienced in Japan as foreigners and tourists. Looking back on two separate incidents in restaurants, where they and other UMSL students were struggling to place accurate orders and pay, the two of them share a laugh. One might understandably grow frustrated with the failures of communication, Gammill adds, but the Japanese servers were only patient and kind.

The interactions with fellow UMSL community members were also wonderful, she says, pointing out that because of all their different majors and the sheer size of the university, there were unfamiliar faces at the start of the trip back in March.

“I would have never really interacted with them, but now we’re ‘tomodachis,’” Gammill says with a smile. “We’re friends.”

One Great Lakes Valley Conference champion, two GLVC runner-ups, five NCAA tournament team bids, a strong overall team record of 174-104-7 and much more: It all added up to a stellar 2015-16 year for the University of Missouri–St. Louis Tritons. UMSL Athletics’ newly published Year in Review revisits a few of the most incredible moments.

From the defense of its Arch Cup title by men’s golf in September, to women’s soccer earning its first NCAA tournament bid since 1983 in November, to pitcher Hannah Perryman breaking the NCAA Division II all-time strikeouts record in April, UMSL’s athletic teams have much to be proud of looking back on their most recent seasons.

Check out the photo-driven rundown by clicking here, and celebrate those Tritons!

(Photo by August Jennewein)

The University of Missouri–St. Louis is hosting its first-ever Quick Admit Day for undergraduate transfer students from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 6 in Room 351 of the Millennium Student Center. The goal is to streamline the normal admission process for late deciders.

“This really is a unique opportunity,” said transfer specialist Christy Hummel. “We will evaluate students for admission based on the unofficial transcripts they bring in July 6. They simply must sign an affidavit stating they will have their official transcripts sent to us.”

“If admitted,” she said, “students can meet immediately with an adviser and enroll in classes for the fall semester. They also can attend our Transfer Student Orientation later that day.”

Hummel added that the institution will evaluate the effectiveness of the event to determine if it holds similar activities in the future.

UMSL will waive its application fee for students participating in Quick Admit Day. For more information, contact Hummel at 314-516-6943 or askchristy@umsl.edu.