28
Contents Established in 1902 as The Graduate Magazine
FEATURES
Health Cares 28 Advances in medical treatment and research are raising difficult moral questions for doctors and patients. KU Medical Center’s Mary Faith Marshall is among the leading ethicists to whom the world is turning for answers.
BY ROSEMARY HOPE
Joys Forever 30 A true original, KU’s Spencer Museum of Art celebrates 25 years. COVER BY CHRIS Regarding Henry LAZZARINO 20 In a 50-year career as KU’s resident naturalist, biologist Henry Fitch redefined long- term study while building an international reputation as the pre-eminent herpetologist of the 20th century. Last time we checked, he was still at it.
BY STEVEN HILL Cover photograph by Aaron Delesie
Volume 100, No. 6, 2002 Lift the Chorus Creepy crawlies I always read my Kansas Alumni magazine the day I get it. But today, as I was flipping through Ethnic identifications The images are not divine, do not issue No. 5, I actually screamed and deserve or receive worship, and violently threw your magazine onto Our family always therefore are not idols. the floor. enjoys Kansas Alumni Robert Meyer, c’78 I did so because of the spiders on magazine. And we Overland Park p. 61 [“Spiderman’s Web,” Rock Chalk especially enjoyed the Review], which, after calming down and recent article “Untold looking a second time, I realized were Fortune” [cover story, Thanks for the reminder only representations and not actual spi- issue No. 5]. Given ders crawling around inside MY issue. the current environ- One of the most enjoyable parts From a true arachnophobe, thank you ment, it is especially about reading Kansas Alumni is for my early Halloween “trick.” important to under- encountering that special moment Elizabeth J. Scanlon Yohon, c’96 stand that the in any article when some phrase or Overland Park strength of our country is the diversity comment sparks a personal chord from of our citizenry, and that we really are a the past. country of immigrants. While reading “In the Abstract” (issue Robinson Gym is correct I was taken by Pok Chi Lau’s quote, No. 5) I was reminded of an event I “We cannot—we should not—try to recog- painfully remember missing! In the sum- On. p. 33 [“Click Down Memory nize the ethnic origins of people” [p. 26]. mer of 1976, after my graduation from Lane,” issue no. 5], the site of the photo- Lau continues by saying that to do so KU, I was returning from L.A. with graph of soldiers (or SATC personnel?) opens the door to hatred. friends after attending a wedding. The is said to be in front of Marvin Hall. I agree entirely. very long road trip (remember 55 mph However, no entrance to Marvin Hall However, the last picture in the article speed limits?) was completed in typical resembles the steps and doorway is of his newborn son. Yet he mentions collegiate fashion of around-the-clock shown. that the picture was taken “in his first driving with rotational driving duties. I It is my recollection that the entrance few hours of being a Chinese/Japanese was completing my “sleeping in the back shown is that on the north side of the American.” seat” rotation when my two compadres old Robinson Gym. Perhaps simply “American” would woke me with their shouts and yells at The alumni magazine is always very have sufficed. the end of a Royals game. interesting and I am sure that many Steven J. Dillman, c’81 George Brett had just stolen home for alumni enjoy it a lot. Please keep the Kansas City, Mo. the game winner! And I missed the good work going! sweet excitement of hearing it firsthand David D. Robb, e’43, g’48, PhD’64 on the radio, and instead had to hear Salina Images are not idols secondhand recounts that included “boy, you missed it!” commentary. The caption for photograph No. 6 on And then, there it was again. In the p. 23 [issue No. 5] identifies “Catholic second paragraph from the end of the idols” as being present in the picture. article, “… you’ve just witnessed the Kansas Alumni welcomes letters to the This is incorrect, as idolatry is prohib- Royals’ first straight steal of home in editor. Our address is Kansas Alumni ited by the First Commandment, and 25 years.” magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, Catholics therefore do not worship or No, and I didn’t get to hear the last KS 66044-3169. E-mail responses may possess idols. one, thank you. But, you know, the trip be sent to the Alumni Association, kualum- “Catholic images” would be the cor- and the people are always worth remem- [email protected], or Managing Editor rect designation. Catholics are encour- bering. And that line in the story Chris Lazzarino, [email protected]. aged to use images in order to stimulate brought it all back. Letters appearing in the magazine may devotion in their souls as they behold Thank you. be edited for space and clarity. them, thus raising their intellects to the Kevin Pyle, a’76 Our Web site is www.ku-alumni.org contemplation of things divine. Halstead
2 | KANSAS ALUMNI November 2002
Publisher Fred B.Williams 10 Editor Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81 Art Director DEPARTMENTS Susan Younger, f’91 Managing Editor Chris Lazzarino, j’86 2 LIFT THE CHORUS Letters from readers Staff Writer Steven Hill 5 FIRST WORD Editorial Assistants The editor’s turn Karen Goodell;Andrea E. Hoag, c’94 Photographer 6 ON THE BOULEVARD Aaron Delesie KU & Alumni Association events Graphic Designer Valerie Spicher, j’94 8 JAYHAWK WALK Advertising Sales Holiday tips, NASCAR Jay, V8 86ed and more Representative Jana Caffrey, j’01 10 HILLTOPICS News and notes: Alumnus wins Nobel prize; Editorial and Advertising Office graduate teaching assistants win new contract Kansas Alumni Association 1266 Oread Ave., Lawrence, KS 66044-3169 785-864-4760 • 800-584-2957 16 SPORTS www.kualumni.org Top-ranked Jayhawks start road to Final Four; e-mail: [email protected] football looks ahead to next year
KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN 0745-3345) is published 36 ASSOCIATION NEWS by the Alumni Association of the University of Kansas six times Rock Chalk Ball moves; Millie winners named a year in January, March, May, July, September and November. $40 annual subscription includes membership in the Alumni Association. Office of Publication: 1266 Oread Avenue, 42 CLASS NOTES Lawrence, KS 66044-3169. Periodicals postage paid at Profiles of football’s gal Friday, a foster father, Lawrence, KS. an enterprising artist and more POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kansas Alumni Magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 60 IN MEMORY 66044-3169 © 2002 by Kansas Alumni Magazine. Non- Deaths in the KU family member issue price: $7 KANSAS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION The Alumni Association ROCK CHALK REVIEW was established in 1883 for the purpose of strengthening loy- 64 alty, friendship, commitment, and communication among all Mapping the Milky Way, a bandwidth graduates, former and current students, parents, faculty, staff breakthrough, Kansas curiosities and more and all other friends of The University of Kansas. Its members hereby unite into an Association to achieve unity of purpose OREAD ENCORE and action to serve the best interests of The University and 68 its constituencies. The Association is organized exclusively for Planet Pluto charitable, educational, and scientific purposes.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 3
BY JENNIFER JACKSON SANNER First Word
Chancellor between teacher and student, blocks out Robert E. Hemen- the noises of everyday life. way surprised Virgil Two stories in this issue capture class- H.Adams III, assis- rooms whose serenity lies not only in the sharing of ideas but also in their tant professor of tranquil, unusual settings. In our cover psychology, in class story, Steve Hill tells the little-known to present him a
DOUG KOCH/KU UNIVERSITY RELATIONS DOUG KOCH/KU story of the Fitch Natural History Kemper Award.The Reservation and the man for whom it is awards are made named: Professor Emeritus Henry Fitch, possible through 92, still tends this pristine KU land the William T. north of Lawrence and has presided over Kemper Foun- the decades-long growth in the Kansas dation-Commerce Biological Survey’s sites for ecological Bank and the study. He continues to teach natural KU Endowment sciences students of all ages despite Association. his retirement more than 20 years ago. An internationally revered naturalist, he has conducted much of his research and teaching on this small swatch of Kansas, where he and his wife have s metal crunched concrete out- Virgil Adams of psychology said he made a home, reared three children and side, the room seemed to became a teacher to pass along the guid- seamlessly joined their scholarly and vibrate, and the Kansas Union ance granted him by his own college family lives. A audience began to buzz. To be mentor. Paul Lim of English likened the Of course, serenity is not confined to sure, the event for which the crowd had allure of a great teacher to the irresistible the wonders of nature. At the Spencer assembled merited fanfare: on-stage in charm of Auntie Mame. Thomas Museum of Art, we marvel at human Woodruff Auditorium were 20 faculty Pazdernik of toxicology and therapeutics expression in painting, sculpture, tex- members, this year’s winners of the W.T. thanked fellow winner and his former tiles, prints and numerous other forms. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching professor, Robert Carlson of chemistry. The objects of wonder on the walls are Excellence. But should the earth move Marjorie Swann of English referred affec- teachers in their own right, although we under their feet? tionately to the University’s “Surprise as students are too often daunted by Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway, Patrol,” which had interrupted her class their presence. agile ad-libber, quickly dissolved the to present her the $5,000 Kemper prize. As the museum prepares for its 25th murmurs into mirth. “Many teachers on She joked that when future students anniversary, Chris Lazzarino chronicles this stage have had to teach over noisy asked her why they should consider the KU art collection’s early vagabond distractions on campus,” he said. teaching, she would have her answer life and the opening of its stately home. “They’ll get the chance again today. For ready: “I’ll say, ‘Who knows? Maybe Stewards of the collection through the those of you who are wondering, that is someday some guys in suits will show years explain why the Spencer, despite not a dinosaur emerging from the bowels up and hand you a check for $3,300— its small size, remains a true find among of the Natural History Museum.” after taxes—and you’ll be able to pay off university museums, and they explain Amid the laughter, Hemenway prop- your VISA bill and drink imported beer the collaboration between art historians erly credited the cacophony to the for a whole week, and you’ll realize that and curators that has benefited both Union’s umpteenth renovation, and the teaching is pretty sweet.’” scholarship and public education. ceremony, in which each professor Pretty sweet indeed—even if the guys Most important, they offer the simple shared his or her philosophy of teaching, in suits never show. In the best class- yet oft-forgotten tips to true learning proceeded. rooms, the serenity of learning, the from art or any other teacher. Shut out Their two-minute treatises varied. intangible yet invaluable exchange the noise. Stop. Look. Listen.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 5 On the Boulevard
To honor the theme of “Traditions Anew in 2002,” our grandest grand marshal, coach Don Fambrough, d’48, asked his friend Jacob Hut to represent future Jayhawk generations in the first Saturday-morning Homecoming parade.“They needed ‘something old,’ so here I am,” Fambrough said with a laugh as he and his 10-year-old neighborhood buddy prepared to climb into a convertible for the ride down Jayhawk Boulevard.“And Jacob is going to be the ‘something new.’”
Exhibitions University Theatre Lied Center “Wrapped Words: Handmade Books NOVEMBER NOVEMBER from Cuba’s Ediciones Vigia,” Spencer 22-25, Dec. 5-7 “You Can Never 13 Symphonic Wind Ensemble Museum of Art, through Dec. 15 Tell,” by George Bernard Shaw 20 Jazz Ensembles II and III “Ansel Adams: Solace and Grandeur in 21-22 University Dance Company the American Landscape,” Spencer 23 Moscow Boys Choir Museum of Art, through Dec. 29 Murphy Hall events “Innovation/Imagination: Fifty Years of 24 St. Petersburg String Quartet Polaroid Photography,” Spencer NOVEMBER Museum of Art, Dec. 14-March 16 20 Jazz Ensembles II and III DECEMBER Annual Ceramics Club Sale, Art and 5 Jazz 1 Design Gallery, Dec. 5 DECEMBER 8 Vespers 2 Faculty recital: Joyce Castle, mezzo- 9 University Band soprano 10-11 Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the 11 KU Jazz Combos Dance”
PHOTOGRAPHS BY AARON DELESIE
6 | KANSAS ALUMNI 16 Lawrence: Rock Chalk Ball patron Lectures JANUARY & volunteer party, The Outlook 6 Dallas Chapter: KU vs. Iowa State NOVEMBER 21 New York, Boston chapters: TV watch party 17 David McCullough, Dole Institute Thirsty Third Thursday 25 Dallas, Washington, D.C., chap- Presidential Lecture Series, Lied 23 San Diego Chapter: Holiday tea ters: KU vs. Arizona TV watch party Center 27-29 New York Chapter: Preseason 21 Robert D. Kaplan, author and NIT basketball tournament FEBRUARY SPECIAL EVENTS international correspondent for 30 New York Chapter: Habitat for 7 Kansas City Chapter: Rock Chalk The Atlantic, Hall Center for the Humanity volunteer day Ball, Overland Park Humanities Lecture Series, Kansas 17 Valley of the Sun Chapter: Union ballroom DECEMBER Southwest Open Golf Tournament 5 Kansas City: School of Engineering Academic Calendar Professional Society NOVEMBER 6 Portland Chapter: Happy Hour Student Alumni Assoc. 7 Portland: KU vs. Oregon men’s 27-Dec. 1 Thanksgiving break DECEMBER basketball tour 6 SAA Semi-formal DECEMBER 7 Dallas Chapter: KU vs. Oregon TV 12 Last day of fall classes watch party 7 Finals Survival Kits 13 Stop day 19 New York Chapter: Thirsty Third 16 Tradition Keepers Finals Dinner 16-20 Final examinations Thursday 21 Dallas, Washington, D.C., chap- ters: KU vs. UCLA TV watch party Kansas Honors Program Alumni events 28 Oakland: Men’s basketball at Pete NOVEMBER Newell Challenge NOVEMBER 12 Topeka: Michael and Marcia Cassidy, 785-234-5098 13 San Antonio Chapter: College Fair 13 Johnson County: Bill and Anne 14 Kansas City: Graduate School Blessing, 913-327-5454 Professional Society 14 Independence: Garen Cox, 620- 14 Nashville Chapter: Alumni Happy 251-6700, ext. 344 Hour 18 Emporia: Gary Ace, 620-342-9555
For more information about these and other Association events, call 800-584-2957 or see the Association’s Web site, www.kualumni.org.
Lied Center ...... 864-ARTS University Theatre tickets ...... 864-3982 Spencer Museum of Art ...... 864-4710 Natural History Museum ...... 864-4540 Hall Center for Humanities ...... 864-4798 Kansas Union ...... 864-4596 Although KU lost the Oct. 12 Homecoming game to Colorado, the band and fans mirrored the Adams Alumni Center ...... 864-4760 spirit that players showed on the field.After CU’s 53-29 victory, Buffaloes coach Gary Barnett asked permission to address the KU players.“He just told us we competed and played with KU main number ...... 864-2700 heart,” said receiver Marcellus Jones.“I’ve never heard of someone doing that. I was impressed.” Athletics ...... 1-800-34-HAWKS
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 7 Jayhawk Walk BY HILL AND LAZZARINO
Tip No. 11: More eggnog AARON DELESIE AARON he perfect Christmas gift for that Tundergraduate (suddenly back) in your life: an airplane ticket to Grandma’s house. Or, for those parents who actually told their freshman children which Sun Belt state they’ve moved to, KU offers 10 tips to help families endure the December migration’s inevitable clash of wills. At No. 8, for instance, is, “Encourage your student to be a con- siderate guest and not tie up the tele- phone or computer lines or hog the television,” which follows good ol’ How to get to class on time depend on a top-10 finish, and it was just No. 7: “Cultivate a mutual respect as memorable to see Mears peel out on across generational lines for different t might have been a publicity stunt, but Jayhawk Boulevard en route to Memorial values and needs.” Included in tip No. 6 Ithe race car parked in front of the Stadium before the Sept. 21 football game is, “Try to laugh off the small conflicts.” Kansas Union Sept. 9 was every bit real. against Bowling Green. Meanwhile, for those families who With a fiery roar worthy of a jet fighter— At that moment, as Mears smoked the don’t include “Kumbaya” in their just ask Athletics Director Al Bohl, who tires in front of the Union, every Jayhawk caroling repertoire, there’s the ever- about jumped out of his shoes—driver shared the same dream: If ever there was dependable holiday tip No. 9: “Have Casey Mears revved the engine hidden a car made to blow past the attendant’s realistic [our emphasis] expectations under the Jayhawk hood of his NASCAR booth ... it carries the No. 66. about the visit.” Busch Series racer. However well-intended, A special crimson-and-blue paint no June Cleaver- scheme, including the Jayhawk up front inspired advice can and smaller birds on the rear quarter ignore the simple panels, was the product of a one-race truth that college partnership between KU and the students’ holiday Phillips 66 race team. The Jayhawk sojourns at Mom Dodge competed strongly for much and Dad’s house of the Sept. 28 Busch race at will impinge on Kansas Speedway, running as high new-found free- as eighth 137 laps into the 200-lap doms and curtail race. That’s when a competitor some wild new spices bumped Mears into the fourth-turn of life. wall, and he finished 29th. Just another price But the thrill of watching the of parenthood. Jayhawk fly around the Kansas City, Kan., speedway at 180 mph did not CHARLIE PODREBARAC
8 | KANSAS ALUMNI Tempus fugit-ive
KU sophomore was arrested for crim- Ainal trespassing this summer after he DELESIE AARON climbed atop the Douglas County court- house and rearranged the hands on two of the clock tower’s four faces. The 22-year-old wowed a closing-time Mass Street crowd by clambering back and forth across the steep peak in a vain attempt to hide from police and firemen. The escapade ended when Bill Bell, d’71, Douglas County’s director of buildings and grounds, was rousted from bed at 3 a.m. to unlock a trap door, allowing police to remove the fiddler from the roof. “My first thought was, ‘Boy, how did he ever get up there,’” Bell says. Further investigation revealed a dislodged drain very lucky that thing didn’t collapse. We’re pipe, just part of $1,300 in damages lucky it didn’t end in a fatality.”
LARRY LEROY PEARSON LEROY LARRY caused by the sophomorics. “He’s very, Sounds like time was on his side.
Wow, we could’ve had a V8 Fields of their dreams orried that students are get- ntramural and club-sport athletes are getting the varsity Wting too many veggies and Itreatment, thanks to a complete renovation of the fields not enough carbonated sugar water at Shenk Recreational Sports Complex. After three decades in their diets, Coca-Cola represen- of relentless wear and tear, plus some damaging droughts, tatives ordered KU to remove V8 the eternally choppy sports fields at 23rd and Iowa streets from convenience store shelves in have been regraded, leveled and crowned, with a new the Kansas and Burge unions. Coke brand of hearty grass topping the manicured soil. canned the vegetable juice drink The long-dreamed-of upgrade, which will cost between $130,000 and $140,000, was distributed by rival Campbell Soup made possible by construction bids on the student recreation complex south of Watkins Co. because its sale violates the Student Health Center that came in about $1.8 million less than expected. $21-million, 10-year contract that in But when students return to the fields of their glory in fall 2003, they’ll immediately 1997 granted the soft-drink maker see that terrific turf isn’t the only change: The goal posts are goners, never to return. a monopoly on campus potables. Mary Chappell, director of recreation services, says that by removing (and not replacing) At least the stores have still got the football bars, KU’s fields will gain added versatility. And she says accepted flag-football milk. But we wonder what’s next in rules allow for games played on fields without goals. the campus food wars: Burger King Which leaves us with one question: If not in Potter Lake, where does one dispose of takes on broccoli? goal posts?
“Why didn’t you recruit me when you were at Oklahoma?” —Southwest Missouri State quarterback Ryan Porter—while flat on his back on Heard the Memorial Stadium turf, writhing in pain, his right knee being examined by team trainers—to KU coach Mark Mangino. by the Bird Close to the play when Jayhawk defenders swarmed Porter, Mangino quickly went to check on the fallen opponent; after the game, Porter was still stunned that the opposing head coach came to his side. “He is a class act,” Porter told reporters. “For the rest of my life I will never forget.”
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 9 Hilltopics BY STEVEN HILL
about 20 years, and I was glad they were finally right.” Smith, who will split the $1 mil- lion prize with economist Daniel Kahneman, is the first KU gradu- ate named a Nobel laureate. Known as the “founding father of experimental economics,” he
COURTESY GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY was the first to apply laboratory experimentation to a discipline once considered the realm of abstract theory. His 1962 paper, “An Experimental Study of Market Behavior,” a radical departure from conventional economic thought at “When I came the time, is today considered the to Lawrence to learn landmark study on experimental economics, I was just economics. coming to a leading Smith’s experiments, first con- university in Kansas,” ducted in 1956 with his students says Smith, KU’s first at Purdue University as subjects, alumni Nobel laureate. showed that economic theories “I later found it was a could be tested under controlled good place to study conditions. He expected to prove economics.” that markets were inefficient; instead he found that even with few participants, markets quickly attain competitive balance. Initially the experiments were intended not as research, but as a tool to teach students how markets work. “It took several years to fully Stockholm bound comprehend that what I was learning from the subjects of my Alumnus who puts market theories experiments I couldn’t learn from to test in laboratory experiments wins reading the literature on economic theory,” he says. “That was so 2002 Nobel Prize in economics unbelievably exciting.” Mohamed El-Hodiri, professor ernon Smith had been hearing for years of economics and Russian & East European stud- that he would win a Nobel Prize for his ies, says the economics prize recognizes lifetime pioneering work using laboratory exper- achievement. Viments to study economic theory. So “That’s why I’m very happy Vernon got when a caller from the Royal Swedish Academy this, because his life work is very impressive.” of Sciences in October asked how it felt to win He lauds Smith for tackling issues that apply the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics, Smith, g’51, both to individuals and broad markets. “That is had a ready answer. “I said I felt greatly relieved, unique, and that is the Kansas in him. We care that my friends have been predicting this for about both the individual and the group and
10 | KANSAS ALUMNI don’t give up on either one.” George Mason University’s Interdisciplinary The Wichita native grew up on a Kansas farm Center for Economic Science, where he’s a during the Great Depression. His mother, a devo- research scholar. He moved there from the tee of socialist Eugene Debs, was an activist and a University of Arizona with the aid of a $3-million social reformer who taught him “that it ought to pledge from the Koch Foundation in 1997. He is be possible to make things better.” also a GMU professor of economics and law and His father, a tool-and-die maker, gave him an a fellow at the Mercatus Center. He has been affil- appreciation for science and engineering and iated with the Cato Institute since 1983. instilled a curiosity about how things work. While completing an undergraduate degree in engineering at the California Institute of Technology, he was intrigued by a course in eco- nomics. Seeing it as the ideal marriage between Support group his interest in social science and his background in mathematics and engineering, he decided to Hawk Link honored for pursue graduate studies in the field. The decision retention effort that helps to do so at KU was, well, economical. minority students feel at home “My parents were not well off, so it didn’t make sense to ask them to keep supporting me,” leading education consulting firm has Smith says. “I needed to come to the University honored Hawk Link, the retention pro- of Kansas where the tuition was low.” gram administered by the Office of He soon discovered KU was a good place to A Multicultural Affairs, as one of three out- study economics, particularly because of standing such programs in the nation. Professor Richard Howey. Noel-Levitz, a division of Sallie Mae, honored Enrollment in the “I can say that Dick is the person from whom the KU program with its Retention Excellence I learned what scholarship is really all about—in Award in July. Also singled out were retention four minority terms of getting the details right. No one taught groups—Asian, me that more thoroughly. He was a model; you saw this guy in operation and it was inspiring.” American Indian, While at KU, he began to question accepted black and wisdom about economics—particularly the idea AARON DELESIE Hispanic—rose that economic theories could never be tested, because real markets are too big and unwieldy to from 2,326 in fall study in action or re-create in the lab. 2001 to 2,606 in “One thing I’ve always had, which I got from my dad, is an intense curiosity about how things fall 2002, the work, whether it’s a machine or a physical sys- largest percent- tem. The more I studied economics, the more I realized I wasn’t getting that—the understanding age increase on from the inside of how markets work.” record. So he created his own experimental market—in the form of an auction—to get an inside-out look at market mechanisms. Now Smith uses what he’s learned to help test new markets before they’re launched. This so- called wind-tunnel testing, singled out by the Nobel committee, allows researchers to identify potential flaws in market structure. He helped New Zealand privatize its electricity industry in 1991, and did similar work in the mid-1990s in Australia. In the United States, his public policy positions have included a call for privatizing pub- lic lands owned by the federal government. Smith will use his prize money to help fund ROBERT PAGE
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 11 Hilltopics
programs at Appalachian State University in increase, he says, is more valuable than any Boone, N.C., and Columbia College in Chicago. national award. “These recognized programs demonstrate that “For a lot of students the problem isn’t just schools can truly have an impact on the success academics or money,” Page says. “It’s just about of their students,” said Lana Low, senior execu- making a connection.” tive for Noel-Levitz. “From freshman community programs to tutoring and mentoring initiatives, the three award-winning institutions have found House call creative, meaningful ways to support students at times when young people are most vulnerable.” Hard bargain “Medicine on the Kansas Hawk Link was formed in 1998 to offer tutor- Graduate teaching assistants Prairie,” the School of ing, mentoring, academic advising and social events for first-year students of color, ensuring Medicine’s award- and KU administration that they succeed in the classroom and feel part finally hammer out a deal winning documentary of the university community. film on the Kansas Rural “Students used to tell us that it’s difficult fter two years of sometimes contentious Preceptor Program, airs when you come back for your sophomore year negotiations, the Graduate Teaching and the people you started with are not there,” Assistants Coalition and KU have Nov. 26 on KPTS- says Robert Page, director of the Office of agreed on a new contract for the Wichita, KTWU- A Multicultural Affairs. “There needed to be a pro- University’s 900 graduate teaching assistants. Topeka, Smoky Hills gram that made sure that when they came back, The agreement, reached in July and ratified Public Television and the their friends came back.” unanimously by GTAC voters in August, calls for Enrollment figures released in September sug- the University to boost the pool for graduate UMKC Channel in gest that Hawk Link and other campus retention teaching salaries by $1 million annually for three Kansas City. A compan- programs are working: Minority enrollment rose years, from $10 million to $13 million. It also ion coffee-table book a record 12 percent this fall. The big jump is par- sets for the first time a minimum salary for GTAs. was published Nov. 1 by tially explained by minority enrollment decreases Those with half-time appointments will earn at in recent years, according to Page. (“We’re just least $8,000 the first year, $9,000 the second and Anthem Media. getting back to where we were a couple of years $10,000 the third. ago,” he says.) But more encouraging is KU’s “What we’re happy about is that the salary retention rate for first-year students of color (80 structure is much better than it has ever been,” percent), which now nearly equals the university- says Robert Vodicka, a graduate teaching assis- wide rate of 81 percent. tant in Humanities and Western Civilization and Page credits improved collaboration with the chief GTAC negotiator. “It at least puts us in the Freshman-Sophomore Advising Office, the Office ballpark with KU’s peers.” of Admissions and Scholarships, the Office of According to Vodicka, 53 percent of GTAs Student Financial Aid and other programs on made less than $10,000 last academic year for campus for boosting retention numbers. That half-time appointments (or the pro-rated equiva- lent for those teaching less than half-time). “By the final year of this contract, everyone will make at least $10,000 or the pro-rated equivalent,” he says. “We see that as a big AARON DELESIE victory for us.” In December, prospects for an agreement seemed dim as both sides agreed to declare an impasse and enter mediation after failing to bridge their differences on minimum salaries. GTAC efforts to hand out fliers in
Black Student Union members marched in the Homecoming parade. Black and Asian students posted the most modest enrollment increases (7 percent).The largest gains went to American Indians (23 percent) and Hispanics (18 percent).
