• Story by Ryan Gavin
• Feb. 3, 2012

As the final home game against the Jayhawks approaches, we look back at nine of our favorite victories against Kansas. With ESPN's College Gameday in town and the game featured on national TV, this last home game before Mizzou's move to the Southeastern Conference has all of the indicators of a classic Border Showdown battle.

The broadcast from Mizzou Arena starts at 9 a.m. on ESPNU (and at 10 a.m. on ESPN), and the game tips off at 8 p.m. Fans started lining up early Thursday morning with plans to camp out while they wait to see No. 4 Mizzou take on No. 8 Kansas for first place in the Big 12 Conference.

March 11, 1907: Missouri 34, Kansas 31 (Columbia, Mo.)

The basketball border series against the Jayhawks started with a 34-31 win in Columbia. Mizzou followed it up with a 34-12 beating the next day. Led by coach Isadore Anderson, the Tigers were victorious against Kansas' first coach and basketball inventor, James Naismith.

The 1907 Savitar identifies six of the seven players. In front are Bernet, Henley and Moore. In back on the far left is Gardner, and the two on the right are Ristine and Driver. Photo from the 1907 Savitar, page 17.

January 24, 1922: Missouri 35, Kansas 25 (Lawrence, Kan.)

Mizzou won the first of the two matchups but fell in Columbia, which led to a tie for the Missouri Valley Conference title with identical 15-1 records. In an effort to determine a champion, Missouri's conference committee on intercollegiate athletics challenged Phog Allen and the Jayhawks to a one-game playoff at a neutral site. Kansas refused to accept, as did the school's athletic board and chancellor. Kansas was retroactively awarded a Helms Foundation National Championship in 1936, though the validity of the title has been disputed. No national champions were officially crowned until 1938, which was when the NCAA Tournament started.

"Bun" Browning was one of the many standouts on Mizzou's '22 team. Photo from the 1922 Savitar, page 269.

March 11, 1961: Missouri 79, Kansas 76 (Columbia, Mo.)

Heated emotions from the controversial 1960 football season carried over into the 1961 basketball season. In a February loss in Lawrence, there was a bench-clearing brawl between the teams, and KU athletic director Dutch Lonborg suggested ending the rivalry after it happened. At the nationally televised rematch in Columbia, another fight broke out when Kansas' Wayne Hightower threw a punch after being fouled. Order was restored when the band started playing the national anthem.

February 11, 1987: Missouri 63, Kansas 60 (Columbia, Mo.)

Lee "Kansas Killa" Coward became a Mizzou hero in 1987. In Columbia, Coward hit a three pointer with two seconds left in the game to beat the Jayhawks. He followed that up in the title game of the Big Eight Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. With the scored tied at 65, Coward hit a game-winning shot with four seconds left to give the No. 19 Tigers the title.

January 20, 1990: No. 4 Missouri 95, No. 1 Kansas 87 (Columbia, Mo.)

The rivalry took on added importance in 1990. Outside of the upcoming 2012 showdown, it was the only season in which Mizzou and Kansas were both ranked in the top 10 while playing each other. No. 4 Mizzou knocked off No. 1 Kansas in Columbia, and then in February, the No. 2 Tigers beat the No. 1 Jayhawks 77-71 in Lawrence.

January 31, 1994: No. 20 Missouri 79, No. 3 Kansas 67 (Columbia, Mo.)

The Tigers won both in Columbia and in Lawrence (No. 12 Mizzou beat No. 4 Kansas 81-74) on the way to an undefeated season in the Big Eight Conference. Coached by Norm Stewart, the '94 squad is considered to be one of the best Mizzou teams ever.

Kelly Thames led the Tigers through battle against the Jayhawks. Photo by L.G. Patterson in the 1994 Savitar, page 167.

February 4, 1997: Missouri 96, No. 1 Kansas 94 in double overtime (Columbia, Mo.)

This classic game, one of the best finishes of all time, proves the adage that records don't matter when Mizzou and Kansas play. Undefeated and ranked No. 1 nationally, Kansas brought future NBA standouts Paul Pierce, Jacque Vaughn and Raef LaFrentz to the Hearnes Center against an unranked Tigers team. The lead changed hands continuously throughout the game, finally ending when Corey Tate hit a jump shot with just five seconds left in the second overtime. It was Kansas' only regular-season loss that year.

January 16, 2006: Missouri 89, Kansas 86 in overtime (Columbia, Mo.)

Needing a miracle, Kansas' Christian Moody was on the foul line with just 0.4 seconds left and the score tied at 77. The Mizzou Arena prayers were answered as Moody missed both, sending the game to overtime. Thomas Gardner was too much for the Jayhawks in the extra period, giving Mizzou the win.

February 9, 2009: No. 17 Missouri 62, No. 16 Kansas 60 (Columbia, Mo.)

The first time the Tigers and Jayhawks met as ranked teams since 2003, fans at Mizzou Arena were worried at the end of the first half. Kansas led 30-16, but Mizzou led an inspired rally to even things up. Zaire Taylor, known as Mr. Big Shot after the game, hit a jumper with just 1.3 seconds left to give the Tigers a 62-60 victory.

