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ON THE COVER BABY JAY WANTS IN ON THE ACTION FOR THE 2018-2019 YEAR AT KU! PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDY WHITE/ COURTESY THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
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The dust begins to settle – now that year No. 1 is done for Chancellor Girod, what are the big changes he really plans to make? Look for a focus on people and innovation.
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A NOTE FROM
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or years now, the most visible story on the University of Kansas campus has been construction and all the activity that comes with it. As some of the largest projects in KU’s $350 million Central District are completed, the dust begins to settle. Chancellor Douglas Girod has been on campus long enough that we no longer can call him new, but his first year has been filled with a fair amount of pomp and circumstance and surveying of the landscape that comes with any transition period. As he begins year No. 2, the dust from that activity is also starting to settle. With all that dust gone, this may be the year that the picture becomes a bit clearer at KU, and when the Girod tenure begins leaving more of its own stamps. It is noteworthy that, as the spring semester came to a close, the chancellor used that change in seasons to usher in some larger changes for the university. He dismissed Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger from his role, and the Lawrence campus was given a directive to make nearly 6 percent across-the-board budget cuts totaling about $20 million. While those decisions undoubtedly were tough, they also were big. It leaves you to wonder whether more are to come. That’s one reason why we once again have chosen to make Girod a major focus of this year’s edition of KU Today. In an interview, Girod indicated that construction and building likely would be less of an emphasis in the years to come, while an increased emphasis on investing
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in people and innovation may be warranted. Exactly what that will look like is still tough to know. This year’s edition of KU Today tries to give you a glimpse at both innovation and people who are changing the university. On the innovation front, there’s news about a high tech laboratory on West Campus that could allow the amount of Department of Defense research KU conducts to grow by about 20 times. Research ranging from radar technology to drone-like vehicles may be taking place in the new National Security Laboratory. On the people front, we check in on first-year business school dean L. Page Fields and her quest to make the business school more agile. We also introduce you to a trio of Goldwater Scholarship winners, who have used their chemistry skills to win what is generally regarded as the most prestigious undergraduate award recognizing excellence in engineering, math and science. And speaking of science, we also touch base with KU’s master of science fiction, James Gunn, the 95-year-old professor emeritus of English who recently penned an autobiography about a “life lived in science fiction.” Here in Lawrence and on the KU campus, we aren’t living a life of science fiction, but it sure seems like there will be plenty of action, drama and important discoveries, nonetheless. Now that we have gotten past the dust jacket, it will be fun to watch what new chapters Girod will write for KU’s story.
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AGILITY IS KEY Dean Fields looks back on her first year leading KU’s business school. TWISTS & TURNS Darren Canady uses his anger at society’s dehumanizing aspects to create plays. LOVING SCIENCE FICTION The director of the Science Fiction Center recalls his writing and teaching careers COMFORT IN POETRY University professor chronicles Alzheimer’s through poetry. SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS Four students win prestigious Goldwater and Udal scholarships.
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CENTRAL DISTRICT A look at the renovations that are transforming the KU campus for the upcoming school year. EARTH, ENERGY ENVIRONMENT CENTER The building attracting the research world’s attention. GLOBAL RESEARCH New laboratory aims to attract students, scholars and clients, and to increase KU’s international research efforts. SATELLITE DEVELOPMENT KU team has the opportunity to complete a low-orbit satellite for NASA’s launch initiative.
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MUSIC ON THE COURT Lied Center anniversary provides background for new jazz composition highlighting KU basketball greats. 7 KU FACES TO WATCH A look at the athletes who are most likely to make a splash in the upcoming shcool year. PRACTICE TO IMPRESS The new building is just the first step in the makeover of the university’s football facilities.
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#METOO EDUCATION The Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center strives to open communication lines regarding gender-based violence. BREATHING A BIT EASIER KU initiates a tobacco-free environment for everyone at all campuses. DIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING The new associate dean is a leader in bringing underrepresented students into the field.
NEW LEADERS A look at recently filled positions and open positions on the KU campus.
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A Conversation WITH THE CHANCELLOR Douglas Girod discusses his first year as chancellor, his vision for KU and the initiatives he’s most excited about for the upcoming year.
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PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
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University of Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod University outside of Strong KansasHall Memorial on MayUnion 21.
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Included among these is the launch, in February 2018, of KU’s new tuition waiver program, which grants waivers to out-of-state students while redirecting funds to in-state students in need. KU leaders hope the program will attract more students to offset the drop in tuition revenue, with the scholarships that would have been used to recruit high-achieving out-of-state students going toward in-state students with financial need.
We are a reflection of society. We will be addressing all the issues society addresses, on campus. And some of them we’ll be able to do better than others.
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
—DOUGLAS GIROD LOOKING BACK ON YOUR FIRST YEAR AS CHANCELLOR, WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS? “From an accomplishments perspective, certainly spending a good part of this year getting to know the campus and really, the Jayhawk nation, much more broadly,” Girod says. Over the past year, he’s been able to “crisscross” the state and country, developing a deeper understanding of what KU means to students and alumni. “Having come from the West Coast, you just don’t see this type of passion that people have for this place and the influence it’s had on their lives, which drives a lot of that,” says Girod, who grew up in Oregon and spent most of his professional life in the Bay Area before joining the KU Medical Center faculty in 1994. He’s also learned the common “frustrations” even the most devoted Jayhawks have with the university, which Girod also counts as an accomplishment. He’s proud of the efforts KU leaders have made within the last year in addressing those issues, including concerns about rising tuition, changes in technology and a growing demand for psychological services among students.
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Girod hopes to eventually offer a similar program to some of KU’s international students, as well. He’s also looking forward to creating a Wi-Fi system on the Lawrence campus that will better address the kinds of internet access — smartphones and tablets, versus “hard-wired machines” such as laptops — demanded by today’s rapidly changing technologies. Girod expects the Lawrence campus to become “90-percent wireless” by late spring 2019. In response to increased need, the university’s Counseling and Psychological Services has also expanded in recent months, hiring three additional licensed staff and also adding initial assessment time slots for students. “That is probably the biggest growing demand on campuses across the country right now, but we are no exception,” Girod says.
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WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU’VE COME UP AGAINST IN THE PAST YEAR? One of the many challenges facing Girod in his first year is not dissimilar to issues in the healthcare industry — that, “while you may have services available, people don’t know it, and how you put people in touch with those in a big, complicated place like this,” Girod says,” is an especially difficult task. Over the next year, he hopes to focus on “just doing a better job, first of all, of telling (people) what we can do,” he says, “and trying to understand what we can do more of.” But Girod also says the university has made strides in better publicizing existing resources and programs that may have flown under the radar before his tenure. One example, he points out: the Jayhawk Student One Stop, also known as SOS. The program, which launched this past spring, is designed as a “student navigator program” offering guidance on KU policies and practices to students experiencing unforeseen challenges in their academic careers. The program also points students toward resources across campus — legal and financial aid, for example — when they’re unsure where to turn. “It’s a one-stop shop for students to be able to go and connect with various services, many of which students aren’t even aware of,” Girod says. He also hopes to continue expanding KU’s outreach in the year ahead, which he describes as “a story we’ve not done a very good job of telling.” This includes highlighting some of the programs and facilities KU operates across the state, including the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center in Hutchinson, the Kansas Geological Survey (while based in Lawrence, the survey conducts research throughout Kansas) and the Salina campus of the KU School of Nursing, which launched classes last fall in an effort to address nursing shortages in rural areas of the state. Next year, Girod hopes to focus on “think(ing) more innovatively about how we can leverage what we have and take it across the state,” he says.
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WHILE YOU’VE BEEN IN THE JOB FOR ABOUT A YEAR NOW, HAS YOUR VISION FOR KU CHANGED AT ALL IN THAT TIME? OR, A BROADER QUESTION MIGHT BE: WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR KU, AND HAS IT EVOLVED IN THE YEAR YOU’VE BEEN CHANCELLOR? “I think about KU continuing to be and growing as the destination for folks to come in this part of the country, the best and brightest scholars and students,” Girod says. “And not just this part of the country, but from around the country.” That, he says, has not changed. “I think focusing on student experience, expanding our outreach and growing our research engine are ways that we’re going to get there,” Girod says. “How to go about that, I would say, has changed a bit as I’ve now had a chance to really study the business model here, which is very different from the business model at the Medical Center.” With the decade-long downtrend in higher education funding, KU and other universities must be realistic when it comes to living within the current business model “in a way that lets us invest where we need to invest,” he says, “which is largely in people.” Education is evolving at a rapid pace, Girod says, and in order to prosper, KU must keep pace. Today’s graduates are expected to change careers an average of seven to 11 times over their professional lives, he says, a prospect he finds “staggering.” “So, we need to not just prepare students for that — to have the skills to be able to flex like that, to think like that — but then, provide tools for them to continue to develop those skills as they leave and they go out into the workplace,” Girod says.
