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KU students receive an extraordinary gift
Community theater seeks $100K from county ——
City has already agreed to give same amount By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
KANSAS UNIVERSITY FRESHMAN AMANDA PARKS, Kansas City, Kan., right, revels in the excitement after opening her new Motorola Android tablet that she received as a gift from Google vice president and Kansas University alumnus Brian McClendon on Monday in the Spahr Classroom of Eaton Hall. McClendon, who is the co-founder of Google Earth and Google Maps, visited a classroom of first-year electrical engineering and computer science majors to talk about the importance of mobile devices and also surprised each of them with their own Xoom tablet. Also pictured are freshmen David Motsonashvili, Overland Park, left, and Shannon Bisges, Wichita.
Google VP surprises aspiring engineers with free tablet computers for everyone By Andy Hyland ahyland@ljworld.com
ONLINE: See the video at LJWorld.com
Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
GOOGLE VICE PRESIDENT BRIAN MCCLENDON, right, a Kansas University graduate who co-founded Google Earth and Google Maps, pulls a Motorola Xoom tablet from a cart as he hands them out as gifts to a class of engineering students with Gary Minden, KU professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
A Google vice president surprised Kansas University engineering students enrolled in an introductory programming course by handing out a new Android-based tablet computer to each of them on Monday morning. Brian McClendon, a 1986 electrical engineering graduate from KU, and his wife, Beth Ellyn, donated $50,000 to KU to provide the Motorola Xoom tablets for the 89 students enrolled in the required Programming I class on Monday. He told the students that the future of the industry lay with mobile applications. “The client that everybody uses is on the phone,” he said, and Google and other companies are increasingly looking to see what kinds of mobile ap-
KU ranks 46th among public universities Oregon and the University of Tennessee. The schools ranked in a tie for 101st when both public and private schools were inKansas University slightly included, up from KU’s 104th overall creased its ranking in the U.S. News ranking last year. and World Report college rankTwo private schools, the Uniings released today, both overversity of Dayton and the Univerall and among public schools. sity of the Pacific, both also received KU is in a tie for 46th the same overall score as KU. among public schools, in a tie Jeff Vitter, KU’s provost and execuwith Florida State University, tive vice chancellor, said he was glad North Carolina State Univerto see that KU moved up on the list, parsity, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, ticularly given that the overall pool was a the University of New Hampshire, the Please see RANKING, page 2A University of Oklahoma, the University of
By Andy Hyland
ahyland@ljworld.com
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— Schools reporter Mark Fagan can be reached at 832-7188. Follow him at Twitter.com/MarkFaganLJW.
Trash options take shades of green ————
Collection proposals pit yard waste against recyclables By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Leaves versus cardboard. Grass clippings versus plastic. A city-appointed task force that is studying ways to revamp Lawrence’s trash and recycling system began debating Monday whether the city should place less emphasis on picking up yard waste in order to start placing more
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plications potential employees have developed. The devices have applications in all kinds of industries, too, he said, even outside of the electrical engineering and programming world. “I think you can be a part of that now,” McClendon told the students. The tablets will be incorporated into the curriculum, but the students will be encouraged to use them for their enjoyment as well. “I have until 2 to play with it,” said Amanda Parks, a freshman from Kansas City, Kan., who said her next class didn’t start until then. “I’m going to head to lunch and then just go to town and see what’s on here.” The students will be allowed to keep the tablets provided they receive at least a C in the introductory programming course, complete both Programming I and Programming II, and remain in the electrical
Douglas County commissioners are being asked to pump money into two projects angling for community support: one for entertainment and another for traffic. Wednesday afternoon, commissioners will consider two such items during their regular weekly meeting: !" A request from Theatre Lawrence for $100,000 — $20,000 a year for five years — to help finance construction of a new theater and education center in northwest Lawrence. Lawrence city commissioners last Tuesday night approved giving the organization $100,000. !"A partnership agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation and the city of Lawrence on a grant application to finance construction of an interchange along the South Lawrence Trafficway at Bob Billings Parkway, at the western edge of Lawrence. The state is asking the county to conCOUNTY tribute $100,000, the same COMMISSION amount asked from the city. Janis Bunker, co-chairwoman of Theatre Lawrence’s fundraising campaign, said that the county’s money would help the organization “secure a $1 million out-of-state challenge grant that will be lost if we do not reach our campaign goal by the end of September.” She described the organization as being in the “final stages” of its $6.2 million campaign. The plan: Build a 300-seat theater in the Bauer Farms development, northeast of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive, south of Free State High School. The project would include classroom and office spaces and be considered “a great asset to Lawrence and the 400-plus volunteers who annually participate in our programs,” Bunker said, in a letter to commissioners. The project would allow the 35-year-old organization to move out of its existing site, a former church at 1501 N.H. The commission meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Mass.
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emphasis on providing a citywide curbside recycling system. “I want to see recycling done a lot worse than I want to see yard waste picked up,” Joe Harkins, a member of the city’s Solid Waste Task Force, said at a Monday meeting of the group. “I think the yard waste service makes a great improvement to the city, but I think it is a luxury.” Currently, the city runs a
special service every Monday to pick up yard waste such as leaves and grass clippings. Every household pays for the program regardless of whether it uses the service. Harkins said that might need to change. He suggested that the city begin charging households an extra fee to pick up the yard waste. That potentially would allow the Please see TRASH, page 2A
COMING WEDNESDAY We’ll let you know what Lawrence city commissioners think about the use of artificial turf at a local apartment complex.
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