Our Place in Space N Ted’S Tour America’S Future N New Deals in Scholarships on the Final Frontier
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No 5, 2011 n $5 Our Place in Space n Ted’S TOUR America’s future n NEW DEALS IN SCHOLARSHIPS on the final frontier Contents | September 2011 20 34 26 26 20 34 COVER STORY Money Talks A Beautiful Mind Our Place in Space The University overhauls its Ted Johnson’s campus tours Now that NASA’s space shuttle financial-aid process for new conjure up a whole new way program has cooled its jets, students, introducing renew- of looking at Mount Oread. many KU faculty and alumni able scholarships that make it are left to ponder what’s next easier to help the neediest and By Chris Lazzarino for their research and for attract the best and brightest to America’s exploration of the the Jayhawk fold. final frontier. By Jennifer Sanner Essay by Steven Hawley Story by Terry Rombeck Cover photograph courtesy NASA Established in 1902 as The Graduate Magazine Volume 109, No. 5, 2011 ISSUE 5, 2011 | 1 Lift the Chorus n Lynn H. Nelson taught learned a fair amount of History 108, a medieval history etymology and the medieval Your survey, during fall semester origins of modern English— opinion counts 1975. It was a five-hour class, how, for example, a 13th-cen- Please email us a note meeting each morning in a tury shire reeve became today’s at [email protected] fourth floor classroom in the sheriff. to tell us what you think of southeast corner of Wescoe Professor Nelson was serious your alumni magazine. Hall. and reserved. He was punctual There were about 60 of us. and unfailingly polite. He was Professor Nelson expected us demanding, but fair. Most to be prepared for class and important, he worked hard to satisfied his expectation in an make his lessons memorable. I Lightning bug vs. Long-distance ingenious way. At the begin- hope this letter, written more lightning connection ning of each class, he consulted than 35 years after the final his roster and invited a student exam, will attest that they were n There was an incorrect use of n Until now, I have never sent to join him. He would hand certainly that. a word in the profile on page a note regarding Kansas the student a Styrofoam cup John Nettels, c’79, l’85 41 of the latest issue of Kansas Alumni. The magazine just and two pennies, which the Leawood Alumni magazine [“Oldest keeps getting better and better. student shook in the cup and black alumna still a Yankee The news and articles are tossed out on the table. n The reader remembrance on doodle dandy,” issue No. 4]. outstanding. It keeps grads like If two heads showed, page 23 [“Moments In Time,” The phrase “... the 9th and me, who are a long way from Professor Nelson—in his wry, issue No. 4] contains errors 10th Calvary at Fort Leaven- KU, connected. West Texas baritone—posed a about the end of World War II. worth” was used. The word I grew up in Leavenworth question on that day’s assigned Peace in Europe and the Pacific “Calvary” should have been in a family that had never reading. He gave us ten occurred long before Novem- “Cavalry.” produced a university gradu- minutes to write an answer, ber 1945. Calvary is the name of a ate. I feel so fortunate that I collected our papers, and Germany surrendered in place outside Jerusalem where had the opportunity to began his lecture. May 1945. The end of the war Jesus was crucified. Back in the matriculate at the University of If, on lucky days, the pennies with Japan was announced in days referred to in the article, Kansas. It was that educational came up head and tail or two the U.S. on Aug. 14, 1945. My the Army’s cavalry were experience that set me on a tails, we were off the hook—at ship, the USS Dauphin APA 97, soldiers on horseback. Quite a course of action that allowed least until the next day’s coin was stuck in the mud in Manila difference in meaning. This is a me to see much of the world toss. The quizzes were about a Harbor. Our transport good example of why spell and enjoy a fascinating and third of our grade. Statistical squadron took the 12th checkers should be used with rewarding career. uncertainty motivated us to Cavalry, Eighth Army into caution. Dave Edgell, b’61 read. Tokyo Bay, Sept. 2, 1945, the Paul T. Nicholas, e’63. g’64 Greenville, N.C. In addition to teaching us day the surrender was signed. Arvada, Colo. the basics of the period These were the first occupation between the fall of Rome and troops for Japan. In October Editors’ note: We fall on our (cavalry) swords: We indeed More ‘Moments the Renaissance, Professor we took troops into Kure, bungled the proper term for in Time’ Nelson quietly wove into his Japan, as the occupation troops horse-mounted soldiers. The fault, lectures small facts that had for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. however, rests solely with the Editors’ note: For the “Moments important historical