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WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR PREDECESSOR, BERNADETTE GRAY-LITTLE, CONSTRUCTION AND EXPANSION OF THE CAMPUS SEEMED TO EMERGE FAIRLY EARLY ON AS THE SIGNATURE GOALS OF HER TENURE. WHAT WOULD YOU HOPE TO BE YOUR SIGNATURE, THE HALLMARK OF YOUR TENURE? “I think we all want to leave the place better than when we found it, right? It’s all of our goals and ambitions,” Girod says. “While we have, still, a little bit more to go in terms of construction, I think our push in the next five to 10 years is going to be more around innovation and education and creating that value for our students.”
IN YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH STUDENTS, ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC ISSUES THAT SEEM TO COME UP? “There are always issues that come up, and there always will be. I think what they want — and I guess it’s from me, but it’s really from us — is that they want to know that we’re good stewards of resources,” Girod says. “They want to know that we have their best interests at heart. They want to know that, when they help us identify issues, that we’re committed to trying to address those. They want and expect an environment of respect and inclusion, and want to help us work to get to that point. They want to know that their time at KU is well spent, meaning down the road. “Those are all very reasonable expectations, and yet, they have to help us in identifying where our trouble spots are, where our bottlenecks are, where our issues are, so that we can continue to work on those.” “We are a reflection of society. We will be addressing all the issues society addresses, on campus. And some of them we’ll be able to do better than others,” he added. “But if we’re all working together, we’ll have a much better chance of creating that environment we all want.”
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NEW PEOPLE
TWISTS AND TURNS LOVING SCIENCE COMFORT IN POETRY SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS NEW KU LEADERS The dean of Business School looks back on her first year; playwright takes family stories and personal experience to form snapshots of today’s political climate; science fiction icon recalls his introduction to the genre and his love of teaching and writing; poet describes personal experience with the ‘winter’ of Alzheimer’s disease; students earn scholarships for STEM and leadership roles; as chancellor completes his first year, others step up to take on new leadership roles at KU.
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AGILITY IS KEY
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Members of a second-line marching band lead a crowd of 50-75 people outside Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus, braving bitter cold temperatures to participate in a Martin Luther King March Across Campus, Monday, January 15. The event was sponsored by KU’s Office of Diversity and Equity and included refreshments and musical entertainment at the Kansas Union.
L. PAIGE FIELDS
Agility is Key
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Dean looks back on her first year leading KU’s business school.
L. Paige Fields, dean of the University of Kansas School of Business, May 9, at Capitol Federal Hall.
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ast year at this time, L. Paige Fields was looking forward to her first year at a new university, and her new job as dean of the University of Kansas School of Business. At the time, she said her goal was to build on the assets that were already in place at the school — a new building, growing enrollment and a strong faculty that was already in place. A year later, Fields looks back and says that’s exactly what she has done. In her first academic year at KU, she has put her own leadership team in place, steered the faculty, staff and students through a process of writing a new strategic plan, and, perhaps most importantly, started reorienting the school to be more responsive to the rapidly changing demands of the business community. The key word now at the business school, not to mention in the business world at large, Fields says, is “agility.” Employers expect business school graduates to be agile so they can adapt to rapidly changing market demands, which means business schools have to be agile, as well, in how they train and prepare future business leaders. “This is not a KU-specific issue, but one of the criticisms of higher education is that we do not change with the times,” she said. “We are not as market-driven as perhaps we should be. One of the themes of our strategic planning process is agility. We want to promote an agile culture.” A native Texan, Fields came to KU after five years as dean of Trinity
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University’s School of Business in San Antonio, and 18 years before that at Texas A&M University. She arrived at KU just one year after the school had moved into its new building in Capital Federal Hall. It was also one year after the school’s previous dean, Neeli Bendapudi, left the school to become KU’s provost. (She has since left KU to become president of the University of Louisville.) Normally, Fields said, a new dean would spend a year getting familiar with the landscape, and then spend another year going through a strategic planning process. But given the circumstances, Fields said she felt she needed to move more quickly. “I didn’t feel like I had the time to do that because, with Neeli (leaving), fundraising for this building, people moving into this building, there was a tremendous amount of momentum that was built,” she said. “You can’t recreate those conditions of excitement with an opening of a new building. So yes, you can get momentum and excitement again, but why would you want to let it die down and have to build it back up? Just seize it and move.” One of the biggest challenges facing the school, she said, has been its rapid growth in recent years. Its enrollment has been growing about 7 percent a year for the last several years, and the school now accounts for about 15 percent of all student credit hours taken on the Lawrence campus.
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“Growth is good, if it’s controlled growth,” Fields said. “In the past, it’s been, ‘We grow however much we do,’ but then, you know, budgets haven’t changed. So you can’t grow with a budget that isn’t.” Fields said one of her goals now is to grow the school’s graduate education programs, particularly its executive education program. But looking ahead to the next five years, she said much of what happens at the School of Business will depend on university budgets.
Growth is good, if it’s controlled growth. —L. PAIGE FIELDS,
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Dean of the University of Kansas School of Business
The new Kansas University School of Business, Capitol Federal Hall.
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“I’m hoping that dollars flow and follow the feet, because we’ve got the feet here. We just need the dollars to balance those out, so that we will be a larger business school where we have more and better partnerships with business,” she said. “We will probably move more into the master’s degree space than we have been in the past without losing any ground in terms of our undergraduate programs.”
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DARREN CANADY
Twists and Turns
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
African-American playwright uses his anger at society’s dehumanizing aspects to create plays with heart.
University of Kansas associate professor of English and playwright Darren Canady is the author of more than a dozen plays. Canady is pictured on Friday, May 4, in Murphy Hall.
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hen he was growing up, it would take Darren Canady’s Katherine Gwynn, a former KU student, has known family 10 minutes to tell a story that would normally Canady for six years, since she was 19. Canady is so important take 30 seconds. There would be digressions, pauses to his students, Gwynn said, because his day-to-day interactions to act out parts of the story, and unrelated asides. go beyond simply how to write a play. But beneath it all, Canady, 36, said he found an “He taught me that, as a young queer woman in the “entertaining snapshot of life” intertwined in all of those twists Midwest, my voice mattered, that stories I had to tell mattered,” and turns. And it’s what inspired him to become a playwright. Gwynn said. “I think part of why he’s such a good teacher is that “I grew up thinking that was normal. That’s what he is incredibly good at listening with compassion and intent.” storytelling is to me,” he said. “The straight line, the shortest Ultimately, Canady wants his plays to reflect the current distance between two points is perhaps not the most climate for minorities in America. expository. It may not be the most instructive, and it’s rarely “My work is about bringing the stories of Africanthe most entertaining.” Americans in the Midwest to life with as much vigor and Playwriting felt like a natural complexity as possible,” he said. “We outgrowth of his upbringing, said are an inextricable part of the American Canady, an associate professor in fabric and we’re in conversation with the Department of English at the it and we’re woven into it, and that our University of Kansas. lives have meaning. That has always “My first few professional informed almost everything I’ve written.” productions were drawn from family During the fall 2018 semester, stories. Things that occurred to my Canady will be on leave from KU to grandparents and that generation work on new plays and conduct of family and up above. Over time, workshops across the county. He said he through some commissions and just will be back at the university during the going in some different directions, spring 2019 semester. where I start from often is talking about life in the Midwest for black Americans,” he said. “That’s still something that I think about a lot. In the last few years, I’ve done a lot of exploring of just things that make me angry, things that really just kind of piss me off.” —KATHERINE GWYNN, Canady has written over a Former KU student dozen plays, most of which focus on issues affecting members of the African-American community. His most recent play, “Ontario Was Here,” focuses on the system behind the much-maligned child foster care services in America. “I ask myself, ‘Why are you angry, and what’s the story there?’... It is anger about inequity, but it’s also anger about the ways we choose to dehumanize a certain person or certain group of people because of things that are beyond their control,” he said. “Whether it’s their identity, whether it’s an issue of place, I think I get very frustrated, I get angry, I get concerned and, eventually, saddened and empathetic.”
