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KU part of project to train future social workers to recognize domestic abuse
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has joined other higher education institutions across the nation to participate in Survivor Link, a program funded by AmeriCorps. Students participating in the field practicum portions of their social welfare education receive in-depth training on aspects of domestic violence. Those students will then in turn partner with agencies to deliver that training to their employees.
Spencer Museum to host community celebration of new collection galleries March 4
LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art invites the public to explore its recently renovated and reinstalled collection galleries at Level Up!, An Art Party for All, from noon to 5 p.m. March 4. This free community celebration will highlight the Spencer Museum’s upstairs collection galleries, which have been updated to increase accessibility and put more diverse artwork on display.
KU Law students offer assistance with free tax preparation
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas School of Law students with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will again offer sessions to prepare returns for taxpayers who are residents of Douglas County, make less than $60,000 per household per year and do not itemize their deductions. The VITA sessions will continue through Tax Day, which is April 18.
Big changes inspire ceramic artist’s new work
LAWRENCE – Globe-trotting, giving birth and then the COVID-19 lockdown — in that order — all helped to inspire the latest cycle of ceramic works from Sarah Gross, associate professor of visual art at the University of Kansas. The resulting show of those works, which Gross calls “Fruits of My Labor,” runs through March 29 at Spiva Art Gallery at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.
Elizabeth MacGonagle honored with 2022 Woodyard International Educator Award
LAWRENCE — Elizabeth MacGonagle, associate professor of history and African & African-American studies at the University of Kansas, is the recipient of the 2022 George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award. MacGonagle will give a talk at an award presentation and reception at 3:30 p.m. April 19 in the Burge Union, Forum A. The award recognizes MacGonagle’s strong support of the Global Scholars Program, leadership of the Kansas African Studies Center and collaborative work with International Affairs and the area studies centers.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
KU part of project to train future social workers to recognize domestic abuse
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas is part of a national project to better prepare future social workers to recognize and respond to domestic violence and in turn provide that training to agencies that serve survivors across the country.
KU and other universities have joined Survivor Link, a program funded by AmeriCorps. Students participating in the field practicum portions of their social welfare education receive in-depth training on aspects of domestic violence from experts across the nation. Those students will then in turn partner with agencies to deliver that training to their employees.
Meredith Bagwell-Gray, assistant professor of social welfare at KU, is site director of Survivor Link at KU and serves as mentor to the first cohort of Jayhawks to take part in the program.
“One of the things I love about Survivor Link is it focuses on multilevel practice in social work. We work in situations where people and the environment are interacting,” Bagwell-Gray said. “It focuses on capacity building in social work organizations and agencies. They’re helping build confidence and knowledge in agencies and providers who deal with domestic and intimate partner violence.”
Students receive training from experts across the participating universities. In April, Bagwell-Gray, who specializes in sexual and reproductive health in intimate partner violence survivors, will share information on the context of sexual control in relationships in which violence has occurred. Other topics will include housing insecurity and mental health’s roles in domestic violence, helping social workers identify and respond to human trafficking, teen dating abuse in the digital world, addressing adversity and trauma among men with histories of violence, and economic abuse, all within the context of COVID-19.
Participants will also receive two $2,000 stipends to partner with state and local agencies such as nonprofits, public health and health allied organizations. The students will undergo training in understanding violence, assessing risk and using local and agency-specific context to tailor services to meet unique local needs. They will also conduct pre- and post-testing with training participants at agencies to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Survivor Link and participants are recruiting partners at public health and domestic violence survivor agencies as well as setting such as counseling and mental health facilities, as survivors often reveal their experiences there. Kelly Jones and the School of Social Welfare’s field education office are partnering KU participants with organizations throughout the state. The goal is to cast a wide net to serve as many survivors as possible, because not everyone who experiences domestic violence has the same experience or is able to seek help in the same ways.
“The goal of building capacity in all of these places is to have more support and what we call wraparound support to build larger networks to serve communities,” Bagwell-Gray said.
Additionally, regardless of a social worker’s field, they are almost certain to work with someone who has experienced domestic violence at some point, making the ability to recognize and address the issue all the more important, Bagwell-Gray said.
