Navigation:
- Background
- Award Process
- Output Data Process
- Publications
- Conference Papers/Poster Presentations
- Grants
- Artistic Success
- Courses/Programs Developed
- Expanding Student Opportunities
- Conclusion
Background
The Board of Curators launched the University of Missouri South Africa Education Program (UMSAEP) in 1986 in response to student protests about the evils of apartheid in South Africa. The University of Missouri was the first American university to partner with a non-white South African school. Under the apartheid regime, only colored students could attend the University of the Western Cape (UWC). This 31-year partnership has been enormously successful and has been touted as a model international program.
Then UWC Rector Brian O’Connell spoke to the Board of Curators in 2014 and he praised the UM/UWC partnership. He eloquently described what it had meant to UWC’s growth as an institution. O’ Connell also spoke regularly at international conferences on higher education about the significance of the UM/UWC partnership. He urged schools in developing countries to find a partner like the University of Missouri and encouraged schools in the developed world to reach out to a partner school in the developing world as UM did. So too, the current UWC rector, Tyrone Pretorius, has expressed how influential the partnership is, especially on young UWC scholars. He speaks from experience as he made his first international trip to Columbia, Missouri in the late 1980s on a UMSAEP exchange visit. Similarly, former UWC Deputy Vice Chancellor Ramesh Bharuthram often acknowledged the pivotal role that this partnership played in helping UWC rise in the South African rankings. In the latest rankings, UWC is number five among South African universities and tied for number six on the entire continent.
The partnership certainly has contributed significantly to the reputational benefit of the University of Missouri System. After then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at UWC in 2015, DVC Bharuthram thanked her and all the American universities who had collaborated with UWC over the years. He singled out the University of Missouri for special praise for all that it had done for UWC since 1986 to help it grow as a research-intensive university. Secretary Clinton remarked that she was unaware of what an important role that the University of Missouri had played and still was playing in South Africa.
Indeed, as far back as 1996, the University Missouri has been recognized for its work with UWC. The letters from President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu that hang outside the President’s office at University Hall acknowledge the contributions that the University of Missouri and its faculty and staff have made since 1986. The University of Missouri System and its faculty and students who have interacted with UWC faculty and students have received as much as they have given over the years. The trip reports submitted by both UM and UWC faculty frequently describe the exchange as a life changing experience and speak of the significant professional growth achieved because of participating in the exchange.
Award Process
Each year, following a call for proposals, the UMSAEP committee awards approximately $100,000 in grants to UM and UWC faculty. The committee consists of 12 members, 3 from each UM campus. Decisions are made together with a UWC representative (generally the Deputy Vice Chancellor and/ or the Director of the International Office). The awards range from $4000-$10,000. In recent years, most of the awards go to support a research or teaching collaboration involving both a UWC and UM faculty member.
I have attached a document that reflects the 2017 awards. Because it often takes several years for a project to be completed and a publication generated, it did not seem meaningful simply to report on the activities in 2017. Rather, this report looks at program outputs over an extended period and identifies significant outputs beyond just individual professional growth. It should be noted that no previous attempt had been made to systematically gather data on the UMSAEP’s accomplishments.
Output Data Process
Total Grants (2003-2017):
- 74 UWC faculty exchange awards
- 83 UM faculty exchange awards
- 29 Partnership awards
All of the partnership awards went to UM faculty as this funding is designed to enable UM faculty to work with other SA institutions or agencies. However, UWC faculty can be and have been included on UM partnership projects as long as it also involves another SA partner. It should also be noted that many of the faculty exchange awards involved collaborations where both the UWC and UM faculty member traveled as part of the project. For this report, then, an effort was made to gather data about significant outputs from all current UM and UWC faculty members who were awarded UMSAEP grants for the past 15 years.
Starting with the 2003 awards, emails requesting information were sent to 76 UM faculty awardees some of whom had received multiple grants. Since 2003, 34 UM faculty awardees had either left for another position, passed away, or had retired. These individuals were not contacted. Similarly, email requests were sent to 49 UWC faculty members. As in the case of UM faculty, no emails were sent to 19 UWC faculty who either retired, passed away or moved to another position.
55 UM faculty and 29 UWC faculty responded. This report then summarizes the major outputs identified based on feedback received in response to the email request.
Publications
It simply is not possible to get an exact count of the number of publications or articles generated since 2033 as a result of UMSAP grants. This is in part because several researchers were so prolific that they gave only an estimate. For example, UMSL Professor Rob Paul who received a $10,000 partnership grant in 2008 wrote:
“In terms of impact, more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications are directly linked to the work in South Africa, with another 100 publications that were made possible through interdependent research programs.”
