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Psychologists discuss coping with trauma from theater shooting

Psychologists discuss coping with trauma from theater shooting

How does mass trauma affect us? How do you talk to children about traumatic events? University of Missouri–St. Louis psychologists talked to KSDK (Channel 5) reporter Kay Quinn about how to recover from events as tragic as last week’s theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., where a lone gunman opened fire on people during sold-out screening of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 and wounded more than 50 people.

Historian discusses ‘our friends, the killer robots’

Historian discusses ‘our friends, the killer robots’

With his most recent book, “Sublime Dreams of Living Machines,” Minsoo Kang tracked our love-hate relationships with robots, automata and other machines that mimic human behavior. The associate professor of history at the University of Missouri–St. Louis further discussed the topic in a feature about his work that ran in St. Louis Magazine.

Psychologist talks texting’s impact on driving

Psychologist talks texting’s impact on driving

Driving down the highway, you look over and notice the driver next to you is texting. How do you react? Some do nothing. Some honk their horns. Others get angry and some even retaliate.

STARS student has science in her genes

STARS student has science in her genes

At 15, with college right around the corner, Preethi UmaShanker has been giving a lot of thought to the universal question that plagues most teenagers, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

Scholar recognized as model career counselor for modern times

Scholar recognized as model career counselor for modern times

Mark Pope has worked tirelessly to promote multicultural awareness and social justice for all individuals. So it’s no surprise he has received the inaugural Diversity Initiative Award from the National Career Development Association. He was honored for his leadership of cultural diversity and social justice issues in career counseling and career development over his lifetime. As the first recipient of this important professional award, Pope, chair and professor of counseling and family therapy in the College of Education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, represents the prototype of the career counselor for modern times.

Sidewalk tour, film screening look back at Pruitt-Igoe

Sidewalk tour, film screening look back at Pruitt-Igoe

Pruitt-Igoe was supposed to be the new model of urban housing and the answer to low-cost housing needs and overcrowding in post-World War II St. Louis. But within 20 years, several of the 33 11-story apartment buildings constituting Pruitt-Igoe would lie in rubble following their widely televised demolition. Thick, overgrown foliage and trees now blanket the vacant site where the uniform high-rises once stood.

New libraries dean focuses on students, technology

New libraries dean focuses on students, technology

Once upon a time, library walls contained signs that read “Shhhhh!” Pretty soon, at least one library sign will read “Cappuccino.” By the end of 2012, the Thomas Jefferson Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis will sport a new cafe featuring Starbucks coffees, pastries, sandwiches and salads. And no one is happier about that than Christopher Dames, the new dean of libraries.

Psychologist talks texting’s impact on driving

A star is born: Student carves out thriving music career

“I don’t sleep as much as I’d like to,” said a chuckling Lydia Vaughan. The 19-year-old junior majoring in communication at the University of Missouri–St. Louis is extra busy these days balancing her school work, a part-time job and a thriving music career.

Math Inquiry Institute gives teachers creative tools

Math Inquiry Institute gives teachers creative tools

Making math and science more visual and exciting is something several area teachers have in mind for the upcoming school year thanks to the creative new tools they learned during the 2012 Math Inquiry Institute at the University of Missouri–St. Louis this summer.

Arnold Grobman, former chancellor, dies at 94

Arnold Grobman, former chancellor, dies at 94

Arnold Grobman, a former chancellor of the University of Missouri–St. Louis who in 1975 expanded the young institution’s academic mission to include the colleges of optometry and nursing, died July 8 in Gainesville, Fla. He was 94. A cause of death was not available.

Study questions long-held conclusions of male mating habits

Study questions long-held conclusions of male mating habits

During courtship, peacocks raise their colorful fan of tail feathers and shake them, the objective is to advertise to potential mates and win female favor. But a recent WIRED magazine article is poking holes in that theory, indicating that the mating dance between the sexes is far more complicated than male showmanship.

IB alumnus takes on new challenge in Prague

IB alumnus takes on new challenge in Prague

Traveling the globe is nothing new to Sean Hanebery. Having spent time living in London, France, Germany and the United States, the University of Missouri–St. Louis alumnus didn’t hesitate when offered the opportunity to move to Prague.

