No 1, 2014 n $5

Blaze of Glory ‘Fire Spectacular’ draws ceramicists from near and far

n Maria the Mexican n Mars mission

Contents | January 2014

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20 26 30 COVER STORY A Martian Odyssey Blood Harmony All Fired Up As the world’s rst and only Sisters Tess and Maria Cuevas exopaleontologist and a set their mariachi roots to a e department of visual arts’ member of NASA’s Curiosity rock ’n’ roll beat in Maria the Fire Spectacular kindles rover project, Jack Farmer is a Mexican. creativity for ceramics artists pioneer in the eld of Mars from campus, Lawrence and exploration. By Steven Hill beyond.

By Chris Lazzarino By Diane Silver

Cover image by Steve Puppe

Established in 1902 as e Graduate Magazine Volume 112, No. 1, 2014 ISSUE 1, 2014 | 1

January 2014

60

Publisher Kevin J. Corbett, c’88 Editor Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81 Creative Director Susan Younger, f’91 5 First Word e editor’s turn Associate Editors Chris Lazzarino, j’86 Steven Hill Editorial Assistant Karen Goodell 6 On the Boulevard KU & Alumni Association events Photographers Steve Puppe, j’98 Dan Storey Graphic Designer Valerie Spicher, j’94 8 Jayhawk Walk Ramen goes upscale, research goes mobile and yell Communications Coordinator Leah Kohlman, c’11 leader spirit never ags

Advertising Sales Representative 10 Hilltopics David Johnston, j’94, g’06 News and notes: KU begins annual quest for state Editorial and Advertising Oce funding; renovation set for Spencer Museum. KU Alumni Association 1266 Oread Avenue Lawrence, KS 66045-3169 16 Sports 785-864-4760 Basketball big man Embiid leads deep frontcourt; 800-584-2957 volleyball achieves rsts with NCAA run. www.kualumni.org [email protected] 34 Association News KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN 0745-3345) is published by the “Jayhawks and Juleps” sets festive theme for Rock KU Alumni Association six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November. $55 annual subscription includes member- Chalk Ball in April. ship in the Alumni Association. Ožce of Publication: 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-3169. Periodicals postage paid at Lawrence, KS. 38 Class Notes Proles of an ultramarathoner, a charity founder, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kansas Alumni Magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-3169 © 2014 by Kansas Alumni an investigative reporter and more Magazine. Non-member issue price: $7 56 In Memory Deaths in the KU family Letters to the Editor: 60 Rock Chalk Review Kansas Alumni welcomes letters to the editor. Our address Rhodes nalists draw inspiration from theatre; is Kansas Alumni magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, journalist Marso chronicles meningitis recovery. KS 66045-3169. Email responses may be sent to the Alumni Association, [email protected]. 64 Glorious to View Letters appearing in the magazine may be Scene on campus edited for space and clarity. For letters published, we’ll send a free gift of KU Campus Playing Cards, a $5 value.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 3

by Jennifer Jackson Sanner First Word

ven though Ryan and Erinn Colaianni are in the midst of The Colaiannis and Paige Gugat (r) welcomed prospective students and Erenovating their home in Arlington, Va., they did not hesitate their families. KU juniors Erica Davis and Hayley Davis, both from the to host a student recruitment event Jan. 12 for prospective local area, shared their campus experiences. Guests included Jamie Jayhawks from the Washington, D.C., area. “Erinn and I would be Wilson Collins, b’84; her sister, Dana Wilson, j’82; and Dana’s daughter, honored to serve as co-hosts,” Ryan said in an email shortly before McKenzie Cory, who proudly declared her commitment to continue the anksgiving. “With both of us from out of state, and relatively family’s KU tradition. McKenzie says the reception “definitely would recent alumni, I think we would be ideal folks to tell our story and have nudged me in the direction of KU” had she not already decided. share how much KU means to us.” Ryan, c’07, j’07, grew up in McLean, Va., and applied to 12 schools before choosing KU. Erinn Schaiberger Colaianni, b’07, give them as much information as possible while they make their g’08, grew up in Mesa, Ariz., and considered eight colleges decision—and perhaps spur them to visit. I held an event in the before deciding to become a Jayhawk. ey met at a Super Bowl New York City area as well, and the high school students really party as KU seniors and married in 2010. Shortly aer graduat- enjoyed talking to the current students and learning all about ing, Ryan volunteered to help lead the Washington, D.C., chapter; their transition to college life in Lawrence.” he won the Dick Wintermote Chapter Volunteer of the Year Gugat asked Ryan; Lisa Burgess, ’06; Erica Davis, Washington, Award in 2011. D.C., junior; and Hayley Davis, Centreville, Va., junior, to e Colaiannis hosted one of 13 “Home for the Holidays” describe their own college searches and eld questions from events in key cities: New York; Austin, Texas; Omaha, Neb.; students and parents on subjects including residence halls, study San Francisco; Phoenix; Atlanta; Tulsa, Okla.; Wichita; San Diego; abroad, internships, ’Hawk Week, campus activities, KU basket- Los Angeles; Memphis, Tenn.; and Kansas City. Hosted by the ball and the Jayhawk alumni network. Oce of Admissions and the Alumni Association in alumni Lorna Jackson, whose son, Jelani, is considering KU, praised the homes, the receptions oer opportunities for high school seniors event in an email: “We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on Sunday. and their families to meet informally with admissions representa- ... e information and experiences we heard from the alumni tives, current KU students who are home during winter break, and the two students were absolutely inspiring. e one thing that and alumni. stuck with me was the way in which KU alumni have built a With their own home full of paint cans and power tools, the ‘Forever Network’ for your students. And it was a good idea to couple transported trays of food and supplies into Washington, host such an event for prospective students who may not have the where Ryan, a senior account executive at Edelman public opportunity to visit the KU campus.” relations, secured one of the rm’s employee lounges for the During the panel discussion, Ryan Colaianni assured the local reception. Fourteen prospective students and their families students that KU would soon feel like home. “No matter where attended, along with two current KU students, several young you are from or who you know, you’re going to feel at home alumni and co-host Paige Gugat, j’07, who recruits East Coast right away. I didn’t know anybody, but I consider Kansas my students full time as one of eight KU regional admissions second home now. If I could move back to Lawrence tomorrow, representatives, six of whom were hired last summer (“National I would do it.” Reach,” No. 5, 2013). But for now, he and Erinn will stay in Arlington and hope “ is is our rst year having a Home for the Holidays event on to have their home projects nished in time to host next year’s the East Coast, and I am so thrilled to be able to do so, ” says recruitment reception in their renovated basement. Gugat, who lives in Washington. “Not everybody is able to make e décor no doubt will feature lots of Jayhawks and hues it to Lawrence for a campus visit, and this is the next best thing to of crimson and blue.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 5 On the Boulevard

The Lied Center’s spring COURTESY LIED CENTER (4) COURTESY lineup brings exhilarating acts to center stage (clockwise from left) China’s world record- holding Peking Acrobats, “The Wonderful Wizard of Song,” The Cleveland Orchestra and “The Addams Family.”

Exhibitions 25 Wind Ensemble 28 “Much Ado About 27 Visiting Artist Series: Nothing,” directed by Peter Martha Coucel Vargas, ute, “James Turrell: Gard Blue,” 26 e Cleveland Orchestra Zazzali Swarthout Recital Hall Spencer Museum of Art, through May 18 MARCH MARCH FEBRUARY “Conversation XVII: 9 Gleb Ivanov 1-2, 7-9 “Much Ado About 9 Kansas Virtuosi, Photographic Memory,” 11 University Band and Nothing,” directed by Peter Swarthout Recital Hall Spencer Museum of Art, Symphonic Band Zazzali through May 18 18 Women’s Chorale, Swarthout Recital Hall University Theatre Lied Center events Murphy Hall events MARCH FEBRUARY JANUARY 2 Instrumental Collegium JANUARY Musicum, Swarthout Recital 14-20 Black Box: Under- 24, 26 KU Opera presents 22 “Watchtower,” lm Hall graduate Directing Projects “Rape of Lucretia,” Craon- 26 “e Wonderful Wizard Preyer eatre of Song: e Music of Harold Arlen”

FEBRUARY 1 Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble 1 2 Prairie Winds Concert 12 “e Addams Family” 18 e Peking Acrobats

6 | KANSAS ALUMNI 9 Visiting Artist Series: Visual Imagery in Late Allison Robuck, oboe, Medieval France,” Anne D. Swarthout Recital Hall Hedeman, Judith Harris Murphy Distinguished Professor of Art History Performances MARCH FEBRUARY 11 “rough the Eye of a 6 Wind Ensemble, Parkhill Needle: Wealth, the Fall of High School, Kansas City, Rome, and the Making of Mo. Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD,” Peter Brown 13 Jazz Composers and Arrangers with Jazz Ensem- ble I & Jazz Combo I, Lawrence Arts Center Academic Calendar 27 Symphonic Band at JANUARY Kansas Music Educators Alumni events 24 Wichita Bus Trip, Association, Century II, 21 First day of spring classes KU vs. OU Wichita JANUARY MARCH 24 An Evening with 28 Women’s Chorale at 20 Wichita Bus Trip, KU vs. Naismith: Artifacts of a 17-23 Spring break Kansas Music Educators Baylor KU Legend, Tucson Association, Century II, 25 An Evening with Wichita 21 An Evening with Kansas Honors Naismith: Artifacts of a KU Naismith: Artifacts of a KU Legend, Phoenix MARCH Program Legend, Minneapolis 27 KU Night with the 7-8 23 KU Night at Goose Island Jazz Festival Concerts, Denver Nuggets Kansas Union FEBRUARY Brewery, Chicago 24 12 Scholarship Concert, 3 Fort Scott TGIF, Adams Alumni MARCH Center Kau man Center for the 3 Pittsburg 1 Great Plains Chapter Arts, Kansas City, Mo. 25 KU at TCU pregame 5 Great Bend Shrimp Boil, Garden City 13 Washington FEBRUARY 12-15 Big 12 Tournament pregame at Z-Strike, Power Lectures 17 Beloit 1 KU at UT pregame and Light District, Kansas 19 La Cygne 1-2 FEBRUARY KU Mini College, City, Mo. 26 Atchison San Antonio 14 TGIF, Adams Alumni 21 “Imagining the Past: 4 Center Interplay Between Literary & 26 Holton KU at Baylor pregame 6 KU night at Houston 17 KU Night with the Museum of Art Brooklyn Nets 11 An Evening with Naismith: Artifacts of a KU Legend, Oklahoma City 12 An Evening with Events listed here are high- Naismith: Artifacts of a lights from the Association’s KU Legend, Tulsa busy calendar. For complete 21 TGIF, Adams Alumni listings of all events, watch for Center emails about programs in your 22 Southwest Jayhawk area, visit kualumni.org or call Tumble, Liberal 800-584-2957

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 7 Jayhawk Walk

Memorable mosaic

STEVE PUPPE STEVE ext time you stop by Free State Brewing Company, the Nbrewpub that’s a Mass Street favorite, look for the new addition: A 7-by-7 foot mosaic above the front stairs by Lawrence artist Lora Jost, ’90. At the request of brewery owner Chuck Magerl, ’78, Jost created a mosaic that portrays three familiar landscapes: the Wakarusa Wetlands, the Kaw River valley and patchwork Kansas farm fields. Birds—a frequent motif in Jost’s work— figure prominently; materials include ceramic dishes donated by friends, found objects like fossils and lake pebbles, and hardware and fittings from Free State’s brewing and bottling operations. Jost eschewed direct reference to the brewery’s main product, instead reflecting Magerl’s business philosophy. “It feels like it’s in keeping with his interest in trying to stay in step with the environment while running a business,” she says. Look carefully, though, and you’ll find a piece of beer-bottle glass bearing the prairie falcon, part of the Free State logo. Because without beer, even art does not seem to go as well.

Ghost of a chance Finding no authentic made-from-scratch “ere have been tears and otherwise,” ramen bar in Kansas, they opened their says Shantel, ’02, “but mostly people leave B     a broke college own. laughing and smiling.” student, the biggest challenge posed by “We wanted to provide an escape for our ramen was working up the gumption to customers and bring a piece of what we eat it for the umpteenth time. But these love about Hawaii to Lawrence,” says Tim, days the notorious noodle is part of d’01. “We wondered, ‘What can we both PUPPE STEVE Lawrence’s hottest food dare: the do and still feel a connection to Ghost Ramen Challenge at Tim the islands?’ is is our and Shantel Grace’s restaurant, answer.” Ramen Bowls, 125 E. 10th St. e Ghost Ramen When the Kansas natives Challenge debuted on who met at KU moved back to Halloween and became Lawrence from Hawaii, they permanent due to popular missed the fusion of Japanese, demand. A mountain of Korean, Chinese, Filipino and noodles is served with a broth Portuguese in uences of island food. In made from ghost chilis, the world’s particular, they missed ramen—not the hottest pepper. salty bricks of cellophane-wrapped Finish every spicy bite (as a handful of noodles you plunge in boiling water and intrepid eaters have) and you get the $20 top with a packet of dry seasoning, but the dish for free, a T-shirt and your picture on Hawaiian take on the traditional broth- the restaurant’s Wall of Fame. Fail and you and-noodle dish that originated in Japan. earn the admiration of your peers. Tim and Shantel Grace

8 | KANSAS ALUMNI Flag football fun

A    by waving the wheat, another athletic feat also deserves cheers: the yell leaders’ lap around the track while carrying alo the K-A-N-S-A-S ags. And on windy days LARRY LEROY PEARSON LEROY LARRY such as Nov. 16, when KU scored four touchdowns against West Virginia, a daunting task gets even harder. “I was running as hard as I possibly could but felt like I wasn’t getting any- where,” says sophomore Riley Grammer. “I felt like I was walking.” Explains sophomore Cole Meierho, “You have to keep smiling when you’re completely exhausted, and then come right back and put a girl into the air.” While the letter ags are hauled out Wheel-world research a er touchdowns, the big Jayhawk ag that leads the team onto the eld—“Big often turns to videoconferencing, text messaging and Web-based technol- Blue”—is another challenge entirely. KU ogy to fulfill its research and outreach missions across Kansas. But a new “at thing feels like it weighs as much project at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning puts an old-school twist as three of those other ags,” Grammer on the high-tech approach by retrofitting a 1972 Airstream trailer purchased for says. “It’s a matter of getting it started. $4,000 on craigslist as a mobile lab for researchers. Once it gets started, it’s not that bad.” After gathering ideas from faculty, students in associate professor Nils Gore’s And, notes Grammer, “I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s an honor, and I love ARC 409 class will gut the trailer and rework the interior while preserving the shiny every minute of it.” exterior. Enhancements will include new heating and cooling, updates to the 1970s brown-and-blaze-orange furniture, and audio-visual gear for presentations. In May, the lab will be ready for road-tripping researchers. It’s already generating inter- est from scholars in business, psychology, public administration and the Life Span Institute eager to not only teach but also learn as they cross the state. “I think it fights the perception of the University as the ivory tower, cooped up on the Hill with our noses in books—that negative perception of academia as people studying stu– with little relevance to the world,” Gore says. And the Airstream’s

iconic, eye-catching design doesn’t hurt. JEFF JACOBSEN “People notice them. They’re cool. When this rolls into a town, there’s going to be a buzz around it.”

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 9 Hilltopics by Steven Hill

In actual dollars, state funding for Kansas Regents institutions equals DREAMSTIME.COM the fiscal year 2002 funding level. State General Fund support per KU undergraduate student has decreased nearly 40 percent in the past 15 years.

Kansas City campus and support the new four-year medical school program on the Wichita campus. Instead, Brownback recommended $70,000 for the Medical Center’s bridging program to place physicians in rural areas, where the shortage is greatest. For the Lawrence campus, the governor Toil in Topeka But Brownback’s proposed $2 million to create specic proposals, the Kansas Institute for KU, Regents schools to urge released Jan. 16, advo- Translational Chemical restoration of budget cuts, cated restoration of only Biology, which would support a small portion of the research in drug discovery investment in health education statewide cuts: $10.9 and delivery, including million over two years to treatments for infectious ov. Sam Brownback hailed an restore one-half of diseases, many forms of Gimproved state economy in his State salary-based reductions cancer, and neurological of the State address Jan. 15 in Topeka. in the current scal year, diseases. “A center like this

Regarding higher education, Brownback, and all the salary-based MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS CHUCK FRANCE/KU would impact nearly every l’82, said, “In my budget proposal, I will reductions in the next potential medical area of continue to support our universities, scal year, which begins bioscience,” said Je Aubé, community and technical colleges, and I July 1. Douglas University distinguished am condent they will produce the next e governor also did professor of medicinal generation of Kansas leaders.” not include funding for chemistry. “It would provide e Kansas Board of Regents and the the other key item KU had requested: a the broad capabilities we need to work in University had urged the governor to $75 million investment in the Health nearly every area of drug discovery.” restore statewide higher education cuts of Education Initiative to build a new Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said $44 million for scal years 2014 and 2015, classroom facility at the Medical Center’s KU would continue to urge support to which were passed last year by the Kansas Legislature and approved by Brownback. While Kansas leaders reduced higher education funding in 2013, 37 other states To join Jayhawks for Higher Education or find Hawk increased their nancial support for colleges and universities. At KU, the cuts Points and recent messages, visit kualumni.org/jhe. include $13.53 million: $5.26 million for For KU’s legislative agenda and updates, visit the Lawrence and Edwards campuses and publica airs.ku.edu/govrelations/state. $8.27 million for KU Medical Center. { }

10 | KANSAS ALUMNI expand programs to train physicians and schools. is is the people’s business, done sey’s experience in state government, her address the health care needs of rural by the people’s house through the wonder- advocacy work and legal training will make areas. “We’re pleased the governor’s budget fully untidy—but open for all to see—busi- an outstanding addition to the public largely reverses the salary cap cuts, and we ness of appropriations. aairs team at the University,” Caboni says. appreciate his support for our work in “Let us resolve that our schools remain Before joining KDOT, Douglas worked translational chemistry and for the Rural open and are not closed by the courts or for the Kansas Department of Agriculture. Health Bridging Program,” she said. “We’ll anyone else.” Overall, she has worked with policymakers also work with Gov. Brownback and e University and alumni advocates through eight legislative sessions. A Kansas policymakers to advance the Health across the state will continue to urge the native, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Education Initiative, which would expand Legislature to adequately fund higher public administration from Washburn the KU Medical Center’s ability to educate education. roughout 2013, membership University and a master’s degree in the physicians Kansas communities in the Alumni Association’s advocacy environmental law from Vermont Law desperately need.” network, Jayhawks for Higher Education, School. Looming over the legislative session is a (JHE) increased to more than 1,700 Douglas and her colleagues in KU’s case before the Kansas Supreme Court alumni and friends in all Kansas counties. Oce of Public Aairs will continue to regarding the budgets for K-12 schools All Regents universities are rallying their collaborate with the Alumni Association statewide. A lower court ruled that recent alumni to the cause. throughout the legislative session. During cuts to K-12 education violated the Kansas Helping to lead the eort is KU’s new the fall semester, the Association sent ve Constitution, concluding that the state director of state relations, Lindsey messages to JHE members, sharing KU’s must increase public school funding by Douglas, who began work Jan. 6. She legislative agenda and key talking points nearly $500 million per year. If the served as chief of policy and legislative (“Hawk Points”) for alumni and friends to Supreme Court agrees, the matter will aairs for the Kansas Department of use in conversations and correspondence return to legislators, who must decide Transportation since August 2010 and with their local lawmakers. e campus whether they will follow the order to joined the agency in 2009. She played an team will continue to provide biweekly restore funds or defy the Supreme Court. integral role in the passage of T-WORKS, messages and Hawk Points for JHE In his State of the State address, Brown- the 10-year, $8 billion statewide transpor- members in the weeks ahead. To join JHE back made his position clear: “ e tation construction program. and monitor legislative issues aecting KU, Constitution empowers the Legislature— Douglas reports to Timothy Caboni, visit kualumni.org/jhe. the people’s representatives—to fund our vice chancellor for public aairs. “Lind- —Jennifer Jackson Sanner

CLASS CREDIT STEVE PUPPE STEVE

community center in Denver’s project’s other structures. Five Points neighborhood. “I saw it as a stepping stone Bright’s “Common Ground” to education,” Bright says. “The food incubator project greenhouses wouldn’t produce incorporated a community enough food for the whole kitchen, urban gardens, cafe community, but they would and market, and business create a space where people development center intended could come and learn and that to bring together a community. would help knit a once “The idea is that the fragmented community back community would have some together.” kind of common ground to Bright accepted the $500 esse Bright, a graduate 2013 student design awards meet at,” says Bright. first place prize at the AIA Jstudent in the School of sponsored by the American The common ground in his Kansas conference in Lawrence Architecture, Design and Institute of Architects Kansas design was a pair of last fall. Planning, took first prize in the chapter for his design for a greenhouses built atop the

