Sheer Brilliance Matt Haug Makes Academic History
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A KING I A CASTLE I A TREASURE KANSASKANSASNO. 4, 2001 $5 ALUMNIALUMNI Sheer Brilliance Matt Haug makes academic history KANSAS ALUMNI CONTENTSEstablished in 1902 as The Graduate Magazine FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 20 3 FIRST WORD The editor’s turn $42 Million! 4 LIFT THE CHORUS The Hall Family Foundation’s June gift Letters from readers is the largest ever at KU. 6 ON THE BOULEVARD By Jennifer Jackson Sanner Schedules of KU events and scenes from Commencement. 24 8 JAYHAWK WALK Page 20 A modest proposal, an Hail Fellow odd rock, a galloping Scholar Matt Haug made history this spring by Jayhawk and more winning three of academe’s most esteemed 10 HILLTOPICS graduate prizes. What will he do next? According News and notes: to those who know him, just about anything he Meet KU’s new image sets his exceptional mind to. maker 14 SPORTS By Chris Lazzarino Softball’s surprising Cover photograph by Wally Emerson season, football forecast and Ralph Miller remembered 28 18 OREAD READER Thomas Fox Averill dishes up an appetizing Castle on the Hill first novel Mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle has spent the last OREAD WRITER 40 years singing in the world’s most prestigious Page 24 19 Is civility overrated in opera houses. Now she returns to Murphy Hall politics? Burdett Loomis to share what she’s learned. thinks so. By Steven Hill 36 ASSOCIATION NEWS Board of Directors 32 election results and more 40 CLASS NOTES Vintage King Profiles of Hizzoner, an honorary admiral, an They said it couldn’t be done, but Ed King III’s honored doc and more Oregon winery is taking the wine world by storm. 54 IN MEMORY By Jerri Niebaum Clark Deaths in the KU family 56 HAIL TO OLD KU Weather Jay flies the coop Page 28 VOLUME 99 NO. 4, 2001 KANSAS ALUMNI [1 ’Hawks HEATup the August 4 Jayhawk Jog Shawnee Mission Park Shawnee Mission, Kansas CITY 6-7:30 a.m. Registration Summer 2001 7:30 a.m. Shotgun Start 9 a.m.Tot Trot 9:30 a.m. Race results and awards Summertime in Kansas City means August 5 KU celebrations, and this season will Terry Allen Picnic feature three events for Jayhawks of all ages to rally alumni in the nation’s Ritz Charles, 9000 West 137th Street in Overland Park largest KU community. (just west of Antioch). 5-9 p.m. Don’t miss the opportunity to win two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines, August 23 at each of the Football Kickoff summertime Mill Creek Brewing Company events! 4050 Pennsylvania in Westport 5:30-7:30 p.m. Airfare provided courtesy of Southwest Airlines, with fares so low you have the freedom to fly. Southwest Airlines.A Symbol of Freedom. For more information about these events, call the Alumni Association at 800-584-2957 or log on to www.kualumni.org FIRST WORD BY JENNIFER JACKSON SANNER s bleak skies signal rain outside, the steamy temperature pal hollers, “Hey, you finally got your graduation!” I feel down- rises inside Strong Hall, where two dozen professors in right giddy. Aacademic regalia try not to sweat as they prepare for the And damp. The rain pours as we approach the stadium. My University’s 129th Commencement. These are the marshals who streak holds: Storms drenched my high-school and college com- escort the procession of graduates down the Hill. Mapping their mencements; now even my makeup graduation is all wet. routes and assignments, of course, is a cartographer, George After trodding through the slick turf on the football field, McCleary Jr., professor of geography and a veteran associate Catts and I arrive at our assigned sections, 31 and 32. There we marshal. He begins his instructions to the assembled academics stand, underneath a golf umbrella, watching the festivities. Mor- with a menacing forecast: “We’re supposed to have a dry spell tarboard adornments and balloons file by. This year’s trendy until 3 or 3:10,” he says. “That should motivate us to keep accessory? The cell phone, carried by grads who talk incessantly, moving.” tracking seating locations and confirming party plans. Grim chuckles sputter from the faculty and one interloper, a McCleary, walkie-talkie in hand, stops by to alert us that edu- sentimental editor. Amid the brilliant hoods signifying assorted cation grads, blue-tasseled and trailing matching balloons, are graduate degrees, my robe stands out as hoodless solid black. headed our way. No problem. Sure, we’ll take those architecture The three velvet faculty stripes on my billowing sleeves are and social welfare grads, too. counterfeit, as I confess to colleagues who innocently ask where By 3:30 the few umbrellas still bobbing now shield spectators I teach. The University has graciously issued me the robe in from the sun, and the ceremony, always a swift finale to the pro- thanks for my volunteering to direct