effects. Kansas Alumni is the easiest editors, not spell checkers. Even in In Time” feature in July, we Why the structure of a flea’s to read magazine I get. Nice the computer age, apparently, to published our readers’ memories throat proved such an efficient black type on bright white err is human, to forgive divine. of an enchanting, life-changing vector for spreading plague. Or paper. interaction with a professor or how the introduction of black Dwight Geiger, b’42 fellow student that made all the pepper to Europe improved Mission dierence in their KU experience. nutrition and thus feudal Send us yours and we’ll continue to share them as space allows. working conditions. We also 2 | KANSAS A LUMNI September 2011 16 Publisher Kevin J. Corbett, c’88 Editor Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81 2 Lift the Chorus Creative Director Susan Younger, f’91 Letters from our readers Associate Editors Chris Lazzarino, j’86 Steven Hill 5 First Word Sta Writer Terry Rombeck The editor’s turn Editorial Assistant Karen Goodell Photographer Steve Puppe, j’98 6 On the Boulevard Graphic Designer Valerie Spicher, j’94 KU & Alumni Association events Advertising Sales Representative 8 Jayhawk Walk David Johnston, j’94, g’06 When the cow chips are down, crimson-and-blue greenbacks, cool cop cars and more Editorial and Advertising Oce KU Alumni Association 10 Hilltopics 1266 Oread Avenue News and notes: Campus monuments repaired; Lawrence, KS 66045-3169 Spencer library lands science fiction trove. 785-864-4760 • 800-584-2957 www.kualumni.org 16 Sports [email protected] Football wins season opener, but mourns loss of Coach Fam. KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN 0745-3345) is published by the 42 Association News KU Alumni Association six times a year in January, March, May, July, ’Hawk Days a summertime hit; Millie Awards September and November. $55 annual subscription includes member- ship in the Alumni Association. O¡ce of Publication: 1266 Oread recognize true-blue volunteers. Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-3169. Periodicals postage paid at Lawrence, KS. 51 Class Notes POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kansas Alumni Magazine, 1266 Profiles of a New York Yankee, a multinational Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-3169 © 2011 by Kansas Alumni Magazine. Non-member issue price: $7 anchor, a soccer supporter and more 68 In Memory Letters to the Editor: Deaths in the KU family Kansas Alumni welcomes letters to the editor. Our 72 Rock Chalk Review address is Kansas Alumni magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, A learned look at Harry Potter, a how-to guide Lawrence, KS 66045-3169. Email responses may be sent to for managers, Tom Averill’s latest and more the Alumni Association, [email protected]. Letters appearing in the magazine may be edited for space and clarity. For letters published, we’ll send a free gift of 76 Glorious to View the KU Magnet Game, a $15 value. Scene on campus ISSUE 5, 2011 | 3 by Jennifer Jackson Sanner First Word ince the 1920s, the proposal for partial tuition waivers for academically qualified SAlumni Association has out-of-state students from KU families. That proposal received doted on new Jayhawks from support from campus leaders, alumni, legislators and Regents and KU families, highlighting became the Jayhawk Generations Scholarship, first offered in fall freshmen who take after 2009. But alumni advocacy was not finished. “We were happy to their forebears in a special get it launched and gratified by the campus support,” Howard fall tribute. says. “The first plan was not exactly what we hoped for, but it was This month, true to a great start. We continued to monitor it and recommend tradition, we showcase the changes. Those changes have occurred.” newest class of Jayhawk Genera- When Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little arrived in 2009, she tions on our website, kualumni.org. The 2011 clearly stated her intentions to step up student recruitment and edition includes 200 second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-generation retention—and she listened to the voices of alumni. In fall 2010, students—plus our first sixth-generation Jayhawk, Catherine the University hired Matt Melvin to set specific recruitment goals Dyer, from Overland Park. Her great-great-great grandfather, and employ the tactics to reach them. His conclusions matched Franklin Riffle, earned his engineering degree in 1880. those of Howard, who in fall 2010 began his one-year term as the As we celebrate continuing legacies, we also trumpet the Alumni Association’s national chair. University’s revamped, revved-up plan to attract new students, “We’ve got a declining number of high school graduates in from first-generation Jayhawks to those who carry on long- Kansas, and our primary recruitment area is very fertile for standing KU traits.