Recent Faculty Accomplishments

Publications:

Dr. Susie Hennessy contributed a chapter to Aimer et Mourir: Love, Death, and Women's Lives in Texts of French Expression, which has been published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Appointments:

Dr. Ann Thorne was elected Vice-Head & Research Chair of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication History Division at the national convention held August 8- 11 in Boston, MA.

Dr. Jane Frick has been appointed to the national Affiliate Advisory Council for the Alliance for Young Arts & Writers, Inc., sponsors of the annual Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards contests for youth, grades 7-12.

Dr. Frick also coordinates the Missouri Writing Regional Affiliate, which is sponsored by Prairie Lands Writing Project at Missouri Western. Nearly 20,000 students nationwide submitted art and writing entries in the 2009 contest, including students from over 100 schools in Missouri and the greater Kansas City area.

Grants Awarded:

Prairie Lands Writing Project has received a $5000 grant, "Through the Looking Glass: Looking at Literacy Through Content area Lenses," from the Carnegie Corporation and the National Writing Project to support in-service programs related to reading and writing across the curriculum. The grant will support teams of content area teachers from St. Joseph Central, Lathrop, and Platte County high schools who will participate in a professional learning community/classroom research cohort related to improving reading and writing instruction in the content areas. PLWP Teacher Consultants directing the project are Valorie Stokes, Platte County high school media coordinator, team leader; Amy Fowler, St. Joseph Central high school math teacher; Jen Vermillion, Lathrop high school Spanish/French teacher; and Michelle Thomas, Platte County high school assistant principal.

Prairie Lands Writing Project has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the National Writing Project (NWP) to provide year two literacy-based in-services for the instructional staff at Excelsior Springs Middle School, as a part of the NWP's multi-year National Evaluation Study. To launch the second year of the project, Prairie Lands' Teacher Consultants Heidi Mick and Kathy Miller, facilitated a week-long Writing Academy in early August for Excelsior's communication arts staff.