• Story by Nancy Moen
• Photos by Shane Epping
• Jan. 24, 2012

This original manuscript by Charlotte Brontë, written during the famous author's adolescence, is held in the MU Libraries Special Collections. The young Brontë's handwriting was so small that reading the text requires a magnifying glass.

The literary world learned in December that an unpublished manuscript written by a young Charlotte Brontë sold at auction to a French museum for a record 690,000 British pounds sterling, or $1,065,221. Just before the sale, the auction house Sotheby’s reported that only a handful of original Brontë works remained in private ownership.

MU is one of the few entities that owns an original Charlotte Brontë manuscript.

The Secret and Lily Hart, a set of two novels written in the author's formative years, are stored in the MU Libraries Special Collections.

Magnified mystery

Readers need a strong magnifying glass to peruse Brontë’s juvenile works. And even with magnification, it’s difficult to make out the tiny hand-written script of The Secret and Lily Hart, signed by Charlotte Brontë and dated Nov. 27, 1833. 

Charlotte and her brother, Branwell, collaborated on writing their youthful plays, magazines, poetry and stories in extreme miniature.

The 19,000 words in The Secret and Lily Hart cover four sheets of notepaper the color of today’s grocery bags. The paper is folded into 16 small pages measuring 4 1/2 inches long by 3 5/8 inches.

Why Brontë wrote so small remains a mystery.

Some literary researchers speculate Brontë and her siblings were trying to hide their writings from a stern, religious aunt, who cared for the children after their mother died. Others speculate the children were writing in miniature to fit a regiment of toy soldiers that inspired some of their stories. 

Charlotte was as young as 10 when she wrote some of the pieces and 17 when she wrote The Secret and Lily Hart. The novels are set in Verdopolis, the capitol of Angria, a colony invented by the siblings.

Most of Charlotte’s juvenile writings and letters can be found in the Brontë Parsonage Museum in the family’s home in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England.

Dark and brooding

Kelli Hansen, librarian of MU’s print collection, holds the original Charlotte Brontë manuscript signed and dated Nov. 27, 1833, when the author was a teenager. A similar manuscript sold at auction for more than $1 million.

Brontë’s juvenile manuscripts are important because they offer readers early clues about the characters and stories of her adult writing.

It’s tough reading the juvenilia though. Brontë’s spelling was creative, and she didn’t always follow rules of capitalization and punctuation.

The Secret, a dramatic story with dark twisted plots, reflects the Gothic style of Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, which is considered a literary masterpiece.

MU English Professor Emeritus William Holtz, in his book Two Tales by Charlotte Brontë, wrote of how Douro, handsome hero of The Secret, re-emerged as Rochester in Jane Eyre.

In Lily Hart, Holtz found what he called Brontë’s “impulse of genius” and a “sense of the long preparation out of which Jane Eyre grew.”

Readers can see facsimiles of the original text and access summaries of the two stories on the Special Collections website. The library also keeps a bibliography of books with full transcriptions.

Manuscript’s path to MU

After Charlotte’s death in 1855, her husband, the Rev. Arthur Nicholls, inherited most of her manuscripts and letters. Although he told a broker he intended to burn them, he sold many of the works and transcribed some.

Author Elizabeth Gaskell was the first to document The Secret by reproducing its first page in her 1857 biography of Charlotte.

Researchers conjecture the two-novel manuscript was purchased by a broker in 1895 and passed to a collector. In 1915 it was sold at auction in New York and was untraceable for decades.

The manuscript resurfaced when Missouri Congressman James W. Symington, son of U.S. Sen. Stuart Symington and Evelyn Wadsworth Symington, discovered it among his mother’s possessions after her death in 1973.

“The manuscript we have was thought lost in World War II. Mrs. Symington had purchased it in a book shop in Britain somewhere when they were there,” says Michael Holland, director of MU Special Collections, Archives and Rare Books.

Senator Symington and his son gave the manuscript to University of Missouri Libraries in 1975.

Alarms will sound

MU preserves its Brontë manuscript in a humidity- and temperature-controlled vault on the fourth floor of Ellis Library, home of Special Collections.

Alarms will sound if the humidity drops below 55 percent or the temperature strays from 68 degrees.

When MU acquired the manuscript, it was loosely sewn together as a pamphlet with a brown-paper wrapper. The paper was encased in a tri-fold red leather folder that fit into a brown leather slipcase — an absolute horror for preservationists.

“Red is not a good color for preservation. It can bleed or transfer to the manuscript,” says Kelli Hansen, librarian of MU’s print collection.

So MU’s conservationists separated the pages and placed each in Mylar,­ an inert plastic considered safe for preserving paper. The encapsulated manuscript is safely stored in an acid-free cardboard box inside the vault.

Free to view

Visitors are welcome to phone ahead or walk in to see MU’s Brontë manuscript for research or just enjoyment.

Guests may touch the plastic-enclosed manuscript and turn its pages, but they will have to present a photo ID and sit under a security camera during the visit.