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 11 Hilltopics

study rooms such as the print room (which hosts Walk-ins Welcome Fridays, Research rise: KU improved its rank to where visitors can view by request works 38th among public research universities in from the Spencer’s collection of 15,000 prints, drawings and photographs) provide the National Science Foundation annual the kind of distinctive learning opportuni- survey of federally funded research ex- ties for which university art museums should be known, Hardy says. Part of the penditures released in December. KU money raised for the renovation includes a attracted $171 million in federal research large gi that will pay for improvements to the print room, which has seen visits funding in 2012, up from $162.7 million in 2011. At KU in increase 134 percent over the past seven 2012, 87 percent of all research funding came from the years. e room will be named for Stephen Goddard, the museum’s associate director federal government. and senior curator for works on paper. With approvals already in hand from the Kansas Board of Regents and KU’s capital projects committee, Hardy hopes to Museum makeover begin work in June. STEVE PUPPE STEVE “It feels wonderful to make progress in a Spencer gets go-ahead for direction that feels so close to our core phase one of renovation purposes, to not only have the commit- ment from donors and the University, but planned $5 million renovation of the also to know that we are going to contri- ASpencer Museum of Art will bring ubte to the University’s education mis- front and center the campus museum’s sion,” she says. “I think it will be the kind goal to not only collect and curate art, but of facility that will inspire great also to integrate art into the University’s thinking.” education mission. e project will expand the building’s main entry on Mississippi Street with an enlarged foyer and glazed portico, improve Online honors study rooms where students and museum- goers can more closely examine works of Student newspaper, radio station art, and transform the central court with win accolades for Web content skylights and an elevator and stairway Hardy connecting the third- and fourth-oor tudent eorts to supplement their galleries. Improvements may also be made more inspiring feeling,” Hardy says. “You Straditional newsgathering with online to the auditorium and other third-oor walk into a museum and the feeling media attracted top awards from two spaces if funding allows. About $3.4 should be inspiring and inviting.” Adding national collegiate groups last fall. million of the proposed $5 million project natural light to the central court and Kansan.com, the online news site for the has been raised. improving nearby study spaces, she University Daily Kansan, earned its sixth Since the museum opened in 1978, the believes, delivers a message that any Online Pacemaker Award in seven years collection has grown from 13,800 items to university museum should convey. from the Associated Collegiate Press. more than 36,000, and plans to expand “ ese architectural changes will reect KJHK 90.7 FM, KU’s student-run radio have long been on the drawing board. the art museum’s core purposes, which are station, was named the Best Student Media While adding galleries is still a goal of a to bring together people, art and ideas and Website by the College Broadcasters Inc. potential phase two renovation down the be an inspiring place to learn and see,” National College Media Production road, the current project, says museum Hardy says. Awards. director Saralyn Reece Hardy, c’76, g’94, is Classes regularly tour the galleries with e Online Pacemaker, ACP’s highest less about adding space than about making members of the Spencer’s academic sta award, looks at two months of coverage better use of the space the museum and the KU faculty; those tours increased for design, ease of navigation, writing already has. 95 percent between 2005 and 2012, and editing, graphics and interactivity; “I think what will happen is it will be a according to the museum. ird-oor judging is done by professionals in

12 | KANSAS ALUMNI like videos, photo slideshows and interac- Milestones, money

DAN STOREY DAN tive graphics that only work online. “ ere was a real engagement with the audience and other matters that we hadn’t seen before,” Reinardy says. “Tim and Natalie really pushed the envelope to take it into a new realm.” n Robert Simari, m’86, professor A story on the student who ran a “Fake of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, will Je Withey” Twitter account drew more become executive dean at the School than 10,000 unique visitors in a few hours, of Medicine March 24. Simari succeeds Reinardy says, noting that the target Douglas Girod, who has served as audience for online content is o-campus interim executive dean since becoming readers like alumni. “I think it’s surprising executive vice chancellor in February to students to look at that and say, ‘OK, we 2013. At the Mayo Clinic, Simari is vice publish 12 to 15,000 papers a day, but the chair of the division of cardiovascular audience is so much bigger than that,” diseases and co-director of the Mayo Reinardy says. “I think awards like the Center for Clinical and Translational Pacemaker demonstrate how important Sciences. His research focuses on the online content is, and how powerful it response of blood vessels to injury and c an b e .” the role of adult stem cells in athero- e CBI hands out awards in 24 sclerosis. categories that honor the best student work in video, television and radio n The Center of Everything, a 2003 production. In addtion to the award for novel by assistant professor of English best website, KJHK also won the prize for Laura Moriarty, s’93, Best Regularly Scheduled Program for g’99, will be the KU KU’s student-run radio station and newspaper “Live @ KJHK,” a weekly hourlong Common Book for both won awards last fall for their e
orts to program that features in-studio perfor- 2014-’15. All incoming mances and artist interviews with local students will receive supplement traditional media with online and national performers. a copy of the novel content. Like the Online Pacemaker, the CBI and will participate awards look for excellence over an in book discussion extended period, says Tom Johnson, f’05, groups during ‘Hawk design, journalism and interactive media. general manager of the station and Week as well as other Kansan.com was one of 12 sites honored Assistant Director of Media and Outreach programs sponsored in the category for schools with more than for KU Memorial Unions, which oversees by the O’ce of First-Year Experience. 20,000 students. KJHK. Newspapers all too oen resort to “ ere are a lot of incredible college n A $4.4 million grant will support re- “shovelware” for their online strategy, stations out there with great weekly search by KU’s Center for Environmen- according to Scott Reinardy, associate programs and impressive websites,” tally Beneficial Catalysis that aims to professor and chair of the news and Johnson says. “ ose areas have to be bypass industrial hazards created in the information track at the William Allen developed and maintained week in and manufacture of manmade chemicals. White School of Journalism. week out. For the students at KJHK to be The four-year grant, part of the Net- “You just take what’s in the paper and recognized for producing the best prod- works for Sustainable Molecular Design shovel it online,” Reinardy says. To avoid ucts in both of those areas, they had to and Synthesis program, is that problem, Overland Park senior Tim demonstrate that they take great care in one of only four such Shedor, the technical editor for Kansan. producing and coordinating their station awards made this com who designed the structure of the programming and online operations year by the National site, and Overland Park junior Natalie every single week.” Science Foundation Parker, Web editor during the award e ongoing, large-scale eort required and the Environ- period, worked with Hannah Wise and to do that, Johnson adds, draws on every mental Protection Trevor Gra, editors-in-chief of the UDK part of the KJHK operation. Agency. during the spring and fall semesters, “I know the entire sta is thrilled with respectively, to explore online-rst this recognition, and they certainly publication and multimedia initiatives deserve it.”

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 13 Hilltopics

research in a discipline known more for Gramophone Hall of Fame. She will abstract theory earned him a reputation as receive the honorary degree of Doctor of STEVE PUPPE STEVE the founding father of experimental Arts for notable contributions to opera. economics. He will receive the honorary Honorary degrees, rst bestowed in degree of Doctor of Science for notable 2012, are awarded for outstanding contributions to experimental economics. scholarship, research, creative activity, In an interview with Kansas Alumni in service to humanity and other achieve- 2002, the Wichita native credited KU ments. Nominations for degrees to be professor Richard Howey for his strong awarded in May 2015 will be accepted research foundation. through March 31 at honorarydegrees. ACADEMICS “I can say that Dick is the person from ku.edu/nominations and are reviewed by whom I learned what scholarship is really a campus committee chaired by Susan 2 receive honorary doctorates; all about—in terms of getting the details Kemper, Roy A. Roberts Distinguished nomination deadline March 31 right,” Smith said. “No one taught me Professor of Psychology. Final selections more thoroughly.” are made by the Chancellor and approved T  U’   round of Joyce DiDonato, who grew up in Prairie by the Kansas Board of Regents. honorary degrees will be bestowed this Village and studied vocal education at May at Commencement, recognizing a Wichita State University, is among the Nobel Prize winning alumnus and a leading mezzo-sopranos in the world, with world-renowned opera singer with eastern appearances in major opera companies LIED CENTER Kansas roots. throughout the United States and Europe. Kwan named new Lied director Vernon Smith, g’52, is the rst KU In 2010 she was named Gramophone graduate named a Nobel laureate, winning magazine’s artist of the year, and in 2012 J  L C’ former the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 for she won a Grammy Award for Best head of concerts and touring is the his pioneering role introducing laboratory Classical Vocal Solo and was one of the 50 new executive director of the Lied Center experimentation to the eld. His lab inaugural honorees inducted into the of Kansas.

VISITOR

Novel perspective Wao. This Is How You Lose Her, a collection of linked stories, iction writer Junot Diaz was a New York Times Fanswered questions and bestseller and a National Book

read from his latest book, This Is Award finalist. Diaz received JOURNAL-WORLD RICHARD GWIN/LAWRENCE How You Lose Her, before an a MacArthur “genius” award overflow audience in Woodru in 2012. Auditorium as part of the Humanities Lecture Series ANECDOTE: In response to sponsored by KU’s Hall Center a student’s question about for the Humanities. universities’ support for minority students, the WHEN: Nov. 17 Dominican-born Diaz (who is handcu ed themselves in the today’s college students, noting the Nancy Allen Professor of president’s o™ce and called the di™cult environment WHERE: The Kansas Union Writing at the Massachusetts CNN, because “schools hate to created by the erosion of state Institute of Technology) said be embarassed.” support for education. “Do you BACKGROUND: Diaz won that as a first-generation know, sir, what is the feeling the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for graduate student at Cornell QUOTES: Diaz disagreed that comes pouring o the Fiction for his debut novel, The University fighting for Latino with a questioner who students I meet?” Diaz said. Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Studies programs, he and others challenged the engagement of “Fear. It ain’t apathy, it is fear.”

14 | KANSAS ALUMNI Derek Kwan, who served family come from a small Milestones, money as vice president at the New rural community,” Mandela York City jazz institution said. “e message he tries and other matters from 2012 to 2013 and as an to run home whenever associate director from 2000 we’re engaging with one to 2005, will succeed Tim another is anyone can play n A $1 million gift from the Muriel Mc- Van Leer, who retired at the their part, anyone can play Brien Kauman Foundation of Kansas end of 2013 a er leading the their role, and it’s less to do City will help renovate the School of

University’s performing arts MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS KU COURTESY with where he came from Music’s Swarthout Recital Hall. Planned center for 12 years. but rather the company that improvemets for the hall—the primary “ere is something he kept and the types of recital venue for music students for the unique and stimulating engagements and conversa- past 60 years—include renovation of about university communi- Kwan tions and debates that they the stage, lighting and acoustics; new ties, and Lawrence is one of would have. … Leadership seating; ADA entrance and seating; the greatest college towns in America,” wasn’t anything he actively pursued; he audio-video and telecommunications Kwan says. “I am energized by the idea just happened to nd himself in a lot of equipment and the purchase of two new that we will need to continually evolve in the environments and would rise up to the Steinway grand pianos. With other gifts order to remain relevant on campus and in task at hand.” already received, about $2.3 million of the community.” Mandela was the 10th recipient of the the $2.5 million project has been raised. prize, established in 2003 to honor a person or group whose public service n The PRISM Award, a new honor DOLE INSTITUTE inspires others. e $25,000 award will that recognizes “exceptional nursing benet the Nelson Mandela Centre of practice, leadership, and outcomes” in Nelson Mandela awarded Memory at the Nelson Mandela hospital medical-surgical units in the Dole Leadership Prize Foundation. United States was bestowed on Uni- versity of Kansas Hospital’s combined F  S  A president and Hematology, Oncology and Blood and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela Marrow Transplant Unit in November. received the 2013 Dole Leadership Prize ISTOCK.COM “We are honored to be the first recipi- from the Robert J. Dole Institute of ent of this award,” said Tammy Peter- Politics, which his great-grandson, Luvuyo man, n’81, g’87, executive vice presi- Mandela, accepted on Mandela’s behalf dent, chief operating o›cer and chief during an October event at the institute, nursing o›cer of the hospital. “It is not just ve weeks before Mandela died, at the only a validation of the remarkable work age of 95, on Dec. 5. of our nurses and the entire patient In an interview with Bill Lacy, director care team, it confirms patients receive of the Dole Institute, Luvuyo recalled that outstanding care when they choose the his great-grandfather was reluctant to run University of Kansas Hospital.” for president. He was inaugurated as South Africa’s rst democratically elected leader n Leonard Krishtalka, director of the on May 10, 1994, four years a er he was KU Biodiversity Institute, lends his freed a er nearly 30 years in prison. He name to a newly discovered 50-million- shared the Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. de year-old fossil shrew. Nyctitherium Klerk for their work to end apartheid. krishtalkai was named in honor of “He always tells the story that we as a Mandela Krishtalka by Richard Stucky, curator of paleoecology and evolution at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science “because of his mentoring in the early stages of my career and for his research “You grew up in a culture that no longer funds on the group of fossil mammals to education and so says, ‘You want to learn, take a loan which it belongs.” {}that will haunt you for the rest of your life.’” —Junot Diaz

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 15 Sports by Chris Lazzarino

The big story

Embiid emerges as big-time star, PUPPE (3) STEVE bolstering KU’s deep frontcourt with moves rare for a 7-footer

er 10 seasons as Georgetown’s head A basketball coach and a lifetime spent watching his father guide the Hoyas, John ompson III is an undeniable expert at gauging potential in talented big men. When asked a er his team’s Dec. 21 loss in Allen Field House to oer an assessment of 7-foot freshman sensation Joel Embiid, who had just scored 17 points despite attempting only four eld goals, omp- son chuckled, so ened his steely expres- sion into a slight grin and said with understatement, “He’s pretty good. He’s Sporting one of men’s basketball’s two new alternate uniforms, 7-foot freshman center Joel pretty good.” Embiid scored 11 points in 19 minutes in his first Big 12 game in Allen Field House, Jan. 11 against ompson continued, “And he must be Kansas State. pretty smart because he’s getting better and better with each game. I think he has a until moving to Gainesville, Fla., when he Lawrence. I’m not sure it’s a real wise chance to be a special player, there’s no was 16. His father, omas, had never seen decision for me to do this, but he’s got to two ways about that.” Joel—“Jo” to teammates and coaches— play because he’s got so much talent.” ompson paused, then added, “He play basketball until he attended his rst Initially praised for graceful footwork might be at that point already.” game in Allen Field House, Nov. 19. that is exceedingly rare for a 7-footer, ere’s no surprise that scouts and With his sharp-dressed dad in the Embiid is also gaining a reputation for prognosticators are talking about a stands, Embiid scored 16 points against another modern-hoops rarity: challenging Jayhawk being one of the favorites to be Iona for his rst double-digit scoring game defenses as a scoring threat with his back chosen No. 1 overall in the June 26 NBA as a Jayhawk, and added 13 rebounds and to the basket. He can also drop eld goals dra . e shocking part is, they suddenly a pair of blocked shots. Embiid won the from the free throw line and beyond, his can’t seem to agree which Jayhawk it starting center job from senior newcomer huge strides devour the space between might be. Tarik Black six games later, and is unlikely him and any basketball he intends to swat, Andrew Wiggins, a 6-8 swingman to give it back. and he ashes the sort of intensity that with a 7-foot wingspan and exceptional A er Embiid scored 18 points with six coaches are still trying to spark in sopho- athletic ability, arrived at KU as both the rebounds, four blocked shots and three more forward Perry Ellis. consensus No. 1 recruit as well as the top steals in 25 minutes Dec. 14 against New “I didn’t expect anything,” Embiid said contender for 2014’s No. 1 overall dra Mexico in the Sprint Center, coach Bill of the dazzling rst months of his colle- pick. If Wiggins were to be displaced atop Self was forced to acknowledge that what giate career, “but I knew coming in I had the dra board, it was supposed to have once seemed a distant uncertainty to work hard, listen to what coach Self says been by hotshots Jabari Parker of Duke or suddenly loomed as a likelihood: like every day, and keep getting better. I knew Kentucky’s Julius Randle. Wiggins, Embiid appears destined for one what I had to do was keep improving and Embiid arrived with plenty of expecta- year in a Kansas jersey. keep working.” tions as a notable prospect at center, but “We need to play him all the time,” Self At Big 12 media day in October, Self was thought to need time to develop. He said a er Embiid’s monumental perfor- said, “I think Joel has a chance to be about grew up playing soccer and volleyball in mance in Kansas City, “but the more he as talented a big guy as I’ve ever had.” A er Cameroon, and didn’t play team basketball plays, the less time he’s going to spend in the Dec. 21 Georgetown game, Self said,

16 | KANSAS ALUMNI “He’s still just scratching the surface. He scores 17 points today and takes four shots. What about if he’s taking 12 shots a game? We’ve got to play through him “We’ve got to play through him more. Nothing he more. Nothing he does surprises me does surprises me because he’s capable of doing so because he’s capable of doing so much, and we see it every day.” much, and we see it every day.” —coach Bill Self, on Joel Embiid While Embiid is using ashy athleticism {} and size to make a name for himself as a young star on the rise, it’s arguable that he isn’t even the most important piece in State—Ellis remains Self’s go-to big man. what San Diego State’s all-star guard “He has great footwork,” Embiid said of Xavier ames called KU’s “NBA front- Ellis. “I’m trying to work on my footwork, court.” Sophomore forward Perry Ellis, my hook shot, my post move; Perry is a himself an athletic and graceful 6-8, still great post-move player, so every day in has better post moves than Embiid, and practice I’m watching him.” although he’s turned in some regrettable Said Self, “We need him to be a consis- clunkers—four points in a loss at Florida, tent scorer for us. Perry’s denitely got ve against Georgetown and four in the some condence and some momentum. humbling home-court loss to San Diego Even though he’s not as aggressive as we’d like, he’s a lot more aggressive than he was l a s t y e ar.” Ellis e frontcourt rotation also includes trouncing of Kansas State, a nearly awless Black, who broke through with 17 points performance highlighted by 22 points and a pair of blocks against Georgetown, from Wiggins; 20 from another freshman and high-energy forwards Jamari Traylor sensation, Wayne Selden Jr., who came and Landen Lucas. On a team that starts alive with 24 at OU; 12 points and ve three guards, these are the guys Self sees as rebounds from Ellis; and 11 points and his keys to success. nine rebounds by Embiid. “When we play through our bigs,” Self “I’m not sure if I can recall if we’ve says, “that’s the strength of our team.” played a tougher stretch than what we’re e Jayhawks closed their challenging getting ready to play, based on records and nonconference schedule with a 61-57 loss rankings,” Self said of a Big 12 schedule to San Diego State—keep the Aztecs in that opened with games against top-25 mind when lling out your brackets in teams OU, KSU, Iowa State, Oklahoma March—and Self, while acknowledging State and Baylor. “Going into a conference shortcomings, also found some positives: season, I don’t think we’ve ever had as Although KU shot 29.8 percent from the many teams that you could say, when eld and non-freshmen accounted for only they’re playing their best over a period of four points, Self noted that his guys forced time, could be the best team in the league. more turnovers than they committed, “Now I think there are multiple teams blocked 13 shots and had a chance to tie that you could say that with.” the game with a free throw with 11 seconds le. Most important, Self said, it no longer mattered. “e big thing is, we’ve got to put this Volleyball’s best yet behind us,” Self said, with the start of a brutal early Big 12 schedule set to com- Jayhawks earn first Sweet 16 mence just three days later at Oklahoma. after runner-up Big 12 finish “is deal is over.” Buoyed by a most-welcome fresh start, volleyball ended its season with Kansas opened its quest for a 10th-consec- KUthe Jayhawks’ rst 3-0 loss of the utive Big 12 championship with a 90-83 year, but it wasn’t dicult to quickly see Embiid victory in Norman, followed by an 86-60 past the disappointment of being swept by

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 17 Sports

digs in a career (2,053). Senior setter Erin McNorton was the unanimous choice as JEFF JACOBSEN Big 12 Setter of the Year; McNorton, Jarmoc, and junior outside hitters Sara Huddled around senior McClinton and Chelsea Albers were libero Brianne Riley (blue named All-Big 12 rst team; and 16th-year jersey), volleyball players coach Ray Bechard was named Big 12 celebrate their first trip to Coach of the Year for the second the NCAA Sweet 16 after consecutive season. their 3-1, second-round “I think the group of girls on the team victory over Creighton Dec. this year has been through the lowest of 7 in Allen Field House. lows together and now to the highest of highs,” Riley said on the eve of their Sweet 16 contest. “We’ve really come a long way since we were freshmen. We’ve worked Washington, an eventual Final Four team, Creighton in round two. hard to get there as a group. It’s been a big in the NCAA regional semi nals Dec. 13 e Jayhawks set school records for team eort.” in Los Angeles. attack percentage (.254) and block assists Aer the season-ending loss, Bechard e Jayhawks, 25-8 overall and 12-4 in (522), and led the Big 12 in assists (13.55), said, “Tonight was very tough and we need the Big 12, nished second in the confer- kills (14.41) and service aces allowed to talk about that, but we also need to ence and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16, (0.70) per set. celebrate some great careers from these both program rsts. ey opened their Senior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc young ladies. I do want to thank this team tournament with two matches in Allen closed her career as KU’s all-time blocks for the joy and the energy they’ve given us, Field House, rst avenging last year’s leader (555), and senior libero Brianne not only this year but their entire NCAA loss to Wichita State then defeating Riley became the rst Jayhawk to top 2,000 careers.”

UPDATES

omen’s track and field, defending Big 12 champion in Gardner led the team with 15.9 Johnson, a junior-college Wlast year’s Big 12 indoor the 400-meter hurdles, and Big points per game. Also in double transfer, was named Big 12 and outdoor 12 indoor pole figures, at 12.3, was junior guard Defensive Newcomer of the champion, NCAA vault champion Asia Boyd. ... Year. ... outdoor champion Alex Bishop. Football coach Charlie Weis Billy Mills, d’62, inspirational and indoor runner- The Jayhawk hired former KU assistant John winner of the grueling 10,000 up, opened the 2014 JEFF JACOBSEN Classic in Reagan as o™ensive meters at the 1964 Tokyo indoor season Anschutz Sports coordinator and o™ensive line Olympics and a leader on KU’s ranked No. 10. Pavilion is set coach and named linebackers 1959 and ‘60 NCAA outdoor Returners include for Jan. 24 and coach Clint Bowen, d’96, national championship teams, NCAA heptathlon the Big 12 Indoor defensive coordinator. Reagan, was chosen for the NCAA’s champion Lindsay is March 1 at who spent five years as an Theodore Roosevelt Award. Vollmer, NCAA Iowa State. The assistant to Mark Mangino, Given annually to former indoor pole vault Vollmer 87th Kansas was most recently o™ensive collegiate athletes who went on champion Natalia Relays, which coordinator at Rice for four to distinguished careers of Bartnovskaya, and 2012 KU Athletics hopes will open seasons. Senior James Sims, “national significance and 400-meter champion and Rock Chalk Park in west the first KU running back to top achievement,” it is considered Olympic gold medalist Lawrence, is April 16-19. ... 1,000 yards in back-to-back the NCAA’s highest honor. ... Diamond Dixon. The men’s Junior forward Chelsea seasons, was again named Sophomore swimmer Chelsie team returns 90 percent of its Gardner led all scorers with 16 All-Big 12 first team, and senior Miller placed second in the scorers from last season, in women’s basketball’s first Big linebacker Ben Heeney was 400-yard individual medley at including NCAA silver medalist 12 victory, Jan. 11 over Texas named All-Big 12 second team. the USA Winter Nationals Dec. Michael Stigler, two-time Tech. Through 16 games, Sophomore safety Isaiah 6 in Knoxville, Tenn.