Similarly, UM Professors Pat Westhoff and Julien Binfield who received several partnership grants described “numerous publications” among the many significant outputs of their 15 year relationship with the University of Pretoria. Other UWC and UM faculty identified 72 other articles or publications produced as a result of an UMSAEP grant. Many of these articles were co-authored by a UM and a UWC faculty member. There are another 17 manuscripts currently under review and another 20 works in progress. Two books and five book chapters also were identified as outputs of an UMSAEP award.
This is not a complete list of the publications generated as a result of UMSAEP awards since 2003, however, because many of those who retired or went to another school had published articles or books as a result of a UM/UWC collaboration. Moreover, some UM researchers established relationships that started from an UMSAEP partnership award and have found other funds to continue a long-term relationship with another South African institution. To read more about Professors Westhoff and Binfield’s work with the University of Pretoria for example, please view www.umsystem.edu/media/president/southafrica/westhoff-binfield.pdf.
Conference Papers/ Poster Presentations
Many of the UM/UWC collaborations have led to papers or posters presentations at various conferences in the US, South Africa or elsewhere around the world. There have been at least 45 such presentations by current UM and UWC faculty but that figure does not include multiple conferences by some researchers like Rob Paul, Bill Folk or Pat Westhoff for example. Moreover, many of the UM and UWC faculty who have retired or left for another school presented at many conferences. For example, UMSL Professor George McCall before he retired presented at over 25 conferences on the work he and his UWC collaborators were doing.
Grants
Again, it is not possible to calculate an exact figure for grants generated since 2003 directly as a result of UMSAEP awards. Professor Paul indicated that his 2008 UMSAEP partnership grant “provided preliminary data for 4 separate 5-year, NIH R01 awards (each with total budgets over $3M) and 15 NIH sub-awards as co-investigator. The total dollar value of the work generated from the pilot funding is in excess of $30M. “ Other UM researchers identified over $9,432,534 in external funding. UWC researchers identified ZAR 11,775,400 (roughly $983,000 ) plus another grant of 4000 euros. In addition, UWC’s Dr. Anita Padmanabhaanun who is collaborating with UMSL’s Professor Steve Bruce recently received an NRF grant but the final amount will not be determined until later this month.
As in the case of publications, this figure does not reflect any funding received by those who are no longer faculty members at UWC or UM. Moreover, several UM researchers indicated that their experience and work with UWC led to additional $3,967,814 in other grants. Finally, UM and UWC researchers have 12 grant proposals currently pending or about to be submitted. This figure does not count Professor Paul’s pending submissions for additional grants. To read more about Professor Paul’s work and its significance, go to /media/fa/president/southafrica/rob-paul.pdf.
Artistic Success
The accomplishments of the UM/UWC partnership have not been limited to the sciences and social sciences. In addition to his book, More Than Just a Game, UMSL Professor Emeritus Chuck Korr helped write and produce an award-winning film based on his research at the Mayibuye archives located on UWC‘s campus. The book and film recount the remarkable story of the soccer league formed on Robben Island by the political prisoners there including Nelson Mandela. That film was shown around the world and premiered in Durban at the 2007 draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. To read more about the importance of Korr’s work, please go to /media/fa/president/southafrica/chuck-korr.pdf
In 2013, UMSL Professor Niyi Coker used his UMSAEP award to launch an African film festival at UWC. He then wrote and produced a musical, Miriam Makeba: Mama Africa, which was shown in Cape Town, St. Louis, Columbia, and New York City. In addition to support from UMSAEP, UMSL and MU, Coker secured funding from the Carnegie Foundation and the US Consulate in Cape Town among others to finance this remarkable production. His wife, UMSL Professor Angela Coker also played a major role in the production of this musical.
UMSL‘s Arianna Quartet received two UMSAEP awards to travel to UWC. They performed at concerts and worked with UWC students and other young musicians in the Cape Town area. UWC’s Henriette Weber praised the critical impact of the Arianna Quartet’s work in helping to rejuvenate UWC’s Centre for the Performing Arts. It also led to two donors giving UWC money to support 20 music scholarships for UWC music students. To read more about the Arianna Quartet’s impact, click on this link. /media/fa/president/southafrica/arianna-quartet.pdf
Finally, UMKC Professor Adrienne Hoard made several UMSAEP sponsored trips to South Africa over nine years to photograph and interview Ndebele women artists. Not only did she produced several articles based on that experience, but she also exhibited their work in South Africa and the US.