“This manuscript should be available to people. We are very glad to share our resources. It’s the main part of our work,” says Alla Barabtarlo, head of MU Libraries Rare Books and Special Collections.

Barabtarlo and Hansen give lectures to classes and groups and assist individuals wanting to see the rare treasures. Questions about the pieces come from around the world.

“Everything has its secret, its mystery, and we have 90,000 of these beautiful things. We want people to know about them and to come here and enjoy them,” Barabtarlo says.

Speculating on the value of MU’s Brontë manuscript, Holland indicated its real importance is its availability to scholars. “I don’t think ours would be any less valuable than the one that sold recently to France, particularly since our manuscript consists of two novels,” Holland says.

This rare Charlotte Brontë manuscript held in the MU Libraries Special Collections contains two novels. Missouri Congressman James W. Symington donated the treasure to Mizzou in 1975 after discovering it among his deceased mother's possessions. Scholars are able to view the carefully preserved manuscript in Ellis Library with assistance from the staff. 

• Story by Nancy Moen
• Photo by Shane Epping
• Jan. 11, 2012

MU employee Kenneth Bunting, a diabetes patient, has a checkup with his physician, Karl Kochendorfer (left). Bunting stays in touch with Kochendorfer and keeps a close eye on his medical condition with help from electronic tools such as Diabetes Dashboard.

Kenneth Bunting’s Thanksgiving Day visit to the emergency room began as a nightmare of stroke symptoms. He had no balance, he kept falling, and his speech was slurred.

After arriving by ambulance at University Hospital, Bunting, who directs MU's Freedom of Information Center, did an unusual thing. He e-mailed his family-medicine physician to tell him he was in the ER.

The emergency ended well. Bunting, who has had diabetes for 25 years, learned his symptoms were caused by low blood sugar rather than a stroke. Relieved by the diagnosis, he now watches his diet and records his glucose levels more diligently. 

Bunting’s approach to his health is an example of how technology is improving the quality of care for patients of MU Health Care.  

Before the Thanksgiving problem, Bunting had set up a patient health portal called Healthe, which is how he alerted his MD, Karl Kochendorfer, to the emergency.

“I’m not the most facile person with technology, yet I realize the health portal’s potential, and I’m comfortable with it,” Bunting says of the secure e-mail system.

Open a portal

Patients who open a Healthe portal create a way to communicate with their MU Health Care physicians and get results efficiently.

Through his electronic portal, Bunting can ask his doctor a quick question online, request an appointment and review his lab tests. He can update a list of his medications and read summaries of medical visits. He can even request a prescription refill, accomplishing in minutes what used to take the greater part of a day.

Other providers caring for Bunting can access the information only with his approval. So if Bunting has a medical emergency while traveling, he can allow an out-of-state physician to read his electronic medical history.   

University Health Care Family and Community Medicine went live with the Healthe portals in March 2010. In the next few months, portals will be available to all patients of MU Health Care. That includes University Hospitals and Clinics, Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, MU Women’s and Children’s Hospital, University Physicians and the Missouri Psychiatric Center.

Patients may request a Healthe portal during a health-care visit or sign up online.

Medical Home

The Web-based Healthe portals are part of a new Medical Home model of care developed as a pilot project by MU’s School of Medicine and Cerner Corporation of Kansas City.

MU began working with Cerner technicians on paperless records in the late 1990s, and the collaboration expanded into the Tiger Institute in 2009, with the goal of transforming health care of Missourians.

A Medical Home coordinates patient care electronically. With patients actively engaged, their caregivers — physicians, nurses, case managers, therapists, pharmacists and educators — collaborate and share information.   

By improving the flow of information available to caregivers and patients, a Medical Home enhances continuity of care. The project has been recognized nationally for management of patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma.

Since release of the Medical Home project to other institutions in 2009, one site has implemented it, one is installing it, and 25 are evaluating it for their use. 

Managing diabetes

Because Bunting deals with diabetes, he and Kochendorfer use another tool on Bunting’s Medical Home: a Diabetes Dashboard, developed by the Tiger Institute to help manage diabetes.

The dashboard provides key indicators to chart Bunting’s vital signs, health conditions, medications and laboratory tests pertinent to diabetes.

As an added advantage, it displays links to national standards of care for diabetes, providing helpful comparisons for patient and doctor.    

MU Health Care physicians who tested the dashboard gave it high marks for efficiency in retrieving information and saving search time.

Going paperless

Instead of reading paper charts, MU Health Care providers now retrieve updated patient information online, including diagnostic images such as X-rays and CT-scans. They use laptops to document clinic visits. 

Physicians send prescriptions and orders electronically to pharmacists, dieticians, therapists and other providers, who view them instantly. E-prescribing helps make physicians' lives easier.

“Doctors say we have better-running clinics. And patients are the beneficiaries,” says Joanne Burns, executive director of the Tiger Institute.

The institute is working to expand the exchange of health information with a growing membership of health-care organizations statewide, regionally and, eventually, nationally.