18 | KANSAS ALUMNI Sports Photographs by Steve Puppe

With Andrew Wiggins (22) looking on, fellow freshman sensation Wayne Selden Jr. (clockwise from top left) flashed his athleticism against New Mexico Dec. 14 in the Sprint Center; junior guard Naadir Tharpe shoots over a K-State defender; cheerleaders lead the crowd and teammates congratulate senior guard Niko Roberts for his rare game appearance against Georgetown Dec. 21; students got a head start on New Year’s festivities at the Toledo game Dec. 30; and Baby Jay sported a new knit cap for the Georgetown game.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 19 ‘Fire Spectacular’ fuels passion for ceramics while forging bonds among local and University artists and students All Fired Up by Chris Lazzarino Photographs by Steve Puppe

20 | KANSAS ALUMNI   ’     Z           W C     O   ,                 I    “        .” P ’            ,                                ,  , S H            . He’s stoking a 2,000-degree re of his own creation, a conagration so intense that it’s making a Salvador Dali prop out of the steel grate holding rewood o the ground. When the sun nally dips behind the ridge to the west, the h-year senior will don a silver re suit over his blue T-shirt and heavy cotton work pants, replace his knit cap with a face shield, pull on a pair of long gloves, and, in front of a riveted audience of a couple of hundred onlookers, snip the baling wire spooled around the Kao wool insulating blanket to reveal a glowing-hot 7-foot-tall ceramic dome, riddled with dozens of ceramic tubes blowing re into the black night air. If, that is, the whole thing doesn’t collapse in on itself. Or explode. is is exactly the sort of thing that happens when you let kids play with re, right? Or, more specically, when a talented, curious, energetic ceramics student pushes his interests beyond vases and bowls and instead goes searching for bigger ideas, bolder concepts, and discovers in his reading an Iranian-American architect and humanitarian named Nader Khalili, who rigged oil burners to heat cracked and crumbling rural adobe homes into sealed, stony permanence. Khalili rened his ideas and techniques and went on to build homes and schools out of the very earth, providing his countrymen with shelter and an eager KU student far away in place and time with inspiration that could be quenched only one way: with re and clay.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 21 STEVE PUPPE (5) STEVE

“His language and his writings and his books, talking about Maude—as well as a panel discussion with ceramicists from incorporating the four elements into architecture, resonated with across the country and students and faculty from more than a me as a ceramic artist,” Holloway says, “because that’s exactly half-dozen colleges and universities, a “durational performance of what I do in my own work: taking dry clay, essentially dirt, and labor” stacked-log-form created over 16 hours by graduate adding water to it, and using it to make a form, and then adding student Eli Gold, a wooden-spoon-making workshop, an aer- re to that form to solidify it and make it a permanent existing dark iron pour, roasted pigs, ragtime jazz playing soly from a piece.” stereo rigged to the public-address system, old pickup trucks, On its own, the ring of Holloway’s retro-futuristic clay tree-stump seating, kids, parents, professors, colleagues, friends. dome—think desert planet design aesthetic for an early “Star “We’re deeply ensconced in so many artistic endeavors in Wars” set—would make for a fascinating daylong adventure in Lawrence, and the opportunity to be a part of them is really neat,” ceramics. But on Oct. 19, it was just one ring of the ceramics says Dan Parker-Timms, whose Shamrock Tree Service donated, circus playing at the Chamney Barn kiln complex, adjacent to delivered and stacked the mountains of harvested timber leovers Bob Billings Parkway on West Campus. used to re the kilns, as it has for the KU ceramics program for “Fire Spectacular,” a town-gown partnership between the KU the past ve years. “You can get a hands-on feel for it in a small department of visual art and Lawrence Arts Center now in its town like this. I love it. It’s one of the great things about sixth year, featured four wood kilns—six, actually, if you include Lawrence.” Holloway’s dome and a mini-kiln built and red by 12-year-old Amid the revelry and feel-good artistry, tucked away under its Malcom Maude, son of assistant professor of ceramics Marshall shed and shielded from view by a rampart of split lumber drying for next year’s ring, there churned away the great adobe beast, a long, horizontal “anagama” kiln, stoked for four violent and intense days by one of wood ring’s modern masters and rigged STEVE PUPPE STEVE with a complex array of computerized sensors designed to generate more data revealing the science behind the ancient art than has perhaps ever been known before.

hen Ben Ahlvers, a ceramic artist and director of Wexhibitions for the Lawrence Arts Center, arrived in town nearly a decade ago, he struck up a friendship with Maude, f’96, g’03, then an adjunct member of the ceramics faculty. As happens in ceramics circles, Maude issued an open invitation for Ahlvers to re pieces in KU’s wood kilns, and soon they were exploring options to link their institutions and instruction in a signi cant way. e 400 or so local artists and hobbyists who take ceramics Maude courses each year at the downtown arts center have access only to

22 | KANSAS ALUMNI Sam Holloway (l-r) fires his experimental dome; Ami Ayars, c’12, tends the anagama kiln’s fire box; Eli Gold stacks logs for his unusual creation; and visitors enjoy roast pork and potluck dishes. The iron pour (p. 25, l-r) lights up the night, and Holloway’s dome and its heat-twisted iron grate slumber weeks later, after the season’s first snow.

electric kilns to re their pieces; KU, Ahlvers was surprised and delighted when Balistreri accepted; with its massive anagama kiln and a encouraged, he reached out to another wood- ring pioneer, Dan growing collection of smaller Anderson, a professor emeritus at Ahlver’s undergraduate alma wood- red kilns, seeks both public CHRIS LAZZARINO mater, Southern Illinois University, who last summer lost the shed outreach as well as a pool of eager over his own anagama kiln to a tornado. helpers for the semi-annual rings of “He said he didn’t know if he’d re this fall,” Ahlvers recalls, “so the big anagama. I said, ‘John’s coming down; you should come out and put some “With an electric kiln, you load it pots in the kiln.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I might do that.’ So I followed up yourself and unload it yourself,” and said, ‘You should teach as well.’ So, the three of us taught this Ahlvers says. “What makes this class at the arts center.” unique is, it takes a community to do As word got out about heavyweights Balistreri and Anderson it. is kiln is something you could aliating with the Lawrence ceramics scene, Maude elded a not do on your own. It’s a team of Holloway rush of interest from his own academic colleagues and fellow people who are preparing the work artists, including Heather Nameth Bren, g’03, assistant professor itself, preparing the wood for the kiln itself, preparing the kiln, at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, Minn.; Mat Rude at and ring the kiln for 24 hours a day for four days.” the University of Iowa; Ted Adler, of Wichita State; Sacramento Explains Maude, “Even within a couple hundred miles of here, State’s Chuck Owens; Russell Wrankle, of Southern Utah; and there’s nothing really like that. It’s one of the larger kilns in the Irvine, Calif., artist Ian Meares. Midwest, for sure, and people don’t have access to it. is way is In a rare treat for Maude, as well as the student artists whose great because you get KU students working closely with commu- pieces were being red, the anagama’s two-day loading and nity members, and a lot of people taking classes from Lawrence four-day ring was directed by Balistreri, who was elated with Arts Center are pretty well established local artists. ose people what he found at KU. really want a chance to re their pieces here.” “e kiln is an old kiln, a little rough around the edges in terms As Maude and Ahlvers began planning their sixth town-gown of how it looks visually, but the way it red was pretty much right collaboration with the anagama kiln, happy coincidences pushed on target,” Balistreri says. “It acted and reacted well for that type it to become their biggest yet. of kiln, which is notoriously dicult to re and get even heat On a trip last spring to Omaha, Ahlvers stopped by the studio from front to back. But that particular kiln works well, and so do of Jun Kaneko, a prominent Japanese-American ceramic artist, all the others I saw that Marshall built there. I think it’s a very and there he was surprised to learn that one of his mentors, John good kiln yard. Balistreri—who was at the forefront of the rise in American wood “I travel all over the United States, and there’s only a few ring in the 1980s and is now one of the country’s most esteemed locations that have that kind of facility. To have that kind of ceramicists and a professor at Ohio’s Bowling Green State space and that kind of ability to build these kilns and do it right University—was in town to work with Kaneko. Knowing that is fairly rare.” Balistreri had no access to a wood kiln in Omaha, Ahlvers invited Balistreri wasn’t the only master ceramicist hovering over the him to come re in Lawrence, then also suggested he might lead adobe-skinned leviathan that week: In a long-planned collabora- some fall workshops at the arts center. tion with Maude, Kansas City artist Andy Brayman, f’96, c’96,

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 23 rigged the anagama with six high-temperature thermometers— called “pyrometers”—and a variety of other sensors, including a STEVE PUPPE STEVE scale to weigh each piece of wood, all wired to a computer out tted with Brayman’s proprietary soware. Brayman, owner of a Kansas City studio called e Matter Factory and a technology consultant to artists and universities, insists he isn’t try to replace experienced kiln masters such as Balistreri and Maude with computers—“Basically,” he says, “we’re just exploring”—but Balistreri says such concerns are not warranted. “As Andy and I started talking, at rst I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it,” Balistreri says. “Over time, there were a lot of things about it that were informative to me; not even analyzing the data post- ring, but while it was going on. For example, I would Ben Ahlvers (above), in his Lawrence Arts Center studio, and Kansas never weigh out the City ceramicist Andy Brayman (l), rigging sensors to KU’s anagama kiln, MARSHALL MAUDE wood. We usually tell were two of the influential artists who helped Fire Spectacular reach far people to stoke by beyond campus. throwing in so many pieces of wood and to kind of average it out. But the fact that we began incorporating local mixtures in his own work. weighed the wood before His desire to source his own local clay led Holloway to Khalili’s each stoke as part of his writing about using local materials to build and re “ceramic data collection, it sort of architecture.” Feeling himself ready for the challenge, Holloway stabilized that variable in applied for and won an interdisciplinary research grant from the a way that I’ve never College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of the Arts. thought of before.” “e year I applied for the grant, the theme was ‘building Maude, too, has no communities,’ which worked perfectly with me already looking at interest in downplaying Nader’s work, making architecture out of clay and making the potential role of structures that people could live in,” he says. “So I kind of went computerized analysis in his beloved anagama kiln, a technology with it and wrote my proposal around building a 7-foot by 7-foot developed a thousand or more years ago in Japan, Korea and dome made out of local clay, and then ring that structure into a China. permanent standing sculpture that could potentially lead to He says the data show exact time intervals between each of the further research into actually building houses and other types of 645 stokes. ey know every temperature variation at six dierent structures that people could use.” sites within the kiln’s violent atmosphere at 2 1/2-second intervals With a grant of $1,100, plus $500 for the ceramics department over 85 hours, all the way to Saturday’s peak of 2,350 degrees— and $250 to his adviser, Marshall Maude, Holloway at rst “at’s pretty hot,” Brayman notes dryly—and they know exactly intended to locate, dig and haul all the clay himself; he quickly how much all the wood weighed, both by individual load and saw the futility of attempting to “literally shovel thousands of total tonnage. pounds of clay and move it all,” so he looked elsewhere for a “I think I can say with relative con dence,” Maude says, “that solution. He found it at the excavated downtown site of the we have more data from this kiln than any kiln that’s ever been renovated Lawrence Public Library and its new parking garage. red in the history of the world, because of that last ring.” For $125, RD Johnson Excavating—whose employees, Hollo- way says, were intrigued by his plans for ring a clay dome— delivered an entire dump-truck load of Lawrence clay to the West am Holloway’s passion for ceramics was ignited at Olathe East Campus kiln complex. He supplemented it with equal parts sand, SHigh School, and he was a ceramics major from the day he sawdust and straw, rolled it into heavy coils and, over the course rst enrolled at KU until his December graduation. of 10 hectic days, built up the structure, hoping it could dry out in As his education and experience grew, so did Holloway’s time for the ring, which began slowly with a gas burner set to interest in one of his art’s fundamental elements: clay. Collecting low. He gradually increased the gas heat over ve days and, for the samples from around Clinton Lake, north Lawrence and other nal two days, added a wood re. regional sites, Holloway tested them in his studio and eventually “When I showed up, the dome was built but really wet, so I

24 | KANSAS ALUMNI knew he had a lot of challenges to be able to make that thing “ e atmosphere is really violent and volatile, and some pieces work by the time the event happened,” Balistreri says. “It was a don’t make it,” Maude says. “It’s kicking up a lot of heavy ash and great performance piece, the design was elegant, and I heat, and some pieces just don’t come out very good. ere’s a was impressed by his overall execution on it. It was beautiful.” thousand ways to ruin something, but I think this was a good “At one point,” Maude says, “I thought he had about a 50-50 ring. We had a lot of good results.” chance of making it. But it was an experiment anyway, so if it e ultimate success of an anagama kiln can’t be measured only would have failed it would have still been successful, in the sense by its ceramics, because a kiln solidies and makes permanent that he learned something.” not just clay, but friendships. Maude recalls that when he and Holloway began discussing the Everyone with a piece to go in the kiln is required to spend dome’s plans, Holloway focused on architecture while Maude was many hours in the weeks before the event chopping and stacking intrigued by the idea of it being used as a performance piece to wood. As the ring gets underway, the kiln is never le unat- headline the Oct. 19 “Fire Spectacular.” Holloway came around to tended, and all the shis are handled by artists. Countless hours Maude’s vision for the dome, forcing himself out of the comfort- are invested, and nobody is guaranteed anything but memories. able, solitary place sought by most visual artists. “ ese wood kilns really ll a true sense of community,” Maude “ at performance part was completely new to me,” Holloway says. “You have to work really closely with other people, and a lot says. “I spend most of my hours in the studio, in my little space, of the work is really hard, physical labor. But it’s a lot of fun and working away, so it was very overwhelming, just by the amount of there’s no competition. ere’s no animosity created because people there. It was great that they were excited and interested everybody is working toward the same goal. I’ve been involved and asking me questions, but that day wore me down. at was a with kilns across the country and even in other countries, and it’s very emotional night for me all around.” the same feeling. A very real sense of community, and I think As he’s reected on the experience, Holloway seems especially that’s fantastic.” intrigued by the dome’s eect on its audience. While he doesn’t Community also helps continually stoke Balistreri’s passion for expect that anybody who watched the ery unveiling will be wood ring, and he says he was so impressed by what he found at moved to design and construct their own clay structures, he does KU and in Lawrence that he’ll now encourage his students to hope they took with them other forms of inspiration. apply for graduate school in KU’s ceramics program and for “A big part of the project was bringing some sort of awareness residencies at Lawrence Arts Center. to the individual to think more about how we build our world,” he “ ere is a real scene that’s happening in Lawrence,” Balistreri says. “I rmly believe that we should look more to the past to says, “and the symbiotic relationship between the two institutions progress more in the future.” really builds on that. is is a genuine experience, and it’s a learning experience, and it’s organic. It’s a community-building kind of activity, and so it has all these deeper kind of positives er four days of ring, with peak temperatures more than than you can get through any normal pedagogical methods. A2,300 degrees, the anagama kiln required two weeks to cool “Marshall and Ben understand this, intuitively, at least, and down before it could be emptied of the 2,000-or-so pieces from what I experienced there, you can really see that happening. sculpted by hundreds of KU and community student artists. It’s pretty spectacular.” It’s a nervous wait for sculptors and their teachers, because And denitely more than just an exercise in groovy Zen duality, ring in a wood kiln—especially an anagama—is an uncertain worthy of stoking the conversation deep into the night until the process. res grow cold. LEFT TO RIGHT: STEVE PUPPE, DAN STOREY (2) STOREY PUPPE, DAN STEVE RIGHT: LEFT TO

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 25 A Martian Odyssey

26 | KANSAS ALUMNI by Diane Silver | Portrait by Je Farmer

Ever curious, scholar continues his quest for evidence of life on Mars

n July 20, 1969, Jack Farmer, g’71, ddled with of the red planet. He even coined the term “exopaleontol- the rabbit ears on a small black-and-white TV, ogy” to describe it. Exopaleontology searches for fossil trying to clear up a fuzzy picture broadcast evidence and chemical and biological traces—called from the moon. Sitting in the large, rustic biosignatures—that life once existed on other planets. In Ocabin that doubled as recreation hall and classroom at the 1995, Discover Magazine called Farmer the “world’s rst KU department of geology’s permanent eld camp in and only full-time exopaleontologist.” At the time, Farmer Colorado, Farmer and his fellow students awaited the rst was on a yearslong quest to convince his colleagues that moonwalk. they should search for fossil microbes on Mars. “We watched for hours,” Farmer says, recalling the Today Farmer is seeing his eort come to fruition. excitement of the day. Curiosity’s major mission objective—to nd fossilized Forty-three years later, Farmer sat in NASA’s Jet evidence that Mars could support microbial life in the Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as the vehicle past—is blatantly exopaleontological. Curiosity met that carrying the Curiosity rover roared down to the surface of objective this year, when it drilled a hole 1.6 centimeters Mars. is time he didn’t have to worry about getting a (0.63 inches) deep into a rock scientists call “John Klein.” clear picture. As a member of Curiosity’s Chemistry and Using a method called X-ray diraction, Farmer helped Mineralogy Team, Farmer had a front row seat. e rover, analyze the sample. Curiosity shot an X-ray through the about the size of a car, touched down safely in Gale Crater material, and the resulting diraction pattern acted like a on Aug 5, 2012—a landing that represented a high point ngerprint, enabling scientists to identify the minerals in of Farmer’s career. Now a professor of geological sciences at Arizona State University, Farmer is a pioneer in Mars exploration. He analyzed imaging data from Viking, the rst mission to land on Mars, which touched down in 1976. Farmer helped select the site for Path nder’s landing on Mars in 1997, and served on the science team for the mission that sent the Spirit and Opportunity rovers to Mars in 2004. Farmer also helped conceptualize a new scienti c (2) NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS COURTESY discipline that has proven to be central to the exploration

Above: Curiosity rover’s self-portrait at the “John Klein” drilling site on Mars. Left: Geological layers of Mount Sharp, near the landing site.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 27 mapping and other eld methods at the geology department’s 35-acre outpost near Cañon City, Colo. “e thing that capped o my KU education and that I’ve carried with me for the rest of my life is eld camp,” Farmer says. “It was organized so beautifully that you couldn’t help but learn something, and I learned a lot. To me that’s where geology comes alive, in the eld.” PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS (2) NASA/JPL-CALTECH/MSSS COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHS At the time, Rowell also served as the director of eld camp. “I had the good fortune to come back the following year and TA the course for Bert. Field camp molded and shaped the Top: Gale Crater. Right: Landing site rest of my career.” with location of John Klein Rock. Aer earning his degrees, Farmer says Below: Farmer has explored hot springs he “bounced around quite a bit.” He in Yellowstone National Park. NASA’s worked for a museum at UC-Davis, Spirit rover has found evidence that hot explored for oil as a petroleum geologist with Exxon, and taught geology at the springs once existed on Mars, so the University of California, Los Angeles. study of similar hot springs on Earth When he began working for the Exobiol- could advance Mars research. ogy Branch of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, he found a home in planetary science. Today, at 66, he lives the rock. In this case, they found minerals scientists might nd something intriguing with his wife, Maria, and their 12-year-old that form in water, one of the require- to examine along the way, it is impossible daughter, Bethany, in Scottsdale, Ariz. ments for life. to guess exactly when Curiosity will arrive A tall man with unrestrained enthusi- “We analyzed the materials in John at Mount Sharp. Farmer estimates the asm for his work, Farmer laughs at the Klein,” Farmer says, “and discovered rover is on track to get there in summer mention of possibly retiring someday. calcium sulfate there and clay minerals. 2014. “Heavens no. Why would I do that? I’m We knew the place had seen water.” Farmer grew up in the Central Valley of having fun, and there’s still so much Farmer and his colleagues also found California and began collecting rocks at to do.” evidence that the water was neither too age 6. His father claims he couldn’t drive —Diane Silver is a Lawrence acidic nor too salty, favorable conditions by a dry riverbed without having to stop freelance writer. for life on Earth. so Jack and his mother could hop out and “We haven’t discovered life yet, but we’ve hunt for rocks. “By the time I was 10, my discovered environments where life could collection was so big I had to give a lot of be sustained,” Farmer says. “I’m very rocks away when we moved,” Farmer excited about that. Promoting the idea of recalls. By the time he was a teenager, his looking for fossil biosignatures on Mars is love of geology was so well known that his

beginning to pay o.” friends nicknamed him “Stony.” FARMER DR. JACK COURTESY Curiosity is now making the 4-mile He earned a bachelor’s degree in geology drive to the mission’s main destination, an from California State University, Chico, in 18,000-foot mountain inside of Gale 1969 and a doctorate from the University Crater called Mount Sharp. “Mount Sharp of California, Davis, in 1978, but it was is layered like the Grand Canyon but more KU that set him on the path to exploring than three times thicker,” Farmer says. Mars. Farmer’s adviser, Bert Rowell, “ere’s lots of strati ed sedimentary rock professor of geology, got him interested in that goes back to the earliest history of paleontology. Farmer also credits his Mars. We’re eager to get over to that.” studies at eld camp for his success. All Given the diculties of rolling over geology majors are required to take eld unfamiliar terrain and the possibility that courses, mastering the fundamentals of

