TABLE OF CONTENTS

Features

04 Double Match Creates New UMKC Student Success and Mentorship Hub

05 First-Gen Roo Scholars: Celebrating Five Years of Firsts

07 Osher Re-Entry Scholarship Helps Working Mom Succeed

10 Cover Story: Sabates Family Gives Back to UMKC and the Community

14 Lullabies for Wellness: Conservatory Professor Researches Music Therapy for Premature Infants

In the Loop

03 Letter from the President

06 Decades of Championing Public Radio: Julie Walker Browne and Pete Browne

08 UMKC Trustees' Scholars Program Expanded

09 Changing Lives: Professor Julie M. Cheslik Merit Scholarship Endowed Fund

11 Leaving a Legacy at the School of Pharmacy

12 Community Impact Fellowship Funded to Transform Neighborhoods

13 From Vision to Legacy: Donald Smith’s Impact on UMKC Engineering

15 2023-24 Fundraising Results

16 What Will Your Legacy Be?

17 R1 Designation

18 2025 UMKC Alumni Awards

UMKC Foundation Board

The UMKC Foundation Board of Directors, the Foundation’s governing body, is composed of the following business, community and civic leaders:

OFFICERS:

Robert D. Regnier, Chair

L. Joshua Sosland, Vice Chair

Marny Sherman, Secretary

William Taylor, Treasurer

Jerry D. Reece, Past Chair

DIRECTORS:

Nathaniel Hagedorn

Molly Higdon

Doranne Hudson

William M. Lyons

Patricia Macdonald

Ryan D. Rapp

Nelson R. Sabates, M.D.

Lindsey Patterson-Smith

Frank J. Wewers

UMKC CHANCELLOR:

C. Mauli Agrawal, Ph.D.

About the Foundation

The UMKC Foundation is a separate but affiliated enterprise devoted to raising funds for the benefit of the University of Missouri-Kansas City while exercising fiduciary responsibility over philanthropic investments made in support of the university.

On the cover: Jannette Berkley-Patton, UMKC School of Medicine professor; the Rev. Eric Williams, executive director of the Calvary Community Outreach Network; and Carole Bowe Thompson, UMKC School of Medicine research specialist at the celebration of the Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building in September 2024.