“It’s nice to know as a patient that I can go where it’s appropriate for the care and that I’m not going to lose continuity in the care. These organizations can start to work together on referral patterns,” Burns says.

The switch to electronic health records resulted in MU Health Care’s ranking as a 2011 Most Wired Hospital by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.

“We’re a long way ahead of most organizations,” says Michael LeFevre, chief medical information officer for MU Health Care, who represents the physicians’ point of view in deployment of information technology.

A team of MU doctors examining use of electronic technology found that having immediate access to their patients’ health information in one place offered vast improvements in patient care. Among the advantages were reduced duplication of tests and treatments and time saved because of fewer phone calls and faxes.   

Innovations to come

The Tiger Institute develops innovations that push the boundaries of health-care delivery. A team of software engineers, clinicians, researchers and students tests innovations through the institute’s Living Lab.

In a current project, researchers are building a search capability into patients’ records that will offer better methods to verify information. 

With the new search functionality, doctors will be able to access files of their patients’ medical histories, as well as textbooks and databases of medical journals, the Center for Disease Control and other health-care-related organizations.

“If I have a question, I can find the answer,” says Kochendorfer, medical director of the lab. 

Kochendorfer, for example, can enter “colonoscopy” in searching a patient’s records to discover the date of his or her last test, which the patient reported as three years ago. His search finds e-files confirming the patient did indeed have the test, but it was 10 years ago.

Applied uses for the search capability are numerous. Drugstores can upload data useful to doctors, such as prescriptions and dates of flu shots. Physicians can find information from clinic and pharmacy records; locate exercises for patients and print them as handouts; and access insurance coverage information. 

In another Tiger Institute innovation, a recently developed iPhone application gives health-care providers mobile access to their patients’ health records. The app, called Physician Express, lets doctors access patient information and send orders by phone.

The device is expected to go live for MU Health Care in 2012. Kochendorfer says MU physicians testing the app describe it as “unbelievably beneficial.”  

Trusted websites

Patients are a curious group. They search the Internet for health information and sometimes take advice that shouldn’t be trusted. MU doctors hope to change that with Gateway to Health, another Tiger Institute development.

Researchers are building Gateway to Health online management tools to educate patients through doctor-approved, evidence-based information, such as the Rethinking Drinking site.  

“When I see a patient at clinic and know he screened positive for being overweight or for at-risk drinking, I could have a quick conversation with the patient and enroll him. Eventually we’d like to make the sites available to the public. It’s better than a Google search because the information is evidence-based,” Kochendorfer says.

Pilot studies at MU have shown that evidence-based websites help patients adopt healthier behavior.

View slideshow.

In 2011 Tigers made marks in academic advancement and made breakthroughs in scientific research. We showcased artistic talents in the nation’s capital and earned national recognition on athletic fields. We overcame catastrophic weather forces and came to the aid of Missourians in need. We took steps toward a healthier lifestyle and a healthier planet. We harnessed our resources to build on our greatest strengths. 

In 2011 The University of Missouri welcomed the largest freshman class in our history as new Mizzou Tigers, two retired astronauts as new Mizzou professors and a lifelong Tiger and Columbia native as the new president of the University of Missouri System. The Southeastern Conference showed us the same hospitality, welcoming Mizzou as the newest member of the athletic conference. 

Throughout the year we strengthened the traditions that make us Mizzou, and we celebrated a century of coming home.

• Story by Nancy Moen
• Photos by Shane Epping
• Dec. 19, 2011

Chef Daniel Pliska is the executive chef for the University Club of Missouri and University Catering.

When he removes his chef’s hat after work, Daniel Pliska, executive chef of the University Club of Missouri and of University Catering, operates like the rest of us in the kitchen.

At work he directs a staff of 35-40 in a bustling, professional kitchen. To encourage future chefs and cooks, he recruits students from area community colleges, high schools and Mizzou’s Hospitality Management program. The students serve as apprentices, interns and cooks.

Pliska has cooked for dignitaries, movie stars and politicians, including the House of Representatives, whose members sampled his venison pâté.

Since 1998, his mainstay diners have been members and guests of MU’s University Club, where the New Year’s Eve dinner promises to be extraordinary (see sidebar).

But in the more laid-back atmosphere of his kitchen at home, Pliska looks for shortcuts and easy entertaining, especially during the hectic holidays.

Let’s cook

Entertaining doesn’t need to be a big production, Pliska says. “I love to cook, even at home, and I spend my time on one or two most important items.”

For holiday cooking, the Pliska household’s significant item is often roast duck à l'orange. Pliska makes duck liver and apple pâté appetizers to enjoy while cooking the main course, and he uses leftovers for duck risotto the next day.

A Pliska favorite course for a buffet-style meal with multiple offerings is his mini-lamb burgers with goat cheese.  

Making it easy

Chef Daniel Pliska puts the finishing touches on a gingerbread house to be displayed in the University Club dining room. He bakes almond horns (foreground) in the German tradition; see the recipe below. 

