Pumpkin Party!

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

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

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