Mindy Walker

Expanding Your Horizons

2012-01-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

On Friday evening, one of my fantastic students (and python enthusiast), Nicole, and I took our respective ball pythons, Monty and Slinky, to Science City at Union Station to introduce them to approximately 45 middle-school girls. This program, called "Expanding Your Horizons," is sponsored by Science Pioneers and is aimed at getting girls interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields. Our session, "Introduction to Herpetology," was just one of many workshops offered that evening. As you can see from the photo, the girls just adored Monty. Then again, how could you not?

Joe Collins

2012-01-19T12:36:00.000-08:00

This week has been difficult. Not because classes have started but because the herpetological community lost one of its greatest and most influential contributors, Mr. Joe Collins, this past weekend. This is truly sad news and he will be missed tremendously by so many. I am just so glad that many of my students were able to meet this herp legend over the last few years and I am proud to have known him. I have pasted the CNAH announcement below, as well as a picture from the KC Star article about his life.

IN MEMORIAM: JOSEPH THOMAS COLLINS (1939 - 2012)

Thursday 19 January 2012: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH NEWSRELEASE The Center for North American Herpetology Lawrence, Kansas http://www.cnah.org

19 January 2012

It is with very heavy hearts that we report the passingof The Center for North American Herpetology Co-founder and Director Joseph T.Collins. Joe Collins suffered a massivecoronary attack and died on 14 January 2012 in Florida. He and his wife Suzanne were on their annualherpetofaunal expedition to the Florida panhandle and St. George Island. Joe was 72 years old.

Like so many of us, Joe turned a childhood passion into alifelong career. His accomplishments aretoo vast for this brief note, and his influence on the lives of past, present,and future herpetologists is immeasurable. His comical subject lines for many of the daily CNAH notes announcementsare a testament to Joe's quick-witted sense of humor. They will certainly be missed.

Plans for a memorial service have not yet been made. Details will be released in futureannouncements as they are received. Tosay that Joe will be sorely missed is an understatement. CNAH, The Kansas Herpetological Society, andthe herpetological community in general have lost a great scientist, a boldleader, and a true friend. Rest in PeaceJoe.

The Board of Directors of The Center for North AmericanHerpetology would like to extend its deepest sympathies to Joe's loving wifeSuzanne and to all of Joe's family and friends.

KCFS

2012-01-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

This evening, Dr. Evans and I, along with at least one dedicated student, will be attending a lecture about the evolution of altruism. This is a hot and controversial concept in evolutionary biology, and is thus a great topic of discussion for the Kansas Citizens for Science's "Science Cafe" this evening. I look forward to hearing Dr. Decelles' take on this topic and how it relates to that of renowned sociobiologist E.O. Wilson. All of the details of the event are described in the first link above, and it is open to the public. Please join us if you're free this evening!

Happy 2012!

2012-01-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope it has started off splendidly. I am in my office doing a little prep work for classes this spring, including perusing potential texts for our Biology Field Trip course. Dr. Scholes and I will be taking a road trip with about a dozen students from here to Yellowstone National Park, stopping at points of interest in between. Thus far, we are leaning toward Yellowstone: A Visitor's Companion, which is a must-have for anyone who will be traveling to Yellowstone. In class this spring we will ask students to lead discussions about topics in the book, including everything from the anthropology of the region to controversial issues surrounding the reintroduction of wolves to the park; and then we will embark on the trip in mid-May to see these things for ourselves.

GO CHIEFS!!!

2011-12-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to attend that UNBELIEVABLE Chiefs game on Sunday when they beat the undefeated Packers 19-14. What an amazing experience! We were high-fiving and hugging people we didn't even know (as long as they were wearing red). The whole crowd was in such disbelief that I think it took a few seconds to set in after Orton knelt it out on the last play. Pictured is the Chiefs bus we rode in/tailgated on and that final play from our seats in the 13th row. What a day! GO CHIEFS!!!

Winter Break

2011-12-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

Well, finals ended yesterday and today officially marks the beginning of winter break. For my research students and I, last week started off with some great news: our latest publication came out! The title page is above, and the author line includes two of my former undergraduate research students, who are now published in an international journal! That was exciting news, and our current research is also looking very promising. My current student and I hope to work on the next publication over this long, relaxing winter break...

Post-Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T14:59:00.001-08:00

It was 81 degrees last week when I landed in Houston and now I'm sitting in my office, wearing my puffy coat. It's quite the climatic transition. It was great to be home for a few days and see my family (my niece and my parents' pygmy goats are pictured here). I hope you all got to do the same, perhaps minus the pygmy goats.
Now we're all getting back in the swing of things. I just gave the last lab practical for my Monday Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy lab section and graded their cat dissections. They did a phenomenal job with their dissections this semester, as did my Friday lab students, and I am always sad to see a semester of "Comp Vert" lab end. However, in the spring I'll be teaching Evolution, Anatomy & Physiology, and Biology Field Trip; so there is plenty to which to look forward.

Thanksgiving week

2011-11-21T12:47:00.001-08:00

Since we have an abbreviated week, this will be an abbreviated blog post. I will be going back to Texas over the break to see my family, so I thought now would be a perfect time to include a recent pic of my niece. She just turned a year old, and this is a picture of her staring at a ball python at the pet store. She's already interested in snakes and adores animals, so I'd say she's off to a great start!

Honeysuckle battle!

2011-11-14T15:36:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, Linda Lehrbaum and I led a group of gung-ho Rockhurst students as they worked to rid the beautiful glade at Swope Park of invasive brush honeysuckle. This was a Kansas City Wildlands workday, and the work group was comprised entirely of Rockhurst Plant Biology and honors students. They were hardcore workers, not bothered by the manual labor, the cold wind or the overcast skies (or the fact that they had to get up early on a Saturday). The picture shows the group, saws crossed, proudly posed in front of one of many piles of conquered honeysuckle.
The next KCWildlands event, on December 3rd, is described below. Please come out to Olathe to pick out and cut down your very own Christmas tree while at the same time helping to decrease the local population of invasive native red cedars!

2011-11-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

This weekend my research student and I drove to Wichita, KS, to attend the Kansas Herpetological Society Annual Meeting. He presented a paper yesterday concerning the evolutionary history and classification of a group of small snakes that are relatively common in the Midwest. He did a great job (unsurprisingly) and we gleaned quite a bit from the other talks as well. We also felt the earthquake on Saturday night, which was a really bizarre experience for us both.

One of the best parts of my job is taking undergraduate research students to professional conferences to present their original research. This was especially exciting because our project may have taxonomic implications (i.e. our work may divide one recognized species of snake into two). We plan to do some further research, which we initiated this morning, and publish a paper about the study next semester.

Fast Food Nation

2011-11-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last night, Dr. Evans, Caitlin M. (a senior Biology major) and I attended the Diversity Access & Equity Social Justice Book and Lecture series at UMKC. The speaker was Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation - you should absolutely read it or see the movie if you have a chance - and co-producer of Food, Inc. (I strongly recommend this one, too). In his talk last night he discussed the fast food industry and drew numerous parallels between its motives and operations and those of the tobacco industry. This was an interesting and provocative analogy and led audience members to ask some rather deep questions. It was an enjoyable and informative evening and we hope to attend another of these talks in the future.

Phoenix

2011-10-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend, two of our best and brightest honors students accompanied me to the National Collegiate Honors Council annual conference in Phoenix. They are pictured here in front of a giant praying mantis sculpture after a 40-minute night hike to the Botanical Gardens, and seated in the conference room prior to their presentation. They presented a great talk about our Living-Learning Community (Honors Student Housing), and we were able to glean lots of good ideas from other presentations. We are meeting tomorrow to debrief and generate a plan to implement some of these new ideas into our own program. We will then present what we've learned with our Honors Student Association Executive Board and the Honors Advisory Committee. We felt invigorated and inspired upon our return, so now we want to share that with our peers and colleagues.