Pliska’s advice for easy holiday entertaining at home is to keep things as simple as possible while having fun with your guests:

• Put nice aromas in the air: Use holiday flavors of cinnamon, orange, nutmeg and vanilla.
• Make cooking the entertainment: Invite guests to share appetizers and drinks while you cook together. Pliska makes one or two favorite dips to serve with quality crackers or French bread croustades.
• Use time wisely: Concentrate on preparing just two or three signature items, whether those be main courses or sweets. If they’re labor intensive, buy whatever else you need for the meal. Consider making some items ahead and freezing them.
• Serve quality products: Buy the best quality ingredients you can afford.
• Create an attractive table display: Centerpieces can be as easy as a trio of tall glass vases filled with fruit — clementines, walnuts and cranberries work well — combined with silver balls and pine cones. 
• Incorporate festive serving utensils: Use decorative picks to liven things up. Appetizers look great skewered on the picks and displayed on trays. 

Let’s bake

In a pastry textbook scheduled for 2012 publication, Pliska will share the skills he has perfected during his 32-year career.

With his background in German baking and pastries, Pliska considers German Christmas cookies the “best in the world.” So, at this time of year, he consults his file of German cookie recipes.

These tempting, crescent-shaped almond horns are appropriate all year long.

See the beauty of Chef Pliska’s creations, learn about his training, read his publications and enjoy more recipes at chefdaniel.missouri.edu.

Recipes

Almond Horns

By Chef Daniel Pliska
Yield 24 to 30 horns

Ingredients

• 16 ounces almond paste
• 9 ounces granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 pound sliced almonds
• 1 ½ pounds melted tempered chocolate for dipping

Method

1. Break up almond paste into walnut size pieces and blend with the sugar and ½ of the egg whites on low speed in a mixing machine with the paddle attachment until smooth.
2. Add the rest of the egg whites, lemon zest and mix until smooth.
3. Pipe out of a pastry bag fitted with a straight tip onto the sliced almonds, roll in the almonds and form into horns.
4. Place onto a non-stick baking pan or a silcon baking mat and bake at 375F for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown.
5. Remove from the oven and cool.
6. Dip into tempered chocolate or chocolate coating, let set and serve.

Mini Lamb Burgers

with Roma Tomato and Goat Cheese

By Chef Daniel Pliska
Yield: 14-16 mini burgers

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground lean lamb
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (80/20)
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 16 slices roma tomatoes
• 8 ounces goat cheese
• 16 basil leaves
• 14 to 16 silver dollar rolls

Method

1. Sautee the onions and the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent (blonde).
2. Le the onions and garlic cool. Then mix together thoroughly with the meat, herbs, eggs, bread crumbs and spices.
3. Form 14-16 patties and grill until temperature reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Then remove from the grill.
4. Top the burgers with the roma tomato slices, basil and the goat cheese.
5. Return to the grill until cheese is melted.
6. Served on the silver dollar rolls (can be served with a good garlic aioli).

Roast Duck a l'Orange

By Chef Daniel Pliska
Yield: 3 to 4 portions

Ingredients

• 1 whole duck, 5 to 6 pounds
• 2 tablespoons duck roasting spice (recipe to follow)
• 3 oranges
• 1 apple
• 1 onion peeled and diced
• 1 carrot, cut in half-inch pieces
• 1 rib celery, cut in half-inch pieces
• Sauce
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 cups duck stock (Made with the duck wings, neck and ½ cup of mirepoix, 3 sprigs parsley, and water or chicken broth)
• Corn starch slurry (cornstarch mixed with equal parts water) to thicken
• Duck Roasting spice
• 1 tablespoon ground bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground thyme
• 1 tablespoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoons ground mace
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt or course sea salt
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper

Method for duck roasting spice
Blend all together in coffee grinder and store in a sealed jar.

Method for duck

1. Remove the liver, neck, and gizzards from the duck. Rinse the duck well.
2. Place the duck neck into a roasting pan. Cut off the wing bones at the second joint and place them into the pan with the onion, celery, and carrot (this is called Mirepoix). Discard the gizzards.
3. Season the duck inside the cavity and on the outside with 2 tablespoons duck roasting spice.
4. Cut the apple and one orange into quarters and stuff into the cavity. Then, place the duck  into the roasting pan on the mirepoix breast side down.
5. Prick the duck skin around the legs and breast with a fork. This will help to allow the duck fat to be rendered out of the duck while it is roasting.
6. Roast in a preheated oven at 300°F for 1 ½ hours.
7. Remove the duck from the oven and place it on a platter. Drain the fat into a small pot.
8. Remove the wing bones and the neck and place into another pot. Add the mirepoix and parsley and bring to a simmer while the duck finishes roasting to make a stock that will be used for the sauce. 
9. Turn the duck over and roast for another 45 minutes at 300°F.
10. Remove the duck from the oven and drain off the fat again into the small pot. Then, increase the temperature of the oven to 400°F and return the duck to the oven breast side up. Continue to roast and crisp up the skin for 20 to 30 minutes. The duck is done when the leg joints are loose and the skin is crisp. When done, remove from the oven and place onto a platter until the sauce and all of the side dishes are ready. De-glaze the roasting pan with some of the stock and then strain back into the stock pot.
11. While the duck is roasting, clarify the fat in the small pot over low heat until it is clear and all the liquid is boiled away. Strain into a bowl. (This fat can be used to cook the rosti potatoes for a side dish and is also excellent to cook green beans or cabbage. Reserve left over fat in the refrigerator for the risotto.)