28 | KANSAS ALUMNI designed to enable scientists Precise The crimson planet to search for water underneath the surface of Mars. He has instruments since served as a participating Assessing the impact of radiation and isolation on astronauts, scientist on two Mars missions, uy the wrong tool to fix your peering into the Martian subsurface, and fixing instruments processing data from Bcar, and you might have to before they break are just some of the ways KU researchers are instruments similar to the take an extra trip to the store. one he created. Pack the wrong tool on a vehicle helping to explore Mars. One mission involved an that has to fly 34 million miles instrument called MARSIS to get to Mars, and you can (Mars Advanced Radar for doom an entire mission. Subsurface and Ionosphere Avoiding that kind of The human factor The chief risk posed by such Sounding), which has been catastrophic failure is the a long journey is radiation, orbiting Mars for the past impetus for a research project rom his perspective as a Hawley says. Earth’s magnetic decade. Originally scheduled to by KU geologists Alison Olcott Fretired astronaut, Steve field protects astronauts in low last one Martian year (687 Marshall, an assistant Hawley, c’73, professor of Earth orbit. Interplanetary days), the mission has already professor, and her husband, physics and astronomy, flights would require shielding, been extended four times and is Craig Marshall, an associate analyzed the challenges of a which adds to the spacecraft’s now funded until the end of professor. The two are testing human flight to Mars. In a paper mass. There also would be no 2014. portable Raman spectrometers in the October-November 2010 way to rescue the crew if they Among other discoveries, like the ones NASA plans to issue of the Journal of were threatened by a solar flare. MARSIS has identified send to Mars in 2020. Cosmology, Hawley wrote that Isolation would also create underground Never before the challenges are greater than challenges. Add the time spent water-ice deposits, included on such a we have ever faced before. exploring Mars to the travel unveiled the fine mission, Raman Hawley, who also serves as time, and the crew, perhaps layering of ice spectrometers KU’s director of engineering numbering as few as three deposits at the can analyze the physics, has a long history with people, would have only planet’s poles and mineralogy and

G L S Mars. After leaving the themselves for company for as discovered that T biosignatures of a O C K astronaut corps in 2003, he long as two years. the subsurface is IM site with little to no AG served for five years as director Despite the challenges, older and craggier than ES sample preparation, of space science for NASA’s Hawley says a well-planned scientists had expected. making them ideal for Johnson Space Center, where mission could succeed. He Leuschen has also worked planetary exploration. But most his group participated in the would be willing to go. with an instrument called experiments testing the robotic exploration of the “Humanity’s future is beyond SHARAD (Shallow Subsurface instrument’s e“ectiveness have planet. low-Earth orbit,” Hawley writes. Radar), which arrived at Mars used bench-top models, which Among the many diŒculties in 2006. Designed to provide are far di“erent than the of sending humans to Mars is data that complement the less-powerful portable the length of the mission, findings of advanced radar, spectrometers that will be sent Hawley says. With current Mysteries below SHARAD cannot penetrate the to Mars technology, a round trip to the surface Martian subsurface as far, but it The Marshalls are testing the Mars would keep astronauts in depicts images of much finer portable instruments on three space for about 440 days—far hat started as a resolution. Among other places on Earth where geologic longer than current space Wdissertation project has findings, SHARAD has shown conditions are similar to Mars flights. helped Carl Leuschen, e’95, that the outer shell of Mars, its (known as Mars analogs). The Hawley flew five times, g’97, PhD’01, become an lithosphere, may be more than two have conducted their first racking up 32 days o“ the Earth explorer of the Martian 300 kilometers (186 miles) tests at sites in Oklahoma— in missions that lasted from five subsurface. Now an associate thick. According to the U.S. Glass Mountain and the Great to 10 days. Few humans have professor of electrical Geological Survey, Earth’s Salt Plain—which contain iron spent even six months in space; engineering and deputy director lithosphere averages at least 80 and sulfate-rich soil and rocks only one person, a Russian of the Center for Remote kilometers (49.7 miiles), like those on Mars. Next up are cosmonaut, has come close to Sensing of Ice Sheets, Leuschen although it is far thinner under tests at a group of acidic lakes the transit time to and from created and tested an the oceans and much thicker in western Australia. Mars. instrument in 2001 that was under mountain ranges. —D.S.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 29 COURTESY MARIA CUEVAS COURTESY

Sisters blend mariachi roots with rock and pop in Maria the Mexican

lame it on the folly of youth, “You’d have this mariachi outt on and Teresa Cuevas, a founder of the seminal perhaps, but as high school girls you’d have to get to the gig,” recalls Tess, Topeka group thought to be one of the rst Bgrowing up in Topeka, there were c’08. “It really weirded people out. So at all-female mariachi bands. times when Maria and Tess Cuevas were times I was like, ‘Oh, this is so ey call their sound Americana soul not thrilled to be mariachis. embarrassing.’” and Mexican groove, and the appealing Playing with their grandmother’s band, e sisters long since moved beyond blend infuses energy into the pop side of Mariachi Estrella, the sisters sometimes teenage exasperation to grown-up grati- the mix while updating the Mexican folk longed to be just one of the gang. tude. As frontwomen of the band Maria tradition that Maria Cuevas says is a “ e band was a lot of fun, but at the the Mexican, Tess, 28, and Maria, 25, are constant touchstone in their music, height of our adolescence it was a bit of a forging a bold new sound that takes pride whether they are performing original struggle, because we had gigs when in their musical roots in traditional tunes or reworking traditional songs. everybody else was going to parties,” says Mexican folk music. eir debut album, “I think we came into this with the goal Maria, c’10. “We couldn’t hang out with our “Moon Colored Jade,” fuses funk, soul and of always having our mariachi background friends because we had mariachi practice. blues inuences with the mariachi they as the backbone of the sound, but to We gave our parents a hard time about it.” grew up playing with their grandmother, contemporize it,” she says.

By Steven Hill

30 | KANSAS ALUMNI he music—de ly written, awlessly an impressive range of inuences and an Church formed Mariachi Estrella and Tperformed and orchestrated with an admirable originality. began to play at the church and in the impressive depth and range of styles that “Blues, jazz, pop, rock ’n’ roll, soul community. As their popularity grew so suggests an utter lack of concern with music—it all comes into play,” Haddix did the opportunities to perform at tting into any neatly labeled music says. e band reinterprets traditional churches and in communities across the industry niche—is a testament to their mariachi tunes “Bésame Mucho” and “El state. A May 1981 recording of the group unique musical background. Both are Cascabel” and adds Mexican folk in the studios of Topeka’s KTWU TV classically trained musicians who began touches—the brassy horns, bright rhythms reveals an energetic performance where all studying the Suzuki method at 6, and at 11 and tight vocal harmonies of the maria- seven musicians o en join together in a they began learning from their grand- chis—to the various strains of American joyful, rollicking chorus. mother the mariachi tunes that today form music evident in their material. “It’s all Two months a er that show, the women the heart of their musical identity. there,” says Haddix, “but they make it their were invited to play at the Kansas City Even the band’s name speaks to their own. It’s got the sabor, the spice. It’s a Hyatt Regency on July 17. pride in their culture. celebration of their roots in Mariachi ey were crossing the second-oor “We wanted to tell our story, our Estrella but also a very contemporary skywalk above the Hyatt lobby when the Mexican background,” says Maria, who recording. It’s got one foot rmly in both fourth-oor skywalk collapsed onto them. notes that the name of the band isn’t a worlds.” Four members of the band were among literal reference to her. “We have this Nordstrom, who joined the group a er the 114 people killed that night. background with mariachi music that’s the Cuevas sisters hired him to play guitar On the 25th anniversary of the Hyatt such a big part of who we are and what we for them in a Chicago nightclub, says what tragedy, the City of Topeka in 2006 want to continue. e name is not drew him was their ease in performing. unveiled a statue, “Mariachi Divina,” derogatory at all; we just prefer to be called “e rst time I played with them I was Mexicans when it comes to our cultural astonished by how comfortable they were background. e name kind of gets that onstage,” he says. “ey denitely have a conversation started.” kinship and they do things naturally.” To complement their own base in at ease comes from long years of classical and folk, they sought out some of performing together, and it contributes to Kansas City’s best musicians to help shape another hallmark of their sound: harmo- the sound of “Moon Colored Jade.” nies so close it’s sometimes hard to tell Guitarists Garrett Nordstrom, an accom- that two dierent people are singing. plished songwriter who has released three “ey have interchanging parts on the albums on his own Birdsway Records record that you won’t notice,” Nordstrom label, and Jason Riley, a virtuoso impro- says, “because they sound so similar.” commemorating the band. In an interview viser, round out the core of the group. ere’s a term for the spooky musical with KCUR radio that year, Teresa Cuevas Stellar session men like trumpeter kinship that sometimes arises between recalled being buried in rubble. Hermon Mehari and Hammond B3 wizard close relations: blood harmony. “I was asking God to help me in Ken Lovern, l’95, add studio chops to the “I just think we’ve been singing together Spanish—I said, ‘Padre Santo ayudame.’ recording. so long it’s easier to sing with her than And I had already made up my mind that “ey’re collaborating with a lot of anybody else,” Maria says. “Our voices are I was going to die. But I said it real loud, young local players who add their own similar, and the longer we sing together and then all of a sudden a man said, ‘She’s perspective,” says Chuck Haddix, host of the more similar they get.” alive! ere’s a live one.’ e only thing I e Fish Fry radio show on KCUR, author “When you’ve sung together for 15 could move was this hand. I grabbed his of Bird: e Life and Music of Charlie years, it’s just easier,” Tess says. “It’s second hand, and they li ed it just a little bit and Parker and a longtime observer of the n atu re .” dragged me out of there.” Kansas City music scene. “You have a lot eir vocal partnership began in Even before the Hyatt tragedy, the sisters of outstanding parts coming together to Mariachi Estrella. ough they didn’t say, their grandmother dealt with many create something really unique. It’s know it at the time, the sisters were joining “intense situations.” triple-A radio material.” a musical tradition that had deep roots not “She had played violin when she was Haddix began playing cuts from the CD only in their family, but in Topeka’s young,” Maria says, “but when she was a er the Cuevas sisters dropped o a copy Mexican-American community. married and had children she really wasn’t with a handwritten note asking him to give In the late 1970s, Teresa Cuevas and six allowed to do what she loved, wasn’t it a listen. A student of many dierent other women who sang together in the allowed to play violin.” styles of music, he detects in the recording choir at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic at changed when she divorced her

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 31 to make something new and really make it their own.” DAN STOREY DAN Perhaps most impressive, says Haddix, are the vocal harmonies Tess and Maria create throughout. “ e use of harmony really sets this apart from other contemporary record- ings,” Haddix says. “You don’t hear that much today. Most bands don’t take it on because harmony requires a real ear for music, for being in tune.” Haddix notes that Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys and Alejandro Escovedo—all performers that Maria the Mexican has opened for—expanded the boundaries of Joined by Garrett Nordstrom, Tess (left) and Maria Cuevas (center) perform an original song and a Hispanic pop and rock by being rooted in the tradition while making their own traditional mariachi tune from “Moon Colored Jade” at kualumni.org/Kansas-alumni-magazine. music and nding their own voice. “It seems to me that with this CD [the Cuevas husband, not an easy thing to do at the “Everybody we played with we enjoyed,” sisters] have found their own voice,” time. Teresa says. “We laughed a lot.” Haddix says. “ ey’re breaking new “She was divorced at a time when e mariachi repertoire includes both ground with the fusing of classical with divorce was not popular,” Tess says. “She songs of celebration and songs of grief. the mariachi with the pop sensibility and was a single Hispanic woman, le by her Unrequited love is a frequent theme. “It’s the harmonies. It’s a whole new chapter in husband, with multiple kids. I think that not halfway, it’s full,” is how Teresa Cuevas the Hispanic music tradition.” made her say, ‘OK, I’m on my own. I get to describes it. “Whatever you feel, you feel.” Teresa Cuevas passed away Dec. 12 at make the rules.’” “Moon Colored Jade” draws on those 93. Still playing until her nal months, she Adds Maria, “I think maybe she felt classic themes and that emotional tone, loved seeing her granddaughters create somewhat broken, but she was able to take says Garrett Nordstrom, who had a hand their own take on the music she cherished. up the violin again and get involved with in writing most of the 10 original songs on “Seeing us do this was really special to these women. And the way she told it, they the album. her,” Tess says. “She was proud and happy just had so much fun. ey laughed and “ is record probably has one major- that we’re carrying it on. It proved to her laughed and laughed.” key pop song on it,” Nordstrom says— that she did a good job, that she didn’t do While the three surviving members “Rock and Sway,” which leads o the it for nothing, that it will continue on.” sometimes played together in church, they album. “ e rest are kind of in the e rst time the band opened for Los never reunited as Mariachi Estrella. mariachi love ballad, minor key melan- Lobos, the Cuevas sisters brought their Instead, Teresa reorganized the group as a choly motif. at’s really where our grandmother to the gig. kind of teaching band, enlisting many palette is.” “We went backstage to meet them and young members of her family as a way of “Bring it on Body” combines funk guitar they were like, ‘We heard about your passing on the mariachi tradition. Tess and a blue-eyed soul vibe. “ e Core” grandma. Is she here? Go get her!’” and Maria each joined when they turned balances the sisters’ fascination with e mariachi pioneer was the toast of 11—Tess learning the violin parts from easy-listening grooves against classical the green room, and the headliners moved her grandmother, and Maria switching guitar and cello accents. “ at Heart” her to the front row for their set. But from piano to vihuela, a ve-string guitar rocks out with a trippy vocal refrain and a aerward she conded to her granddaugh- that’s a traditional centerpiece of the soaring middle section that mixes strings ters that in her eyes Maria the Mexican mariachi sound. and electric lead guitar. “You and Me was still the star—la estrella—of the show. ey would spend more than a decade Against the Moon” joins brassy horns and In a 2008 interview Teresa Cuevas noted in Mariachi Estrella, including their time the Hammond B3 organ in a way that that her granddaughters have their own at KU, where they roomed together and brings to mind Latino pop, e Memphis songs to sing. each earned degrees in communication Horns and jazz fusion. “Even though they love mariachi music, studies. “It’s all there, the characteristics of the they’ve seen so many things that they want “Every time we performed we had so Mexican music they’re rooted in,” says to do,” Cuevas said. “Isn’t that beautiful? much fun,” Maria says. “It was a very Chuck Haddix. “ e rhythms, the horns, What has opened up for these two family-oriented, fun event.” the harmonies. ey weave it all together girls?”

32 | KANSAS ALUMNI NOMINATE An Association Member to Serve on the Board

We need your assistance in nominating future members of the KU Alumni Association’s National Board of Directors.

To nominate a fellow Jayhawk, please complete the form at www.kualumni.org/board or call 800-584-2957 and materials will be mailed or faxed to you. All nominations should be sent to the Association by March 1.

With your help, the Association will continue to recruit directors who represent the diversity of the KU family and the dedicaton that has been a hallmark of KU alumni service through the years.

For any additional questions, contact the Association at 800-584-2957 or visit www.kualumni.org Association DAN STOREY DAN Event chairs Laura and Todd Sutherland will host Rock Chalk Ball 2014, “Jayhawks and Juleps,” at the Overland Park Convention Center in April.

bow ties to be auctioned o . If you are interested in creating a custom hat or bow tie, contact Susan Younger at syounger@ kualumni.org for more information. Of course, the tradition is about more than having a ball. “While we want everyone who attends the Ball to have a Jayhawks and Juleps fantastic time, we also want them to know Kansas City’s annual ball to highlight Kentucky Derby that their attendance and support of the event play a huge part in the annual success of the Alumni Association,” erby hats, bow ties and mint juleps Event chairs Todd and Laura Suther- Winetroub says. “e ball supports our Dwill set a festive mood when the call land, assoc., will host the ball. “Todd and mission of strengthening KU by helping to to post sounds for this year’s Kentucky Laura have long been benefactors of and build stronger student recruitment e orts, Derby-themed Rock Chalk Ball, “Jayhawks volunteers for the University and the developing a more well-informed base of and Juleps.” An annual tradition for the Alumni Association,” says Kevin Corbett, alumni advocates, enriching the experi- KU Alumni Association and the premier c’88, Association president. “eir passion ence of all KU graduates, and increasing fundraising event in Kansas City since for all things KU over these many years the value of the KU degree by growing the 1996, the ball will transform the Overland has beneted many areas of the University strongest Jayhawk network possible.” Park Convention Center into a Sunower and we are grateful for their service as State version of the iconic Churchill chairs of the ball.” Downs racetrack April 26—one week Steve Doocy, j’79, co-host of “Fox & before the traditional “Run for the Roses” Friends” on the Fox News Channel, will be starts in Louisville, Ky., on the rst master of ceremonies. is year’s Rock Saturday of May. Chalk Ball will feature entertainment from “Each year we try to do something a the KU Band, Spirit Squad and music from little fun and di erent with the Rock e Michael Beers Band. Chalk Ball,” says Betsy Winetroub, c’05, For those Jayhawks with an the Association’s assistant director of artistic eye, the Rock Chalk Kansas City Programs. “is year, we hope Ball Committee is looking our Jayhawk faithful will get creative with for alumni to their attire by wearing big derby-style hats design and bow ties. In addition, we will have a custom celebrity guest emcee and decor that will derby transport you to Jayhawk Downs.” hats and

34 | KANSAS ALUMNI Elizabeth S. Hogan Marshall D. Kelley & Beth A. Life Members Janet Leuthold Holt Kelley Elliott D. & Michelle Capra Jerey A. & Rachel Deleon e Association thanks these Jayhawks, who began their Life Homan Kennard memberships Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013. For information, visit Brooks P. Hubbard Kailyn E. Keplinger kualumni.org or call 800-584-2957. Marianne R. & Daryl Irby Riley E. King Chad D. Johanning Joseph E. Knoll Erica R. Johnson Phillip R. Knowles Joseph C. Accardi Jr. & Susan Lara McBride Daniels Jerey A. Johnson Michael R. Kowal A. Accardi Bo & Vanessa Dennis Ralph G. Juhnke Jill A. Krentz Emily B. Akers Marci K. Deuth James C. Kaiser Philip R. Krull Judson S. & Kelly Carlson Charles W. & Margaret Melissa Horen Kaplan Edward T. Kuklenski Alford Durkin Dillon Douglas M. Keane —continued on page 36 Lacey R. Anderson Thomas H. Domine Michael S. Anderson Peter A. Edlund Jordan L. Armenta Alexandra A. Emerson Steven D. Averbuch Lindsey A. Evans Robert Babb Michael W. & Jane A. Fee New Sta Peyton R. Baldwin Steven J. & Elise Rock Fee Paul M. Bammel Laura Cooper Flaxbeard

Allison Selders Barkley Ralph W. Foiles STOREY DAN James R. Bauer Alex G. Franz Dale W. & Linda L. Bell Dale W. Friesen & Connie J. Gail F. Berman Friesen Nathan J. Betzen Roy M. Gallagher Jr. & Susan Ronald W. Bishop Kliewer Gallagher Rebecca A. Blackburn James F. Gallivan III Laura M. Blasi Julia R. Gaston Alexander J. Boyer Daniel T. George Bradley J. Brooks Hillary A. Gerling Bryon D. & Jessica Messer Christopher S. Gilbert Brooks Douglas H. Glass Kenton R. Brown Xunda Gibson Gomez Claire Buchanan Duane C. Graber Glen R. Buell Sarah Smith Gra Michael R. Bull Joan S. Green Michael R. & Alyson Julianne Greene Smith Bull Joel B. Grillot Grant W. Bussard Kurt C. Gunter Christopher K. Bystrom Sarah Hageman Thornberry, Johnson and Kohlman Marlene L. Cailteux Kelly L. Hale Alison E. Cain John I. & Jill Bradshaw Haley he Association’s team includes new sta members in Evan M. Cain Thomas B. & Jane A. Harrison Tthree departments: Jennifer L. Calvert Christina Case Harvick Tegan Thornberry, d’05, g’10, has joined the Association Linda Barton Carter Austin J. Hausmann as assistant director of membership after working at Fran Keith Casperson John A. Head Kansas Athletics for nine years. She is from Overland Park. Alyssa Wallace Chambers Jon W. Hecker Leah Kohlman, c’11, worked in the alumni records Barbara A. Ciboski Jacqueline M. Henman department for a year before making the transition last fall Shannon M. Collins Christine S. Hess-Baker to her new position as communications coordinator. She is Courteney C. Colvin Jaci L. Hiatt from Lyons. Travis O. Connaway Maxx Hickey Brittany Johnson, c’11, joined the records department Kelley M. Cornell Bradley J. & Wendy Klein Hill after working as a data entry clerk at GDIT. Johnson came Julie L. Crain Jerey T. Hill to KU as a student from Chandler, Ariz. Lindsey M. Dahl Anne E. Hinkebein

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 35 Association Life Members Chicago ’Hawks start the season right —continued from page 35 James A. & Dana L. Landavazo Whitney Taylor Lawson generic caption...we do Deron G. & Haley DAN STOREY (3) STOREY DAN not have IDS Harrison Lee Bruce E. Lerner & Devra Chicago pre-game party, Davis Lerner KU vs. Duke Kevin S. Letcher Drew P. Littell Amy R. Lonsway Matthew G. & Kathryn Williamson Lord Donna S. Luehrman Katherine M. MacCormack C.J. & Christa Rankin MacFarlane James C. MacMurray Shortly before KU topped Duke, 94-83, in the State Farm Tyler Manco Champions Classic Nov. 12 in the United Center, more Sylvia Mendez Martinez than 400 Chicago-area alumni gathered for the Alumni Carrie McAdams Marx Association’s rally at WestEnd; after topping capacity in Sara E. McBride the popular sports bar on West Madison Street, festive Thomas E. McBride Jr. & alumni eager to be among the crimson and blue for the Ti†any Sharp McBride start of basketball season filled up two nearby bars as Timothy P. & Kay Small well. For updated information about the Association’s McCarthy Marc C. McCort pregame rallies and basketball watch parties, visit Kent C. & Annette F. kualumni.org. McDonald Sara McElhenny Michael C. & Christine A. McGrew Marcy N. McGrew-Eudaly MAJ Christopher McLean Anita Moore Metoyer Reed D. & Jill Simpson Miller Shannon K. Miller Alan R. & Ashley Darling Miner Sarah Morgan Gary L. & Cheryl J. Morris Marilyn K. Murray Gene Myers Richard E. Nelson III Ryan J. Nicholas Joe L. Nichols Molly C. Niedens Michael F. & Susan Ro†man Norton Craig B. Novorr Kelly J. Olson