Conference

2011-10-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

I have been at the National Collegiate Honors Council conference in Phoenix but I promise to post again soon!

Fall Break

2011-10-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday marks the beginning of our Fall Break, during which time our students have a chance to relax and/or catch up on work after mid-terms. I will head down to Texas for a few days to visit my niece (pictured) who is about to turn one-year-old already! I can't wait to see her and my family and do a little relaxing/catching up myself.

Diversity Events at Rockhurst

2011-10-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

As a member of the Rockhurst University Diversity Committee, I wanted to take this opportunity to direct you to the Rockhurst Diversity website and the following list of student-sponsored diversity events happening on campus this semester.

Please join us at any and all of the events you are able to attend!

2011-09-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was National Public Lands Day, so several of us volunteers (including some Rockhurst students) met at Hidden Valley Natural Area for a day of "sweat, beauty and a really great workout in this stunning forest!" (quote from the KCWildlands website). We had lots of volunteers so we thought it best to divide and conquer. One group built log stairs along part of the public trail, another built stream debris dams and moved a boardwalk so that visitors can now access the forest without injuring it, and our group worked to get rid of invasive shrub honeysuckle plants. These exotic plants were originally brought in as ornamentals but have since taken over the wild areas in much of the midwest. Kansas City Wildlands works to rid wild areas of this invasive and destructive species in order to let our natural biodiversity flourish. It was a fun and productive day.

Teach for America event

2011-09-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night, two guest speakers from Teach for America addressed a group of (67!)

Rockhurst Honors students in the basement of Corcoran Hall. They described their experiences with the program, which truly hit home since the main speaker (pictured) grew up in Lee's Summit, MO, and did his Teach for America teaching at East High School in the KCMO Public School District. This organization works to eliminate the educational inequities (the "achievement gap") in the US by finding strong and passionate leaders to serve for two years in a school with underprivileged and disadvantaged students. The relationship between Rockhurst (with its mission of learning, leadership and service) and Teach for America seems like a natural one, though this is the first year the organization has recruited at Rockhurst. I already know of two students who have interviews with the program; and after Tuesday night, I hope to see more.

Honors Events

2011-09-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last week marked the first installment of our Honors activities for this year. On Wednesday night, two of our outstanding Honors students (Grant Fischer and Katie Birkenfeld, pictured) presented the research they have conducted, which developed from Honors Option projects they have done over the past two years. An Honors Option is a contract established with a professor in an upper-level course in which an Honors student performs research or generates a creative project about something in the course that interests them. Honors Options may involve research papers, reflections, presentations, blogs, visits to other facilities or institutions, etc., and allow students to receive Honors credit for courses that are not listed in the catalog as "Honors." Then last Friday, several Honors students conducted a joint service project with HSOM (Helzberg School of Management) at Harvesters, our local food pantry. And finally, Sunday afternoon, Robyn Everist (our Honors Student Association Vice President of Organizational Development) offered Honors students the opportunity to take creative ownership of the Honors Room; and they spent the afternoon painting individual canvases that were mounted on the north wall. They look fantastic! Pictures are forthcoming.

Pictured above are the other upcoming Honors events. They are open to everyone, so please feel free to attend!

Labor Day weekend

2011-09-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I fluctuated between work and fun. Work: my tenure application was due this week, so I had to finalize it. Whew. Fun: Festivals! Dr. Wills (Biology Dept.), Dr. Oliver (Psychology Dept.) and I went to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday where we practiced our archery (Dr. Wills is pictured here with outstretched bow in hand), explored the shops, and were each decorated with some beautiful henna. Then on Monday, a friend and I wandered the streets of Independence at Santa-Cali-Gon Days. This is a celebration of the historic divergence of the three trails (the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon Trails) from Independence. I don't know how the pioneers would feel about attendees' toasting them with fried Snickers bars and paying tribute by riding the "Kick-n-Flip," but it's a fun time nonetheless. Irish Fest was also last weekend, so there was no shortage of things to do in KC.
The coming weekend marks the beginning of Chiefs season! So fair warning - I may not be answering emails between 12 and 3 on Sunday...

Honors Welcome Weekend

2011-09-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

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Last weekend, the Honors freshmen students, their dedicated sophomore Honors mentors and I held our annual Honors Orientation (recently renamed "Honors Welcome Weekend"). Not only was this a social gathering over a pasta dinner that the mentors and I cooked, but we also experienced some Kansas City culture - some of us attended the Greenlease Gallery exhibit opening on campus while others of us explored the Asian art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum - on Friday evening. Of course, this was followed by an obligatory trip to the self-serve frozen yogurt bar. On Saturday, we were all bused out to the Heartland Center where we participated in leadership and team-building exercises, including a low-ropes course and a GPS scavenger hunt. Pictured here are a groups participating in each. We were exhausted after it was all said and done, but we had a great time getting to know one another and working on our learning and leadership.

Travels

2011-08-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, I have visited Milwaukee, Lincoln, Tucson, Dallas, and Portland & Bend, Oregon. It's been a tremendously busy summer but now we are back on campus and returning to a regular schedule. Classes start at Rockhurst this Wednesday, and this past weekend was Freshmen Orientation. I had the pleasure of meeting some of our wonderful new Honors students during move-in at the Living-Learning Community in Corcoran Hall on Saturday, and today is our Fall Faculty Workshop. Though I will miss traveling, I'm glad to return to a more structured schedule and I'm excited to spend time with students and colleagues once again.
Pictured here are Smith Rock in Bend, Oregon, and the Biology Field Trip group atop the Sigatoka Sand Dunes on Viti Levu Island, Fiji.

Australia!

2011-06-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

I am between trips right now and HAD to post this group photo of our Biology Field Trip class in the Blue Mountains of southeast Australia. We are standing (well, Dr. Scholes is lying) before a vast eucalyptus forest, and it is the volatility of the oils in the leaves of these trees that give the mountains their blue appearance. The mountains are just outside Sydney, where we spent four days before heading to Cairns and then Fiji. More pictures to come of these latter two exotic destinations!

First Fridays

2011-05-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, Dr. Chris Wills (center), her boyfriend, Mike, Dr. Tina Baceski (not pictured) and I went to First Fridays in the Crossroads Arts District of downtown KC. This is a celebration of local art during which the Crossroads galleries and studios stay open late on the first Friday of each month. We took our AJCU Honors Conference guests there on the First Friday of April to share this uniquely-KC event with them and they were quite impressed with and enamored of Kansas City culture. This past Friday also marked the first Food Truck Friday, and this picture was taken by a Kansas City Star Community Faces photographer next to the "3 Girls Cupcakes" food truck. It was a fun night and I would encourage anyone in town on June 3rd to head out to the Crossroads!

Upcoming week

2011-05-06T10:46:00.001-07:00

Well, I just finished giving my first final of the semester (Evolution), and on Monday my Anatomy & Physiology students will take their last A&P I exam. Tomorrow, many of our faculty and staff (myself included) will be at the Kansas City Pre-Registration event, where we meet with our incoming freshmen students from the area and get them set up with everything they'll need for the fall semester. Last week we had a similar event in St. Louis, and I really appreciate having the opportunity to meet and talk with our freshmen before they even begin their tenure as college students.
After all the grading is finished next week, it will be time for graduation, followed almost immediately by our Biology Field Trip. This year, Dr. Chad Scholes and I and 12 students are off to Australia and Fiji! So we are all gearing up for our trip and trying to prepare ourselves for some biology abroad. We cannot wait, and I'm sure you'll be hearing much more about it upon our return!

Finally, a few pics from the AJCU Honors Conference

2011-04-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am finally posting some pictures from the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Honors Conference we hosted at Rockhurst during the first weekend of April. The top picture shows our Advising in Honors Panel (L to R: Dr. Bill Sturgill (RU), Rob Hamilton (RU), and Dr. David Sorensen (St. Joseph's University)), and the bottom pic is of the group at lunch in the Massman Gallery (front table: Jazz Giacchetti (Santa Clara University), Dr. Bill Sturgill (RU) and Madiha Aslam (RU)).