traffic in Memorial Stadium. cession, proceeds apace: Award-winners and dignitaries receive More important than the fancy robe, however, is the walk ovations, then Hemenway bids farewell to the Class of 2001. He down the Hill, which for me is a rain-delayed celebration. This lauds academe’s shared traditions: the costumes, music, solemn year’s Commencement marks 20 years since my own KU gradua- invocations and intonations. Then he delivers the line the rest- tion, when torrents of rain forced the Class less crowd longs to hear: “But only KU has of 1981 into the sauna of Allen Field the walk!” House. The tradition that began in 1924 is a But May 20, 2001, dawns dark and EMERSON WALLY native tribal custom, Hemenway tells the stormy. My husband, still mystified by my crowd, alluding to TV’s “Survivor.” He reverence for various kinds of anniversaries, explains that, unlike its prime-time coun- can’t resist a comment as he gazes out the terparts, the Kansas tribe sends Jayhawks window. “This is all your fault,” he pro- into the world with degrees worth more nounces. than a fortune over a lifetime, especially in Thankfully, Chancellor Robert E. their potential to help others. By sending Hemenway remains unaware of the curse new alumni out each year in its time-hon- that clouds the day. At noon he defies the ored custom, he says, the University grows weather, decreeing that at 2:30 p.m. the stronger, binding generations to one Class of 2001 will march, soggy or dry. another and the KU culture they revere. At precisely 2:30 the trumpets sound Moments later, Hemenway confers the from the Spencer Library terrace, and the degrees. Arranged by their schools, stu- marshals begin the walk. First down the dents stand en masse, wave to their deans, east sidewalk is University Marshal Stephen receive the chancellor’s blessing and Grabow, professor of architecture, who car- scream for all they’re worth. ries the chancellor’s gleaming, silver-topped mace. In a few short To complete my personal ceremony, I seek one hand to shake. steps we’re at the Campanile. As we walk through, I gaze Chancellor Emeritus Del Shankel conferred my degree 20 years upward briefly in silent thanks for a graduation long past. On ago. He grins as I explain my nostalgic mission. Grasping my the other side, I’m awed by the smiling faces, in rows six or hand warmly, he assures me, “I remember. I remember.” eight deep, that line the walk. Hundreds of spectators beam con- After taking part in the KU family’s most cherished tradition, gratulations, aiming cameras in our direction. I can’t help but I understand its value more clearly. Like the best family celebra- smile back. This is fun. tions, it’s quirky, even unruly, but it is distinctly ours. Jayhawks As we make our way down the Hill, my marching partner, who have prevailed through quiet toil on challenging academic Hugh Catts, professor of speech-language-hearing, describes the paths know it makes perfect sense to hurry down a hill toward thrill. “It’s like walking the 18th fairway at the Masters,” he says. the finish line. After grueling work, the celebration should be “Well, at least it’s the closest I’ll ever come.” simple, joyous and, yes, raucous. As Catts strides toward the green, I walk the red carpet at My walk was worth the wait. Next time, I swear, I’ll wear the Oscars. A friend calls my name and snaps a photo; another a hood. KANSAS ALUMNI I NO. 4, 2001 [3 LIFT THE CHORUS KANSASJULY 2001 ALUMNI KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Recognition appreciated Publisher Chair Fred B.Williams Janet Martin McKinney, c’74, Port Ludlow, I’ve been wanting, for some time now, Editor Washington to tell you how much I enjoyed and Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81 Executive Vice Chair appreciated the profile on Kenton Keith Art Director Robert L. Driscoll, c’61, l’64, Mission Woods in the recent issue of Kansas Alumni Susan Younger, f’91 [“Former Ambassador Pursues World Managing Editor Executive Committee Chris Lazzarino, j’86 Jim Adam, e’56, Overland Park, Kansas Peace,” issue No. 2]. Staff Writer Robert L. Driscoll, c’61, l’64, Mission Woods Your mention of Mr. Keith’s recogni- Steven Hill Reid Holbrook, c’64, l’66, Overland Park tion of my late husband’s [Professor Cliff Editorial Assistants Janet Martin McKinney, c’74, Port Ludlow, Karen Goodell;Andrea Hoag, c’94 Washington Ketzel] influence on his choice of careers Photographer Cordell D. Meeks Jr., c’64, l’67, Kansas City was truly satisfying. I quickly collected Wally Emerson, j’76 Deloris Strickland Pinkard, g’80, EdD’95, three copies of the article from friends Kansas City Graphic Designer and shipped them off to our three sons, Valerie Spicher, j’94 Carol Swanson Ritchie, d’54,Wichita Linda Duston Warren, c’66, m’70, Hanover in Bellevue, Wash.; Austin, Texas; and Editorial Office Kansas Alumni Association Sunnyvale, Calif.