I looked forward to joining a cohort of faculty who were committed to working together to support faculty excellence across the University. My overarching goal is to promote faculty and staff research from every unit and from every department by presenting this information in the Faculty Affairs Newsletter and on the CAFÉ website. In addition, I coordinate my efforts with MCOM, the Office of Research Services, and Admissions. Our faculty and staff are truly accomplished and have published books with major presses; published articles and creative works in the top journals in their fields; won grants worth more than $52 million dollars since July 2021; received international awards; and excelled in every area. I want to share these many accomplishments both within the UMKC community and beyond, while inviting engagement, community, and collaboration.
What do you hope to accomplish this year? Are there any particular goals? What do you think the legacy of your work will be?
This year, I created an Awards Calendar, which is posted on the CAFÉ website. This calendar includes listings of University award opportunities available to our faculty at the department, unit, Dean, Provost, Trustee, and System level. This has helped inform our faculty of the many awards available and has increased applications to these awards. In addition, I have succeeded through the FAN and CAFÉ website to promote faculty and staff research and share that information broadly. Moreover, I work with MCOM to pitch stories and with Admissions to share faculty and staff accomplishments with incoming students. Of course, students want to work with great researchers, and we undoubtedly have amazing researchers at UMKC.
How does your research or role as faculty member inform your interest and work as a Café fellow?
I’m a creative writer, and write poetry and non-fiction, as well as scholarly work. I could easily argue that creative writing is a celebration of language, sensation, and lived experience. My work for CAFÉ allows me to turn this celebratory literary gaze on our faculty and staff who are truly doing amazing things. In particular, this very issue of the FAN (March 3, 2022), was a pleasure to generate, including a broad listing of grants and awards as well as extensive publications and media appearances and presentations.