A new video highlights the welcoming but challenging atmosphere students find in the Pierre Laclede Honors College at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The Pierre Laclede Honors College is preparing to celebrate its 30th anniversary at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and a new video highlights the ways it enhances the UMSL experience for its students.

The video includes testimonials from current students and recent graduates trumpeting benefits they’ve received from being part of the honors college community.

“It’s important to be in a space where you know you’re going to be supported and you know you’re going to be comfortable,” liberal studies graduate Michael Dunlap said. “For me, the honors college and UMSL was that space.”

“You get the opportunity to take great classes from really experienced professors, but you also get to participate in a very social and close-knit environment, and that’s really unique to the honors college,” said Nicole Gevers, who earned her degree last spring from the UMSL/Washington University in St. Louis Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program.

The honors college is a certificate program that can be paired with any major without adding extra classes or extending the time required to graduate.

Courses are writing intensive and offered seminar style to engage students in discussion and critical thinking. The student-to-faculty ration is 13-to-1, and there are merit scholarships for all students admitted in good standing to the program.

It also sponsors student organizations that encourage students to become involved at UMSL, and it provides students with internship and independent study opportunities that can benefit them in their future careers.

“The honors college is really about individualizing your education,” Dean Edward Munn Sanchez said. “We structure what we do around the needs that our students have.”

He added: “When you choose the honors college, what you’re choosing is a place that’s really going to create opportunities for you.”

Sociology major Stephanie Daniels is serving as the editor-in-chief of The Current. (Photo by August Jennewein)

One could have forgiven Stephanie Daniels for not pursuing it.

It would have been understandable if she had decided that, in between class and the more than 40 hours she spends each week working at the Apple Store, she simply didn’t have time for one more activity – particularly something as involved as serving as the editor-in-chief of a college newspaper.

But Daniels, a senior majoring in sociology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, won’t shy away from a challenge, so she applied for and ultimately won the opportunity to direct The Current, which is publishing for its 54th year at UMSL.

Daniels is figuring out how to meet the many responsibilities that come with her new title – planning and monitoring the activities of staff members, editing and designing their stories, all in addition to her own reporting and writing.

“If I want to be as successful as I see myself, life is never going to be comfortable,” Daniels said. “You’re never going to be in a spot where you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is comfortable. I can manage this.’ I’m not saying live your life where you’re just overwhelmed, but I think that it’s always a good thing to feel like you’re right there, where you’re pushing yourself but you’re not pushing yourself over the edge.”

Ryan Krull, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Communication and Media who serves as The Current’s faculty advisor, believes Daniels is well suited for her new role.

“She seems really good at finding ways for people to do their own thing but at the same time have their efforts benefit the organization,” he said. “She’s allowed people to make their jobs their own, but at the same time have a good amount of group cohesion and still have everyone on the same page.”

That’s not to say it doesn’t have the potential to get a little overwhelming. But it’s easier to manage doing something she’s passionate about, as journalism has been.

Daniels has always loved to write going back to third grade, when she used to fill up mini-notebooks with her poetry. It’s one of the reasons she joined the newspaper staff while a student at Ritenour High School and also why she decided to add media studies as a minor since transferring to UMSL from St. Louis Community College–Forest Park.

She was enrolled in a feature writing class taught by Krull last year, and he encouraged her to submit a story for The Current. It turned out well enough that she was asked to serve as the newspaper’s features editor when Katelyn Chostner was its editor-in-chief.

It was in the same course that Daniels penned an essay, “Neat,” which told the personal story of how she came to embrace her free-form hair – and the empowerment she found in the process.

Krull had the students write a hypothetical pitch they might use to convince a professional publication to publish their work. But Daniels didn’t just write the pitch. She sent it off to the Riverfront Times, which published the story last January. It also ran in the RFT’s sister publication, Orlando Weekly.

More recently, Daniels lent reporting assistance and shared a byline on a story Krull wrote for the Riverfront Times about three still-unsolved murders of women from the same area of south St. Louis that occurred between March 1990 and February 1991.

“I never would have thought that I would have been on the phone with a detective who was once over the major case squad going over autopsy reports,” Daniels said. “That never would have been something I thought I would have done or even could have access to, so that was really cool. It was really cool to see an investigative story take shape and all the elements that went into it, even reaching out to the family, going to addresses that we thought belonged to some of them, going and knocking on doors and leaving notes for people.”

Finding time for similar side projects will likely be more difficult with The Current set to resume its normal schedule with school in session.

She’s set some goals for how she would like the next year to go beyond the staff hitting all of its deadlines.

“I’m trying to have people understand that it doesn’t have to be strictly business,” Daniels said. “Let’s have fun together. Let’s create memories together because it’s like any student organization, any other club on campus. Part of that isn’t just getting work done. I also want to stress the fact that we have a huge opportunity to make connections with one another, personally and even professionally. We all love to write. Who knows where those paths will take us?”

She also has been working with fellow student Victoria Reed to try to launch a mentorship program with nearby high schools such as Normandy, Ritenour, Pattonville and McCluer South Berkeley. The idea would be to bring students passionate about writing to UMSL and have them shadow The Current staff members, exposing them to news production while also introducing them to the university.

Daniels is starting to think about what she will do after she leaves the university with her graduation scheduled for May.

“The perfect scenario for me would be to be a writer that meshes together sociology and journalism, and uses sociology as my compass to be able to navigate stories and to uncover the why behind it all,” she said. “Most people in society aren’t like, ‘Let me log into this scholarly journal and read this research.’ I think that’s where journalism and its creativity can come in and sort of bridge that gap, like, ‘Hey, this is an issue that is showing up in the research,’ but not only just placing a finger on the issue but going into the community and actually talking to real people to get that side of it as well.”

Members of the student Move-In Crew help usher new students and their belongings into Oak Hall Friday during Move-In Day ahead of the start of the fall semester. (Photos by August Jennewein)

When Rebecca Grossheim pulled up to her new home at the University of Missouri–St. Louis Friday, she received a warm greeting.

A few men’s basketball players were there and ready to assist with her move. They grabbed plants and plastic totes from her car and then navigated the busy stairways of Oak Hall. Within a matter of minutes, Grossheim was unpacked and ready to settle into her new life and room at UMSL.

This was just one of the many scenes Friday morning as new students arrived on South Campus. Parents, first-year students and UMSL volunteers filled Oak Hall for Move-In Day 2019, and campus photographer August Jennewein was there to capture some of the busy but joyous moments.

“It was good to have all this help,” said Grossheim, a business major from Alton, Illinois. “It was done really fast. We moved my sister in a couple weeks ago, and it took like an hour.”

Luggage, laundry baskets and other necessities flowed through the lawn and entryways of Oak Hall as students arrived ahead of Monday’s classes.

Ashton Hartman (right) and her family traveled from Fulton, Missouri, for Friday’s move. The political science major, who has ambitions of becoming a legislator, is eager to study in the busy hub of St. Louis.