KU will recruit a second cohort of students this spring, as will partner institutions Arizona State University, Ball State University, Case Western Reserve University, North Carolina State University, Simmons University, the University at Albany State of New York, University of Central Florida, University of Louisville, University of North Carolina, University Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and the universities of Texas-Arlington and Texas-Austin.
“Students are working with their practicum sites to offer trainings in a way that is most useful to them so we can build capacity to better serve survivors together,” Bagwell-Gray said. “We want this to be a true community partnership.”
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Contact: Elizabeth Kanost, Spencer Museum of Art, 785-864-0142, [email protected], @SpencerMuseum
Spencer Museum to host community celebration of new collection galleries March 4
LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art invites the public to explore its recently renovated and reinstalled collection galleries at Level Up!, An Art Party for All, from noon to 5 p.m. March 4. This free community celebration will highlight the Spencer Museum’s upstairs collection galleries, which have been updated to increase accessibility and put more diverse artwork on display.
Works from the Spencer’s 48,000-object collection, which spans time periods, geography, cultures and mediums, are presented in four distinct but interrelated thematic exhibitions: Intersections, Empowerment, Displacement and Illumination.
“The reimagining of our fourth floor has created new and captivating spaces for gathering, learning and connecting with art and with each other,” said Saralyn Reece Hardy, Spencer Museum director. “We are eager to engage people with our vision for the museum and collection, which is grounded in weaving more nuanced and expansive narratives of art, cultures and peoples, and in reflecting a much broader range of voices.”
The $4 million renovation also included the creation of the new 1,150-square-foot Ingrid & J.K. Lee Study Center, a multipurpose space for class and research visits as well as temporary installations and public programs that increase opportunities to share artwork from the collection.
Visitors can experience the Lee Study Center as well as the new collection galleries on March 4 through a variety of activities. The event will include gallery talks by local artists Lisa Grossman and Hong Chun Zhang, poetry readings by Anthony Boynton and Tai Amri Spann-Ryan and musical performances by Alex Kimball Williams and Tweesna Rose Mills. Spencer Museum staff will lead up-close interactions with artwork as well as art-making activities, and free refreshments will be available.
Free parking is available in lot 91 behind the Spencer Museum and on Mississippi Street.
The Spencer Museum’s Phase II renovation, reinstallation and reopening celebration are supported by Friends of the Art Museum, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the city of Lawrence.
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Contact: Emma Herrman, School of Law, [email protected], @kulawschool
KU Law students offer assistance with free tax preparation
LAWRENCE – Do you know if you’re eligible for free tax preparation services?
This spring, University of Kansas School of Law students with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will once again prepare returns for taxpayers who are residents of Douglas County, make less than $60,000 per household per year and do not itemize their deductions. The VITA sessions began Feb. 20 and will run through Tax Day, which is April 18. No sessions will take place March 13-19 during KU’s spring break.
“Taxes are something most every person in the U.S. has to deal with, but it causes anxiety for a lot of individuals,” said Toni Ruo, third-year law student. “The VITA program allows KU Law students to lessen that anxiety. At the same time, even for students without a tax background, it is an opportunity not only to get more familiar with the tax code but to get to know the Douglas County community.”
Operating on a first-come, first-served basis, the VITA clinic offers several locations that taxpayers can visit for assistance. The number of preparers varies with each location so those seeking assistance are encouraged to arrive near the start of each session. Each participant should bring proof of identification and all relevant documentation, including proof of income and expenditures. For more information, call 785-864-9227 or email [email protected].
This year’s clinic is coordinated by Ruo, who is also a certified public accountant.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the VITA program at KU Law,” Ruo said. “Coming to law school from a career in tax has been a great way to exercise the tax muscle and view tax preparation from a different perspective. When we finish a tax return and we tell the individual everything is done and taken care of, they are extremely appreciative and thankful.”
The VITA volunteers already have received gratitude from the community.
“We received a voicemail from a woman who came into the clinic, thanking us again for helping her finish her taxes,” Ruo said. “This is the reason I love the VITA clinic. You see the immediate impact on the community, and that is an invaluable perspective on tax preparation that I have gained through my participation in the VITA clinic.”
