28 32 - Kansas Alumni magazine

The Silver MedalistCliff Cushman, whose fighter jet was shot down 40 yearsago this fall, never won the Olympic gold medal of hisdreams; family and teammates recall a big-hearted warrior whose spirit transcended victory and defeat.

BY CHRIS LAZZARINO

With the GrainThe crews of custom cutters that sweep northward acrossthe Plains each year are icons of the wheat harvest. Yetfew can match the international reach or high-tech savvyof Rick Farris’ boys of summer.

BY STEVEN HILL

Contents E s t a b l i s h e d i n 1 9 0 2 a s h e r a d u a t e M a g a z i n e

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22 Worldly LeaderProvost Richard Lariviere brings toMount Oread the perspectives of anAsian law and languages scholar whoknows firsthand the value of highereducation.

BY JENNIFER JACKSON SANNER

Cover photograph by Jamie Roper

F E A T U R E S

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Lift the Chorus

2 | K A N S A S A L U M N I

works? I am sure the buseswere painted at Watson’s bodyshop, or at Jamie and Dave’slarge organ restoration room!Whatever, we are proud toknow Valley Falls is back in themanufacturing business.

I am sending this letter toour newspaper, the Valley FallsVindicator, so that they too willlearn of the prominent enter-

prise within the borders of oldGrasshopper Falls. You may want to letthem in on the secret: Just where werethe five $269,000 KU buses really puttogether?

Frank Shrimplin, p’50Valley Falls

Editor’s note: Yes, it should be ValleyCenter, Mr. Shrimplin. Good catch. Wesend our thanks—along with the assurancethat Mr. Hill did not graduate from KansasState University. Like many wise and de-voted spouses, he is a Jayhawk by marriage,having made room for the crimson and bluein his allegiances to his home state,Kentucky; his college home, North CarolinaWilmington; and his graduate school,Columbia University. He is one of us.

Schools d-coded

Congratulations on the production ofsuch an outstanding publication. Formany of us, Kansas Alumni is our mostimportant member benefit, especiallythose of us removed by many miles fromLawrence.

Please let me know what the letter “d”before class years stands for in terms ofschools at KU. I believe you usually runa box with this information in the “ClassNotes” and “In Memory” sections, but Icouldn’t find such a box in this issue.

Keep up the good work.Bill Nelligan, j’49Damascus, Md.

Wak on!

I enjoyed ChrisLazzarino’s article aboutthe Wakarusa Music andCamping Festival[“Where the MusicMoves,” issue No. 4].

I just wanted to pointout that the outstandinglocal percussionist wholed the big Sunday-noon drum circle thisyear and last is also a KU alumnus. Hisname is Clark Jamison, c’89, and hegraduated with a degree in theatre and film.

Malika Lyon, c’81, g’99Lawrence

One hit, no errors

I’m positive John Bremner wouldhave found errors in your article abouthim [First Word, issue No. 4]. But I didn’t.

Bill Meyer, j’48Marion

The bus doesn’t start there

What a good article by Steven Hill inthe No. 4, 2006, Kansas Alumni maga-zine [“The bus stops here,” Hilltopics]. Iam pleased to know that things on theHill are going so well.

I tried to contact Steven Hill and all Icould find were some 20 or so contactson the Internet about a man of the samename from Kansas State. UGH!

I wanted to let him know howpleased we are in Valley Falls to knowthat we have a bus manufacturing planthere! I have tried to find out just wherethis manufacturing plant is. Is it PhilThompson’s sophisticated machineshop? Is it Bain Millwrights’ metal

et us hear rom youKansas Alumni welcomes letters to the editor. Our address is Kansas Alumni magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence,KS 66045-3169. E-mail responses may besent to the Alumni Association, [email protected], or Associate EditorChris Lazzarino, [email protected] appearing in the magazine may be edited for space and clarity.

Editor’s note: The mysterious “d” stands forthe School of Education. For decades, themagazine has used school abbreviationsthat reportedly originated in UniversityCommencement programs. We sometimesomit the school codes box when space istight, but we’ll try to run it in every issue tomake our abbreviations clear.

Butterfly boosters

I am the director of PeninsulaVolunteers Little House in Menlo Park,Calif., a daily activity center mostly forseniors. I saw the article about theMonarch Butterfly Waystations [“GardenSpots,” Rock Chalk Review, issue No. 4,2005] and obtained the starter kit fromMonarch Watch.

The seniors here have germinated theplants and planted the proper seedlings,which are now beautiful.

We are Waystation #734 and haveeven seen a couple of Monarchs!

Janice Sutton Pierce, s’66Mountain View, Calif.

Editor’s note: More information can befound at monarchwatch.org.

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September 2006

u lisherKevin J. Corbett, c’88

EditorJennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81

Creative DirectorSusan Younger, f ’91

Associate EditorsChris Lazzarino, j’86

Steven Hill

Sta riterRachel Larson Nyp, c’04, j’04

Editorial AssistantKaren Goodell

hoto ra herJamie Roper, j’02

ra hic Desi nerValerie Spicher, j’94

Advertisin Sales Re resentativeRicky Temkin, ’07

Editorial and Advertisin O iceKansas Alumni Association

1266 Oread Ave., Lawrence, KS 66045-3169785-864-4760 • 800-584-2957

www.kualumni.orge-mail: [email protected]

KANSAS ALUMN MAGA INE ISSN 074 - 4 is publishedby the KU Alumni Association si times a y ear in January,March, May, July, September and November 0 annual sub-scription includes membership in the Alumni AssociationOffice of Publication 12 Oread Avenue, La rence, KS

04 - 1 9 Periodicals postage paid at La rence, KS

POSTMASTER Send address changes to KansasAlumni Magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS66045 3169 2006 by Kansas Alumni Magazine. Nonmember issue price 7

KU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION The Alumni Association asestablished in 188 for the purpose of strengthening loyalty,friendship, commitment, and communication among all g radu-ates, former and current students, parents, faculty, staff andall other friends of The University of Kansas Its membershereby unite into an Association to achie ve unity of purposeand action to serve the best interests of The University andits constituencies The Association is organized e clusively forcharitable, educational, and scientif ic purposes

