Welcome to a new school year at UMKC! Campus may have seemed quiet the past three months, but major changes are in store. Here’s a look at what’s new around campus as well as some big news you may have missed over the summer:
New Homes and New Offices
Two key Academic Support and Mentoring departments are moving to Miller Nichols Library beginning in the fall semester to take advantage of space that is both larger and quieter than their former location.
Supplemental Instruction and UMKC Tutoring will now be located on the fourth floor of Miller Nichols Library, relocating from the Atterbury Student Success Center.
RooLearning+, an easy-to-use app already used for Supplemental Instruction scheduling, will also be the best way to schedule Tutoring and Writing Studio appointments and logging in for drop-ins. Access RooLearning+ by visiting the webpage at umkc.tedu.app/student or downloading the app from the Apple or Google Play app stores and signing in with your SSO.
Two new offices will be opening in the Student Success Center this fall: the headquarters of the new Professional Career Escalators program and an on-campus office for KC Scholars. Career Services will also have expanded space in the ASSC.
Music To Your Ears
The recital hall in Grant Hall has been renovated to make it into a high-quality venue for music performances, including new acoustic treatments and new sound equipment. This is part of a $4 million project to renovate spaces within White Hall and Grant Hall, including arts practice and teaching areas most needed by our Conservatory students and faculty. The project is focused on hearing safety, updated technology, increased usable space and ADA compliance.
UMKC Forward Launches Academic Realignment
The UMKC Forward academic realignment, designed to optimize resources and better serve UMKC students and community, began July 1. Significant progress on hiring and program development have laid the groundwork for collaborative research and student success.
In 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chancellor Mauli Agrawal announced the formation of UMKC Forward, a collaboration of faculty, staff and students across the university that would develop a new vision for the university’s future. Part of that vision was a realignment of the academic units at UMKC in order to optimize the strengths of the university and the opportunities for students’ career achievement.
The realignment created three new schools: the School of Education, Social Work and Psychological Sciences; the School of Humanities and Social Sciences; and the School of Science and Engineering.
$100 Million Project Planned for Health Sciences District
We are poised to begin work on a new interprofessional health sciences building in the UMKC Health Sciences District, housing new, state-of-the-art dental teaching clinics and expanded medical school teaching facilities.
The multi-story, $100 million project also will serve as a home for the university’s Data Science and Analytics Innovation Center and Biomedical Engineering program. This project will take the Health Sciences District to the next level, accelerating health care access and equity for the community and sparking development to turn the campus into a regional draw, igniting entrepreneurship and economic growth for the city and region.
University Partners with Boys & Girls Clubs
UMKC and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City announced a new partnership in June that will extend scholarship opportunities to thousands of Kansas City students. The agreement creates the new UMKC Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City Scholarship, which grants $1,000 in aid to students who are graduating from a Boys & Girls club program.
In addition to scholarship funds, the partnership will also provide an on-campus introduction to campus and college life during the spring or summer prior to students’ freshman year. Once on campus, UMKC will provide students with programs to help connect them to peer mentors who will help navigate and support them throughout their college experience.
KC Celebrates Bloch Heritage Hall Reopening
The Henry W. Bloch School of Management welcomed alumni, students and community members to the newly remodeled Bloch Heritage Hall July 30 to celebrate the reopening of the building and the 100th anniversary of the birth of the school’s namesake.
“Henry Bloch, and the community leaders who came before him, created a heritage of investment in higher education and a dedication to innovation,” Chancellor Mauli Agrawal said. “Just as they joined together to support the university more than 90 years ago, UMKC has again witnessed the generosity of donors who value the importance of maintaining excellent educational opportunities close to home.”
The remodeling creates a vibrant student services hub, where students can easily connect to advisors, tutors, career resources and clubs. Classrooms now feature state-of-the-art technology and room design to provide flexibility for optimum virtual-class attendance. These upgrades will better serve students with work and childcare obligations, as well as travel schedules.
New Faces Among Leadership
Please join us in welcoming our new vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion and two new deans to campus.
J. Camille Hall, Ph.D., LCSW, has been appointed as the new vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion at UMKC. She comes to UMKC from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where she has served as a tenured professor and associate dean for equity and inclusion in the College of Social Work. Her research focuses on risk and resilience among Black Americans and multicultural competence.
Tamara L. Falicov, Ph.D., will be the inaugural dean of the new UMKC School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She brings to the job a history of interdisciplinary scholarship and a strong demonstrated commitment to student success and to diversity, equity and inclusion.
The new dean of the UMKC Conservatory, Courtney Crappell, DMA, comes from an arts leadership position at an urban-serving university, where he was deeply engaged with the local community and had experience collaborating across disciplines.
UMKC Hosts Area Employers for Talent Summit
Connecting with this generation of students and young professionals may require thinking outside of the box. The KC Early Talent Summit hosted hiring professionals from more than 90 local companies and organizations to discuss the opportunities and changing landscape when it comes to hiring and working with young professionals.
Topics included diversity, equity and inclusion; recruitment and retention, building a recognizable brand on campus and alternatives to traditional internships.