12 | KANSAS ALUMNI AARON DELESIE AARON Visitor New York’s Bravest
ichard Picciotto, the highest-ranking fire- Rfighter to survive the World Trade Center disaster, spoke and signed copies of his book as part of the Student Lecture Series sponsored “I prayed a com- by Student Union Activities and the Student Senate. pilation of every prayer I ever WHEN: Oct. 1 knew—with a WHERE: The Lied Center few expletives thrown in.The BACKGROUND: Picciotto, a battalion chief who commands seven New York City Fire last thing I asked Department companies, was helping evacuate was,‘Lord, the north tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed Sept. 11, 2001. His account of please make it that day, Last Man Down: A Firefighter’s Story, was quick.’ I knew I published in May. was going to Robert Vodicka, chief negotiator for GTAC, and Dan Carey, the union’s president, led a successful effort to ANECDOTE: Picciotto supervised the die.” raise salaries for graduate teaching assistants.“There evacuation of the Trade Center during the 1993 terrorist bombing.“I knew right away it never was a good budget year for our salaries until the was no accident,” he union mobilized,” says Vodicka.“I think our activity put said of his reaction to us at or near the top of the administration’s list.” early news reports on Sept. 11.“I remem-
Strong Hall and at the Alumni Association’s Rock bered 1993; I knew AARON DELESIE Chalk Ball in Kansas City sparked conflict. “We they were trying to were kicked out both times,” Vodicka says. “But it bring the buildings was soon after that we got the first hint of move- down.” ment from the administration.” Administrators credited the tuition increase QUOTE: “I have approved by the Kansas Board of Regents in some definite ideas June, not union pressure, for resolving the two- about what I don’t year conflict. want to see happen to “Revenue from the tuition increase enables us the site,” Picciotto said to make a significant salary offer,” said David of his thoughts on Shulenburger, provost and executive vice chancel- how best to commem- lor, when the agreement was announced. “This orate Ground Zero.“I contract sets us on a path for much better com- do not want to see another target built. I was pensation for our GTAs. ... It’s a win all the way there in ’93. I was there on 9/11. If we build around: GTAs will be better compensated for them back they’re going to be attacked, and I their performance in the classroom, and the don’t want to see that happen.” University will be better able to recruit the best and brightest graduate students.” On that, at least, everyone seems to agree.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 13 Hilltopics
EDWARDS CAMPUS Edwards breaks ground on 10-year building boom True to the Latin origin of campus, Update KU’s Edwards Campus for nearly a decade has remained largely an oasis of green. Amid the sea of steel and glass in $2 million pledge will allow the depart- suburban Kansas City, the grounds at Ament of aerospace engineering to 12600 Quivira Rd. in Overland Park upgrade its Lawrence airport complex and have been home to only one structure buy a new test flight aircraft. EARL RICHARDSON since the campus opened in 1993. Half of the pledge from Walter, e’48, g’50, Now the grounds will give way to and Jayne Garrison of Rose Tree, Pa., will help renovate, furnish and equip the upper growth. Braced against a stiff fall wind floor of the department’s hangar; remodel the building’s facade; and add a test flight Oct. 14, KU and Kansas City leaders aircraft.Two test aircraft are currently housed in the facility, which also includes a turned shovels of dirt where a second classroom, offices, and machine and electrical shops. building will stand, signal that what Half will create an endowed fund to maintain the complex, the only research Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway called facility of its kind in the upper Great Plains and one of fewer than 10 at universities “the vision of a vibrant university in the nationwide.Aerospace engineering students and researchers use the facility to heart of Johnson County” will soon take design, build and test flight equipment. even larger shape. “My education in the aerospace department at KU enabled me to gain successes Thanks to revenue bonds and private I never dreamed possible,” said Garrison, retired chair, president and CEO of CDI gifts to the KU Endowment Association, Corp., an engineering technology and outsourcing company in Philadelphia. the campus will begin the first phase of a 10-year growth plan. Since January 1993, enrollment at the suburban cam- pus has grown 80 percent and academic The economic impact of such growth Leawood. Their gift adds to the $5 mil- programs have increased from eight to cannot be understated, Clark said at the lion commitment made in 2001 by the 22. Robert Clark, vice chancellor for the ceremony. Nor can the effect on Hall Family Foundation. Edwards Campus, estimates enrollment Edwards Campus students, “who choose The late Victor Regnier for years was a will reach 4,000 students by the time the to throw another ball in the air to juggle leading developer. “Dad’s idea of a recre- second building is finished in 2004. work, family and school for the three ational weekend was to drive the back- years it usually takes roads of Johnson County looking at to complete a mas- tracts of land,” his son Bob Regnier ter’s degree.” The recalled. “He believed in the stabilizing average Edwards influence of home ownership in a com- AARON DELESIE AARON Campus student in munity. ... My parents shared an endur- 31 years old, married ing respect for the value of education.” with children and The Regnier family and the Hall working full time. Family Foundations are but the latest The $17.8 million contributors who have helped heighten structure will feature KU’s Kansas City presence. The 18 classrooms and University first brought its programs to lecture halls, 30 fac- Kansas City in 1975, when it set up ulty offices, 15 staff shop in a former elementary school at offices, three com- 9900 Mission Rd. In the early 1990s, puter labs and a 240- Clay Blair III, b’65, EdD’69, a local devel- seat auditorium. oper who would become chair of the The most recent Kansas Board of Regents, donated 36 gift to the project is acres for a suburban campus and named $3 million from the it for the late Roy Edwards, b’42, and Turning the ceremonial shovels at the Edwards Campus ground- Victor and Helen his wife, Joan Darby Edwards, ’42, long- breaking were, left to right: Bob Clark, Ben Craig, Mary Birch, Dick Regnier Charitable time alumni supporters of KU. Bond, Joan Edwards, Lynn Mitchelson, Drue Jennings and Jim Adam. Foundation of —Jennifer Jackson Sanner
14 | KANSAS ALUMNI ANTHROPOLOGY Students protest as cutbacks Milestones, money and other matters close anthropology museum A $1.2 MILLION CUT in the state’s funding to KU announced by Gov. Bill Graves in August forced the Hoping to rally support for keeping University to lay off 13 employees and eliminate 38 open public exhibition space open at the positions.The latest cutbacks add to the 22 employees and Museum of Anthropology, students 32 vacancies eliminated in June.All cuts are nonteaching staged a demonstration outside Spooner positions on the Lawrence campus. So far this year, KU’s Hall during the campuswide Open budget has been reduced 4 percent. House in October. Students passed out fliers and waved A $10.1 MILLION GRANT awarded to Robert P. signs that read, “Don’t close our class- Hanzlik, professor of medicinal chemistry at KU, will allow sci- room.” About 200 people signed a peti- entists from the state’s three major universities to develop a tion asking administrators to reconsider statewide network for protein research.The five-year grant the decision to cut five staff positions from the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence at the National and close the public exhibition space. Institutes of Health will support six research projects and two laboratories in proteomics, The move, part of a round of budget cuts the study of cellular proteins.The project also teams senior faculty from KU, Kansas State announced by the University in July, is University and Wichita State University with promising younger faculty members. expected to save between $150,000 and $200,000 annually. KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE MAGAZINE The museum’s collection will remain in its November issue includes Lawrence in an article about available to researchers. But museum retirees flocking to college towns.“Coming Full Circle” studies students said that closing the counts KU’s arts and cultural programs and facilities, its con- public exhibitions will leave them hard- tinuing education classes and its sports teams among the pressed to fulfill internships required to draws that make Lawrence “an oasis on the prairie.” complete their degrees. They hope to raise public awareness of the role the FRANK J. BECKER, e’58, was named chairman of museum plays in student education. the board at the Endowment Association’s annual meeting “The chancellor has said that students Oct. 18. Becker, board member since 1983, replaces Dolph C. come first,” said Mary Adair, g’77, g’81, Simons, Jr., j’51, who resigned after eight years as chairman. PhD’84, interim director of the museum. Simons will remain a member of the board, which he joined “I believe this was a decision made that’s in 1977. counter to this principle.” ENROLLMENT INCREASED at the highest rate in 16 years this fall, reaching 28,849, up 659 from last year. Kansas students number 19,493— more than at any university or college in the state.“The top students in Kansas in particu-
AARON DELESIE AARON lar understand the value of a KU education,” says Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, senior vice provost.“Almost a third of our Kansas freshmen scored 27 or higher on the ACT.That is the best rate in the state and more than double the percentage of students nationally who take the ACT who score in that top bracket.”
KU ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION gave a record $68.9 million in support of University students, faculty, projects and programs in fiscal 2002.That represents a 6 per- cent increase over 2001 and brings to $931.1 million the total support provided by Endowment since its founding in 1891.
K. MICHAEL WELCH,VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH at KU Museum studies students rallied during the Medical Center, will become president of Finch University of Health Sciences/The Chicago campus Open House in October to demon- Medical School in November. Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway says he regrets the loss of strate their support for the Museum of “an able and articulate spokesman for KU” and “a key figure in the recent growth of research and KUMC.” Anthropology.The museum’s Spooner Hall exhibition space closed to the public this fall.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 15 Sports
and they never mind going in and spending more time there. They understand the importance of how AARON DELESIE AARON the team is doing, and that’s what we’ve always been about around here.” The pair who once shared their home state’s highest hoops honor, reigning as co-winners of Iowa’s Mr. Basketball in their final high school season, hope to share one more title at the end of their final college season: NCAA national champion. “It’s definitely a goal,” says Collison, who has seen his team’s tournament showing improve Seniors Kirk every year since he arrived at KU. Hinrich (10) and Nick Now he knows there’s really only Collison (4) hope to lead one way to keep that streak alive: the men’s basketball team Get to the final game, and win it. “It was a good experience to get to the 2003 Final Four in there last year,” he says of the New Orleans. Jayhawks’ 97-88 loss to Maryland in March. “Even though we came up short, that’s motivation to get back and do better. We’ve got as good a shot as anybody, but we have to wipe the slate clean and work hard all year.” Fortunate sons Hinrich says he’s “hungrier than With coaches as fathers, senior stars ever” to win it all. “Whenever you get that close to your goal and fall Hinrich, Collison know how hoops is played short, it’s tough,” he says. “I think we’re all putting higher expecta- tions on ourselves this year.” ym rats, head basketball coach Roy The road to New Orleans, site of the 2003 Williams calls them. Coaches’ kids. Final Four, promises to be long but entertaining. Iowa boys who played high school ball With many preseason polls alternating Kansas Gfor their fathers, senior standouts Nick and Arizona as number 1 and 2, a Jan. 25 Collison and Kirk Hinrich are the type of young matchup between the two teams in Allen Field men whom Williams credits with restoring his House should be a barnburner. Back-to-back faith in recruiting. December games against UCLA at home and “I just think those kids understand everything California on the road, plus a preseason NIT line- so much more,” Williams says of players who, up that features potential matchups against like Collison and Hinrich, grow up playing for a North Carolina, Stanford and Florida, promise coach who also sits across from them at the din- first-rate action as well. ner table. “They’ve been in the gym a long time If KU is to earn Williams his first NCAA title
16 | KANSAS ALUMNI in 15 seasons as head coach, Collison and Hinrich will need to have exactly “Some of [Drew Gooden’s] scoring opportunities are going to the kind of season the national hoops go more to Nick and Kirk. I don’t think it will bother them; pundits expect of them. Both are listed on the preseason All-American rosters my guess is that they’ll like it.” and the top-50 watch list for the Wooden Award. “A guy named Gooden, who’s playing in the NBA right now, got a lot of shots But after the third or fourth on-air last year, and somebody’s got to come in description of his fabulous touchdown, and get those,” Williams says. “Some of the freshman did something he had not those scoring opportunities are going to Despite losses, done all day. go more to Nick and Kirk. I don’t think He tripped. it will bother them; my guess is that hope remains And laughed. And thrust his hands to they’ll like it.” face and giggled and said, “Oh my good- Replacing Drew Gooden is just one of Hard knocks don’t derail ness.” When pressed to explain how he the challenges facing this team. The football’s youth movement did so well on his first kick return since departure of four-year starter Jeff high school, especially after fumbling the Boschee creates a need for outside shoot- he face of football future ball, Heaggans came clean: “I was scared. ing to open the lane for KU’s big men. belonged to Greg Heaggans. I wanted to run.” Hinrich, who led the team in three-point With TV cameras and reporter’s It was a boys-to-men moment worth accuracy last year at 47.8 percent, will Ttape recorders invading his per- remembering. likely contribute in that area. So will sonal space, Heaggans described his daz- Unfortunately, the boyish, can-do sophomore guard Keith Langford, who zling debut against Southwest Missouri moments that stirred Jayhawk pride worked to improve his outside shot over State with aplomb rarely seen from a were too often missing, replaced by the summer. freshman—and glee too rarely seen in the immature efforts that finally collapsed The loss of key reserves Jeff Carey and KU clubhouse. into embarrassment: 30-0, after the first Brett Ballard points to perhaps the In the first home game of his KU quarter, against Kansas State? A last-sec- biggest question mark of all: How deep career, Heaggans bobbled the opening ond loss to downtrodden Baylor, losers will the bench go? kickoff, then scooped up the ball and of 29 consecutive conference games, “We have five guys who have proven dashed 100 yards for a touchdown; after after KU led by eight with two minutes that they can do it at this level,” Williams three more returns, he had 195 yards, left? Allowing Colorado’s Chris Brown to says of Langford and fellow sophomores shattering the school’s single-game kick- rush for 309 yards, and giving up at Wayne Simien and Aaron Miles, who return record of 153, set in 1959 by KU least 100 yards to an opposing rusher in will join Collison and Hinrich in the Hall of Famer John Hadl. “I did pretty eight of the first 10 games? Watching starting lineup. “It’s going to be a big good,” Heaggans said, beaming. Missouri players tear down the goal challenge for us as a staff and for those other kids to find somebody else who With Southwest can step up and be successful.” Missouri State Bears in Williams will look for help to junior JEFF JACOBSEN forward Bryant Nash, impressive in his rear-view mirror, early-season workouts, and Jeff Hawkins, freshman Greg Heaggans who had a productive redshirt season. returned the first kick of Newcomers Moulaye Niang and Jeff his collegiate career for a Graves could also provide some much 100-yard touchdown needed backup minutes inside. Sept. 14. “I think that will be the key to our team: to see how well we can find that sixth and seventh and eighth guys you need in college basketball. ... You cannot win at this level with just five guys.” Even when two of them are preseason All-Americans. —Steven Hill
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 17 Sports posts after the Tigers’ 36-12 victory? A Typical of the evolving depth chart, fresh- kicking unit that at times seemed unable man Nick Reid, a Derby High quarterback to convert a point-after touchdown? JEFF JACOBSEN last year, went from reserve safety to reserve After KU’s 64-0 loss to Kansas State, linebacker to starting linebacker in less than first-year coach Mark Mangino dropped a week. his upbeat tone: “It’s indefensible,” he said. “There’s nothing I can say to defend that type of play. I mean, we just the top defender against your biggest flat got whipped, got outplayed and rival, it is both a sign of bad times and deserved what we got.” an indicator that the future is being But even soaked and weary KU fans molded. found hope after the Nov. 2 game in Mangino chose to focus on what is to Memorial Stadium. Said one bone- come. chilled Jayhawk seeking refuge in a “We have taken these kids and put Lawrence tavern filled with purple-clad them on the field to compete in the Big revelers: “KU football needed this game. 12, when last year at this time they were We needed to know where rock bottom playing for their high-school team, get- was. Today we found it.” ting ready for the Homecoming dance,” In years past, bad games (especially Mangino said. “There is so much against K-State and Mizzou) made the progress in our program. Our kids are KU faithful furious or just plain dejected. getting better as players. The attitude is But lopsided losses of 2002 have not replaced by fifth-year senior Jonas light-years ahead from the day I [arrived] extinguished hope. Not for fans who pay Weatherbie, who had made four pass last December. Our kids give better attention. The simple fact is, competing attempts in his first three seasons, and effort than they ever have.” well in the brutal Big 12 is impossible was himself replaced during the Kansas The losses, Mangino acknowledges, for a team whose depth chart reaches State game by freshman Brian Luke. “are a burden to everybody.” But the new depths every week. Even the offensive line coach, Ken effort, the youth, the talent, the hope? “All of the linebackers,” senior co-cap- Conaster, quit after two games, and KU’s Those are the faces of football tain Greg Cole noted, “are backed up by leading tackler against Kansas State was future. true freshmen.” And that was after just Kevin Kane. When a true freshman is —Chris Lazzarino three games. Running back Reggie Duncan, the returning starter, was off the team by Nov. 5, having rushed for a total of 72 yards; tight end David Hurst had become a starting guard; true freshman Updates Nick Reid, a quarterback last year for reshman guard Erica Hallman, one of coach Marian Derby High, was made a safety during FWashington’s top recruits, injured a knee during practice. preseason and switched to linebacker a She is expected to miss one month. Rejoining Washington is few days before the Iowa State game, at assistant Tim Eatman, considered one of the country’s top which point he became a starting out- recruiters. Eatman had been head coach at Illinois-Chicago side linebacker; linebacker Banks for four seasons; in his two seasons here, KU won the Big Floodman, one of the best defenders, 12 in 1997 and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1998. ...The was lost for the season in the first game, long-dreamed-of softball stadium surged toward reality Nov. and receiver Harrison Hill, expected to 4 with the announcement that Cheryl Womack, d’75, a be the leader on offense, left with Kansas City trucking and insurance executive, had pledged Washington chronic dehydration before the opener. $2 million toward its construction. Her gift is part of the KU First fundraising cam- Zach Dyer, the starting quarterback, paign. ... Freshman soccer forward Caroline Smith set the single-season goal-scoring became a starting safety; quarterback Bill record with 11, despite missing the final five matches of the regular season with a Whittemore, who had drawn praise from knee injury.Another new star is also a freshman forward named Smith: Jessica, who every opposing coach while fashioning scored seven goals in the final eight matches. Both earned Big 12 Player of the Week himself as a gutsy combination of Nolan honors, as did sophomore goalkeeper Meghan Miller. ...The Jayhawk volleyball team Cromwell and Chip Hilleary, went down scored an impressive victory Nov. 2, topping No. 24 Texas in three games. with a knee injury at Missouri; he was
18 | KANSAS ALUMNI Volleyball Sports Calendar NOVEMBER 20 at Nebraska 23 Missouri 27 at Kansas State Men’s basketball 9 at Missouri 13-16 at Big 12 Tournament, Dallas 30 Colorado NOVEMBER 19 Holy Cross (Preseason NIT) Women’s basketball Indoor track & field 22 UNC Greensboro or Wagner NOVEMBER DECEMBER (Preseason NIT) 24 Texas-El Paso 13-14 at K-State All Comers Meet 27-29 at Preseason NIT, New York 27 at Cal State-Fullerton JANUARY DECEMBER 30 at San Diego 10-11 at KSU Invitational 4 Central Missouri State DECEMBER 24 KU/KSU/MU Triangular 7 vs. Oregon, at Portland 6 Jayhawk Classic, vs. Texas FEBRUARY 11 at Tulsa Southern; also Western Illinois, 14 Emporia State Western Michigan 1 Jayhawk Invitational 7-8 at Illini Track Invitational 21 UCLA 7 Jayhawk Classic 14 at John McDonnell Invitational, 28 vs. California, at Oakland 11 at Wichita State Fayetteville, Ark. 14 Creighton 15 at Tyson Invitational, Fayetteville, JANUARY 21 at UMKC Ark. 2 UNC-Asheville 28 IUPUI 28-March 1 at Big 12 Indoor, 30 Hampton 4 vs. UMKC, at Kansas City Lincoln, Neb. 6 at Iowa State JANUARY MARCH 11 Nebraska 4 vs. Georgia State, at Kansas City 8 at Iowa State Invitational 15 Wyoming 8 Kansas State 15 at NCAA Indoor, Fayetteville, Ark. 11 at Iowa State 18 Kansas State 15 at Oklahoma State Swimming & diving 22 at Colorado 18 Colorado 25 Arizona 22 Oklahoma NOVEMBER 27 Texas 25 at Texas A&M 21-24 at North Carolina Invitational 29 Nebraska FEBRUARY DECEMBER FEBRUARY 1 at Nebraska 7 Texas A&M 1 Texas Tech 3 Missouri 5 at Colorado JANUARY 8 at Kansas State 8 at Texas 18 vs. Nebraska and Louisville, at 11 at Baylor 15 Missouri 19 at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb. 16 Iowa State 22 Baylor 25 Colorado State and Minnesota 19 Colorado 26 at Kansas State 23 at Oklahoma FEBRUARY MARCH 26 Texas A&M 1 at Arkansas 1 at Missouri 8 Iowa State MARCH 5 Iowa State 11-15 at Big 12 Tournament, Dallas 20-22 at Big 12 Championships, 1 Oklahoma State Austin, Texas 3 at Texas Tech
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 19 Re Hgardingnry HOW ONE MAN,e LIVING FOR A HALF-CENTURY ON ONE SQUARE MILE OF KANSAS, MADE NATURAL HISTORY
n the rolling hills that hem the Kaw River when the University completed a house on the Valley like a ruffled border on a patch- reservation, Fitch moved in with his wife, work quilt, eastern hardwood forest Virginia, and their two children. He’s been there bumps up against the tallgrass prairie of ever since. the plains. Biologists call this unique Now 92, Henry Fitch has seen the corn fields transition zone between different plant and cow pastures change to grassland and forest. communitiesI an ecotone. Since 1950, Henry Where cornstalks stood half a century ago, 40- Fitch has called it home. foot cottonwoods tower now. He and his stu- Fitch, professor emeritus of ecology and evolu- dents have documented the changes, helping tionary biology, lives and works on the 590-acre write the book on ecological succession—a topic Fitch Natural History Reservation. Once part of that, strictly speaking, lies outside his area of spe- former Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson’s farm, the cialization. He is best known for his work in her- land was set aside in 1947 as the University’s petology: His 50-year study of the 18 snake first site for field work in biology. The late E. species found on the reservation, summed up in Raymond Hall, c’24, director of the Natural his 1999 book, A Kansas Snake Community: History Museum and head of the zoology depart- Composition and Changes Over 50 Years, is univer- ment, had seen the research and teaching value sally hailed as the longest study of vertebrates of a similar site at the University of California, ever conducted. “If you stop and think about it,” where he taught before returning to his alma says Joe Collins, herpetologist emeritus, “he has mater. Hall recruited one of his star graduate stu- probably the longest running field project of any dents at Berkeley to set up the KU reserve, and in scientist in history.” 1948 Fitch joined the faculty, teaching the Hill’s In addition to the changes he witnessed in the first ecology course in a decade. Two years later, reservation’s flora and fauna, Fitch has also seen
BY STEVEN HILL PHOTOGRAPHS BY AARON DELESIE
20 | KANSAS ALUMNI
KU’s facilities for biology field research— Fitch’s own work shows just how var- outside the window, very convenient for the University of Kansas Field Station ied the research and teaching opportuni- taking notes,” Fitch recalls. and Ecological Reserves administered by ties at these sites can be—and seemingly Such an approach to science harks the Kansas Biological Survey—triple in renders all discussion of “specialization” back, says one prominent biologist, “to acreage. For a decade, Fitch’s plot (called irrelevant. His publications number the great explorer-naturalists of the 19th the KU Natural History Reservation until nearly 200 and range well beyond century,” including Darwin himself. 1986, when it was formally renamed for snakes to iguanas and skinks; horned Fitch has long been regarded as a pio- him) was the University’s sole ecological owls and yellow-bill cuckoos; ground neer by fellow scientists: a consummate field site. The 1956 addition of the adja- squirrels and kangaroo rats; rabbits, field biologist whose innovative tools cent Rockefeller Experimental Tract opossum, raccoons and skunks; ant-eat- and techniques are still widely used, a distinguished researcher whose decades- long studies set a standard for long-term research as yet unsurpassed, a true gen- tleman whose openness and generosity helped set the collegial tone that some say distinguishes herpetology from more cutthroat fields. Although he conducted some of his pioneering field work abroad—notably in Central America—most of Fitch’s distin- guished research can be traced to the limestone-studded hills north of Lawrence, to the border between prairie and woods and the little patch of Kansas upland that he calls “this square mile.”