2 LIFT THE CHOR SLetters from readers

4 ON THE BO LEVARDKU & Alumni Association events

7 FIRST WORDThe editor’s turn

8 JAYHAWK WALKCupful of Elvii, a novel use for duct tape,The Crossing at a crossroads and more

10 HILLTOPICSNews and notes: Wescoe aces first exam, but more tests to come; College welcomes new dean.

16 SPORTSVeteran linemen to protect young quarterback;soccer All-American goes on the offensive.

40 ASSOCIATION NEWSFred Ellsworth Medallion honors three

44 CLASS NOTESProfiles of a coffee maestro, a police chief, a cycling impresario and the AMA’s top doc

64 IN MEMORYDeaths in the KU family

66 ROCK CHALK REVIEWCollege savers, anger management for schoolgirls and tips to lower your golf score

68 OREAD ENCORERemembering Ollie

D E P A R T M E N T S

8

On the Boulevard


■ Exhibitions“Art into Art: Inspired Responses,” opensSept. 22, Spencer Museum of Art

“Cabinets of Curiosity,” through Sept.24, Spencer Museum of Art

“PF Bentley: Behind the Lens of the Dole1996 Presidential Campaign,” throughSept. 30, Robert J. Dole Institute ofPolitics

“Using the Past to Serve the Present in20th-Century Chinese Painting,” opensOct. 7, Spencer Museum of Art

“Views of Vietnam,” opens Oct. 14,Spencer Museum of Art

“The Last Supper,” Julie Green, Oct. 28-Nov. 17, Art and Design Gallery

“John Steuart Curry: AgrarianAllegories,” through Nov. 5, SpencerMuseum of Art

■ University TheatreSEPTEMBER

25 16 30 Oct 1 “Homer’s TheOdyssey,” a dramatization by GregoryA. Falls and Kurt Beattie

OCTOBER

27 29 Nov 2 4 “The Skin of OurTeeth,” by Thornton Wilder

NOVEMBER

10 12 14 18 “Sister Mary IgnatiusExplains it All for You,” byChristopher Durang and “SantaLandDiaries,” by David Sedaris

■ Lied Center eventsSEPTEMBER

21 Nathan Granner, tenor, and BeauBledsoe, guitar (Regnier Hall

Auditorium, Edwards Campus)

30 Fireworks in Cartoon, music fromzany cartoons

OCTOBER

1 Pacifica Quartet

4 “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” celebrat-ing the music of Ray Charles

6 Bayanihan Philippine NationalDance Company

10 Laura Palmer, Bales Organ RecitalHall

19 KU Jazz Ensembles I, II, III

21 Simon Shaheen & Dr. A.J. Racyand the Near Eastern MusicEnsemble

24 KU Symphony Orchestra

25 Chu-Fang Huang, piano (RegnierHall Auditorium, Edwards Campus)

27 L.A. Theatre Works in “The CaineMutiny Court-Martial”

27 Sharee Thompson, Bales OrganRecital Hall

NOVEMBER

1 2 Ratan Thiyam’s ChorusRepertory Theatre in “Nine Hills OneValley”

4 Miami City Ballet in “Don Quixote”

5 KU Wind Ensemble

9 Cantus, men’s vocal ensemble

10 Classical Savion, tap dancing

11 ULALI, women’s a cappella trio(at Haskell Indian Nations University)

■ Special eventsSEPTEMBER

9 Jayhawk Generations Breakfast

22 Ellsworth Medallion Program

OCTOBER

5 8 Black Alumni Weekend

5 Kathy Griffin, Homecoming, LiedCenter

6 Get Downtown, Homecomingconcert

6 7 Homecoming, reunions andparade

■ LecturesSEPTEMBER

20 “Breaking Ground,” architectDaniel Libeskind, Kansas Union

25 John Cuneo, illustrator, HallmarkDesign Symposium, Wescoe Hall

26 Judge John E. Jones III, DifficultDialogues at the Commons, KansasUnion

On the Boulevard

■ Wheat, 1941-1942

■ All three works are by John Steuart Curry,1897-1946; gouache, charcoal, pencil; gift ofDaniel Bradley Schuster in memory of EllenCurry Schuster; Spencer Museum of Art

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OCTOBER

3 Os Guinness, Difficult Dialogues atthe Commons, Kansas Union

9 Kurt van Dexter, landscape archi-tect, Hallmark Design Symposium,Alderson Auditorium

16 Richard Dawkins, HumanitiesLecture Series and Difficult Dialoguesat the Commons, Lied Center

23 Bazillion Pictures, HallmarkDesign Symposium, Lied Center

NOVEMBER

2 Nancy Cott, Humanities LectureSeries, Kansas Union

9 Denise Gonzalez-Crisp, graphicdesign professor, Hallmark DesignSymposium, Wescoe Hall

16 Eugenie Scott, Difficult Dialoguesat the Commons, Kansas Union

■ Alumni eventsSEPTEMBER

20 Kansas City Chapter: Rock ChalkWednesday

20 San Diego: Fine Arts Reception

21 Phoenix: Fine Arts Reception

23 Central North Carolina Chapter:

Lied Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .864-ARTSUniversity Theatre tickets . . . . . . . . .864-3982Spencer Museum of Art . . . . . . . . . . .864-4710Natural History Museum . . . . . . . . .864-4540Hall Center for Humanities . . . . . . .864-4798Kansas Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .864-4596KU Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .864-3506Adams Alumni Center . . . . . . . . . . . .864-4760KU main number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .864-2700Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-800-34-HAWKSDole Institute of Politics . . . . . . . . . .864-4900

23 Johnson County/Blue Valley

24 Garden City

25 Southern Johnson County

NOVEMBER

6 Manhattan

8 Wichita

9 Emporia

13 Kansas City

14 Topeka

15 Independence

For more information aboutAssociation events, call 800 5842957, or see the Association’s Website, www.kualumni.org.

Brown Bag Museum Tour

23 Tailgate at the Adams AlumniCenter, KU vs. South Florida

27 West Central Kansas Chapter:Organizational Meeting

30 Lincoln: KU vs. Nebraska Tailgate

OCTOBER

3 St. Louis: Engineering Reception


7 Tailgate at the Adams AlumniCenter, KU vs. Texas A&M

10 Chicago: Engineering Reception

14 Tailgate at the Adams AlumniCenter, KU vs. Oklahoma State

16 Chicago: College of Liberal Artsand Sciences Reception

19 Wichita: Education Reception

20 Dallas Chapter: TGIF Party

21 Waco: KU vs. Baylor Tailgate

22 Phoenix Chapter: Big 12 Picnic

27 Lawrence: Education Reception

27 28 Volunteer Leaders Weekend,Adams Alumni Center

28 Tailgate at the Adams AlumniCenter, KU vs. Colorado

NOVEMBER

4 Ames: KU vs. Iowa State Tailgate


■ Kansas Honors Program

SEPTEMBER

25 El Dorado

27 Arkansas City

28 Hays

OCTOBER

4 Salina

11 Hutchinson

11 Garnett/Ottawa

16 Parsons

18 Dodge City

■ ere or , 1941-1942

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B Y J E N N I F E R J A C K S O N S A N N E R First Word

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Career mementos line one wallin the basement den of Richardand Jan Lariviere’s new homejust northwest of campus:

Richard’s two Eyes of Texas ExcellenceAwards for his impact on student life atthe University of Texas, Jan’s certificatesas an outstanding high school biologyteacher.

