Spring Semester 2011

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!

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

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

Update

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!

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

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!