n a windy, unseasonably hot October day, with a stiff south wind soughing in the trees, Othe dozen or so visitors to the Fitch Reservation—undergraduates in Assistant Professor Stan Loeb’s environ- mental studies class, Field Ecology 460— seem thankful for the breeze. Dressed in Teaching KU students (above) and Kansas schoolchildren (p. 23) about the reservation’s a T-shirt, battered khakis and a baseball cap, Fitch scrambles headlong up steep flora and fauna is part of Fitch’s mission as resident naturalist. creek banks and charges down barely discernible paths that spiderweb the started a steady expansion; the most ing frogs and foster-parenting sparrows. dense brush. With a gnarled branch that recent acquisition, 116 acres of prairie He became an authority on spiders after doubles as a walking stick and a snake and woods near Lecompton, was becoming intrigued by the eight-legged wand, he knocks aside any stray branch donated in 1999 by E. Raymond Hall’s specimens that turned up frequently in that blocks his path. The students hustle son, Hubert, c’49, and his wife, Kathleen the stomachs of skinks, eventually dis- to keep up. McBride Hall, d’49. Now eight tracts covering a spider species, Pholcus murali- Though he’s remarkably fit for his scattered across three Douglas County cola, that has been seen nowhere else. A age, hip and back ailments have slowed locations give students and faculty mem- paper on summer tanagers co-authored him in the past year. This fall he set out bers nearly 1,900 acres of fields, forests, with Virginia used data she gathered fewer of the wire snake traps that he wetlands, ponds, streams and lakes to while pregnant with their third child: invented—and that are now standard use as research laboratories and living “She was spending a lot of time lying on equipment for herpetologists around the ecology classrooms. her bed, and the tanager nest was right world. Live traps must be checked daily.
22 | KANSAS ALUMNI UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES/SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY UNIVERSITY “ TO UNDERSTAND HENRY’S IMPACT,YOU HAVE TO REALIZE JUST HOW UNPOPULAR SNAKES WERE AS RESEARCH ORGANISMS NOT TOO LONG AGO. REPTILES GOT VERY LITTLE ATTENTION, SNAKES LEAST OF ALL. ”
“I ranged far and wide over the wild Now he relies more on corrugated metal University, Alice and her husband, country,” he recalled in an an oral his- shelters that he can check less fre- biology professor Tony Echelle, work tory compiled by the family in 1998. quently, but which still hold the promise together as a research team, much as her “We were rather isolated, at least half a of discovery. parents did. Older brother, John, c’66, mile to the nearest house. My early life “He’d wear those shelters out check- teaches ecology at Florida Gulf Coast was rather solitary, and I early devel- ing them if he could,” says his daughter, University; younger brother, Chester, ’76, oped an interest in animals.” Alice Fitch Echelle, c’70. “Every time he lives near his parents on his own “mini- Snakes were a particular pleasure: does it’s like a new experience: It’s like reservation.” Echelle says her father’s Fitch recalls picking up bull snakes as opening a gift when he turns one over passion for nature inspired all three. long as he was, and handling them even and finds something under it.” “He’s always had this total fascination after his hands bled from the bites. Echelle’s earliest memories involve with the world around him. If you hand “It was quite a feeling of power for a following her parents in the field as they him something he’ll feel it, turn it over 5-year-old,” he says, laughing heartily at checked traps. From the beginning, sci- and look at it, probably take a sniff of it,” his own mischief. “I’m sure that was part ence was a family affair: Henry took Echelle says. “It’s a kind of curiosity, that of the attraction.” Virginia on collecting excursions when always wanting to see more.” That interest in snakes would earn they were courting, and together they This affinity for finding gifts under him some minor trouble when he reviewed proofs for his articles—even on every rock might have something to do started his career as a biologist. their wedding night. Virginia recorded with the when of his birth—Christmas Having completed his PhD under the field data and typed his Day, 1909. More likely it’s the tutelage of Hall and the eminent zoolo- papers; the children where: Shortly after Fitch gist Joseph Grinnell, Fitch in 1938 helped gather speci- was born, his family joined the Bureau of Biological Survey mens and police the moved from the East (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) reservation. Coast to the as a field biologist in the San Joaquin Now a research foothills of the Experimental Range near Yosemite assistant in the Siskiyou National Park. There he worked with the zoology depart- Mountains in U.S. Forestry Service on a rodent control ment at Oregon’s Rogue project. When he began studying rat- Oklahoma State River Valley. tlesnakes as rodent predators, a Forestry
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 23 Service supervisor objected, and he was that have replaced prairie grass on his ordered to stop. “After that, I rarely reservation, say—and he listens patiently, brought live snakes to headquarters,” head cocked bird-like as he ponders. Fitch says. “But whenever I caught one Frequently he’ll give a little chuckle in the field, I would process it there, before he answers, especially with the ‘bootlegging’ this part of my research.” one question he gets more than any: For Loeb’s class, the official reason for “Have you ever been bitten?” their visit is to observe what happens to Copperheads have nipped him several plant life when nature is left to run its times, most recently four years ago dur- course, without interference, for half a ing the Biological Survey’s fall field day, century. But as Fitch leads them here the annual event that showcases the and there, citing the Latin genus and reserves to students and the University species of every green thing he encoun- community. (“Quite embarrassing,” Fitch Fitch’s delight at taking up snakes a hint ters (even those that stump Loeb) there’s laughs.) His most serious bites came in of forbidden fun, a flouting of our cul- a feeling of preamble. the San Joaquin. Twice rattlesnakes tural fear of the serpent—a fear ingrained The real fun starts when the serpents struck while he was trying to release so deeply, whether by genetics or myth, come out. them. He changed his release technique, that it runs all the way back to the A litter of wriggling rat snakes, a feisty but never let go of snakes as a research Garden. northern water snake, a red-sided garter. subject. He lowers the rattler to the ground, Students crowd eagerly around a table When he lifts the lid on an old aquar- deftly manipulating it with a long, L- Fitch has set up under a shade tree near ium and fishes out a big timber rattler, shaped rod. As he tries to coax a strike the house to see what he’ll pull out of a the students step back to give him room. with a gentle nudge from his boot, you jar next. Way back. He warns them to keep their can see in Henry Fitch’s face the joy and Fitch is an active, engaging listener. distance. The “bootlegging” long ago purpose of the 5-year-old who found his Pose a question—about the type of trees went mainstream, but there lingers in life’s calling.
“ o understand Henry’s impact, you have to realize just how unpopular snakes were as Tresearch organisms not too long ago,” says Richard Shine, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Sydney and Australia’s leading snake expert. “Reptiles got very little attention, snakes least of all. So it was important that someone actually went out and con- ducted studies, and published them in reputable journals.” That work inspired a whole genera- tion of herpetologists, Shine included. “Natural history was decidedly out of fashion, and Henry not only published on the animals many of us were inter- ested in but had thought almost impossi- ble to study—he focused on their day-to- day lives and revealed a wealth of fasci- nating insights. In the process, he devel- Checking one of his many snake shelters (top right), Fitch finds a prize:A red-sided oped some simple but effective field garter snake. In his 52 years on the reservation, he has captured and documented more techniques that have since been adopted than 32,000 snakes. very widely.”
24 | KANSAS ALUMNI
Just as the trap that he invented and used to log more than 32,000 snake cap- tures is the field standard, so are many of his procedures for recording data after specimens are caught, says Harry Greene, a Cornell University professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. As a high school student in Warrensburg, Mo., Greene wrote to Fitch after reading of his work on lizards. Fitch wrote back, and Greene later spent two summers working with him at the Natural History Museum. Now writing Tracks and Shadows: Field Biology As Art, a collection of essays on his life as a field biologist, Greene says that Fitch is for him the link between the 19th and 21st centuries, the originator of not only the trade’s tools but its techniques. “When he was a grad student, we were in the flush of post-Charles Darwin, post-Alfred Russel Wallace—the great explorer-naturalists of the 19th century,” Greene says. “He’s one of the pioneer
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 25 convention. “One of the things they wanted to do was meet Henry Fitch,” he says. “It’s like if you’re a basketball player and come to Lawrence you visit the grave of James Naismith.” Due to the breadth of his work, it’s not only snake lovers who make a pilgrimage to the reservation. “I suspect a lot more people come through Lawrence to meet Henry—they just don’t stay at my house.” Says Greene, “He’s revered. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him, never heard him accused of exploiting grad students or taking advantage of people professionally.” Tributes range from colleagues naming a tropical lizard (Anolis fitchi) for him, to the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists establishing the Henry S. Fitch Award for Excellence in The University of Kansas Field Herpetology. (Awarded annually since Station and Ecological Reserves: 1997 for outstanding field work, it is one 1. Nelson Environmental of only two named awards the field’s Study Area oldest society gives to professionals.) But 2. Rockefeller Experimental two years ago, at a national ASIH meet- Tract ing in Baja, Calif., Greene witnessed a 3. Fitch Natural History more spontaneous outpouring of what Reservation he calls “the extreme respect and affec- 4. Robinson Tract tion” with which colleagues regard Fitch. 5. Hall Nature Reserve “The usual convention is that someone 6. Wall Woods introduces a speaker, the person gives a 7. Breidenthal Biological Reserve 15-minute talk, everyone applauds and 8. Rice Woodland it’s on to the next speaker. When Henry’s turn came, he got a standing ovation before he even started his talk. I’ve never seen that happen.”
have Fitch’s techniques survived as the friendly field today and is not wracked standard, so has his attitude. by the petty academic disputes so evi- fter 52 years on the reserve, he “The personalities and approaches of dent in many disciplines,” Shine says. knows every one of its 590 the pioneers within any field of human “Part of the credit for that situation acres by heart. He has guarded endeavor have a long-lasting impact on belongs to Henry Fitch.” A it from deer poachers and fire- the ways that people behave within that Indeed, Fitch is beloved inside and bugs and hellraisers, has dealt with an field,” Shine says. Fitch’s passion, mod- outside the field. Last summer Joe irate cattleman, who, unhappy at the esty and generosity serve as models. Collins hosted a group of Texas graduate loss of free grazing, turned his cows out “Snake ecology remains a remarkably students on their way to a herpetology on the land anyway.
26 | KANSAS ALUMNI He has watched the plant and animal KU field site open to the public. individual who has a lot of experience in life change in a transformation that He has long since won over his neigh- a lot of areas. Compensating for that is looks dramatic when viewed whole, but bors, who’ve increased with suburban not likely to happen with just one per- which seen in real time was so gradual sprawl. Whispered rumors that he was son or even a few.” Universities now he hardly noticed. Change continues importing venomous snakes and turning look to flashier, grant-attracting areas even now. “Sometimes,” he says, “I stop the reservation into a breeding ground such as genetic or molecular biology and try to imagine what it looked like for pests long ago faded to lore, echoed when adding new researchers. Funding when I first saw it.” on a nearby signpost marking Snake cycles and pressure to publish still create Through it all Fitch has been a care- Farm Road. Now they call when rattlers a climate in which a 3-year-study is con- taker, not a gatekeeper. turn up on their lawns. More and more, sidered long-term. The distractions of “Sometimes when people have a real those snakes are alive when he arrives— daily life have grown more clamorous, link to a place, they become protective,” another sign of changing attitudes. not less. says Suzanne Collins, a photographer He still makes his rounds, if a little “It comes down to whether or not who took many of the photos in A more slowly than he’d like. In an age people are willing to dedicate Kansas Snake Community. “While he’s when global satellites can pinpoint a that much time and protective of the land, he hasn’t isolated man’s earthly position within yards, the that much of them- the place from others. He’s not terri- place-names Fitch invented to tie his selves to their torial; he’s very welcoming.” data to the land (House Walnut, Willow profession,” Indeed, 22 years after he reached Woods, Picnic Field) seem fairytale-like, says Collins, mandatory retirement age, the yellow charted like the key to an enchanted “It’s a different school buses and KU vans bearing stu- wood on a map hand-drawn by Alice world we live dents still turn in at his gate. Since 1996, and taped to the kitchen door. He has in today; the Henry S. Fitch Nature Trail, planned outlasted many of those landmarks: The maybe there’s with daughter Alice, has welcomed visi- grand elms that once shaded the hill- no reward sys- tors to “this square mile.” It’s the only slopes have long since succumbed to tem in place for Dutch elm disease; they weakened, fell doing what and finally rotted to dust. Henry Fitch Henry has done.” has endured. Fitch says it has And adapted. As the transformation been reward enough to from prairie to forest drove out many inspire students’ interest in ecology and species, Fitch expanded his research to conservation. “When I was in school I other KU field sites. He now seeks tim- knew what I liked, but I had no idea ber rattlers on more open areas to the how to go about making a career of it. It north. In May, a snake he caught and has been mainly through luck that I marked in 1978 was recaptured, snaring have fallen into this position.” He’s been the record for the oldest free-living rat- pleased to see KU’s sites for ecological tlesnake ever recorded. “It had shed its study expand, and takes pride in the fact skin and added a rattle as many as 50 that he “may have had a role in it.” And times,” he says appreciatively, delighted he seems determined to keep adding to to get the record. “It’s quite a lucky one a database—and a career—that have rede- that survives that long in the wild.” fined long-term. In recent years, Fitch has also taken As mandatory retirement loomed two steps to preserve his data, working with decades ago, Fitch fully expected to Associate Director Dean Kettle and oth- leave the land that bears his name. But ers at the Biological Survey to map his his bosses asked him to stay on. landmarks, ensuring that others can “They offered to let me continue liv- build on his work in the future. (See ing here as long as it was to the benefit sidebar, p.25.) of the University,” he says. Continuing Fitch’s work is a given, He has tried to make it so. says Ed Martinko, director of the Kansas Biological Survey. How to go about it is more difficult. “Henry is a multifaceted
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 27
28 | KANSAS ALUMNI ary Faith a biotechnology company that would mutual trust, she said in the article. Marshall, profes- profit if the study were a success. In “We need to be careful of the roles we sor of medicine addition, the consent form signed by put all clinicians in,” Marshall says. and bioethics, Gelsinger did not mention that animals Turning over information to the police is discovered her given the same treatment had died. not health care. second career 12 Informed consent and research per- A similar breach occurred in a South years ago. formed on vulnerable subjects—children, Carolina case in which Marshall testified. Working as a critical-care nurse at the prisoners and the decisionally impaired In 1989, health-care workers at a MUniversity of Virginia, she found herself —are hot issues confronting the bioethics Charleston hospital were asked by police charged with the treatment of an acci- community, Marshall says. to collect urine samples from certain dent victim, a Jehovah’s Witness, who How does a research institution avoid pregnant women to screen for drug use. had lost both of his arms yet refused a Jesse Gelsinger tragedy? Currently, the Women who tested positive for cocaine blood transfusions. burden falls to institutional review use were arrested—some of them shack- Within hours, a judge, the hospital boards, internal groups established by led to their hospital beds, others taken and the patient’s father were entangled every institution that conducts biomed- shortly before or after giving birth, often over the life-threatening decision. Also ical research. But that model is changing, still in their hospital gowns and bleeding on the case was John Fletcher, the first Marshall says, as responsibility and from childbirth. bioethicist at the National Institutes of accountability for protecting research Health, who had just arrived at the subjects broaden throughout every insti- INFORMED CONSENT AND University of Virginia to direct its Center tution. for Bioethics. Locally, Marshall helped develop the RESEARCH PERFORMED ON The patient’s will prevailed; the nurse Integrity in Research Project of the VULNERABLE SUBJECTS— caught in the middle of the captivating Midwest Bioethics Center. The project CHILDREN, PRISONERS AND case returned to school to study applied serves as the research ethics component THE DECISIONALLY ethics, and is now in demand from of the Kansas City Area Life Sciences IMPAIRED—ARE HOT ISSUES Boston to Budapest for her expertise in Institute and encompasses 31 institu- CONFRONTING THE medical-research ethics. Marshall’s tran- tional review boards—the largest such sition from ICU nurse to bioethics was consortium in the country, she says. (KU BIOETHICS COMMUNITY smooth—“Everyone comes to ethics from and KU Medical Center are two of the another field,” she says—and perhaps eight “stakeholder institutions” in the State and national medical and nurs- predestined. life-sciences research movement in ing societies opposed the policy on the A native of Charlottesville, Va., Kansas City.) grounds that it was racist—most of the Marshall recalls that her mother grew The Integrity in Research Project women were poor and black—and that it up down the street from Carrie Buck’s covers its territory by conducting grand had nothing to do with the health of family, of the 1927 Buck vs. Bell U.S. rounds and presentations before the women or children. Supreme Court decision that upheld internal review boards and speaking to In the case, Ferguson et al. vs. City of sterilization of the “feeble-minded.” the lay public. “To do public policy well,” Charleston et al., the U.S. Supreme Marshall’s father is an Episcopal priest, Marshall says, “you need an educated Court decided last year in favor of the her brother an attorney. Medicine, reli- public.” patients. gion and law are common backgrounds Most people encounter medical ethics “The legacy of Tuskegee is alive and for bioethicists. as patients, not as research subjects. This well in the United States,” Marshall says, Marshall recently chaired the National is the realm of clinical ethics, another referring to the 40-year Tuskegee Human Research Protections Advisory area for which Marshall’s advice is Syphilis Study by the U.S. Public Health Committee, formed two years ago in sought. Service that withheld proper treatment response to the 1999 death of Jesse Last year, The New York Times asked to a group of syphilitic poor black men Gelsinger, a relatively healthy 18-year-old Marshall’s opinion on DNA dragnets, in the name of research. “We have a long man who was a research subject in a crime investigations in which members history of marginalizing people who are gene therapy study at the University of of a certain group—such as workers in a vulnerable. We must be careful that the Pennsylvania. The case “put the nation clinic where a patient has been raped— fiduciary relationship between doctor in a crisis of losing public trust,” are asked to provide DNA samples for and patient stays intact. You can’t deliver Marshall says. comparison with crime evidence. Asking health care without trust.” Federal regulators revealed that the physicians to collect DNA for a large —Hope, j’84, c’85, is medical development director of the study and the university database breaches doctor-patient rela- writer for the Endowment Association
AARON DELESIE AARON hospital had large financial interests in tionships, which are built on privacy and at KU Medical Center.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 29 Joys Forever Twenty-five years after it opened, the Spencer Museum continues to honor its mission to share and secure KU’s things of beauty
BY CHRIS LAZZARINO
30 | KANSAS ALUMNI hen Marilyn Stokstad’s cation, “This museum and its works of younger visitors, is to get them into the textbook Art History art will surely entrap the unwary student museum and get them to understand caught the attention of with time on his hands, stimulating first that this is a place where they can learn CBS’ “Sunday Morning” curiosity and then appreciation. One and be entertained.” Stokstad, who inW 1996, producers from the usually might call this learning by revelation, recently retired from the faculty as Judith thoughtful program came calling for an rather than by indoctrination.” Harris Murphy distinguished professor interview. First question: “Why should it Seymour Slive, then director of of art history, says, “One of my big con- seem a little bit odd that this comes out Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum, toured the cerns through my whole life has been to of Kansas?” Spencer during its January 1978 grand get people into the museum. That’s the For Stokstad, just as irritating was opening, when the galleries were opened first breakthrough.” this follow-up: Define art. to the public, and declared, “I would be The quest has been joined by faculty “I can’t, I truly can’t,” she snapped. less than honest if I didn’t tell you I’m from across campus. Norris estimates “No. That’s too hard a question. ... Art is green with envy.” everywhere, you know?” As plaudits rolled along, benefactor Including museums—even in Kansas. Helen Foresman Spencer finally So on the occasion of the Spencer answered with, “Well, what did you Museum of Art’s 25th anniversary, we’ll expect, a tacky old tabernacle?” tweak the annoying query: If “define art” Her gift of $4.5 million was the is inconsequential and argumentative, largest the University had then received, perhaps “define art museums” would be and construction of the massive home to appropriate. the University’s art collection, the Charles Eldredge, the Spencer department of art history and the art Museum’s first director, former director and architecture library was one of of the Smithsonian’s National Museum Mount Oread’s most significant building of American Art and now KU’s Hall projects. But over a quarter-century, the Family Foundation distinguished profes- imposing elegance that initially awed us sor of art history, says that while mod- has softened, and the early heart Left to right: Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, ern art museums can be restaurants or thumps—this place is actually ours?—have Achilles Discovered with The Daughters of Lycomedes, even singles bars, they also retain their mellowed into subtle, revelatory magic. early 18th century, 75.35; Richard Notkin, Skull duty to beauty. As Murphy predicted, the Spencer “I think of [an art museum] as Museum and its broad collection Teapot Variation #17, 1991, 93.33; Faith Ringgold, a place to educate the of art across the centuries Flag Story Quilt, 1985, 91.40. eye and the mind continue to entrap the through the preserva- unwary and stimulate tion and presentation of curiosity. But it also has that three or four dozen faculty mem- visual history,” Eldredge become comfortable sanctu- bers in fields far from art and art history says. “In some respects ary from the frantic and the regularly use original works of art in it’s a temple, in some mundane, maturing into a their teaching, and the “University in the respects it’s a theatre, in palace of familiar galleries Art Museum” program for campuswide some respects it’s a play- where surprises still lurk. art appreciation is a model copied by ground, in some respects Presuming, of course, you museums across the country. it’s an emporium. ... But I step inside. Which some- Barb Woods, d’68, p’75, g’97, clinical think, at base, it is a times presumes too much. assistant professor of pharmacy, uses art storehouse, it is a place “We get really in the Spencer’s galleries to teach her for safe storage and con- large numbers of students about human communication servation of our cultural undergraduates and interaction; Carl Kurt, professor of heritage.” and very large num- civil, environmental and architectural Former Chancellor bers of people who engineering, sends every undergraduate Franklin Murphy, c’36, went to KU who say, student he teaches to the Spencer. one of the University’s ‘Oh yeah, I went by that “Most of the students who had my enduring champions of building every day. I never classes for the very first time had never art and art history, said went in,’” says Spencer direc- been in an art museum,” Kurt says. “It at the building’s tor Andrea Norris. “Part of takes time and energy, we’re all so damn
ART PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT HICKERSON BY ROBERT PHOTOGRAPHY ART September 1977 dedi- our role here, with our busy, and there is absolutely zero moti-
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 31 vation in the technical fields for this type dictates a right turn, down the long of assignment. But as engineers, we have gallery of 17th- and 18th-century to make a tremendous amount of judg- European art. This also is the most ment calls. My philosophy is that the direct route to the Kress Gallery and its arts, theatre, those types of things, are exciting new exhibitions. (The fourth what help build the basis for making floor also contains three other spaces for these judgment calls.” temporary installations.) After the Kress Stokstad, in her delightfully direct come galleries for 18th- and 19th-cen- way, in 1996 swayed her CBS interviewer tury art from Europe and the United by confronting him full force with the States, followed finally by the gallery of power, rather than the definition, of art. 20th-century works. The creation and appreciation of art is I have adored the Spencer since it “almost a religious experience,” for opened, and I have always been a right. which she offered the example of Visiting yet again while preparing to Vincent van Gogh, who tried desperately write this piece, I stepped off the eleva- “to find himself, and save his soul, tor and suddenly stopped short. Amid through his painting.” And, she noted, the masterpieces, inspiration. “he’s certainly not unique.” But she was not arguing for the importance of her book. In fact, Stokstad downplayed any art book, as compared with the thrill of seeing an original. “I am convinced,” she said, “that if you get students in front of a real work of art, not a slide, not an image on a TV screen, not even an image in a book, that there is something—and don’t ask me to define it—that there is something that grabs them. “There is a reality to the work of art. It is not just a theory of beauty.”