He taught me that, as a young queer woman in the Midwest, my voice mattered, that stories I had to tell mattered.
CONNER MITCHELL Special to the Journal-World
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
From left, Darren Canady, playing the part of Frederick Fellows, and Patrick Kelly, playing the part of Lloyd Dallas, rehearse a scene from the comedic farce “Noises Off” at Theatre Lawrence.
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JAMES GUNN
Loving Science Fiction The Director of the Science Fiction Center at KU recalls his introduction to the genre and his writing and teaching careers.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
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ames Gunn received a check for $80 when his first science fiction story was published in 1948. But his love of science fiction started years earlier, when he was in the second grade and began “devouring” collections of fairy tales and stacks of novels found in his grandmother’s basement. “In 1933, my father, brought home the first issue of Doc Savage, which was one of the early pulp hero novels. It cost 10 cents. And I thought these were great adventure stories with a touch of humor,” Gunn said. “All of these were fascinating and stoked my reader interests.” Gunn, now 95, has gone on to an illustrious and still-ongoing career as a science fiction writer, and is considered one of the leading voices of the genre. A professor emeritus of English at the University of Kansas, he also founded the campus’ Center for the Study of Science Fiction in 1982. A KU alumnus, Gunn held myriad positions in the university system before beginning in earnest his career combing writing and teaching. He wrote feature stories and edited newsletters for the KU Alumni Association, and served as an administrative assistant to the university chancellor for 10 years in the 1960s before becoming a lecturer — and, eventually, a full professor — in the English department. “My own writing working practice was to spend regular working hours in my University office, where I was always working on some project when I wasn’t teaching, preparing to teach, grading papers or doing correspondence,” he said.
CONNER MITCHELL Special to the Journal-World kutoday.com
Christopher McKitterick, who has served as the director of Gunn’s science fiction center at the university since 2010, has worked under Gunn’s tutelage since 1992 and considers him a close mentor. “The whole reason I’m here, doing what I do for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, is because of Jim Gunn,” McKitterick said in an email. “Not just because he started the Center and got me involved in the first place, but because of him as a person. While I lived in Seattle, I came back every summer to assistant-teach the Workshop and SF Institute and help run the Campbell Conference, not just because of the exciting and educational SF-related things I got to do because of that, but because I respect, appreciate, and love the man.” In 2017, Gunn published an autobiography titled “Star-Begotten: A Life Lived in Science Fiction,” in which he reflects on his life and career. What he says he’s most proud of, however, is the growth he saw from his students who went on to also be successful in the industry. “My approach to teaching science fiction was context. That is what science fiction is and how it got to be that way,” he said. “I taught the merits and values of individual stories and novels, but chose them for their contribution to the genre. As one scholar wrote, science fiction is like one vast single volume, and the more you read in it, the more you appreciate and understand. So my basic approach was historical.” Though not actively working on any new writings, Gunn is currently working on getting some of his earlier work back into circulation, both in America and in the dozens of countries in which his writings have been translated.
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The whole reason I’m here, doing what I do for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, is because of Jim Gunn.
—CHRISTOPHER MCKITTERICK, Director of Science Fiction Center at KU
“Transformation,” by James Gunn, was published in June 2017 by Tor Books. It’s the final installment in a trilogy.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
University of Kansas professor emeritus James Gunn released two new books this year, “Star-Begotten: A Life Lived in Science Fiction,” his autobiography, and “Transformation.” Gunn has published nearly 50 books throughout his career.
BRIAN DALDORPH
Comfort in Poetry
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Lecturer uses artform to describe his father’s life before and after Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
University of Kansas senior lecturer in the Department of English, Brian Daldorph has written a book of poetry, “Ice Age,” which is based on his father before and after his father’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
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y the time his father began forgetting his memories, Brian Daldorph had already been writing them down for years. Daldorph’s writing eventually became a book of poetry, “Ice Age/Edad de Hielo,” which also contains Spanish translations of his poems by writer Laura Chalar. In the poems, he describes the life of his father, Ted Daldorph, before and after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Throughout the collection, Daldorph, a senior lecturer in the English department, uses winter as a metaphor for the disease, for how it freezes the human mind and gradually takes away the sense of self. Daldorph said that, to him, it’s a good metaphor for trying to describe what the illness does. “With freezing, you kind of gradually lose your senses and your physical abilities, and that’s kind of the way that this horrible illness works,” Daldorph said. Daldorph’s father started showing signs of Alzheimer’s in his mid-80s, and died at the age of 91. The poems use a concentration of images, with some poems consisting of no more than a dozen words, that give the reader small but meaningful glimpses into the life of Daldorph’s father. In one poem, “Alzheimer’s,” Daldorph writes that the disease was like winter, with only one more winter to come. But the book, which is divided in two parts, begins long before this time in his father’s life. The poems in the first half of the book tell, metaphorically, of his father’s spring and summer, as well. Those poems describe his father, who worked as a road engineer in England, as an active, capable man who fixed things when they were broken. “I also wanted to celebrate my father’s life, so the first section of the book is poems about my father’s life and our relationship,” Daldorph said. “And I think that was a better way of doing it than just writing about the last years, which were hard.”
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In one poem, “Householders,” Daldorph describes his father helping him fix the window frames of his house. He and his father apply stripper, scrape paint, apply wood dough, repaint. Daldorph writes, “His tough, skilled workman’s hands — twice the heft and breadth of mine — help seal my house for winter.” In another, “My Father at 10 p.m.,” Daldorph describes his father’s nightly routine of setting the table for breakfast and tea the next morning. He writes that it seems his father will always do this — “There’s always morning after night, always breakfast bowls in place, teacup, mug upon a tray.” Daldorph said he chose these everyday scenes, of his father doing handiwork, and other tasks, because that’s who his father was. He said he’s written a lot about his father, but he thinks those poems give the best sense of him. Daldorph writes in the book’s introduction that in the later stages of his father’s illness, he didn’t recognize Daldorph or his mother, to whom he’d been married for 60 years. He writes that though some with Alzheimer’s let go of their sense of self and memories peacefully, this was not the case for his father. “He struggled to hold onto all he was losing as the disease developed,” Daldorph wrote. “He often didn’t know what was going on around him and it was agonizing for him to lose control in this way.” In part two of the book, the poems show his father’s decline, and how it affected both him and those around him. In one poem, “Winter Lives,” Daldorph speaks of his father’s anger, his crankiness with Daldorph’s mother. He writes, “He only wants her to make winter,/ his winter, go away /so he’s forty years old again, strong / enough to work all day. / That’s all he wants from her.” In another poem, “triolet,” Daldorph writes of trying to explain to his father over and over again why his father can’t go to his
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I also wanted to celebrate my father’s life, so the first section of the book is poems about my father’s life and our relationship. —BRIAN DALDORPH, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English
grandmother’s house. “I just can’t explain to my father/ that he lives in this house / where he’s lived for fifty years.” Daldoph said that writing the book was his way of dealing with the situation. He noted that the disease and other forms of dementia unfortunately affect a lot of people, and that he hopes his book might help others deal with it, as well. “It doesn’t make it go away, but it makes it to some degree bearable if you can face up to it, find a language for it and have some way of talking about it,” Daldorph said. “I would hope that this little book could help a little bit in that way. That’s really the most that anyone can do.”
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Scholarship Winners Three STEM students at KU named Goldwater Scholars; senior wins prestigious Udall Scholarship for leadership and commitment
GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIPS AND UDALL SHOLARSHIPS
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U celebrated three Goldwater Scholarship recipients last spring with now-seniors Emily Boyd, Cara Davis and Joseph Loomis. Named in honor of former U.S. Senator and 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, the scholarship program is regarded as the most prestigious undergraduate award recognizing excellence in science, engineering and math. Boyd, of Moran, is preparing for a career in researching environmentally beneficial catalysis, while Wichita native Davis has her sights set on a career researching protein structure and dynamics. Loomis, of Pratt, plans to research the molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases in his postgrad career. All three are chemistry majors (Loomis is also majoring in biochemistry) and intend to enter graduate study programs after graduating from KU. With these latest awards, 65 KU students have received Goldwater Scholarships since the program’s launch in 1989. The scholarships cover eligible expenses for undergraduate tuition, fees, books, and room and board, up to $7,500 annually. Only sophomores and juniors with outstanding academic records, significant research experience and high potential for careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering are eligible for nomination.