But the real eye-catcher is the portraitof Richard, seated regally in his UToffice, wearing Willie Nelson’s braidsand red bandanna and Dorothy’s daz-zling ruby slippers. The doctored photoreveals not only the wonders (and hor-rors) of Photoshop, but also the humorof the man whose Texas colleaguesknew he would treasure such a bizarrefarewell gift as he moved to Kansas tobecome KU provost.

By all accounts, Lariviere, the subjectof our cover story, knows when to leaven the serious work of educationwith laughter. As UT liberal arts dean, he once invited Texas bad boy (nowrenegade gubernatorial candidate) Kinky Friedman to deliver a graduationaddress that Lariviere describes as one of the most successful he has ever heard.

“He did his shtick for a while, andthen he dramatically shifted to talk

about his father,” Lariviere recalls. “Hisfather was a World War II veteran, oneof Tom Brokaw’s ‘Greatest Generation.’Kinky talked about that generation, andthen he pointed his cigar at the students,and he said, ‘But YOU are the greatestgeneration.’ He brought the house down.It was magic.”

Such moments lie at the heart of education, and Lariviere strives to makethem happen—sometimes by doing the unexpected, says Paul Woodruff,professor of philosophy and formerdirector of UT’s Plan II Honors Program.Woodruff says he was on the verge ofleaving when Lariviere became dean in1999. “Richard changed everything,”Woodruff recalls. “He immediatelycaused the bureaucrats to relax and dowhat was right instead of what was inthe rules. He was very quick, very smart.He grasped a complicated situation rap-idly and dealt with it.

“His passion is very important; hereally does care. He has a wicked senseof humor, but he’s a serious guy.”

Jayhawks saw both qualities Feb. 15,when Chancellor Robert E. Hemenwayintroduced the new provost. After josh-ing with reporters, Lariviere ended hisfirst KU press conference near tears,

vowing, “Every day, when I wake up, I’ll think about how to make this placegreat.”

In a conversation months later,Lariviere discusses the impact of highereducation from his perspective as an aca-demic leader—and a parent. His 22-year-old daughter, Anne, earned her degree inAmerican studies in May from BarnardCollege. “She’s in the exact position ofso many of our graduates: She’s trying todecide what she wants to do with herlife,” he says. “It’s been a valuable experi-ence for me professionally, because I’vefound myself thinking and saying all thethings I have derided parents for think-ing and saying: ‘What are you going todo? Is this going to turn into a career?Will you be able to support yourself?’”

He credits his fearless wife for calm-ing his nerves. “Jan continues to remindme that this is all going to be fine. And itis. Anne’s a smart kid. She’s discoveringlife with the tools she’s been endowedwith as a result of her education.”

Weeks later, Anne is in Lawrence for aweekend visit. Though she clearly feelsat home in New York City, her parents’new house suits her. Reminiscing sendsher to the basement shelves, determinedto find exactly the right snapshots fromfamily travels. All the while, Anne nar-rates her parents’ unauthorized biogra-phies as only an only daughter can.

And she chats eagerly about facing aclassroom full of 4-year-olds Mondaymorning, when, lo and behold, she willbegin her first job—as a teacher. There’stalk of graduate school and a career inspecial education.

Back in his Strong Hall office,Lariviere turns wistful at the mention ofhis daughter entering the family profes-sion. “It brings tears to my eyes,” he says.

But there’s little doubt she’ll be up tothe task. Confidence and commitment,tempered by an ornery streak, run in the family.�

Jan, Anne and Richard Lariviere

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That’s a wrap

Searching for a college scholarship, Hannah Blodgett stuck to herstrong suit creativity.I’m not the best essay writer, so I had to do what I could, says

Blodgett, an incoming freshman from Perry who will study art education.She spent two nights fashioning a formal gown and tu edo out of ducttape for herself and date Mark Weatherford to wear to their high schoolprom last spring, hoping to win a 3,000 scholarship in the Stuck At Promcontest sponsored by Duck brand duct tape.

Ten rolls of sticky stuff went into the outfits, which definitely stuck outat the Perry Lecompton High School dance. No one had ever seen anything like it, Blodgett says. We posed for a lot of pictures.

They also benefited from an e mail campaign that urged the Jayhawktribe to vote for Blodgett in the contest’s online poll. And though she didn’t win the big prize, wearing a prom dress that was fun and originalwas payoff enough.

People kept saying, You must be so hot in that thing,’ but I wasn’t,Blodgett says. I was totally cool.

Cool, indeed.

Jayhawk Walk B Y H I L L A N D L A A R I N O

From Wheel to World CupElvii spotted in Germany

Turns out that our coverage of Home-coming 200 , in last year’s issue No ,

as yet another orld ide scoop for KansasAlumni The Elvis-bedec ed pals e pho-tographed on the The Wheel’s bac patio,Kansas Citians Dave Scott, c’9 , and Mizzoualumnus Pat Ryan, became ambassadors fortheir country ith a heavily publicized jour-ney to Germany for soccer’s World Cup

Scott, Ryan and more than 0 of theirpals from across the U S converged onEurope in June, and 1 of them broughtalong Elvis costumes Based in Munich forthe World Cup, the Elvii ere huge attrac-tions at the ildly popular Fan Fests, and

ere featured in the Kansas City Star andintervie ed by ESPN

That MU game at Homecoming last yearas just the beginning, Scott says This as

priceless, li e e had our o n paparazziIn hich case, there’s only thing to be

done Party li e a roc star

■ Dave Scott (l to r), Jason Tyrer, c’93, Pat Ryan and other Elvii at the USA-Italy World Cupmatch in Kaiserslautern. For the two KU and two MU buddies on the journey, Scott says, “Fourguaranteed blowout trips in our lifetime. This was the first.”

