Kansas City Kansas Community College

Sociology

Welcome to Professor Steve Collins Webpage,
My Digital Home!

Educational Background

My education, beyond elementary school began at Northeast Highschool in Kansas City, Missouri, where I graduated with my diploma in 1965. In 1969 I earned my first Sociology degree with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). I went on to complete my Master of Social Psychology degree at UMKC. I was then accepted into the graduate school of the University of Kansas in the department of Sociology, and was awarded the Ph D. in Sociology, with Honors, in Spring 1984. My dissertation was based on a six month period of participant observation in the Armourdale District of Kansas City, Kansas studying single parent, largely European female headed households. My graduate areas of specialization are in community research (qualitative and quantitative) and the Family. Since receiving the doctorate I have completed post graduate work via seminars in Archeology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Field work in Archaeology in Kansas, New Mexico and Kenya. African experiences include studying Paleoanthropology via Rutger’s University two month field school at the Leakey camp at Lake Turkana, Kenya; and an informal study of the Kamba tribal fossil hunters in the Leakey Camp, unpublished. I continue to participate in sociology, visual sociology, instructional, environmental and learning community conferences through the present. I have presented papers in online education and learning communities at National Conferences in the United States.

Carnegie Foundation Teacher of the Year Award for the State of Kansas 1998

During 1997 I partnered with our honors’ students engaging them in peer instruction concerning the beginning of the Quindaro Chindowan project noted below under research projects. I taught students the fundamentals of webpage construction and they in turn taught other students this skill. They not only helped launch the Quindaro Chindowan project, but established the first intra-net for students on our campus. A second accomplishment concerns the research that helped pave the way for our first Women’s program at Kansas City Kansas Community College. Third was a field project in which our students aided Navajo students at Lake Valley New Mexico to develop computer skills. Finally I was part of the team that established the first online program at our college. I was privileged to win the Carnegie award, the first ever bestowed on a Community College instructor in Kansas educational history. I continue to try to live up to this award by working in cutting edge educational techniques for the best interests of the students of our college.

Instructional Repertoire

As a student you will want to know that as a full Professor of Sociology I instruct on-ground traditional, compressed television, web enhanced, honors and online sections of Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems and Sociology of the Family. I have credentials in the areas of Criminology, Urban Sociology, Community Sociology, Visual Sociology, Diversity Studies and Qualitative Methods and Community Research.

Learning Communities

I also have developed two Learning Community courses; “Greening Society: A Learning Community Linking Environmental Science and Sociology” in association with Environmental Scientist Elisabeth Kasckow of the Engineering, Mathematics and Sciences Division; and another entitled “The Composition of Social Problems: A Learning Community linking Composition II and Social Problems” in association with writer and instructor in English Polly Hawk of the Humanities and Fine Arts Division of our College.

Publications

Collins, Steve. “On Land Where the Indians Lived”, Harry Martin
Trowbridge, A Wyandotte County Avocationalist. Society For
American Archaeology Bulletin. Vol. 17, No. 5, November 1999.

This article may be accessed online by clicking this link. (http://www.saa.org/publications/SAAbulletin/17-5/)

Collins, Steve and Dorothy.

Quindaro Underground Railroad: A Unique Ethnic Unity in America’s Past.
Vol. 1, No. 1, October, 2007 Kansas
City Kansas Community College E-Journal (Peer Reviewed).

Research Projects

Excluding the “Anywhere, Anytime, Online” study, all of the reports listed below were student projects in which I served as principal investigator and mentor for students who became community researchers and developed leadership skills which served to make them more able to serve their communities, neighborhoods, and enhance their employment potential.

Collins, Steve. The Latchkey Research Project Report. A Study Solicited by the First Central Church of the Brethren, Kansas City, Kansas. July 1991. This report included 600 house-to-house surveys collected by student research associates to determine whether residents would favor a tax supported before and after school program for Latchkey children of the community.

Collins, Steve. Students in Crisis. In-house project to determine the needs of students at our college. July 1992.

Collins, Steve. A Women’s Study Program: The Student View of Women’s Problems, Coping Strategies and Program Curriculum. In-house study in support of the initiation of a women’s study program at Kansas City Kansas Community College. December 1994.

Collins, Steve. The Quindaro Chindowan Project. 1997-2001.