Topeka senior Tracey Funk is the latest KU student to receive a Udall Scholarship, one of just 50 students from 42 colleges and universities nationwide selected out of 437 eligible applications. The Udall Scholarship is a federal program that honors the legacies of former Arizona congressmen Morris Udall and Stewart Udall. The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to college sophomores and juniors (Funk was a junior at the time her win was announced in the spring) for leadership, public service and commitment to issues effecting Native American nations or the environment. Each scholarship provides up to $7,000 for the scholar’s junior or senior year. Funk, who is majoring in ecology, evolution and organismal biology, plans to pursue a career in environmental education and outreach, developing programs to raise awareness of environmental issues. She’s also enrolled in KU’s UKan Teach program, which provides teaching certification for STEM majors.
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Bringing New Leaders to KU
OPEN POSITIONS
Some high-profile positions have been filled, others are still open.
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his year was Douglas Girod’s first as chancellor, having previously served as executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center. But KU also welcomed several new high-ranking staff over the 2017-2018 school year, including Girod’s replacement at the KU Medical Center, and saw other administrative leaders, such as Neeli Bendapudi, depart from the university. Here are some of the more notable faculty and staff to have joined KU in recent months ahead of the 2018-2019 school year, as well as positions that remained unfilled as of press time.
VICE CHANCELLOR FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS Reggie Robinson After filling this role in an interim capacity for several months, Robinson took on the position permanently in January, replacing Tim Caboni, now president of Western Kentucky University. As vice chancellor for public affairs, Robinson oversees KU’s government relations and outreach, strategic communications, marketing and media relations. Before his move to Strong Hall, Robinson had led KU’s School of Public Affairs and Administration since 2014. Before serving as president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents from 2002 to 2010, he was chief of staff to former KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway and a visiting professor at the KU School of Law.
JOANNA HLAVACEK jhlavacek@ljworld.com kutoday.com
EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR KU MEDICAL CENTER Robert D. Simari Then executive dean for KU’s School of Medicine, Robert D. Simari was named interim executive vice chancellor for KU Medical Center last July as Douglas Girod left that position to become KU’s new chancellor. Simari was appointed to the permanent vice chancellorship in January. As of mid-May, Simari was also serving as the School of Medicine’s executive dean while awaiting his replacement.
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Mary Walsh As of press time, Walsh was expected to start her role as KU’s CIO in July. Walsh, a former assistant vice president for academic and administrative systems at Tulane University, succeeds Bob Lim as CIO. Her responsibilities include management oversight of KU IT resources and leading the development, implementation and ongoing updates of the university’s IT strategic plan.
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PROVOST AND EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR With Neeli Bendapudi’s departure for her new job as president at the University of Louisville, KU is looking for a new provost and executive vice chancellor. The position is second in command at the Lawrence campus, after the chancellor. Carl Lejuez, dean of KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been serving as interim provost and executive vice chancellor since late April. VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH KU is looking to replace John Colombo as he gradually reduces his involvement with the Office of Research and returns to his role as director of KU’s Life Span Institute, a transition which was expected to take place by July 1 2018. Rodolfo Torres, a former vice president of the KU Center for Research Inc., has been serving as interim vice chancellor for research since May. SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES DEAN After Lejuez’s move to Strong Hall this past spring, the university named Clarence Lang, professor and chair of the Department of African and African-American Studies, as his interim replacement. Lang, also interim director of the Hall Center for the Humanities, first joined KU in the spring of 2011 as a Langston Hughes Visiting Professor. SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING DEAN Arvin Agah, associate dean for research and graduate programs in the School of Engineering, became interim dean in April. He replaced Michael Branicky, who announced his intention in March to return to engineering faculty by the end of June 2018. Agah also serves as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
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The Integrated Science Building in the Central District of the University of Kansas is pictured on Tuesday, May 8.
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E A RT H , E N E R GY A N D ENVIRONMENT CENTER N AT I O N A L S E C U R I T Y L A B O R AT O R Y S AT E L L I T E D E V E LO P M E N T
Campus transforms with completion of the university’s Central District, including a rebuilt union, and new student residences; new technology completes its first semester trial run at the new Earth, Energy and Environment Center; KU students team up with NASA to put a satellite into orbit; National Security Laboratory opens for research.
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The atrium at the new Burge Union in the Central District of the University of Kansas.
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Central District Has Arrived
Renovations that started about two years ago have been completed, transforming the KU campus for the 2018 school year.
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oughly two years after construction began, renovations to the University of Kansas Central District are finally complete. The transformation of the formerly quiet half-mile stretch of campus — bound by 19th, Iowa and 15th streets and Naismith Drive — has been described by former Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little as “the largest and most complex development project KU has undertaken in nearly a century.” The $350 million undertaking includes the rebuilt Burge Union and Stouffer Place Apartments and a brand-new residence hall, connected dining center, central utility plant, parking garage and the project’s crown jewel, the $117 million Integrated Science Building. The project is distinctive in KU history because of the sheer volume of improvements brought about in a relatively short time frame, said Andy Hyland, KU’s assistant director of strategic communications. “Taken together, these facilities will transform the educational and research experience on our campus,” Hyland wrote in an email. The need for Central District construction made clear to KU leaders that “we couldn’t wait” the 10 or 15 years it would have taken to complete the projects on a more staggered schedule, Hyland said.
JOANNA HLAVACEK jhlavacek@ljworld.com
“Addressing them together as one big project saves $12 to $15 million for every year longer than construction would have taken to complete that and allows us to see the benefits much sooner,” he wrote in an email. The Central District renovations also align with Chancellor Douglas Girod’s longterm goal of enhancing the student experience at KU, Hyland said, providing students with state-of-the-art living and educational facilities. University leaders also expect the newly transformed Central District to help in securing more competitive grants, which they hope will bring additional money and jobs to the state. With the new facilities, KU also aims to recruit more of the country’s best and brightest students and scholars, Hyland said. The Integrated Science Building will play a key role in helping KU facilitate ongoing industry partnerships, he said. Combined with the resources of the Bioscience & Technology Business Center and other schools across the Lawrence campus, the Central District project “provides an economic engine for the city, region and state of Kansas,” Hyland said. The Central District also ushers in a rebranding of other areas on the Lawrence campus — KU is now referring to the older, original part of campus on the Hill as its “North District,” while the research-focused section across Iowa Street has been renamed the “West District.”
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Key Central District projects include: • Integrated Science Building — KU officials expect the $117 million facility — a badly needed addition, they say, for bringing KU’s outdated science facilities into the 21st century — to open in time for fall classes. It features are 280,000 square feet of space for teaching, learning and interdisciplinary research in chemistry, medicinal chemistry, physics, molecular biosciences and related fields. • Burge Union — Located near the site of the original Burge Union, the $13 million project is connected to the Integrated Science Building and boasts 33,000 square feet, a conference area and space for several campus offices. (These include KU Legal Services for Students, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center, the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, a reflection space, a lactation room, a coffee shop and a convenience store.) • Stouffer Place Apartments — Located along 19th Street where the original Stouffer Place buildings once stood, this $58 million apartment complex welcomed its first residents in June. Features include 708 beds across a north building and a south building, with each unit containing two bedrooms and two bathrooms, or four bedrooms and four bathrooms. • Downs Hall — KU’s newest residence hall, opened last fall and is located behind Oliver Hall, which is connected to Downs via the shared dining center. Downs offers 545 beds and suite-style living.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
• Parking garage — Completed in spring 2017, the $20 million parking garage adjoins the Integrated Science Building and Burge Union. • Central utility plant — The newly completed plant, budgeted at $15 million, will provide support for neighboring Central District facilities and other areas of campus.
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The Stouffer Apartments, pictured on Tuesday, May 8, in the Central District of the University of Kansas
The Burge Union, pictured on Tuesday, May 8, in the Central District of the University of Kansas
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Two giant fossil casts greet visitors who enter the expansive halls of KU’s new Earth, Energy and Environment Center, an indicator of the building’s efforts to merge old and new.
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Bringing Sciences Together New Earth, Energy and Environment Center a means of attracting the research world’s attention to KU.
