The Center for Trauma Recovery at UMSL brings together faculty members from different disciplines who share in common research, teaching or service interests in trauma-related topics. (Photo by August Jennewein)

When Reuters wrote about a new study on sexual problems experienced by some adolescent rape victims, the international news agency sought the expertise of two researchers from the Center for Trauma Recovery at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Steven Bruce, director of the center and associate professor of psychology, and Tara Galovski, assistant professor of psychology, were both quoted in the Reuters article “Sexual problems may linger after rape.” The article appeared in media outlets throughout the world, including the Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun.

Visit the Reuters website to read the full article.

The Center for Trauma Recovery at UMSL brings together faculty members from different disciplines who share in common research, teaching or service interests in trauma-related topics. The center’s purpose is to foster research, graduate and undergraduate education, and service (by way of a specialized Trauma Clinic) in the areas of trauma and victimization.

Visit the Center for Trauma Recovery website to learn more.

Current research by Williams Rogers, associate professor of economics at UMSL, includes the impact homeowner associations have on the housing market and the effects public homeownership programs have on neighborhood development. (Photo by August Jennewein)

As economic conditions improve and interest rates remain low, more people are looking to buy homes, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But William Rogers, associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, cautioned that prospective homeowners shouldn’t overestimate the return on investment for owning a house.

“Real estate is not one of the best investments; labor markets are the best deal,” Rogers told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

He further discussed in the article the scenarios that make the most sense for renting and owning.

Rogers is an expert in regional economics, urban economics and public economics. His current research focuses on the impact homeowner associations have on the housing market and the effects public home ownership programs have on neighborhood development.

Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website to read the full article by business reporter Lisa Brown.

The website Composers Circle spotlighted Barbara Harbach‘s orchestral music in its June 6 blog post. (Photo by Stephanie Zettl)

Each day, the website Composers Circle profiles one composer and one piece of music.

On June 6, the site featured composer Barbara Harbach, professor of music at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and her extraordinary orchestral music, specifically highlighting her piece “One of Ours – a Cather Symphony” performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Harbach has a large catalog of works, including symphonies, operas, string orchestras, musicals, works for chamber ensembles, film scores, modern ballets, pieces for organ, harpsichord and piano; choral anthems; and many arrangements for brass and organ of various Baroque works. She is also involved in the research, editing, publication and recording of manuscripts of 18thcentury keyboard composers, as well as historical and contemporary women composers.

Harbach serves as editor of the WomenArts Quarterly Journal.

UMSL researchers Jason Atkins (left) and Mohit Patel are racking up awards and grants for their work in developing new technology to transfer DNA into cells. (Photo by August Jennewein)

On any given day, Jason Atkins and Mohit Patel can be found toiling away inside a chemical biology lab at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. And they love every minute of it.

“It doesn’t feel like work,” Atkins said. “This is what I love to do. It’s fun.”

Atkins, of Maryland Heights, Mo., and Patel, of Normandy, Mo., are research associates at the university, both pursuing doctoral degrees in biology and working in the laboratory of George Gokel, director of the Center for Nanoscience at UMSL.

Much of Atkins and Patel’s research centers on ion channels – proteins that act as pores within cell membranes and enable electrical currents to pass in and out of cells. They recently developed new technology to transfer DNA into cells. The development is an inexpensive and non-toxic method to help DNA cross the cell membrane so that cells can be modified.

In honor of their work, Atkins and Patel were inducted as honorary members of the UMSL chapter of the National Academy of Inventors, and they were presented the UMSL Student Inventor of the Year Award, which brought a $500 prize.

Atkins and Patel will also share a $50,000 grant with Gokel for the trio’s project “Novel, non-toxic and highly efficient chemical transformation and transfection reagents.” The four-campus University of Missouri System awarded the grant through its FastTrack Funding program.

The three honors were bestowed upon Atkins and Patel on April 26 at a reception that capped UMSL’s annual Research and Innovation Week.

And earlier this month, the pair picked up a fourth award, taking home a $50,000 Arch Grants to help fund their biotechnology startup company Genetix Fusion. The duo was among 20 companies chosen out of an initial field of more than 700 applicants, according to an article published May 14 in the St. Louis Business Journal.

“Standing among the winners not only validates our technology and the team, but also provides us the opportunity to network with entrepreneurs and scientific and business leaders,” Patel said. “The grant will help us establish our operations here in St. Louis and initiate sales and marketing for our first product.”