Eye on UMSL: Corned beef on rye

Eye on UMSL: Corned beef on rye

UMSL alumni siblings Robert “Max” Protzel, BSBA 2004, and Erica Protzel, BFA 2008, serve up Protzel’s Delicatessen’s signature corned beef on rye with a pickle, which the family-owned establishment has been serving since 1954.

Chinese flowers focus of student’s research on climate change

Chinese flowers focus of student’s research on climate change

How do flowers in a remote area of China factor into the study of climate change? Since 2009, Robbie Hart, a PhD candidate in biology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, has been traveling to China’s Yunnan Province to study how rhododendrons in the region are adapting to global warming, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

Students pull out all stops to make ‘The Stakes’

Students pull out all stops to make ‘The Stakes’

Joshua McNew thought he’d scouted out the perfect location to shoot the gritty student-driven drama “The Stakes.” In January, cast and crew set up shop at the Ford Asphalt Company building in Bridgeton, Mo., for a two-day, 24-hour marathon shoot. One problem, the site is right next to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Optometrist talks importance of treating kids

Optometrist talks importance of treating kids

Treating children isn’t always easy for optometrists. One of the most difficult aspects of the job is getting children to the office for a visit, according to the June issue of EyeCare Professional Magazine. Dr. Aaron Franzel, chief of binocular vision and pediatric services at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, told the magazine that parents tend to delay their child’s first eye exam due to confusion or misconceptions on how old the child should be.

Eye on UMSL: Computer part art

Eye on UMSL: Computer part art

Xtreme IT! participants (from left) Cameron Caves, Manyongbe Kamara, Thinh Nguyen and Amani Coleman dig through boxes of old computer parts while looking for pieces to be used in an art project. Vicki Sauter, professor of information systems at UMSL and co-founder of Xtreme IT!, said the goal of the art project was to show the reusability of the computer and its parts

Greek dig makes pages of Archaeology magazine

Greek dig makes pages of Archaeology magazine

Each summer for more than a decade, University of Missouri–St. Louis archaeologist Michael Cosmopoulos has led an expedition of students and volunteers to an area in the middle of an olive grove in southwest Greece for hands-on experience they’re likely to never forget.

Students develop formula, algorithm for school bus routes

Students develop formula, algorithm for school bus routes

Transportation continues to be a growing cost for area school districts facing annual budget cuts. University of Missouri-St. Louis doctoral students Jeremy North and William Ellegood may have just discovered a way to save thousands of dollars on busing and routing for districts. The pair recently won first place at the Graduate School Research Fair for their project “Applying Business Logistic Optimization Modeling to School Bus Routing.”

Professors talk Olympic Games in recent podcast

Professors talk Olympic Games in recent podcast

As the world gears up for the 2012 Summer Olympics next month in London, reflection on the last summer games continues. University of Missouri–St. Louis scholars Susan Brownell and Richard Wright recently sat down to film a video podcast about the Olympics for the British Journal of Sociology in London.

Instructor shows off international instrument collection

Instructor shows off international instrument collection

Aurelia Hartenberger has been collecting musical instruments for nearly four decades. But, they’re not your average run-of-the-mill ones. They come from all over the world. Her collection features African drums, bells and rattles, plus historical Civil War instruments and one-of-a-kind custom-made modern jazz pieces, including some played by jazz greats Artie Shaw and Clark Terry.

Women are crucial to future of IT in US

Women are crucial to future of IT in US

Information technology is pervasive in our lives. Whether using an app on a smart phone or a program for work, we are increasingly using computers more. In addition to business applications, there are applications for helping us meet people, run our home and plan our finances and even our vacations.

Novelist’s book makes ‘great summer reading’ list

Novelist’s book makes ‘great summer reading’ list

To paraphrase KMOX (1120), you don’t have to travel far from the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus to find great summer reading. “The Inverted Forest” by John Dalton, director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at UMSL, made the radio station’s list of “Books by St. Louis authors to read this summer.”