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leagues can better control access by humanvisitors hile eliminating un anted ayfar-ers Pests that fre uently entered openclassroom indo s in Sno Hall Seemsinsects are among the biggest threats toinsect collections

We li e dead bugs, Falin saysLive bugs are a different story

A National Science Foundationgrant paid for ne , tighter fitting

cabinets to protect speci-mens, and the KU

Natural HistoryMuseum, hichmaintains thetrove, hired

more staff toaccommodate visitsfrom researchersand science buffs

Further improv-ing security, perhaps,are the building’s co-tenants KU’s PublicSafety Office this

summer relocated itshead uarters to the

buildingThat ill probably

help, Falin says But Ithin e’ll still loc our

doors at night

◆ ◆ ◆

A crossroad for The Crossing

It’s a long ay from last call for TheCrossing, and proposed changes for the

property at 12th and Oread might neverreach fruition Still, a idely reported saleof the historic pub’s building generatedinstant nostalgia

Within days of the first reports beingsplashed across the La rence Journal-World, an Internet petition to Save theCrossing had already generated more than,200 electronic signatures Before the

petition as removed, for reasons une -plained, it as peppered ith pleas thatincluded, My first iss as there and, inthe spirit and ords of the Coen brothers’Jeffrey Lebo s i, This ill not stand, man,this aggression ill not stand

Proposals for the corner include a retailand residential comple , but any such plan

ould have to end through numerouscity boards and neighborhood and historiccommittees, so it’s far too early to toastfare ell to The Crossing and the Yello Subsand ich shop

But it might not be a bad idea to dr op infor a si -inch veggie and a pitcher of beerjust in case

◆ ◆ ◆

Theft throws club’s futureup in the air

Perhaps you remember the good ne se happily reported bac in January,

about a fe students forming a campusjuggling club for e ercise, stress relief andcamaraderie In proof of the a iom that

every story has its dar side,e no must pass along a sad

updateJuggling supplies valued at

more than 1,000, stashed atthe time in four duffel bags,

ere snatched from the bac -seat of the Toyota o ned byclub founder Justin Gramarye,

hile he and other KU jugg lersere in Omaha, Neb , for the

Flatland Juggling FestivalAlmost orthless for anyonebut the o ners, the lost e uip-ment included handmade cos-tumes, a unicycle, and assortedtossables, such as beanbagsand juggling clubs

I can’t thin they’re enjoy-ing it, club president DanielHogan told the La rence Journal-WorldThe odds that this particular band of

criminals are jugglers is fairly smallWe’ll gladly pass along to club members

any donations that ill help them recoverfrom their loss, and to Crimestoppers anyreports of suspicious juggling activity

◆ ◆ ◆

Insect migration

Visitors don’t bug acharyFalin Charged ith

eeping KU’s 4 million-specimen entomology collection in good physicalcondition, Falin, PhD’04,relishes the opportunity to sho off some of theimpressive insects under his care

But ith the collection spreadacross several rooms in bustlingSno Hall since the 1980s,security has been a buga-boo So this summerthe entire multi-leggedmenagerie bugged outand moved to the for-mer Printing ServicesBuilding on West Campus

With the collection f inallyin one room, Falin and col-

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An initial report by an investigative teamlooking into potential environmentalhazards at Wescoe Hall has determinedthat the building’s air may be dead in

spots, but it’s not dangerous. KU commissioned the team in June after

employees expressed concerns about the inci-dence of health problems experienced by thosewho work in the building. In the past decade fivepeople who worked in Wescoe were diagnosedwith brain tumors. In two cases, the tumors werebenign.

John Neuberger, a nationally known cancerepidemiologist in the School of Medicine’sdepartment of preventive medicine and publichealth, is directing the study, which includes airquality tests and an epidemiological survey ofcurrent and former occupants of Wescoe. About400 people now work in the building.

“I think the building issafe and that the air flowneeds to be corrected,”Neuberger said in August,after results of the air qualitytests were presented toWescoe employees. “We aredoing additional tests on thebuilding and expect to con-tinue to do them into thefall, and we will provideadditional reports whenthose are done.”

The tests showed that lev-els of formaldehyde, a com-mon indoor air pollutantthat can originate from car-peting, particle board andother building materials, fellwell below standards set bythe Occupational Safety andHealth Administration andthe American Conference ofGovernmental IndustrialHygienists, but slightlyexceeded standards recom-mended by the NationalInstitute for OccupationalSafety and Health.

“It’s a very commonly found chemical,”Neuberger said. “At the levels they are at, they’refairly low, so I don’t believe they have any healthconsequences at those levels.”

Additional air quality tests will be conducted todetermine the source of the formaldehyde. Airquality tests also will be conducted this fall to lookfor other possible contaminants.

“Certain things are better measured in the fallwhen there are more people in the building andwhen the University is operating more fully,”Neuberger said. “Radon levels are supposed to bemeasured in the fall. There are a variety of reasonswe want to look at seasonal distributions.”

Air quality tests conducted in June showed thatpoor ventilation left some interior rooms with noair flow. The problem makes some offices too hotand some too cold and can lead to pockets ofdead, stuffy air. Neuberger said dead air is not

■ John Neuberger, anenvironmental epidemiolo-gist with a principal inter-

est in cancer, heads a teamof environmental health

experts looking into fearsthat Wescoe Hall’s physicalenvironment may be linked

to health concerns.

Breathe easyInitial air quality tests determine that Wescoe

is safe; epidemiological survey proceeds

Hilltopics B Y S T E V E N H I L L

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dangerous but is primarily “a comfort thing.” Neuberger has assembled a team of experts

that includes KU School of Medicine colleaguesand an industrial hygienist. The results of the airquality tests were presented by Albert Stewart ofStewart Industrial Hygiene and Safety Inc., ofKansas City.

Work is now underway to alter the building’sventilation system to keep dampers partiallyopen at all times. Unfortunately, this temporaryfix to improve airflow may also worsen the too-hot, too-cold extremes says Don Steeples, viceprovost for scholarly support. Long-term planscall for upgrading most of Wescoe’s ventilationsystems and replacing basement flooring, whichhas buckled. That work awaits completion of a$3.5 million project begun this summer to add24,000 square feet to the 181,000-square-footbuilding by enclosing Wescoe’s south terrace.Construction on that project is expected to wrapup by March.

That expansion, Steeples says, is a response tocrowding campuswide, not just in Wescoe.

“Our tenured and tenure-track faculty over thelast five years have gone from about 1,030 to1,130. We’re at record enrollment. We’re atrecord research dollars. We’re just bursting at theseams all over campus.”