“Everything is centrally located, and everyone here is so nice and welcoming,” Hartman said. “I’m excited about this next step, but it’s a little nerve-racking.”

Faculty and staff members also welcomed and assisted new students in the moving process. Kristin Sobolik (second from left), provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, was among the crowd.

Lorne St. Christopher II pulled an all-nighter preparing for the move. But with the help of his parents, the Opportunity Scholar and engineering major was able to move in swiftly.

“I’m excited for him,” Lili St. Christopher said. “I think he made a good choice with UMSL.”

Volunteers met new students and their families curbside Friday and helped them bring items to their rooms.

A group of excited returning students greeted new Tritons with smiles and words of encouragement as they entered Oak Hall. Nursing major Hunter Stroup was among them and encouraged students to dive into campus life.

“I lived in the dorm my freshman year, but I wasn’t involved my first semester,” she said. “I went out and joined a couple of organizations my second semester, which opened up doors to meet new people and feel more connected on campus. It really makes a difference.”

Students will have plenty of opportunities to learn about campus organizations in the coming weeks, particularly through the Fall Involvement Expo from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 28 outside the Thomas Jefferson Library.

From left: Sinhareeb Aloleiwi, Awa Konte, Jacob Krutzsch and Tahj Gayfield dropped their knowledge on the latest class of incoming students. (Photos courtesy of the Office of Executive Events)

Hi, Tritons, new and returning! Welcome (back?) to UMSL! We (the UMSL Daily staff) are thrilled to have you on campus for the fall semester. We wanted to give you some advice to carry you through your first days and weeks of school but knew the thoughts of those who’d been there before you – aka fellow students – would be way more meaningful.

So, we reached out for tips from some of the UMSL Ambassadors, students who represent UMSL and help with official events.

Here’s guidance from seniors Tahj Gayfield, computer science; Jacob Krutzsch, economics; Sinhareeb Aloleiwi, pre-dental, biochemistry and biotechnology and chemistry; and Awa Konte, biology:

What’s the best way to make friends and build community at UMSL?

TG: Take time to talk to people you see consistently. If you sit next to the same person in class, have a short conversation with them before class starts. If you see the same person riding the shuttle every day, then talk to them while on the shuttle. Those consistent encounters can help build relationships.

JK: The way that I have made friends is through student groups and getting involved with my major. I know people that have really good friends from getting jobs on campus as well.

SA: In my opinion, the best way to make friends in UMSL is to join clubs and organizations on campus. I met most of my friends at UMSL through Pre-Dental Society and UMSL Ambassadors.

AK: Get involved. There is no shortage of clubs on this campus for people of all interests. Whether it’s with a religious community, an environmental organization, a volunteer-based club or leadership program, there is always something for everyone. And if the club doesn’t exist, create it. I met most of my close friends because I got involved. One of my friends got me to join the University Program Board and the Ambassadors program, and through the two, I’ve been able to talk to many people that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to interact with.

What are the most underrated spots on or off campus?

TG: Career Services. Their staff can provide you with the resources to land an internship or job. They also host numerous events and other opportunities that can prepare you for getting the job you want.

JK: That one is easy: the Sharon G. Levin Economics Resource Center. It’s helpful, a good place to study and the people are nice!

SA: The most underrated spots are the recreation center and tennis courts. I didn’t visit the recreational center until my second semester. I wish I had done it earlier.

AK: By no means am I an outdoors person, but I “discovered” this trail that’s right across from the RWC, and it’s kind of nice to just walk and run through by yourself or with friends. You can learn about the surrounding area, and you get to meet a lot of people in the community as well.

Another place is the Office of Student Involvement. The name may be off-putting to some, but you do not have to be part of an organization to hang out in there. There are study spaces, couches to just chill at and best of all, these huge bean bags that you can just nap on.

What do you wish you’d known as a freshman at UMSL?

TG: I wish I knew that it’s okay not to have the next 10 years of your life planned out or even what you want to do when you graduate. It’s okay not to know what the future holds for you. BUT, you still need to work towards something or at least try to figure out what you want to do.

JK: I think freshmen would like to know that the coffee on campus is better from Einstein’s than Starbucks.

SA: I wish I knew about the library services and the academic center earlier. That would’ve help me through tough exams.

AK: The number of people you are willing to call friends will decrease as the years go by. Everyone is on some kind of journey of self-discovery, whether they realize or not, and it will hurt knowing that those friendships are lost, but at the end of day, those who remain will stay through the good and the bad.

Anything else?

TG: Get out of your dorm room or apartment and go do stuff. Meet people. Have fun. Don’t spend your free time in your room. By secluding yourself in your room, you’re missing out on all the great experiences you can have in college.

AK: Do what’s best for you. No matter what other people say, only you can live with the decisions that you make, so don’t let regret, shame, and doubt be the reason you don’t do something.

Freshman and College of Business Administration student Sajjad Ali snapped a shot at Saturday’s Serendipity Sendoff at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Every year, the incoming class joins returning students, faculty and staff for a procession that symbolically kicks off the new school year and welcomes new students. The group starts at the Thomas Jefferson Library and ends at the Wayne Goode Statue where each person touches the statue for luck and signs a wooden trident.

This photograph was taken by UMSL photographer August Jennewein and is the latest to be featured in Eye on UMSL.

First-year students celebrate the start of the academic year during Saturday’s Serendipity Sendoff and welcome picnic. Members of this year’s freshman class posted an average ACT score of 24.25 and collective GPA of 3.45, both record marks. (Photo by August Jennewein)

The incoming class of first-time, full-time freshmen at the University of Missouri–St. Louis has set two academic records, with an average ACT of 24.25 and collective GPA of 3.45. Classes began Monday with an estimated 15,312 students enrolling in undergraduate, graduate, professional and advanced credit programs.

“UMSL continues to attract highly motivated, diverse students who understand and appreciate our value proposition,” Chancellor Tom George said. “Our faculty and staff look forward to helping them succeed in and out of the classroom.”

George, who is retiring Sept. 1 after 16 years as chancellor, sent students his final welcome earlier Monday. Among his advice to students was to “study judiciously. Become involved in campus activities. Find external internships and push yourself to your greatest limits. Continue to make UMSL the wonderful university that it is.”

First-day enrollment overview:

Undergraduate – 6,935

Graduate – 2,696

Optometry – 181

Advanced Credit – 5,500

Preliminary figures on opening day are not official as many students continue to enroll or drop in the first few weeks. Official figures will be released in early October.

Clockwise from left: Bankole Aluko, Dale Mathis, Leighia McGhee and Fatemah Choupani are the 2018-20 UMSL Jonas Scholars cohort. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Health care approaches that work for the general population doesn’t necessarily translate to veterans.