Eye on UMSL: Big camps on campus

Eye on UMSL: Big camps on campus

Saxophonist Dave Pietro leads a Jazz Camp class in J.C. Penney Building/Conference Center at UMSL. Held June 10-15, it’s one of several precollegiate camps on campus each summer. Others include Girls Leadership Camp, STARS, UMSL Bridge Program Summer Academy, Xtreme IT! Summer Academy and UMSL Boys Basketball Camps. The picture, by campus photographer August Jennewein, is the latest to be featured at Eye on UMSL.

Xtreme IT! doubles in size thanks to gifts

Xtreme IT! doubles in size thanks to gifts

Next week more than 40 high school students will arrive on the campus of the University of Missouri–St. Louis ready to learn the ins and outs of information technology.

Scholar walks away winner at Madrid Film Festival

Scholar walks away winner at Madrid Film Festival

Niyi Coker’s film “Pennies for the Boatman” took center stage at the Madrid International Film Festival by beating out the competition and taking home the prize for best film script.

Golfer earns Midwest All-Region, team honors

Golfer earns Midwest All-Region, team honors

Sophomore Joe Atkisson led the University of Missouri–St. Louis men’s golf team with a scoring average of 75.88 this season, while earning a bid to the NCAA Midwest/South Central Regional. His excellent season has led to him being named to the NCAA Division II PING Midwest All-Region team.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch profiles gerontologist Tom Meuser

Marketing expert talks legacy of ‘Queen of Carpet’

St. Louisans will no longer be able to get “Rich man’s carpet at a working man’s price,” as the self-proclaimed “Becky, Queen of Carpet” has landed, ending her more-than-30-year reign over the region’s flooring industry.

Celebrated choral groups to converge at Touhill

Celebrated choral groups to converge at Touhill

Many of the world’s best a cappella voices will fill the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall during a pair of performance June 23 at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Student gets hands dirty at Cahokia excavations

Student gets hands dirty at Cahokia excavations

Timothy Meyer, a senior majoring in anthropology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, has been getting his hands dirty this summer, logging real-world experience helping excavation efforts at Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville, Ill., just east of St. Louis.

Piano students to hold benefit concert

Piano students to hold benefit concert

A group of University of Missouri–St. Louis piano students will soon travel to Russia and to help defray the costs they are holding a special benefit concert June 15 at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis.

Women are crucial to future of IT in US

In defense of the F-word in K-16 education

Recently I received an email from a student unlike any message I have received in 40 years as a college professor. It is worth noting for what it says not so much about this student as about the culture we have now created within K-16 education in America. Commenting on the failing grade the student received in one of my courses, the individual wrote that s/he had “complied” with the paper and tests and that it was I, the instructor, who had failed insofar as I had not done what it took to enable a passing grade and had not given adequate warning of failure. The student concluded that “you should be embarrassed to give a student an F and demanded a refund of the money charged for the course.

Alumna earns Optometrist of Year honor

Alumna earns Optometrist of Year honor

Dr. Karen Aldridge recently earned the highest award an optometrist can receive from the Kansas Optometric Association. The University of Missouri–St. Louis alumna (OD 1992) was recognized as the 2012 Optometrist of the Year for personal sacrifices to advance the profession and the welfare of the public.

Leadership Camp focuses on college, career, leadership

Leadership Camp focuses on college, career, leadership

Now in its third year, a fun-filled camp at the University of Missouri–St. Louis will help high school women focus on college, career and leadership readiness. The UMSL Executive Leadership Consortium will present the annual Girls’ Leadership Camp June 24-27 at the university.

Panel to discuss IRA pros, cons

Panel to discuss IRA pros, cons

To IRA or not to IRA? That is the question. Panel experts will explore the pros and cons of individual retirement accounts for the discussion “Do you have an IRA for the IRS?” at 8 a.m. June 7 in the Student Government Association Chamber in the Millennium Student Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Musicians learn from best at UMSL’s Jazz Camp

Musicians learn from best at UMSL’s Jazz Camp

Student and adult musicians interesting in studying with some of the finest and most talented jazz musicians in the county need look no farther than the University of Missouri–St. Louis. The Division of Continuing Education at UMSL will present the Jazz Combo/Improv Camp June 10-15. It includes musical instruction from beginner to advanced, jazz improvisation and combo playing, instrument master classes, ear training and daily concerts.