36 | KANSAS ALUMNI Kenji Ooe Stephen N. & Elizabeth Everything we do strengthens KU. Your member- David W. Owen Brand Six ship in the KU Alumni Association is the single most powerful way Mary Ann Packard Gregory J. & Melissa Brown to make all of KU stronger, including the value of your own degree. LTC Francis J. H. Park Skoch n DIRECTORS TO 2018 Jenny Wohletz Pelner Joe D. Slechta & Stacy B. Board of Directors John W. Ballard III, b’73, Overland Park, n Robert J. Perry & Donna Slechta CHAIR Kansas Kraus Perry Catherine Virr Sloop Je Kennedy, j’81, Wichita Aaron R. Brinkman, j’98, Dallas, Texas Larry D. Petersen Janet Clark Smith n CHAIR-ELECT Debi Dennis Duckworth, d’79, Houston, Collette Pomeroy Alan B. Sneegas Camille Bribiesca Nyberg, c’96, g’98, Texas Shannon Kreiser Portillo Robert E. Sperry & Carol Wichita Jill Simpson Miller, d’01, Webb City, Delbert W. Powell Steinbach Sperry Missouri n EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Melissa A. Powell Brad W. Spickert Ray D. Evans, b’82, g’84, Leawood Jerry D. Skillett, b’81, Altadena, Matthew J. Ramsey Paul G. & Yvette Je Kennedy, j’81, Wichita California Charlotte Dower Ramseyer Whelan Stark Douglas C. Miller, b’71, l’74, JeŠrey K. & Susan S. Ray David L. Stoll Mission Hills Administrative Sta Liz C. Raynolds Alexander L. & Sonja Debbie Foltz Nordling, d’79, Hugoton n PRESIDENT Callie E. Reber Combest Straus Camille Bribiesca Nyberg, c’96, g’98, Kevin J. Corbett, c’88 Scott P. Rehorn Kristin GeoŠroy Strong Wichita n J. Todd Reinking Brian K. Stucky ALUMNI CENTER Richard E. Putnam, c’77, l’80, Timothy E. Brandt, b’74, Director of Stanley R. Reiss Cecilia R. StumpŠ Omaha, Nebraska Adams Alumni Center Nicole R. Rhine Mark K. Swanson Scott R. Seyfarth, b’83, Hinsdale, Janiece L. Richard Steven R. Tosone Illinois n ALUMNI, STUDENT & MEMBERSHIP PROGRAMS Douglas R. Richmond Rosemarie T. Truglio n DIRECTORS TO 2014 Michael Davis, d’84, g’91, Senior Terisa D. Rick Robert M. Vance Jr. Douglas C. Miller, b’71, l’74, Vice President for Donor and John C. & Valerie Vandenberg Kevin R. & Heather Mission Hills Membership Programs Roper Switzer Wagner Debbie Foltz Nordling, d’79, Hugoton Heath Peterson, d’04, g’09, Bryan K. Rose Christopher S. Walker Camille Bribiesca Nyberg, c’96, g’98, Vice President of Alumni Programs William A. Rostine Errickson C. Walker Dallas, Texas Kevin J. RuŠ & Tara Mobray Paul R. Walker Richard E. Putnam, c’77, l’80, n COMMUNICATIONS RuŠ Samuel O. Walter Omaha, Nebraska David Johnston, j’94, g’06, Director Lindsey L. Saint Patrick M. Ward Larry D. Stoppel, c’73, Washington of Internet Services and Marketing Chris Lazzarino, j’86, Associate Josh Saunders David A. & Greta A. Warta n DIRECTORS TO 2015 Editor, Kansas Alumni magazine Morgan L. Sayler Robert M. & Rene Meyer Paul L. Carttar, c’76, Lawrence Jennifer Sanner, j’81, Senior Vice Michael L. Schmidt Washburn Scott R. Seyfarth, b’83, Hinsdale, President for Communications and James M. Schneck Brian C. Waymaster Illinois Corporate Secretary Brenda Marzett Vann, c’71, g’72, Lee R. Schnee & Emily Waden B. & Judith Susan Younger, f’91, Creative Director Evans-Schnee Clark Weinzirl Kansas City Christie M. Schroeder Tom Wertz Je L. Wolfe, b’83, Meridian, Idaho n DEVELOPMENT Angela Storey, b’04, g’07, Rani S. Self Tamisha Grimes White & n DIRECTORS TO 2016 Associate Development Director Joshua O. Sestak Derrick White James Bredfeldt, c’70, m’74, Bellevue, Linda Hershey ShaŠer Jay A. Wiegman Washington n FINANCE Gregory D. & Angela Casey Jennifer A. Williams John Jeter, c’77, m’81, Hays Jodi Nachtigal, Controller Shaw Philip A. & Annette H. Wilson Shelle Hook McCoy, d’73, Topeka Dwight Parman, Senior Vice James F. Shoemake & Phyllis Jason A. & Toni M. Witt Lori Anderson Piening, b’92, Austin, President for Finance and Human A. Shoemake Barbara L. Wood Texas Resources and Treasurer Mary Dardis Shuman Brandon T. Woodard Mark Randall, j’03, Englewood, n HOSPITALITY SERVICES Richard L. Sias Charles R. Worthington Colorado Bryan Greve, Senior Vice President Theresa Bradford Sickler n DIRECTORS TO 2017 for Hospitality Tyler P. & Ashley L. Sifers Donald R. Brada, c’61, m’65, Lawrence n LEGACY RELATIONS Carla Reid Simco Luke B. Bobo, e’82, Ballwin, Joy Larson Maxwell, c’03, j’03, Director Missouri Don & Patrice Simpson n Kevin E. Carroll, assoc., Palm Beach RECORDS Brian D. Sippy & Karen Hubler Bill Green, Senior Vice President for Gardens, Florida Sippy Information Services Marci K. Deuth, e’05, Washington, D.C. Stefanie Shackelford, Vice President for Gregory E. Ek, b’76, Overland Park Alumni Records

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 37 Class Notes by Karen Goodell Kenneth Johnson, g’70, wrote 70 Kansas University Basketball Legends, which was published in Novem- ber. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa, and is a Karin Stack Winn, c’51, a retired La Fille du Regiment, which recently senior provider consultant for XL Health. 51 teacher, lives in Tallgrass Creek was presented in Seattle. She’s a professor Retirement Community in Overland Park. of music at KU, and her home is in Larry Harper, c’71, m’74, practices Lawrence. 71 medicine with EvergreenHealth Norman Arnold, b’57, is a customer- Primary Care in Woodinville, Wash., 57 service specialist at Hy-Vee in Douglas Dechairo, c’62, m’66, was where he and Pamela Aboussie Harper, Overland Park, where he and his wife, Iola, 62 appointed chief of sta at the KU c’72, live. make their home. Student Health Center in Lawrence. Max Heidrick, p’71, owns S&S Drug in Beloit, where he and Michele Boucher James Grinter, c’58, president of Al Feinstein, a’63, a retired architect, Heidrick, d’71, make their home. He was 58 Grinter Farms, received an alumni 63 wrote two books, America Lost? honored with the KU School of Pharma- achievement award from the Tonganoxie What We Learned by Living in Mexico and cy’s Distinguished Service Award. USD 464 Education Foundation. Jim and Questions at Need to Be Asked About David Reibstein, b’71, was inducted into Mary Jane Brown Grinter, ’59, live in and By America and Americans. He and the Topeka West High School Hall of Lawrence. his wife, Biljana, live in Colorado Springs. Fame. He is the William Stewart Woodside Jack Thomas, d’63, a retired teacher and professor of marketing at the University of David Ruf Jr., e’60, is president of coach, makes his home in Bogue. Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of 60 Ruf Enterprises in Leawood. Business. David and Karen Lampe Marilyn Anderson Lucas, g’65, and Reibstein, c’69, have a home in San Diego. Joyce Malicky Castle, f’61, sang the 65 her husband, Clarence, e’52, are 61 part of the marquise in Donizetti’s retired in Shawnee Mission. e Rev. David Lee Serven, c’72, Dennis Michaelis, d’65, was appointed 72 recently became pastor of Brawley interim chancellor at St. Louis Community First United Methodist and Holtville School Codes Letters that follow names College. He had been president of McLen- United Methodist churches. He lives in indicate the school from which alumni earned nan Community College in Waco, Texas, Fallbrook, Calif. degrees. Numbers show their class years. until retiring in 2009. Marvin Pine, d’65, g’69, was inducted e Hon. Robert Fairchild, l’73, was a School of Architecture, into the Tonganoxie USD 464 Education reappointed to a two-year term as Design and Planning 73 b School of Business Foundation Hall of Fame. He lives in chief judge of the Douglas County Seventh c College of Liberal Arts Lawrence and had a 32-year career as a Judicial District. He and his wife, Martha, and Sciences teacher, coach and administrator in live in Lawrence. d School of Education Tonganoxie. e School of Engineering Phillip Estaver, l’74, practices law f School of Fine Arts Gary Mitchell, c’66, g’72, is a 74 with Dovenmuehle Mortgage in g Master’s Degree professor emeritus at Independence Lake Zurich, Ill. He and Sharon Mayer h School of Health Professions 66 j School of Journalism Community College. He continues to Estaver, s’74, s’75, live in Bu alo Grove. l School of Law make his home in Independence. Dennis Fowler, m’74, directs clinical m School of Medicine a airs for Titan Medical. His home is in n School of Nursing Jerry Barney, d’67, joined the board New York City. p School of Pharmacy 67 of Torchlight Energy Resources, an Ernest Garcia, s’74, g’77, served as grand PharmD School of Pharmacy oil and gas exploration and production marshal of Topeka’s Veterans Day Parade s School of Social Welfare company based in Plano, Texas. in November. He’s superintendent of the u School of Music DE Doctor of Engineering Sister Barbara Sellers, c’67, is an Kansas Highway Patrol in Topeka. Ernie DMA Doctor of Musical Arts archivist at Sisters of Charity in Leaven- and his wife, Amy, live in Overland Park. EdD Doctor of Education worth, where she lives. Dean Kackley, l’74, practices law and is PhD Doctor of Philosophy a real-estate broker with MortgageBrief- (no letter) Former student Charles Loveland, c’69, m’73, ing.com in Napa Valley, Calif. assoc Associate member of the 69 retired last year aer a 37-year William Marx Jr., m’74, is chief of Alumni Association career in pediatrics. He and Mary anesthesiology service at Memorial Ladesich Loveland, c’70, live in Lawrence. Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New

38 | KANSAS ALUMNI

Class Notes

York City, where he and his wife, Bonnie, Frant Raz, g’77, live in Highland Park, Ill. McAllen Texas. He and Linda Mankin make their home. Mokeski, c’81, have homes in McAllen MARRIED and Reno, Nev. Charles Boyd, c’75, g’76, was Chuck Fischer, f’77, and Bill Evans, Oct. Ramiah Subramanian, m’79, is a 75 honored as a Distinguished Alum- 24 in New York City, where they live. professor of pathology at the University of nus of KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Chuck is an artist and product designer Georgia in Athens. Sciences last fall. A retired U.S. Air Force who also creates pop-up books, and his general, he served as a combat pilot in work is in the permanent collection of e Hon. John Leith Carmichael, Vietnam and survived nearly seven years Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. 80 c’80, l’83, serves in the Kansas as a prisoner of war. Charles and his wife, Bill is director of media relations for the House of Representatives. He and Cheryl Jessica Tuchman Mathews, live in Falls Shubert Organization. Carmichael, ’92, live in Wichita. Church, Va. Kenneth Davis, j’80, wrote 100 ings Stephen Boyda, l’75, practices law with Mike Handelman, a’78, recently Kansas Fans Should Know and Do Before Pottro Law Oce in Manhattan. He and 78 became a senior vice president at ey Die, published last fall by Triumph his wife, Nancy, assoc., live in Topeka. AECOM Technology in Kansas City, Books. Ken and Nancy Lenzen Davis, d’81, Sharon Massoth Kirchhofer, s’75, and where he and Ann Grigsby Handelman, live in Coventry, Conn. He’s managing her husband, Steven Mundahl, wrote e d’79, live. director of UConnplaybook.com, and she’s Alchemy of Authentic Leadership, pub- Mark Jarboe, d’78, g’89, a retired a music therapist at Music erapy lished by Balboa Press. ey live in West high-school science teacher, lives in Services. Sueld, Conn. Lawrence, with Anne Crump Jarboe, d’78. Gail Harshaw, g’80, is district manager Steven Martens, c’75, is president and of the Wilson County Conservation CEO of Grubb & Ellis-Martens Commer- Richard Bresler, e’79, is senior District in Fredonia, where she lives. cial Group in Wichita. 79 project manager at WorleyParsons Kurt Roberts, b’80, manages purchasing in Houston. He lives in Katy, Texas. for Mid-America Millwright in Garden Israel Raz, Phd’77, is vice president Paul Mokeski, c’79, is associate head City, where he lives. 77 of Extera Partners. He and Edna coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in Daniel Woodrell, c’80, wrote e Maid’s

40 | KANSAS ALUMNI Version, which was published last fall by Laura Ramberg Studio in rural Lawrence. nostic radiologist at Overlake Medical Little, Brown and Company. He lives in Helga Schreckenberger, g’81, g’82, g’85, Center in Bellevue, Wash. West Plains, Mo. PhD’85, chairs the department of German Janice Wanklyn Wissman, EdD’81, and Russian at the University of Vermont received a Distinguished Lifetime Mem- J. Rod Betts, l’81, recently became a in Burlington, where she and her husband, bership Award from the Mortar Board 81 fellow in the College of Labor and Gordon Petersen, d’75, s’81, live. National College Senior Honor Society. Employment Lawyers. He’s a partner in William Seibel, c’81, is an assistant She is retired associate dean of education the San Diego law rm of Paul, Plevin, professor of oncology at the Cincinnati at Kansas State University, where she’s Sullivan & Connaughton. Rod and his Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He president of K-State Libraries. Janice and wife, Lisa, live in La Jolla. lives in Hamilton, Ohio. her husband, Donald, live in Manhattan. Laura Ramberg, f’81, won a Phoenix Diane Flott Senne, d’81, a retired Award for Exceptional Artistic Achieve- insurance agent, makes her home in Rita Holmes-Bobo, b’82, g’84, is ment from the Lawrence Cultural Arts Lawrence. 82 president and CEO of the Niles Commission. She’s a sculptor and owner of Steven Sperling, c’81, m’85, is a diag- Home for Children in Kansas City. She

PROFILE by Steven Hill STEVE PUPPE STEVE Encounter with poverty talked with. Child mortality in the region spurs Hamilton to action is 17 percent, and most families felt the main cause was poor access to clean water. anoeing during a family vacation in “My question was, ‘If so many organiza- CAmazonian Peru, Chase Hamilton tions provide medical care, how many and his parents were stopped by a local provide clean water?’” he says, “because tribe and told they couldn’t pass unless that would be an obvious rst step.” they provided medication needed to save e answer, according to Hamilton, was a young girl’s life. only a few—and they weren’t working rough the help of a translator, they together. learned that the life-threatening illness the “I saw this huge mesh of aid was very tribe sought to treat was diarrhea. unorganized and started our group to “Something as simple to treat as create an overlying network to communi- diarrhea was a huge cause for concern cate with other nongovernmental organi- where they live, which is days and days zations and focus our eorts.” from a health clinic,” Hamilton says. “I was CGCHealth concentrated rst on struck by the grinding poverty, which was distributing water lters in Belén, a completely world-shiing.” riverside slum in Iquitos. e $55 lters Such an encounter would dissuade enable families to purify a million gallons many rst-world tourists from further of water over 10 years, protecting them “Many eyes, many hearts,” is the motto of third-world travel, but not Hamilton, c’11. from deadly diseases and parasites like Chase Hamilton’s nonprofit group CGCHealth. It inspired him to return to Peru aer hepatitis, giardia and leptospirosis. With “It means the more people we bring to a graduation to work with relief agencies help from KU undergrads and medical problem, the greater the aid we can provide.” and—eventually—to form his own, students, CGCHealth last summer handed CGCHealth. e group works with out 80 lters and provided training to impoverished Peruvians to help them get explain how they bene t health. clean water, medicine, health education rough its website cgchealth.org the to the age of 6 in the Amazon, and 30 and a political voice for their community. group recently raised $14,000 to buy 250 percent of those deaths are directly As part of his work with one Amazonian lters; fees paid by students participating attributed to drinking contaminated relief agency, Hamilton surveyed local in the program this summer will fund water,” Hamilton says. “at’s something populations to nd where they most another 240. e goal is to reach at least we’re desperately ghting. To see those needed help. eir young children’s health 400 families (about 2,400 people) annually. numbers start decreasing would be was a major concern of the people he “Almost one in ve children do not live amazing.”

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 41 Class Notes and her husband, Luke, e’82, live in Col. Karen Mayberry, l’86, is chief Ballwin, Mo. defense counsel for the O ce of the Stacey Leslie Lamb, f’82, completed her Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C. 30th year last fall as an artist for Hallmark She lives in Alexandria, Va. Cards. She and her husband, Brent, c’84, live in Lawrence, where he’s an assistant Randy Stone, c’83, is senior director and Bradley Chilcoat, l’87, directs vice president at KU Endowment. project manager at Sunovion Pharmaceu- 87 compensation programs and Jarmila Nold-Liebrock, h’82, works as an ticals in Marlborough, Mass. He and his strategy at the University of California- occupational therapist for the Northshore wife, Lisa, live in New York City. Oakland. He lives in San Francisco. School District in Woodinville, Wash. She Karla Roberts Ketchum, d’87, g’89, is lives in Seattle. Heithem El-Hodiri, c’84, g’90, territory business manager for Bristol- Sara Ruge Stryker, c’82, l’85, is a 84 PhD’92, is an associate professor of Myers Squibb. She and her huband, Dean, public-aairs o cer for the U.S. Depart- pediatrics at Ohio State University in j’89, live in Leawood. He’s national sales ment of State in Washington, D.C. She and Columbus. He and Valerie Herrington manager for Iowa Tool Works. her husband, Brian, e’84, make their home El-Hodiri, d’85, live in Hilliard. in Gaithersburg, Md. Richard Fisher Jr., f’84, recently became Elizabeth Polka Garvin, c’88, l’91, Natise Johnson Vogt, g’82, received a chief executive o cer of the Chickasaw 88 g’94, is of counsel with Spencer Young Alumni Medallion from Tabor Council Boy Scouts in Memphis. Fane Britt & Brown in Denver, where she College. She’s principal of the Rural Life James Perkins, m’84, is a professor of and her husband, Gregory, b’85, l’88, live. Center Charter School in Walton. She surgery at the University of Washington Matthew Lee, e’88, recently became makes her home in Newton. Medical Center in Seattle. His home is in senior vice president and executive Rob Yohe, ’82, is a commercial nancial Issaquah. director of nuclear projects at Black & consultant for Robert G. Yohe Consulting Randy Scott, PhD’84, co-founded Veatch in Overland Park. He makes his in Stilwell. InVitae in San Francisco. He and Eileen home in Olathe. Schmitz Scott, ’84, live in Los Altos. Renee Wachter, b’88, is chancellor of the Michael Belz, c’83, m’87, practices University of Wisconsin in Superior, 83 cardiology with Group Health in Jeanine Vanleeuwen Brizendine, where she lives. Seattle. He makes his home in Shoreline 85 p’85, c’85, p’08, manages pharmacy Robert Wilson, l’88, is deputy attorney with his wife, Kimberly. operations for Via Christi Hospitals in general in the California Justice Depart- Steven Bennett, l’83, is executive vice Wichita, where she and her husband, ment in Sacramento. president, general counsel and corporate Jerry, p’66, make their home. secretary at USAA in San Antonio. e Rev. Thomas Fangman Jr., c’85, Lori Betts-Harrison, c’89, manages Robert Chestnut, b’83, g’85, is chief received a Court of Honor award from the 89 business operations for 3S Engi- nancial o cer at ProPharma Group. He Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation in neering in Wichita, where she and her and Melissa Sampson Chestnut, j’85, live Omaha, Neb., where he’s a priest at Sacred husband, Mark, assoc., make their home. in Lawrence. Heart Catholic Church. Scott Crowns, l’89, manages technical Stephen Kort, l’83, is general counsel for Laura Stakley Irick, l’85, works as a support for Brocade in San Jose, Calif. He Midwest Air Tra c Control Service in contract specialist for KU Innovation and lives in Campbell. Overland Park. He and Ellen Leinwand Collaboration in Lawrence, where she Michael Harmelink, c’89, g’91, is Kort, g’79, live in Leawood. makes her home. associate vice chancellor and chief Mike McGrew, b’83, is treasurer of the Edgar Thornton III, g’85, serves as a U.S. information o cer at the KU Medical National Association of Realtors. He’s foreign service diplomat in Monrovia, Center in Kansas City. He and his wife, CEO and chairman of McGrew Real Estate Liberia. Ann, live in Olathe. in Lawrence, where he and Christine Blount McGrew, c’92, make their home. Andrew Bettis, c’86, works for Harry Parker, g’83, PhD’92, received a 86 NCR, and Lori Roberts Bettis, d’89, Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished teaches kindergarten in Olathe. ey live Achievement from Texas Christian in Overland Park. University, where he chairs the theater Andreas Bynum, c’86, is corporate vice department. Harry and his wife, Karen, president of global information services BORN TO: ’83, live in Fort Worth. for AMD in Austin, Texas. Michael Wetson, b’89, and Shawn, Chandrima Shaha, m’83, directs the Jim Krekeler, b’86, works as an invest- daughter, Olivia, and son, Sawyer, Sept. 14 National Institute of Immunology in New ment banking principal at Edward Jones in in Coppell, Texas. Michael is a principal at Delhi, India. St. Louis, where he lives. Inscio in Addison.

42 | KANSAS ALUMNI

Class Notes

Thomas Crabtree, e’90, g’92, does 90 cargo market analysis for Boeing Commercial Airplane in Seattle. He lives in Bellevue. Sarah Beeks Higdon, g’90, directs advancement at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. She and her husband, Don, live in Mission Hills.

