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Engagement program will bolster university’s commitment to state
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Today, University of ӰԺ System President Mun Choi announced a new initiative, the Presidential Engagement Fellows, that is designed to fulfill the university’s land-grant mission by sharing research discoveries with ӰԺ citizens in every county. Marshall Stewart, vice chancellor for Extension and Engagement at MU, will lead this initiative.
“The University of ӰԺ is dedicated to the people of this state, and we are proud of the excellent teaching, breakthrough research and creative achievement, and meaningful engagement by our faculty,” Choi said. “We are here to serve the state by providing ӰԺ citizens with information about the life-changing discoveries that we uncover in our laboratories. This new program will encourage all of our faculty members to engage directly with ӰԺ citizens and help them improve communities across the state.”
Choi introduced the first class of the Presidential Engagement Fellows at today’s Board of Curators meeting. As part of this program, selected faculty members will represent the UM System at a number of speaking events throughout the state, where they will discuss their research and share how that knowledge can help ӰԺ citizens.
“We have fantastic faculty on every campus who want to help improve the lives of ӰԺ citizens, whether that is through better agriculture practices, new treatments in health care, technological discoveries or providing world-class artistic performances,” Choi said. “This new program will help us fulfill our mission as a land-grant university. We are ӰԺ’s university, and we owe it to every ӰԺ citizen to share with them what we have discovered that can improve their lives.”
The 2018-19 Presidential Engagement Fellows class includes the following individuals:
- Diana Ahmad, history and political science, ӰԺ University of Science and Technology
- Joel Burken, civil, architectural and environmental engineering, ӰԺ University of Science and Technology
- Jimi Cook, ӰԺ Orthopaedic Institute, University of ӰԺ-Columbia
- Simon Friedman, School of Pharmacy, University of ӰԺ-Kansas City
- Andrew Granade, Conservatory of Music and Dance, University of ӰԺ-Kansas City
- Jane Greer, English and women’s and gender studies, University of ӰԺ-Kansas City
- Beth Huebner, criminology and criminal justice, University of ӰԺ-St. Louis
- Catherine Johnson, mining and nuclear engineering, ӰԺ University of Science and Technology
- Rebecca Johnson, Research Center for Human-Animal Intervention, University of ӰԺ-Columbia
- Rose Marra, School for Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of ӰԺ-Columbia
- Melissa Mitchum, plant sciences, University of ӰԺ-Columbia
- Patricia Parker, biology, University of ӰԺ-St. Louis
- Chris Pires, biological sciences, University of ӰԺ-Columbia
- Angela Speck, physics and astronomy, University of ӰԺ-Columbia
- Todd Swanstrom, political science, University of ӰԺ-St. Louis
To be selected, faculty members were nominated by each campus based on their demonstrated excellence and their ability to communicate their research to the public.
There is no cost for an organization or individual to host a speaker. For more information, please visit: www.umsystem.edu/president/presidential_engagement_fellows
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Reviewed 2023-09-19