Education

Kansas City, MO – State funding for UMKC may be more uncertain with next year's expected budget shortfall, but the University's leadership is becoming more stable. KCUR's Elana Gordon reports.

UMKC recently announced that its acting chancellor, Leo Morton, will stay in the position permanently. Morton stepped in temporarily this past summer when then-chancellor Guy Baily left for Texas Tech University. Morton says he's now looking forward to establishing more continuity at the University.

Springfield, MO – With the state facing a potential 342 million dollar budget shortfall, lawmakers have asked public universities and colleges to submit reports on how they might make significant budget cuts.

The Missouri Department of Higher Education has sent an e-mail requesting all state universities and colleges to create budget cutting scenarios by December 18th. Schools must outline how they might cut their core budgets by 15, 20, and 25 percent for the next fiscal year.

Kansas City, MO – After more than a decade as Chancellor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Robert Hemenway announced Monday he's retiring in June.

"I'll work every day," says Hemenway. "And on July 1...start a transition...scholarly duties, teaching and writing."

Hemenway says he plans to work on a book about intercollegiate athletics and American values, and return to the classroom in 2010.

Kansas City, MO – In 2006, UMKC's Black Studies program was de-stabilized after several faculty members left. Charges of institutional racism were leveled against the university. At the time, KCUR's Laura Ziegler spoke to the Black Studies director Don Matthews, who described what he saw as the problem.

Johnson County, Kansas – Johnson County will be putting more resources into area research and education. That's following yesterday's approval of a one eighth cent sales tax. KCUR's Elana Gordon has more.

Backers of the Johnson County Education and Research Triangle met at a hotel last night in Overland Park, where they politely applauded the approval of a permanent tax to finance projects at K State, the University of Kansas, and KU Medical Center.