Valerie Baldwin, l’91, serves on the 91 sta of the appropriations committee of the U.S House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., where she lives. Michael Casidy, c’91, recently became managing director of Mexico for Penske Logistics. He and Melinda Ban Casidy, d’91, live in Leawood. Cynthia Cook, l’91, is senior counsel for Brown PC in Fort Worth, Texas. Scott Coons, e’91, president and CEO of Perceptive Soware, was elected a trustee of the KU Endowment Association. Scott and Betsy Green Coons, c’94, live in Lawrence. Bonner Menking, l’91, owns a law practice in Gaithersburg, Md. Stuart Michelson, PhD’91, is a professor of business at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Satellite Beach. Paul Wallen, e’91, is executive director of transmission and substation construc- tion at Westar Energy in Topeka. He and his wife, Jana, live in Lawrence.

Jeanine Ambrosio, g’92, received an 92 award from the government of Ho Chi Minh City for her work in HIV prevention there. She works for the Centers for Disease Control. John Poyhonen, g’92, is president and CEO of Senomyx in La Jolla, Calif. Thomas Valuck, g’92, recently became a partner in Discern in Baltimore.

MARRIED Drew Elder, c’92, to Lexi Bohnenkamp, Sept. 14 in Salida, Colo. ey live in Denver, where Drew is vice president of Janus Capital Group.

Alan Alden, c’94, l’98, is chief 94 operating ocer of Omne Mobile Wallet. He lives in San Francisco.

44 | KANSAS ALUMNI Michael Brox, g’94, a U.S. Air Force where she and her husband, Scott Teeter, show, Luminous, recently was featured in a lieutenant colonel, recently became c’79, m’93, make their home. She was video on the Discovery Channel. He and materiel leader for Ground-Based Strate- inducted into the Topeka West High his wife, Carmen, live in Athens. gic Deterrence. He lives in Ogden, Utah. School Graduate Hall of Fame. A.J. Cleland, c’94, manages business Lance Hamby, c’96, j’96, directs development for Modis in Englewood, Janice Coldwell, ’95, is a bassoonist 96 operations for Oracle. He makes his Colo. He lives in Denver. 95 in the Summerville Community home in Bellevue, Wash. Randall Griey, g’94, PhD’00, is Orchestra in Summerville, S.C. Octavio Hinojosa, c’96, is executive associate curator of modern America for Dejian Liu, c’95, recently became a director of the National Hispanic Corpo- the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New director of Baidu, a Chinese language rate Council in Washington, D.C. York City. Internet search provider. His home is in Joyce Lasseter, g’96, PhD’05, is an Margaret McCarthy, g’94, PhD’99, Baldwin Park, Calif. assistant professor of nursing at the works as clinical psychologist at Shadow John Sabraw, f’95, is an associate University of St. Mary in Leavenworth. Wood Clinical Associates in Topeka, professor of art at Ohio University. His She lives in Spring Hill.

PROFILE by Chris Lazzarino

By air and land, Sproston or races longer than 26.2 racks up big-time miles miles. She placed ninth in her hen she ran track in high school in rst 50-miler, in 2006, and WMonmouth, Ill., Amy Sproston was won her second race

the best runner on her team and regularly shortly aer. PHOTOGRAPHY MICHIGAN BLUFF SMYTHE, MYLES quali ed for state meets. But she was “You know you’re going injured early in her freshman year at to have some highs and Luther College and never regained her lows,” she says, “so there’s stride, battling prerace nerves and nausea. not quite so much reason “I was,” Sproston says, “a head-case to stress.” when it came to racing.” Aer returning to D.C. Sproston, g’00, eventually conquered her from a trip to Afghanistan, Champion ultramarathoner Amy Sproston says she’s often asked nerves well enough to become a world- Sproston jumped on a what she thinks about while running for 19 hours or more. The champion ultramarathoner, a transition ight to visit Peace Corps answer: “Anything and everything,” she says. that began when she joined her father in friends in Oregon. e her rst marathon, in 1998, while a stark dierence between herpetology graduate student at KU. Kabul and Portland tions. I was just happy to be running.” A passion for distance events was prompted Sproston to decide on the spot Sproston is now training toward the ignited, and, while volunteering for the that she had to move. Now living in June 1 Comrades Marathon, a 90-year Peace Corps in Paraguay, she even used a Portland, where she is a nancial compli- South African tradition, followed by the good nish in the Asunción Marathon to ance ocer for Mercy Corps, Sproston most important U.S. event, the 100-mile qualify for the Boston Marathon. logs 80 to 100 weekly miles of road and Western States Endurance Run. Aer Paraguay, Sproston volunteered on trail running. Sproston cherishes her sport’s solitary Micronesia’s Chuuk Island, where in 2003 Five weeks away from the 2012 World and unique moments, such as the time she she assisted with reforestation following a Championships, she returned from trips to convinced her taxi driver in Kurdish Iraq 2002 typhoon. She then moved on to Kenya and Turkey with a pulmonary to deliver her 10 miles outside of town and Washington, D.C., where she took a job embolism in her calf. Her doctor told her allow her to run back by herself. with an aid organization and gained she couldn’t run for six weeks; another “You get a lot of strange looks when experience in nance and administration. said she could, and Sproston went on to you’re running in Iraq. I think it’s good for She also fell in with a group of trail the biggest victory of her career. people in other countries to see, to break runners who introduced her to the “I wasn’t a favorite going in, which I the stereotypes and norms and wonder ultra-tough discipline of ultramarathons, think helped. I didn’t have any expecta- what you’re doing.”

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 45

Eric Madden, c’96, l’99, is a partner in Elizabeth Egbert Berghout, g’97, Brian Eldridge, c’98, a shareholder in the Dallas rm of Reid Collins & Tsai. 97 g’01, is an associate professor of Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney, Monika Mahal, m’96, practices pediat- music and carillonneur at KU. She and her was named to the 2013 edition of 40 rics at PeaceHealth Medical Group in husband, Daniel, g’99, live in Lawrence. Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch. Bellingham, Wash. Ashleigh de la Torre, j’97, c’97, directs He lives in Highland Park. Rachel Casebolt Ronan, f’96, is princi- government a airs at Bombardier in pal and creative director at Kiwi Creative Washington, D.C. Babak Marefat, m’99, received an in Lenexa, where she and her husband, Patrick Linder, c’97, wrote Ghost Music, 99 Alumni Achievement Award from Chris, j’96, g’11, make their home. published recently by Oak Tree Press. He Fort Hays State University. He’s an Julie Moser Thorson, j’96, was inducted and Teresa Dale Linder, c’97, live in ophthalmologist at Cotton-O’Neil Clinic into the Iowa Central Community College Snoqualmie, Wash. in Topeka. Hall of Fame. She’s president and CEO of Melissa Vancrum, b’97, l’11, g’12, is an Joshua Rinkov, c’99, directs private Friendsip Haven in Fort Dodge, where she associate at Hanson Bridgett in San client services at Credit Suisse Securities in and her husband, Tjeran, make their Francisco. She lives in Walnut Creek. Chicago. He received the Davis, Gidwitz home. and Glasser Young Leadership Award Erica Lee Voell, s’96, is a youth collec- Heather Holland Anschutz, h’98, from the Jewish Federation of Metropoli- tion development librarian for the Kansas 98 joined Ameritas in Lincoln, Neb., as tan Chicago. City Public Library. She and her husband, second vice president and associate Patrick Sterner, c’99, g’04, is a managing Bryan, live in Shawnee. general counsel. She and her husband, consultant for Gimmal. He lives in Kansas Tom, live in Plattsmouth. City with his wife, Katherine. Pamela Frieling Breukmann, b’98, g’99, serves on the board of Ferrellgas Partners. Amy Cline, l’00, is an associate with She’s president of Ferrell Capital and 00 Bryan Cave in Chicago. president and chief operating ocer of Timothy Mock, c’00, was named Samson Capital Management. Pam and manager of the Lawrence branch of Truity her husband, Kurt, live in Olathe. Credit Union.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 47 Class Notes

Caleb Stegall, l’00, is a judge on the Perceptive Soware. Sam and Melissa Center of Kansas in Topeka. Kansas Court of Appeals. He and his wife, Brickman Rockford, c’97, m’01, live in De James Novak, b’03, m’10, practices Ann, live in Lawrence. Soto. She’s an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Stormont-Vail anesthesiology at KU Medical Center. Healthcare in Topeka. BORN TO: Mark Randall, j’03, a community Courtney Kreutzer Payne, j’00, and Thomas Alderson, c’02, m’07, ambassador for the Denver Nuggets, was Dylan, son, Sutton Prudhomme, April 4 in 02 practices medicine at Stormont-Vail inducted into the Colorado High School Kansas City, where he joins a sister, Healthcare and Cotton-O’Neil Nephrology Activities Association Hall of Fame. He Sophie, 3. in Topeka. makes his home in Englewood. Jennifer Tucker Haaga, c’02, l’10, is Jill Wilder Emig, j’01, g’11, is assistant director of industry agreements MARRIED 01 channel manager at Assurant at KU Innovation and Collaboration. She Sara Lounsberry, c’03, to Ryan Jackson, Employee Benets in Kansas City. She and lives in Lawrence. Oct. 11 in Kansas City. ey live in Olathe. her husband, Paul, live in Overland Park. Asma Latif, c’02, m’06, is a medical David Holtzman, d’01, g’04, directs oncologist and hematologist at Memorial BORN TO: communications for the San Diego Padres. Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Basking Jennifer Booth Bidwell, c’03, and Steve, He and Kerri Shafer Holtzman, j’00, live in Ridge, N.J. She lives in New York City. son, Henry, July 26 in Colchester, Conn., El Cajon, Calif. where he joins a brother, Jack, 2. Claudia Mercado, g’01, EdD’13, is Jacob Hecker, c’03, l’06, is an Ryan Chappell, b’03, and Kara, daughter, associate vice chancellor of enrollment at 03 associate with Stinson Morrison Emma, Sept. 17 in Plano, Texas, where she City College in Chicago, where she lives Hecker in Phoenix, where he and Lori joins a sister, Sophie, 2. with her partner, Angelica Lopez, s’01. Jorgenson Hecker, c’03, make their home. Samuel Rockford, g’01, g’02, teaches Richard Nichols, g’03, was inducted Kate Osborn Altenhofen, c’04, math at St. James Academy in Lenexa. He into the Highland Park High School 04 manages marketing for Huhtamaki received an Educating Excellence award Alumni Association Hall of Fame. He is in De Soto. She and her husband, Mat- from the KU School of Engineering and executive director of the Disability Rights thew, make their home in Overland Park.

48 | KANSAS ALUMNI Derek Nicholson, c’04, is a senior sales Salina. Je is comptroller for ISG MARRIED representative at Osram Sylvania. He and Technology, and Sophie is director of Joseph Czyz, b’05, and Nell “Katie” Mindy Carlson Nicholson, c’02, g05, live in development for Kansas Wesleyan Chaney, c’08, Sept. 28 in KU’s Danforth Lawrence, where she works for KU University. Chapel. ey live in Lawrence, and Katie is Endowment. Jason Sanders, c’04, and Belinda, a senior case manager with Litigation Lindsay Poe Rousseau, c’04, j’04, daughter, Violet Marie, July 27 in Roa- Insights in Overland Park. l’08, works as budget director for noke, Texas. Jason teaches high-school Ryan McAtee, d’05, to Kathryn Kozal, Sedgwick County in Wichita, where science in Lewisville. May 11. He’s a senior investigator for she and her husband, Trevor, assoc., Target, and she’s a material logistics agent make their home. Leah Hamilton, f’05, directs arts for Bombardier Learjet. ey make their 05 administration for Drury Univer- home in Wichita. BORN TO: sity in Springeld, Mo. Donald Robare, e’05, to Courtney Je Lamb, b’04, and Sophie Blackwell Simon Tolbert, l’05, practices law with Meeker, e’05, Sept. 14 in Wichita, where Lamb, son, Ford Blackwell, July 3 in Lear & Lear in Denver. they live. He’s a control tools process

PROFILE by Chris Lazzarino USA TODAY (2) TODAY USA Online platforms win over information they need in top investigative reporter their day-to-day lives. “ at really is the goal of ntil he allowed USA Today investiga- my reporting,” Young says Utive reporter Alison Young to test the from her oce in McLean, soil in his yard, Cleveland homeowner Va. “ e work I want to do is Ken Sheon—who already had ed one the kind that is going to have house aer one of his ve sons became ill a real impact on real people.” with lead-paint poisoning—had no idea Young in 2003 moved from that a nearby abandoned factory for the Detroit Free Press, where decades had spewed toxic lead dust, a state she had been deputy metro Honors won by Alison Young and USA agency had found soil contamination in editor, to Washington, D.C., Today for “Ghost Factories” include the neighborhood years earlier yet to join a new Knight Ridder awards for video, business and science neglected to inform residents, and his own investigative team. As Knight reporting, illustrating the breadth of the yard was extensively contaminated. Ridder was about to dissolve project’s reach. “I needed to know that,” Sheon said, as three years later, Young Young reported in the award-winning joined the Atlanta Journal- USA Today series “Ghost Factories,” the Constitution to cover the result of a 14-month investigation into Centers for Disease Control and Preven- that will support journalists to use the health risks posed by hundreds of forgot- tion; in 2009 she le for USA Today, and platforms to their fullest potential.” ten lead factory sites across the country. a year later was assigned to the national USA Today’s multimedia team created Sheon’s startled, angry reaction newspaper’s investigative team. for “Ghost Factories” an extensive online denes the mission Young, j’88, set for When she hit the road to report “Ghost presentation (ghostfactories.usatoday. herself in a journalism career that has Factories,” Young carried two items new to com). While not every project will reach taken her from Dallas to Phoenix, Detroit, her toolbox: a $41,000 XRF soil analyzer that scale, Young says she expects to never Washington, D.C., Atlanta and now back and a $300 HD Flip Cam. e soil analyzer again be limited to print. to the Washington area, and across the was indispensable only for that story, but “Believe me, I love print newspapers; even greater span of the reinvention of the camera remains, forever altering the I have two delivered at home. But there print journalism’s formerly static news way Young gathers and shares the news. are more opportunities for digital platform. “I really do think this has the potential storytelling that can really bring stories Wherever Young chooses to focus her to be a golden age in journalism,” she says, alive. And frankly, I’m glad not to be in investigative energies, she intends to help “but we’ve got to nd a way to actually nd the box of just reporting for print her readers—and now viewers—learn the kinds of revenue and business models any m ore .”

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 49 Class Notes

engineer at Spirit Aerosystems, where she’s Wailuku, Hawaii. He lives in Haiku. Robert Ray, m’07, practices an accountant. Sean O’Hara, l’06, practices law 07 emergency medicine at Monte ore with Kercsmar & Feltus in Scottsdale, Weiler Hospital in e Bronx, N.Y. He Leroy Alsup, g’06, directs commu- Ariz., where he and Amy Cox O’Hara, lives in New York City. 06 nity and economic development for j’05, live. Susan Rohr, s’07, works as a screener at McAlester, Okla. Selena Sujoldzic, l’06, practices law with Horizons Mental Health Center in Denae Schumacher Brennan, j’06, is Arn, Mullins, Unruh, Kuhn & Wilson in Hutchinson. She lives in Newton. education and meeting manager for the Wichita. American Association of Neuromuscular MARRIED and Electrodiagnostic Medicine. She lives MARRIED Amy Adams, c’07, to Jeremy Dreiling, in Rochester, Minn. Alexander Melin, c’06, g’08, to Svetlana Oct. 4 in Woodland Park, Colo. She’s a Jeremy Graber, b’06, l’09, works as an Akhmerova, Aug. 24 in Ufa, Russia. ey nurse at the University of Colorado associate with Foulston Siein in Topeka. live in Lawrence, where Alexander studies Hospital, and he works for Smith, Seck- He lives in Lawrence. law at KU. man & Reed. ey live in Salida. Tonda Jones Hill, d’06, g’09, l’12, is Amy Thompson, c’06, and Michael Kara Runge, n’07, and Bryan Schuessler, assistant director of admissions for the KU Leiker, c’12, Oct. 12 in Lawrence, where p’10, g’12, Sept. 7 in Kansas City. ey School of Law. She and her husband, they live. Amy is a dentist at Today’s make their home in Gainesville, Fla. Tyrone, live in Lawrence. Dentistry in Topeka, and Michael is Aaron Levine, c’06, l’10, is a regulatory regional sales manager for Marlen BORN TO: analyst for the National Renewable Energy International in Riverside, Mo. Timothy Isernhagen, e’07, b’07, and Laboratory in Golden, Colo. He and Beth, son, Jonas Hanks, June 18 in Keller, Samantha Mika Levine, l’12, make their BORN TO: Texas, where he joins a home in Denver. Jamin Dreasher Landavazo, c’06, g’08, sister, Elsie, 2. Tim is an Benjamin Lowenthal, l’06, is an associate and Matthew, e’07, son, Jonathan James, acquisition engineer for in the law oce of Philip Lowenthal in Oct. 6 in Wichita. ExxonMobil.

50 | KANSAS ALUMNI

Class Notes

Mary Beth Blackwell, s’08, directs Tom Godsey, c’09, l’13, g’13, works for Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Ankara, 08 the Eating Disorder Resource Ernst & Young. He lives in Leawood. Turkey. Center at Jewish Family Services of Alyssa George Hermreck, b’09, is a Scott Stingley, b’09, works as an Greater Kansas City. commercial lending ocer for Commerce assistant bank examiner for the Missouri Devon Doyle, l’08, is deputy district Bank in Kansas City, where she and her Division of Finance. He lives in Overland attorney for the 4th Judicial District. He husband, Chris, e’07, make their home. Park. lives in Aurora, Colo. Jennie Joiner, PhD’09, is an assistant Helen White, l’09, practices law with Matt Kincaid, c’08, g’12, l’12, practices professor of English at Keuka College in Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison & business, employment and real-estate law Keuka Park, N.Y. She lives in Penn Yan. Lewis in Denver. with Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace & John Keller, c’09, practices dentistry Bauer in Overland Park. with Carrow & Chapel in Alton, Ill. He MARRIED Kyle Kitson, c’08, l’13, practices law with and his wife, Melissa, live in Edwardsville. Lauren Massey, c’09, to Kevin Butler, Husch Blackwell in Kansas City. Spencer King, c’09, g’13, l’13, works as a Sept. 28 in Olathe. She coordinates Summer Shiflett, c’08, l’12, is an adjunct senior broker at AON Risk Services in admissions and recruitment at the UMKC professor at Columbia College Chicago. Denver, where she lives. law school, and he works for ATK. ey David Siever, l’08, manages license and Adam Lovelace, b’09, is a cargo claims live in Lee’s Summit, Mo. compliance at Dish Network in Engle- management and prevention analyst for wood, Colo. He lives in Denver. Neovia Logistics. He makes his home in BORN TO: Charles Stinson, c’08, l’13, practices law Monrovia, Calif. Katherine Bengtson Winberg, c’09, and with Duggan Shadwick Doerr & Kurl- William Lupton, c’09, l’12, is associate Ryan, assoc., son, Oliver, Sept. 12 in baum. He lives in Overland Park. counsel at Lockton Companies. He lives in Aurora, Colo. Glendale, Colo. e Rev. Kyle Bauman, c’09, is Manish Mistry, b’09, manages account- Jennifer Eirikson, p’10, is a pharma- 09 assocate pastor at Bear Valley ing at TransAm Financial Services in 10 cist at Wal-Mart. She lives in Community Church. He and his wife, Olathe, where he lives. Ankeny, Iowa. Julia, live in North Richland Hills, Texas. Tarik Sahin, l’09, is senior attorney at Douglas Gaumer, g’10, was named

52 | KANSAS ALUMNI president of the Kansas City area for Supplemental Insurance. She lives in Himanshu Dande, g’11, PhD’13, is an Intrust Bank. He lives in Lawrence. Roeland Park. application engineer with ESI North Joy Noakes Isaacs, c’10, l’13, practices America in Farmington, Mich. He lives in law with Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix. Cassandra Byfield, s’11, s’13, is a case Bloom eld Hills. Wayne Larson, j’10, coordinates 11 manager with Catholic Charities- Allison Dodd, l’11, practices law with marketing for CBIZ Bene ts & Insurance TurnAround in Kansas City. She lives in Lasater & Martin in Highlands Ranch, in Leawood. He lives in Kansas City. Edgerton. Colo. She lives in Denver. Ian Osler, b’10, g’11, is a senior tax Carolyn Battle Cohen, c’11, j’11, Mason Heilman, d’11, c’11, teaches associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers. works as a social-media strategist for Spanish at Gateway STEM High School in He and Juliette Nguyen Osler, b’10, l’13, Barkley in Kansas City, where she and her St. Louis. live in Mission. husband, David, b’11, g’12, make their Lauren Henion, c’11, g’13, is a speech- Jennifer Watson, c’10, j’10, is a home. He’s an assurance associate for language pathologist at HealthSouth compliance associate with Platinum PricewaterhouseCoopers. Rehabilitation Hospital in Spring Hill, Fla.