AARON DELESIE AARON re you a left or right? Marilyn Stokstad and Charles Eldredge After 25 years of visits to the Spencer Museum, we fall into Not right. Left. A habits that reflect art’s personal My eyes moved before my feet. I and unique resonance. Some visitors will briefly considered whether it might even tour all of the galleries on every visit, be against the rules. Left? Really? Is any- dutifully beginning with the Central body watching? Court and its neighboring galleries of My silent rebellion made the galleries Asian, early Renaissance and medieval new to me. Rather than encountering art. Others, myself included, head the exuberance of modern and regional straight for the elevator. art after touring centuries of more tradi- Arriving at the fourth floor and exit- tional painting and sculpture, I went to ing the elevator, the chronological path them first. My reward, I am ashamed to admit, was Grant Wood’s “Near Sundown,” which I had never before Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Pine, Bamboo, Plum: noticed, let alone appreciated. Painting at Yushima, 1885, 99.150; Woman’s So I have a new path. And eventually, Bamboo Patterned Robe, China, early 20th I resolve, I will stop ignoring Asia and century the early European works. I discuss these things with Andrea
and know the arts, and the best record of training students for careers in the arts. AARON DELESIE AARON “There is something special in the Museum expansion water, or rather in the spirit of coopera- planned tion, that transcends what is done else- where. KU leveraged its assets better ith a $1.5 million KU First than any program I know.” Wpledge from Dusty, f’60, and Kathy Haughey Loo, c’61, of Colorado Springs, Colo., the Spencer Museum has a good start on dreams of expan- few days before the Spencer’s sion. But there is still $19 million 1977 dedication, Eldredge sat at more to go. his typewriter and banged out a Of 21,000 objects in the A joyful missive to former University’s collection, about 700 are Chancellor Murphy: “Can you believe it? on view in the Spencer Museum’s gal- We are home at last!” leries. Director Andrea Norris said Home had always been a long way the expansion would create space to Andrea Norris away. For 60 years, since Sallie Casey show contemporary objects that Thayer first donated 5,000 art objects don’t fit well in current gallery spaces, Norris, the Spencer Museum’s director and 600 books in 1917, the University’s and it would also allow the museum since 1988. I tell her that despite my lim- restless art collection had been, at vari- to display more Kansas and regional ited art education, I always thought the ous times, unprofessionally supervised, art.“I think we have 2,000 or 3,000 Spencer offers a broad collection with inappropriately housed or stashed far regional and Kansas works, and we samples for far-ranging tastes. Only a from public view. When the campus have a corner where we display about rich and diverse museum can continue library moved from Spooner Hall to six,” Norris says. to surprise after 25 years, I suggest, and Watson Library, the art collection moved The expansion would likely be she smiles happily and replies, “You say- in; the Spooner-Thayer Museum opened toward the north, in the space ing it is better than me saying it.” in March 1926, and the Thayer between the museum and the Better, Elizabeth Broun Memorial Stadium parking can say it. Broun, c’68, lot. It doesn’t look like g’69, PhD’76, succeeded much room, Norris notes, Eldredge in 1988 as direc- but when filled with a tor of the Smithsonian four- or five-story building, American Art Museum (as it would be huge.The it is now known), a job expansion would also she still holds. After receiv- relieve growing pains for ing her undergraduate and graduate the department of art history and the education on Mount Oread, she art and architecture library, which remained at the Spencer Museum as Professor Marilyn Stokstad describes curator of prints and drawings until as “one of the great art libraries in 1983, when she joined Eldredge in the United States.” Washington, D.C., as chief curator. “What we would love,” Stokstad “The Spencer ranks among the top 10 says,“is to have an angel come by and university museums in every way,” give us another wing.We could do Broun says, “and in many categories, wonders, just wonders.We have so such as range and depth of collections, it much that we could show, so much would be in the top five.” more that we could do, if we had the And she says the tradition of cooper- space.” ation between the Spencer and —C.L. University faculty is equaled nowhere else: “Because of this, it has the most stellar record of educating students across the humanities to appreciate
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 33 Collection of Art was officially dedicated in 1928 (which is why “28” is the date listed for Thayer objects in the Spencer). The museum, though, had no profes- sional curators until 1948, when KU hired Harvard-trained John Maxon, who went on to become director of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was followed by Edward Maser, who eventually left for the University of Chicago. Stokstad, whose six-year term as director began in 1961, recalls that the Spooner-Thayer, when properly man- aged, was a delightful showcase for the University’s collection. “The idea,” she says, “was to give the feel of a stately home, the kind of con- text that the works of art would have been painted for: private chapels, private More than just a pretty picture palaces, great houses.” But when the Kansas Union burned rofessor Marilyn Stokstad calls it “the museum shuffle,” and she loathes it.“It’s during the riots of 1970, insurance Pthat pace people develop, slowly wandering along like they’re on one of those underwriters demanded that art treas- moving sidewalks, reading labels rather than looking at the pictures.” ures be moved someplace safe—some- The museum shuffle prevents adult visitors from appreciating the grandeur and place that wasn’t the oldest building on reality of magnificent art; worse, it ruins the experience for children. First-time visi- campus. So for seven years, our best tors must not be led to believe that art is boring, Stokstad says, and the museum pieces were either stowed away in the shuffle is just that. She compares it to forcing overwhelming, unintelligible Wagner on Kenneth Spencer Research Library or a novice opera-goer: sent out on loan. “Better ‘Carmen’ first,” she says.“We have a lot of things that will spark the imag- In April 1975, KU announced Helen ination, but you have to take time to do that.You can’t just stroll through.” Foresman Spencer’s pledge of $4.5 mil- Director Andrea Norris suggests art can be better appreciated if visitors under- lion to build an art museum. The site stand label numbers.The first two digits (for items acquired in 2000 or later, four) she chose, on the eastern edge of Marvin represent the year each piece was acquired; the rest is an annual lot number. Pieces Grove, offered visual symmetry with the labeled “28” are from Sallie Casey Thayer’s core donation. research library that bears her late hus- Pieces labeled 1948 through the 1950s were acquired by founding directors John band’s name. Maxon and Edward Maser, and likely represent enthusiams (shared by Chancellor “She had strong opinions about art, Franklin Murphy) for Renaissance and baroque European art (Dante Gabriel about philanthropy, about the Rossetti’s “La Pia de Tolommei” being a perfect example). Stokstad, director from University, about Kansas, about most 1961 to ’67, is renowned for her work in medieval art; Charles Eldredge, director everything,” Eldredge says of Mrs. until 1982, is acclaimed for expertise in American art. Spencer, who died in 1982. “And in ret- Norris, director since 1988, says that with advice from her curators, she hopes to rospect, I would say she was often right.” be known for acquisitions in diverse fields such as prints, works by women, and con- Eldredge recalls his delight when Mrs. temporary and Asian art. Spencer turned her attention to the staff Norris also suggests some basic art education for new visitors: Each piece, by kitchen, leaving him to focus on the gal- definition, is an original.To answer an oft-repeated query: No, the Spencer does not leries, and he remembers the day shortly have “a ‘Mona Lisa.’” after the building’s dedication when she “It sounds absolutely ridiculous,” Norris says,“but people who haven’t studied arrived with her chauffeur. art, who haven’t been to museums, do not understand that these are unique objects His final hurdle in the long struggle made, say, in the 15th century, for churches in Italy, and are now in Lawrence, Kansas, to build one of the country’s great cam- for people to get a vision of the imagination and values of people from another cul- pus art museums awaited. ture and another time.” “She presented to me what was appar- —C.L. ently the last roll of Scott paper towels of a certain color that matched the almond
34 | KANSAS ALUMNI décor of the kitchen,” Eldredge says. “It was, with great ceremony, installed in the specially designed towel rack, and of course it was part of the still life of that kitchen.” The laughs don’t last as Eldredge recalls what came next: “Not long after the opening had concluded, I walked into the kitchen to find a volunteer rip- ping off the last sheet. “Happily, she never knew. We man- aged to keep her out of the kitchen thereafter.”
or Carl Kurt, any argument that his Spencer Museum assign- ments are a waste of engineering Fstudents’ time was He defined art. Left to right: Joseph Ducreux, Le Discret, ca. dashed by a one- “This young fella picked a photograph 1790, 51.74; Dale Chihuly, Violet Persian Set With page paper. of Rosa Parks,” Kurt says, “because of Red Lip Wraps, 1990, 92.2; Grant Wood, Near Kurt and his her eyes. From his perspective, he Sundown, 1933, 59.70; Birger Sandzen, Landscape wife could tell by the look in her eyes the With Four Trees, 1920, 76.1 pain the white race had inflicted on her, and he wrote how bad he felt to be part of the race that caused the pain that was in her eyes.” Justify.
CBS: “One word that is inextricably linked to art is beauty.” Stokstad: “Yes.” CBS: “Do you agree?” Stokstad: “Oh yes, I think so. But don’t ask me to define beauty, either.” Don’t be lazy, Professor Stokstad had visited an scolds. We must do the work ourselves. exhibition of 100 photographs of black We must make and create our own defi- women, and he saw it as a useful lesson nitions. Justify! in communication for engineering So who’s game? graphics students. Anyone who wants to tackle the He asked that each student focus on assignment, may I suggest a sack lunch one particular photograph: for composi- in Marvin Grove, followed by a tour of tion, for who the person was, for what the Spencer? that person did. No matter the reason, You go right, I’ll go left, and we can students were to write a one-page paper meet in the middle. defending their selection. No matter the direction, we’ll be fine. Justify, Kurt asked, and in so doing, Art is everywhere. one young man did the impossible. Especially here.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 35 Association
Rock Chalk Ball co-chairs (left to right): Dennis and Cindy Reynolds,“Disco Jay” and Casey and Jenny Housley.
Chalk Ball, Kansas City’s annual black-tie event to cel- ebrate the nation’s largest community of Jayhawks, will take a decidedly disco turn. Christened “Jayhawk Now in its Fever,” and heralded by a eighth year, Rock ’Hawk sporting a John Travolta-inspired pom- Chalk Ball 2003 padour and flashy white will make room suit, the ball also features for an even a sparkling new venue: the new Overland Park larger crowd Convention Center & in the spacious Sheraton Hotel at 6000 College Blvd. new Overland After seven years of sell- Park Convention ing out downtown Kansas City ballrooms, the Center and Association and its Greater Sheraton Hotel. Kansas City alumni chapter were eager to move to the new larger space on the Kansas side of the state line. Invitations for the event will be mailed in late November; organizers hope to increase attendance to 1,500, a dramatic increase from Jayhawk fever previous balls, which could accommodate no more than 1,000 Jayhawks. KU spirit, set to a disco beat, will “We are thrilled to expand the Rock Chalk enliven KC’s annual black-tie event Ball and include even more alumni and friends in this great reunion for an important cause,” says dmit it. You still know how to boogie. Casey Housley, c’92, l’96, Leawood, who with his And every once in a while, you have wife, Jenny Lynch Housley, c’93, co-chairs the been tempted to haul that stack of dusty event with Dennis, c’81, l’84, and Cindy A vinyl LPs out of the closet, put on some Campbell Reynolds, j’82, also of Leawood. BeeGees or Donna Summer and shake your The beneficiary of the ball is recruitment and groove thing—if your stereo turntable still worked retention of National Merit Scholars at KU. Since and your kids weren’t around to scream in hor- the ball began in 1996, alumni and friends have ror or laugh hysterically. raised nearly $800,000 to attract these talented On Friday, Feb. 7, you’ll get your chance. Rock young scholars to the Hill. Their efforts have
36 | KANSAS ALUMNI helped KU reach Chancellor Robert E. As in past years, silent and live auc- “One of the best things about the ball Hemenway’s goal of enrolling at least tions at the ball will help increase the in past years has been the reunion 100 new National Merit Scholars each proceeds for scholarships. In addition, atmosphere and the KU nostalgia and fall. New enrollment of these students the event will include a cocktail recep- affection shared by alumni,” says Cindy has surpassed 100 for the past three tion, performances by the Marching Reynolds. “We hope our lighthearted years; for fall 2002, 99 new National Jayhawks and the KU Spirit Squad, and theme and the fun entertainment will Merit Scholars enrolled at KU, bringing an elegant dinner followed by dancing. infuse the evening with even more spirit the University’s total to 388. In addition, Dancing, along with surprise enter- and excitement.” KU also is home to six National tainment, will be a highlight of the For more information about the Achievement Scholars (a program for evening, according to the Housleys and Rock Chalk Ball, or to receive an invita- African-American students) and 39 the Reynolds. In keeping with the tion, contact Association staff liaison National Hispanic Scholars. Jayhawk Fever theme, the four chose Kelly Kidwell, c’01, at 800-584-2957, or Twenty-five of these students are sup- Disco Dick, whose band has become visit the Association’s Web site, ported by Rock Chalk Scholarships. In known in the Kansas City area for trans- www.kualumni.org. addition to the money raised by the ball porting partygoers back to the days of over the years, these scholarships are disco—while also including a variety of supported by a $670,000 gift in 1998 selections for all generations. from the Alumni Association to the scholarship endowment. The Association made the contribution as part of the Local Jayhawks renewal of its Jayhawk bankcard pro- gram with INTRUST of Wichita. make good Faithful volunteers Kansas City area volunteers are eager to include more Jayhawks in the annual ball, which receive ‘Millie’ honor benefits recruitment and retention of National hen KU comes to call in Merit Scholars at KU.The new convention communities across center at 6000 College Blvd. features a ball- Kansas and the nation, room that can easily accomodate 1,500 guests local Jayhawks see to all and a reception and auction area that will W the details and help ensure successful allow plenty of breathing room for revelers. events. Since 1987 the Alumni Association has thanked these local ambassadors by honoring them with the Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award for sustained volunteer service. The 2002 winners are Michael and Marcia Nelson Cassidy, Topeka; Charles
PHOTOS BY AARON DELESIE (3) AARON BY PHOTOS and Martha Jane Mueller Gentry, Fort Scott; David Rankin, Phillipsburg; Bill and Donna Rogers Roe, Atchison; Martin Tice, McPherson; Larry Tenopir, Topeka; and Jim and Joyce McKoon Trower, Salina. The award is named for Clodfelter, b’41, who worked for the University for 47 years, 42 of them at the Alumni Association. Clodfelter, known to count- less Jayhawks nationwide, retired in 1986 and still lives in Lawrence. Many of this year’s winners are stalwarts of the Kansas Honors Program (KHP), which since 1971 has recognized the top 10 percent of high school seniors
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 37 Association in Kansas. Alumni help coordinate events throughout the academic year to honor students in all 105 counties. These alumni work with Association staff member Carolyn Mingle Barnes, c’81, who directs the KHP. Michael and Marcia Cassidy Charles and Martha Gentry Bill and Donna Roe Jim and Joyce Trower Life members Michael, c’61, d’62, and Marcia Cassidy, Martha is a teacher in d’62, have been KHP volunteers for 16 Fort Scott. years and are members of the Williams David Rankin, Educational Fund for KU Athletics. p’63, is a 23-year Michael and Marcia work in their KHP volunteer in his Topeka office of orthodontia. community and Charles, d’72, l’75, and Martha helps recruit talented Gentry, c’75, d’76, were co-chairs for the students to KU. A Bourbon County KHP for 23 years and Jayhawk Society and David Rankin Larry Tenopir Martin Tice are life members of the Association. life member, Rankin Charles is a board member for the currently serves on the Association’s County KHP coordinators for 18 years. School of Allied Health. Martha is a national Board of Directors. He owns The Roes were longtime teachers in the board member for the Greater University Rankin Drug, a Phillipsburg pharmacy. Atchison school district. Fund. Charles is a partner in the law Life members Bill, d’67, g’78, and Martin Tice, d’66, has organized the offices of Short, Gentry & Bishop, and Donna Rogers Roe, g’76, were Atchinson McPherson KHP since 1974, the first
Open House Highlights
KU’s second Open House attracted 22,000 visitors with creative events including a “whack the cat” piñata competition and the “Tastes and Sounds of Lawrence,” which featured local cuisine and music.The annual fall day on the Hill highlights University excellence and gives Kansas youths like Simone Harrison (far right), a chance to experience KU.
38 | KANSAS ALUMNI year the program honored students in Marion County. Tice, a Jayhawk Society and life member, works as the business manager for the Marion school district. Larry Tenopir, d’72, g’78, l’82, is past The Alumni Association was established in 1883 for the purpose of strengthening loyalty, friendship, com- president and board member for the mitment and communication among graduates, former and current students, parents, faculty, staff and all Topeka Jayhawk Club. A life member, he other friends of The University of Kansas. Its members hereby unite into an Association to achieve unity of also serves as a volunteer for KU Theatre purpose and action to serve the best interests of The University and its constituencies.The Association is Alumni reunion activities. He is a partner organized exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes. in the law firm of Tenopir and Huerter. Jim, b’77, and Joyce Trower, h’76, have Board of Directors Mary Kay Paige McPhee, ALUMNI CENTER served as KHP coordinators in Salina for d’49, Kansas City, Missouri Bryan Greve John W. Mize, c’72, Salina Director of AAC Services more than 18 years. They are members CHAIR and Jayhawk Society Robert L. Driscoll, c’61, l’64, of the Saline County Jayhawk Club, and DIRECTORS TO JULY 2005 Mike Wellman, c’86 Kansas City, Missouri have hosted numerous KU student Nancy Borel Ellis, d’63, Director of Special Projects recruitment events. Jim is the president EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR Pinehurst, North Carolina and AAC Facility Manager and CEO of Woods & Durham, and Sydnie Bowling Linda Duston Warren, Kampschroeder, c’65, FINANCE Joyce supervises the child development c’66, m’70, Hanover Naperville, Illinois Dwight Parman department of the Salina Regional EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Craig B. Swenson, e’59, Sr VP for Finance & Health Center. The Trowers are Jayhawk Lee’s Summit, Missouri Treasurer Society members. Jim Adam, e’56, Overland Park DIRECTORS TO JULY 2006 COMMUNICATIONS Tim S. Dibble, d’74, Jill Sadowsky Docking, Chris Lazzarino, j’86 Issaquah, Washington c’78, g’84, Wichita Managing Editor, Robert L. Driscoll, c’61, l’64, Marvin R. Motley, Kansas Alumni Magazine Kansas City, Missouri c’77, l’80, g’81, Leawood Jennifer Sanner, j’81 Reid Holbrook, c’64, l’66, David B.Wescoe, c’76, Sr VP for Communications Overland Park Mequon, Wisconsin and Editor, Kansas Alumni Janet Martin McKinney, c’74, Magazine Port Ludlow, Washington DIRECTORS TO JULY 2007 Susan Younger, f ’91 Deloris Strickland Pinkard, Con Keating, c’63, Lincoln, Art Director g’80, EdD’95, Kansas City Nebraska Carol Swanson Ritchie, Joe Morris, b’61, Leawood MEMBERSHIP d’54,Wichita Allyn Risley, e’72, Jennifer M.Alderdice, g’99 Linda Duston Warren, Bartlesville, Oklahoma Director of Student Programs c’66, m’70, Hanover Sheila M. Immel, c’69, g’84 HONORARY MEMBERS Senior VP for Membership VICE CHAIRS Gene A. Budig, EdD, Larry J. Borden, b’62, g’67, Princeton, New Jersey MEMBERSHIP SERVICES Colorado Springs, Colorado E. Laurence Chalmers Jr., Carolyn Barnes, c’80 Tim S. Dibble, d’74, PhD, San Antonio, Texas Director of the Kansas Issaquah, Washington Archie R. Dykes, EdD, Honors Program Freshmen Bobby Del Greco, John P.Hanna, c’65, d’66, g’67, Nashville, Tennessee Kirk Cerny, c’92, g’98 Mission, and Alexis Schmidtberger, PhD’73, St. Petersburg,Florida Delbert M. Shankel, PhD, Sr VP for Membership Delano E. Lewis, c’60, Mesilla, Lawrence Services Victoria, are the 2002 winners of the New Mexico W. Clarke Wescoe, MD, Kelly Kidwell, c’01 Association’s Herbert Rucker Mission Asst. Director of Chapter DIRECTORS TO JULY 2003 Woodward Scholarship. Del Greco and Constituent Programs Donna Neuner, ’76 studies Japanese and hopes to add Sidney Ashton Garrett, Administrative Staff c’68, d’70, Lawrence Director of Membership Chinese as a second major. Deloris Strickland Pinkard, Services ADMINISTRATION Schmidtberger majors in biology and g’80, EdD’95, Kansas City Kay Henry RECORDS David R. Rankin, p’63, plans to pursue theatre studies.The Sr VP for Administration and Bill Green Phillipsburg scholarship, provided through a Human Resources Sr VP for Information Fred B.Williams bequest from Woodward, a’27, pro- DIRECTORS TO JULY 2004 Services President and CEO Nancy Peine vides a $2,000 annual stipend.The A. Drue Jennings, d’68, l’72, Leawood Vice President for Records Association currently sponsors four Woodward Scholars.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 39 There’s a holiday gift for every Jayhawk on your list!
