NCHC Boston

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take 5 (yes, 5!) members of our Honors Student Association Executive Board to Boston with me for the annual National Collegiate Honors Council conference.  There were close to 2000 attendees, and 15 concurrent sessions every 45 minutes all day for three days.  We decided to divide and conquer, so we split up and tried to attend as many talks of interest as we could.  We were able to bring back tons of great ideas, some of which we hope to implement here in the Rockhurst Honors Program.  We also gave two talks (I served on a panel that discussed Honors Programs at Jesuit institutions, and two of our students (pictured) presented about their trip to Haiti and how it could be transformed into the experiential portion of an interdisciplinary honors course).  We also had to visit a few Boston landmarks like Fenway Park.

Kansas Herp Society meeting

This weekend I attended the Kansas Herpetological Society annual conference in Hays, Kansas.  The social events were held at the Sternberg Museum, an absolute gem of a natural history museum in the middle of Kansas.  On Friday evening, the Joseph T. Collins Library was dedicated and officially opened to us, along with the museum itself and the new Rattlers exhibit.  The latter housed live specimens of 19 of the 22 species of rattlesnakes in the US. It was amazing, thanks to the hard work of curators Curtis Schmidt and Travis Taggert.  The talks were held at Ft. Hays State University, and there were several that were very interesting and well-presented.  Overall it was a great weekend, but the absence of our hero and mentor, Joe Collins, was certainly conspicuous.  We all really, really missed him.

Busy semester!

This semester has been exciting and incredibly busy!  Besides work (registration for classes started yesterday!), I have been out of state a lot lately, and I had a great friend from grad school in town this weekend.  We explored some of the sites in this beautiful city and watched a lot of football and baseball.  We even visited the Royals' and Chiefs' stadiums (stadia?) because we're both huge sports fans.  We didn't take the aerial pic, though; that's from http://www.kansas-city-news.pro.  It was a great time.  Now back to work!

My new niece!

On September 4th, I became an aunt for the second time to another beautiful little girl.  My new niece, pictured here with her big sis, is doing great.  I can't wait to go see her over fall break!

Honors Welcome Dinner

Last weekend, following the first few days of classes, the Honors Student Association Executive Board and I hosted an Honors Welcome Dinner for the largest cohort of incoming honors freshmen ever!  We discussed the freshmen theme (Reflection and Discernment) in the context of their honors application essay, ate some delicious picnic food, and played lots of outdoor games at beautiful Loose Park.  Some of the festivities are pictured here.  We are looking forward to an exciting year in the Honors Program with this new group!

IHS

At the end of last month, two RU Biology students and I presented a talk at the International Herpetological Symposium in Baltimore, MD.  It was exciting to get to meet some incredible people who genuinely care about reptiles and amphibians, and to visit with several herper friends whom I only see once or twice a year.  There was a banquet and auction the last night (the picture was taken at the auction by Mike Jodrey), and the auctioneer was Ton Jones of "Auction Hunters" on Spike TV!  He rescues reptiles in his free time and, like everyone there, sincerely cares about their conservation.  And, also like the others at the symposium, he's a really cool guy!

Pictures from this summer

My niece and sister-in-law (and my brother's leg) at an Astros/Cubs game at Wrigley Field.

If only the 'Stros had won...

Obligatory brewery tour in Milwaukee with my brother and his in-laws.

Brewers game!

The All-Star Game!!!! I got to go with my brother.

One of many Royals games I've attended during what has become the Summer of Baseball.