Since Belize

2011-04-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since returning from Belize! This past weekend my colleagues and I hosted the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Honors Conference at Rockhurst. I am still recovering and have yet to upload the pictures, so more about that later. But a few weeks ago I was invited to help kindergarten-age Girl Scouts earn a badge centered around animal appreciation, so Monty (my ball python, pictured) and I were thrilled to spend the morning with them. We also had a successful Honors Program Student Induction the following day, where first-year Honors students were officially welcomed into the program over brunch with their families and Honors faculty. Dr. Jason Arthur gave an intriguing and thought-provoking keynote speech, and the Honors Student Association President, Ms. Kaela Severa, emceed the event.
And on top of everything, our Festival of Student Achievement is this week, so our entire campus community will have the chance to see firsthand the products of student research and creative efforts at poster sessions (all week on the first floor of the Science Center), and performances and an art opening at the Greenlease Gallery Friday evening.
Also, it's Royals season!!! I had the pleasure of watching some of the home opener and hope to go to several games this year. It's an exciting time!

Had to add a few more Belize pic's

2011-03-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

The first is of the entire work crew in Dolores; and the second is of Israel and Milton, two of our favorite kiddos.

Belize service trip

2011-03-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Over spring break last week, Dr. Pete Bicak and I accompanied a group of 10 outstanding RU students to southern Belize for a service trip. While there, we met some kind and fascinating people, including villagers in the Mayan communities of Dolores and Laguna, as well as our wonderful and welcoming hosts in Punta Gorda and Belize City. Our work chiefly involved helping the villagers finish building the Catholic church in Dolores, construction of which began in January of 2010. We also served as volunteers and even substitute teachers in the village's school, where we became very close to many of the Mayan children. We also had the good fortune of meeting Vicente, who took us on a guided jungle walk and a tour of Laguna, where we got to meet Kevin (above - so cute!) and share a meal with him and his family. We even got the chance to visit and learn about the Lubaantun Mayan ruins (pictured). The twelve of us worked incredibly well together and it was such a pleasure to spend a week with these amazing people. The work was difficult, but leaving Belize and leaving one another was even harder. It's been a challenge to reintegrate since we've been back, and I find myself really missing our group and the people we met.

CALHE

2011-02-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend three fantastic students accompanied me to the Conference on Applied Learning in Higher Education at Missouri Western State University, where we gave a presentation about the Hogan/Rockhurst Diversity Institute from last summer. During this institute, these and other RU students mentored urban High School students from Hogan Prep. The HS students spent one week on our campus taking college classes in science, math and philosophy and living like college students. They took what they learned and in turn prepared and implemented an activity with middle school students from Brookside Frontier Math and Science School. We referred to this series of mentorships, from RU faculty to RU students to Hogan Prep students to BFMASS students, as a cascade of service-learning. Our design, implementation and observations were presented by me and two of the students at the conference this weekend. We also had the opportunity to hear lots of other interesting talks, including the keynote speaker, Dr. Joel Shenker, pictured here.

Honors Lecture Series

2011-02-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

Last night we had our most recent installment of the Honors Program's Professor-Scholar Lecture Series, starring our very own Dr. Elizabeth Evans (DVM) and her hedgehog, Peaty. We had a record turnout (around 55 students - I'm sure the pizza and pop helped) and everyone learned a lot about welfare in animal research, about the contributions of such studies to science and medicine, and about hedgehogs! Dr. Evans is a fantastic resource for our students who are interested in Veterinary Medicine, animal behavior, lab animal work, and a plethora of other animal-related topics. So please feel free to stop by the Biology Department anytime to see us, our fish, my snakes, and Peaty the hedgehog! (image from treehugger.com)

The New Evolution Class Blogs are up!

2011-02-05T13:10:00.001-08:00

My Evolution class has now completed their first blog posts for their grid-computing service-learning projects! To learn more, please check out their links at the bottom of this page.

Spring Semester 2011

2011-01-25T06:37:00.000-08:00

The spring semester is now underway and I am definitely back in teaching mode. My students have already impressed me with their questions and their responsiveness to my questions, and yesterday was only the third day of class. My Evolution students are starting to put together their Service-Learning blogs, which will soon be posted at the bottom of this page.
We are also gearing up to host the Regional Science Olympiad Tournament on campus this Saturday, at which time we will have hundreds of local middle and high school students at Rockhurst competing in numerous science- and math-based events. It's always incredible to see how bright these students already are, and I look forward to seeing some of them in my classes in a few years!

Happy 2011!

2011-01-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

As we are easing into the new year and the coming new semester, I wanted to wish everyone a happy 2011. I am starting to get anxious and am preparing for my spring classes (Evolution, Anatomy & Physiology I, Biology Field Trip to AUSTRALIA, and undergraduate research). I am also super excited about having seen my little niece (and, of course, the rest of my family in TX) over Christmas, and about the Chiefs' making it to the playoffs! I'm also looking forward to all of the exciting Honors events we have planned for this semester - including our Professor-Scholar Lecture Series (see below) and our hosting the AJCU Honors Conference in April - as well as getting to know the students in my spring classes.
Enjoy this first week of 2011, and, like Dr. Salem's daughter, Allison, be sure to root for the Chiefs on Sunday!!!

The newest favorite picture of my niece

2010-12-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

That's exactly what it is... I'm sure there will be more!

Update

2010-12-06T09:59:00.001-08:00

Since my last post, I have given the first installment of our Honors Professor-Scholar Lecture Series (so much fun! - the schedule for the remaining talks is below - just click on it for an easier-to-read version), served as a Judge for the Miller Speech contest, sold invasive Red Cedar Christmas trees for KCWildlands, and spent a week with my family and new niece! Isn't she adorable in her little bunny onesie?!
What a fast couple of weeks it's been. And now it's already finals week, so good luck to all of our students and happy holidays!
P.S. An interview that my AWESOME research student, Ryan, and I conducted is linked on the Rockhurst homepage, or you can just click here if you'd like to see it and the other faculty videos conducted by our students.

Tessa!

2010-11-09T09:16:00.001-08:00

My first niece, Tessa, was born last Wednesday, November 3rd! She is absolutely beautiful and weighed 8lbs, 13oz and was 20" long. It is so weird to think of my brother as a dad, but everyone says he's doing a fantastic job. Tessa looks just like him, so all I see is him when I look at pictures of her. I haven't gotten to meet her yet but I can't wait to do so over the Thanksgiving break! I am just counting down the days...

NCHC

2010-10-20T08:23:00.001-07:00

The National Collegiate Honors Council annual conference is in Kansas City this week, so I will be there most of today and tomorrow attending some informative sessions about Honors Programs at other universities. Several of our outstanding honors students are volunteering, and two of our Honors Student Executive Board officers are running the raffle and auction tomorrow evening. This is a very exciting conference and I'm thrilled that it is in KC this year so that more of our students have the opportunity to attend!

2010-10-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

Tibet talk

2010-10-03T12:05:00.001-07:00

On September 22nd I was granted the opportunity to share my experiences in Tibet with my colleagues as a part of our Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning's (CETL's) International Series. This is a fantastic program initiated and directed by Dr. Kathleen Madigan, and it allows RU faculty to experience other cultures through the eyes of our colleagues. The prior installment this semester was by Dr. Myles Gartland (Helzberg School of Management), who had spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Poland with his wife and children. His talk permitted us a glimpse into European academia and his wife, Lysa, even spoke about the day-to-day challenges of being an American family in Poland. These presentations allow us a level of multicultural exposure that is gleaned vicariously through other faculty and I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of this effort. [The picture shows a Tibetan lama at Mingdrolling Monastery placing a kahta (prayer shawl) over my head as a welcoming gesture.]