Take, for example, congestive heart failure, explained Dale Mathis, a University of Missouri–St. Louis nursing student and U.S. Army veteran. Doctors generally have patients weigh themselves daily to watch for sudden gain, which indicates fluid retention that in turn signals heart failure.

But many veterans don’t care about 2 to 5 pounds, he said. Tell them to come in when they are having breathing or walking problems, when they feel limited.

“People understand things differently,” he said. “If you can understand how they are thinking, then you can set up systems to get around those limiting behaviors. You have to meet people where they are if you want them to do what you need them to do.”

Mathis believes that specialized approach is critical for working in veterans’ health care. The Jonas Philanthropies agrees.

That’s partially why, in 2008, the foundation established the Jonas Nurse Scholars, an initiative to help foster doctoral nursing leaders: researchers, nursing faculty, clinicians and others.

The selected scholars are focused on the nation’s “most pressing health care needs” such as chronic health, psychiatric-mental health, environmental health and more. Certain recipients, who are dedicated to veterans’ health, are designated Veterans’ Healthcare Scholars.

For its 2018-20 cohort, the philanthropies selected four UMSL College of Nursing students: Jonas Veterans Healthcare Scholars Mathis and Bankole Aluko and Jonas Scholars Leighia McGhee and Fatemah Choupani.

Since the initiative was first established, it has awarded $25 million in scholarship funds to more than 1,250 students across the nation. Each scholar receives a $5,000 annual scholarship for two years, which the College of Nursing matches. The foundation provides both financial support and networking and leadership development, which hits its annual apex in the fall at the Scholars Conference in Washington, D.C.

Developing strategies to keep veterans healthy

Once people leave the military, they often stop going to the doctor, stop taking care of themselves.

“We end up with multiple morbidities over time,” Mathis said. “Not everybody, but as a population, it’s very evident that veterans go from a super active lifestyle to not so much. It has detrimental effects, and between that and self-isolating behaviors, it’s bad. I want to at least try to alleviate some of that.”

Which is the long way of saying that Mathis, a former U.S. Army combat medic and now-staff nurse, is interested in researching how to keep veterans healthy long term and out of the hospital.

In service of that goal, he’s three years into UMSL’s nurse PhD program after graduating from UMSL in 2016 with his BSN and minors in philosophy and psychology.

When Mathis started his current program, he’d figured he’d just take some classes part time and see where things went. That changed when he became a Jonas Scholar.

“I was happy, shocked,” he said. “It became real very fast, and the amount of the effort that is put into this scholarship is life-changing given the amount of debt it helps prevent.”

Becoming a change agent

Building connections and community – that’s a large part of appeal of the Jonas Scholars for McGhee.

That network is how the DNP candidate found her preceptor, College of Nursing PhD alumna Brandie Stiles.

“I’d been hearing about her for a couple months, how intelligent she is,” McGhee said, explaining that their shared Jonas Scholar status helped her reach out. “Knowing I had a connection was great. I guess that means I’ll eventually be one of these great people that others will want to have connections with. That sounds weird, but it’s nice to have the community, to be able to help people and have people help you.”

McGhee is already helping others as a nurse on the inpatient psychiatry floor, where she sees the need for a different kind of provider and also simply for more clinicians. With many doctors retiring and fewer going into psychiatry, there’s an ever-growing gap.

“I think it’s a place where nurse practitioners can serve a role to provide quality healthcare, and it’s a place where there are probably going to be a lot of empty holes,” McGhee said. “In order to diagnose mental illness, you are looking for anomalies in peoples’ cognition – in what they think and what they say and how they view life. Some of that is cultural. If you don’t have an understanding of cultural differences, you may be misdiagnosing peoples’ cultural beliefs for delusions.”

Seeing patients on the other side of their acute conditions is gratifying for McGhee. With her DNP clinical project, she’s hoping to make that transition smoother for patients with tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder that can result from long-term use of psychiatric drugs.

The first-line drug of choice is Cogentin. Though recent research shows that it can actually cause the disorder long term, prescribers don’t have new guidelines to rely on. That’s what McGhee hopes to develop.

“There’s recommendations if you do have an acute side effect to treat for a week or two then wean the patient back off it, but that’s not what’s really happening,” she said. “There can be danger in prescribing a medication long term, but we’re not really working on getting people off of it very well right now.”

Serving the underserved

Bankole Aluko understands the importance of being sensitive to patients’ cultures.

That’s partly because he immigrated from Nigeria in 2008, but it’s mostly because of what he’s learned as a College of Nursing DNP candidate and a Jonas Scholar.

“I’ve learned how to have a listening ear and how to have good communication,” he said. “You have to understand people. You have to involve them in decision-making. You don’t just give an order to do this. You have to buy their views, their opinions, their ideas together and then you can be a good leader.”

Aluko first came to UMSL as an undergraduate in the UMSL/WUSTL Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program but switched to nursing after a year and graduated with his BSN in 2014. The ease and practicality of the three-year BSN-to-DNP program sold him on continuing his education.

Aluko has found both programs to be an excellent fit.

“I love it here,” he said. “UMSL, to me, is the best school in the country when you look at what it’s doing. We have students coming to our program from all over the world.”

Having benefited from scholarships during his undergraduate program, Aluko wanted to give back. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve a little more than a year ago and now serves as an officer.

In addition to serving his adoptive country, Aluko hopes to help with his DNP degree. He’s just begun working on his clinical scholarship project, which he’d like to be on the applications of intravenous vitamin C for cancer patients.

Eventually, he’d like to open his own nurse practitioner practice in a rural area.

“There are a lot of patients in rural areas,” he said. “Physicians are busy with patients in the urban areas. We, the DNP providers, are ready to provide care to residents living in the rural areas, and if I have my own practice, people will be able to get help. I’d like to go there and see them and make them whole again.”

Researching to benefit humanity

Getting her PhD so she could become a researcher was a long-held dream for Choupani.

She’d wanted to continue her schooling after earning her BSN degree in 1997, but decided encouraging her children to follow their dreams came first. That determination held as her son became a computer engineer and as Choupani immigrated to the U.S. from Iran in September 2011, accompanying her daughter to a master’s degree at the University of California, Irvine.

After seeing her daughter through that program and into a PhD in aerospace at the University of Washington in Seattle, Choupani started applying to schools herself.

That’s how in 2016 she found herself moving to St. Louis to start her nursing PhD at UMSL.

A nurse with 15 years of experience even before moving to the U.S., Choupani has some well-established research interests and projects such as nutrition education for underserved peoples, breast cancer prevention and research, preventing diabetes rehospitalization and prevention of heart disease through healthy eating and exercise.

“I feel several of the professors like Dr. Kuei Hsueh, Dr. Wilma Calvert and Dr. Natalie Murphy who were very generous to my interest area,” she said. “My interest area dates back to my bachelor’s degree where I developed a passion for behavioral intervention for self management of health, improving quality of life as well as improving patients’ outcomes.”