PROFILE by Leah Kohlman

Eco-friendly passion weighs on their decision, because green fuels online business vehicles save drivers money at the pump. e ultimate goal of eGreenCars.com is urt Lindeman hoped to purchase a to be an online destination where both green vehicle, but an overwhelming consumers and dealers can explore all

C LINDEMAN CURT COURTESY array of choices caused him some confu- available options. e site also will show sion—and inspired ideas for a new clients how to best preserve the environ- business venture. ment and reduce dependence on foreign Aer his car-shopping adventure of a oil, all while saving money. couple of years ago, Lindeman, l’97, So far the company has successfully teamed up with longtime friend Jason completed testing the website with more Davis to create eGreenCars.com, a website than 40 San Diego dealerships. e next built speci cally for comparing green step is to obtain nancing to increase sales vehicle technologies. and marketing in the San Diego area and “eGreenCars.com aims to be a one-stop then move into new markets. Web resource for educating shoppers Lindeman thinks Solana Beach attorney Curt looking for fuel-ecient vehicles,” purchasing a green Lindeman hopes his new Web Lindeman says, “presenting shoppers with vehicle can also lead to a convenient way to nd those vehicles in other environmentally venture, promoting their market and providing dealerships friendly choices. environmentally friendly vehicles, with a focused method to reach those “We have seen that helps potential buyers find a car shoppers. once buyers purchase a that will lead to a new lifestyle. “We co-founded the company aer green vehicle, they tend identifying that shoppers for fuel-ecient to be more aware of the vehicles were being underserved. ere sustainability issues and actually begin to careers, they also want something more, a was a lot of confusion about the dierent think of themselves as green,” Lindeman project that is both gratifying and a vehicle alternative fuel technology vehicles, and says. “erefore, the fuel-ecient car for them to work together. how those vehicles compared with the tends to be more of a gateway to sustain- “Professionally, it is a lot of fun coming traditional gasoline and clean diesel able living, rather than a conscious green into work each day and learning some- models.” decision.” thing new,” Lindeman says “I nd it so Environmental awareness isn’t the only While Lindeman, a corporate lawyer in exciting to be a part of the dynamic and reason consumers purchase eco-friendly Solana Beach, Calif., and Davis, a car evolving nature of alternative fuel vehicles. Economy is another factor that dealer, both say they enjoy their current technologies.”

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 53 Class Notes

Brittany Johnson, c’11, works as a West Des Moines, Iowa, where she lives. records specialist with the KU Alumni Sean Allen, l’12, g’12, is a trial attorney Association in Lawrence. with the U.S. Department of Labor in Leah Kohlman, c’11, is a communica- Denver. He lives in Littleton. tions coordinator for the KU Alumni Colin Baumchen, l’12, practices law with Association in Lawrence, where she lives. Woods & Aitken in Denver. Daniel Press, l’11, practices law with Macey Guthery, e’12, works as a Wallace, Saunders, Austin, Brown & reservoir engineer with Occidental Enochs in Wichita. Petroleum. She lives in Oklahoma City. Oct. 19 in Kansas City. ey live in Sibyl Wong, l’11, is an associate with Bryon McDonald, g’12, is a counselor at Overland Park. She’s a marketing specialist Frassetto Law in Oakland, Calif. the McNally Smith College of Music in St. at Platt Form Advertising, and he’s a Paul, Minn. He lives in Minneapolis. designer at Fleishman Hillard. MARRIED Cherese Paloni, c’12, works as a Amy Na, n’12, to Daniel O’Hare, Sept. Carolyn Battle, c’11, j’11, and David mental-health specialist at Vanderbilt 7 in Lawrence, where he’s a deputy with Cohen, b’11, g’12, Oct. 6 in Dallas. ey University’s Emergency Services Hospital the Douglas County Sheri’s Department. live in Kansas City, where she’s a social in Nashville, Tenn. Amy is a nurse at KU Medical Center in media strategist at Barkley and he’s an Scott Smith, p’12, lives in Castle Rock, Kansas City. ey live in Tonganoxie. associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Colo., and manages the pharmacy at Jordan Scott, d’11, g’13, and Julia Ann Safeway. Allison Apple, g’13, manages Cummings, d’12, Sept. 14 in Kansas City. Lijuan Xing, SJD’12, is an assistant 13 marketing for National Advisors ey live in Lawrence, where they both professor of law at City University of Hong Trust in Overland Park. She lives in work for Kansas Athletics. Kong. She lives in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Leawood. Megan Boxberger, a’13, is a digital Sabrina Ahmed, j’12, works as a MARRIED studio artist at TracyLocke in Dallas. 12 photojournalist at ABC5 News in Stephanie Morris, c’12, to Jared Dunn, Sean Brennan, g’13, works as a foreign- service specialist with the U.S. Department of State. He lives in Alexandria, Va. Jennifer Conforti, g’13, is a designer with the Lawrence Group in St. Louis. Benjamin Davis, e’13, works as an engineer with Kiewit Power Constructors in Lenexa. Laura Dean, g’13, is associate director of nancial assistance at Loyola University in Chicago. Erik Deddens, e’13, works as a process engineer with Black & Veatch. He and Esterenia Armanto-Deddens, c’12, live in Overland Park. Abigail Durham, c’13, recently became the community youth group coordinator for the Levite Jewish Community Center in Birmingham, Ala. Josh Emmons, b’13, is a nancial analyst with ermo Fisher Scientic in Lenexa. Darci Goddard, b’13, is an administrator with Cerner in Kansas City. Tiany Hanchett, c’13, is a quality management system assistant at Plastikon Healthcare in Lawrence. Kirsten Hoogstraten, u’13, teaches at St. Mary’s Junior/Senior High School in St. Mary’s. Her home is in Shawnee. Alicia Johnson-Turner, s’13, works as a

54 | KANSAS ALUMNI therapist and behavior consultant for the Matthew Rissien, c’13, is director of & Bauer in Wichita. She lives in Bel Aire. Douglas County Child Development youth activities at Congregation Beth Kevin Wright, c’13, is a marketing Association in Lawrence. Shalom in Chicago. technology specialist with Reece & Nichols Alexa Jones, c’13, is president of Evolve. Stephane Roque, j’13, is a sports clerk at Realtors. He lives in Olathe. She lives in Mission. the Kansas City Star. Ashley Wurst, b’13, is a delivery Amanda Locke Jones, d’13, teaches at Jack Sanner, b’13, is a professional consultant with the Cerner Corporation. Logan Avenue Elementary School in services consultant with the Cerner She lives in Fairway. Emporia, where she and her husband, Corporation in Kansas City. Kevin, ’14, make their home. Kevin Sauer, l’13, is a law clerk for the MARRIED James Kievit, g’13, serves as an ocer in U.S. District Court in Laredo, Texas. Abbey Bauman, n’13, to Casey Stalder, the U.S. Army. He is stationed at Fort Edward Schroer, c’13, works as a Oct. 4 in Junction City. eir home is in Bragg, N.C. videographer at Muller Bressler Brown in Lenexa. Abbey is a perioperative nurse at Steven LaCour, e’13, is an electrical Leawood. He lives in Lawrence. Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in engineer with CRB Consulting Engineers Patrick Shaw, c’13, is an assistant golf Kansas City. in Kansas City. He lives in Lawrence. professional at Lake Shawnee Golf Course Mark Stringer, c’13, and Jessica Jacob Lowenthal, l’13, works as a legal in Topeka. Watkins, c’13, June 7 in Weston, Mo. ey clerk in Wailuku, Hawaii. He makes his Taylor Smith, d’13, teaches eighth-grade make their home in Lawrence. home in Haiku. American history at Shawnee Heights Lauren Luhrs, l’13, practices law at Middle School in Tecumseh. Josh Kincaid, c’14, is a territory sales Stueve Siegel Hanson in Kansas City. Caitlin Stene, g’13, is a management 14 manager for Altria. He lives in North Gregory Oehlert, h’13, is a respiratory analyst for the city of River Falls, Wis. She Liberty, Iowa. therapist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. lives in Cottage Grove, Minn. He lives in Topeka. Bernard Vilza, g’13, works as an The Jayhawk figurines adorning these Nicholas Pompeo, j’13, coordinates architect for Canon Design in St. Louis. pages have been donated by alumni accounts at Fox News Channel in New Samantha Heady Woods, l’13, practices and are from the collection at the York City. law with Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace Adams Alumni Center.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 55 In Memory two of whom are Kenneth, c’81, and David, e’83; a daughter, Kay Eland Heikes, s’90, s’94; and 12 grandchildren. Marilyn Kulp Endsley, d’58, 79, Oct. 1 in Beloit, where she taught second grade Rosalie Roney Wilson, c’39, 96, two brothers, one of whom is Jean Richter, at Beloit Elementary School and gave 30sSept. 10 in Longwood, Pa. She c’53; a sister; and four granddaughters. piano lessons. She is survived by her is survived by two sons, two daughters, Sarah Kurtz Schweitzer, n’47, 88, Sept. husband, Ernest, assoc.; a daughter, six grandchildren and ve great- 27 in Greeley, Colo. She is survived by two Mary Lynn Hodgson Blacklock, d’85; a grandchildren. daughters, a son, six grandchildren, three son; two stepsons; a brother; and ve stepgrandchildren and two grandchildren. Mary Catherine “Cathy” Piller great-grandchidlren. Jack Eskridge, d’50, 89, Feb. 11, 2013, in 40sBall, ’48, 87, Oct. 24 in Napa, Al Stewart Jr., c’49, 85, Nov. 1 in Kansas Valley Falls. As a U.S. Marine, he wit- Calif. She is survived by her husband, City, where he owned Stewart Industrial nessed both ag raisings at Iwo Jima. He Chuck, e’46; three daughters, one of whom Hygiene and Safety. A daughter, a son, two was an assistant coach and equipment is Sally Ball Rosenthal, ’80; two sisters, grandchildren and two great-grandchil- manager at KU under Phog Allen, and Helen Piller Davis, c’50, and Joan Piller dren survive. aer he was hired by Tom Landry as the Lubary, c’54; and eight grandchildren. Edward “Ned” Tanner Jr., b’48, 88, Nov. Dallas Cowboys’ rst equipment manager, Carolyn Crocker, c’46, c’48, 89, Nov. 13 10 in Rio Verde, Ariz. He was a partner in he designed the team’s star logo. He later in Kansas City, where she was a medical the Kansas City accounting rm KPMG. taught at Englewood Christian Academy technologist at KU Medical Center. Many Surviving are his wife, Janet; a daughter, in Independence, Mo. Surviving are his nieces and nephews survive. Lori Tanner Zedaker, f’82; a son, Ward, wife, Carol, two daughters, two sons, two Jack Gilliland, c’43, m’45, 91, Sept. 2 in c’72; and two grandsons. stepsons, two stepdaughters, nine grand- Bella Vista, Ark., where he was retired from Gerald Tewell, b’43, 91, Oct. 1 in children and four great-grandchildren. a career in medicine with the U.S. Army. He Denver, where he owned Tewell’s Printing. Marian Cox Fearing, c’50, 84, Sept. 29 in is survived by his wife, Betty, a daughter, a He is survived by his wife, Rene Jose Bay Village, Ohio, where she was retired son, a stepdaughter, four grandchildren and Tewell, ’50; a daughter; and a son. from a career in real-estate accounting. two great-grandchildren. She is survived by her husband, Franklin, Margaret Rand Glass, n’42, 92, Aug. 24 Eleanor Burt Allen, g’59, 98, Nov. c’49; a daughter; a son; and three in Eustis, Fla. She had been a nurse and a 50s27 in Lawrence, where she owned granddaughters. real-estate broker for Glass & P eer in and operated Suzuki Talent Education Jane Pope Gagel, ’53, 82, Oct. 6 in Orlando. Surviving are two sons, a daugh- Institute for more than 40 years. She is Englewood, Colo. She had worked for ter, eight grandchildren and 16 survived by two sons, Burt, d’70, g’72, National Oce Machines and is survived great-grandchildren. g’77, and Robert, c’73; a daughter, Marian, by two daughters, one of whom is Pamela Elizabeth “Betty” Brown Noble, d’44, 91, c’67; ve grandchildren; two stepgrand- Gagel, assoc.; a son; a sister, Joann Pope Sept. 23 in Independence, Mo., where she children; and ve great-grandchildren. Parkins, c’56; four grandchildren; and ve was a retired kindergarten teacher. She is Joan Morris Bradford, c’50, 85, Nov. 29 great-grandchildren. survived by two sons, one of whom is in Wamego, where she was oce manager Glen Halliday, m’54, 87, Sept. 1 in Los Richard, s’67, c’67; a daughter; ve grand- at Wamego City Hospital. She is survived Altos, Calif., where he was a retired children; and 11 great-grandchildren. by two sons, Kirk, b’75, and Stephen, b’80, physician. He is survived by his wife, Annette McEwen Peck, b’49, 86, Oct. 7 l’82; a daughter, Ann Bradford Yingling, Donna Clark Halliday, n’52; four sons, one in Lenexa. She is survived by her husband, d’75; 10 grandchildren; three stepgrand- of whom is John, ’80; a daughter; two Kenneth, e’49; a son, Roger, e’79; a daugh- children; and six great-grandchildren. brothers, Arthur, e’52, m’58, and Roger, ter; two brothers, Richard McEwen, e’48, Jeanine DeGroot Dalton, d’55, 79, Oct. c’51, m’54; and four grandchildren. and Conrad McEwen, e’50; and four 20 in Hays, where she was a retired Wilma Hartman, c’51, 83, Oct. 26 in grandchildren. teacher. She is survived by her husband, Grand Junction, Colo. She was a research Alice Reiss, c’49, c’51, 83, Nov. 15 in Standlee “Bud,” c’56; two daughters, librarian at the Linda Hall Library of Shawnee Mission. She lived in Lenexa and Lynnly Dalton, ’82, and Danna Dalton Science and Technology in Kansas City is survived by a brother, Jacob Reiss Jr., Kaiser, ’87; a son; and nine grandchildren and is survived by a sister, Emily Hartman, b’39. and great-grandchildren. c’53, g’55, PhD’57. e Rev. Robert Richter Jr., c’48, 86, Jan. John Eland, c’57, l’59, 78, Nov. 1 in Gilbert Holle, b’51, 84, Nov. 25 in 2, 2013, in Mountain View, Calif., where he Salina. He practiced law in Hoxie and later Lawrence, where he was an oce manager was a retired United Church of Christ lived in Cuchara, Colo. Surviving are his at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and later a minister. He is survived by two daughters; wife, Carolyn King Eland, d’58; three sons, tax accountant with Nick Berndt. He is

56 | KANSAS ALUMNI survived by his wife, Opal; a son, Alan, ’76; his wife, Nancy Dunne O’Farrell, c’58; two b’52; two daughters, one of whom is a daughter, Barbara, ’86; three stepdaugh- sons, Thomas, ’86, and Pat, c’95; two Sandra Shafer Francis, d’74; a stepdaugh- ters; two stepsons; 11 stepgrandchildren; daughters, Amy O’Farrell Sullivan, c’88, ter, Susan Dring Deaton, ’81; two stepsons, and a stepgreat-grandson. and Anne O’Farrell Russell, c’82, j’84; a one of whom is Thomas Dring, c’85; two George Holyfield, e’54,82, Sept. 11 in sister; and nine grandchildren. sisters, one of whom is Jeanne Shafer Houston, where he had been an area Melvin Pankratz, c’58, 81, Nov. 3 in Blessing, c’51; 14 grandchildren; and two manager with Chevron USA. He is Valley Center, where he was retired owner great-grandchildren. survived by two sons, a sister, three of Melco Leasing. He is survived by his Joan Templar Smith, f’51, 86, Oct. 12 in grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. wife, Shirley, a son, two daughters, a sister, Norman, where she was a professor of Donald James, g’57, 80, Oct. 20 in four grandchildren and four music theory at the University of Okla- Kirkland, Wash. He coached the Univer- great-grandchildren. homa. She is survived by her husband, sity of Washington Huskies football team Delma Nichols Parks, b’50, 90, Sept. 30 Jerry, a daughter, a son and five for 18 years, during which time the team in Raymore, Mo. She had a 26-year career grandchildren. won four Rose Bowls. He earlier had been with AT&T and is survived by a twin Wilber Spalding Jr., m’59, 82, Oct. 13 in an assistant coach at Florida State, sister, Doris. Mission Hills , where he was a retired Michigan and Colorado before becoming Robert Randell, e’51, 86, Nov. 9 in ophthalmogist. He is survived by his wife, head coach at Kent State. While at KU, he Topeka, where he had a 41-year career Mary Lou, assoc.; two daughters; a was a graduate assistant coach. He is with Goodyear. He had managed engi- brother, David, m’59; and four survived by his wife, Carol, a son, two neering in Sydney, Australia, and in Kuala grandchildren. daughters and 10 grandchildren. Lumpur, Malaysia. Surviving are his wife, Leonard “Bud” Starr, b’55, 80, July 30 in Maryanna Wuttke Kurtz, d’57, 78, July 9 Mildred Gulnik Randell, j’50; three Tacoma, Wash. He had been a U.S. Air in Kalispell, Mont. She lived in Havre, daughters, two of whom are Deborah Force meteorologist and later worked for where she was active in the community Randell Willis, c’78, and Myra Randell H&R Block. He is survived by his wife, choir series. Two sons and four grandchil- Harold, ’80; a sister, Elsie Randell Kuhn, Carol Hemphill Starr, b’55; two sons; a dren survive. ’51; and three grandchildren. daughter; a sister; and three Michael McCormack, ’51, 83, Nov. 15 in Ernest Rieger, m’56, 84, Sept. 25 in grandchildren. Palm Desert, Calif. He had been an Wichita, where he practiced surgery. He Joe Stroup, f’54, 83, Oct. 4 in Lawrence, offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns had been surgeon general at McConnell where he started several real-estate, and helped the Browns win NFL champi- Air Force Base. Surviving are his wife, building and property-management onships in 1954 and 1955. He was assistant Karin Larsson Rieger, ’54; a son, Erik, businesses. He is survived by his wife, Kala coach of the Washington Redskins and m’82; a daughter; a sister, Betty Rieger Mays Stroup, c’59, g’64, PhD’74; a son, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, the Anderson, d’54; a brother, Robert, ’63; and Chandler, ’95; a daughter; Megan Stroup Baltimore Colts and the Seattle Seahawks, five grandchildren. Sappington, c’91; and four grandchildren. where he also was president and general William Rosser, b’51, 89, Nov. 19 in John Studdard, b’56, 82, Nov. 18 in manager. Mike is a member of the Kansas Raytown, Mo., where he was a retired Lawrence, where he was a retired accoun- Athletics and Pro Football halls of fame. agent with the Internal Revenue Service. tant and auditor. Among survivors are his He is survived by his wife, Ann Helsby He is survived by his wife, Lena, two wife, Audrey Kamb-Studdard, g’92; a son; McCormack, ’56; two sons; two daughters; daughters, three grandchildren and two and a stepdaughter, Janice Griffin, f’94. a sister; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Roger Tuttle, c’52, 82, Sept. 21 in great-grandchildren. Margaret Clark Salanski, d’57, 78, Oct. Midlothian, Va., where he was retired George McNeish, e’51, 84, May 3 in 19 in Kansas City. She lived in St. Joseph, from a 50-year career practicing law. He Winfield, where he was an independent Mo., where she was active in community had a private practice and also had been a geologist and designer and co-founder of affairs. Surviving are her husband, Charles corporate counsel and dean and professor Cumbernauld Village. He is survived by “Bud,” e’57; a son, Stephen, c’79; two of law at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, his wife, Marilyn Powers McNeish, assoc.; daughters, Kim, c’82, h’83, and Pam Okla. Surviving are his wife, Beverly, two three sons, two of whom are Greg, e’78, Salanski Singer, d’91; a sister, Mary Ann daughters, two grandchildren and two and Tom, c’84; a daughter; eight grand- Clark Farris, d’59; and five grandchildren. great-grandchildren. children; and eight great-grandchildren. A. William Shafer, c’50, m’54, 85, Oct. Kenneth Wainwright, e’58, g’60, Thomas O’Farrell, c’56, m’60, 78, Nov. 28 in Lake Quivira. He was executive 77, Aug. 31 in Bakersfield, Calif. He 15 in Mission Hills. He founded Kansas director of blood-services operations for was retired from a career as a geologist City Vascular and General Surgeons and Southeastern Michigan Red Cross in with ARCO and several independent was an associate clinical professor at Detroit, where the National Testing oil companies. Survivors include his UMKC. A memorial has been established Laboratory is named for him. Survivors wife, Sharon Dey Wainwright, d’60; a with KU Endowment. He is survived by include his wife, Elizabeth Thomas Shafer, daughter; and a granddaughter.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 57 In Memory