Eleven other researchers were honored at UMSL’s annual Research and Innovation Week reception:

• Matthew Hile, UMSL Senior Investigator of the Year Award

• Xuemin Wang, UMSL Senior Faculty Inventor of the Year Award

• April Regester, UMSL Junior Faculty Inventor of the Year Award

• Edward Jarka and Michael Howe, $42,000, UM System FastTrack Funding program for “A hand-held Meibomian gland warmer and expressor”

• Michael Nichols and Alexei Demchenko, $39,900, UM System FastTrack Funding program for “Development and testing of an Endotoxin antagonist compound”

• Joan Brennan, Matthew MacEwan and Steven Mestemacher, honorary inventor inductees, National Academy of Inventors, UMSL chapter

• Joseph O’Sullivan, inventor inductee, National Academy of Inventors, UMSL chapter

Media coverage:
St. Louis Business Journal
Phys.Org
R & D Magazine
KMOX (1120 AM)
KSDK (Channel 5)

Dan Isom, Endowed Professor of Policing and Community at UMSL, announces the St. Louis Initiative to Reduce Violence program during a news conference May 20 at UMSL. (Photo by August Jennewein)

With 24 years of experience in law enforcement, Dan Isom understands the problems facing St. Louis residents.

“During my tenure as police chief I saw the issues related to violence in our community, both for individuals, and for families and neighborhoods,” said Isom, Endowed Professor of Policing and Community at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. “We know it is a problem in our community, so a selected group of people came together to focus on two areas. We know that the violence is going down … but we think these areas need some special treatment.”

The St. Louis Initiative to Reduce Violence was announced during a news conference Monday at UMSL. The conference, hosted by Isom and Richard Rosenfeld, Curators’ Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UMSL, outlined the pilot program, which will be implemented in St. Louis’ sixth police district and Jennings, Mo.

SIRV is a grassroots effort to increase community safety, engage youth to build trust and increase the quality of life for families and communities. The initiative was created by the Rev. B.T. Rice of New Horizon Christian Church in St. Louis County, and brings together both law enforcement and community leaders from St. Louis and St. Louis County.

Visit sirvstl.org for more information about the St. Louis Initiative to Reduce Violence.

Media coverage:
CNN
KSDK (Channel 5)
KTVI (Channel 2)
St. Louis Beacon
St. Louis Public Radio | 90.7 KWMU

Susan Brownell, a professor of anthropology specializing in China at UMSL, recently weighed in on gender wage disparity in China for a Bloomberg Businessweek article. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Of the 20 richest individuals in China, three are self-made female billionaires. But the ranking certainly isn’t a norm. In fact, China has a growing gender pay disparity, which Chinese expert Susan Brownell told Bloomberg Businessweek harkens back to the country’s male-oriented work traditions.

The particular nature of China’s modern business landscape emphasizes guanxi, said Brownell, an anthropology professor specializing in China at the University of Missouri­­­–St. Louis. That refers to the stoking of interlocking personal and professional connections.

“Guanxi itself is such a male world,” Brownell told Bloomberg Businessweek. “Businessmen go to KTV bars and often patronize prostitutes together. It’s hard for women to share the same bonding experiences.”

According to Brownell, at least one successful female Chinese business owner has designated a young man on her staff to take male clients out on her behalf. She said the arrangement is evidence of successful women in China developing tactics to handle the male aspects of guanxi.

However, she notes that while the solution is “crafty” it’s “a depressing form of accommodation.”

To read the full article “Why China Needs a ‘Lean In’ Movement” visit Bloomberg Businessweek.

Media coverage:
China Digital Times

A day before they graduate from the University of Missouri–St. Louis with an MFA in creative writing, nine students will read their original works. The semiannual MFA Graduate Reading will begin at 7:30 p.m. May 17 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at UMSL. The reading is free and open to the public.

Students scheduled to read include Sara Ross, Sarah Gray, Jessyka Lee, Adam Hayward, Amy Milton, Ryan Smith, Lauren Wiser, Kerstin Parmley and Ryan Trattles. John Dalton, director of the MFA in Creative Writing program, will give an introduction to the event. Faculty members from the program will then introduce each student.

The MFA in Creative Writing program is part of the Department of English. The program provides opportunities for growth in the writing of fiction and poetry. It also provides practical training in literary editing.

Call 314-516-5574 for more information. Visit the MFA in Creative Writing website to hear past graduate readings.