More Tibet Pictures

2010-09-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

I recently established a Flickr account and was able to find some photos taken by my colleagues on our trip to Tibet in June. Because the photos are far better than the ones I took, I decided to post a few of them. The top picture shows a Buddhist lama outside of the Drak Yerpa meditation caves, and the lower photo shows two Tibetan women in traditional clothing, drinking yak-butter tea. Photo credit can be given to Marguerite Bennett.

Honors Orientation

2010-08-30T09:56:00.001-07:00

This year is my first as Director of the Rockhurst University Honors Program and it has thus far been marked by fun and productive activities with some outstanding students. Last week, we welcomed the freshmen Honors students with a pasta dinner, prepared by their Honors mentors and our Honors VP of New Member Development, Ms. Kayla Miller. Dinner was followed by a trip (in the pouring rain!) to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum and coffee or frozen yogurt. The next day, Honors mentors and mentees worked together on their team-building and leadership skills at the Tucker Leadership Lab (pictured). Through these activities we were all able to grow to know one another and to depend on eachother's skills and knowledge. I can't wait for the next Honors event!

Snake Surgery

2010-08-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Just before classes started my research students (Caitlyn McCall and Ryan Miloshewski) and I, along with a colleague from KU (George Pisani), were consumed by dealing with a problematic study animal. One of the rattlesnakes we track decided to hang out a little too close to a neighbor's home, so we had to rescue her and re-re-locate her to a different site. Before we could do so, we needed to surgically remove the radio-transmitter that allowed us to track her in the first place. The first picture shows George "tubing" her, which entails wrangling her into a tube so we can handle her and anesthetize her prior to surgery. The second picture shows the snake post-op, with me (and Ryan in the background) waiting for her to come out from under the anesthetic, which she soon did. So the surgery was successful and she recovered rapidly enough to be set free a few days later.

Mathfest 2010

2010-08-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

A fantastic student (Maureen Whalen, pictured) and I just returned from Mathfest in Pittsburgh, PA, where we each presented a talk concerning our Rockhurst-Hogan Interdisciplinary Summer Institute (a college-experience institute with local high school students). We discussed how the structure of this institute has influenced the Pre-Calculus course at Rockhurst and how it could potentially affect other courses like our Freshmen Seminars. We did this only with the behind-the-scenes help and coaching of a wonderful Math professor, Dr. Guadarrama, who had a baby last week and of course could not attend the conference. As a biologist, I was especially fascinated by the Biomathematics talks; and I also thoroughly enjoyed the discussions on fractals, which are just incredibly cool. To top things off, we got to enjoy a Pirates game and see the lovely Pittsburgh skyline from atop Mt. Washington. And on our way home, we shared a plane with the band Foghat! It was a great experience.

Back in KC...for a few weeks

2010-07-26T11:48:00.001-07:00

I am in Kansas City again between trips. We just went to Milwaukee for my sister-in-law's (Heather's) baby shower (I guess it was my brother's, too) , and I'll be leaving for a conference in Pittsburgh next week. The baby shower was so much fun, and that day was when it really hit home that I will soon be an aunt and my brother will be a dad! We also got to go to a Brewer's game, which was awesome and really exciting since they won in the 10th inning. The pictures are of my brother, Jeremy and his wife, Heather; and me and Heather's sisters, Tanya and Brittany. We will all three become aunties in November and we are preparing to spoil little Tessa as soon as she arrives!

Busy busy.

2010-06-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I last posted but May took me (and our Biology Field Trip class) to southern Missouri and then to a conference in Cincinnati, and June began with our Hogan Institute and a seminar in China and Tibet. In this picture I am eagerly awaiting the beginning of the Cham festival at Mingdrolling Monastery outside of Tsetang, Tibet Autonomous Region. During this festival the monks celebrate the life of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava, or "the Second Buddha," the yogi who brought Indian Buddhism to Tibet) through dance. It was amazing! This celebration only occurs once a year on Guru Rinpoche's birthday (May 10th on the Tibetan Lunar calendar), and we just happened fortuitously to be visiting Mingdrolling that day. We couldn't believe our luck! I am wearing a kathak, or prayer scarf, given to each of us as we were graciously invited into the monastery by the interim abbott, a very kind Buddhist Lama who arranged for us to have a tour of the monastery and fantastic seats at the Cham.

An exciting week

2010-05-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

Not only is this finals week and the lead-in to our Biology Field Trip, but over the past weekend my family celebrated a landmark event: my parents' 40th wedding anniversary! They are the cute couple pictured here, holding a gift from some friends. People came in from all over the country to celebrate the occasion, including friends they hadn't seen for years and I hadn't seen since I was little. After a picnic and some catching up we listened to their friends' band and I actually saw my parents dance for the first time in my life! We all had so much fun and we're so proud of them.

Belize reunion

2010-04-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

This afternoon our Belize Service Immersion Trip group from this past spring break had a short reunion meeting. Seeing everyone truly brought the importance of the trip back to the forefront of our minds and reminded me of how much I miss all of the wonderful people I spent that week with. Not only do I miss seeing the energy and passion of our students, but I miss that of our Belizean companions. The two groups complemented one another so perfectly and I feel that a genuine solidarity arose among us as we all had a chance to see the world as others see it.

Walkin'

2010-04-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was one for walking. On Saturday we held the annual Harry Wiggins Trolley Walk in honor of this generous RU alumnus in an effort to raise funds for two scholarships. I walked alongside nearly all of our fraternity and sorority members, as this was also the kick-off to Greek Week on campus. It was a perfect day for it and we enjoyed the opportunity to get together for this cause. Then on Sunday I attended the annual EarthWalk for Earth Day at Theis Park (a lovely site across from the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum and bordering Brush Creek). Because I thought that driving to the EarthWalk would defeat its purpose, I decided to walk to the walk. Including the walk back, this made for a trek that measured right around 6.5 miles. Fortunately, it turned out to be another beautiful spring day in KC so it didn't feel at all like work. I also saw several RU students (one of whom also walked to the walk!) and walked with the other representatives from the Kansas City Wildlands team (including Sam "Wildthing" Lehrbaum, a 5-month-old border collie/St. Bernard mix). Our team raised a substantial amount of money for Bridging the Gap, our wonderful local environmental not-for-profit agency. It was a great weekend, and it was said that I earned my surname!

Evo Blogs

2010-04-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

Please check out my Evolution class' latest blog entries below! They have done a fantastic job of relating their service-learning projects to class material (their textbook is pictured above) and peer-reviewed literature.

Event tomorrow night!

2010-03-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night at 7:00 at the Writer's Place (3607 Pennsylvania Ave in Kansas City, MO), one of our own professors, Xanath Caraza, will be reading some of her original works! She is one of the many outstanding members of our Foreign Languages Department and she provides such a rich element of language and literature for the Rockhurst and local communities. Please join us tomorrow night to show your support for Professor Caraza!

Un-BELIZE-able pictures

2010-03-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

To see all of Dave's pictures of our Belize trip, as well as pic's of the other service trips and centennial events, click here!

Un-BELIZE-able!

2010-03-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

That was the theme for our alternative spring break service trip to Belize last week. It was truly incredible: the people, the wildlife, the landscape, the service, and especially our phenomenal RU students. Our charge was to prepare and lay the cement foundation for a chapel in Dolores, a small Mayan village of about 450 people in SW Belize. The Rockhurst group (Fr. Gregg Grovenberg, Dave von Fintel, myself and 17 fantastic students) and the local people worked together like pro's, even in extreme heat and intense sun, to meet our objective. We met lots of wonderful people along the way and were made to feel at home by our hosts and the villagers. The group is pictured here, fresh off the plane in Belize City, still clean and happy. Though we didn't exactly stay clean for the entirety of the trip, we most certainly did remain happy and positive the whole week. I am so proud of our group for their optimism and inspiration, their hard work, and their ability to go with the flow (this is a particularly invaluable skill in Central America!). We look forward to sharing more of our experiences with the RU community and thereby keeping our time in Belize alive within our hearts and minds.

