James McKusick, Ph.D. Honors College Dean

James McKusick is founding dean of the Honors College and professor of English at UMKC. He completed his B.A. at Dartmouth College, and his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. at Yale University. Before coming to UMKC, he was a faculty member in the English Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (1984-2005), where he also served as director of the Honors College (2002-2005). More recently, he served as dean of the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana (2005-2015). His research and teaching interests include British Romanticism, literary theory, environmental studies and the history of science. He is the author of two scholarly monographs: Green Writing: Romanticism and Ecology (2000, second edition 2010) and Coleridge’s Philosophy of Language (1986). He is co-editor of Faustus: From the German of Goethe, translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2007) and Literature and Nature: Four Centuries of Nature Writing (2001).

McKusick has been certified by National Collegiate Honors Council to serve as an external reviewer for honors programs and colleges. Over the last decade, he has served as a reviewer and consultant for honors programs in Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Texas and Wyoming. As a longtime advocate for high-quality honors education, McKusick seeks to establish a world-class honors college at UMKC. He also is involved with the UMKC crew team.

 Gayle A. Levy, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor of French and Honors College Director

Gayle Levy began her life-long love of French at the age of five when she learned how to say “jus d’orange” in kindergarten. She honed her francophilia as an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley and during her graduate studies at The Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and the Ecole Normale Superieure-Ulm in Paris. Currently, her research centers on French resistance fighters during World War II who then went on to fight in the wars of decolonization. In 2012, she was selected to receive the prestigious Palmes Academiques award for her research and contributions to the study of French history.

Levy was the director of the Honors Program for 11 academic years and now is excited to be the director of the Honors College. She loves helping to organize the academic program and meeting and working with these exceptional students. She is particularly proud of the way the students have taken leadership roles in and helped shape the Honors College initiatives, especially the Honors College-Kauffman School Partnership, Lucerna and Honors Colloquium.

John Herron, Ph.D.
 Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Associate Professor of History, Department of History and Honors College Associate Director

John Herron is a social historian of 19th century America, he is particularly interested in the intersection of nature and environment within American culture. His books on the topic include Human/Nature; Science and the Social Good, and several forthcoming works on regional history and culture.

Committed to working with UMKC’s most ambitious students, Herron began with the Honors College as Faculty Fellow and is now the associate director. He has led Honors Summer Study Abroad programs, mentored the Honors Student Advisory Council, and worked as the advisor to Lucerna. Herron is always available to meet with students who have questions about the college, study abroad opportunities, or American league baseball.

Henrietta Rix Wood, Ph.D. Associate Teaching Professor, Honors College

Henrietta Rix Wood is an associate teaching professor for the Honors College and teaches writing, research, and general education courses. Wood earned her interdisciplinary doctorate in English and History at UMKC; she has a master’s degree in English from UMKC and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Her research focuses on the rhetoric and history of women in the United States.

Her book, Praising Girls: The Rhetoric of Young Women, 1895-1930, was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2016. She co-edited In the Archives of Composition: Writing and Rhetoric in High Schools and Normal Schools, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2015. Her work also has appeared in American Periodicals, Rhetoric Review, and Feminist Challenges or Feminist Rhetoric? Locations, Scholarship, Discourse (Cambridge Scholars, 2014). Wood won the 2012 Rhetoric Society of America Dissertation Award.

In her previous career, Wood was a reporter for The Kansas City Star, and for a newspaper and city magazine in Dallas. When she is not teaching or writing, she cooks, walks her wacky Australian shepherd, watches sports with her husband, and visits her two adult daughters.

For more information, go to www.henriettarixwood.com.

Stephen R. Christ, Ph.D. Assistant Teaching Professor, Honors College

Stephen R. Christ is an assistant teaching professor of social/behavioral science in the UMKC Honors College. In his research, Dr. Christ examines the everyday experiences of Mexican immigrants in the United States that contribute to Mexican-American identity formation. More specifically, how Mexican Americans experience daily life at home, at work, in public life and in how these experiences impact their sense of personal identity, their relationships with natives, their interactions with their families and community and the identity work that goes into producing such categories and social worlds.

Dr. Christ’s current book project, Authentic Imitations: Culture and Society in a Globalized World, examines the negotiated construction of authenticity among Latino/a immigrants employed in the Mexican restaurant industry, a site in which authenticity is a major theme.  Dr. Christ has presented his original research at regional, national, and international conferences and has been awarded several research awards, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Dissertation Scholarship, the John D. Bies International Travel Research Award and the Robert W. Habenstein Dissertation Fellowship.  His sole authored work has appeared in peer reviewed journals such as Organizational Cultures: An International Journal, Rural Sociology and Qualitative Sociological Review and has been featured in over 60 national and international news sources including the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic and NPR.

Jessica Magaña,  Assistant Teaching Professor, Honors College

Jess Magaña is an assistant teaching professor in the Honors College and teaches writing, biology, and general education courses. Magaña earned a doctorate in Integrative Biology at Oklahoma State University, a master’s degree in Biology from Emporia State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology from Kansas State University. Her research focuses on invasive species and reptile ecology and she is passionate about science communication. She spends her free time exploring KC, cheering for her favorite hockey teams, and caring for her five pet snakes.

Margo Gamache is the Director of Students Services.  She earned her M.A. in Leadership in Human Service Administration from Bradley University.  Margo loves helping students find a career path that excites and interests them.  In her spare time Margo likes to bake, hike with her husband and two sons, and watch movies. 

Alisa Carmichael, Executive Assistant, Honors College

Alisa Carmichael is the executive assistant in the Honors College. She has a B.A. in English and Music from Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL) and a Master’s degree in Library Media Education from Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green, KY).  Her experience includes teaching secondary English and serving as a library administrator in both public library and academic library settings.  Most recently, she worked as an executive assistant at WUSF Public Media, located on the campus of University of South Florida in Tampa. As an ordained Episcopal deacon, Alisa also assisted with campus ministry at St Anselm’s Chapel Center (USF).

Alisa is a lifelong musician with extensive experience in church music and solo/ensemble accompanying.  She volunteered as the Executive Director of the Florida Wind Band, a nonprofit performing ensemble in the Tampa Bay area.

Alisa and her husband have recently moved here with their two big dogs, Barney and Bailey. They look forward to spending time with family in the area, as well as exploring their new community and getting to know Kansas City.

Mary Zalmai, Office Assistant, Honors College

Mary Zalmai is one of our two Office Assistants here in the Honors College. She is a freshman at UMKC, majoring in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology. She hopes to one day attend medical school, with a focus on Neurology. Otherwise, she is fascinated with mental health and would perhaps like to work in a psych ward. Her family is originally from Afghanistan and her parents have always stressed the importance and value of education. 

Enrico Mejia, Office Assistant, Honors College

Enrico Mejia is our Office Assistant in the Honors College. He is currently a sophomore at UMKC in the Honors College and is majoring in Accounting.  He is also passionate about reading books and meditating.