The best part of the new addition, Steeplessays: It will have its own up-to-date air-handlingsystem.�

◆ ◆ ◆

Head of the CLASCollege of Liberal Arts & Sciences

welcomes Indiana researcheras its new dean

At first glance, it might seem that JosephSteinmetz has not only the appropriateadministrative experience for his new job as dean of the College of Liberal

Arts and Sciences, but also the perfect scholarlybackground.

Steinmetz, who held Indiana University’sEleanor Cox Riggs Professorship in psychologyand led the school’s psychology department aschairman for 10 years before becoming an associ-ate dean in IU’s College of Arts and Sciences, isalso known for his research contributions inexperimental psychology, which led the National

Academy of Sciences to give him the TrolandResearch Award in 1996. Surely this researchexpertise supplies valuable insights into thehuman psyche that he can draw on as leader ofKU’s largest school?

“The strange thing is that my research area isneuroscience, and it just happens that the psy-chology department is where neuroscience islocated at Indiana,” Steinmetz says, laughing. “Idon’t think people in the College want me per-forming brain surgery on them, but I might beable to spot those who need it.”

Leading KU’s largest school may not be brainsurgery (nor rocket science), but it definitely hasits own learning curve. Steinmetz, who startedJuly 1, will spend the first six months or sostudying programs and meeting departmentchairs before hatching any grand strategy for theCollege, which employs 741 faculty and 225 staffand enrolls 17,801 students in 53 academic units.A couple of areas already stand out as deservingmore attention.

“Strengthening presence in the life sciences,for example, is something that’s heavily under-way in a lot of places,” Steinmetz says. “And forgood reason. This is where, nationally, research ishappening.”

“For youngeralumni, I’m reallyinterested in thequestion, ‘Whatwas missing?’And for alumniwho have beengone a few years,‘What don’t wehave now thatyou thought valuable?’”

— ean oseph tein etz

Steinmetz

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Another promising area is international andglobal studies. “There’s been a lot written latelyabout the world being very highly intercon-nected, and I think KU students and researchwould profit from investments in that area, also.”

Alumni can also expect to see a lot of the newdean over the next year. Steinmetz plans toattend as many alumni events as his scheduleallows. While he wants to talk to alumni and “let them know what Kansas is doing,” he alsowants to hear what they have to say about theirold school.

“For the younger alumni, I’m really interestedin the question, ‘What was missing?’ And fromalumni who have been gone a few years, ‘Whatdon’t we have now that you thought was valu-able?’ This is a perspective we don’t really havehere on campus, and I think it’s a view we reallyneed to listen to.”

Steinmetz earned a bachelor’s degree in psy-chology and chemistry and a master’s in experi-mental psychology at Central MichiganUniversity, and a doctorate in physiological psy-chology at Ohio University. His research pro-gram, which primarily explores how learningchanges brain function, has produced more than160 publications. He currently has two NIHresearch grants and has relocated his research labfrom IU to Haworth Hall.

At KU, Steinmetz will eventually revisit theissue of differential tuition for the college, whichhe says was a frequent topic of conversation inhis meetings with faculty while interviewing forthe job. But the controversial plan that failed togenerate support among students when it wasfirst proposed in 2004 will be just one part of anoverall plan to maximize funding for the school.Fund raising, prominent in any dean’s jobdescription these days, is another. For now, thatwill focus mainly on graduate-student supportand undergraduate scholarships.

“I look at all these as interchangeable partsthat really need to be worked out if we are goingto increase the funds that we have available. Butin the end, I want to step back and say, ‘Look, bydoing [differential tuition] we have a strong andextremely positive impact on the students thatare here. If not, we shouldn’t be doing it.”�

◆ ◆ ◆

Pound of preventionPartnership with Children’s Mercy to address weight control problemsin K.C. children and adolescents

Acollaboration between KU andChildren’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinicsaims to tackle obesity in much the sameway that researchers have attacked other

killer diseases: by forming a multidisciplinarycenter to array scientific research, clinical treat-ment and public education programs against theproblem.

The Center for Physical Activity, Nutrition andWeight Management will be located at Children’sMercy Hospital in the Don Chisholm Center at22nd and Holmes in Kansas City. Renovations tothe building are currently underway, funded by a$4 million gift from the Hall Family Foundation.

Professor Joseph Donnelly, who directs theCenter for Physical Activity and WeightManagement at KU’s Life Span Institute, will also direct the new center. He says it will drawon the expertise of its Lawrence forerunner—which has generated $14 million in researchgrants since 2000—while engaging new partnersat the KU Medical Center, Children’s Mercy,

Military alumnicome home

The Jayha Military

Battalion Alumni

Association ill host

former ROTC cadets at

the second annual

Alumni Homecoming

Oct 7 Events include

demonstrations by

cadets, music by an

Army Reserve band, and

induction of members

into the Jayha

Battalion Wall of Fame

For more information

call 91 - 84- 20

■ “If you are alive, you are at risk for obesity,” saysJoseph Donnelly, director of a new center to address

childhood obesity. “Our environment provides no needfor physical activity, and food is everywhere.”

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An evening with Andrei

Poet, novelist, essayist and screenwriter Andrei

Codrescu kicked off the2006-’07 HumanitiesLecture Series sponsoredby the Hall Center for theHumanities.

WHEN Aug. 28

WHERE The LiedCenter

BACKGRO ND Bornin Sibiu, Romania, Codrescucame to the United Statesin 1966 and became a U.S.citizen in 1981. He is theMacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English atLouisiana State University. His most recentbook, e rleans, on our, is a collectionof essays about his longtime hometown.Codrescu is also known for his commentarieson NPR’s “All Things Considered” and as edi-tor of the online literary journal ExquisiteCorpse.

ANECDOTE Codrescu warned that“unsettled rhetorical verbs” such as “restore,rebuild and come back” create false hope andunhelpful civic visions, “the worst of which is‘new urbanist and full nostalgist.’” But NewOrleans’ loss is the rest of America’s gain, hesaid, and American towns lucky enough toreceive Katrina refugees can expect morestreet theatre, smokers and barflies, sublimefood, and spontaneous conversations withstrangers.

OTE “To bring it back is nearly impos-sible. If you want it back, send in the archaeolo-gists. ... Without half the people who once livedin New Orleans, there is no New Orleans tobring back. When the people left they tookNew Orleans with them.”

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"Eighty percent ofour psychiatristsleft town, andeverybody is havinga breakdown rightnow. When weneed them themost, they are notthere."— n rei Co res u

St. Luke’s Hospital, UMKC and other KansasCity institutions.