Another one of Choupani’s interests dating back to her time as an undergraduate is genetics and epigenetics. She’s hoping to work with Calvert for her dissertation on the interaction of genetics and epigenetics and obesity in disadvantaged populations.

She’d like to eventually become a professor and sees the Jonas Scholarship as key for future success. As an immigrant with most of her work experience in another country, she feels having this opportunity will help her find a job after school. She’s already taking advantage of the networking opportunities to find other Scholars researching similar areas.

“I was very surprised and very happy when I found out,” Choupani said. “It’s really an honor.”

This infographic was created by Lori Austin, web designer in University of Missouri–St. Louis University Marketing and Communications, with preliminary data provided by Larry Westermeyer, senior research consultant in Institutional Research on 7/30/19.

UMSL students interning in the third year of the Ameren Accelerator program speak to Bailee Warsing (at right), a senior liberal studies major and also a former intern, after an event to announce the program’s third cohort last Wednesday at CIC St. Louis. Warsing’s experience as an intern helped her land a full-time position with Ameren working on user experience product design. (Photos by Steve Walentik)

More than 100 people, including St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and University of Missouri System President Mun Choi, filled the Havana Room at CIC St. Louis Wednesday afternoon as the six startups chosen to be part of the Ameren Accelerator’s third cohort were revealed.

Attendees heard from the leaders of those companies – Hexalayer, ClearFlame Engines, SHYFT Power Solutions, Eden GeoTech, Ovon and Allumia.

But first, Ameren Chairman, President and CEO Warner Baxter took a few minutes to reflect on the successes this first-of-its-kind partnership among Ameren, UMSL Accelerate, the University of Missouri System and Capital Innovators has already seen in its first two years.

He did not limit his remarks to talk of the companies that took part in the program and are now growing on their own.

“What this program is also about is to give students the opportunity to be exposed to the energy sector, to give them the opportunity to be exposed to entrepreneurship,” Baxter said.

Listening intently at the back of the room were the University of Missouri–St. Louis students who make up the new crop of interns selected to work with the fledgling enterprises.

The interns receive $3,000 for taking part in the 12-week program, but that was hardly the only incentive for students such as senior economics major Hannah Drury.

“I wanted to be an intern because the idea of clean energy was definitely fascinating to me, and I love the entrepreneurial side,” Drury said. “I’ve had business ideas in the past, so getting a little experience on both sides is really exciting. My professor, Lea-Rachel Kosnik, is an environmental economist, and she’s kind of the one that inspired me to go into economics in the first place. The environmental side was kind of a huge attribute to it all.”

She’ll be working with Allumia, a Seattle-based company that provides energy efficient lighting upgrade. The company meters the new lighting, tracking the energy savings and billing for a portion of the savings.

Adam Palmer, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering as part of the UMSL/Washington University in St. Louis Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program, applied to be an intern after taking UMSL’s course in Experiential Entrepreneurship.

“That class was just an eye-opener for me,” he said. “It’s unlike any other class I’ve taken. It actually applied to a real-world situation. It can get you into doing real things quicker. It really just made me want to get involved with the professors, with the school, with the classmates.

“After that class was over, I was wondering what I could do to continue getting involved and meeting new people, and that’s when I saw the opportunity to join this program.”

He’ll be working with Eden GeoTech, which is based in Somerville, Massachusetts. The company is developing waterless and injection-free reservoir stimulation technology that can replace fracking to eliminate unwanted effects. Palmer is hoping the experience will help him learn new skills in coding, math and geophysics.

At Wednesday’s event, Drury, Palmer and the other interns were reminded of the way students have already benefitted from being part of Ameren Accelerator over the past two years.

Baxter recognized Alex Zvibleman, a member of the first class of interns, who last spring became the first student to receive UMSL’s new degree in entrepreneurship. He is in the process of opening his own coffee shop with funding won in the UM System’s first Entrepreneur Quest Student Accelerator.

Baxter also acknowledged senior Bailee Warsing, a senior working toward a degree in liberal studies with a dual focus in computer science and business. Warsing, another member of the inaugural group of interns, anticipates graduating in December but has already landed a full-time job with Ameren working on user experience product design.

“Being an intern in this program has opened so many opportunities for me,” Warsing said. “Really, the greatest value has come from the people I’ve met and the relationships I’ve been able to build from UMSL Accelerate.”

Dan Lauer, the founding executive director of UMSL Accelerate, wants more students – including ones not yet on campus – to follow that same path to success. And ultimately, he doesn’t think it needs to only be in the energy sector.

“Why not health-tech, fin-tech, ag-tech?” Lauer said. “UMSL, we can do three or six of these a year and be the facilitators of these accelerators. Think about the faculty engagement in research, the alumni engagement in mentoring, the student engagement in interning. It’s a really clever model that I think moves us farther faster. I think it differentiates us in the world, and in the end, I want new students to come here first.”

Summer at the University of Missouri–St. Louis is nice. Really, it’s fine, and we at UMSL Daily can attest to that. It’s just a bit quiet.

OK! We admit that the campus sometimes feels too still, too peaceful, too hushed without all our students. Nothing could have been a better antidote to that muffled calm than Move-In Day, Weeks of Welcome and other joviality of the past 10 days. We’re also happy to note that our UMSL students are equally pleased to be on campus for the fall semester.

Don’t take our word for it. Here’s our students welcoming the start of another semester of learning, bonding, networking and more.

1. Saying hello to community: The UMSL Panhellenic Association members welcomed potential recruits with some creative letter-work.

2. Bittersweet moments: Leaving your family for school and living alone for the first time – that’s tough but worth it. We’re looking forward to seeing you all blossom at UMSL.

3. Finding style inspiration: Freshman and College of Nursing student Ellie Cuneio greeted her first year of college with a dorm room that looks straight out of Apartment Therapy.

4. Starting with a smile: Junior and music major Swabu Jefferson’s grin couldn’t have been more infectious and demonstrates the importance of greeting each new year with a positive attitude.

5. The art of the selfie: Freshman and College of Business Administration student Sajjad Ali snapped a selfie at the Serendipity Sendoff that campus photographer August Jennewein documented in last Monday’s Eye on UMSL.

6. Color wars: College of Nursing freshman Bryan Buckley started off his college experience with the annual Pierre Laclede Honors College Paint-a-Palooza.

7. A triumphant return: Junior and psychology student Carly White demonstrates how UMSL students work hard to make education work for them.

8. The first day of school is the first day of school: Optometry student Joel Holmquist demonstrates that it’s never too late to embody that fresh beginning feeling.

Welcome to UMSL, Tritons! We are so happy and proud to have you here. Please continue to share your stories, opinions and triumphs with us this year by tagging us @UMSL.

Well-wishers say goodbye to Chancellor Tom George (center) and Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Music Barbara Harbach (at right) at the conclusion of the formal program at a retirement reception last Friday at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. (Photos by August Jennewein)

Chancellor Tom George and Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Music Barbara Harbach will end 16 years at the University of Missouri–St. Louis when they retire at the end of this week.