The Chindowan project emerged from the need to make issues of the 1857 newspaper, the Quindaro Chindowan, easily accessible on our website. Over 300 honors students busied themselves for four years to create the index and transcriptions for the 53 issues of the paper, most of which have been completed. This project increased access to rare primary historical documents about the Territorial Kansas or “Bleeding Kansas” period in our history, for researchers.

Collins, Steve and Mary Grunke. "Anywhere, Anytime, Online": An Assessment of Online Courses at Kansas City Kansas Community College. In-house study of the initial online education project requested by then Director of Online Education, Anita Reach. May 1998. This research report was funded through a grant from the Committee of the Office of Faculty and Staff Development at Kansas City Kansas Community College, Dr. Ben Hayes Director.

As part of the original online instruction team at our college, consisting of Anita Reach (Online Project Coordinator), Charles Cowdrick (College Webmaster), and myself, I directed the first assessment of our online courses at the college in Spring of 1998 in association with my colleague Dr. Mary Grunke. The report of this research may be viewed online 'Online Research'.

Collins, Steve. Just Before the Street: Doubled Up and Divided Families in Armourdale. This study represents the only complete canvass of an entire census tract in the State of Kansas concerning homelessness. The study was suggested by Honors student Bobby Bailey after a Service Learning project at a county food kitchen. The study was completed in Fall 2001 and presented to the Wyandotte County Mental Health Center in support of a grant to service the homeless.

The report suggests that there are far more homeless persons than Federal Department of Houseing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines will permit. Current HUD policies miss a major portion of those who will become homeless in the near future, virtually insuring a continuous visible homeless population on our streets. The report of this research may be viewed online 'Homelessness Research'.

Collins, Steve. Transportation For the Poor in Leavenworth City, Kansas. Student project presented before the Leavenworth City Counsel to Improve bus schedules. House-to-house canvassing resulted in over 320 surveys. Students presented this report to the city counsel September 2002. As a result bus schedules were modified to better serve the poorer residents of the city.

Collins, Steve. Curbside Recycling Attitudes in Basehor, Kansas. This student project was used by the Basehor, Kansas City Counsel to determine whether to adopt curbside recycling for the city. Student research associates collected 375 surveys and presented a PowerPoint presentation to the counsel December 8, 2008. The report was well received by the counsel and students reported a high level of satisfaction with this unique project.

Quindaro and The Save America’s Treasures Grant.

From 2001 through 2005 I was project director for the implementation of a Federal Save America’s Treasure’s grant to preserve the Quindaro Ruins. I represented our college a tripartite collaboration with the Western University Association of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 5^th District and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County – Kansas City, Kansas.

I enthusiastically worked to achieve the goals of this grant because of my Spring 1999 research sabbatical which concentrated in part, on the cluster of Underground Railroad stations in Quindaro, Kansas Territory. Today these ruins cling to the river bluffs of Kansas City, Kansas overlooking the Missouri River, in the contemporary neighborhood of Quindaro. Quindaro was a crucial Abolitionist and Underground Railroad link in the Eastern Kansas resistance to slavery and the movement to bring Kansas into the union as a free-state.

The Quindaro Underground Railroad operated in the area of its formal opening, from before the birth of the town of Quindaro in 1857, when the Wyandot Tribe first built communities in the vicinity, beginning in 1845. Quindaro stands today as a strong symbol of European, American Native, and African American Unity. Quindaro is thus a force for social justice which was among the first human rights movements on the Territorial Kansas frontier. In many ways it represents the fruition of the American Revolution of 1776 finally bringing the issue of slavery to the forefront in an effort to eliminate the curious institution that mocked the ideal of Democracy so central to the American Dream. The work of preserving Quindaro and writing the full history of this town remains unfinished and is ongoing. I continue to believe that Quindaro is a site with International significance for human rights and the search for peace in our world.

Visual Sociology

I have experimented with visual sociology projects and encourage anyone with an idea in which video may be used to express a public concern, or an idea promoting collaboration, inclusiveness, community awareness should contact me. Every creative experience begins with an idea. I want to know your ideas and want to explore ways and means of achieving your educational vision.

Professional Philosophy

I believe that students learn best under conditions in which they must solve real problems in our communities. If you want to become a leader, a community organizer, a more comprehensive citizen of society then I encourage you to take my courses and bring your ideas for making life better for our residents with you. Together we can learn to put those ideas into practice and make a difference. Education must be for people and a better society in order to be meaningful. I look forward to meeting and talking with you on campus.

Contact Information