The federal income tax filing due date is April 18.
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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
Big changes inspire ceramic artist’s new work
LAWRENCE – Globe-trotting, giving birth and then the COVID-19 lockdown — in that order — all helped to inspire the latest cycle of ceramic works from Sarah Gross. The resulting show of those works, which Gross calls “Fruits of My Labor,” opened Feb. 27 and runs through March 29 at Spiva Art Gallery at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.
An associate professor in the University of Kansas Department of Visual Art, Gross makes ceramics that challenge the viewer’s perception of reality, be it in the directional application of glaze that makes an object appear to change colors as the viewer moves from side to side, or building a “red carpet” that, upon closer inspection, is composed of repeated masses of individual molds of the artist’s fingers pointing upward.
In “Fruits of My Labor,” the works play upon the various meanings of the word, from the traditionally feminine labor of giving birth to the traditionally masculine labor of laying bricks. A pair of heavily textured vessels, for instance, reflect the dilation of the cervix during labor.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a brick path on the gallery floor. Each brick bears the marks of a hand squeezing it, or fingers gouging it.
“This is to draw attention to the work involved in constructing our environments, but what is interesting is that each individual brick records a moment with an emotional gesture,” Gross said.
Other pieces in the show were inspired by a 2018 artist residency, supported by the KU General Research Fund, in Italy, Gross said. Her visit to c.r.e.t.a. Rome (“creta” is Italian for pottery or clay) occurred while Gross was pregnant.
“I had a five-week research leave to look at architectural ornamentation, specifically, and also to consider the Jewish community in Rome,” Gross said, “and I wound up observing all of these plants created out of stone.
“Wreaths are also symbols of cyclical time, and of victory, like laurel crowns. And that just started to find its way into the work.”
Gross said she was struck by the contrast between “classical architectural ornaments like swags and wreaths and these symbols of plenty and celebration and fertility being rendered in stone that is unchanging and lifeless. At the same time, my body was changing, and I was observing that in real time. So that also informs the glazing of the new pieces as well.”
In the new show, Gross said, the wreath form is mashed up with another of her recent obsessions: lockdown gardening. Having grown up in New York City, Gross said, she had no experience with gardening before lockdown made it seem somehow life-affirming. In contrast to her parents and her sister living in New York, Sarah Gross could at least grow some of her own food in her Kansas backyard.
“Gardening is a way to think about the future with clear optimism, so that helped a little in the difficult days of the pandemic,” she said.
The wreaths in the new show are composed of forms created by molding fruits and other plants.
“There are molds of pumpkins and acorns, artichokes, clementines and tomatoes,” Gross said. “Each wreath symbolizes a different harvest with a different season. The idea with the wreaths is that they’re glazed directionally. So, from one side, you have a stony texture. And then on the other side, as you walk around it, it changes and becomes more saturated and juicy and alive.”
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Contact: Christine Metz Howard, International Affairs, [email protected], @KUintlaffairs
Elizabeth MacGonagle honored with 2022 Woodyard International Educator Award
LAWRENCE — Elizabeth MacGonagle, associate professor of history and African & African-American studies at the University of Kansas, is the recipient of the 2022 George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award.
MacGonagle will give a talk on what it means to be an international educator at an award presentation and reception at 3:30 p.m. April 19 in the Burge Union, Forum A. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by April 14.
The award recognizes MacGonagle’s strong support of the Global Scholars Program, leadership of the Kansas African Studies Center and collaborative work with International Affairs and the area studies centers through public humanities projects such as Coming to the Heartland and the ColLAB: Bridging East Africa’s Health Divides. Along with her research in Africa studies, the committee also highlighted MacGonagle’s mentorship and support of students from diverse backgrounds, dedication to securing funding for students to research and study abroad, and efforts to bring African students and scholars to KU.
“Dr. MacGonagle’s unanimous selection among a very strong field of candidates recognizes and celebrates her substantial and lasting impact on international education at KU,” said Megan Greene, selection committee chair and professor of history. “The committee recognized her sustained and consistent commitment to international education, research, service and internationalization of the curriculum.”