New this season! Hamil’s new print titled “Game Night” is now available for the first time. Allen Field House is aglow with basketball revelers in this wintry scene under the stars.
LIMITED-EDITION PRINTS Winter print “Game Night” (unframed) measures 14” x 24 3/4” - $70 Spring Morning print (unframed) - $70 Summer Day print (unframed) - $70 (Autumn Afternoon print is sold out)
Winter HAMIL NOTECARDS Whatever the season, birds of a feather will love receiving these lively Mount Oread notecards, featuring each of the Hamil limited-edition prints.
$10 Eight cards and envelopes (2 cards each of 4 seasons) Spring Size 5”x7” Blank inside
Spring
Summer
To order, call 1-800-584-2957 or visit www.kualumni.org Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express accepted Terms: Prices subject to change.No C.O.D. ship- Kansas residents add 7.3% sales tax. ments or P.O. box deliveries. Merchandise may Shipping and handling added to all orders, unless be returned for exchange or refund within 30 specifically noted. days of receipt. Jayhawk Society members of the Kansas Alumni Association are entitled to exclu- Shipping and handling: sive discounts. Take an additional 15% off any $10.00 or less Add $2.00 holiday item shown here except the Captain’s $10.01 - $20.00 Add $5.00 Chair. Call 1-800-584-2957 to join! $20.01 - $50.00 Add $6.00 $50.01 - $100.00 Add $7.00 Call us immediately at 1-800-584-2957 if you $100.01 - $500.00 Add $8.00 believe any item received is defective or was $500.01 and up Add $9.00 damaged in transit. Packing materials should be International Call for estimate saved for inspection, if items were damaged Express service Call for estimate during shipping JAYHAWK ADDRESS LABELS Show your Jayhawk pride with every piece of mail you send. Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Free shipping. 90 Labels - $6.00 180 Labels - $10.00 450 Labels - $20.00 best value!
EXCLUSIVE KU CAPTAIN’S CHAIR Our captain’s chair with the distinctive KU seal will make the perfect addition to your home or OUR BRASS and leather medallion coasters will add office. The solid hardwood frame a distinctive look to your home or office décor. is hand-finished in black lacquer $37.50, boxed set of 2 with cherry finish arms. $72, two sets $105, three sets $325 plus $25 shipping and handling. The chair can be personalized for an additional $25. Please allow 6 weeks for delivery. Each additional set, only $35 JAYHAWK PAPERWEIGHT Cast in solid bronze, this bird stands 3 1/2 inches tall on its own or 5 inches mounted on a walnut base with a brass plate. The plate can include a three-line message Jayhawk Society members at no additional cost. receive 15% off on items Without base $25.00 shown here except the KU Captain’s Chair. With base and nameplate $35.00
See additional items at www.kualumni.org Class Notes BY KAREN GOODELL
1941 1953 lives in Ocean Shores, Wash., with Robert, d’41, c’46, and Dorothy May June Hartell Garcia, b’53, does substi- Patricia Goering Smith, c’67. She’s a Pine, c’42, celebrated their 60th anniver- tute teaching in Merrifield, Va. city planner for Ocean Shores. sary last summer. They live in Boulder, Barbara Joyce, c’53, PhD’66, is retired Colo., where he’s a retired naval aviator in Fort Collins, Colo. 1961 and she’s retired from a career in real Georgia Tipton Kidwell, d’53, retired Michael Garrison, e’61, directs busi- estate. last spring after teaching elementary ness development for George Butler school for 18 years. She lives in Hurst, Associates in Lenexa. He lives in 1948 Texas. Leawood. Warren Beck, b’48, a retired CPA, James MacCormack, e’53, makes his lives in Leawood. home in Lenexa. 1962 John, c’48, and Jeanne Chambers Kay Wright Kotowski, d’62, owns Bills, f’50, make their home in 1956 Kay’s Collectible Dolls in San Marcos, Pensacola, Fla. They celebrated their Michael Getto, ’56, recently received a Texas. 50th anniversary in September. A gazebo distinguished alumni award from at Allen County Hospital in Iola was Michigan State University’s School of 1963 recently dedicated in memory of Hospitality Business. He’s director of Richard Norfleet, e’63, a retired man- Jeanne’s father, A.R. Chambers, m’23. franchising sales for Suburban ufacturing engineer, makes his home in Thomas Gregg, c’48, makes his home Lodges/Guesthouse International in Palo Alto, Calif. in Topeka with his wife, Ann. He’s a Boulder, Colo. Jack Thomas, d’63, lives in Bogue, retired salesman. where he’s a retired teacher. Quentin Wheatley, c’48, PhD’54, is a 1957 senior research chemist with DuPont in George Gardner, c’57, is senior minis- 1964 Lewiston, N.Y. ter at College Hill United Methodist Daphne Donnell Bitters, c’64, directs Church in Wichita. development at DeLaSalle Education MARRIED Center in Kansas City. Charlotte Thayer, c’48, g’49, and 1958 Janet Skinner Breithaupt, f’64, g’66, Wallace Good, g’50, EdD’70, May 4. John Dealy, e’58, dean of engineering is an adjunct professor at Johnson They live in Kansas City. at McGill University in Montreal, County Community College in Overland Canada, recently took a trip around the Park. 1949 world. Charles, c’64, and Betsy Wilson Bill, e’49, and Evelyn Hoffman Marvin, c’64, g’95, were in Riga, Latvia, Hamilton, f’49, celebrated their 50th 1959 last summer on a Fulbright Teaching anniversary last summer. They live in Thomas Brady, c’59, m’63, received a Grant. They both teach law at Georgia Pocono Summit, Pa. distinguished service award earlier this State University in Atlanta. Richard Hitt, b’49, was named Senior year from the American Urological Anne Larigan Walters, d’64, recently Volunteer of 2002 by the Volunteer Association. He practices urology in became general manager of Carlson Center of Johnson County. He lives in Reno, Nev. Wagonlit Travel in Lawrence. Olathe. R.M. Hildenbrand, e’59, is a fellow in Fred Wilson, PhD’64, directs Angelo James Thornton, e’49, makes his the National Society of Professional State University’s prefreshman engineer- home in Independence, where he’s Engineers. He lives in Tupelo, Miss. ing program. He lives in San Angelo, retired. Texas. 1960 1950 Robert Allison, e’60, recently was 1965 Bette Jo Jones Roberts, c’50, recently inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Jon Alexiou, c’65, g’68, directs com- was inducted into the Garden City High Fame. He’s chairman of Adarko munity college initiatives for the School Hall of Fame. She continues to Petroleum in Houston. Chauncey Group in Miami. make her home in Garden City. Bill Smith, d’60, a retired minister, Michael Bennett, f’65, is vice presi-
42 | KANSAS ALUMNI dent of marketing and business develop- development at USBank in Lawrence, Connie Jones Welsh, d’67, g’89, lives ment at Tracy Design Communications where she and her husband, Webster, in Elgin, Ill., where she’s superintendent and Bazillion Pictures in Kansas City. c’66, make their home. He’s a partner in of schools. Ashley Elbl, d’65, g’68, teaches the law firm of Stevens & Brand. chemistry at O’Hara High School in Richard Martin, e’67, works for 1968 Kansas City. General Motors in Pontiac, Mich. He Danforth Austin, j’68, is vice chair- Mary Barber Hamm, d’65, g’86, is lives in Fenton. man of Ottaway Newspapers in Midwest reading specialist for Scott David Sagerser, e’67, is chief of special Campbell Hall, N.Y. He lives in Short Foresman Publishing. She lives in projects for NASA’s Glenn Research Hills, N.J. Topeka. Center in Cleveland. Deanell Reece Tacha, c’68, recently Mary Kennedy Henderson, d’65, coordinates the international baccalaure- ate program at Newark Memorial High in Newark, Calif. She lives in Castro Valley. Charles Pomeroy, j’65, g’71, is pro- gram director for KTWU-TV in Topeka. David Richwine, c’65, directs develop- ment at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He lives in Burke, Va. James Tschechtelin, c’65, retired last summer as president of Baltimore City Community College. He lives in Millersville, Md. Margo Van Antwerp Woodruff, d’65, teaches art in the Franklin Special School District in Franklin, Tenn.
1966 Gary Hanson, c’66, manages research and development for Framatone ANP in Lynchburg, Va. Gary Hunter, b’66, l’69, recently became interim director of athletics at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. Phyllis Fry Kelly, d’66, g’68, EdD’79, joined the Kansas Adult Care Executives Association earlier this year as executive director. She lives in Topeka. Robert Spahn, g’66, is retired in Webster, N.Y.
MARRIED John Roper, c’66, g’81, and Valerie Vandenberg, c’66, April 20. They live in Lawrence.
1967 Joan Gilpin Golden, b’67, is campaign chair elect of the board of directors for the Friends of the Lied Center of Kansas. She’s senior vice president of
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 43 Class Notes became treasurer of the board of trustees the Lawrence Arts Center, won a 2002 Larry Schwarm, f’69, g’76, teaches art of American Inns of Court Foundation. Governor’s Arts Award. at Emporia State University in Emporia. She’s chief judge of the U.S. Court of Margey Wallett Frederick, j’69, g’78, Peter Stauffer, c’69, works as a Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and she recently became director of visitor financial consultant for Fahnestock & lives in Lawrence. services and special events at KU. Co. in Topeka. Robert Jensen, c’69, has been named 1969 chief operating officer and chief financial 1970 Robert Daniel, c’69, is a clinical psy- officer at EpicEdge, an information tech- Thomas Bailey, p’70, works as a phar- chologist at Tidewater Psychotherapy nology consulting firm in Austin, Texas. macist at Leeker Pharmacy in Wichita. Services in Virginia Beach, Va. He lives in Harjit Mangat, e’69, is an associate William Bevan, l’70, is a partner in Norfolk. technical fellow at Boeing in Everett, the Pittsburgh, Pa., law firm of Reed Ann Kaiser Evans, d’69, director of Wash. Smith. He lives in Allison Park.
Profile BY BRIAN BLANKENSHIP
While that notion didn’t immediately Franchiser’s expertise BRIAN BLANKENSHIP catch on, most of the bridge club mem- brews Starbucks growth bers did end up owning at least one of the soon-to-be famous burger franchises, t seems Jack Rodgers has been try- and a year later Kroc called Rodgers to ing to call it quits for years. And see if he might be interested as well. He why not? The last time Rodgers, was, and the decision launched what Ib’53, attempted to retire, he ended was to become a successful second up helping a little coffee company called career in the franchising industry. Starbucks become an icon of American Rodgers left IBM in 1974 and settled business culture. in Seattle to concentrate on his franchise “I was in the right place at the right investments, which by then included time,” says the modest 71-year-old resi- McDonald’s, Benihana, Red Robin and dent of Mercer Island, Wash. Casa Lupita restaurants, and The Arriving at KU on a football scholar- Athlete’s Foot shoe stores, throughout ship in 1949, Rodgers also played bas- the Northwest. By 1987, he thought he ketball under Phog Allen, and Rodgers was ready to retire; but then he was says it was Allen’s guiding influence that approached by the young coffee-chain made the greatest impression on the owner, Howard Schultz. young point guard. Impressed with Schultz’s enthusiasm “He talked about matters other than and determination, Rodgers agreed to Thanks in part to Jack Rodgers’ franchising basketball in the locker room. He was a help out as a part-time consultant. As expertise, Starbucks coffee shops are in nearly great guy. A great leader and a great the two became close friends, the part- every neighborhood—including his own, in mentor. He taught us a lot about life.” time role turned into senior vice presi- Mercer Island,Wash. Shortly after graduating, Rodgers dent of new business development and took a sales job with IBM, and became a seat on Starbucks’ board of directors. directors, watching his Sonics hoop it up Boston district manager in 1960. About During his tenure, Rodgers helped at Key Arena. that time, another legend intervened to Starbucks grow from a handful of stores When will it end? alter the course of his career. in the Seattle area to a caffeine-fueled “I still don’t know if I’m retired,” “Ray Kroc came to the bridge club empire of 5,000 worldwide shops. Then laughs Rodgers. “They don’t pay me any- that my mother and father belonged to he really did retire in 1997. Sort of. more, but I still keep my voice mail at and told them that he was going to open When Schultz bought the NBA’s Starbucks.” a hamburger chain called McDonald’s. Seattle SuperSonics, he once again They just can’t let him go. He wanted them all to quit their jobs called on Rodgers to join him. So now —Blankenship, c’00, is a Seattle and become franchisees.” Rodgers sits on the team’s board of free-lance writer.
44 | KANSAS ALUMNI Larry Leonard, d’70, l’74, practices Senior High School in Newtown Square, law with Leonard & Neel in Tulsa, Okla. Pa. She lives in Berwyn. He recently became a member of the Lynn Bretz, c’71, directs University board of regents at Tulsa Community Relations at KU. She lives in Lawrence. College. Marcia Bush Haskin, d’71, g’81, owns Herbert Mosher, g’70, vice president MBH Consulting, a grant-writing and of development for Rehoboth McKinley evaluation firm in Independence, Mo. Christian Health Care Services, lives in Kathy Kirk, d’71, practices law in Gallup, N.M. Topeka. She lives in Lawrence. Larry Spikes, c’70, practices law with Dale Laurance, g’71, PhD’73, is presi- Spikes Ruane in Wichita, where he and dent and chief executive of Occidental Valerie Fladeland Spikes, d’71, g’74, Petroleum in Los Angeles. He lives in make their home. She owns Trios Inc. Pacific Palisades. Jeff VanCoevern, b’70, is controller of Todd Smith, b’71, recently became Smurfit-Stone Container in Rogers, Ark. vice president of the Association of Trial He lives in Bella Vista. Lawyers. He is a partner in the Chicago Camilla Vinz Wilson, c’70, h’70, g’78, law firm of Power Rogers & Smith. PhD’92, chairs the physical therapy Mary Ann Torrence, c’71, l’74, is assis- department at Wichita State University. tant revisor of statutes for the state of Kansas. She lives in Topeka. 1971 Robert Wolf, b’71, lives in Naperville, Mary Cleveland Bollinger, c’71, Ill., and is financial manager for Rhodia teaches French at Marple Newtown in Blue Island.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 45 Class Notes
1972 Stanley Clyne, d’72, sells real estate for Coldwell Banker Stuckey & Associates in Wichita. Elaine Goldsmith Corder, d’72, g’01, teaches at Spring Hill High School in Spring Hill. She lives in Olathe. David Richards, l’72, practices law with Greig & Richards in Clovis, N.M. David Silverberg, c’72, m’76, has a private oncology practice in Omaha, Neb.
1973 Brian Bracco, j’73, is vice president of A great gift idea Hearst-Argyle Television in Kansas City. featuring stunning campus scenes Roger Martin, g’73, a columnist and by photographers Earl Richardson, j’83, writer at KU’s Center for Research, and Aaron Delesie recently won an award in the Council $10 for Advancement and Support of (plus $2 shipping and handling; Education’s Specific Media Relations Kansas residents add 7.3% sales tax) Program competition. Roger lives in Order yours today; Lawrence. supplies are limited. Susan Goldberg Sarachek, s’73, 1-800-584-2957 directs Adoption Advocates in www.kualumni.org Kansas City. Lynda Scoville, g’73, teaches in Tucson, Ariz. She lives in Oro Valley.
1974 William Alsop, c’74, m’77, recently was inducted into the Garden City High School Hall of Fame. He practices inter- James Barnes, f’74, g’75, recently con- James Guthrie, e’74, g’77, g’01, is a nal medicine in Salina. ducted the Central Band of the Japanese senior engineer at Black & Veatch in Michael Aurbach, c’74, j’76, g’79, Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Kansas City. g’81, has been elected president of the Japanese premiere of his 4th Symphony James Hemsworth, b’74, directs College Art Association. He lives in at Yuo-Port Concert Hall in Tokyo. He is business development at C.F. Jordan Nashville, Tenn. a professor of music and dance at KU. in Dallas. Pamela Troup Horne, c’74, g’82, recently became director of admissions and assistant to the provost for enroll- ment management at Michigan State Then Again University in East Lansing. She lives in Ann Arbor. he music faculty of 1903 com- Leslie McClain-Ruelle, d’74, PhD’86, Tprised five professors, while was named Wisconsin Teacher of the today’s department of music and Year recently by the University of dance boasts more than 60. Hats Wisconsin’s Student Education off to Fine Arts! Association. She’s associate dean of edu- cation at the University of Wisconsin in (pictured from left) C.E. Hubach, ARCHIVES/SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY UNIVERSITY Jean Bowersock, Charles Sanford Stevens Point. Skilton, Harriet Greissinger and Carl Pamela Elliott Pendergast, f’74, is an A. Preyer. export administrator with JRH Biosciences in Lenexa.
46 | KANSAS ALUMNI Darry Sands, l’74, practices law the Edge of Empire: Hadhramawt, from Lawrence to Topeka, where he with Dicus Davis Sands & Collins in Emigration and the Indian Ocean, 1880s- practices law. Kansas City. 1930s, which was published earlier this Franklin Stucky, ’75, is CEO of Allen Worob, g’74, is CEO of Woroco year by State University of New York Coldwell Banker Stucky & Assoc. in International in Rochester, N.Y. Press. She lives in Austin, Texas. Wichita. He lives in Newton. Michael Loose, e’75, commands the 1975 Naval Facilities Engineering Command- 1976 Douglas Ballou, j’75, is vice president Atlantic Division in Norfolk, Va. Patrick Cobb, c’76, g’80, works as a of integrated marketing services at John Morse, l’75, is senior vice presi- systems analyst for Computer Science Callahan Creek in Lawrence. He lives in dent and general counsel at LodgeWorks Corp. He lives in Arlington, Va. Weatherby Lake, Mo. in Wichita. Nathaniel Davis, l’76, is a parole Linda Boxberger, c’75, g’81, wrote On Ronald Schneider, c’75, commutes administrator for the state of California.
Profile BY MEGAN MACIEJOWSKI
down from the position that she
Lively loyalty defines DELESIE AARON defined. But she hasn’t stepped Hazlett’s football tenure away from KU football com- pletely; she continues to work girl’s got to have her routines. part-time in the office. The move In 34 years as secretary to KU’s actually encapsulates her tenure head football coach, Marge quite nicely—she has never been A Albright Hazlett certainly had afraid of change, but she has hers. She spent fall Saturdays cheering never left, either. She has man- on the Jayhawks with her longtime aged to adapt to a succession of office cohort, Carole Hadl, who sat by wildly different, powerful per- her side, explaining the intricacies of the sonalities without compromising game. Hazlett honored weekend wins by her own extraordinary self. making her signature “Victory” cof- The feat is not lost on her for- feecakes on Monday mornings. And mer bosses. Glen Mason, who when she got a new boss—as she did 10 coached the Jayhawks from For more than three decades, KU football coaches times—she had a routine for that, too. 1988-’96, admits that he was ini- depended on Marge Hazlett to run their office. More She would sadly say goodbye to the tially wary of Hazlett. He wor- important, they all came to treasure her for friendship, boss she had grown to love, pledge her ried that the KU lifer would have loyalty and unwavering enthusiasm. loyalty to the next one and lay down the a tough time being loyal to him non-negotiables. after having worked for so many While Hazlett claims that she has “I would tell them the first day they coaches. never understood football, she has were hired, ‘I get my hair done on “What I found was that Marge was a picked up the game’s greater lessons. Wednesdays,’” Hazlett laughs. “I’m just a professional deluxe,” Mason says. “She “Until someone just mentioned it to pushy broad. I never hesitated to give also became one of my best friends, me, I never knew I had sat through 24 my opinion about anything, and, for the which is unique in that type of setting. I losing seasons,” Hazlett says. “I never most part, they appreciated it.” still turn to her for advice.” thought of it as a losing season. There Hazlett’s plucky personality enabled Indeed, Hazlett’s hallmark has been was so much more to it than winning her to charm even the most formidable her ability to serve unconditionally. and losing. Every day was another of her bosses and achieve something “I always prided myself on being opportunity to win. You just kept going.” that eluded all of them: longevity. Now, loyal to whoever was there,” she says. “I And so she does. four decades into a career that has given was always ready to help the next one —Maciejowksi, j’98, is a former her “someplace to wear my clothes” and no matter how much I liked the previ- Kansas Alumni staff writer. She now lives so much more, Hazlett, ’54, has stepped ous one.” in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 47 Class Notes
He lives in Sacramento. gist at Heartland Area Education Agency Kenton Hodges, c’78, is field director Joseph Perry, l’76, practices law with in Johnston. at Southwest Indian Foundation in Perry & Trent in Bonner Springs. He David Mullett, j’77, is a senior vice Gallup, N.M. lives in Linwood. president and commercial closings oper- Mark Lewis, b’78, practices law in rt Timothy Sands, b’76, is senior coun- ations manager for Houston Title in Gardner. sel for El Paso Corp. He lives in Houston. Wendell Moore, c’78, g’81, directs Houston. Dale Seuferling, j’77, recently beame safety, health and environment at Walter president of the KU Endowment Reed Army Medical Center in 1977 Association. He lives in Lawrence. Washington, D.C. He lives in Bowie, Md. David Chard, c’77, works for Crisis John Works, c’77, is president and Gerald Seib, j’78, recently became Consultants Group Worldwide in CEO of Emerging Markets Finance Washington bureau chief of the Wall Bainbridge, Wash. He lives in Hansville. International in Denver. Street Journal. He and his wife, Barbara Timothy Dowling, c’77, practices law Rosewicz, j’78, live in Washington, D.C., with Gary, Thomasson, Hall & Marks in 1978 where she’s a Wall Street Journal Corpus Christi, Texas. William Bleish, b’78, works as a client reporter. Bruce Mallonee, c’77, l’80, practices executive for IBM in Leawood. David Stoner, e’78, is vice president of law with Rudman & Winchell in Bangor, Lindy Eakin, b’78, g’80, g’88, PhD’97, operations for Viewcast Com in Dallas. Maine. is president elect of the Friends of the Dorothy Devor McCrossen, g’77, Lied Center of Kansas. He’s associate 1979 g’92, is retired in Overland Park. She provost for support services at KU. Beverly Kennedy Bradshaw, c’79, is worked at Ottawa University. Gregory Fankhauser, b’78, directs senior vice president of human resources Deborah Reid Mountsier, d’77, lives strategic alliances for Kennedy & Coe at Trammell Crow. She lives in Dallas. in Des Moines, Iowa. She’s an audiolo- in Topeka. Diane Schemmel Goostree, e’79,
48 | KANSAS ALUMNI works for SkinMedica as senior vice president for corporate development in Carlsbad, Calif. She lives in San Diego. Mike Parent, j’79, directs media serv- ices for Chicago Creative Partnership. He lives in Naperville, Ill.