Method for the sauce

1. Grate about one teaspoon of orange zest from one of the oranges. Then, cut the oranges in half and juice them into a bowl through a strainer. This should yield about a ½ cup.
2. Mix together the sugar, vinegar, and orange zest in a small saucepot. Then, cook over medium high heat until a light caramel color is reached (this is called a Gastrique).
3. Off the stove, add the Grand Marnier. Return to the stove and reduce by half.
4. Add the orange juice and repeat the third step.
5. Add two cups strained duck stock and reduce by half.
6. Thicken with the cornstarch slurry, and while cooking, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed. Add more Grand Marnier if desired to taste. The sauce should yield about 1 ½ cups.
7. Pour into a bowl and serve with the roasted duck.

Method for service

1. Prepare the side dishes while the duck is cooking.
2. When the sauce is prepared and all of the sides are ready, return the duck to the oven if needed to heat up.
3. Carve the duck into pieces and serve with the sides. If desired, use the leftover duck carcass to make a duck risotto for the next day or later in the week.

New Year's Eve at University Club

Menu by Chef Daniel Pliska

Opening Act

Blue Point Oysters 3 Ways, Bienville with Creamed Blue Crab, Rockefeller with Spinach and Béarnaise Sauce, Muscovite with Beurre Blanc and Sturgeon Caviar
OR
Arborio Rice Arancini with Braised Kurobuta Pork Shank and Crispy Belly with Black Trumpet Mushrooms
OR
Stuffed Manchester Farms Boneless Quail with Hudson Valley Foie Gras and Royal Gala Apples in a Potato Nest

Prelude

Cream of Sweet potato and Orange soup with Creole Spiced Shrimp and Fried Mustard Greens
OR
Green Salad with Baby Bibb, Red Oak and Lollo Rosso with pomegranate dressing and Fried Goatsbeard Farm Cheese in an Almond Crust

Intermission

Cranberry Granite with blood orange sorbet and Clementine Crisp

Crescendo

Campo Lindo Farms Roasted Stuffed Chicken Ballotine
Boneless Sliced whole chicken with Burgers Ham, Morel Mushrooms, Artichoke and Fontina Cheese
OR
Duo of Braised Short Ribs with Fried Parsnips and Beef Tenderloin with Black truffle butter on a Brioche Croustade
OR
Pan Roasted Black Cod with Pacific Steamer Clams and Dungeness Crab
Presented on stewed Tomatoes, leeks and Fennel laced with Tarragon Chive butter

Finale

Dessert Trolley Assortment of Classical Tortes and Desserts, Trio of Signature Desserts and Pastries

Make a reservation.

• Story by Karen Pojmann
• Photos by Shane Epping
• Dec. 13, 2011

The University of Missouri Board of Curators has named Tim Wolfe, BS BA '80, the new president of the University of Missouri System. The Columbia native and former software executive takes over Feb. 15.

For Mizzou alumnus and businessman Tim Wolfe, a new job as the president of the University of Missouri System means a long-awaited homecoming.

Wolfe spent most of his childhood in Columbia and was a star quarterback on the Rock Bridge High School football team. In 1980 he earned a bachelor’s degree from the Trulaske College of Business at MU, the university where his father, Joe Wolfe, served on the Department of Communication faculty for 30 years and where his mother, Judith Wolfe, earned a bachelor’s degree, two master’s degrees and a law degree before eventually joining the faculty at the Massachusetts School of Law.

You might say higher education is in his blood.

Coming home

The 53-year-old former computer software executive acknowledges that his 30-year career path led him into the business world before winding back to a university campus — and his parents’ footsteps — but says he is “ecstatic and proud” about his new role and considers the UM System “the state’s greatest asset.” 

“I vividly understand the importance of higher education,” says Wolfe, “and I respect and admire the academy and all that it does.”

During a celebration at the Reynolds Alumni Center, Mizzou welcomed the True Son home to the University of Missouri family in a flurry of fanfare that included appearances by university officials, a Marching Mizzou pep band and a typically ebullient Truman the Tiger, who wasted no time endearing himself to Wolfe’s 16-year-old twins, Madison and Tyler — a potential third generation of Tigers in the Wolfe family. (For the twins’ mother, KU graduate Molly Wolfe, Tigers offered gentle ribbing.)

The Board of Curators’ choice of Wolfe as president wraps up an 11-month search that began when Gary Forsee stepped down from the role to take care of his wife, who had been diagnosed with cancer. In the interim Steve Owens, the system's general counsel, has served as acting president. “It’s a big job,” Owens notes.

Wolfe says he’s up for it. He will take over Feb. 15 following two months of research and meetings, a process he calls his “journey of enlightenment.”