“This is no different than a diabetes center ora heart center,” Donnelly says. “The idea is todraw people together from all these institutionsto achieve the critical mass needed to impact thisproblem.”

But first the center must raise $5 million tocover operating expenses for its first five years.The Hall Family Foundation gift pays only for the center’s physical plant. The Greater KansasCity Community Foundation has pledged $1 million over five years for operating costs, leavinganother $4 million that must be raised before the center is viable.

“We have an opportunity,” Donnelly says.“Obesity research is the fastest rising expenditureat the NIH, and I view that as a barometer ofopportunity.”

Plenty of statistics suggest that obesity couldbe, as Donnelly phrases it, “the disease of thecentury.” Around 24 percent of all Kansas chil-dren and 32 percent of Missouri children arethought to be obese. One Kansas City clinicreported that 40 percent of children reporting toits well-child clinic were overweight or obese.Some researchers predict that 50 percent ofAmericans will be obese by 2030—a developmentthat would have catastrophic consequences forthe nation’s health care system.

The new center’s focus will be scientificresearch that provides hard data on what kind ofapproaches successfully prevent and treat the dis-ease. It will also treat a small number of patientsusing proven research protocols. Its third aim isto deliver education programs to children andtheir families—again backed by solid research evidence.

In other words, Donnelly says, the center willnot be simply a weight-loss clinic. In fact, theemphasis on nutrition and physical activity meanits focus will not be only on the overweight, norwill its reach be restricted to within its walls.Donnelly hopes the center’s education programswill be reaching 30,000 kids annually by the fifthyear, and he has hopes for satellite facilities inGarden City, Hays, Salina and other Kansascities.

“Our programs go where the kids are, and alot of them are prevention programs. In fact, theprevention of obesity is the same as the treat-ment for obesity: You eat better and you exercise.There is no downside to better nutrition andgreater physical activity.”�


Hilltopics

CAMPUS

Grant will underwrite planningfor campus preservation

The Getty Foundation, a program ofthe J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles,this summer chose KU as one of 13 U.S.schools and universities to receive grantsupport for its historic preservationefforts.

KU will receive $130,000 to write apreservation master plan. According tothe Getty Foundation, the grant isintended “to help the University docu-ment and assess its varied landscapes,revise National Register nominations,and provide treatment guidelines for itshistoric buildings.”

Five Mount Oread buildings are listedon the National Register of HistoricPlaces: Bailey, Dyche, Lippincott,Spooner and Strong halls. The masterplan, however, will look at the entirecampus, with an eye toward balancinghistoric preservation with the need forcampus expansion.

“The landscape and the buildings thatmake up the KU campus in Lawrenceare a part of our regional heritage and a

part of the lives of many generations ofgraduates, Kansas citizens, visitors andthe Lawrence community,” saysChancellor Robert E. Hemenway. “Thisgrant will help us inventory and studythe campus to determine how best topreserve key elements while moving for-ward with development.”

The University will hire landscapeand historic preservation consultants towork with Design and ConstructionManagement staff on the study, whichshould be complete by the end of 2007.

CLASS CREDIT

Fulbright awards sendstudents, faculty abroad

Six Jayhawks will study overseas dur-ing the 2006-’07 academic year with thehelp of prestigious Fulbright grants.

The program awards about 1,000grants in 140 countries each year. Nearly400 KU students have won Fulbrightssince the program began in 1946.

Michael Andrew Britt, a’06, willresearch the influence of communist andcapitalist ideologies on public behaviorand public spaces in Krakow, Warsawand Wroclaw, Poland. Clarisa Diaz, a’06,will study housing and urban develop-ment in Santiago, Chile. Laura Good,g’06, will teach English to schoolchild-ren near Madrid, Spain.

Christopher Hare, c’06, will take grad-uate classes and conduct research at theUniversity of Munich in Germany. EmilyHoward, c’06, j’06, will study media cov-erage of New Zealand’s biopharming atthe University of Canterbury inChristchurch. Anne Kraemer, aCincinnati master’s student in anthro-pology, will research community archae-ology and sustainable development inChocolá, Guatemala, the site of animportant Maya archaeological site.

Three faculty members also receivedFulbright Senior Scholar awards. BurdettLoomis, professor of political science, forArgentina; Patrick Suzeau, associate pro-

Anumber of KU fraternity chapters arerecent winners of their national organiza-

tions’ top honors: Delta Chi was one of threechapters to win the President’s Cup in thegroup’s large-chapter division, marking the sixthconsecutive year the KU chapter was so recognized; Phi Delta Theta won its fraterni-ty’s top honor for large chapters, the Harvard Trophy, for the first time since 1981; andPhi Kappa Psi, though not eligible for its top trophy because it won the Grand ChapterAward two years ago, landed eight national awards at its August convention in NewOrleans.

“To compete for these awards they need to really focus on such areas as academicsand new-member programming, to name just two pieces of the puzzle,” says LauraBauer, program director for fraternity and sorority life. “So these chapters can beproud of their accomplishments regardless of the awards.”

Also of note: Delta Tau Delta, which initiated more than 1,600 members since itslocal chapter was founded in 1914, will recolonize here. Interviews of potential mem-bers by national officers will conclude with a public pledging ceremony Sept. 28.

—Chris Lazzarino

Update

■ Getty Foundationfunds will help KUdevise a preservationplan for Marvin Halland other cherishedcampus buildings.

Scott Baker, Phi Delta Theta

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■ APPLICATIONS ARE BEING TAKEN through Dec. 1 for the Simons PublicHumanities Fellowship. Funded by a gift from the Simons Family of Lawrence and matchingfunds from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the fellowship brings to KU peo-ple with careers outside the University for a semester of study and interaction. For moreinformation contact the Hall Center for the Humanities at 785-864-7823.

■ K ’S LEVEL T ITION PROPOSAL, which would lock in tuition at a guaranteedrate for four years, was not approved by the Kansas Board of Regents at their June meetingas reported in “Tuition changes on tap” [Hilltopics, issue No. 4]. In fact, the proposal is stillpending and will require action by the board before it can be implemented.

■ A 2 MILLION GRANT from the DonaldW. Reynolds Foundation will bolster training pro-grams in geriatric medicine at KU Medical Center.The grant will help fund the Kansas ReynoldsProgram in Aging at KUMC’s Landon Center on Aging. “This program is a major new under-taking for our institution, which will improve notonly the quality of geriatric medical educationprovided our learners and faculty, but moreimportantly the quality of care provided ourolder adult patients,” said Daniel Swagerty, c’81,m’85, g’95, the Landon Center’s associate directorof medical education.