1980 James Corbett, b’80, is chair and CEO of Microtherapeutics in Irvine, Calif. Charles Kallmeyer, e’80, is an engi- neering advisor for Occidental Petroleum in Houston. Richard Linville, j’80, g’82, lives in Mission Hills and is president and CEO of Empire Candle in Kansas City. William McCarthy, c’80, is executive director of the Southwest Indian Foundation in Gallup, N.M. Reginald Robinson, c’80, l’87, recently became president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents. He lives in Lawrence.
1981 Terry Jett, h’81, is regional director at Providence Health in Kansas City. Rick Kastner, j’81, works as general counsel and vice president at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.
1982 Greg Baker, c’82, b’83, is senior vice president and head of lending at Security Bank of Southwest Missouri. in Cassville. He lives in Branson. Mary Ann Clifft, g’82, recently became biomedical editor and writing coach for the Mayo Clinic’s Section of Scientific Publications. She lives in Cave Creek, Ariz. Karen Schlueter Dutcher, j’82, l’85, practices law with Ice Miller Donadio & David Robinett, c’83, is president of Gorman, March 10. They live in Santa Ryan in Indianapolis. AdBlaster.com in Overland Park. Monica, Calif., and he’s general manager Ladd Wheeler, e’82, is a captain and Melissa McIntyre Wolcott, j’83, works of Stargate Digital. aviator in the U.S. Navy. He lives in as a contractor at Reynolds & Reynolds Chesapeake, Va. in Dayton, Ohio, where she and her hus- BORN TO: band, Steve, c’86, g’91, live with their Richard Sall, a’83, a’84, and Sandra, children, Christopher, 11; Zachary, 7; daughter, Lauryn, March 12 in Denver, 1983 Mackenzie, 2; and Nicholas, 1. where she joins a sister, Ashleigh, 9. Laura Behrndt Hughes, j’83, is Richard is a senior residential designer president of Life Advisers. She lives in MARRIED for Matthews & Associates in St. Louis. Gregory Everage, c’83, to Laura Englewood.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 49 Class Notes
1984 son, Benjamin Andrew, April 3 in Fort recently appointed by President Bush to Daniel Godfrey, c’84, a U.S. Army Worth, Texas, where he joins a brother, the President’s Council on Physical lieutenant colonel, commands the 1st Joshua, 7, and a sister, Emily, 5. Brian is Fitness and Sports. Military Intelligence Battalion in vice president of AmeriCredit. William Horner, j’85, recently was Wiesbaden, Germany. Mari Bronaugh White, c’84, m’89, elected president of the North Carolina Kent Lewis, c’84, g’87, is a program and Ray, son, Alexander Loren, July 23 Press Association. He’s publisher of the officer for the Economics Education in Lawrence, where Mari is a nurse at Sanford Herald in Sanford, N.C., where and Research Consortium in Lawrence Memorial Hospital. he and his wife, Lee Ann, live with their Washington, D.C. children, Zachary, 9; Addison, 7; and 1985 Karis, 5. BORN TO: Katherine Cosgrove, g’85, owns Robb Merritt, j’85, is senior vice Brian Levinson, j’84, g’94, and Julie, F.I.T. Bodies in Overland Park. She was president and chief operating officer
Profile BY PATRICK QUINN
For rebel artist, even the which discharges paint of a different DELESIE AARON price makes a statement color. By altering the nozzle arrange- ment and the position of the canvases, t the end of each semester, the he produces a striking variety of effects, School of Fine Arts faces an which in every case preserves most of awkward quandary: What to do the original work beneath the new A with the dozens, sometimes paint. hundreds, of paintings produced by stu- The portable Machine made its pub- dent artists as part of their class work? lic debut at an early-morning demon- As a rule, those not claimed are regret- stration and sale at the Art and Design fully consigned to the refuse heap. Building last spring, when Propst ran These periodic ejections have long two dozen canvases through it before a nettled Wayne Propst—outlaw artist, fascinated crowd of faculty, students raconteur, poet and builder—and for the and art mavens. In place of a conven- past few years he has carted many of the tional artist’s signature, each was boldly used canvases to his north Lawrence stenciled with the name of Propst’s com- farm for “further work.” Propst, c’71, a pany, PRO-PROP, INC., and the price: Lawrence legend who was a regular at $29.95. Those first paintings, now William Burroughs’ famous Thursday known as the Grid Series, sold out on dinner parties, seeing an opportunity to the spot. He followed that with the Plaid Artist Wayne Propst always makes a continue his gleeful, life-long subversion Series, which sold out in two days when statement—even when nobody knows what of the art world, designed a “Painting hung at the Bourgeois Pig. he’s saying. Machine” to recycle the canvases on a Plaid Series canvases were $28.95; near-industrial scale. The fruits of his Propst intends to drop the price of the labors—a genre self-described as paintings with each show until the final A bathroom gallery is entirely in keep- “Pathetic Art”—are displayed in an irreg- series, when he will pay buyers $2 to ing with Propst’s artistic vision, which ular series of shows at the Bourgeois Pig, take the paintings. There will likely be has in the past included a 30-foot-tall the bohemian Lawrence coffeehouse and no shortage of customers. Indeed, wire-mesh cage filled with discarded martini bar. owners of the Pig purchased one of the shoes. He is cheerfully clear-sighted “I’m grateful for the art mainstream,” first Machine paintings—a freakishly about the student paintings that provide he says, “because without it I wouldn’t unusual occurrence—and proudly dis- grist for his mill. “Some of them are have anything to rebel against.” play it in the bar’s bathroom, which has pretty good,” he says. “And, of course, Propst’s Machine passes each canvas been forever ceded to Propst as his some of them are gruesomely bad.” beneath a series of nozzles, each of personal gallery space. —Quinn is a Lawrence writer.
50 | KANSAS ALUMNI at Barkley Evergreen & Partners in Johnny Herod, p’87, recently was 1988 Kansas City. promoted to market specialist for Scott, j’88, g’99, and Susan Briner Rick Morris, l’85, lives in Evanston, Dillon’s Pharmacies. He lives in Lee’s Patterson, ’88, celebrated their first Ill., where he’s assistant dean of speech Summit, Mo. anniversary last spring. He’s a communi- at Northwestern University. Tommy James, b’87, and his wife, cations consultant for J.P. Morgan, and David Wiley, c’85, is a principal Christine, celebrated their first anniver- she owns Well Being Yoga. firmware engineer at Emulex in sary Sept. 1. They live in Sandpoint, Carol Kindred Rivas, c’88, is an exec- Longmont, Colo. Idaho, where Tommy is a senior man- utive professional representative for ager of retail planning for Coldwater Merck & Co. She lives in Oakland, N.J. BORN TO: Creek. Jay Craig, b’85, g’87, and Shawn, Laurian Casson Lytle, g’87, PhD’93, is BORN TO: daughter, Halle Mae, July 10 in Danville, a stock analyst for Principal Financial Arlen Sheldon, c’88, and Angela Calif., where she joins a brother, Garrett, Group in Des Moines, Iowa. Meyer, m’93, daughter, Aria Anna, 2. Jay is senior vice president of develop- JuliAnn Mazachek, g’87, PhD’94, Feb. 6 in Derby. Arlen works for ment and acquisitions at SNK serves as president of the Washburn Cessna, and Angela practices medicine Development in San Francisco. University Endowment Association. She at the Veteran’s Administration lives in Topeka. Hospital in Wichita. 1986 Carl Saxon, b’87, recently was pro- Scott Deeter, c’86, is president and moted to chief financial officer of Square 1989 CEO at Ventria Bioscience. He lives in One Advertising and Southwest Media Anna Davalos, j’89, lives in Fort Collins, Colo. Group in Dallas, where he and his wife, Alexandria, Va., where she’s a free-lance Richard Ferraro, g’86, PhD’89, lives in Laurie, live with their son, Parker, 5. TV news producer. Grand Forks, where he’s a professor of psychology at the University of North Dakota. Paige Protzmann Lanz, j’86, works as a senior manager for OneNeck IT Services. She lives in Leawood. David O’Brien, j’86, covers sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Atlanta.
BORN TO: Erin Waugh Faust, c’86, j’87, and Charles, daughter, Lindsey Grace, April 15 in Dallas, where she joins a sister, Darby, 3. Erin is a market intelligence strategist for IBM.
BORN TO: John, e’86, g’95, and Stephanie Campbell Mahvi, g’93, daughter, Elizabeth, April 19 in Folsom, Calif., where she joins a brother, Paul, 3. John and Stephanie both work at Intel.
1987 Bradley Danahy, j’87, g’02, is a con- sultant for Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals. He lives in Shawnee Mission. Mark Ferguson, c’87, b’87, l’90, lives in Overland Park, where he’s a partner in the law firm of Lathrop & Gage.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 51 Class Notes
Mark Miller, p’89, manages a Kmart pharmacy in Isabella, Mo.
MARRIED Robert Farha, c’89, to Rebecca Cleavinger, May 15 in Lawrence, where they make their home. Beryl Heath, c’89, to Robert Peters, June 15. Their home is in Overland Park.
BORN TO: Susan Levinson Marley, j’89, and Brian, son, Reece William, Jan. 17 in Palm Harbor, Fla., where he joins a brother, Connor, 3. Susan is an account executive for WTSP-TV in St. Petersburg. Timothy McNary, j’89, and Maria, daughter, Mary Jane, June 21 in Glenview, Ill., where she joins two broth- ers, Patrick, 4, and Colin, 2. Tim man- ages marketing for Spencer Stuart. Melinda Eisenhour Parks, b’89, and Michael, daughter, McKenzie Kay, March 11 in Lenexa. Melinda is a finance man- ager with Sprint.
1990 Lisa Capps, g’90, PhD’92, teaches anthropology at the College of DuPage. She lives in Wheaton, Ill. Gene King, j’90, g’02, manages mar- keting and communications at Black & ment and planning for the Yale Matt Lomshek, d’91, co-owns Sun Veatch. He lives in Overland Park. University medical school, and Allen Promotions in Lawrence, where he and Carrie Booe Mandigo, d’90, n’91, and directs regulatory and technical services Susan Thomas Lomshek, d’88, make her husband, James, m’93, make their for Quintiles. their home. She teaches third grade at home in Lawrence with their son, Elizabeth White Roth, f’90, and Schwegler School. Joseph, 3. Steven, son, Quinlan O’Connell, March Daniel Redler, c’90, is customer mar- 19. Elizabeth is a principal at Thrive BORN TO: keting manager for Coca-Cola. He and Creative, and they live in Riverside, Ill. Mark, j’91, and Susan Shaffer Fagan, his wife, Dara, live in Atlanta, with Alec, j’92, daughter, Erin Joy, May 14 in 6; Jansen, 4; and Mason, 1. 1991 Lawrence, where Mark is a reporter and Todd Daniels, b’91, is vice president of Susan is a copy editor at the Lawrence MARRIED finance with DCI in Lenexa, and Susan Journal-World. Darren Orme, b’90, m’99, to Marna Taylor Daniels, b’91, supervises retail Brian, c’91, m’96, and Julia Mayden Miller, April 13 in Prairie Village. He’s a cash accounting for Sprint. They live in Holmes, b’92, daughter, April 1 in radiology resident at the KU Medical Overland Park with their children, Abilene, where she joins a sister, Anna Center, and she’s a child-life specialist at Taylor, 7; Ryan, 3; and Alex, who’ll be 1 Rose, 3. Children’s Mercy Hospital. Dec. 18. William Fox, p’91, works as a staff 1992 BORN TO: pharmacist at Kmart. He lives in Clay Vicki Childers, h’92, directs the health Mary Mechem, c’90, and Allen Fields, Center. information management systems ’91, daughter, Maren Elisa, March 5 in Debra Green, c’91, is a major account department at Lawrence Memorial Wake Forest, N.C., where she joins a sis- executive for the Lexington Herald- Hospital. ter, Allene, 2. Mary manages reimburse- Leader in Lexington, Ky. Ian Coleman, g’92, recently became
52 | KANSAS ALUMNI an associate professor of theory and Teresa Lynch Hanna, j’92, and and journalism at Barstow School. composition in the music department at Christopher, son, Ian Hamilton, May 24 Angela Casey Shaw, c’92, and William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. in Lawrence, where Christopher owns Gregory, ’96, daughter, McKenna, June Margaret Poague, f’92, is a self- The BleuJacket restaurant. 18 in Gardner, where Greg manages employed artist with Natural Rose Cooper Kopecky, b’92, and Blazers Restaurant. Angela is an obstet- Surroundings in Fairway. Christopher, daughter, Samantha rics and gynecology resident at the KU Kathleen, June 15 in Olathe. Rose is a Medical Center. BORN TO: senior finance manager for Sprint. Audrey Brown Brummett, d’92, and Mark Luce, c’92, g’99, and his wife, 1993 Shane, son, Brett Alexander, July 29 in Jennifer Copeland, c’00, son, Miles William Delich, c’93, directs quality Katy, Texas. Audrey teaches Spanish at Copeland Luce, April 16 in Kansas City, control for Se-Kan Asphalt in Gas. He Cypress Fairbanks High School. where Mark teaches high-school English and Jennifer Macha Delich, h’96, live in
Profile BY CHRIS LAZZARINO
Father’s day is every day DELESIE AARON (and paid for the school dis- for ageless attorney trict’s insurance company) to fund an essay contest encourag- t a point in life when most ing high-school students to white-haired men dote on explore the topic of banned grandchildren, 73-year-old books; Balloun notes news cov- A attorney Gene Balloun focuses erage that praised the contest as his life and love on 3-year-old Hannah. a fine idea, despite the fact that His daughter. it came from lawyers. “Isn’t she a beautiful child?” Balloun “Lawyers do not have as says, proudly offering for inspection one high a public image as we of the many family photographs in his would like to have, or deserve,” Overland Park office. “She’s incredible.” he says. “There are hundreds of A seemingly improbable journey thousands of lawyers out there through the joys and tribulations of fos- who are doing pro bono work ter care launched Balloun, b’51, l’54, a on a daily basis. They are partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, into a unsung heroes.” tireless role as advocate for foster par- So are many foster parents. Gene Balloun fills his corner office at Shook, Hardy & ents and children. He also has champi- When Balloun and his wife Bacon with photographs of his wife, Sheila Wombles, and oned First Amendment causes, repre- began their new marriage 15 their children, David and Hannah. senting Olathe students in their success- years ago, a friend suggested ful 1995 fight to have a banned book they consider becoming foster when he’s around his children.” returned to their school library. parents. Their lives and home have since Proud of his honors but wary of the For his service, Balloun recently been filled with children. praise, Balloun notes that he’s only received the prestigious Pro Bono Award Their first foster child, a 14-month- doing what gives him great joy. “Pro at the American Bar Association’s annual old boy, arrived Nov. 20, 1987. David is bono work is satisfying,” he says, “and meeting in Washington, D.C. Also lining now their 16-year-old son—“Here’s a pic- practicing law is just plain fun.” his shelves are certificates representing ture,” Dad says happily—and their 29th As a partner at the 50th-largest litiga- similar honors from the Kansas and foster child, Hannah, is now officially tion firm in the country, Balloun says he Johnson County bar associations and David’s baby sister. is serious about encouraging colleagues the American Library Association. “Gene is certainly a role model,” says to make time for pro bono work. After winning the Olathe case, friend and former co-worker David “Particularly in the representation of Balloun and his firm used the $200,000 Waxse, c’67, now a federal judge in children. They are our least-powerful in legal fees awarded by a federal judge Kansas City, Kan. “He doesn’t act 73 members of society.”
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 53 Class Notes
and North American Van Lines are teaming up to offer you a 60% DISCOUNT
off your moving expenses for interstate moves nationwide! Plus, you'll receive FREE Replacement Cost Insurance for your move!
For more information, Iola with their children, Cassandra, 4, he’s chief resident in psychiatry at the and Calvin, 1. Southwestern University Medical School. call Gordon Bill Leibengood, j’93, recently was at promoted to vice president at Barkley BORN TO: Evergreen & Partners in Kansas City. He Brent, e’93, and Laura Dillon and Stephanie Leahy Leibengood, b’93, Engelland, e’93, daughter, Hayley live in Olathe, where she owns Evelyn, July 4 in Hutchinson, where she 800/541-8545 Innovative Business Consulting. joins a brother, Dillon, 4, and a sister, Leland Page, c’93, manages accounts Hannah, 2. for Sturges and Word Communications William, c’93, and Shannon Hewitt and identify yourself Design in Kansas City. Fowle, c’95, son, Tyler William, July 9 in Denise Scott, c’93, is area coordinator Lawrence, where he joins a sister, as a member of the for the University of South Florida in Morgan, 5. Kansas University Tampa. Sean, c’93, and Alison Gilley Kentch, ’94, son, Logan Patrick, March 29 in Alumni Association MARRIED Waipahu, Hawaii, where he joins a sister, James Holt, c’93, to Adriana Deyurka, Madison, 3. Sean serves as lieutenant April 29 in Olathe. They live in New commander in the U.S. Navy. York City, where he’s a finance lawyer Michelle Hepler Pacha, d’93, and Jeff, with Freshfields Bruckhaus & Deringer. e’94, son, Brady Michael, March 9 in Susan Hotz, c’93, m’97, to Michael Wichita, where he joins two brothers, Jay Shiekh, May 4 in Dallas, where she’s a and Kyle. Michelle directs Basic fellow in neuromuscular diseases and Beginnings Preschool, and Jeff is a
54 | KANSAS ALUMNI finance business partner at Cessna in Glen Carbon. Aircraft. Stephen Clark, m’95, practices medi- Virginia Klemme Treadwell, c’93, and cine with Kansas Imaging Consultants in Brian, daughter, Allie Kate, June 13 in Wichita. Brady, Texas, where she joins a brother, Jennifer Crow, c’95, is a voice systems Jamie, 2. Ginger is county attorney for administrator at NCS Pearson. She lives McCulloch County. in Phoenix. David Stras, c’95, l’99, g’99, recently 1994 became a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Stephanie Emert, b’94, manages pay- Justice Clarence Thomas in Washington, roll for Ferrellgas in Liberty, Mo. She D.C. He lives in Alexandria, Va. lives in Roeland Park. Karen Hallouer, p’94, works as a MARRIED pharmacist at Menorah Medical Center Ryan Horn, c’95, b’96, and Jennifer Contemporary JAYHAWK in Overland Park. Davenport, c’97, m’01, May 4 in Kansas Pendants in Sterling Silver Jeffrey Mayo, j’94, is a senior contracts City. They live in Miami, where she’s a or 14K Yellow Gold manager for VoiceStream Wireless in pediatric resident at Miami Children’s by Jim Connelly d 68, g 72 Bellevue, Wash. Hospital. Lou Montulli, ’94, lives in Truckee, Calif., where he is a free-lance Internet BORN TO: and Web designer. Laura Vogel Brink, l’95, and John, Christopher Souders, b’94, g’99, daughter, Allyson Marie, June 26 in St. works as a financial analyst for IBM in Louis. SILVER White Plains, N.Y. He lives in New Angelia Gere Fursman, p’95, and WORKS York City. Terry, daughter, Carly Anne, June 20 in Ross Thompson, p’94, g’98, is a Baldwin City, where she joins two broth- and more regional clinical quality specialist for ers, Luke, 7, and Nathan, 2, and a sister, a gallery of fine gold and silver McKesson Medication Management in Lily, 4. Angelia is assistant pharmacy jewelry/contemporary crafts Cambridge, Mass. manager at Wal-Mart in Lawrence. Jennifer Ford Reedy, c’95, and BORN TO: Christopher, c’96, daughter, Eliza Marie, David, g’94, and Sonia Makhdoom June 14 in Minneapolis, Minn., where Diedel, b’95, daughter, Zara Elizabeth, Jennifer is an associate with McKinsey June 20 in Olathe, where she joins a and Co. and Christopher is an associate brother, Ethan, 3. partner with White Pine Consulting David, j’94, and Sara Stutz Johnston, Group. d’96, daughter, Sydney Anne, July 24 in Lawrence, where David coordinates mar- 1996 keting for the Kansas Union. Sara is a Christine Couey Bowen, j’96, man- physical therapist at Kansas ages advertising sales marketing for Rehabilitation Hospital in Topeka. Penton Media in Loveland, Colo. She Jennifer Robken Mehmedovic, c’94, lives in Fort Collins. g’99, and Vanja, son, Aleksa Pasan, July Casondra Reiter Campbell, s’96, 30 in Lawrence, where Jennifer is assis- supervises human resources for tant to the vice chancellor of information Quebecor World in Dallas. She and her services at KU. husband, Christopher, live in Keller with Stephen, c’94, and Rebecca Duffy their children, Victoria, 9; Mitchell, 6; Nichols, c’97, son, Benjamin James, May and Andrew, 1. 6 in Olathe. Sara Peckham Johnston, c’96, m’00, practices medicine at Smoky Hill Family 1995 Practice Center in Salina. She recently 715 Massachusetts Susan Jackman Breck, PhD’95, is an was one of 20 family practice residents Lawrence, Kansas 66044 assistant professor at Southern Illinois honored by the American Academy of 785-842-1460 University in Edwardsville. She lives Family Physicians.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 55 Class Notes
Christopher Leopold, c’96, practices Tonia Owens, b’96, and Jason Communications and Christine is a law with Stinson Morrison Hecker in Whitener, c’96, May 11. They live in pharmacist at Schnucks. Kansas City. He lives in Hoxie. Lawrence and both work as research Holly Bennett Horner, c’96, and attorneys in Topeka. Peder, c’98, m’02, daughter, Hannah MARRIED Renae, Feb. 25 in Kansas City, where Colby Brown, b’96, g’97, and Jessica BORN TO: Peder is an internal medicine intern at Crook, b’98, May 18. They live in Prairie David, f’96, and Christine the KU Medical Center. Village, and he’s an assurance and advi- Echelmeyer Bischof, ’97, son, Nathaniel Erika Markley Richardson, d’96, and sory manager for Deloitte & Touche in Dawson, June 19 in St. Louis, where Benjamin, daughter, Olivia Faye, May 14 Leawood. David is art director at Kupper Parker in Great Bend, where Erika teaches high- school chemistry.