George will step away as UMSL’s longest-tenured chancellor. He has overseen the university as it has conferred more than 45,000 degrees, secured research grants totaling nearly $340 million and received another nearly $350 million in philanthropic support and transformed the campus with six new buildings and the relocation of Express Scripts – now Cigna. He has also been a three-time recipient of the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award.

Harbach, a noted composer, has served as the director of the School of Fine and Performing Arts and chair of the Department of Music.

Faculty, staff and administrators as well as alumni and friends from across the region – and beyond – gathered Friday afternoon in the Terrace Lobby of the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center for a retirement reception to say their goodbyes and acknowledge the lasting impact both George and Harbach have had on UMSL and St. Louis. Campus photographer August Jennewein was on hand to capture some of the scenes.

A crowd of about 400 people gathered in the Terrace Lobby for the event, which featured food, drink and music – plus nitro ice cream from Ices Plain & Fancy, courtesy of the American Chemical Society.

Retired Communication Professor Michael Murray held up a 2003 edition of The Current student newspaper from when George began his tenure as chancellor.

Nancy and Ken Kranzberg, prominent philanthropists is support of the arts in St. Louis, befriended George and Harbach during their time in St. Louis and came to wish them well.

Student Government Association presidents past – Cameron Roark (at left) – and present – McKenzie Schuessler – spoke about the connection George has had with students during his time as chancellor. Schuessler also announced the university’s establishment of the Chancellor Thomas F. George Promise and Opportunity Scholarship fund, which will assist future UMSL students in need.

Among the out-of-town guests was Professor Liliana Braescu (standing in the center), who authored a book with George when she was part of the faculty of West University of Timisoara in Romania.

UMSL alumnus Tom Minogue, chairman of Thompson Coburn LLP and a past president of the Chancellor’s Council, told the crowd about the warm reception he and other members of the council came to count on whenever they visited George and Harbach’s residence. The hospitality included sharing George’s secret hot sauce.

University of Missouri System President Mun Choi spoke of the lasting mark George and Harbach have left on the university. “There is no doubt that you two have been a power couple at UMSL,” he said. “Your presence and influence here will be truly missed. Thank you for the work you have put in that has helped transform this institution and move it towards an undoubtedly bright future.”

George enjoyed a light moment with his sister, Betty-Ann Lynerd, a retired professor of music at Moody Bible Institute, who was in town from Chicago.

George signed a copy of the spring issue of UMSL Magazine, which featured him on the cover and included a story about his 16-year tenure and pending retirement.

George and Harbach will be retiring to the Southwest.

Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Biology Bob Ricklefs, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is retiring after 24 years at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Bob Ricklefs has enjoyed an illustrious career that has taken him all over the world researching birds while also winning him acclaim as an author and inductee into the National Academy of Sciences.

Officially, he’ll retire at the end of this week after 51 years in academia, including the past 24 as a member of the Department of Biology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Ricklefs is looking forward to fewer obligations and more flexibility in his schedule, especially with his wife, former UMSL Professor Susanne Renner, still serving as the director of the Botanische Staatssammlung München and a faculty member at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in her native Germany, as she has since 2003.

“I’m looking forward most to my wife and I being back together,” Ricklefs said earlier this month while sitting inside his office in Stadler Hall.

He expects he and Renner should also have more opportunities for travel.

But Ricklefs isn’t packing up his office, nor does he have plans to completely walk away from research or mentoring. Rather, he has accepted an appointment as a Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus and will continue to advise two doctoral students.

That’s welcome news to the colleagues who celebrated his career and retirement with a reception August 13 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center.

“The good news is he’ll still be here,” E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Zoological Studies Patricia Parker said. “He eagerly sought emeritus status and, of course, received it. He was very concerned about keeping his office, which of course, he’s been granted.”

She believes his continued activity and association can only benefit the department and the wider university.

“He has huge visibility,” Parker said. “Much of it comes from the fact that in his youth he wrote the textbook, ‘Ecology’ which has been translated into many languages and is the ecology text that many people use. There are two words on the cover of that big, nearly 900-page textbook – we all know it – and they are ‘Ecology’ and ‘Ricklefs.’”

That book and others – including “The Economy of Nature” and “Aging, A Natural History”– are just some of the ways Ricklefs has influenced new generations of biologists and conservationists.

Ricklefs’ own interest in biology and the natural world grew out of his childhood near Monterey, California, specifically with encouragement from a teacher who took him bird watching.

“I use that example a lot to emphasize the importance of childhood experiences,” Ricklefs said.

He would go on to study biology at Stanford University and earn a PhD in biology at the University of Pennsylvania. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ricklefs served as a faculty member at Penn for 27 years.

He’s studied bird life histories and avian disease on islands all over the world.

“Being in Antarctica was a real highlight,” Ricklefs said of research he did on growth and development of different bird species, including penguins and cormorants, in 1981. “It was unlike any place else in the world, and there was real danger there. That’s one of the experiences that is the most memorable.”

Ricklefs left Penn for UMSL in 1995, and he’s watched its evolution over the past two-plus decades.

“I wouldn’t say it’s changed, but the university has grown and become more impactful on this region,” he said.

His decision to come to St. Louis was driven, primarily, by the chance for him and Renner to work in the same department.

A noted botanist, Renner remained a part of the UMSL faculty for 10 years and was affiliated with the Missouri Botanical Garden, but the opportunity to serve as the director of the Botanische Staatssammlung München proved too good to pass up.

Ricklefs and Renner have spent much of the past decade separated by an ocean with frequent trips back and forth, but his colleagues and students are grateful he never gave up his work at UMSL.

“For me personally – and I have said this out loud multiple times, so this is not a secret – but he’s been the best colleague of my career,” Parker said.

The two have worked closely together because of their shared interest in ornithology, regularly serving together on graduate advisory committees.

Emma Young, a doctoral candidate in his lab, had similarly high praise.

“He’s the best as a person,” Young said. “He’s just a really nice human being, which for someone who has done all of the impactful work that he has done for me was really unexpected. I was expecting to learn a lot in grad school. I wasn’t necessarily expecting that Bob would be so nice.”

His new position will allow him to continue to impact students and work with longtime colleagues, such as Parker and Bob Marquis, who is also retiring to an emeritus position.

“I’m not going to miss anything,” Ricklefs said, “because I’m going to be able to keep doing all the things I want to do and be around the department.”

UMSL students show off their school pride and colors while riding MetroLink back to campus Wednesday morning after the College Transit Challenge kickoff event at the Grand station. (Photos by August Jennewein)

MetroLink and MetroBus help connect people to educational opportunities throughout the St. Louis region.

In an effort to highlight that impact and the transit system’s overall importance on both sides of the Mississippi River, Citizens for Modern Transit staged the College Transit Challenge on Wednesday.