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wo giant fossil casts greet visitors who enter the expansive halls of KU’s new Earth, Energy and Environment Center, an indicator of the building’s efforts to merge old and new. The state of the art, $78.5 million facility opened in January and hosted classes for the first time during the spring 2018 semester. Bob Goldstein, a special adviser for campus development in the KU provost’s office and a distinguished geology professor, said the building’s main intention is to bring earth sciences together, while also attracting outside attention from researchers and scholars.
This building does some really special things in terms of bringing the outside world into our campus. —BOB GOLDSTEIN, Provost adviser and geology professor
“This building does some really special things in terms of bringing the outside world into our campus. We live in Lawrence, Kansas, which isn’t like the center of industry, so we need something that helps draw that outside world into the campus,” he said. Goldstein said the classrooms in the 141,000-square-foot building are working to redefine the way KU educates its students by encouraging engaged learning. A 162-seat auditorium in Ritchie Hall, the smaller of the two buildings in the EEEC, features round tables and emphasizes group work rather than individualized learning. Ritchie Hall has two similarly designed classrooms, which, due to their size, have many been used for introductory classes with larger student populations. “It’s always a little challenging getting the labs set up and running properly, but mostly it’s there,” he said. “It’s one of those things that’s just not common yet in universities, but it’s very prevalent at KU, and it’s mostly because we’re kind of on the cutting edge of this learning technology where you find students do better if they’re more engaged.” Roughly 1,000 students will use the three main classrooms each day in the fall 2018 semester — the larger classrooms were on an abridged schedule during the spring semester to ensure any kinks with the new technology were worked out.
CONNER MITCHELL Special to the Journal-World
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An enclosed pedestrian bridge and an underground tunnel link the Earth, Energy and Environment Center to Learned Hall on the west — that bridge spans Naismith Drive.
Other features in the EEEC include: • The Robert M. Beren Petroleum Center, a 232-seat auditorium in Slawson Hall — the larger of the two buildings — that serves mainly as a venue for conferences, Goldstein said. • A virtual reality cave, also in Slawson Hall, that allows up to 30 people to participate in 3D simulations. • A rock garden between the two buildings where members of the general public can look at — and even take home — the same types of rocks students and researchers examine inside the buildings. • Expansive lab and conference spaces.
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Prior to the building’s official dedication in April, KU Chancellor Douglas Girod said in a university press release that the state-of-the-art facilities will help the university remain a leader in research and industry. “The University of Kansas aspires to make discoveries that change the world -and the Earth, Energy and Environment Center positions KU researchers to do exactly that in areas related to energy, natural resources and the environment,” he said. “Thanks to these new facilities, the university will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to address challenges and create opportunities that shape our society for years to come.”
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
A 45-foot-long replica of a fossilized mosasaur hangs in the atrium of the new Earth, Energy and Environment Center at the University of Kansas and over glass-enclosed “floating” meeting rooms and collaborative nooks for students and faculty offering views of Allen Fieldhouse and KU’s Central District.
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Global Research New laboratory aims to attract students, scholars, and clients and to increase KU’s international research efforts.
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he western portion of KU’s Lawrence campus might be quieter and less heavily trafficked than the bustling Central District or the redroofed buildings along Jayhawk Boulevard. But here, in the basement of the West District’s Bioscience and Technology Business Center, there is potential for KU to produce work of national — even global — importance. Earlier this year, construction wrapped on the $4 million National Security Laboratory, a 7,000 square-foot lab space that will enable KU scientists to conduct research for the Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies. The lab became fully functioning in February, KU spokesman Joe Monaco said,
and already has School of Engineering researchers stationed there. “The NSL will position KU researchers to enhance their pursuit of federal contracts in areas such as engineering, computer science, and cyber-security in a way that expands KU’s research portfolio and helps attract and retain top scholars,” Monaco wrote in an email exchange with the Journal-World. Additionally, he said, the lab’s location within the Bioscience and Technology Business Center, at 2029 Becker Drive, will “encourage collaboration” with the BTBC’s 42 companies, attracting others to the region. “The economic impact of the NSL will be realized through job creation, technology transfer, research publications, and the
attraction of private industry partners,” Monaco said. In the spring of 2017, KU was conducting about $1 million per year in defense-related research. With the newly opened National Security Laboratory, KU predicts, there’s potential for that number to grow to $20 million in three years. The lab will be capable of housing sensitive data and export control research, with likely research areas including radar, remote sensing, mathematics, unmanned aerial vehicles, signal processing and sensors. KU’s ultimate goal, Monaco said, is to have the laboratory federally designated as a University Affiliated Research Center, joining a prestigious list of 13 UARCs nationally as of June 2018.
Other major research developments: The new year ushered in some big news — a nearly $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, announced in early January 2018. The grant, currently the largest at KU and the university’s second-largest of all time, will fund Frontiers: University of Kansas Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Housed at the KU Medical Center, Frontiers accelerates research by connecting scientists to resources, offering training and facilitating collaboration among researchers, communities and institutions. The facility is part of a network of 57 similar hubs nationwide that are funded with grants from the National Center for
Advancing Translational Sciences of the NIH that work to improve the translational research process. A few months earlier, in September 2017, KU announced the arrival of another multimillion grant, this one from the National Science Foundation. The $20 million award will fund a new partnership between KU and four other Kansas universities to study how microorganisms, specifically those known as microbiomes, influence environmental changes and the resulting economic implications. As part of the partnership, KU is working with Kansas State University,
JOANNA HLAVACEK @HlavacekJoanna kutoday.com
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Wichita State University, Fort Hays State University and Haskell Indian Nations University, with Kristin Bowman-James, a KU distinguished professor of chemistry, serving as principal investigator. The work — which focuses on microorganisms living in the water, plants and soil — is funded through the NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which builds research and development capacity in states that demonstrate a commitment to research but have thus far lacked the levels of investment found in other parts of the country.
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KU team has the opportunity to complete a low-earth-orbit satellite for NASA’s launch initiative.
University of Kansas senior and aerospace engineering major Madison Sargent, Prairie Village, Kan., is pictured on Wednesday, May 16, at the School of Engineering.
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adison Sargent is leading a team of University of Kansas students who are about to get the state into the space race. “I don’t know about a race, but at least we’ll be in space,” said the KU senior majoring in aerospace engineering. Kansas is one of the few states that hasn’t had a satellite placed in orbit as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, Sargent said. The KU team got the chance to rectify that when it was chosen in February to be one of the schools or programs included in the ninth round of the initiative. The KU students put their own twist on NASA’s name for the initiative by naming their satellite project KUbeSat-1. Sargent noted the KUbeSat-1 team is not the first KU team selected for the CubeSat Initiative or the first to build a satellite. Marco Villa, now the CEO of the Italian aerospace company Tyvak International, led a team that built a satellite in 2005 while he was a graduate student, Sargent said. That satellite was part of the payload of a Russian rocket scheduled to be launched in 2006 from Kazakhstan. “There was a rocket failure,” Sargent said. “They did build a satellite, but because of the rocket failure, it didn’t make it into orbit.” Villa has been very supportive of the current team and wants very much for KU to get a satellite in orbit, Sargent said. As the dozen current team members wrapped up the spring semester, they knew what their satellite would look like and what it would carry into space, but still hadn’t received it. The satellite will be basically a 4-inch by 4-inch cube and weigh about 26 pounds, Sargent said. Its interior will be sectioned into compartments
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that will house the three different data-collection missions to be conducted while the satellite is in space and one chamber reserved for its power supply, she said. As of last spring, its payload was to be three different particle ray detectors, Sargent said. One instrument is sponsored by the Lawrence-based Fundamental Technologies, and another a project of a KU student and professor.