■ SHEILA BAIR, c’75, l’78, was sworn in as chairman of the Federal Deposit InsuranceCorporation in June. Bair will serve as FDIC chairman until 2011 and will remain a memberof the board until 2013.

■ A 1.75 MILLION GRANT will help improve the treatment of vocabulary deficits inchildren. Holly Storkel, assistant professor of speech-language-hearing will use the five-yeargrant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a comprehensive model of howchildren learn words. The work will ultimately help practitioners better understand whychildren with language impairments have difficulty learning new words.

■ ROBERT HONEA will direct KU’s new Transportation Research Institute. He headedthe National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for 30years before becoming a private consultant in 2002. KU’s institute was established in 2005to stimulate multidisciplinary research on many transportation issues, including alternativefuels, improved vehicle safety and efficiency, and the social implications of increased auto-mobile use.

■ FO R 2006 SOCIAL WELFARE GRAD ATES won national recognition for astudent project advocating the passage of juvenile justice legislation in Kansas. Kaela Byers,Lisa Crook, Lisbeth Sojourner and Christopher Veeh traveled to Washington, D.C., in Juneto receive an award from Influencing State Policy, a group that seeks to increase socialworkers influence on policy. Lori Messinger, assistant professor of social welfare, receivedan award as their instructor.

Milestones, money and other mattersfessor of dance, Lithuania; and BillTuttle, professor of history, theNetherlands.

BANDS

Te an tapped as leader of the Marching Jayhawks

David Clemmer, former director ofathletics bands at Sam Houston StateUniversity in Huntsville, Texas, is thenew director of athletics bands and anassistant band director at KU.

Clemmer took over in August fromJames Hudson, who left for a similar jobat Arizona State University.

“I think the crowds will really enjoyour show music this year,” Clemmersays. “We’ve chosen music with the fansin mind, and I hope they will sing andclap and really get into it. I really hope tosee them at halftime.”

Clemmer is a music ensemble instruc-tor for the Cavaliers Drum and BugleCorps of Rosemont, Ill., and a marchingband consultant and visual designer forDCbrass Drill Design and Consultation,a company he founded to design showsfor high school and college bands.

Primarily a trumpet player, he hasperformed with the Dallas Opera, theEast Texas Symphony Orchestra, theLegend Brass Quintet and the TexasWind Symphony. He has also producedan instructional DVD, “The CavaliersBrass: From the Concert Hall to theFootball Field.”

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Sports B Y C H R I S L A A R I N O


Coach Mark Mangino admits he can’trecall the last time he started the seasonwith a freshman quarterback. Probablyback in the late 1980s, when he was

offensive coordinator at Geneva College, an NAIAschool in Pennsylvania. But no one around KUfootball is nervous about putting the offenseunder the direction of Kerry Meier, a redshirtfreshman from Pittsburg who already has drawncomparisons with All-American Bobby Douglassfor his arm strength, speed and leadership.

If anyone should worry it might be the twocaptains along the offensive front, senior centerDavid Ochoa and junior tight end Derek Fine,both of whom might understandably fret aboutlooking after a newbie quarterback: the center,who has to be extra careful with the snap countand blocking schemes, and a tight end whowould have to offer himself up as a sure-handed,

safe outlet when theyoung thrower gets rat-tled by a swarming Big12 defense.

Well, centers andtight ends might nor-mally have such con-cerns with a freshmanquarterback, but theydon’t on this team.Where Kerry Meier isconcerned, there is noconcern.

“Mentally, he’s not afreshman quarterback,”Ochoa says. “He hassuch a quiet, supremeconfidence about him-self, very cool and col-lected. The thing abouta guy like Kerry, andalso (running back) Jon(Cornish), is that he hasthe speed to hit a holethat’s open for two sec-onds. That definitelyhelps an offensive line.”

Regardless, Meier stillhas much to prove. The

captains playing in front of him don’t. Not whenit comes to individual accolades.

Ochoa, All-Big 12 honorable mention last sea-son, is on the preseason watch lists for theLombardi Award, given to college football’s bestlineman, and the Rimington Trophy, which hon-ors the season’s outstanding center. “He’s on somany of those lists,” Fine says, “I’m not even surewhich ones they are.” Ochoa himself confessesthat he only found out about his inclusion on theprestigious Lombardi list when his football-fangirlfriend, senior Allison Smith, read it in thesports page.

“As an offensive lineman, you’re not condi-tioned to pay attention to those things. It’s not aglory position,” he says. “And any recognition I’vereceived is a result of the guys who play along-side me.”

Ochoa, of Houston, started at guard as a soph-

■ Center David Ochoa(left) and tight end DerekFine are the strengths of

KU’s frontline attack.

Front and centerHopes for offensive flash must first rely

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point in the season,” Ochoa says. “It’ssomething we’ve been able to develop.We went through some tough parts lastseason and it was the confidence andtrust in each other that really let us fin-ish the way we did. As long as we havethat, that’ll get us through any stretch oftough times that we might have.”

Though the Jayhawks don’t haveTexas or Oklahoma on this year’s sched-ule, they still face a typically grueling Big12 onslaught. They open the conferenceseason Sept. 30 at Nebraska, then hostTexas A&M for Homecoming Oct. 7.After hosting Colorado Oct. 28, theyplay Nov. 4 at Iowa State, one of the Big12 North favorites, and, after a bye week,finish their home schedule Nov. 18against Kansas State. The Jayhawks con-clude the regular season Nov. 25 atMissouri, just the second time in thepast nine seasons that they get to finishagainst the Tigers, the traditional regular-season cap from 1950 to 1997.

“The days of 2-10 are over,” Manginosays of 2002, his first season as headcoach. “We are no longer sponsoring afootball team at KU. We have a footballprogram. We have all the elements inplace to be successful, and we are nevergoing to go backwards.”

Veteran players are equally insistentthat they have arrived as worthy mem-bers of the Big 12.