As part of the challenge, CMT encouraged students, faculty and staff members from Saint Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis Community College, Southwestern Illinois College and the University of Missouri–St. Louis to check in on social media as they made use of the Metro system. The daylong competition ended with UMSL on top, registering the most engagements.

UMSL got going early in its pursuit of victory as about 15 people – among them students, staff members, Chancellor Tom George and Louie the Triton – boarded a train around 7:30 Wednesday morning at the UMSL North Station and rode it to the Grand Station to represent the university at a kickoff event.

“It was absolutely amazing seeing a total of five colleges and universities showing up to support Metro, and drawing that connection between Metro and educational access was awesome,” UMSL Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs D’Andre Braddix said. “We had a great showing of students. Everybody was really engaged.”

CMT Executive Director Kimberly Cella coordinated Wednesday’s event and served as its master of ceremonies.

“As the transit advocacy group at CMT, we’re constantly looking for outside-the-box ideas to promote transit use and its benefits to the region,” she said in her opening remarks. “We know public transit is a safe, cost-effective option for people of all ages and makes education more accessible. Transit is important to the vitality of this region and a key asset to both businesses and our academic institutions.”

She turned the microphone over to Taulby Roach – a 2014 UMSL MPPA graduate and the president and CEO of Bi-State Development, which operates MetroLink and MetroBus. Roach estimated that students took nearly 2 million rides on MetroLink last year and about 1.6 million rides on MetroBus, accounting for about 20 percent of the system’s ridership.

UMSL students make up a large number of those riders.

“About 80 percent of our students are commuters, so they really need public transportation,” George said. “Many of our students don’t have the financial resources to buy a car in order to be transported. They need mass transit. That’s very important for us.”

Braddix said about 4,500 UMSL students ride MetroLink and MetroBus. Enrolled students receive free Metro passes each semester while faculty and staff members can purchase passes for $65, a significant savings from the regular rate of $288.

It should not have been a surprise that UMSL took first place in Wednesday’s challenge, sharing more online posts and pictures highlighting their transit usage than another other college or university taking part in the competition. In addition to bragging rights, the university will be awarded a MetroLink Train Trophy at the CMT annual meeting on Sept. 19.

“Congrats to UMSL for their community-wide support of the College Transit Challenge with posts from both students and staff on all social media platforms, events on campus throughout the day to support transit usage and representation by Chancellor George, the Triton and students at the kickoff event,” Cella said while announcing the results on Thursday. “Their enthusiasm was great to see, but it wouldn’t have been a challenge without some competition, so we also thank all the universities that partnered with CMT, Metro Transit and St. Clair County Transit District to highlight the benefits of the St. Louis transit system for the academic commute and to access all that our region has to offer.”

UMSL was listed among “Best 80 Colleges for Student Voting” in Washington Monthly’s 2019 College Rankings issue.

The University of Missouri–St. Louis has once again been recognized for its commitment to promoting civic engagement among students.

For the second year in a row, Washington Monthly identified UMSL as one of the top colleges for student voting in the nation. It included UMSL on the “Best 80 Colleges for Student Voting” in its 2019 College Rankings issue released this month. UMSL was also included on the publication’s inaugural list.

Washington Monthly’s 2019 College Rankings issue takes a look at how schools contribute to the public good.

This is the second year Washington Monthly has measured how well colleges encourage students to vote. Schools were graded on five metrics, one more than last year’s list.

“Because it is impossible to get actual turnout rates for most colleges, we use proxies,” Daniel Block wrote in Washington Monthly. “We measure which schools take part (and to what degree) in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) at Tufts University, which calculates registration numbers and turnout rates for participating campuses; then we factor in participation in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, which helps schools craft plans to bolster civic engagement. We add this data to the ‘service’ part of our overall ranking, awarding institutions one point for each of five metrics they fulfill.”

The completed actions required to receive a point are:

• Submitted an ALL IN action plan in 2016
• Submitted an ALL IN action plan in 2018
• Signed up to receive 2016 NSLVE data
• Made 2016 NSLVE data, including voter turnout rates, publicly available
• Signed up to receive 2018 NSLVE data

Washington Monthly includes more than 1,000 schools in its rankings, but only 80 earned a perfect score in voting rankings. Of the top 80 schools, 70 percent are public universities.

Tufts University has not finished calculating the 2018 NSLVE data. However, in the November 2016 election, 67.4 percent of eligible UMSL students voted, according to Tufts’ data set. That far exceeded the 46.1 percent rate for young voters nationwide.

That voter turnout rate was the highest among nearly 300 universities participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge that year, earning UMSL one of the organization’s Champion Awards. ALL IN will announce 2018 award recipients at the ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony on Nov. 12.

More recently, the Voter Friendly Campus program designated UMSL as a “Voter Friendly Campus” for 2019-2020. The initiative is a partnership between the nonpartisan Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. UMSL was one of 123 campuses in 31 states to receive the designation.

“We are thrilled to be recognized as a ‘Best College for Student Voting,’ and it comes as no surprise,” said Patricia Zahn, director of Community Outreach and Engagement. “UMSL students care about their communities and are involved. Our campus supports civic engagement and regularly holds voter registration and education events.”

Much of that support comes from student organizations.

“We have several student organizations at UMSL that have a commitment to civic engagement and have sponsored and supported election-related programs, including debate watch parties and panel discussions, as well as ‘Get Out the Vote’ ice-cream socials over the past few years,” Zahn said. “We are very fortunate to have engaged faculty, staff, students and community partners working together on these efforts and making a difference.”

UMSL also received a No. 176 ranking in Washington Monthly’s list of national universities. The rankings are determined after assessing social mobility, research and services.

UMSL was ranked fifth among universities in Missouri, ahead of Saint Louis University (259), Lindenwood University (327), the University of Missouri–Kansas City (336), Maryville University (352) and William Woods University (377). The universities ranked ahead of UMSL are Washington University in St. Louis (59), Missouri University of Science and Technology (70), University of Missouri–Columbia (112) and Missouri State University (154).

Students from Chuo University gather outside the Provincial House one afternoon last month after class. The group spent three weeks at UMSL in the first year of an exchange program between the two universities. Joining them in the photo were (front left, white shirt) Abby Naumann, a program coordinator with International Student and Scholar Services; (top left, white shirt) instructor Jerome Bollato; (top right, plaid shirt) instructor Ron Klutho; teaching assistants Amy Seidel (middle, red shirt), Brittany Henry (at right, pink shirt), Molly Motes (at right, grey shirt) and Cameron Jensen (at right, white shirt); and residential advisor Seth Huntington (at right, black shirt). (Photo by August Jennewein)

Atomu Usui and his classmates were determined to do as much as they could during their three weeks in St. Louis.