1997 Rebekah Hall, j’97, is associate editor of Waste Age magazine in Atlanta. Aimee Owen Smith, e’97, is a process engineer for Intel in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she and her husband, James, c’97, make their home. He’s a teacher at Aspen Valley High School.
MARRIED Kristen Coler, c’97, and Jared Challacombe, c’98, May 25. They live in Gilbert, Ariz. Erin Curtis, j’97, and Andrew Dierks, c’99, June 22. They live in Chicago. Jo Anne Horton, f’97, and Saul Marsh, e’98, April 20. Their home is in Wichita. James Jacob, c’97, m’02, and Stephanie Tweito, j’01, June 1 in Hutchinson. He studies medicine at the KU School of Medicine, and she’s editor of Primedia Business Magazines and Media in Overland Park. Nicole Mercer, c’97, g’99, and Aaron Bolton, l’99, July 6 in KU’s Danforth Chapel. They live in St. Louis, where Nicole studies medicine at Washington University.
BORN TO: Joseph, c’97, and Jennifer Peterson Hickey, h’99, son, Jackson Joseph, May 14 in Ithaca, N.Y. Kent Waldron, p’97, and Heather, son, Aidan Michael, Aug. 7 in Johnson, where Kent is a partner in Waldron’s Pharmacy.
1998 Nathaniel Bukaty, j’98, is a sports announcer for Entercom Radio in Westwood.
56 | KANSAS ALUMNI
Class Notes
neer for Pharmacia in Kalamazoo, Mich., and she’s a physician.
BORN TO: Kim Guthrie Jones, ’98, and Jarius, d’99, daughter, Alexandria Kristine, July 3 in Lawrence. erfect for home or office, miniature replicas of Peter Fillerup’s Centennial Jayhawk are now available for collectors of fine art and KU memorabilia.These 1999 Pcollector’s items, offered by the Kansas Alumni Association in two sizes as numbered limited editions, are mounted on walnut bases.The 6-inch Centennial Troy Boehm, b’99, recently was pro- Jayhawk will be limited to 750 numbered pieces, and the 12-inch Centennial Jayhawk moted to account manager at State Street will be limited to 100 numbered pieces. in Kansas City. He lives in Olathe. Jeffrey Dieckhaus, b’99, is a medical 12-inch Centennial Jayhawk $1,500 sales representative for Alcon 6-inch Centennial Jayhawk $480 plus shipping and handling, and Kansas sales tax Laboratories in Overland Park. for Kansas residents. Jayhawk Society James Leiker, PhD’99, is author of members receive a 15% discount. Racial Borders: Black Soldiers Along the Rio Grande, published by Texas A&M Order by phone: University Press. He lives in Lenexa and 1-800-KU-HAWKS or is a professor of history at Johnson 785-864-4760. County Community College. Orders may also be placed via our Amy Schmidt, c’99, is assistant coor- secure server. dinator at Hunterdon Medical Center. Log on to: www.kualumni.org She lives in Whitehouse Station, N.J. Please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery. MARRIED Jennifer Mueller, g’99, to Patrick Alderdice, Aug. 10 in Lawrence, where she directs student programs for the Kansas Alumni Association. He’s presi- dent of Pennington and Co. John Peckham, c’99, and Jennifer Sargent, j’01, June 8 in Ames, Iowa. Their home is in Lenexa.
2000 Janet Gordon, g’00, is a senior finan- cial analyst at Everest Communications in Kansas City. She and her husband, Chris, live in Lee’s Summit, Mo., with their daughter, Sydney, 4, and 1-year-old twin sons, Brandon and Nicholas. Michael Henry, c’00, has been pro- moted to director of global sales for SBC William Nicks, b’98, works as an Studebaker, n’99, Dec. 12 in Fiji. He’s a Communications in Westchester, Ill. He accountant with Baird Kurtz & Dobson staff sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps lives in Elmhurst. in Kansas City. Reserves, and she’s a critical-care clinical Phillip Thatcher, g’00, directs quality Iris Rosenthal, c’98, directs youth resource nurse at Olathe Medical Center. for DIT-MCO International in Kansas leadership for the Jewish Federation of They live in Overland Park. City. He lives in Independence, Mo. Palm Beach County. She lives in Boynton Jeffrey Heffley, b’98, and April Beach, Fla. Hernandez, f’02, May 25. They live in BORN TO: Lewisville, Texas. Matthew, c’00, and Sara Tucker MARRIED Evan Murray, e’98, to Stephie Webb, c’00, son, Isaiah Matthew, July 29 Theron Chaulk, n’98, and Melanie Burrows, June 8. He’s a validation engi- in Birmingham, Ala.
58 | KANSAS ALUMNI Katherine Sackman, c’01, to Chad Doors. Welter, Dec. 22. They live in Overland Jomella Watson, g’02, to Eric Then Again Park, and Katherine studies for a mas- Thompson, July 27 in Arkansas City. ter’s in health policy and management at Their home is in Lenexa. KU Medical Center. Barbara Wilson, g’02, to Corey Jennifer Scheuer, c’01, and To d d Kephart, June 22 in Kansas City. ong before the era of CD burning Kornblit, c’01, May 18. They live in and downloading tunes off the L Nashville, Tenn. BORN TO: Internet, scholarship hall friends Harsohena Ahluwalia, g’02, and Jasjit, relaxed with 45 rpm vinyl and caught 2002 daughter, Jaitsiri, June 6 in Mission Hills, up on their knitting. Shannon Bowling, b’02, coordinates where she joins a brother, Ikbal, 2. benefits for Sprint. She lives in Over- Harsohena is a research assistant profes- land Park. sor at KU Medical Center, where Jasjit Jordan Cochran, c’02, j’02, manages chairs the department of preventive business development projects for VML medicine. in Kansas City. He lives in Lawrence. Heather Corl, n’02, and David, son, Shaun Friesen, f’02, works as a Tyler Andrew, March 24 in Salia, where graphic designer for Breakthrough Heather is a nurse at the Salina Regional Design and Marketing in Kansas City. Health Center. Jason George, g’02, is a strength coach for Fordham University. He lives UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES/SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY UNIVERSITY in New York City. Alison Henry, c’02, works as a mental health worker discharge planner School Codes Letters that follow for Centennial Peaks Hospital in names in Kansas Alumni indicate the school from Louisville, Colo. which alumni earned degrees. Numbers show Matthew Johnson, d’02, directs opera- their class years. tions for Challenger Sports in Lenexa, where he and Alison Matter Johnson, a School of Architecture and Urban ’03, live with their daughter, Kamryn, 1. Design Brian Mall, b’02, lives in Kansas City, b School of Business where he’s a staff accountant for BKD. c College of Liberal Arts and 2001 John McKay, s’02, recently became a Sciences Kristi Gafford, g’01, is vice president clinician with Lutheran Family Services d School of Education of strategy and operations at Mid in Fort Collins, Colo. e School of Engineering American Health in Kansas City. She Allison McLain, s’02, a social f School of Fine Arts lives in Parkville, Mo. worker for SRS in Atchison, lives in g Master’s Degree Mark James, b’01, works for Higher Gladstone, Mo. h School of Allied Health Adventure Guide Service. He lives in Sarah Miley, c’02, works for First j School of Journalism Lawrence. National Bank in Overland Park. l School of Law Shannon Novak, f’01, teaches dance Oubon Phongsavath, e’02, is a civil m School of Medicine at Starstruck Performing Arts Center in engineer with Delich Roth & Goodwillie n School of Nursing Shawnee Mission. in Kansas City. p School of Pharmacy Ross Wuetherich, f’01, does graphic s School of Social Welfare design for On Your Mark in Overland MARRIED DE Doctor of Engineering Park. Christi Balderston, j’02, to Daniel DMA Doctor of Musical Arts Bartlett, June 8 in Shawnee. She works EdD Doctor of Education MARRIED for EVCO in Emporia, where he studies PhD Doctor of Philosophy Jill Miller, n’01, and Arden Hill, ’02, secondary education at Emporia State (no letter) Former student June 8 in Oahu, Hawaii. They live in University. assoc. Associate member of the Topeka, where she’s a nurse at Katherine Clark, j’02, and Michael Alumni Association Stormont-Vail Regional Medical Center. Pierson, ’02, May 25 in KU’s Danforth Arden studies for a doctorate in phar- Chapel. They live in Lawrence, where macy at KU. he’s a material handler at Amarr Garage
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 59 In Memory
The Early Years grandchildren; and three great-grand- in Houston. Surviving are two sons, a Edith Hibbs Davis, c’27, 96, Aug. 2 in children. daughter, six grandchildren, 13 great- Raymore, Mo. She lived in Larned and is Merle Britting, b’38, 85, June 20 in grandchildren and a great-great-grand- survived by a son, Glen, e’54; three Wichita, where he was a retired CPA. He child. daughters; 10 grandchildren; and 14 is survived by his wife, Clodine, assoc.; a George Hurd, c’32, 91, May 7 in great-grandchildren. son, Dean, c’65; a daughter; a stepson, Springtown, Pa., where he was retired Dorothy Guthrie Edwards, d’29, 94, Gary Gibson, b’60; a brother; seven from Bethlehem Steel. He is survived by Sept. 5 in Halstead. She lived in Newton grandchildren; three stepgrandchildren; his wife, Priscilla, a daughter, a son and a and is survived by her husband, Preston, and 19 great-grandchildren. granddaughter. e’29; a son, Ed Cooper, e’61; and two Elma Seidelman Campbell, d’37, 85, Bernard Joyce, c’39, m’44, 85, July 6 daughters, Gloria Cooper Johnson, c’58, July 31 in Shawnee Mission. Surviving in Topeka, where he practiced medicine. and Susan Hamilton, d’64, g’67. are a daughter, Janice Campbell White, He is survived by two daughters, Marsha Bruce Livingston, ’29, 93, June 22 in d’64; a son; a sister; and four grand- Joyce Driskill, d’67, and Heather Joyce Kingman, where he had owned children. Vrabac, c’70; a sister; three grandchil- Livingston Mortuary and Furniture Elizabeth Schwartz Carroll, f’35, 89, dren; and two great-grandchildren. Store. A son, three grandchildren and Aug. 19 in Manhattan, where she was a Helen Webb Matthews, ’30, 96, June five great-grandchildren survive. staff artist at the Manhattan Public 26 in Kansas City. Surviving are three Mildred Gordon Marsh, c’24, Aug. 5 Library. She is survived by a son; five sons, Dean, e’56, William, e’58, l’61, and in Danville, Calif., where she was a daughters; a brother; two sisters, Alice Jon, b’65; 13 grandchildren; and 17 retired teacher. A son and a grandson Schwartz Mattil, f’41, g’53, and Ethel great-grandchildren. survive. Mary Schwartz Fallon Bram, f’45; 13 Marjorie Stacy Nation, d’33, 90, May Paul Parker, c’29, l’31, 93, July 12 in grandchildren; and three great-grand- 2 in Lincoln, Neb. She lived in Lawrence Bartlesville, Okla., where he was retired children. and played piano at KU’s Gold Medal vice president and director of Phillips Helen Davis, c’32, 91, July 6 in La Club luncheons for many years. She is Petroleum. He is survived by his wife, Crosse. She lived in Kansas City and had survived by two daughters, Sheila Nation Elsie, assoc.; a daughter, Nancy Parker been an office administrator. Two broth- Brown, d’58, g’70, PhD’75, and Brittain, c’59; a son; three grandchildren; ers survive, one of whom is Lester, c’52. Rosemary Nation King, d’73; five grand- and a great-grandson. Ella Brown Epp, d’31, 95, Aug. 28 in children; and seven great-grandchildren. John Wall, b’28, l’31, 95, June 21 in El Dorado. She taught school in Augusta Alice “Wally” Wallace Patterson, Mequon, Wis. He lived in Sedan, where for 35 years and is survived by a daugh- c’35, m’38, 88, April 20 in Hutchinson. he was an attorney. He is survived by his ter, a grandson and a great-grandson. She is survived by her husband, Harold, wife, Beth, a daughter and three grand- Louise Jarboe Everley, c’35, 88, July c’35, m’38; five sons, four of whom are children. 31 in Lawrence, where she was co- Michael, c’65, m’69, Laird, c’63, Thomas, founder of Everley Roofing and Heating. c’71, and Bruce, c’68, m’73; a sister, 1930s Survivors include two sons, one of Olga Wallace Smith, a’32; and 11 grand- Charles Allen, ’33, 91, Dec. 7 in Lodi, whom is Phillip, b’63; a daughter, B.J. children. where he was retired from a career with Everley Eichhorn, b’59; eight grandchil- Alexander D. Peebles, l’36, 91, Aug. 9 General Mills. He is survived by his wife, dren; and four great-grandchildren. in Hermitage, Mo. He practiced law for Hazel; a daughter; a son; and a brother, James Fisher, c’32, c’34, m’36, 93, July 66 years and founded the firm of Quinn, George, b’35, l’38. 3 in Colorado Springs. He was a found- Peebles, Beard and Cardarella in Kansas Margaret Harryman Baugh, ’36, 87, ing partner in the Wichita Clinic and is City. Survivors include his wife, Olivene, June 12 in Denver. A daughter, four survived by three sons, one of whom is three sons and a daughter, two stepsons grandchildren and five great-grandchil- Thomas, l’75; a sister; and two grand- and one stepdaughter, nine grandchil- dren survive. children. dren, three stepgrandchildren and 11 Virginia Wilber Torrance Bolin, ’31, Grace Glanville, b’32, 92, June 15 in great-grandchildren. Aug. 11 in Kansas City. She is survived Kansas City. Five nieces and a nephew David Prager, c’39, l’42, 83, June 30 in by a daughter, Kenya Torrance Donohue, survive. Topeka, where he was retired chief jus- d’57; a stepson, William Bolin, c’50; two Alice Sutton Grant, c’30, 93, May 6 tice of the Kansas Supreme Court. He is
60 | KANSAS ALUMNI survived by his wife, Dorothy Schroeter Donald Blair, b’43, 80, March 6 in Kansas City, where he practiced medi- Prager, c’42; a son, David, c’76, l’78; a Lawrence. He is survived by his wife, cine. Surviving are his wife, Elsie Lowell daughter, Diane, f’74; and a grand- Alice; a son, Jeff, d’74; and a daughter, Haight, d’40; a daughter, Jean Haight daughter. Karen, c’76, g’82. Anderson, d’67; a son, John Jr., c’69, Morris Thompson, c’38, 86, Aug. 25. Fred Coulson, c’46, 81, July 16 in m’73; and two grandsons. He lived in Rocky Mount, N.C., and was Sun City West, Ariz. He is survived by Simon Hershorn, c’44, m’46, 80, Aug. retired president of the Kirksville (Mo.) his wife, Mary Schnitzler Coulson, c’46; 10 in Wichita, where he chaired the radi- College of Osteopathic Medicine. Seven three sons, two of whom are Richard, ology department at Wesley Medical children are among survivors. b’76, and Philip, b’71; and seven Center. He is survived by his wife, Robert Uplinger, ’34, July 27 in grandchildren. Arlene, two sons, a sister and three Syracuse, N.Y., where he founded R.J. Joan Larson Dain, ’49, 75, May 25 in grandchildren. Uplinger Inc., a distributor of power Montrose, Colo. She is survived by her Janet Holloway, m’49, 84, June 28 in transmission equipment. He also had husband, Art; a son; a sister, Kathleen Winter Haven, Fla. She was an anesthesi- been president of Lions Clubs Larson Raney, c’50; five grandchildren; ologist at Hutzel & Harper Hospital in International. He is survived by his wife, and two great-grandchildren. Detroit before retiring and is survived by Martha, a daughter, a son, three grand- Dwight Deay, c’49, July 10 in a nephew. children, three great-grandchildren and a Overland Park, where he was a former Melvin Huxtable Jr., e’48, 78, July stepgreat-grandchild. sales manager for Glaxo-Smith Kline. He 23 in Lawrence, where he owned John Way, c’34, m’40, 92, March 31 in is survived by two sons, Charles, c’82, Huxtable & Associates. A memorial Redmond, Wash., where he practiced m’86, and Robert, b’86; a daughter; and has been established with the KU medicine for many years. Three daugh- six grandchildren. Endowment Association. He is survived ters, two sons and two grandchildren Donna Shahan Drehmer, n’47, 76, by his wife, Gayle, assoc.; two daughters, survive. July 24 in Dodge City, where she was a one of whom is Kathryn, c’81; a step- Rae Stoland Weatherby, c’34, 89, nurse. Surviving are a son; a daughter; son; a brother; two grandchildren; two Aug. 8 in Holden. She is survived by four two brothers, one of whom is Robert stepgrandchildren; and a great- daughters; a son; a brother, Robert Shahan, b’61; and five grandchildren. grandchild. Stoland, c’46; nine grandchildren; and Donice Schwein Evans, c’44, 80, July Howard Lincoln, g’41, 84, June 12 in three great-grandchildren. 25 in Wichita. She is survived by a son; Minnetonka, Minn., where he was a Lillian Gentry Wesley, c’37, March 4 two daughters; a brother, Mack Schwein, retired scientist with Pillsbury. Surviving in Washington, D.C., where she man- g’67; five grandchildren; and two step- are his wife, Peggy, a son, a daughter, a aged the U.S. Department of the Army’s grandchildren. sister and a grandson. personnel testing programs. She is sur- Pershing Frederick, p’40, 83, July 19 Ivo Malan, g’49, PhD’56, in Hamilton, vived by her husband, Edwin, a son and in Colby, where he owned Frederick N.Y. He was a professor emeritus of two grandsons. Pharmacy. He is survived by his wife, romance languages and literature at Marcella Sterling Williams, c’31, 93, Kay, a son, a brother, two sisters, two Colgate College. A brother survives. July 21 in Lakeland, Fla. She is survived stepbrothers and a stepsister. Bolivar Marquez, c’46, e’48, May 1 in by her husband, Cleo, c’35; two sons, Norman Gale, m’40, 88, June 13 in Panama City, Panama, where he was an one of whom is Richard, b’66; four San Diego, where he was retired chief of engineer and a cattleman. Among sur- grandchildren; and three great-grand- medicine at Sharp Memorial Hospital. vivors are two sons, one of whom is children. He is survived by his wife, Linda, a Bolivar, j’78; and three daughters, two of daughter, a son, a brother, a sister and whom are Rosina Marquez Halpen, b’83, 1940s six grandchildren. and Emma Marquez Zarak, b’85. Margaret Scott Baker, n’44, 83, Aug. Marion DeVault George, c’47, 75, Mavis Williams Menninger, c’48, 80, 19 in Yorktown, Va. She lived in m’50, May 25 in Elm Grove, Wis., where July 6 in Topeka. She is survived by her Wamego and had been a nurse and a she practiced medicine. She is survived husband, Robert, c’48; a son; two daugh- social worker. Surviving are her hus- by four sons; a daughter, Konstance, ters; three sisters; and 10 grandchildren. band, Robert, two daughters, two sons, c’84; a brother; and several grandchil- Condra Miller, b’42, 88, Sept. 3 in seven grandchildren and 10 great-grand- dren. Overland Park, where he was a teacher children. George Haessler, l’49, 79, July 15 in and an accountant. Survivors include a Vern Birney, ’48, 80, May 30 in Lincoln, Neb. He is survived by his wife, daughter, Ann Miller Krug, d’68; and a Bucklin, where he was a retired farmer Marjorie, three sons, a brother, a sister, granddaughter. and rancher. He is survived by his wife, six grandchildren and two great-grand- Joy Miller, c’44, 79, May 8 in Concord, Kathryn; a son, Joe, c’89; a daughter, children. Calif. She had been women’s editor for Jonelle, j’91; and three grandchildren. Max Haight, c’40, m’44, Aug. 19 in the Associated Press. A brother survives.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 61 In Memory
Rosemary Alderman Nagle, c’48, 77, in Hutchinson, where he was a retired Varner Frizell, c’47; two sons, Trip, b’76, July 15 in Overland Park. She is survived mechanical engineer. He is survived by l’80, g’80, and Jeffrey, c’79; a sister, by three sons, one of whom is John, his wife, June, four sons, nine grandchil- Beverly Frizell Blackwell, c’46; and five e’79, g’86; two daughters, one of whom dren and two great-grandchildren. grandchildren. is Nancy Nagle Bolts, f’76; and 10 grand- Emmett Green, e’50, May 31 in children. 1950s Joplin, Mo., where he was vice president Benjamin “Frank” Palmer, ’49, 79, Sara “Sallie” Wyman Barnum, d’58, of Allgeier, Martin & Associates. July 5 in Hurst, Texas. He had worked 65, May 20 in Salina, where she was a Survivors include a son, Lyle, c’80; and a for Boeing in Wichita and is survived by social worker. She is survived by her hus- daughter. his wife, Eleanor, two sons, a daughter, a band, Dean, e’56; a son; a daughter; a Clifford Hardy, e’57, 70, July 8 in stepson, two stepdaughters, three sisters, brother; and two grandchildren. Denton, where he was a professor of two grandchildren and five stepgrand- Thor Bogren Jr., c’57, 67, Sept. 27 in teacher education and administration at children. Columbus, Ind., where he was a retired North Texas State University. He is O’Ruth Sisk Petterson, m’44, 82, pastor. Surviving are his wife, Shirley, a survived by his wife, Linda, a son, July 6 in Wichita, where she was an son, a daughter, two brothers and a sis- two daughters, a sister and five grand- obstetrician. She is survived by three ter. children. sons, two of whom are Michael, c’73, Robert Butzberger, c’59, May 26 in Dan Jaimes, d’58, g’67, 66, July 15 in and Dennis, c’71, m’74; a daughter; four West Palm Beach, Fla., where he was a Lawrence, where he was retired principal sisters, one of whom is Nell Sisk McLain, retired physical therapist. He is survived at Central Junior High School. He is sur- c’81; eight grandchildren; and a great- by his wife, Carol, a daughter, two sons, vived by his wife, Kay; two sons, one of grandchild. a sister and three grandchildren. whom is Brian, c’89; two stepdaughters; Weir Pierson, m’44, 85, July 14 Charles Church, c’51, 75, June 23 in a brother; two sisters, one of whom is in McPherson, where he was a surgeon. Lenexa, where he was retired from the Ernestine Jaimes Muzzy, s’75; and six Surviving are his wife, Loretta, assoc.; banking business. He is survived by his grandchildren. a son, Tad, c’74; four daughters, two wife, Judith, a son, a stepdaughter, a Bob Long, e’50, 79, July 25 in Pratt. of whom are Judith Pierson Talbott, stepson and a granddaughter. He owned B&H Electric in Cunningham c’62, and Merrily, c’64; a sister; nine Barbara Wilson Creighton, c’59, 64, and is survived by two sons, one of grandchildren; and six great-grand- May 28 in Aurora, Colo. She lived in whom is Scott, b’84; a daughter; a children. Atwood and is survived by her husband, grandson; and a stepgrandson. Ralph Preston, m’44, 82, June 12 in Robert, c’56, l’60; two sons, John, c’88, Alfred Moore, d’50, 74, Aug. 16 in Topeka, where he practiced medicine. b’88, and Alexander, l’89; a brother; and Chico, Calif., where he was a retired Surviving are a daughter and a son, R. five grandchildren. teacher and administrator. He is survived Steven, h’78. Jerry Street Cudney, c’55, 67, June 14 by his wife, Melba; a son; two daughters; Kenneth Pringle, c’47, l’50, 78, Aug. 1 in Kansas City, where she was an a sister, Constance Moore Nininger, c’51; in Wichita, where he helped found accountant. Surviving are her husband, two brothers, one of whom is Kenneth, Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace & Bauer. Robert; two sons; a daughter, Karen c’53; and four grandchildren. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; two Cudney Schoenhofer, p’87; and eight Ronald Simmons, c’52, 71, Aug. 12 sons, Douglas, c’76, and Bruce, b’78; a grandchildren. in La Plata, Md., where he was an daughter, Lynne, j’81; two sisters, Robert Drumm, p’51, 76, Aug. 25 in internationally recognized authority on Helen Pringle Parzybok, c’43, and Topeka, where he had owned Jayhawk solid propellants. He is survived by his Mary Pringle Morozzo, c’43; and nine Pharmacy before retiring in 1989. He wife, Carol; a son; two daughters; two grandchildren. was a member of the 1948 Orange Bowl stepdaughters, Tracy Back, h’81, and Mary Lu Hill Roberts, c’47, 77, July 7 team. Surviving are Donna, his wife of Kerri Bowman, b’84; a brother; and 11 in Lawrence, where she directed food 49 years; two daughters, Cristie Koehn, grandchildren. services for the Lawrence public schools. ’78, and Terri Drumm Cox, n’81; a sister, James Stoner, f’52, July 22 in She is survived by two sisters, one of Vera Drumm Kiewit, assoc.; and two Coarsegold, Calif., where he was a whom is Winifred Hill Gallup, f’41. grandchildren. retired college bookstore manager. He is Martha Tyson Twiehaus,’43, Jan. 12 in Patricia Ellis, c’59, 63, June 16 in survived by his wife, Anne Southwick Sun City Center, Fla. Santa Rosa, Calif., where she was a Stoner, f’54; a son; and a daughter. Zoltan “Toby” Tober, e’49, 84, May blood-bank and laboratory examiner. James Weimer, b’51, June 30 in 30 in Springfield, Mo. He worked in the Edward “Bud” Frizell, ’51, May 29 in Dallas, where he was a retired partner public relations department at Hutchinson, where he was former presi- in Price Waterhouse. He is survived by Caterpillar Tractor. A brother survives. dent of Great American Life Insurance. his wife, Ruth Ann Marsh Weimer, d’53; Maurice Updegrove, e’44, 79, June 21 He is survived by his wife, Barbara a daughter, Ann Weimer Hannah, d’80;