I don’t know about a race, but at least we’ll be in space. —MADISON SARGENT, KU senior
It will be the team’s job to install the equipment in KUbeSat-1 and ensure it is compatible with the power system, Sargent said. The team will also need to determine whether an auxiliary exterior solar panel needs to be installed to supplement its internal power supply, she said. Team members will get their hands on what NASA calls a nano satellite when they return to school in August. The team can
ELVYN JONES ejones@ljworld.com
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then begin building the spacecraft. Sargent said the team will be much better prepared to do so because of how members spent their summers. Sargent, who had past internships with Textron Aviation, Ball Aerospace and Barrett Aerospace, scored a summer internship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the California Institute of Technology campus in Pasedena, Calif. There, she worked on a Mars rover team. Four other team members spent their summers as interns with a Northern California satellite developer, while another prepped the team’s KU
I’d like to think I will one day go into space. Not working in the space station or anything like that, but in a space plane. —MADISON SARGENT, KU senior
kutoday.com
laboratory in Learned Hall, Sargent said Richard Hale, chair of the KU aerospace engineering department, said a lab on the first floor of Learned Hall was renovated for the team during the summer. The department was also looking for donation of a dust-free controlled cleanroom environment in which to work with sensitive electronic parts, he said. The team doesn’t know the date the KUbeSat-1 will be launched or atop whose rocket. That will depend on NASA’s scheduling, Sargent said. NASA has a growing number of launch options with private contractors now providing rockets. She expects KUbeSat-1 to be orbiting within a year. The plans now call for KUbeSat-1 to be placed in a low-earth orbit about 250 miles above the planet, Sargent said. It will orbit in a polar inclination, circling the Earth on a path from North Pole to South Pole, she said. To help prevent the buildup of space junk, KUbeSat-1 will have an expiration date, Sargent said. It will orbit and collect data for about four years before being destroyed with its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Sargent graduates in May. She plans to work for NASA or a space-oriented private company. She anticipates working with her employer to go to graduate school. Another ambition is to one day take a brief trip into space. “I’d like to think I will one day go into space,” she said. “Not working in the space station or anything like that, but in a space plane. There’s going to be more and more opportunities for those kinds of trips.”
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AT H L E T E S T O WAT C H PRACTICE TO IMPRESS The Lied Center’s director commissions jazz compositions to put the spotlight on basketball for the facility’s 25th anniversary; powerful athletes take center stage in their respective sports; a new football practice facility is just the first step in a makeover for the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
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MUSIC ON THE COURT
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
University of Kansas student Paul Negedu watches the video board at Allen Fieldhouse, where the KU basketball game against Villanova was being screened. KU lost to Villanova, 95-79, on Saturday, March 31.
Music on the Court
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Lied Center anniversary provides background for new jazz compositions inspired by KU basketball greats.
Lied Center Executive Director Derek Kwan
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hen Derek Kwan took his position as The experience was on his mind as Kwan executive director of the Lied Center, gave attention to an item on his plate when he he knew from experience that famed arrived at KU, planning for the 25th anniversary jazz musician and composer Wynton Marsalis of the Lied Center in 2018. Planning was in an was a basketball fan. embryonic stage with the anniversary still four Kwan’s resume includes two stints with years away, but lead time was needed to arrange Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. He was a traditional centerpiece of such occasions: the vice president of concerts and touring before composition of an original work. accepting his current KU position in January Kwan said the compositions are 2014. Marsalis is the commissioned as a managing and artistic way to keep the arts director of Jazz at alive and traditionally Lincoln Center, a role celebrate important that has him playing local cultural with and leading the aspects. The idea Jazz at Lincoln Center that came to Kwan Orchestra. Kwan was to have Marsalis said one of Marsalis’ and the 14 members preconditions to taking of his orchestra each that position was that compose four-minute there be a basketball pieces celebrating a goal available at the KU basketball great. Lincoln Center. “I had this “He’s a big crazy idea of merging basketball fan,” jazz and basketball Kwan said. “I’ve together,” he said. —DEREK KWAN, had the pleasure of “I thought I might Executive Director of being schooled by as well pitch the The Lied Center him one on one. He’s idea to Wynton and a lefty. He’s got an the anniversary incredible shot.” committee. Wynton Shortly loved it. He has never after arriving at KU, Kwan had another done anything like this before. He paralleled occasion to witness Marsalis and his playing in a big band to being an athlete because orchestra members’ love for basketball. each plays as a team member but has freedom of That occurred when Jazz at Lincoln Center individual expression. He likes the fact that each Orchestra performed at the Lied Center in member of the band gets to be highlighted, just September 2014. like each member of a team plays a specific role.” “The Lied Center has a hoop on stage,” Despite Marsalis’ enthusiastic he said. “Right before the concert started, I response, it took 26 months of work went backstage and Wynton and his band were before an agreement was reached in March shooting hoops, in suits and ties and everything.” 2017 to have Jazz at the Lincoln Center
[Wynton Marsalis] is a big basketball fan. I’ve had the pleasure of being schooled by him one on one
ELVYN JONES ejones@ljworld.com
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Orchestra debut the original composition Oct. 11 at the Lied Center. Meanwhile, anniversary organizers had to select the 15 KU basketball greats to be celebrated in the compositions. It was a process that spurred considerable debate, Kwan said. The fact that KU basketball luminaries like former KU All-Americans and NBA stars Dave Robisch and Bill Bridges and coaching giants Roy Williams and Bill Self were not among the final 15 reveals how difficult the task was. “Everybody submitted a list of their 15,” he said. “The original list was in the high 60s. Paring that down was quite a chore. There were some spirited conversations.” The KU coaches and players to be commemorated in jazz are Phog Allen, Charlie Black, Mario Chalmers, Wilt Chamberlain, Nick Collison, Bill Hougland, Danny Manning, James Naismith, Paul Pierce, Darnell Valentine, Walt Wesley, Jo Jo White, Andrew Wiggins and Lynette Woodard. Some on the list were obvious, and Marsalis chose to compose his piece on perhaps the most famous Jayhawk. “Wynton is doing Wilt’s movement,” he said. “He was drawn to Chamberlain not only for the sports and
cultural aspects but his larger-than-life personality and his pioneering, trail-blazing role.” To help band members with the compositions, the Lied Center provided the musicians with extensive biographies of coaches and players, plus photographs and videos, Kwan said. The material provided the composers with insights about how the KU greats carried themselves on the basketball court. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will learn more about the KU basketball legacy during an October visit to Lawrence, which will conclude with the debut of the composition, Kwan said. “They will be here three days and three nights,” he said. “The first day will be rehearsal. The second day they will be performing for all the Lawrence middle schoolers. That afternoon, they will have the chance to visit the DeBruce Center and have a real behind-the-scenes tour of Allen Fieldhouse. They are very aware of the legacy and significance of KU basketball. The visiting musicians, in turn, will provide a legacy for KU musicians, Kwan said. “One aspect of the agreement is that the KU Jazz Ensemble be able perform it when it chooses,” he said. “The pep band could play selections from it. There’s no reason that couldn’t happen.”
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BY THE NUMBERS
GOAL
12,000 MEMBERS
1 IN EVERY 39 PEOPLE
GIVE BACK TO KANSAS ATHLETICS
WILLIAMS EDUCATION FUND
KANSAS HAS 6,000 MEMBERS
1 IN EVERY 26 PEOPLE
ON AVERAGE GIVE BACK TO ATHLETICS
CONFERENCE AVERAGE 8,500 MEMBERS Williams Fund
MISSION
The Williams Education Fund generates financial support for all University of Kansas student-athletes with a responsibility to facilitate, promote, and enhance academic and athletic experiences.
NATIONAL AVERAGE
4.5%
GIVE BACK TO ATHLETICS
350K ALUMNI
HISTORY
The Williams Education Fund was originally founded as the Outland Club by Dick, Skipper and Odd Williams in 1949. In 1973, the Outland Club became known as the Williams Education Fund to honor the Williams Family for its commitment to Kansas Athletics.
1.7% GIVE TO KANSAS ATHLETICS
WilliamsFund.com | 855.GIVE.WEF
.8% PURCHASE FOOTBALL TICKETS
CONFERENCE REVENUE RANK 1.
TEXAS
2.
OKLAHOMA
3.
OKLAHOMA STATE
4.
KANSAS STATE
5.
KANSAS
WEF@ku.edu
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Students show off their school spirit during a basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse.
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7 Faces to Watch in KU Sports Meet the athletes who are most likely to make a splash in the upcoming year.
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niversity of Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger, the man seated in the second-most powerful chair in the athletic department, behind head basketball coach Bill Self, was fired in May. That move, in time, will lead to other changes within the department, putting many coaches on edge. As for power on the courts and fields of play, Kansas returns plenty of that for the 2018-19 school year. Force times velocity, the formula for producing power, manifests itself in different ways in athletes of different sizes and skill levels. Generally speaking, the more power the better, no matter the sport.