Media Coverage:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch 

UMSL Chancellor Tom George gives his annual report to the community on May 10 at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis. (Photo by August Jennewein)

The University of Missouri–St. Louis looks pretty good from where UMSL Chancellor Tom George stands. Fifty years ago, the university’s founders crammed 672 students and 32 faculty members into what was the clubhouse of the former Bellerive Country Club. Today, UMSL has nearly 17,000 students, more than 85,000 alumni and an outstanding reputation regionally and nationally. The university is also celebrating its Jubilee with events throughout 2013.

“During the last 50 years, hundreds of thousands of people helped build the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and despite the challenges and its youth, UMSL has become a most highly regarded and essential community asset,” George said May 10 at the annual Chancellor’s Report to the Community.

Nearly 800 business and community leaders, alumni, faculty, students and staff attended the annual event at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis. The CRC is a tradition that began in 1976 with Arnold Grobman, UMSL’s fourth chancellor.

Among the report’s highlights:

• The seven-year Gateway for Greatness Campaign raised a record $154 million.

• For the 10th year in a row, U.S. News & World Report ranked UMSL’s Undergraduate International Business 15th. The publication also ranked the doctoral program in criminology and criminal justice fourth.

• Forbes Magazine ranked UMSL one of “America’s Best Colleges.”

George also announced several university enrollment records:

• The university achieved its largest incoming class of new students since 1999 – nearly 2,000 transfer students and 535 freshmen.

• The average ACT score has risen to 24, a campus record.

• The Pierre Laclede Honors College now enrolls 600 students.

• Undergraduate  enrollment in the College of Nursing rose 20 percent over last year.

• The UMSL/WUSTL Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program has grown to 426 students from 326 students since 2008.

The building and renovation report included:

• The $30 million renovation of the Benton-Stadler science complex is scheduled for completion in 2015.

• The $36 million recreation and wellness center is also scheduled to open in 2015.

• Funding for the new College of Business Administration building, Anheuser-Busch Hall, has reached $15 million.

• The $20 million MODOT/East-West Gateway “Great Streets” project will transform Natural Bridge Road between Hanley and Lucas and Hunt roads into a vibrant destination site. It is scheduled for completion in December 2014.

A 2.6 MB Adobe PDF copy of the report is available to download.

Media coverage:
St. Louis Beacon

Jean M.K. Miller will begin serving as dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at UMSL on July 1. (Photo courtesy of the University of North Texas in Denton)

Jean M.K. Miller has been named dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Miller, who will begin the position July 1, currently serves as associate dean of administrative affairs in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas in Denton. She oversees the Design Research Center in Dallas, and she’s served as acting dean of UNT’s Toulouse Graduate School.

“I was attracted to UMSL and the College of Fine Arts and Communication as both an administrator and an artist,” Miller said. “A diverse and talented faculty, staff and student body, strong programs and being acknowledged by the Carnegie Foundation as an institution that is truly engaged with St. Louis and metro-area communities were just a few of my considerations.”

Before joining UNT, Miller was chair of the Department of Art and Design, Art History and Art Education at Towson University in Maryland. Prior to that, she was chair of the Department of Art and Design at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts-painting at St. Cloud University in Minnesota. After graduating with a master of fine arts degree in painting from California College of the Arts, she began her career as a professor of studio art at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, where she headed the painting programs for 10 years.

UMSL Provost Glen Cope said Miller will be a great asset to the university.

“She’s an excellent academic and administrator,” Cope said. “I am pleased that she will join us to build on the fine work of John Hylton and James Richards in moving our College of Fine Arts and Communication forward.”

Richards, professor of music at UMSL, has served as interim dean of the college since August 2010, when Hylton stepped down after serving as dean for eight years and returned to his position as a professor of music.

The College of Fine Arts and Communication was established in 2001. It comprises four departments: art and art history; communication; music; and theatre, dance and media studies. Hylton was named dean of the college in 2002 after serving as interim dean from the college’s inception.

Media coverage:
St. Louis Business Journal 

Donald Sweeney is a teaching professor of logistics and management and associate director of the Center for Transportation Studies at UMSL. (Photo by August Jennewein)

The shipping industry is lobbying Congress to provide new funding for upgrades to an aging system of locks and dams along major U.S. waterways.

Donald Sweeney, associate director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, was quoted in an article about the proposed improvements and their cost.

Andy Sullivan, lead reporter at Reuters, wrote the story. Reuters published it May 6, and it appeared in more than 50 publications including MSN and The New York Times.