To UM System President Mun Choi
Written by Rodney J. Uphoff
March 13, 2020

Last March I provided you a short report which summarized the activities of the UMSAEP for 2018. As you recall in 2017, I provided you a much longer report documenting the previous 15 years of UMSAEP activities. This report is again more modest. In September 2018, the UMSAEP committee awarded a total of 2019 faculty exchange grants to six UM System faculty and 10 to UWC faculty. Those awards totaled $110,059, of which UWC contributed $7,000. The committee also awarded three South African partnership grants, which included $24,300 of UMSAEP funding. Finally, the committee awarded two special projects grants to two UM System faculty and two to UWC faculty totaling $14,000, of which UWC contributed $3,300.

As in previous years, I reached out to the 2019 UMSAEP awardees as well as past UMSAEP awardees and requested updates on 2019 activities with a UWC or South African collaborator. I received responses from 58 UMSAEP awardees, one of whom reported that she was now retired. This report summarizes the major outputs identified by those 57 active respondents. I should note that I know of some active UM System/UWC awardees who did not respond but are very productive,    so I am sure that I have not captured all of the 2019 outputs. 

Publications

The UM System and UWC faculty reported one book, one book chapter, two books in progress and 11 publications during 2019.  Another 11 publications were submitted or under review. In addition, UMSAEP awardees reported at least seven works in progress.  

Conference papers/ presentations

During calendar year 2019, UM System and UWC collaborators presented at 17 regional, 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 work collaboratively in South Africa and annually present at important African and international conferences. 

Grants

Several UWC and UM System faculty members reported that they had submitted grants in 2019 with their UWC colleague or based on work they had done with that colleague but they were not funded. Four reported that in 2019 they were working on or had submitted grants with their UWC or UM System counterpart that were under review. Several UWC and UM System faculty indicated had received grants in 2019 based on their UMSAEP funded work: 

  • Marshall Keyster (UWC) and co- PIs David Mendoza-Cozatl and Antje Heese (MU):
    • South African Centre of Excellence in Food Security Total Award, ZAR 390,000 
  • Chris Arendse (UWC):
    • ARMSCOR South Africa, ZAR 1,200,000 
  • Maria Florence (UWC) and Mansoo Yu (MU) 
    • SA NRF Thuthuka award, ZAR 95,000 for three years
  • Simone Titus (UWC)
    • SA NRF Black Academic Advancement Programme, ZAR 595,000 over two years
  • Anita Padmanabhanunni (UWC)
    • SA NRF Thuthuka award, ZAR 182,000
  • Mulugeta Dinbabo (UWC)
    • United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees Regional Office for Southern Africa, ZAR 200,000
  • Ndiko Ludidi (UWC)
    • SA NRF, ZAR 200,000 

Courses/programs developed

MU's Elizabeth Chang and UWC's Courtney Davids' team taught a co-designed course via Zoom during the fall 2019 semester. The course was titled “British Literature Revisited.” 

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 2019, those programs included: 

  • MU's Rod Uphoff took 11 Mizzou law students for an intersession course in January and 15 law students for a joint program with the UWC law faculty in the summer. 
  • Led by MU’s Carolyn Orbann and Lynette Phillips, 16 health profession students participated in July in a service-learning program in Fisantekraal, a township near Durbanville. 
  • MU's Ron Stodghill brought six MU journalism students to Cape Town in May to produce stories about South Africa and its people. . 

A number of UWC grad students travelled to Missouri in 2019 to do research or in the case of two UWC law student to earn an LLM degree at the MU School of Law. Two MU grad students, Sam McInturf and Ke Goa, traveled to UWC in May to construct a robotic feeding machine in Marshall Keyster’s lab. One UWC student who worked with UMKC's John Kevern while he was at UWC on a UMSAEP funded research project subsequently enrolled in a Ph.D. at UMKC and another UWC student is enrolling there as is one at MU.  Additionally, a number of UM System faculty played key roles in assisting UWC students in earning a master's or doctoral degree this past year or are currently serving on Ph.D. committees for UWC students. Finally, as part of two grant programs funded by the South African government and administered by UWC, UM System faculty hosted and mentored 11 South African Ph.D. candidates who traveled to Missouri in 2019. 

Conclusion

This report highlights the major outputs of the UMSAEP in 2019. Find that describe the broad range of UMSAEP-funded projects across a variety of academic disciplines.