Courses/ Programs developed
UWC Professor Priscilla Daniels and her UWC colleagues Cornel Hart and Tracy Adonis along with MU’s Dr. Mary Leuci developed and implemented a model community leadership program. As part of that program, community activists from Cape Town traveled to Missouri and community leaders from across Missouri travel to Cape Town. This model program has been the focus of several papers presented at international conferences and of several manuscripts that have been submitted for publication.
MU Professor Jane Armer received several UMSAEP grants to work with the UWC nursing faculty. Like MU Professors Bill Folk and Paul Miceli, she has been named a UWC Extraordinary Professor in large part because she has served often on masters and dissertation committees and as outside examiner for students at University of Western Cape and other SA schools. She has collaborated with UWC faculty members to train 72 lymphedema therapists in South Africa - the first such training program on the continent of Africa - and now these therapists are practicing throughout South Africa.
MU Professor Rodney Uphoff received an UMSAEP grant in 2004, which enabled the MU law school and the UWC law faculty to create a study abroad program at UWC for American law students. In 2004, Uphoff led the first group of American law students to UWC and has brought students every year since. In 2006, UWC law student Lisa Draga became the first UWC student to receive a fellowship to study at the MU Law School and earn an LLM in Dispute Resolution. Since then 15 other UWC students have earned their LLM degree. The funding for this fellowship program comes from law school donors.
Six other courses have been developed and offered as a result UMSAEP grants. Recently, MU Professor Elizabeth Chang and UWC Professor Courtney Davids received a $3000 grant from the MU Honors College to develop a linked course for UWC and MU students. In addition, UWC regularly funds UM faculty to travel to UWC to teach short courses especially in the masters in nanoscience program that UWC offers in a collaboration with three other South African universities. Not only has this been a rewarding teaching experience for the UM faculty, but several research collaborations have sprang from these interactions. Moreover, one student in that program, Veli Thipe who took a course from MU Professor Kattesh Katti subsequently received a Fulbright. Since 2015, Thipe has been working in Professor Katti’s lab to complete his PhD.
Expanding Student Opportunities
For most of the 31 years of the partnership, only 2-4 UWC or UM students traveled each year to UWC or one of the UM campuses as part of the Henry Mitchell fellowship program. In recent years, however, more emphasis has been placed on trying to provide opportunities for UWC and UM students to study abroad. In addition to the MU law school study abroad program mentioned above, other such UM programs include:
- UMKC Prof Dave Renz has offered study abroad programs at UWC for students in public administration since 2014 and UMKC Prof Arif Ahmed and Adjunct Prof. Mike Wood have taken public health students since 2011.
- MU Professor Randy Smith has taken journalism students to UWC since 2015.
- MU Health Profession students have participated in a service-learning program at UWC since 2015
- UMSL Professor Lois Pierce and MU Professor Emeritus Margie Sable took social work students to UWC 5 times starting in 2009.
- MS&T Professor Neil Anderson has taken three groups of students to South Africa since 2013 and has taken other MS&T students with him to do field work. In 2012, MS&T Professors Greg Gelles and Lance Haynes took MS&T students to UWC.
Two UWC graduate students have participated in a six-week summer research program at the MU School of Medicine for the last five years. A number of UWC graduate students and post docs have been hosted by UM faculty in the last couple of years with most of the funding for such visits coming from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF). Recently, UWC Professor Edmund Pool received $160,000 to support two masters and two PhD students who are working with him and MU Professor Maria Fidalgo on several research projects. Similarly, UWC Professor Marshall Keyster received roughly $ 46,500 to send two of his graduate students to work with MU Professors Antje Heese and David Mendoza-Cozatl. So too, UWC’s Dr. Theo Muller received NRF funding to support two UWC masters students to continue on research started during his UMSAEP supported visit to MU Professor Suchi Guha’s lab.
Finally, over the years, UM faculty have co-supervised a number of UWC PhD and Masters students. For example, UWC Dean of Community and Health Sciences Anthea Rhoda completed her PhD while on an UMSAEP grant. UMSL Professor Matt Taylor served as an external moderator for five UWC masters students.
Conclusion
This report highlights many of the major accomplishments of the UMSAEP since 2003. To read more about the history of the program and see the trip reports that describe the broad range of projects funded across academic disciplines, go to the UMSAEP website.
Reviewed 2019-08-05