22 Contents Established in 1902 as The Graduate Magazine Solempne 22 The Professor’s Tale: Remembering the “special dignity” of Carroll Edwards. BY ROBERT DAY Aftershock 26 Trapped in rubble when a January earthquake devastated Haiti, Ann Varghese found new passion for her work on the impoverished country’s health care challenges. News Judgment BY WHITNEY ERIKSEN 30 These are tough times for journalism, as papers and other traditional news outlets struggle to cope with massive changes brought on by the digital revolution. Learn how KU’s J-school is preparing students for journalism’s big rewrite. BY JULIE METTENBURG Cover illustration from a photograph by Steve Puppe 26 Volume 108, No. 5, 2010 September 2010 Publisher Kevin J. Corbett, c’88 Editor Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81 Creative Director Susan Younger, f’91 38 Associate Editors Chris Lazzarino, j’86 Steven Hill Staff Writer Terry Rombeck Editorial Assistants Karen Goodell Photographer Steve Puppe, j’98 Graphic Designer Valerie Spicher, j’94 5 FIRST WORD Advertising Sales Representative The editor’s turn Whitney Eriksen, c’08, j’08 Editorial and Advertising Office 6 ON THE BOULEVARD KU Alumni Association KU & Alumni Association events 1266 Oread Ave. Lawrence, KS 66045-3169 JAYHAWK WALK 785-864-4760 • 800-584-2957 8 Students (and parents) get oriented, Chi-O www.kualumni.org [email protected] fountain wins art award, and more 10 HILLTOPICS News and notes: University targets retention and KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN 0745-3345) is published graduation rates for improvement. by the KU Alumni Association six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November. $55 annual subscription includes membership in the Alumni Association. Office of 16 SPORTS Publication: 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-3169. Football kicks off the Gill era. Periodicals postage paid at Lawrence, KS. ASSOCIATION NEWS POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kansas Alumni 38 Magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045- Hilltop Honors recognizes Jayhawk stalwarts; 3169 © 2010 by Kansas Alumni Magazine. Non-member programs staff gathers accolades. issue price: $7 44 CLASS NOTES Profiles of a celebrity haberdasher, a spiritual life coach, a super TV producer and more Your opinion 60 IN MEMORY counts! Deaths in the KU family welcomes letters to 64 ROCK CHALK REVIEW the editor. Our address is Kansas Alumni Final curtain falls on E.A.T.; books chronicle magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, journalist Doris Fleeson and Kansas attractions. KS 66045-3169. E-mail responses may be sent to the Alumni Association, GLORIOUS TO VIEW [email protected]. Letters appear- 68 ing in the magazine may be edited for Scene on campus space and clarity. For every letter pub- lished, we’ll send a free gift of the KU Magnet Game, a $15 value. 3 2010 Jayhawk Generations is online! The 2010 edition of Jayhawk Generations is now online. Thank you to the KU families who participated in the latest chapter of this longstanding KU Alumni Association tradition. This “green” file can be downloaded and printed or just viewed on your screen. We encourage you to make the leap from crimson and blue to green. You can find Jayhawk Generations at www.kualumni.org/jayhawkgenerations BY JENNIFER JACKSON SANNER First Word We corralled them after dinner—and not a single one scowled. STEVE PUPPE Chancellors Archie Dykes and Del Shankel presided over KU during my years in the journalism school, when stu- dents typed on typewriters and used melted wax, XACTO knives and Rubylith to paste up pages before sending them to the printer. Today’s students in Stauffer-Flint Hall and journalism’s second campus home, the Dole Center, use vastly different tools to publish in the Internet age. In our cover story, Julie Mettenburg, j’91, explores the many ways in which the William Allen White School of Journal- ism and Mass Communications has responded to a transformed industry. In the Sept. 3 University Daily Kansan, Editor-in-Chief Alex Garrison explained the challenges: “We are no I Five chancellors represented nearly 40 years of KU history at the Sept. 10 Hilltop Honors longer the student newspaper of the Uni- celebration: Chancellors Archie Dykes (1973-’80), Del Shankel (1980-’81 and 1994-’95), versity of Kansas; we are now the student Bernadette Gray-Little, Gene Budig (1981-’94) and Bob Hemenway (1995-2009). media of the University of Kansas,” she wrote. “We are print, we are television, we are online, we are social media, we are radio.” She closed her column by inviting y grandma adored her Kodak tional slight of having his head cut out of her readers to contact her and “have the Instamatic almost as much the photos. courage to contribute to the new and as she craved gravy. In her Now I’m