Getting down to business

UM System President Tim Wolfe comes from a family of Tigers and educators. His mother, Judy (left), is an MU alumna and a law professor. His father, Joe, was an MU communication professor for 30 years. His wife, Molly (center) attended KU, but Wolfe says that won't be an option for their children, twins Madison and Tyler. 

Wolfe has experience with innovation and leadership. He worked for IBM for 20 years, leaving in 2000 as vice president and general manager of the global distribution sector. After a three-year stint as executive vice president of the technology services company Covansys, Wolfe joined the Massachusetts software company Novell as president of the Americas. The company was acquired by Attachmate earlier this year, and Wolfe, like his colleagues, entered a state he calls “funemployment” before he received a call from Board of Curators Chairman Warren Erdman.

Wolfe plans to apply sound business sense to university leadership.

“We have to continue to find ways to creatively deliver high-quality education to more people at a lower cost,” he says.

He emphasizes his enthusiasm for leading the university system in a direction determined by the students, faculty, staff and alumni of the four universities rather than by external pressures.

“We need to chart our own course — not have somebody else chart our course for us,” Wolfe says. “If we do our job, our vision and our strategies will be so compelling that we’ll attract the support and the financial resources from the state, from businesses, from alumni and donors to fund our growth.”

His plans include extending the use of technology, increasing research, identifying new revenue streams for the university system and working with business and government leaders to create an economic-development agenda that will help create jobs in Missouri.

For now, though, he's just glad to be home.

• Story by Nancy Moen
• Photos by Shane Epping
• Dec. 2, 2011

MU physician Michael LeFevre jokes with patient Bernadine Ford. LeFevre, who heads the clinical activities of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, was elected to the Institute of Medicine, the health branch of the National Academies of Science.

Michael LeFevre is a nationally respected expert on health policy, but to his young patients, he’s the doctor who can quack like Donald Duck.

It’s a good mix of talents for the family-medicine physician recognized in October with membership in the prestigious Institute of Medicine, the health branch of the National Academies of Science.

LeFevre should have suspected the honor was coming. He’s co-vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a position largely considered a launching pad for the IOM. 

Task force members study medical problems that affect large parts of the population. Using scientific evidence, they make recommendations for preventive care on important health issues such as prostate tests and breast cancer.

Similarly, LeFevre serves as a member of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, which updates recommendations for treating high blood pressure. 

With the pressures of high-visibility responsibilities, LeFevre maintains a can-do attitude about his workload and the realization that IOM membership means more service. 

Family doctor   

After caring for patients for 27 years, LeFevre still looks forward to going to clinic. If a baby cries during a visit, he’ll walk around holding the child in his arms like a football. To interact with tots, he gets down on the floor to play. And children love it when he quacks like Donald Duck. 

“Patients adore Dr. LeFevre,” says Jinnie Deakins, LPN, his office nurse since he began practicing in 1984. “All patients get the same care from him, whether they’re a homeless person or a president.”  

Despite the time involved, LeFevre still delivers babies. It’s hard to quit obstetrics. “In the family life cycle, two of the most important times — and the most bonding experiences — are life and death. And there are many opportunities in between. I enjoy all ages and the relationships you form with patients who trust you,” he says.

John and Sally Blass and family — their children, grandchildren and even John’s mother, now deceased — have been LeFevre’s patients for years, through well checks, prenatal visits, critical care and emergencies.

John credits LeFevre for saving his life during an office visit when John had a heart problem and didn’t know it.

“He’s taken care of four generations of our family. That doesn’t happen a lot anymore. We say that’s real family practice,” Sally says.

Sharon Cornelison, RN, a retired colleague of LeFevre, appreciates his comprehensive, compassionate care for her husband, who has Parkinson’s disease.

“Dr. LeFevre is respectful of patients and good in sharing decision-making. He understands how complex chronic care is. He outlines options for people who struggle with a health problem they will have to live with for the rest of their lives,” she says.

Administrator

Michael LeFevre took on the role of chief medical informatics officer for MU Health Care in 2003 and has helped to streamline patient care with information technology.

LeFevre heads the clinical activities of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and has had many roles in the institution. “He has few peers with his type of analytical mind,” says MU colleague and fellow IOM member Dr. Jack Colwill.

As vice chair and medical director of MU family medicine, LeFevre oversees eight practices — three at Green Meadows Clinic, one each at the Woodrail, Smiley Lane and Keene Street clinics, and two at rural clinics, in Fulton and Fayette. That translates to 95,000 patient visits a year.

LeFevre manages the clinics with the goal of providing the best possible care for patients while simultaneously offering students a quality environment for learning. “It has to be first for the patients. You can’t teach people to provide good care by providing bad care,” he says.

A great deal of what inspires LeFevre is his grounding in the department, where he finds supportive, intellectually stimulating colleagues and role models who share values and goals. 

“I don’t think I could ask for a better group of colleagues. Walking down the aisle of photos in family medicine is like walking through a who’s-who in family medicine nationally,” he says.