Honors Blogs

2010-02-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

Two of my fantastic Evolution students this semester are members of the Honors Program at Rockhurst, and have decided to conduct an Honors Option in my class. One of them, Caitlin, has chosen to explore the evolution of sex and sexual selection in humans while the other, Melissa, will be investigating the Intelligent Design/Creationism movement and its proponents' thoughts on evolution. [The book cover shown is that of a book discussing the Dover, Pennsylvania, decision about teaching Intelligent Design in the Science classroom.] Each of them is maintaining a blog (linked below under Evolution Service Learning Projects), to which they add entries concerning their research each week. They are off to a great start, so please check them out! While you're clicking on links under that heading, please also look at the Evolution groups' service-learning blogs. They have recently conducted and posted their interviews of experts on their chosen research topic and they are quite interesting and informative.

Rockhurst Centennial

2010-02-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Dr. Wills and I took a short break and walked over to Massman to attend the kick-off of the Rockhurst University Centennial celebration. We each bought t-shirts (pictured) and talked with the students and faculty who were there. This is an exciting time for our campus! Please check out the RU Centennial page celebrating our first 100 years.

Evolution Service-Learning blogs up and running

2010-01-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

Today my Evolution students have officially kicked off their Service-Learning projects! Each group of three students will contribute to a grid-computing project that focuses the collective processing power of millions of PCs on finding causes and cures for disease. Each group is maintaining a blog about their particular grid-computing topic (links below) so be sure to check them out to learn more!

First Class Day!

2010-01-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

Happy first day of class! I am looking so forward to interacting with students again. The winter break is a great time to get some extra work done, but it's so desolate up here! I can't wait to see campus bustling with students and other members of the Rockhurst community again. I hope the students are as excited to come back as I am. I suppose I'll find out soon enough, as I teach Evolution at 9:00 this morning and Anatomy & Physiology at 11.
On a side note, I just received my copy of the journal containing my research team's most recent publication (December 2009). The cover is pictured here and you can flip through some sample pages at the International Reptile Conservation Foundation website if you're interested.

The other cats

2010-01-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

Just to be fair to the other four cats in the house, I thought I should post another picture. It is rare that they are ever all in the same room, so this picture represents an almost miraculous event. And they were all actually looking at the camera! [I know it seems like I'm one of those crazy cat ladies but I'm convinced that the title only applies if you live alone; so I think that Aric's presence in the house somehow absolves me that label.] Anyway, all 5 of them are rescues and either came from shelters or sensed that we were suckers and showed up on our porch. In the back (from left to right) are Ali, Edwina (she came to us missing her back, passenger-side leg), and Joe. In the front are Blackavar (named for a character in Watership Down) and Angelo (from the previous post).

TOMS shoes

2009-12-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

Our cat, Angelo, is now famous! I submitted this picture of him laying on my TOMS shoes to the TOMS website and they put it on their photo wall. I love TOMS because, for each pair you buy, the company donates a pair to a child in an undeveloped nation. They're also REALLY cute and comfortable and they even have vegan options now. They visited Rockhurst campus last year because we are a university supporter of their wonderful cause. I know it may be a little late for Christmas, but they make great gifts!

Texas

2009-12-17T06:44:00.000-08:00

I have been in Texas A LOT lately visiting my family. I did finally get to meet my brother's new girlfriend, Heather, who is wonderful (that's them in the picture). I also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with my mom, dad and grandma over the last few weeks and do some relaxing. We are officially on winter break now at Rockhurst but I have quite a bit of work to do. So it looks like I won't be back in TX for Christmas, which makes me even more grateful for the time I was able to spend there recently.

Quick update

2009-11-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have read my recent posts, I just wanted to update you on my brother's condition (this is him with my ferret, Pippin, in Texas a few years ago). [In case you haven't read my previous posts, he and his dog were attacked by two pit bulls in late September.] He and Buffy are doing great and have completely recovered, though Jeremy will definitely have some major scars. I will see him for the first time since the "incident" this week over our Thanksgiving break and I can't wait! I will also get to meet his new girlfriend and see the rest of my family so I'm incredibly excited about Thanksgiving this year. I'll let you know how it goes once I've returned from TX. Be safe and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Kansas Herpetological Society Meeting

2009-11-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, 4 of my students and I attended the KHS annual meeting, which took place this year at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS. One of my students, Eric Kadlec, who worked in the field with me all summer, presented his field observations at the meeting. He did a great job, especially considering that he was the only undergraduate presenter and he was speaking to many of the "big names" in the discipline of herpetology (the study of amphibians and reptiles). Eric and the other students were able to experience a professional meeting and listen to talks about some of the newest findings in the field of herpetology. I am SO glad they were able to go with me and we all had a lot of fun. As a side note, I was also awarded the KHS Alan H. Kamb grant for the study of Kansas snakes this weekend, which will help me and my research students fund the genetic analysis of our relocated rattlesnakes.

Pumpkin Party!

2009-10-26T11:26:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday the Biology Department hosted our traditional Pumpkin Carving party for our students and faculty and their families. We had pizza and candy after the carving was finished, and then we gave awards for the best pumpkins ("Scariest," "Most Boo-tiful," "Dead Last," "1st Place," etc.). The pumpkins were all fantastic, and our overall winner was Kristina Carpenter, who skillfully carved a wolf howling at the moon. If you're interested, the pumpkins will be on display this week in the window of the Science Division conference room (SC202A).

Fall Break/ACUBE 2009

2009-10-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

Rockhurst is officially on Fall Break, yet most members of the Biology Department have dedicated much of their break this week to preparing for the annual ACUBE (Association of College and University Biology Educators) meeting. We hosted the meeting here on campus this year and were excited for our colleagues from around the country to spend time with us at Rockhurst. Many people commented about how nice the campus, and particularly our science facilities, are. Attendees were also thrilled to be in Kansas City and took advantage of some of the great things it has to offer. Most members of the Department presented talks or posters, including Dr. Chad Scholes and I, who presented information concerning our Biology Field Trip to Nicaragua. As a bonus, a friend of mine from grad school at Texas A&M (Dr. Andrew Greene) came into town for the meeting from Ashland University in Ashland, OH. It's always fun to catch up with Andrew, as well as all of the other members of this close-knit organization. The preparation was a lot of work (especially for Dr. Salem, who coordinated the meeting), but it certainly paid off.

Rough week

2009-10-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

Last week my brother, Jeremy, and his Border Collie, Buffy, were attacked by two pit bulls in a public park near where we grew up. An irresponsible and heartless dog owner had dumped them there the day before, and they had obviously been abused (and/or they were fighting dogs) and were incredibly aggressive.
The pit bulls lunged at Buffy's throat and Jeremy grabbed her and climbed a 5-ft stone wall. The dogs were biting his legs as he was climbing up, so his legs are in bad shape (~25 stitches), but getting better everyday. However, it would've been substantially, perhaps unthinkably, worse if he hadn't had the wherewithal to climb the wall and drag Buffy up with him. They were grabbing her leg and tail as she was trying to get up the wall but thankfully she's okay, too (Border Collies have lots of fur to grab onto). A park employee flagged down a policeman who shot and killed one of the dogs as it was still going after Jeremy, which was also traumatic for all involved. They were able to catch the other one and are still monitoring it. A park employee was able to get the owner's his license plate number and they took him into custody this week. Jeremy is doing okay but still in quite a bit of pain and not able to return to work.
Since I didn't want to include a gross picture of his leg (you can see that at the link below), pictured here is Jeremy, with two good legs, in Dublin, Ireland this summer.