doing penance for all the scary—that’s what we’ll be busy with.” gargantuan purse (“pocket- times I crossed my arms and glared at Changes in the journalism curriculum Mbook” in her Texas parlance), she always Grandma. My job is to document KU help students cope with the new and carried her plastic camera and the family gatherings. In the quest for pho- scary—and compete successfully in a flashcubes that fastened on the top like tos, I shamelessly interrupt conversa- daunting marketplace, where some of Legos. She documented every family tions, intrude upon quiet interludes, and the jobs they will land haven’t yet been event, forcing us to line up for the obliga- intercept unsuspecting Jayhawks as they invented. As faculty members continue tory photos whether we were at home or arrive at events or attempt to make quick to refine course offerings, they are sur- out and about. Nary a bashful bone in getaways. All the while, I swear I can hear veying recent graduates, who have had a her pleasingly plump body, she routinely Grandma chuckling at my plight. chance to see how their college experi- asked restaurant servers or strangers on Photos that become keepers for the ence stacks up in the industry. the street to take our picture. Almost no KU annals are well worth the trouble. But the traditional standards that have one could say no to Grandma. Such was the case on Sept. 10, during built the KU J-school’s longheld promi- Those of us who acquiesced to the Association’s first Hilltop Honors cel- nence remain the core of journalism edu- Grandma usually wore scowls on our ebration—a tribute to recipients of the cation: thorough research, critical faces in the finished prints, although my Distinguished Service Citation and Fred thinking and clear writing. Even in a new husband’s expression often remained a Ellsworth Medallion (see page 38). era, the goal endures. Use vivid words mystery. As the tallest member of the Among the luminaries at the history- and images to tell truthful, memorable family, he suffered the repeated uninten- making event were five KU chancellors. stories. Create keepers. 5 On the Boulevard 9 Turtle Island Quartet 21 “Fiddler on the Roof” 22 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy TERRY ROMBECK (4) ROMBECK TERRY 27 “Spring Awakening” 29 KU Symphony Orchestra Halloween Concert 30 KU Symphony Orchestra at Stringworks Festival 5 Armitage Gone! Dance 7 Marching Jayhawks Concert 10 KU Wind Ensemble 12 Peter Goodchild’s “The Real Dr. Strangelove” 13 Interpreti Veneziani I Fierce Jayhawk competition isn’t limited to the basketball court or football field. The competitive 18-19 KU Symphony Orchestra spirit was alive and well Aug. 16 at the Alumni Association’s Ice Cream Social. More than 2,500 and University Dance Company students attended the event at the Adams Alumni Center, which featured games including a bungee run (above) and KU giveaways. Of course, there was plenty of ice cream (right, top) and appear- ances by Baby Jay (right, center) and the KU cheerleaders (right, bottom). The Ice Cream Social I Murphy Hall events was part of ’Hawk Week, which welcomes students back to campus each fall. I Exhibitions 20 Fall Tuba-EuphoniumFEST 11-14, 18-21 “A Midsummer “Grand Recital,” Swarthout “Talking Trees: Karen McCoy/Robert Night’s Dream,” written by William Recital Hall Carl,” Spencer Museum of Art at Shakespeare, directed by Paul Meier Marvin Grove, fall 2010 “Reviving the Past: Antiquity & I Lied Center events 2, 5, 8, 10 KU Opera, “Cosi Fan Antiquarianism in East Asian Art,” Tutte,” Robert Baustian Theatre Spencer Museum of Art, 10 Jack Winerock, piano, Swarthout through 2010 24 Collage Concert Recital Hall 28 KU Symphony Orchestra 20 I KU Brass Chamber Recital, University Theatre 30 Neil Berg’s “100 Years of Swarthout Recital Hall Broadway” 24 Collegium Musicum, Swarthout 7-12 “Lost in Yonkers,” written by Recital Hall Neil Simon, directed by Jack Wright 26 KU Choirs, Swarthout 2 Punch Brothers featuring 28-31, Nov. 2-3 “Lobby Hero,” Recital Hall Chris Thile written by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by Hun Choi 3 Adam Gyorgy 6 KU Wind Ensemble 4 KU Saxophone Quartets, 8 Bayanihan Philippine National Swarthout Recital Hall Folk Dance Company 9 KU Choirs, Swarthout Recital Hall 6 I Special events 14-15 KU Spirit reunion 4 Parsons 22-23 Class of 1985 25-year 6 Dodge City reunion 25 Family/Band Day 6 Gardner 22-23 KU Band Alumni Chapter Homecoming reunion weekend 25 Jayhawk Generations Breakfast, 12 Garden City Adams Alumni Center 22-23 KU Black Alumni 13 Arkansas City Chapter Homecoming reunion 13 Salina weekend 7 University Women’s Club, featuring 20 Garnett 22-23 KU School of Law Sacie Lambertson, Kansas Union 20 Overland Park reunion weekend 18-24 Homecoming Week 21 Hays 23 Game Day at the Adams 25 El Dorado Homecoming tailgate party, KU vs.