Daniel Wise, football, senior: A team’s leader in sacks usually lines up on the edge and uses quickness to get around offensive tackles on the way to planting the quarterback. KU’s sacks leader last season usually was lined up at defensive tackle and used his explosive power to carve a path to the backfield. A 6-3, 290-pound senior, Wise had seven of KU’s 22 sacks and had a total of 16 tackles for loss. He also brings powerful passion for playing the game.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Udoka Azubuike, basketball, junior: Start with his size. KU lists him at 7 feet, 280 pounds. Now consider that he has a low body fat percentage of 7.95, a 7-foot-7 wingspan, an impressive standing vertical leap of 31 inches and hands sure enough to catch cleanly everything within reach. The result is the most powerful player in college basketball. What he lacks in basketball skill, which is plenty, he compensates for with brute force that is engaged quickly. Azubuike led the nation in dunks as a sophomore. None was of the gentle variety.
TOM KEEGAN @TomKeeganLJW
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Gleb Dudarev, track and field, junior:
Harry Hillier, golf, sophomore:
He’s a threat to break his own hammer throw school record every time he competes. Every Top 10 throw in school history belongs to him. He opened his sophomore season breaking his own record throw with a heave of 243 feet 11 inches and shattered that mark with a 256-0 record, the fifth-best distance in collegiate history, at the Kansas Relays.
Not all powerful athletes have the physiques of body builders. Long and on the lean side, Hillier doesn’t bring the club back as far as most, but he still is able to generate enough club-head speed to blast drives longer than any KU golfer since Gary Woodland, a three time winner on the PGA tour. To watch Hillier’s ball keep carrying, looking a bit like an airplane soaring toward the clouds, is to ask: How does he do that?
Anastasia Rychagova, tennis, senior:
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
She reached as high as No. 1 in the national singles rankings and stayed in the top 10 throughout the year, despite having her spring season interrupted by two rib injuries. Rychagova stands only 5 feet 6 inches, but that doesn’t keep her from having a powerful shot that opponents find tough to handle. Coach Todd Chapman calls that shot, “one of the best backhands in college tennis.” As a junior, Rychagova was named KU’s first All-American since Kylie Hunt in 1998.
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Ryan Zeferjahn, baseball, junior:
The Jayhawks lost three seniors who as sophomores formed the backbone of the school’s first Final Four squad. Given that, it’s difficult to make a case for this not being a rebuilding year for 21st-year head coach Ray Bechard’s team. The departure of stars Ainise Havili, Kelsie Payne and Madison Rigdon creates an opportunity for someone to emerge as the face of the program. Burse, plagued by inconsistency her first two seasons, has the pure talent to become that someone. She puts a great deal of power behind her shots over the net, and much of that power is generated by remarkable leaping ability. A three-rotation player her first two seasons, Burse has a chance to play all six rotations if she can refine her back-row defensive skills.
Every time Zeferjahn takes the hill, spectators throughout Hoglund Ballpark slip into multitasking mode. Not only do they watch the game, they also pay close attention to the radar-gun reading that appears on the scoreboard after every pitch. Could Zeferjahn’s junior season be the year the scoreboard flashes 100 mph? It’s possible. How well he develops his secondary pitches — they were much more reliable in his sophomore season than in his first — will determine how much he improves in what figures to be his final year at Kansas before he is selected in a high round in baseball’s annual June free-agent draft. But it’s his fastball, routinely clocked in the 94-to-98 mph range, that will make this right-handed power pitcher a must-watch as KU’s Friday-night starter.
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Jada Burse, volleyball, junior:
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Practice to Impress New practice facility is just the first step in makeover of the home of KU football.
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new $26 million building — touted as a step toward concession options. Renderings also feature two more large rebuilding a struggling program — is taking shape at video boards at the corners of the stadium. the home of University of Kansas football. “There are so many ways to view a football game,” Construction is expected to finish in late fall or early Marchiony said. “It’s important to show fans that you want to winter on KU’s new 89,000-square-foot indoor football facility. give them a terrific experience while they’re in your building. The building is going up just west of Memorial Stadium, on the This is an important part of college football.” hillside behind the press box. KU has called its “Raise In addition to the indoor the Chant” plan a “long-overdue” football field, the building will upgrade and renovation of the nearhouse a training room, video room, century-old Memorial Stadium. restrooms and storage, said Jim It’s hoped the makeover will Marchiony, associate athletics provide an image and recruiting director for public affairs. KU has boost to help rebuild a football said the indoor practice building program that has won just nine will also be used for donors, games, and only three Big 12 alumni and fans on gamedays. conference games, in the last five Even with the high price seasons. KU’s athletic director tag, the football practice facility of the last seven years, Sheahon is considered just Phase I of a Zenger, was fired in May. $300 million makeover of KU’s Marchiony said planned football facilities — primarily building projects are moving focused on the stadium. forward and that KU needs them to Fundraising to reach that compete successfully in the Big 12 lofty sum is ongoing. KU alumnus Conference, both with options for —JIM MARCHIONY, David Booth donated the first $50 fans and to help recruit and train Associate Athletics million to kick off the “Raise the the best players. KU is the only Director for Public Affairs Chant” campaign in fall 2017, and Big 12 school without a dedicated the stadium was renamed David indoor practice facility. Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium Marchiony said the practice in his honor. facility is being constructed first Planned stadium upgrades — which Chancellor Douglas for a reason. “What we have to do first is take care of the Girod has said may take place in additional phases as funds are student athletes, the people who actually play the games,” available — will transform the building into a facility to provide Marchiony said. “We want their spaces to be the best they fans with options more like those seen at professional arenas can be.” and fields. Kansas opens its 2018 football season with a home game Plans call for adding a variety of seating at various against Nicholls State at 6 p.m. Sept. 1 at the David Booth prices: suites, club-style lounges, reserved chairback seating, Kansas Memorial Stadium. concourse viewing decks, expanded concourses and premium
It’s important to show fans that you want to give them a terrific experience while they’re in your building.
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This rendering shows the design for a new $26 million University of Kansas indoor football practice facility, as seen from the northeast looking southwest.
This rendering shows an early concept for a new University of Kansas indoor football practice facility that will be built west of Memorial Stadium.
KU Athletics building boom The “Raise The Chant” football campaign comes on the heels of some $90 million of construction for Kansas Athletics over the past four years, including: • Removal of the track that encircled the field at Memorial Stadium. • Installation of new turf in the stadium. • Addition of premium seating in both end zones of the stadium.
• An 8,300-square-foot golf practice facility, including locker rooms, lounges, offices, indoor and outdoor putting greens and seven hitting bays.
• The Rock Chalk Park track and field stadium in northwest Lawrence, as well as new softball and soccer stadiums. • An indoor-outdoor tennis facility.
• Renovation of the Padgett Family Indoor Facility and construction of the Rich Jantz Outdoor Training Center for baseball.
• McCarthy Hall, the campus apartment building, home to the men’s basketball team and other upperclass male students.
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• Construction of the DeBruce Center, home to James Naismith’s original rules of “Basket Ball” and a cafeteria and dining or study area.
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
• A $3 million renovation of the Anderson Family Football Complex, home to locker rooms, team auditorium, nutrition center, recruiting lounge and video boards.
• $1 million renovation of the Jayhawks’ Sports Medicine Facility, complete with modernized rehabilitation and treatment areas, an X-ray room and treatment areas.
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Various flyers and pieces of literature are available for visitors to the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center (SAPEC) as far as where to to seek counseling, advocacy and medical treatment.
ON CAMPUS
B R E AT H I N G E A S I E R DIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING The Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center continues to raise awareness in the #MeToo era; all campuses for KU are now smokeand tobacco-free indoors and out; new associate dean uses personal experience to talk diversity.
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Education for the #MeToo Era The Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center strives to open communication lines regarding gender-based violence.
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reated with the goal of changing the culture around gender-based violence, a unit at the University of Kansas is driving a massive number of conversations about sex. Specifically, about keeping it consensual. “It’s not awkward middle school sex education at this point,” said Jen Brockman, director of KU’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center. “Students are really hungry for these critical conversations.”
Students are really hungry for these critical conversations. —JEN BROCKMAN, Director of KU’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center
KU launched the center, known as SAPEC, in 2016 and the office has grown to three full-time employees plus three part-time student employees, Brockman said. Brockman was hired to start the center about a year after a semester that saw protests on college campuses nationwide — including KU — sparked by women’s reports that they were raped and their universities did nothing, or not enough, to investigate and punish attackers despite the institutions’ obligations under the federal law known as Title IX.
