Category: Kansas City Missouri

Former KCKCC instructor honored in scholarship fundraiser

by Kelly Rogge, KCKCC

Plans for the ninth annual Philip Miller Memorial Scholarship Reading on Oct. 13 are underway.

The reading honors Phil Miller, a former Kansas City Kansas Community College faculty member known for his love of poetry and for promoting literary writing through readings.

Phil Miller taught English composition and literature at KCKCC as well as creative writing and learning center courses from 1976 until he retired in 2002.

He also co-created the Riverfront Reading Series in the mid-1980s, which still continues.

The reading series highlights poetry and fiction readings and are held on the second Friday of each month.

For more information about the series, visit www.riverfrontreadings.com.

This year’s memorial scholarship reading is at 3 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Writer’s Place at the Nonprofit Village, 31 W. 31st St. in Kansas City, Missouri.

The reading will be an open mic with the theme of “Haunted Words.”

Participants will have the opportunity to share their thoughts on a ghost or ghostly encounter.

Donations collected will go toward the Philip Miller Scholarship fund at KCKCC. The $500 scholarship will be awarded to at least one KCKCC student each year.

 Those who are interested in participating in the Philip Miller Memorial Scholarship Reading may send an email to Randy Ratliff at [email protected]. Readers can also register the day of the event if slots are available.

If unable to attend the scholarship reading event, donations to the Philip Miller Scholarship Fund can be mailed to Kansas City Kansas Community College Foundation, Attn: Deborah Cowick, 7250 State Ave., Room 3500, Kansas City, Kan. 66112. Checks should be made payable to the KCKCC Foundation. Please write “Philip Miller Scholarship” in the Notes section. Contact Cowick at 913-288-7369 to donate by credit card.

District attorney to deliver Grantham University commencement speech

District Attorney Mark A. Dupree Sr. will deliver the keynote speech at the Grantham University commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Broadway Blvd., Kansas City, Missouri.

Hundreds of students are expected to gather for the first time to celebrate their degrees from the online university.

“We are pleased to have such a distinguished member of our community to deliver our keynote,” said Anthony R. Petroy, D.M., Grantham University provost and interim president, in a news release. “His service to the citizens of Wyandotte County and involvement in the community, both as district attorney and as a senior pastor, has proven Mark to be an effective and charismatic leader with valuable advice to impart to our graduates.”

Grantham University has 1,709 graduates in the 2019 class, with graduates from all 50 states and from Canada, Germany, India, Italy and Singapore.

The youngest graduate is 19 and the oldest is 80, according to a spokesman. Sixty-one percent of the graduates are in the military, and 78 percent are the first generation in their family to complete college. Fifty-five percent of the graduates are minority.

“I am truly honored to be asked to deliver the commencement address at Grantham University’s graduation ceremony,” Dupree said in a news release. “I wholeheartedly believe in the university’s mission of making education both accessible and affordable. The university places the rewards of education in the hands of those willing to work hard to attain knowledge that can never be taken away, thereby opening up a world of possibilities. Grantham has never wavered in this commitment to students and the graduation ceremony will be a testament to that charge.”