Here's the news story if you're interested in reading more or watching the video:

http://www.kbmt12.com/news/local/60792352.html

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/update__police_shoot_pit_bu
ll_at_tyrrell_park.html

RORS

2009-09-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we had the pleasure of hosting the first installment of our Rockhurst Outstanding Research Seminar (RORS). We invited a recent RU graduate and research student of mine, Rebecca Benjamin (pictured at our research site with George Pisani), to speak about "Undergraduate Research for the Conservation of Timber Rattlesnakes." She did a PHENOMENAL job (like we expected) and we had a good turnout. The purpose of the seminar is two-fold: to share outstanding research and creative activities with the Rockhurst community as a whole, and to expose students to the benefits and excitement of participating in undergraduate research or creative projects. Rebecca certainly met both of these objectives with her talk.

COA

2009-09-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

This afternoon some colleagues and I will be visiting a threatened site along the Blue River in Kansas. The site is contiguous with our local Upper Blue River Conservation Opportunity Area (COA). COAs are areas recognized by the Missouri Department of Conservation as "conservation hotspots," or high priority areas for wildlife and habitat conservation. It just so happens that in KC we have the only urban COA right in our backyards! We hope to protect the site we will visit today from development and further urbanization, as it is important from a natural resource and biodiversity perspective.

New car!

2009-08-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, for those of you who don't know, until yesterday evening I drove an inherited '99 Ford Crown Victoria to class everyday. I'm sure you saw it in the Science Center parking lot - it looked a whole lot like a police cruiser. However, thanks to the Cash for Clunkers program, I will now be sporting a 2009 Honda Fit, which gets more than double the gas mileage of the Crown Vic. As an environmentally-conscious person in every other facet of my life, this finally allows me to resolve that one less-than-environmentally-sound aspect. Now if only I can keep it clean after my students and I have been out in the field...

Hogan Institute

2009-08-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the last 2 weeks I have been fortunate to be part of the Hogan Prep/Rockhurst Interdisciplinary Summer Institute. Drs. Annie Lee, Zdenka Guadarrama, Laura Salem, Rob Vigliotti and I, along with a group of wonderful Rockhurst students, hosted 18 students from Hogan Prep High School in Kansas City. We set out to give them the complete college experience by issuing them IDs, having them stay in the dorms and eat on campus the first week, and taking classes during the day, all the while working on a recycling project that they will implement at Hogan. The classes included biology, chemistry, math and philosophy; and more specifically to biology, students conducted molecular biology experiments during the first week with Dr. Salem (including isolating their own DNA!) and then conducted some organismal and field biology with me during the second week. The top picture shows the group who helped me track snakes yesterday while the bottom picture shows our small-mammal trapping team. We all had a blast and I think they learned a lot about science and philosophy, college life, and themselves along the way.

JMIH

2009-08-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

I just returned from an outstanding conference, the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, in Portland, OR. Aside from the informative talks - there were 10 concurrent paper sessions every 15 minutes all day for 5 days and 100s of posters - the city was fantastic and it was great to reconnect with people I hadn't seen since last year or years past. I presented a poster concerning our rattlesnake relocation project and it was very well-received. Everyone was excited to see what we were doing here in KS and MO to conserve our wildlife and to help to preserve these creatures.

Snake Surgery

2009-07-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday evening my reseach student, Eric, and I packed up all of my surgical supplies and headed to Johnson Co., KS, to implant some rattlesnakes. Animal Control, supervised by my friend and colleague, Jennifer, had recovered two courting rattlesnakes from a resident's backyard after they became entangled in landscape fabric. We were asked to come out and implant radio-transmitters in these two so that they could be released and their movements tracked by radio-telemetry. This picture shows me suturing up a very large male. Actually, Timber Rattlesnakes aren't NEARLY as huge as people think - he was one of the largest males we've caught and he was only 3.2 feet long and weighed just over 2 pounds! The other snake was a big, pregnant female (rattlesnakes give live birth), so we were extremely careful with her. Both of them recovered well and are doing great. They will be released later this week.

Back from Ireland

2009-07-14T11:24:00.001-07:00

Aric and my brother, Jeremy, and I just returned from a week in Ireland. It was AMAZING! We spent several days in Dublin seeing the sites and took the train across the beautiful countryside to the west. We rented a car in Limerick and from there my brother masterfully drove us around on the left side of incredibly narrow roads and round-abouts. We were very fortunate to be able to stay in the childhood village of Dr. Mairead Greene (of the RU Math Dept.) in her grandfather's home. Our time in the west was spent on the beach, at the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher, in picturesque Irish castles, and in the wonderful little town of Ennis. Ireland is a truly remarkable place and I only wish we'd had more time there! Pictured are Jeremy and Aric in front of the High Cross at Dysert O'Dea in Co. Clare, and me and Jeremy under the waterfall at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

Buck O'Neil Legacy Seat

2009-07-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

A while back, Aric nominated me for the honor of sitting in the great Buck O'Neil's Legacy Seat at a KC Royals game. Buck O'Neil was a Kansas City legend and a hero to baseball. He played in the Negro Leagues, was the first African-American coach of a MLB team, and established the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in KC (you should definitely see this museum!). He also performed countless other services for the Kansas City community and has been greatly missed since his death a few years ago. As a tribute to Buck, his seat at Kauffman Stadium is always filled during Royals home games, and the person with the honor of sitting in his seat must first be nominated and then selected. To my surprise I received that honor and yesterday filled his seat, the only red one in a sea of blue at the stadium. Not only did my three guests and I (left to right: Rob, Laura (Dr. Salem), me and Aric) receive VIP treatment, but we got the privilege of watching the Royals from the same spot Buck had watched them from for so many years as a scout and a fan - right behind home plate.

Back from Nicaragua...

2009-06-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post because my parents came into town from Texas right after we returned from Nicaragua. I love showing them around this amazing city, but I must say it was difficult to make the transition from a 2-week stay in an impoverished country to the extravagance of American life. We were without electricity or potable water, surrounded by a foreign culture and ecosystem, and quickly became immersed. To return to superfluous gadgets and luxuries was difficult to accept and made all of us feel paradoxically guilty and thankful for what we have.

This picture is of some of the Field Trip students looking out over Lake Nicaragua and Granada from the cloud forest atop Mombacho, an inactive volcano. Like every aspect of this country, it was incredible.

Nicaragua

2009-05-22T14:09:00.001-07:00

Bright and early Memorial Day morning, Dr. Scholes, Linda Lehrbaum (of KCWildlands), 10 students and I will be boarding a plane to Nicaragua for our Biology Field Trip Class! Well, we'll actually be boarding 3 consecutive planes and spending a lot of quality time with one another in multiple airports, but by the end of it all we'll be landing in Managua. We will stay at a functional farm outside of Jinotepe, surrounded by tropical forests abounding with biology. Needless to say, we're all very excited. The picture here is from our 2007 trip to this same locality - there will be many more to add upon our return in June!

Evolution presentations

2009-05-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

My Evolution students just finished presenting their blogs and did a phenomenal job! I am so proud of them - they took this grid-computing project and absolutely ran with it. Please take a look at their team statistics, indicated at the top of each group's blog. And then consider joining a grid-computing endeavor yourself!

Snake season!

2009-04-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Next week, the rattlesnakes that my students and I monitor during their active season will be emerging from their den. I will have several students working with me this summer, a few from KU and two of our recent graduates as well as two current Rockhurst students. One of these students, Eric Kadlec, just received the Dean's Undergraduate Fellowship for Research, which will fund his summer contribution to the field work. Congratulations, Eric!

I'm so excited to get started tracking snakes again, especially with these fantastic students!

Update on Evolution Blogs

2009-04-01T12:42:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to once again refer everyone to the Evolution Service-Learning blogs linked at the bottom of this page. Recently each group added answers to questions concerning scholarly articles about their respective project topic. These articles and associated questions allowed students to connect the concepts they have read about in their textbook (pictured) & discussed in class with the topic of their specific grid-computing project. Their answers show that these connections have in fact been made, as they effectively apply these concepts to topics like disease and global climate change. I am quite proud of these blog entries and hope you get a chance to check them out!

