To UM System President Mun Choi
Written by Rodney J. Uphoff
March 7, 2019

Last February, I provided you a report which summarized the preceding 15 years of UMSAEP activities. This report is more modest. In September 2017, the UMSAEP committee awarded a total of in 2018 faculty exchange grants to eight UM System faculty and nine to UWC faculty and one South African partnership grant to Meera Chandrasekhar (MU). The awards totaled $95,235. 

I reached out to those 2018 UMSAEP awardees as well as past UMSAEP awardees and requested updates on 2018 activities with a UWC or South African collaborator. I received responses from 46 UMSAEP awardees, five of whom reported they were retired or moved to a different university. This report summarizes the major outputs identified by those 41 respondents. 

Publications

The UM System and UWC faculty reported two books, two book chapters and 16 publications during 2018. Another 12 publications were submitted or under review. In addition, UMSAEP awardees reported at least 12 works in progress.  

Conference papers/ presentations

During calendar year 2018, UM System and UWC collaborators presented at 11 national or international conferences on UMSAEP projects. This number does not include other former UMSAEP awardees, such as MU's Julian Binfield, who continue to do collaboratively work in South Africa and annually present at important regional African conferences. 

Grants

Several UWC and UM System faculty members reported that they have submitted or are working on grant submissions with their UWC or UM System counterpart. Several UWC and UM system faculty indicated that they had received grants in 2018 or grants that were not previously reported based on their UMSAEP funded work: 

  • David Mendoza Cozatl and Scott Peck (MU):
    • National Science Foundation (MCB), $995,609 
  • Ndiko Ludidi (UWC):
    • SA National Research Foundation, ZAR 559,000 
    • SA National Research Foundation, ZAR 667,880 
  • Michelle Teti and Brian Van Wyk (MU):
    • South African Medical Research Council, ZAR 600,000 
  • Marshall Keyster (UWC):
    • National Research Foundation Development Grant 
  • Anita Padmanabhanunni (UWC):
    • NRF Thuthuka award
    • Cape Higher Educational Consortium Western Cape Government Grant
  • Enid Schatz (MU):
    • University of Missouri Research Council, $10,000 
    • University of Missouri School of Health Professions Catalyst Grant, $3,570 

Courses/programs developed

UMSL's Mathew Taylor and UMKC's Arif Ahmed received a $10,000 Intercampus Course Sharing grant to develop a Global Health and Social Issues course. Ahmed has led several UMKC study abroad programs to UWC and he and Taylor plan to co-teach this course at UWC during summer 2020 and ultimately including UWC students as well.

Expanding student opportunities

As in past years, UM System faculty led study abroad programs that have provided UM System students an enriching educational and cultural experience in Cape Town. For 2018, those programs included: 

  • MU's Rod Uphoff took 15 law students for a joint program with the UWC law faculty. 
  • Led by MU’s Carolyn Orbann and Wilson Majee, 16 health profession students participated in a service-learning program in Fisantekraal, a township near Durbanville. 
  • UMKC's Arif Ahmed brought five UMKC students for a public health course at UWC.  

A number of UWC grad students travelled to Missouri in 2018 to do research or, in the case of UWC law students, to earn an LLM degree. Among them was Lee Ann Niekerk, whose . Moreover her researched helped MU's David Mendoza-Cozatl and Scott Peck secure the grant noted above. Additionally ,several UWC professors reported that UM System faculty played key roles in assisting their students to earn master's degrees this past year or are currently serving on Ph.D. committees for their students.  

Conclusion

This report highlights the major outputs of the UMSAEP in 2018. Find that describe the broad range of UMSAEP-funded projects across a variety of academic disciplines.