University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor Thomas George and Dean Ann Taylor, along with University of Missouri System Chief Human Resources Officer Marsha Fischer and University of Missouri-Columbia Dean Kathryn Chval and Vice Provost Jim Spain, today awarded the UM System President’s Award for Intercampus Collaboration to Kim Song, an associate professor of education at UMSL and Lisa Dorner, an associate professor of education at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The award, which includes a $2,000 prize for each recipient, recognizes faculty who engage in activities that foster collaboration across two or more campuses of the UM System. Collaboration may be in the areas of teaching, scholarship, research, service, creativity, outreach or economic development.
In 2013, Dorner and Song established a collaborative working relationship, which has resulted in a number of impressive cross-campus initiatives in the areas of teaching, research and outreach. Outcomes of their partnership have included federal grants, teacher professional development programs, University of Missouri Online Course Sharing projects and the creation of the Missouri Dual Language Network. The network of more than 230 educators, parents and university professors supports multilingual education.
“The work of Drs. Dorner and Song is critical and timely for the state of Missouri as the demographics continue to shift,” said Kathryn Chval, dean and professor of mathematics education in the MU College of Education. “These demographic shifts require educators to learn new knowledge and competencies related to teaching children who speak more than one language. These efforts require strong cross-campus collaborations and leadership teams. Drs. Song and Dorner have answered that call.”
Prior to their collaboration, neither MU nor UMSL offered interdisciplinary courses on immigration, language and global education. Upon receiving a UM System course sharing grant, the team coordinated nine faculty from seven departments in the Colleges of Arts and Science and Education at MU, UMKC and UMSL. They have developed and offered four courses on “Language and Global Education” to more than 50 students.
Their collaborative intercampus approach exemplifies perfectly the criteria for the President’s Award for Intercampus Collaboration, said Ann Taylor, dean of the College of Education at UMSL.
“They are leveraging talent and resources through designing projects to bring much needed language learning to multiple kinds of educators, demonstrating their creativity in program design and their deep commitment to outreach,” Taylor said. “The result is scholarship, teaching and service to communities within the state and beyond.”
The UM System President’s Awards are presented annually to faculty members across the four campuses of the UM System who have made exceptional contributions in advancing the mission of the University. Dorner and Song will be formally recognized by President Choi during an awards celebration to be held in June.
Reviewed 2018-04-04