Service Trip

2009-03-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Over spring break last week, Darnell Jones and I led a group of outstanding students on an Alternative Spring Break trip, during which time we dedicated ourselves to the service of others in Baltimore. We could not have asked for a better, more cohesive and passionate group of students (left to right: Annie Hart, Rachel Scheve, Emily Schnelting, Abby Gibbs, Kelsey Evans, Nate Olson and Ken Bevers in front). They were committed to service and leadership and to one another, and their personalities and compassion brightened the days of each person with whom they interacted. From children in urban Head Start programs to adults with developmental disabilities and women & men in need of a hot meal, our group touched the lives of many. This was certainly reciprocated, as the stories of these wonderful people helped us to grow and to find ourselves in them. It was truly a transformative experience for all and I thank Darnell, Fr. Gregg Grovenburg and the University, our amazing students and the people of Baltimore Catholic Charities for this incredible opportunity to live our mission.

a few news items

2009-02-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

Some exciting things have happened since my last post, so I will just list them:

1) Last weekend, the letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star that my Evolution students composed was published!

2) The Biology Department decided on a name for our Bichir (pet fish) - The Incredible Mr. Limpet, after the Don Knotts movie from 1964 (see picture). This entry was submitted by Pat Laughlin and won unanimously.

3) The Evolution service learning interviews are now posted on their blogs (below). Please check them out if you get a chance!

Students' Evolution Blogs

2009-02-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

Please check out the blogs my Evolution students are maintaining for their service-learning projects (links at the bottom of this page)! They parallel the themes of their Darwin Day posters (pictured here) and, just like their posters, the students have put a lot of work into their blogs as well. Soon they will be posting accounts of interviews they have conducted with experts on their respective project topics, followed by entries concerning scientific literature on their topics and updates about their projects. So please remember to check them regularly!

Darwin's Birthday Celebration!!!

2009-02-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the Biology Department threw a huge bash to celebrate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. In preparation, students from Evolution, Genetics, Invertebrate Zoology, General Biology II and two sections of our non-majors Biology course created informative posters, amazing works of art, a beautiful banner and even dishes made from Mrs. Charles Darwin's cookbook! (The above students are posing next to their fantastic projects.) We had t-shirts made using artwork contributed by J.Q. Sirls, an incredibly creative non-majors student from last semester. The Biology faculty also brought Dodo Dogs, Vestigial Veggies, Cambrian Explosion Candy, Cretaceous Cookies, Finch Fritos, Coprolite Cheese Puffs, Galapagos Grapes and Primordial Punch in honor of Darwin and evolution. We had visitors from across campus who came to admire our students' work. We are so proud of them and of how successful this day turned out to be!

Reptile becomes a dad at 111 years old!

2009-01-27T14:17:00.001-08:00

This BBC news story focuses on my favorite reptile, the endangered tuatara. Their reproductive cycle, which is hinted at just in the title of this piece, at least partly explains why they are endangered - some of them aren't reproductive until they're centenarians! There are also other aspects of their biology (reproductive and otherwise), as well as habitat destruction by humans, that have collectively resulted in the threatened status of this group. This status is an absolute shame because they are some of the most primitive and intriguing (and, in my opinion, beautiful) animals in the world.

This week

2009-01-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

This week is full of moving events and milestones. Not only did we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., yesterday, but today we swore in a new American President! And on a more local note, we start classes here at Rockhurst tomorrow, which is also pretty exciting. Though not nearly as historically important, earlier this week we were thrilled to set up an aquarium in the biology office suite (Science Center 220) that now houses our bichir. Bichirs (pictured) are primitive fish of the genus Polypterus, which, for obvious reasons, means "many fins." They are from the Congo of Africa and are very unique and endearing fish. He is incredibly active (he's been known to jump out of his previous aquarium - but he was okay because he has a LUNG in addition to his gills!) and can "walk" on the rocks in the bottom of his aquarium using his strong pectoral fins, and even swim backward. He is really cool, and I hope lots of people come by to see him now that he's on display!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-05T12:19:00.001-08:00

It's the new year and I am starting to get excited about the coming semester. I will be teaching Evolution, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Cell Basis for A&P, Advanced Principles of Biology, and Biology Field Trip. I LOVE each of these courses, and am especially looking forward to our return trip to Nicaragua in May with the Field Trip class. In Evolution, we'll once again be conducting our service learning projects (please see the links below for last year's), which I am eager to begin. This year we will also be creating art and informational displays for our Darwin Day celebration (Darwin's 200th birthday on February 12th). I will post more info on that when the time draws nearer.

Until the start of the semester, I'll be working on finalizing and submitting a manuscript about the timber rattlesnake project. I'll keep everyone apprised!

So happy new year, and I look forward to seeing everyone on the 21st!

New Species Discovered

2008-12-15T09:37:00.001-08:00

A student sent me a link to an article discussing the recent species discoveries made in the Mekong. One of them is the Laotian rock rat pictured here, which I blogged about when it was first discovered. Again, it's nice (but unfortunately rare) to hear some positive news concerning biodiversity.

KC Wildlands Award

2008-12-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

The week before Thanksgiving break, the Biology Department received the KC Wildlands Environmental Excellence Award (that's Chad Scholes and I gratefully receiving the award)! KC Wildlands is an affiliate of Bridging the Gap, a valuable local organization that seeks to promote environmental sustainability. KC Wildlands helps achieve that goal by working to restore and maintain the remnant native ecosystems in the KC area. In fact, this weekend KC Wildlands will be hosting a Cedar Tree Event at Shawnee Mission Park where you can cut down your own Cedar Christmas tree and take it home for a small donation. It's a lot of fun to volunteer at this event, and/or to come pick out and chop down your own tree.

KHS

2008-11-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, one of my phenomenal research students, Rebecca Benjamin, and I attended the Kansas Herp Society Meeting in Wichita, KS. These meetings are a great forum for talking and learning about the latest amphibian & reptile research, as well as a place to meet others who share our interests. I presented our rattlesnake research and had the opportunity to listen to some really interesting and informative talks about herps. We also got to experience a little of the Wichita nightlife at the KHS Social in Old Town, which was a lot of fun. Probably the best thing about these meetings, though, is that my students get to become part of and contribute to the scientific community.

Vote!

2008-11-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

The message promoted by today's blog entry is a simple one. Get out and vote tomorrow! I plan to get up EARLY in the morning to walk to my polling place so that I can get back here in time for my office hours. So whatever it takes for you, get to the polls between 6:00am and 7:00pm and vote - and remember that if you are in line by 7, you will still be counted!

ACUBE '08

2008-10-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday through Saturday, more than half of the RU Biology Department faculty (Drs. Scholes, Salem, Wills, Evans, and I) attended the 52nd annual meeting of the Association of College and University Biology Educators (ACUBE) at Hopkinsville Community College in Hopkinsville, KY. We were able to share some of our ideas about teaching, and at the same time pick up some innovative ideas from colleagues at other institutions. This meeting also gives us a forum in which to provide and receive feedback about teaching biology, and meet some new people with whom we share many interests. This is a fantasatic organization, and we had a lot of fun in Hopkinsville. Next year, Rockhurst is hosting the meeting; so we will have the opportunity to invite our colleagues to KC and show them how great Rockhurst is!

Monty

2008-10-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

Last Friday over Fall Break I took my snake, Monty (above), to visit Mrs. Teel's Biology Class at Notre Dame de Sion High School. He is an incredibly mild-mannered snake - ball pythons "ball up" when frightened, and are thus not at all aggressive. Monty and the girls adored one another. He liked the attention and the novel surroundings (this was not his first public appearance), and the girls in the class thought he was quite cute and friendly. It's always great for me to see people who have never before touched a snake warm right up to Monty. In the process, they also learn a lot about reptiles without even realizing they're learning! In this way, he is a fantastic tool by which to educate the public, and it doesn't hurt that he is so cute.