62 | KANSAS ALUMNI a son; a brother; and three grandchil- mer registrar at Ottawa University. his parents; a sister, Janet, c’95; and dren. She is survived by her husband, Bob, two brothers. b’53; four sons; two daughters; and four 1960s grandchildren. 2000s Linda Fisher Boone, c’69, PhD’74, 54, Bruce Robinson, ’75, 49, June 30 in Nathanial Buckley, j’00, 25, Aug. 7 in Aug. 13 in Garden City. She chaired the Roeland Park, where he worked in real the crash of a U.S. Air Force training mis- biology department at the University of estate. He is survived by his wife, sion near San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was a Michigan-Dearborn and is survived by Marjorie; two sons; his parents, Arthur, first lieutenant stationed at Hurlburt her husband, Louis, a’71, and a son. c’42, m’44, and Betty Hess Robinson, Field, Fla. His father is among survivors. Marsha Carver Dalton, d’65, 58, Aug. c’43; a brother, Arthur, c’75; and two sis- A memorial has been established with 11 in Denver. Two sons, two sisters, a ters, Betsy Robinson VanderVelde, s’73, the KU Endowment Association to per- brother and two grandchildren survive. s’74, and Jane Robinson Leach, d’80. petually fund an annual scholarship John Jeffrey, e’60, PhD’64, 63, Jan. 13 George Tiffany, c’72, 53, Sept. 1. He award for an Air Force ROTC cadet. in Louisville, Ky., where he was retired was a landscape nurseryman in Topeka Brant Henderson, ’00, 26, Aug. 26 in from DuPont. He is survived by his wife, and is survived by his wife, Laura, d’71; Lawrence, where he was a free-lance Linda, two sons, two daughters, a step- a son, Michael, student; a daughter; two graphic designer. He is survived by his son, four stepdaughters and three grand- brothers; and two sisters. parents, Larry, p’73, and Charlene children. Lesle Walker, c’76, 48, July 27 in Henderson; a brother, Trent, d’02; and Richard King, b’66, 57, Aug. 18 in Hays, where she was a medical technolo- his grandfather. Houston. He lived in DeSoto and was a gist. Her mother and a sister survive. banker. Surviving are his wife, Judith, a The University Community son, Brian, c’98; a daughter; a sister, Julia 1980s Nancy Fort Dahl, c’56, PhD’62, 70, King Muller, d’63; and three grandchil- Eric Lienhard, ’88, 37, Aug. 2 in Aug. 8 in Lawrence, where she was a pro- dren. Oskaloosa. He is survived by his parents, fessor of physiology and cell biology. Benjamin Langel, b’62, l’64, 61, June William, b’52, and Jeanine Lienhard; and Surviving are her husband, Dennis, c’56, 7 in Wichita, where he was a retired three sisters, two of whom are Julie m’61, PhD’63; a son; and a daughter, attorney. He is survived by his wife, Lienhard Kivisto, c’78, and Betsy Kathleen Dahl Nuckolls, c’94, g’98, g’01. Sondra Hays Langel, d’63, a son, Everett, Lienhard Scott, c’84. Diane Hill, s’73, June 20 in Atchison, c’92; a daughter, Julia, g’02; his father; Maryellen Murphy Risley, ’85, 48, July where she was a nun, a teacher and a and a sister. 6 in Lawrence. She lived in Olathe and social worker. She had been a field Nancy Bengel Lynott, c’68, May 21 in was a teacher. Surviving are three daugh- instructor in the School of Social Welfare. Shrewsbury, N.J. She is survived by her ters; her father and stepmother; four Two brothers survive. husband, Michael, g’72, g’76; a daughter; brothers; two sisters; two stepbrothers, Lois Pangle Kruger, 86, Dec. 18 in and a son. Britt Bray, b’79, and Edward Bray, b’82, Austin, Texas. She had been a professor Marilyn Hunt Scharine, g’64, July 9 in e’82; and five stepsisters, three of whom of social work and is survived by a Salt Lake City, where she was a teacher. are Mary Bray Cordill, b’77, Emily Bray daughter, a son, five grandchildren and She is survived by her husband, Richard, Perry, c’85, and Cara Bray Rantner, c’02 four great-grandchildren. g’64, PhD’73; a son; and a daughter. Phyllis Siefker, g’89, 60, Aug. 2 in Michael Maher, 73, July 22 in Kansas City. She lived in Lawrence and Lawrence, where he had taught biology 1970s had directed communications for the KU at KU. Two sons and a daughter survive. Janet Bishop Baxter, ’71, July 16 in School of Business. Surviving are her Frank Starkey, g’72, 63, Sept. 14 in Bethany Beach, Del., where she was a husband, Scott Nesbitt; two sons, Lawrence, where he was retired assistant retired teacher. She is survived by her Brandt, c’95, and Kurt, f’00; two sisters, vice chancellor. A memorial has been husband, William, g’71; a son; two one of whom is Barbara Siefker Neff, established with the KU Endowment daughters; two sisters; and five grand- g’84; and a brother. Association. He is survived by a brother children. and three sisters. John Holmes, c’74, m’77, 55, June 21 1990s Howard Stettler, 83, Aug. 8 in Dallas. in Shawnee, where he practiced medi- Scott Noll, c’91, 34, Aug. 30 in a He taught accounting at KU from 1947 cine. He is survived by his wife, Christie; traffic accident north of Lake Havasu to 1984 and wrote two textbooks. Since a daughter; a son, Peter, student; his City, Ariz., that also killed his wife, retirement he had been active in the mother; a sister; and two brothers, Laurali, and their children, Ashley and Endacott Society. He is survived by two Robert, c’79, and Richard, f’77 Brandon. He lived in Vista, Calif., and daughters, Sandra Stettler, c’74, g’78, Annabelle Bowers Pence, g’71, 75, worked for the San Diego County g’80, and Dianne Stettler Lemmon, d’84; July 28 in Ottawa, where she was for- Sheriff’s Department. Survivors include a son; a brother; and three grandchildren.
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 63 Rock Chalk Review
Half of the group was given Zyban; the other half received a placebo. All study AARON DELESIE AARON participants took part in “motivational interviewing,” a counseling technique, led by black counselors. After seven weeks, 36 percent of study partici- pants on Zyban reported total cessation, defined as “having smoked no ciga- rettes—not even a puff—for the previous seven days.” Jasjit Ahluwalia wants For those in the placebo to help low-income black group, 19 percent quit the smokers gain equal access habit after seven weeks. to cessation treatments. After six months, the rates of quitting the habit were 21 and 13.7 percent. Previous studies of anti- depressants in smoking Quittin’ time cessation had focused Often-overlooked black smokers can kick almost exclusively on whites with middle and upper their habits with the help of antidepressants, incomes. In conjunction KUMC study shows with national smoking-ces- sation guidelines issued two ow-income black Americans smoke at a years ago, it is hoped the information generated higher rate than the general population by the KU study will help convince insurance and, although they try to quit the habit plans and Medicaid programs to cover the $160 Lin higher numbers than white smokers, cost of seven weeks of Zyban treatment for low- their success rate is 34 percent lower. income smokers. Now research by a KU Medical Center profes- “Every smoker who wants to quit smoking sor shows that antidepressant medications can should be offered the opportunity to use a smok- help a too-often-overlooked group of low-income ing cessation method,” Ahluwalia says. “This Americans take the critical, difficult steps toward opportunity should be pursued by their physi- better health. cians, and black smokers should be included. Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, professor and chair of pre- This study shows that urban, African-American ventive medicine, led a clinical trial studying how smokers are interested in quitting, want to quit Zyban, an antidepressant that has become a pop- and can quit.” ular component in anti-smoking programs, might In an editorial that accompanied Ahluwalia’s also help low-income minorities quit the study publication in the Journal of the American unhealthy cigarette habit. Medical Association, Neal Benowitz of the For the study, Ahluwalia and his KUMC colleagues recruited 600 low-income, black Kansas Citians, with an average age of 44 and average cigarette consumption of 17 a day.
64 | KANSAS ALUMNI University of California at San Francisco between male or female glands. He even cited the importance of conducting ces- corralled his goats (the most virile ani- ■ sation trials within minority groups. mals in the world, in the good doctor’s Quacks and Crusaders: The Fabulous Careers of Among other differences, black smokers, estimation) behind his house, where John Brinkley, Norman on average, smoke fewer cigarettes a day patients could judge for themselves the Baker, & Harry Hoxsey than do white smokers, but the nicotine relative randiness of each unwitting by Eric S. Juhnke tends to stay in their bodies longer donor, like diners perusing the lobster because it is metabolized more slowly. tank at a seafood restaurant. University Press of Culturally sensitive counseling and Despite the absurdity of these claims, Kansas, informational materials also helped the Brinkley was wildly popular with rural, $29.95 participants, Benowitz concluded. working-class Midwesterners. So too “Eventually, race or ethnicity may be were the other charlatans profiled in considered unimportant as new knowl- Eric S. Juhnke’s Quacks & Crusaders: The edge becomes available about how Fabulous Careers of John Brinkley, Norman Cliff University, Juhnke sketches brief genetic and environmental factors influ- Baker & Harry Hoxsey. For Juhnke, biographies of Brinkley and his contem- ence response to treatment,” Benowitz PhD’00, the central question is, Why? poraries before turning his attention to wrote in his editorial. “Until then, for During the Depression, at the height their followers. He persuasively argues complex behavioral disorders such as of his popularity, Brinkley’s annual that Brinkley, with his goat gland cure- tobacco addiction, which require both income topped $1 million. He owned a all, and Baker and Hoxsey, with their pharmacologic and behavioral therapies, mansion, a yacht and a custom-built air- herbal treatments for cancer, were not clinical trials focused on minority groups plane. He also owned his own radio sta- simply con men fleecing country rubes. are critical.” tion, KFKB, and his broadcasts drew They were that and more. Ahluwalia’s study was funded by a mountains of fan mail. When Kansas Brinkley, for example, used his radio grant from the National Cancer Institute. authorities yanked his medical license, shows to prescribe tonics for patients he Glaxo Smith Kline provided medications he sought revenge by twice running for diagnosed by examining nothing more for the study, but did not play a role in governor. In 1930 he nearly won. than their letters describing symptoms. design or conduct of the study or inter- Assistant professor of history at Briar (The coded prescriptions, good only at pretation and analysis of data. —Chris Lazzarino
◆ ◆ ◆ Great estates OREAD READER enowned designer Chuck Fischer, f’77, a painter of Rprivate commissions for some of the world’s finest Quacks & Quirks homes, pays small-scale homage to grand-scale architec- ture with his new pop-up book, Great American Houses Two books—a scholarly history and Gardens (Universe Publishing, $39.95). Double-page and a catalog of curiosities— spreads fold out to create delve into Kansas oddities elaborate 3-D replicas of Monticello, Mount Vernon, s snake oil pitches go, John DELESIE AARON Vizcaya and other monu- Brinkley’s would seem an mental mansions. Fischer’s unlikely one on which to build period drawings, with con- an empire. temporary photos and A text written by curators Operating from his in-home hospital in Milford, Brinkley promised to restore of these architectural sexual vigor (and cure two dozen other treasures (all wonderfully maladies) by implanting goat gonads in preserved and open to men and women. Purported side effects the public), make for art- included disappearing wrinkles and ful, inventive, pop-up “development of the bust.” Expectant pleasure. mothers, he claimed, could determine —Steven Hill their children’s gender by choosing
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 65 Rock Chalk Review pharmacies controlled by Brinkley, gen- Professors Barbara Anthony-Twarog and erated $14,000 a week in kickbacks.) He Bruce Twarog, a husband and wife team of also used his unlimited air time to deliv- KU astronomers, are unlocking some secrets er sermons and lectures that attacked of the Milky Way that could offer insights into his enemies (the American Medical the galaxy’s appearance at the time stars Association, the Kansas Board of Medical were formed. Examiners and the Kansas City Star, among others) and galvanized support- PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AARON DELESIE AARON BY ILLUSTRATION PHOTO ers. Swooping from the sky for campaign rallies wearing a white linen suit, dia- monds and (a stroke of marketing “Obviously whoever wrote that, genius?) a dashing goatee, he was a pre- besides being functionally illiterate, had cursor of both televangelists and the never been here,” Grout retorts. Every modern political campaigner. page of her irreverent catalog of the “If the doctor was indeed a fluke and state’s charms and charmers seems to his treatments were worthless ... how can ring with the same unspoken refrain: we explain his long-standing popularity You ain’t seen nothing yet. and success?” Juhnke asks. The answer —Steven Hill is that the speeches of Brinkley, Baker and Hoxsey, more than their phony cures, were good for what ailed folks. Echoing themes championed by Populists earlier in the century, they Heavenly glimpses affirmed the simple values that many writer makes a delightful survey of the rural Midwesterners felt were under Sunflower State’s attractions off the of Milky Way past attack. Though surely quacks, to many beaten path. country people they were also crusaders. All the usual suspects are here: Astronomers analyze metals “Their message proved more potent Cawker City’s twine ball, Dinsmore’s to show galaxy’s evolution than their medicines in treating the cement Eden, Big Brutus’ coal scoop. fears, insecurities and failing health of More entertaining, though, are the he research that Bruce Twarog their numerous supporters,” Juhnke con- unsung oddballs who get their day in and his wife, Barbara Anthony- cludes. As bizarre as the pitches sound the sun. Twarog, conduct can best today, they were exactly the note of hope There’s Charlotte Smith, of Emporia, Tbe described as taking a many needed to hear in the dark days of who owns so many cookie jars she had cosmic census. depression. to buy them their own house. There’s The couple, both professors of Jane Koger, of Matfield Green, who physics and astronomy, methodically started the world’s first all-woman cattle comb the Milky Way galaxy as they try ranch because “women are better for cat- to classify the age, location and chemical Kansas Curiosities tle.” There’s Leroy Wilson, of Luray, who content of stars, gas, and the large collec- Quirky Characters, retired from farming and took up paint- tion of hundreds or even thousands of Roadside Oddities & ing. His basement. Over and over and stars known as star clusters. Other Offbeat Stuff over for 12 years straight. “When we put all of that information by Pam Grout Lawrence figures prominently in together, hopefully we can figure out the The Globe Pequot Grout’s magical mystery tour; it’s the past history of the entire system,” Bruce Press, only city to rate its own chapter. (The Twarog says. $12.95 rest of the book is organized into six The couple recently made a break- geographical regions.) And while much through by identifying the star cluster of her take on the town and the state is NGC 6253 as the most metal-rich star lighthearted, her overall theme is gen- cluster in our galaxy. By “metals” the sci- decidedly lighter brand of odd- uinely heartfelt. Kansas Curiosities sets entists are referring collectively to all of ity intrigues Pam Grout, author out to debunk myths and quell “nasty the elements—other than hydrogen and of Kansas Curiosities: Quirky rumors” that Kansas is flat, ugly, back- helium—that are present in the atmos- A Characters, Roadside Oddities & ward or, in the words of Spy magazine, phere of a star. Other Offbeat Stuff. The Lawrence travel “the most boringest state in the union.” The metals are quite rare, since hydro-
66 | KANSAS ALUMNI gen and helium usually make up more the galaxy,” says Anthony-Twarog. An interesting offshoot of this than 98 percent of the mass of the stars. To conduct this research, the research is that it may lead to the discov- The stars in star cluster NGC 6253, a astronomers brought back dozens of ery of additional planets. moderately old cluster that was formed images of the star cluster taken at the “It is connected, although that wasn’t some 3 billion years ago, had a metal National Science Foundation’s Cerro our motivation,” Anthony-Twarog says. content of about 5 percent, they con- Tololo Interamerican Observatory in “It has become apparent in the last few cluded. Chile. The General Research Fund from years—for reasons we don’t really under- Tracking the abundance of metal-rich KU and the department of physics and stand—that the stars people are finding stars not only gives the astronomers a astronomy supported these visits and planets around tend to have more metals chance to see what the Milky Way cur- purchased the special filters the than the sun. So one of the strategies rently looks like, but it also gives them astronomers required. people are using to find more planets is insights into the galaxy’s appearance at Back in Lawrence, they ran the to look at stars that are more enhanced the time the stars formed. images through elaborate software in metal content. That’s been pretty suc- For the most part, the oldest stars designed by the National Observatories. cessful, though we don’t know why.” tend to have a very low metal content. Enlisting the help of their undergraduate Anthony-Twarog says this connection They were formed out of gas at a time research student, Nathan De Lee, c’02, between metal-rich stars and the possi- when the Milky Way galaxy was purely the researchers endured the time-inten- bility of additional planets has provided hydrogen and helium. However, as the sive task of determining the metal con- several other research opportunities. stars evolved, they created metals in tent of the hundreds of stars in that clus- Still, she says, gaining a better under- their core through nuclear fusion. When ter. Bruce Twarog delivered the results of standing of the Milky Way was thrilling these stars died and exploded, they the study earlier this month at the meet- in and of itself. ejected the metals back into the galactic ing of the American Astronomical “The Milky Way is a big place; our gas. The stars that formed in the after- Society in Albuquerque, N.M. picture of it has been painted with a math from this existing gas had a higher The entire process has taken about broad brush,” she says. “There are big metal content. three years, but Anthony-Twarog said gaps in our understanding of how the “These elements are made by stars’ they purposely took their time to make galaxy formed, and they will only be lives and deaths, so tracking the amount sure they were as accurate as possible. filled in when we understand more of of metal abundance as a function of time Their work is far from over. They will the details about its appearance.” and space in the galaxy is one of our continue sampling other clusters, in all —Ranjit Arab, j’93, is a science and news techniques for studying the evolution of corners of the galaxy, for metal content. writer for the Office of University Relations.
Speed demon because of the current economic uncertain- ties in the Internet industry and with the project’s industrial partner, Nortel DELESIE AARON he ongoing need for speed in Internet Networks. and other fiber-optic communications T “The results were quite impressive,” he got a boost of power, thanks to research says,“so we decided to write a patent appli- recently patented by Ron Hui, associate cation.” professor of electrical engineering. Hui is continuing his collaboration with Hui and his KU colleagues developed a industry and the National Science semiconductor/laser device that helps gen- Foundation to create better high-speed erate high-frequency transmission.The fiber-optic systems. device could be used for transmitting over “The importance of working with indus- the Internet or any other fiber-optic sytem, try,” says Victor Frost, director of the KU Hui says. Information and Telecommunication Although the device is intended to be a Technology Center,“is to solve practical practical improvement for existing systems research problems that are relevant to as well as future upgrades, Hui fears its advancing the state of the art.” immediate application will be limited —Chris Lazzarino Ron Hui
ISSUE 6, 2002 | 67 Oread Encore BY CHRIS LAZZARINO
decade that Pluto was undeserving of its plane- tary status. The National Research Council came to Pluto’s defense in July, advising Congress and NASA that exploration of Having already Pluto should be the space discovered the ninth agency’s top priority in planet, graduate student solar-system exploration. But October brought yet Clyde Tombaugh (center) another salvo in the anti- was already a star, sought Pluto crusade: announce- out for photos by campus ment of the discovery of leaders such as men’s “Quaoar,” an orbiting adviser Henry Werner, object half the size of g’28, and Professor Pluto and, in relative Olin Templin,d’1884, space terms, somewhat of c’1886, g’1889. Below is a neighbor. Its discovery an enhanced image appears to strengthen ar- of Tombaugh’s guments that Pluto is just distant trophy. one of many nonplanetary objects in the distant Kuiper Belt. “Quaoar definitely hurts the case for Pluto being a planet,” one of its discover- Fading star? ers, Cal Tech’s Michael E. Pluto, the planet discovered by a KU Brown, told The New York Times. “If Pluto were dis- alumnus, loses scientific stature even as covered today, no one exploration is urged would even consider call- ing it a planet, because it’s luto lost its discoverer and most ardent clearly a Kuiper Belt object.” defender with the death of astronomer Without Tombaugh around to deflect criti- Clyde Tombaugh in 1997. Now the icy, cism, little Pluto has had few advocates, and the Pdistant planet needs Tombaugh more as-yet unfunded mission to Pluto and the Kuiper than ever. Belt could be in jeopardy. Tombaugh, c’36, g’39, was 24 years old when Then again, it’s not certain he would have he discovered Pluto on Feb. 18, 1930, while even bothered with the arguments. working at the Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff, “It’s not worth making such a fuss over,” Ariz. “I knew instantly I had a planet,” Tombaugh Patricia Edson Tombaugh, c’39, said on the occa- once said. “It was a tremendous thrill.” sion of her husband’s 90th birthday celebration As more discoveries rolled in, though, the in 1996. “Pluto has all the requirements, and it thrill wore thin for other astronomers, some of will be a planet forever.” whom waged terse arguments over the past Good enough for us. IMAGE OF PLUTO WITH SIMULATED ICY SURFACE COURTESY NASA: COURTESY ICY SURFACE ARCHIVES/SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY WITH SIMULATED UNIVERSITY OF PLUTO IMAGE
68 | KANSAS ALUMNI