Visiting last month through an exchange program between Chuo University in Tokyo and the University of Missouri–St. Louis, the students made it to landmarks such as the Missouri History Museum and Gateway Arch. They strolled around neighborhoods including the Delmar Loop, and they went to baseball games, Six Flags and the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

They managed to fit all that in when they weren’t immersed in daily English language and business classes at UMSL.

It was a lot, but that only served to reinforce that three weeks weren’t enough.

“I don’t want to go back to my home country,” Usui said. “In St. Louis, life is very fun and interesting. I want to stay more weeks or months. It’s unfortunate I have to go back home.”

There were 27 students in all who made the trip from Chuo University in the first year of the program with UMSL.

“It’s definitely a part of UMSL Global evolving and changing,” said Abby Naumann, a program coordinator with International Student and Scholar Services who helped chaperone the group of Japanese students. “The department’s really hoping to ramp up and increase its programs and its exchanges, so hopefully, our partnership with Chuo is going to last after this, and not only can they send more students here, but maybe we’ll end up sending some students to Chuo, as well. We hope it’s the first in a new friendship.”

The first year, by all accounts, was a success.

The students – all college freshmen – lived in Oak Hall during their stay with Seth Huntington serving as their residential advisor.

The group landed in St. Louis on July 28, and the next day they began their academic work under the direction of instructors Ron Klutho and Jerome Bollato with help from student teaching assistants Brittany Henry, Cameron Jensen, Molly Motes and Amy Seidel.

The morning classes tended to be more academic with time devoted to teaching grammar and pronunciation and helping the students improve their reading and writing.

Each afternoon, the students worked in small groups, coming up with an idea for a business and developing a 15-page plan for how they would make it a reality. The groups presented their plans on the final day of class in a format similar to the television show Shark Tank.

Klutho taught in Japan earlier in his professional life before returning to the United States, where he now works full-time as the team lead for refugee services at Bilingual International. He was happy to be back in the classroom and to have the chance to work with the students.

He noted the cultural differences that at times made it challenging to get them to speak up in class, but Klutho came away impressed with their talents.

“They know a lot about technology,” he said. “The Power Point presentations they did were really good. They know the technical aspect of it. They’re very creative. As a part of their business plan, they had to come up with the name of their company and their logo, and they had some interesting and clever logos. They’re very artistic.”

The students also wowed Klutho with how well they navigated around St. Louis when they weren’t in class. Coming from Tokyo, they weren’t at all fazed by the scale of St. Louis.

Other than a three-day trip to Singapore on a class trip, Mao Murakami hadn’t been outside of Japan before, but she was ready to make the most of her experience, and she particularly enjoyed visiting the Saint Louis Zoo and the Arch.

“I had never seen such a high view,” Murakami said. “I was very impressed by the scenery.”

If there was a downside to the trip, it was that most of it took place during the break between the summer and fall semesters, so the students didn’t have as much opportunity as they would have liked to interact with UMSL students.

Naumann and Klutho hope at least a few will be inspired to return for a semester or year abroad before their finishing their degrees.

Student Government Association President McKenzie Schuessler leads a parade of first-year students in front of the Thomas Jefferson Library during Serendipity Sendoff on Aug. 17. (Photos by August Jennewein)

The first two weeks of the fall semester at the University of Missouri–St. Louis provided ample opportunity for students to get reacquainted and form new friendships with events such as Serendipity Sendoff, the Welcome Back Picnic, Paint-a-Palooza, Food Truck Friday and the Fall Expo. Over the past two weeks, UMSL photographer August Jennewein has crisscrossed campus – and a few parts beyond – documenting all the fun.

Find more of his campus photos from the past two weeks on UMSL’s Instagram and Flickr feeds and keep checking back for the sights that catch his eye in the year ahead.

Students gather in front of the Wayne Goode statue on North Campus and rub it for good luck at the conclusion of Serendipity Sendoff.

Smiling faces abound as students wait in line for food at the Welcome Back Picnic.

Two students compete in the bubble ball challenge at the Welcome Back Picnic.

Two women wave from in front of the St. Louis Mercantile Library pyramid on the first day of fall classes.

Senior mathematics major Simon Langrehr, at left, and nursing major Madison Koogler dish up dinner one evening at Villa Hall North.

Department of Physics Chair Erika Gibb instructs her students during a class one afternoon in the Research Building.

Students in UMSL’s SUCCEED Program gather on the steps of the Provincial House on a idyllic afternoon on South Campus.

Three friends stroll down the sidewalk outside the Millennium Student Center and Recreation and Wellness Center in between classes.

A cloud of color engulfs students as they spray each other during the Pierre Laclede Honors College’s annual Paint-a-Palooza.

Honors College Dean Edward Munn Sanchez shares in the fun during Paint-a-Palooza.

Senior psychology major Samuel J. Huber enjoys a peaceful moment on the newly dedicated Hubert Hoosman Jr. bench on North Campus near Alumni Circle.

Students line up for a bite to eat during Food Truck Friday outside the Recreation and Wellness Center.

A group of students board an early MetroLink train bound for Grand Station for the College Transit Challenge kickoff event on Aug. 28.

Four students dance to the music at the Fall Expo held on Aug. 28 on the Commons.

A student stops by one of the booths during Fall Expo.

Freshman computer science major Jeremy Dobrzanski (at left) joins fellow students (from left) Maxwell Nieder, Skylar Pinz and Kairah Jones around the table in the commons room at the Pierre Laclede Honors College while Katherin Volandt sits in the distance.

Graphic design students enjoy a boat ride in Amsterdam during a two-week study abroad program.

In the Netherlands, a bus ticket is not just a bus ticket. Like many other everyday objects in the country, it’s also a thoughtful work of design.

At least that’s what Jennifer McKnight, associate professor of graphic design, aimed to show University of Missouri–St. Louis students on a class trip to Amsterdam this past June.

On Friday, nine graphic design students will showcase what they learned abroad at the opening of the Visie Van Amsterdam 5 exhibit at the Kranzberg Gallery Suite 300 (3526 Washington Ave, Suite 300, 63103) in the Grand Center Arts District. The opening reception will take place from 6 to 9 p.m., and the exhibit will run until Oct. 5.

McKnight teaches a graphic design class in Amsterdam every other summer, and this marked the fifth year that her class traveled to the Dutch capital. After each trip, her students create and display design inspired by their experiences.

This year’s exhibit will include digital posters, silkscreen posters, a video piece and an audio piece from students.

They don’t get to have all the fun, though. McKnight also produced two posters for the exhibit, demonstrating what she experienced.

“For this one project, I let them challenge me,” McKnight said. “I had to learn with them and do the project with them.”

Amsterdam is the perfect place for young graphic designers to learn something new. McKnight said the city – and the Netherlands in general – honors visual communication everywhere.

For two weeks, the students were immersed in a culture preoccupied with design. They visited Dutch institutions such as the renowned Rijksmuseum and design studios specializing in a range of artforms from silkscreen to animation.