This week in rattlesnakes...

2008-10-02T12:43:00.001-07:00

On Sunday night, Rebecca (a Rockhurst research student), Joey (a KU research student) and I were prompted by necessity to perform an emergency field operation on Colt-45, mother of the baby rattlers mentioned last week. To briefly summarize our original project before going on, last year our research team salvaged a population of these snakes, whose habitat was subject to imminent destruction, by moving them to a secure site. In order to evaluate their success, we surgically implanted 8 of these snakes with internal radio-transmitters. Since this process began in April of 2007, we have tracked these snakes throughout their active seasons. When we went out to track Sunday morning, we found that Colt was no longer emitting a radio signal, though we saw her in the birthing shelter (rookery). We knew that something was wrong, though we didn't know the extent. Rather than taking her from her babies or collecting all of them as we took her in to perform exploratory surgery, we set up a make-shift surgical facility in the middle of the prairie near the rookery and commenced the procedure. She was recovering from an infection from her initial implantation this summer, and the transmitter antenna had been exposed through this wound, causing it to become brittle and eventually break off of the transmitter. The transmitter and antenna had to be removed, and we opted not to replace them in order to speed her recovery. Following surgery, we placed her back in with her babies and waited for her to come out from under the anasthesia. She and the babies have since abandoned the rookery and we are hoping that she is successful in her search for food before they enter the den for the winter in the next few weeks.

Baby rattlesnakes!

2008-09-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, one of our gravid ("pregnant") female rattlesnakes gave birth! Rattlesnakes are unusual in that they retain the embryos inside the female's body, incubate the internalized eggs throughout the warm summer months, and give live birth toward the end of summer. The picture is of one of 6 observed offspring from the female we call Colt-45 (the radio frequency that her implanted transmitter emits is 045), with a Bic added by a student for scale. They are small versions of the adults at about 6-8 inches in length, with only a tiny button for a rattle. Their mother will stay with them for up to two weeks in the birthing shelter, or rookery, protecting them from predators and other danger. They will soon shed their skin for the first time and then follow their mother's scent to the den to overwinter. The healthy birth of at least 6 babies is incredibly exciting for our conservation project, as it ensures that this new addition to the population will utilize the den at our relocation site and that they will establish themselves there as permanent residents.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday, I now have 4 Texans and a small poodle staying with me as a result of Hurricane Ike. My family is from southeast Texas (precisely where Ike is heading in this picture), an area that underwent a mandatory evacuation in the middle of the night on Thursday. The entire region is currently being pummeled by this devastating storm, and I think the hearts of the people in KC are with the people in Texas and Louisiana. That Midwest hospitality has been evident in the last two days, as everyone here has been incredibly receptive and sympathetic toward them. So I think we should extend that spirit to the other victims and evacuees and let them know that our thoughts are with them.

More art info

2008-09-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the theme of last week's blog entry, I wanted to point out a few exhibits that are currently open or will be opening soon. First, here at Rockhurst in the Greenlease Gallery, Friday marked the opening of "Ocular Hedonism," which will be on display through September 20th. Following this exhibit, "All or Nothing or Otherwise" will open here on September 26th and run through October 18th. Then on October 20th, we will have the chance to see "Menage a trois: painting, abstraction and the image" until December 5th. Just as exciting, our own Anne Austin Pearce's work will be on display beginning this weekend at Unit 5 Gallery at 1920 Wyandotte in KC, MO. The drawing to the left is one of Anne's. You should DEFINITELY go see her work!

Art in KC

2008-08-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are new to Kansas City (and perhaps some of you who aren't), we have a fantastic art scene. We are fortunate to have access to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the KC Art Institute, the Mattie Rhodes Art Center (a bilingual and bicultural non-profit center), the Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art, and various others. We also have concentrations of artists and galleries in places like the Crossroads District downtown. Among the myriad accomplished indivdual artists, we at Rockhurst are exceedingly proud to have our own artistic treasure, Anne Austin Pearce, Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication and Fine Arts. Anne's teaching, her creations and her spirit are all phenomenal and we are so lucky to have her.

On a related note, Aric and I and some friends were lucky enough last week to discover another local artist, known only to us as "Big John," who fashioned the above creature. After we admired his creations for a short while, this 6'10" mysterious craftsman unexpectedly gave this creature (which our friend named "Brinks") to us. Brinks now sits in our front of our house, serving as both a sentinel and as a reminder of why people like Anne and Big John become artists: to share their creations and passions with others.

Montreal

2008-08-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last week my research student, Rebecca Benjamin, and I returned from Montreal, Quebec. We were there presenting a poster about our rattlesnake research at an international meeting (JMIH - Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists). We had a blast listening to presentations all day and attending the meeting-sponsored socials at night. We met some of the most fascinating people and were able to share our research with a very receptive crowd. Rebecca did an outstanding job, and I am so proud of the way in which she represented Rockhurst internationally!

Tuatara

2008-07-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

The tuatara is quite possibly my favorite reptile. Not only are they, well, adorable, but they are one of the most primitive and, sadly, most endangered of the herps ("herps" are amphibians and reptiles, collectively). There is a short Sciencespot on the ScienceNow link below that describes the predicted consequences of their temperature-dependent system of sex determination (cooler temperatures trigger the embryos to develop into females while warmer temps lead to males) combined with global warming. Other herps, like some lizards, turtles, and alligators & crocodiles, also have similar systems of sex determination; so global warming could also skew the sex ratios in these species. However, the tuataras (a.k.a Sphenodons or Rhynchocephalians) are in much more imminent danger of going extinct.

Biology Field Trip!!!!

2008-06-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

We are back from our Bio Field Trip across Kansas to Colorado and Utah. Chad Scholes and I drove two van-loads of students (Sean Kimbrell, Chistina Knoy, Chris Dondlinger and Stephanie Pearcy in my van and Kelsey Weigel, Meagan Hendrix, Peter Feuerborn, Nick Wagner and Emma Schrader in Chad's) first to the Pike's Peak area where we visited the Garden of the Gods. Then it was on to the Great Sand Dunes (an awesome but challenging hike) followed by Mesa Verde's Puebloan and Anasazi ruins. We next toured Natural Bridges and then traveled to Hanksville, Utah, where we were in close proximity to Glen Canyon, Capitol Reef, Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse Canyon (pictured). Our last stop was Moab, Utah, a central site from which we could visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. The trip was incredible (despite the nearly 3500 miles of driving) and our group was fantastic! This course is truly the best way to actually experience biology (and geology and culture) and apply many of the concepts learned in class. It was an absolute blast.

Snake Update

2008-05-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you waiting to hear whether or not our rattlesnakes were able to successfully brave this harsh winter, the answer is yes! My students and I have recently begun monitoring the snakes again and, though some are still moving around in the den (we've had some rather recent cold spells, and the emergence period lasts several weeks), 3 of them have emerged. We were able to spot one of them late last week, which was incredibly exciting. Though she was dirty from being in the den all winter, she appeared healthy and ready to eat. All of the people who have contributed to this project have done a phenomenal job and I cannot thank them enough. I will continue to post updates on this season's tracking efforts and let you know when we see the others again!

Pre-registration

2008-04-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend several colleagues and I will be traveling to St. Louis in order to conduct a registration event. This is all very exciting because we actually go to our prospective students and provide them help with the following:

Registration for fall 2008 classes• finalizing their financial aid paperwork• completing their residence hall contracts• taking their Student ID pictures and setting up their campus email accounts

And we present them with other helpful information and their Class of 2012 gift. A similar registration event was held last weekend in Omaha and one will be here in Kansas City on May 4th. These programs give us the opportunity to connect with incoming students before they even reach campus!