LeFevre graduated twice from MU – in engineering and medicine – followed by an MU residency and fellowship in family medicine. He says he just couldn’t leave Mizzou; it won every comparison he made to other universities.

Innovator 

Largely because of LeFevre’s efforts, University of Missouri Health Care has been named one of the most wired hospitals in the nation by the Hospitals & Health Networks magazine Most Wired.

LeFevre thought twice about accepting the role of chief medical informatics officer for MU Health Care in 2003. He knew the leadership of a proposed electronic health-records project would be a huge task.   

What enticed him was the idea of improving patient care through use of information technology, which he considered “embarrassingly in the dark ages” compared to other industries. So when charged with upgrading the records system, he set out to help replace much of the phone and paper communication and record storage with computer-based technology.

LeFevre played a key role in forming a partnership between MU Health Care and Cerner, a company focused on improving health care through IT services. The collaboration, known as the Tiger Institute, is implementing innovative technology and communication methods to improve patient care.

Much has changed in MU Health Care since LeFevre received his medical degree in 1979. Instead of reading paper charts, doctors can retrieve updated patient information online and through phone apps. They routinely use laptops to enter summaries of clinic visits, and they access major medical journals electronically for answers to questions.

Communication has improved for MU Health Care patients as well. By establishing Web-based “health portals,” they can link to their health-care providers through secure e-mail to ask questions, request appointments and prescription refills, read parts of their medical records, check a list of their medications and review lab results.  

“As long as what physicians are doing is replacing the telephone, it’s time saving on both sides, for patients and for providers. But it will not replace an office visit when a visit is necessary,” LeFevre says.

LeFevre: “I’m as Missouri as you can get.”

If an institution can take credit for getting somebody into the IOM, the University of Missouri should do so, LeFevre says of his recent honor. “Mizzou has afforded me the opportunity from college on to develop the skills needed to serve in the Institute of Medicine. It should take credit for that,” he says.

LeFevre considers a good portion of his job through the years has been as an agent of change, seeing how things might be better and moving toward better.

Still, change is hard, even for an agent of change. “I’m in the 12-step program for giving up OB. It’s a young person’s sport,” LeFevre says.

To end his work in obstetrics, LeFevre would have to stop taking prenatal patients. He hasn’t done that yet.

• Story by Ryan Gavin
• Photo by Karen Stockman
• Nov. 30, 2011

The University Singers have been selected to sing in a holiday concert at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19. The most prominent and advanced choral ensemble at Mizzou, the group was formed during the 1945-46 academic year by Paul Van Bodegraven, director of choral activities.

They'll be home for the holidays, but first Mizzou's University Singers will perform at the White House. Director Paul Crabb, accompanist Rachel Aubuchon and 28 members of the choir have been selected to represent Missouri at the nation's capital as part of the White House’s annual series of holiday tours.

Crabb isn't sure why the ensemble initially was contacted about submitting an audition recording for the performance, but he thinks the group's strong reputation helped. In the past three years, the U Singers have performed on some of the biggest stages nationally and internationally.

• From a blind audition in 2009, the group was selected as one of nine choirs to perform for the National Collegiate Choral Organization at Yale University.
• In 2010, the ensemble was featured as one of 11 university choirs at the American Choral Directors Association national convention in Chicago.
• After school let out in the summer of 2010, the singers toured Italy, performing at venues including a church built in the fourth century; the cathedral home to the Shrine of the Three Kings in Milan; and the room of a castle where a painting by Leonardo DaVinci of the composer whose work they were performing hung on the wall (both the composition and the painting were commissioned by the family who owned the castle).

Students' enthusiasm for the Washington, D.C., trip exceeded Crabb's expectations, making the need to trim 30 members from the 58-singer ensemble even more difficult. Taking into account factors such as experience and balance, he whittled down the number to what was mandated by the invitation.

"I wanted to shout from the rooftops when I found out, but I wanted to be respectful that not everyone was able to go, too," Robin Anderson, one of the longest-tenured members of the choir, says. "But it's bragging rights for all of U Singers because this is special and unique. How many other choirs can say they sang at the White House and Europe and all these other places?"

It's not just the choir that will be represented but the MU School of Music as a whole as well. Crabb credits his colleagues for developing the young musicians, which has led to a more musically advanced choir. Performances at events such as the White House concert reflect well on everyone and, more importantly, provide the best possible learning opportunities, he says.

"These are life-changing experiences for our students; I can't think of anything more motivational than to get these types of significant and worthwhile opportunities," Crabb says. "This is what I want to do — to keep providing these kinds of exciting chances to learn and soak up different ideas. We're so proud to have the chance to represent everyone."

In addition to leading the choir, Crabb has joked to his friends that he plans to get into politics while he's in Washington. His idea? The Department for Choral Music.

"You have to sing and work together rather than against each other. You have to have a group of people sympathetic and cooperative and compromising, and you show dignity in the process," Crabb says with a wry smile. "But never mind."

University Singers perform 'Nunc Dimittis' by Arvo Pärt

The growth of green at Mizzou

Tigers win final Big 12 Border Showdown with Jayhawks