Kay Adams, d’69, 65, April 19 in Louisville, Ky., where he praciced medi- Belden, d’70; a son, William, c’91, l’96; a 60sEvanston, Ill. She had owned cine until retiring in 1995. ree daughters daughter, Kris Belden-Adams, j’93; and Purrfect-Pals and is survived by a cousin. and four grandchildren survive. two grandchildren. Marilyn Parzbok Bok, d’69, g’74, 67, Katherine “Betsy” Woods Luder, c’60, Helen Oliver Boner, g’71, 95, Nov. 14 in Sept. 7 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. She 75, Nov. 9 in Arkansas City. She is sur- Lee’s Summit, Mo. She taught school in taught school and later was an assistant vived by her husband, Stuart, b’60; two North Kansas City and is survived by two manager with Coach Bags. Surviving are sons, Robert, j’83, and Patrick, ’87; two daughters, two grandsons and seven her mother, Maxine Pringle Parzybok, brothers, Tom, b’65, and Bill, b’56; and ve great-grandchildren. c’43; a sister, Laurie, d’79; and a brother. grandchildren. Vernon Breit, e’71, 64, Oct. 14 in Geraldine “Deanie” Bolinger, c’63, 72, Barbara Werbe Meek, d’60, 75, Oct. 27 Golden, Colo., where he was a petroleum Oct. 3 in Cheney, where she was a retired in Baton Rouge, La. She is survived by two engineer and founder of International physical therapist. Two brothers and three daughters, one of whom is Mindy Meek Reservoir Technologies. Two daughters, sisters survive. Piontek, c’91; and four grandchildren. two sisters and a granddaughter survive. Bill Braden, m’60, 82, Oct. 9 in Kay Black Miller, f’66, g’70, 69, Oct. 25 James “Wally” Coonfield, m’78, Wamego, where he practiced medicine in Fern Park, Fla., where she was a retired 68, Nov. 4 in Vinita, where he had and helped found Wamego City Hospital. elementary school teacher. She also had been a physician at the Oklahoma He is survived by his wife, Huann, assoc.; worked for Needlecra magazine and for Forensics Center. He is survived by two sons; three grandchildren; and two an interior-design company. She is seven daughters, two sons and seven stepgrandchildren. survived by a daughter and a brother, grandchildren. Kathleen Butterfield, g’67, l’86, 68, Oct. omas Black, ’66. Cynthia Pool Cramer, d’76, 59, Oct. 10 21 in Kansas City, where she was a retired Sandra “SanDee” Gordon Nossaman, in De Soto. A memorial has been estab- attorney with the U.S. Department of ’65, ’94, 73, Nov. 1 in Lawrence. She lished with KU Endowment. She is Labor Solicitor’s Oce. She is survived by retired from the Kansas City Public survived by her husband, Gerald, b’69; a a daughter, Trisa Andel Hosford, s’96, s’12; Schools, where she worked as a speech son, Matthew, ’09; a daughter, Holly, c’07; two sisters; and two grandchildren. therapist, and was an active community and two grandchildren. Reginald “Reggie” Buxton, c’62, 97, volunteer. She is survived by her husband, Claradine Cornwell Johnson, PhD’74, Oct. 2 in Lawrence. He ran the library at Jerry, d’60; a son, Cale, ’95; two daughters, 91, Nov. 14 in Concord, Mass. She was the Ellinwood High School until retiring and Cali, g’11, and Cara Nossaman Anderson, rst woman public high-school principal had worked as a newspaperman, farmer b’96; a sister; and two grandsons. in Kansas and was a professor emerita at and movie-theater owner. Surviving are a James Peters, g’67, 82, Oct. 29 in Wichita State University. Surviving are a daughter; two sons, one of whom is Scot, Overland Park, where he was retired from daughter; a son, Keith Johnson, m’81; and d’74; ve grandchildren; and four a 32-year career with Bendix/Allied six grandchildren. great-grandchildren. Signal/Honeywell. He is survived by his Paul Morehouse, c’74, m’78, 65, Dec. 1 David Cheung, g’63, 75, Sept. 16 in St. wife, Barbara; two daughters, one of whom in Lathrop, Mo., where he was a physician. Louis. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie; is Diana Peters Wallace, b’88; a son, He is survived by his wife, Jean Rohrbach two daughters, one of whom is Kerry, a’91; Daniel, e’83; four grandsons; and ve Morehouse, ’80; three daughters; a son; a a son; and six grandchildren. great-grandchildren. brother; and four grandchildren. Terrence Davis, e’60, 75, June 4 in Wilma Stillabower, g’69, 87, Oct. 14 in Linda Slaughter, c’71, 64, Nov. 14 in Bartlesville, Okla., where he had a long Mesa, Ariz. She taught in the Shawnee Kansas City, where she had worked for career with Phillips Petroleum. A sister Mission school district for more than 20 Farmers Insurance Group. Several nieces survives. years and later managed a retirement and nephews survive. Norma Stone Geivett, n’65, 86, Oct. 6 in facility. A sister, Bonnie, survives. David Stuckey, f’79, 58, Aug. 28 in Shawnee Mission. She taught nursing at Frank Viscek, b’68, 66, Oct. 11 in Dallas, where he was an artist and a Trinity Lutheran Hospital and is survived Kansas City, where he had been an musician. He is survived by his mother, by her husband, Paul; three brothers, one economic-development specialist for the Joan, and a brother. of whom is Carl Stone, e’60; and a sister. city of Kansas City. He is survived by his Kimberly Weigand, c’73, 63, Nov. 17 in Karen Wright Gould, d’67, 68, Oct. 19 in wife, Marilyn; his father; and three Wichita. She was a retired teacher and is Sausalito, Calif. She was an artist and an brothers, two of whom are Denis, b’73, survived by a brother and two sisters, one interior designer with Gould Evans g’75, and Robert, ’80. of whom is Adrienne, c’75. Associates. Surviving are her husband, Hugh Wiegman, m’73, 79, Sept. 25 in Bob, a’67; two daughters, Kira Gould, j’90, William Belden, p’71, 65, Nov. 4 in Leawood. He established Radiology c’91, and Mischa Gould Buchholz, c’95; 70sKansas City. He lived in Lenexa Associates in Hays and is survived by a and three grandchildren. and had a 40-year career in pharmacy. son, Jay, c’89; three daughters, two of Edward Graves, m’60, 86, Feb. 24 in Surviving are his wife, Jane Leighton whom are Molly Wiegman Miller, b’91,

58 | KANSAS ALUMNI g’01, and Stacy, c’89, p’94; and ve Kansas Cooperative in Education. A where he taught at the University of New grandchildren. brother and her grandmother survive. Mexico. He was a research pathologist and Janet McClelland Shaer, f’97, 56, Oct. a professor emeritus at KU. Surviving are Larry Binnicker, s’83, 66, Oct. 23 5 in Liberty, Mo. She was active in the his wife, Rebecca Reese Frenkel, n’53; a 80sin Independence, Mo., where he Northland community and is survived by son, Carl, b’84; two daughters, Lisa, c’76, was director of chaplains at Centerpoint her parents, Hugh, e’49, and Marjorie m’81, and Linda Frenkel Bedell, c’79; and Medical Center. He earlier had been McClelland; two sons; a brother; and a six grandchildren. director of social work at Independence grandson. Helen Heath, c’49, c’51, 86, Oct. 9 in Regional Health Center. He is survived by Jennifer Lane Sieben, c’91, 45, Nov. 4 in Salina. She was a hematologist and an his wife, Susan, two sons and ve Overland Park. She had been vice presi- assistant professor at KU Medical Center, grandchildren. dent of account services at Weyforth-Haas where she mentored students in the Sherman Halsey, ’81, 56, Oct. 29 in Marketing. Among survivors are her medical-technology program. Surviving Tulsa, Okla., where he was vice chairman husband, Darren, c’91; a daughter; her are two brothers, Alan Heath, b’53, and of the Jim Halsey Company, which father and stepmother; her mother and Don Heath, b’57. represented many of country music’s top stepfather; and ve sisters, two of whom Calder Pickett, ’57, 92, Oct. 29 in stars. He produced and directed hundreds are Julie Lane Miller, b’88, and Janice Lane Lawrence, where he was a KU professor of televison shows and videos and had Hartsock, c’92. emeritus of journalism and also had won awards from MTV, the Academy of served as acting dean of the journalism Country Music and Country Music Boe Keesling, p’05, 32, Oct. 4 in school. He was the recipient of several Television. A memorial has been estab- 00sLyons, where he was a pharmacist HOPE teaching awards, the William lished with KU Endowment. He is at Shop-Ko. He is survived by his wife, Randolph Hearst Foundation Award and survived by his mother; his father, James, Erica; two daughters; his parents; a sister; a the Mott-KTA Award for journalism ’52, and stepmother; a sister, Gina, f’85; a brother, Brett, ’09; and his grandfather. research. He was a radio broadcaster for stepsister; and a stepbrother. Robert Walton Jr., c’01, 56, Aug. 7 in 32 years for Kansas Public Radio and had Dorothy Baldwin Lowe, g’85, 84, Littleton, Colo. He is survived by his wife, produced more than 1,500 hour-long Nov. 3 in Overland Park. She lived in Jesika; three sons; a daughter; his parents, episodes of “e American Past.” A Prairie Village and had taught Robert, g’60, and Nadyne Walton, assoc.; memorial has been established with KU kindergarten and second grade. She is and a brother, Philip, e’87. Endowment. He is survived by two survived by her husband, Ronald, b’52; daughters, Carolyn Pickett Zeligman, d’73, a daughter, Laurel Lowe Barnes, l’83, g’83; THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY g’77, and Kathleen Pickett Jenson, f’75, and a sister. Albert Burgstahler, 85, Oct. 12 in j’75; a brother; and two grandchildren. Brant Tidwell, b’82, 53, Nov. 15 in Lawrence, where he was a KU professor Donald Richardson, 83, Nov. 7 in Prairie Village, where he was president emeritus of chemistry. He was a recipient Albuquerque, N.M. He had been a and owner of the Tidwell Company, a of the Scienti c Integrity Award for professor of education at KU for more real-estate rm. He is surved by his wife, Fluoride Action, which recognizes than 27 years. Surviving are his wife, Lucy Woodard Tidwell, c’83; two sons, one scientists who uphold standards of Glenda Stutts Richardson, g’73; a son, of whom is Calvin, b’13; his parents, Ted, scienti c integrity to end uoridation Steven, c’77, m’80; a daughter, Sue, ’79; and j’60, and Janet Meserve Tidwell, ’60; and a worldwide. He is survived by three two granddaughters. brother, Scott, c’85. daughters, two of whom are Janet Burgs- Mary Booth Ridgway, c’47, 88, Oct. 9 in Warren Walker, g’86, 57, Sept. 23 in tahler Anderson, ’85, and Jennifer, b’86; Albuquerque, N.M. She had been a Merriam. He had worked for Atwood two sons, Albert, e’83, and David, e’91; a librarian in KU’s School of Education Publishing and is survived by a sister, sister; 10 grandchildren; and ve Curriculum Lab from 1980 until 1992. Joyce. great-grandchildren. Surviving are two sons, Eric Palmquist, William Cameron, m’62, 84, Oct. 5 ’73, and Karl Palmquist, f’86; a daughter, Julie Bahr-Kostelac, c’93, 42, in Lake Charlevoix, Mich. He was an Kristin Palmquist Keller, f’77; two 90sNov. 7 in Kansas City, where she emeritus professor of obstetrics and stepsons, Stephen Ridgway, c’69, and worked at United Government and the gynecology at KU Medical Center, where David Ridgway, c’85, g’92; and two Kansas City Kansas Police Department. he had been vice chair of the obstetrics- stepdaughters, Stephanie Gradinger Deere, She is survived by her husband, Jim, a gynecology department. Surviving are c’67, and Catherine Johnson, d’76. daughter, her parents, a sister and two his wife, Monsie; a son; two daughters, Robert Spires, 76, Nov. 27 in Lawrence, brothers. one of whom is Julie Cameron, c’84, where he was a KU professor emeritus of Gina Jennings, h’98, 39, Nov. 27 in m’88; four grandchildren; and two Spanish literature. He is survived by his Salina, where she had been an occupa- great-grandchildren. wife, Roberta, assoc.; a son, Jerey, c’86; tional therapist for the USD 305 Central Jacob Frenkel, 82, Aug. 15 in Santa Fe, and a daughter, Leslie Spires Decatur, ’91.

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 59 Rock Chalk Review

Rhodes Scholarship finalists Nick Kellum and Jenny Curatola, seniors in global and STEVE PUPPE STEVE international studies, both say their theatre studies and other diverse academic interests boosted their eorts to study Arabic and the Middle East.

hopes to one day work as a cultural aairs ocer for the U.S. Department of State, where, rather than inuencing policy, she can encourage artistic and educational programming that ultimately promote truthful human expression rather than manipulated messages. “My argument was that we should be looking at arts communities in the Middle East if we really want to understand where those countries are going,” she says, “because what we’re seeing, or what’s available to us, has been altered and A better world generational issue for us,” says Kellum, a shaped by the forces that are currently in global and international studies major p ow e r.” Rhodes finalists seek solutions from Baxter Springs. “ e impetus for me As Curatola entered her senior year, she to engage with Arabs and bridge the found herself thinking beyond theatre and to Middle East troubles divides cast by fear and ignorance comes soon came to realize she no longer wanted from my experience when I was sitting in to be an actor. Kellum came to KU as an enny Curatola and Nicholas Kellum a fourth-grade classroom and 9/11 aerospace engineering major, switched to Jwere both in elementary school when happened. I remember very vividly being theatre vocal performance in his second al-Qaida terrorists struck the United States told to be afraid, and learning to be afraid.” semester, and aer another year switched on Sept. 11, 2001, and since then they’ve Curatola, a 2012 theatre graduate from again, to global and international studies, seen the endless series of dramatic events Lansing who is now nishing additional specializing in Arabic and comparative radiating from wars and uprisings in the degrees in English and global and interna- politics in the Middle East. Middle East and worldwide religious tional studies with a minor in Italian, used He has been invited to participate in the intolerance and ignorance. eir pursuits her Rhodes application to stress the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 6 in of knowledge about Islam and the Middle potential for theatre to shape and reect Washington, D.C., where he will engage in East—both roundabout, yet eerily simi- social movements, especially in the Middle “interfaith dialogues” with more than lar—led the KU seniors to coveted spots as East, where other forms of communica- 3,000 world leaders and attend an address Rhodes Scholarship nalists. tion, such as newspapers and online social by President Barack Obama. Aer his May ough neither was named a Rhodes media, can be subjected to censorship. She graduation, Kellum hopes to have either a Scholar aer interviews with the regional selection committee Nov. 23 in St. Louis, they say the long selection process was “These are not cookie-cutter students in any way. invaluable in helping them solidify their goals for lives and careers spent advancing The Rhodes wants interesting individuals who are American interests abroad and helping doing dierent and amazing things, and that’s what nd solutions to age-old conicts and we see with both Jenny and Nick. ” —Anne Wallen mistrust that still haunt the modern world. {} “I denitely believe this is a huge

60 | KANSAS ALUMNI Washington internship or begin law school, and eventually be in position to promote new avenues for peaceful negotiations between Middle Eastern

countries and the Western world. KELSEY KIMBERLIN (2) “I achieved uency in Arabic really quickly, and that was partly due to my musical training,” Kellum says. “I can memorize sounds quickly because I have a musical ear. But it also has something to do with my math brain because Arabic is so gramatically about building equations in the purest form.” Curatola, c’13, and Kellum knew each other from their theatre studies and as members of the KU’s prestigious Univer- sity Honors Program. One day she mentioned to Kellum her interest in nding new academic challenges, and he told her how thrilled he was to have found Arabic and international studies. Re ect- ing on her interests in languages and travel The band plays on and her memorable rst reading of the Quran in her junior-year Western Civiliza- efore they boarded the bus to Carnegie Hall tion course, Curatola decided to add Bfor their historic March 26 performance (“The global and international studies to her Big Stage,” issue No. 3, 2013), the musicians of the academic portfolio. Like Kellum, she also KU Wind Ensemble performed in closed sessions chose to pursue a Rhodes nomination. at the Lied Center of Kansas, recording a CD of the “Aer they told us who won the Rhodes, selections they would play in New York City. In one of the judges came up to us and shook November, the Naxos label released “In the our hands and said, ‘For two people who Shadow of No Towers,” the ensemble’s fifth title were children during 9/11, I’m so happy in the Wind Band Classics series for Naxos. that you responded in this way,’” Curatola The recording highlights “In the Shadow of No Towers: Symphony No. 4,” a recalls. “In our lives, there’s been event commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by acclaimed composer Mohammed aer event that has drawn our attention to Fairouz. Jim Zakoura, that part of the world. I think any student d’70, l’72, and the Reach Out of my age who is working on Middle East Kansas foundation commissioned studies doesn’t assume that they can solve the symphony for the ensemble, everything but knows that there is some beginning a two-year collaboration improvement to be made and that we need with conductor Paul Popiel, KU to be paying attention. director of bands, and his students. “I think you end up with a lot of really KU’s stellar band tradition also talented students in that area because the played a part in the CD: Randall complexity of the situation draws you in. Foster, c’02, in 2006 founded the ose are the talented and intelligent Naxos wind band series, which now people we need to be able to deal with includes 45 CDs. His name should these problems.” strike a familiar note—his dad, Conductor Popiel and composer Fairouz Curatola’s father, a retired lieutenant Robert Foster, directed KU’s prepared the 69 student musicians in the wind colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, served award-winning bands from 1971 to ensemble for their Carnegie Hall debut—and in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Free- 2002. an intense recording session at the Lied Center. dom, and her mother is a teacher; she sees —Jennifer Jackson Sanner her interest in diplomacy as a re ection of their combined in uence. “I’m very proud to be an American,”

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 61 Rock Chalk Review

any way. e Rhodes wants interesting As a state government reporter for the individuals who are doing dierent and Topeka Capital-Journal, Marso, j’04, Worth the Pain amazing things, and that’s what we see spends his days at the Statehouse covering with both Jenny and Nick. ey are also hearings, news conferences and oor by Andy Marso good examples of the ways that the debates in an unbiased and impersonal $16.95 Honors Program can let students explore a manner. In 2006 he sat down to write his Kansas City Star wide range of interests. Even if they do story. He had to force himself to look Books have a similar general focus on the Middle inward and relive his voyage from being a East, they are approaching that in dierent typical, healthy college student who played ways.” pick-up basketball with his friends to lying KU has produced 26 Rhodes Scholars, in a hospital bed on a ventilator at KU more than all other Kansas colleges and Medical Center, ghting for his life. universities combined; the most recent When Marso began to write his story he Jayhawk so honored was Kelsey Murrell, told himself, “If you’re going to do this you Curatola says, “and I think our involve- c’12, in 2012. need to do it right. And that means pulling ment in the Middle East is inevitable. But —Chris Lazzarino no punches. Tell people exactly what you we want to be able to do it carefully and were feeling.” with respect for cultural norms. Education Marso’s writing makes you feel as if you is a major part of that.” are right there next to him, living every Michael Wuthrich, lecturer and assistant A reporter’s story moment, good or bad, from his days in the director of KU’s Center for Global and Intensive Care Unit to his time relearning International Studies, says this year’s rare Detoured by meningitis, how to eat, dress and walk. Parts of his tandem of Rhodes nalists reects a Marso writes his next chapter story are heartbreaking yet inspiring, growing interest among KU’s better while others are surreal yet palpable. ere students to seek courses in Middle East ndy Marso always dreamed of is no way to fully understand how he felt studies and Arabic language training. Awriting a book, but it wasn’t until he and what he went through, but his ability Wuthrich and his colleagues hope to soon found himself lying in a hospital bed, to remain vulnerable as he tells his story launch a minor in Middle East studies. ghting bacterial meningitis, that he allows us to partially comprehend. “It’s becoming an unavoidable area of nally discovered a story worth telling. For Marso, coping with the amputation interest and focus,” Wuthrich says. “For April 27, 2004, was the beginning of a of his ngers and toes was among the most me, it’s amazing to see at KU how many life-altering journey, starting with a shiver dicult challenges. “It was a long process students are taking credit hours on Middle that shot up his back and culminating in to accept that,” he says. “At rst I was in East themes, how many seats are being the publication of his rst book, denial, then I bargained with God for a lled in classes on Middle East themes. Worth the Pain. miracle. Finally I came to accept that the Part of it is, the special kind of students coming from high school with a global vision really want to solve, to take on, world issues and problems.” STOREY DAN Kellum spent last summer studying Arabic in Oman as a recipient of the Critical Languages Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State; Curatola hopes to win the same scholarship this summer. Both say they are considering applying again for the Rhodes, which they can continue to do until they turn 24. “Our honors students want to under- stand the world around them and they are going to go aer things that are important to our world even if they are very chal- lenging,” says Anne Wallen, c’03, the University Honors Program’s coordinator of national scholarships and fellowships. “ese are not cookie-cutter students in Marso

62 | KANSAS ALUMNI amputations were going to happen and my life was going to change forever. I went through a period of depression before (2) MIKE GLYNN nally deciding to embrace my new life.“ Marso misses playing basketball with his friends but now he spends his spare time serving a greater purpose, advocating to end meningitis, meeting and supporting other survivors, and appreciating all the good things that he would have missed had he not survived. —Leah Kohlman

Second chances Transplant center brings specialists together at single site Saira Conde, medical team assistant, in the new Center for Transplantation at University of he concept of “multidisciplinary Kansas Hospital. Opened in August, the center Thealth care” can have no more allows critically ill patients and anxious family meaningful application than in organ members to visit just one site to meet with all of transplantation, for which gravely ill their doctors and care providers, both before patients must navigate a spectrum of surgery and for a full lifetime after. medical specialties. at’s why the August opening of the Center for Transplantation, on the rst oor of University of Kansas Hospital, is touted as a crucial improvement for dedicated to transplant and they know patients and their weary, worried families. how to reach who they need to reach. We “Bringing a multidisciplinary team have 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week together is vital,” says transplant surgeon coverage for patient and family needs, and including medical students, pharmacists, Timothy Schmitt, associate professor and now they know they’re all located in the dieticians, social workers, and physical center director, “because we handle very same place, where we have the transplant therapists and others from the School of complex cases where there is oen more expertise they need.” Health Professions. At the center, students than one health issue involved.” Giacoma, who came to KU ve years can begin to comprehend the logistics Years in planning, the 25,000-square- ago to help plan and open the center, notes necessary for a successful transplant. foot, $6 million center includes 36 exam that while critically ill patients can become “I think they get a unique experience,” rooms, a dedicated lab, a patient informa- so sick and medicated that they are no Giacoma says. “ ey can really see how tion resource center, oces and room for longer fully aware of their dire circum- the entire team takes care of that patient an estimated 10 years of expansion. stance, their loved ones must constantly and those families, not just for the Even with the center open for just three struggle with the uncertainty of waiting transplant event, and not just before the and a half months, University Hospital for an organ to become available. transplant, but for the rest of the patient’s had performed more than 100 liver “It may be actually harder on the family life.” transplants through November 2013, a members than the patient,” Giacoma says. Giacoma says the KU transplant center 40-percent increase from 2012, and kidney “ e patient’s family is still trying to cling is among “very few” nationally with its transplants were up 15 percent. to the hope that the transplant will occur comprehensive depth. A transplant “Patients and families have had input all in time.” surgeon in Wisconsin who hopes to along in designing the center,” says Tracy In its rst semester of operation, the replicate the center at his own hospital Giacoma, director of solid organ trans- center had already oered a condensed wrote in a recent email, “ is is what plant and the center’s administrative learning experience for students from everybody strives for and almost never leader. “One of the things families wanted nearly every niche of health-profession accomplishes.” was to know that everyone in this space is education in Kansas City and Lawrence, —Chris Lazzarino

ISSUE 1, 2014 | 63 Glorious to View Photograph by Chris Lazzarino

Historic Mount Oread Fund says the face of the student depicted alongside law dean “Uncle” Jimmy Green was modeled by sculptor Daniel Chester French after Alfred C. Alford, c’1896, l’1897, the first Jayhawk killed in the Spanish-American War. Others contend the student was French’s fictional, artistic creation. There is no debate, however, that the low angle of the Christmas Day sun casts one of KU’s iconic memorials in a dramatic light.

64 | KANSAS ALUMNI

KU Alumni Association 1266 Oread Avenue | Lawrence, KS 66045-3169