Hoping to target the roots of campus sexual assault through education and awareness, a special task force at KU listed its No. 1 priority as creating a Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center. The center is purposely separate from KU’s pre-existing Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, which investigates reports of sexual harassment, including sexual violence, and recommends punishments for those found to have violated the student code. Then-Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little approved base funding for the new center, with additional money coming from the student affairs department, KU Athletics and outside grants, Brockman said. Two years later, Brockman said, SAPEC has logged tens of thousands of training sessions and outreach activities, plus surveys to see whether the efforts are making an impact. One prong of the center’s education program is consent training. “Consent is simple — it’s permission,” Brockman said. But what exactly does that look like when it comes to sexual activity? Center educators talk about that with students in training sessions. Here’s what they teach, which is also posted on the center’s website: • Consent should be verbally communicated. • It should be enthusiastic, i.e.: “if someone is hesitant or just doesn’t seem that into it, that’s not consent.” • Consent is ongoing and can be withdrawn at any point during an encounter. • Consent must be mutual, with everyone involved agreeing to the activity. SAPEC also wants students to step in if they see someone else at risk of being victimized. Brockman said KU’s bystander intervention training has been dubbed, at
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the suggestion of students, “Jayhawks Give a Flock.” KU now requires SAPEC training for all incoming freshmen — with help from 100-plus volunteer trainers, the university is planning to do bystander intervention training with about 4,200 new KU students in a single day this August. Certain campus groups, including KU Athletics teams and the Interfraternity Council, have chosen to make trainings mandatory for their members, too. The center was envisioned to be a leader for other universities nationwide, and Brockman said that’s happening. “We get contacted a lot,” she said. One SAPEC effort in particular has received attention from around the world. The haunting art installation at the Kansas Union was titled “What Were You Wearing?” Outfits — from frumpy to racy, from adult male clothing to toddler-size dresses — were pinned to the walls. They were all re-created from descriptions of what sexual assault victims said they were wearing when their assaults occurred, each accompanied by a brief description of that encounter. The installation is envisioned to combat the sexual assault myth that wearing certain things invites — or even justifies — sexual assault. Inspired by Mary Simmerling’s poem, “What I Was Wearing,” Brockman and a former colleague created similar installations at universities where she previously worked. But since the installation’s debut at KU in fall 2017 — when a Lawrence Journal-World article about it went viral — Brockman’s office has received messages from organizations and individuals the world over asking to re-create the exhibit. “What Were You Wearing?” has since been staged or requested by more than 225 entities on six continents.
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Breathing a Bit Easier KU initiates a tobacco-free environment for everyone at all its campuses.
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hose worried about the effects of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes and other second-hand smoke should be able tobacco products — was allowed on campus, to breathe a little easier this fall at the but only outside and at least 20 feet away University of Kansas. from buildings. Smoking and tobacco use had As of July 1, the entire KU system already been prohibited in Memorial Stadium, — including the Lawrence campus and the Kansas Memorial Unions, the Adams Overland Park’s Edwards campus — has Alumni Center and facilities at the KU Center gone completely tobacco-free, banning use for Research Inc., according to KU policy. of cigarettes, e-cigs, cigars, chewing tobacco KU’s medical center campuses had and all other related already been tobacco-free products both for some time before the indoors and out. ban, Barcomb-Peterson The new said. restrictions Exempt from the follow years of ban is the traditional or planning and policy sacred use of tobacco, development by including Native student government American spiritual and representatives with cultural ceremonies co-sponsors in KU’s where tobacco is human resources customarily used. The department, policy also doesn’t Watkins Health apply to tobacco use in Services and KU personal vehicles. Recreation Services. To encourage —ERINN BARCOMB“When healthier habits in the PETERSON, Lawrence and KU community, the KU spokeswoman other campuses university will offer went tobacco-free tobacco cessation this summer, we programs for faculty, staff joined the majority and students looking of institutions that are already smoke-free, to kick the habit. The Tobacco Free KU many of which are also tobacco-free,” initiative will also provide education and host KU spokeswoman Erinn Barcombinformational events over the next year, with Peterson said in an email. “According programs slated for student-focused Unionfest, to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Jayhawk Jumpstart, Hawk Fest and the annual Foundation, as of April 1 there are more volunteer fair all within August alone. than 2,100 smoke-free campuses, of which Additional information on the ban, more than 1,800 are also tobacco-free.” including the full policy, can be found online at Before the ban, tobacco use — including www.tobaccofree.ku.edu.
We joined the majority of institutions that are already smokefree.
JOANNA HLAVACEK @HlavacekJoanna
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Making Engineering More Diverse
New associate dean is a leader in bringing underrepresented groups into the field.
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he youngest of six children, Andrew Williams grew up “I was interested in seeing what I could do to carry on the in Junction City, less than 100 miles from KU’s campus. work she and others have done to help minorities and women His parents met during the Korean War and didn’t have pursue engineering at KU,” he said. much money. The family lived in a two-bedroom trailer, and as Since Williams took over as DEI dean, KU’s diversity the youngest, Williams often slept in a cardboard box. and women’s programs — which began in 1971 — have been He likes to tell this part of his story, he said, because rebranded to IHAWKe, which stands for Indigenous, Hispanic, it inspired his path to KU, his work in engineering and his African-American and Women KU Engineers. Currently there are current job as the inaugural associate dean of diversity, around 20 percent of students in the school who are women, and equity and inclusion for the KU 17 percent who are underrepresented School of Engineering. minority students, Williams said. While “I want kids to know that it’s this is progress from when he was not your environment or your family enrolled in the school, he said there is background that dictates your future still work to be done. success,” he said. “For me, a lot of it One of Williams’ key initiatives had to do with my faith in God, hard has been championing a more cohesive work, opportunities given to me, and pipeline between K-12 schools in Kansas coming to KU. KU was the beginning.” with high minority populations and the Williams was accepted as an university that lets those students know early-entry applicant to the engineering engineering is a possibility for them. program and studied electrical “We’re doing a lot with trying to engineering. He graduated in 1988 form relationships with some of these and worked briefly in the field before schools and just expose these students returning to KU to get his masters and to engineering,” he said. his doctorate. He was and remains Arvin Agah, who took over as the only African-American student to interim dean of the school in July, receive a doctoral degree in electrical said diversity programs have greatly engineering from the university. benefited due to Williams’ passion, —ANDREW WILLIAMS, After serving as a faculty dedication and energy. Associate dean for diversity member at the University of Iowa “Andrew has rebranded our for five years,Williams was a faculty diversity program, and has collaborated member at Spelman College, a with multiple units at the school level historically black college for women. and across the university to contribute There, he started a competitive robotics team that was the first to the development of academic and research programs in all-female group to compete in the World Cup of robotics. which women and underrepresented minorities are fully But eventually, there was a strong mutual interest represented,” he said. “As the incoming interim dean I look in Williams returning to KU after Florence Boldridge, the forward to continue our work on DEI initiatives with Andrew, longtime director of diversity and women’s programs, retired as he further engages in strategies, policies, programs, and in 2017. administration for matters of DEI.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
I want kids to know that it’s not your environment or your family background that dictates your future success.
CONNER MITCHELL Special to the Journal-World kutoday.com
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HUMANITIES LECTURE SERIES 2018 / 2019
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Frontline: Latinos and Immigration from a Woman’s Perspective Maria Hinojosa, Emmy award-winning news anchor and journalist 7:30 P.M. THE COMMONS, SPOONER HALL
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KU Hall center for the humanities Body Movements: Positioning Sudanese Women in an Age of Empire Marie Grace Brown, Associate Professor of History at the University of Kansas 7:30 P.M. LIED CENTER PAVILION
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An Evening with Neil Gaiman Author of American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Coraline, The Sandman series 7:30 P.M. LIED CENTER
Political Optimism in the Age of Trump Walter Mosley, Author of more than fifty books, from crime novels to political essays 7:30 P.M. KU MEMORIAL UNION BALLROOM
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An Evening with Jesmyn Ward MacArthur Genius Award winner and Author of Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing 7:30 P.M. LIBERTY HALL
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC HALLCENTER.KU.EDU Andrew Williams, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Kansas School of Engineering.
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