Inspiration also proved to be abundant in the city streets, from bold posters on neighborhood walls to seemingly more mundane items.

“If you walk through a Dutch city, you buy a ticket that’s carefully designed for a bus that’s carefully designed,” McKnight said. “Everything is designed for efficiency and pleasure to make your experience as rich as possible.”

Senior Leah Gornet was struck by the cobblestone streets and how people moved around the city. Gornet said the class traveled mostly by foot, bike or tram during the trip – something unthinkable in St. Louis.

For Concepcion Salazar, the experience studying in a bustling, diverse city reignited her passion for graphic design.

“The experience as a whole was life changing,” Salazar said. “This is the start of my sixth year at UMSL, and for the past three years, it is like I have been dormant creatively.”

The students’ artwork was informed by a number of things they encountered. McKnight said students were particularly taken with the cycling culture in Amsterdam. Salazar was inspired by bicycles and the ubiquitous Dutch tulips, including both on one of her posters.

Gornet leaned on a visit to the Eye Filmmuseum, a film history museum, for her work. She said it was amazing to see how different artists, from the silent-film era to modern Disney films, worked and told their stories.

Senior Tori Gildehaus incorporated the Amsterdam city flag, which features three iconic X’s on a red and black field, into her work.

“People had spray painted the X’s in the street, and it was incorporated into a lot of the infrastructure,” Gildehaus said. “I was inspired by that and how people had so much pride in the city.”

Overall, the students are excited to present their work publicly.

“This is something new to me,” Salazar said. “I’ve had small pieces displayed for art showings at the UMSL Fine Arts Building but never for something so grand and public as the Kranzberg.”

The exhibit will be held in the Kranzberg Suite 300 Gallery located at 3526 Washington Ave. Admission is free.

The students participating in the exhibit are: Andrew Clark, Jack Cradic, Matt Dickerman (alumnus), Tori Gildehaus, Leah Gornet, Aaron Haller, Mariah Lauer, Carrie Lembke and Concepcion Salazar.

Alumni, students and staff gathered in the Lee Theater at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center to celebrate 25 years of excellent engineering education last Thursday. (Photos by August Jennewein)

There’s possibility that Evelyn Bailey Moore might not have existed – literally – without the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Engineering in the greater St. Louis region, on the other hand, would still be here if her parents hadn’t met their freshman year at UMSL.

But it would be markedly changed.

That’s because their daughter, Moore, 2003 graduate, now oversees more than 700 engineers at Boeing, where she’s the F/A-18 and EA-18G director of engineering and chief engineer. She impacts the region’s economic future on a daily basis.

She’s one of many alumni who affect the greater St. Louis area thanks to their education in the UMSL/Washington University in St. Louis Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program.

She shared her success story on Thursday as part of the joint program’s 25th anniversary celebration, which brought approximately 150 alumni, students, staff and faculty to the Lee Theater in the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center to celebrate innovative engineering education.

In joint engineering, students study pre-engineering at UMSL and then transition to WUSTL where they take upper engineering course, explained Joseph O’Sullivan, joint engineering dean. Students pay UMSL tuition throughout and receive degrees from both schools. The upper engineering classes take place at night so that students can work or take intern or co-op positions during the day.

“The joint engineering program gave me the best of both worlds at an affordable tuition,” Moore said. “I received two co-ops through the program that allowed me to work in the engineering field. The joint engineering program equipped me with the foundation of engineering principles with the curriculum and real-world experience with jobs.”

Moore was one of four speakers, a group that also included O’Sullivan, UMSL Interim Chancellor and Provost Kristin Sobolik and Aaron Bobick, WUSTL dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The joint program first came to be in 1993, explained Sobolik, out of a desire to provide a high-quality, affordable option for place-bound St. Louis-area students. Today, the program’s students are 54 percent women, 27 percent minority and 40 percent Pell Grant eligible.

Moreover, with 73 percent of alumni staying in St. Louis after graduation, the program has shepherded growth for the region while also providing opportunities for individuals.

“The joint engineering program is truly a part of transforming lives through educational opportunity,” Sobolik said. “In fact, 1,046 graduates quite literally go to work every day building our city, and they establish a new legacy for themselves and their families while they do it.”

Bobick closed out the program by pointing out the continued need for the program alumni.

One area of opportunity comes from places such as the Cortex Innovation District, which now houses more than 360 companies and 6,000 jobs.

“Not only do these companies need technical talent themselves, but creating the infrastructure to support these efforts requires engineering,” he said. “I believe the future is incredibly bright for our region and for the graduates of this joint program. They will continue to be a key to that success.”

Senior outside hitter Charlotte Richards averaged 3.77 kills and 3.08 digs per set at the Miner Invitational while leading the Tritons to their first 4-0 start since 1998.

Volleyball
UMSL started the season 4-0 for the first time since 1998 by winning all of its matches over the weekend at the Miner Invitational. Sophomore Charlotte Richards averaged 3.77 kills and 3.08 digs per set, while senior Selena Nolte averaged 3.92 kills per set and hit at .327 clip. Junior Kaileen Herman directed the offense with 10.64 assists per set. The Tritons travel to Detroit this weekend for four matches at the Warrior Invitational, hosted by Wayne State.

Men’s Soccer
UMSL opened the season with a 3-0 win at the Academy of Art last Friday but suffered a 2-1 loss at Notre Dame de Namur on Sunday. Senior Magnus Andersen, last year’s leading scorer, scored a goal in each game. The Tritons will close out their nonconference schedule on Thursday at Upper Iowa before opening Great Lakes Valley Conference play on the road Sunday at new league member Lindenwood.

Women’s Soccer
The Tritons dropped two road games to open the season, falling 1-0 to Concordia-St. Paul and 3-1 to Saginaw Valley State. Sophomore Imogen Bennett scored her first collegiate goal in the loss to SVSU, tying the game in the 32nd minute. UMSL begins GLVC play on Sunday at Lindenwood.

Men’s Golf
Fueled by a strong first round, UMSL opened the 2019-20 season by winning the Arch Cup last Tuesday, putting together a team score of 579 (282-297) and edging runner-up Drury by two strokes in the eight-team event. The Tritons had two players finish in the top five individually, including sophomore Juan Antonio Padilla, who shot a career-best 140 (68-72) to tie for second place, one stroke behind the medalist. UMSL returns to the links September 23-24 at the Findlay Fall Tournament in Findlay, Ohio.

Dean Edward Munn Sanchez, center, toasted the 30th anniversary of the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ Pierre Laclede Honors College at a gathering of faculty, staff and alumni at the Drinks with the Deans event Friday at The Pat Connolly Tavern. The honors college will be celebrating that anniversary throughout the academic year with festivities culminating in April with an official event to commemorate the occasion.

This photograph was taken by UMSL photographer August Jennewein and is the latest to be featured in Eye on UMSL.