MacGonagle, associate chair of the history department and Donald Crook Honors Faculty Fellow, came to KU in 2001. For eight years, she served as the director of the Kansas African Studies Center, where she built research networks and secured more than $3 million in federal grants.
Working closely with International Affairs, MacGonagle was named as the director of the Global Scholars Program last fall. Prior to that she taught the Global Scholars seminar twice and served on the selection committee for several years. As part of the American Council on Education’s Internationalization Laboratory process, MacGonagle served as co-chair of the Curriculum, Co-curriculum and Learning Outcomes subcommittee.
In a joint nomination letter, Shawn Leigh Alexander, professor and chair of African & African-American studies, and Luis Corteguera, professor and chair of the history department, wrote: “She has demonstrated a rich and robust international scholarly commitment, inside and outside the classroom. Additionally, she has worked tirelessly to build an international curriculum and research platform that not only benefits her own scholarly interests but has in many ways been more beneficial to her students and colleagues.”
MacGonagle’s research focuses on the process of identity formation in African and diasporic settings. Her work crosses historical, geographical and theoretical boundaries to examine linkages among nation, culture and ethnicity.
Integral in the enhancement of the popular African and African diasporic studies curriculum, MacGonagle developed courses and secured federal grants that supported innovative teaching practices for other instructors. She regularly offers classes on modern Africa and African history, and she created new courses on sexuality and gender in African history and the liberation of southern Africa with her colleague Hannah Britton, professor of political science and women, gender & sexuality studies.
In nomination letters, colleagues praised MacGonagle’s mentorship and support of students, particularly those from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. She has mentored or led research on 18 undergraduate international research projects and worked closely with 24 graduate students on internationally themed theses and dissertations. Her students have gone on to win external grants, such as the Rotary International Scholarship to study in Ghana, a Fulbright for dissertation research in Namibia and Honors Program Writing Awards.
“These students have won these prestigious awards, in part, because of her diligent attention,” wrote Kathryn Rhine, associate professor of African & African-American studies and geography & atmospheric science, in a nomination letter. “Dr. MacGonagle motivates students to take crucial analytical risks in their work, provides all her mentees with clear and timely feedback. She balances praise with constructive criticism. She knows when to push and when to hold back, allowing students to gain the autonomy they need to become successful scholars and professionals in international studies.”
Along with Rhine, MacGonagle is co-director of ColLAB: Bridging East Africa’s Health Divides, a humanities-based lab focused on health access in East Africa. As part of that project, MacGonagle was instrumental in recruiting exceptional students, securing funding and selecting a faculty member from a minority-serving institution to join the lab’s two-week field school in Tanzania.
“Her collaborative spirit and commitment to student-centered programming in global contexts embodies the characteristics of recipients of the Woodyard International Educator Award,” Rhine wrote her nomination letter.
MacGonagle has also partnered with Marta Caminero-Santangelo, chair of the English department and former director for the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, on the public humanities project Coming to the Heartland, which focuses on the diversity, adversity and struggles of Latin American and African immigrants in the Midwest. Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, the project examines how the digital age affects the stories that immigrants tell, as well as the possibilities for their visibility in the wider community. The project supported the involvement of four Pell-eligible students from underrepresented backgrounds in KU’s Emerging Scholars program.
“Coming to the Heartland is just one example of Liz’s commitment to social justice and the creation of a more inclusive environment for her communities at home and abroad,” Caminero-Santangelo wrote in a nomination letter. “Her leadership priorities reflect a firm commitment to prepare citizens to lead meaningful and socially responsible lives by fostering a critical engagement with the complexities of the world.”
The late George Woodyard, the first dean of international studies, and his wife, Eleanor, endowed the award, which KU International Affairs coordinates. The award recognizes faculty on the Lawrence campus who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in strengthening KU’s international reach in such areas as curriculum development, study abroad programs, relationships with international partner institutions and collaboration with international colleagues in significant research and publications. The award includes a $1,000 stipend.
A full list of previous recipients is online.
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