“We were talking with some of theolder guys about how they wouldn’t becaught dead walking around campuswith a KU football shirt on in 2002,”Ochoa says. “But now there is a differentkind of aura around. I think the fans,especially the students, know that we arealways going to give it our all.”�

◆ ◆ ◆

Better yetFall ‘Olympic sports’ aimfor more conference titles

and deeper postseason runs

There’s a lot of running, jumpingand kicking to be done first, butthe cross-country, volleyball andsoccer teams are already work-

ing toward their championship goals.Considering recent history, nothing

less should be expected.Though the soccer team finished tied

for second in the Big 12 last season, afterwinning the conference in 2004, theJayhawks were left out of the 2005NCAA Tournament. Leading the chargeto get KU back to the NCAA tournamentis senior and first-team All-AmericanHolly Gault, who moves from defenderto forward to help replace scoring punchlost with the graduation of the pro-

“The days of 2-10 are over. ... We have all the elements in placeto be successful, and we are never going to go backwards.”

— oot all oa h ar angino

omore, then moved to center before lastseason, his junior year. Fine, of Sallisaw,Okla., won the Otto SchnellbacherAward for Scout Team Offensive Playerof the Year when he redshirted his firstyear on campus. He played all 11 gamesas a freshman in 2004, and last seasonstarted all 12 games at tight end, catch-ing 22 passes for an 11.1-yard averageand one touchdown. His longest catch ofthe season was a 25-yarder in the criticalseason finale against Iowa State, whichKU had to win to become bowl eligibleand avoid a losing record.

“I think Derek Fine is poised to havea great season,” Mangino says. “He hasdeveloped a reputation of being a tough,competitive player.”

Says sophomore linebacker MikeRivera, also elected a captain by histeammates, “Derek has been catchingeverything and running all over theplace. He’s going to have a big impact onour offense this year.”

The Jayhawks finished last seasonwith a flourish, winning four of their lastfive games, including consecutive victo-ries over Nebraska and Missouri and a42-13 triumph over Houston in the FortWorth Bowl. The fact that the 7-5Jayhawks endured a midseason slump offour consecutive losses makes themstronger, in the players’ eyes, for thisyear.

“There was no point that we everdoubted ourselves, even at the lowest

■ All-American defender Holly Gault movedto forward to punch up KU’s scoring attack.

Meier

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Junior transfer Natalie Uhart, selectedthe Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of theYear, was lost for the season to a kneeinjury sustained in an exhibition game.As many as four others will try to fill theloss at middle blocker. Senior outsidehitter Jana Correa and junior setter/out-side hitter Emily Brown are two of theteam’s stars to watch.

Senior Benson Chesang expects todefend his consecutive Big 12 cross-country titles Oct. 27 on the Jayhawks’home course, Rim Rock Farm, in thefirst Big 12 championship in any sport tobe hosted by KU. And the men’s teamreturns four others who spurred KU to asurprising, 12th-place finish at last sea-son’s NCAA Championships.

“Benson had a great summer of train-ing, and hopefully he’ll be in the top 10at the NCAA’s,” seventh-year coachStanley Redwine says. “He believes inhimself and believes it can be done. Itwon’t be easy, but Benson loves the competition.”

Among those joining Chesang areseniors Erik Sloan and Tyler Kelly, andjuniors Paul Hefferon and Colby Wissel.

The top returners on a youngwomen’s cross-country team are seniorLaura Major and juniors Melissa Moodyand Lisa Morrisey. The team alsoincludes nine freshmen.�

gram’s all-time leading scorer, CarolineSmith.

Gault entered the season with 10career goals and 12 assists.

“We want to utilize her strengths asan attacking player,” says eighth-yearcoach Mark Francis. “She is very danger-ous going forward, and this is somethingpeople are not used to seeing.”

Six midfielders with starting experi-ence return, including seniors NicoleCauzillo and Michelle Rasmussen, juniorEmily Strinden, and sophomores MissyGeha, Jessica Bush and Kristen Graves.

With the 13th victory of the season,Ray Bechard will become KU’s win-ningest volleyball coach. He concedesthat national title contenders Nebraskaand Texas should be dueling for the Big12 championship, but he intends for hisyoung Jayhawks to be among the “five orsix teams that will be fighting for anupper-tier finish.”

KU volleyball had never made theNCAA Tournament until 2003; now thatthe Jayhawks have been three consecu-tive seasons, the goal is to finally get pastthe second round.

“The biggest challenge,” Bechard says,“is to go from good to great. In this con-ference, it’s much easier to go from goodto average. The good-to-great steps arevery difficult.”

Updates

Former KU basketball greats KirkHinrich and Nick Collison could

face each other in Allen Field House:Their NBA teams, the Chicago Bullsand Seattle SuperSonics, play an exhi-bition game here Oct. 15. ... Early high-lights of the men’s basketball scheduleinclude a Nov. 25 game against defend-ing NCAA champion Florida in the LasVegas Invitational, and a Dec. 23 homegame vs. Boston College, a Sweet 16team last season; 16 of 31 games willbe nationally televised. ...

Marilynn Smith, ’51, will beinducted in the World Golf Hall ofFame Oct. 30 in St. Augustine, Fla.Smith and 12 other women foundedthe Ladies Professional GolfAssociation in 1950, and she went onto win 21 professional tournaments.“This is an incredible gift,” she says,“particularly at this stage of my life.”Though she no longer plays, Smith, 77,still gives lessons at her home coursein Goodyear, Ariz. ... Football coachMark Mangino signed a new con-tract, good through 2010. His previouscontract would have expired in 2008.... Tim Weaver, director of theKansas Relays since 2000, in Augustannounced his resignation to spendmore time with his young family. Hewill remain with KU Athletics until hissuccessor is hired.

Wilt still stands tall

He scored 52 points in his first varsity game, still a KU record, and was No. 11 on

SportsIllustrated.com’s list of the greatest collegeathletes. In 1962 he scored 100 in a game and averaged 50.4 points, NBA records unlikely to betopped. He scored 60 or more 32 times, and in a1960 game pulled down 55 rebounds. And, ofcourse, he stood over 7 feet tall.

Wilt Chamberlain, ’59, who died Oct. 12, 1999,generated more astounding numbers than any ath-lete of his generation, but at the moment, this oneseems the most shocking: Had he lived, Chamberlainon Aug. 21 would have turned 70.

Happy birthday, Dipper. You’re missed.�

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■ FootballSEPTEMBER

15 at Toledo (ESPN2)

23 South Florida

30 at Nebraska

OCTOBER

7 Texas A&M (Homecoming)

14 Oklahoma State

21 at Baylor

28 Colorado

■ SoccerSEPTEMBER

15 Pepperdine

17 Central Florida

22 at Oklahoma State

24 at Oklahoma

29 at Creighton

OCTOBER

1 at Nebraska

6 Texas

8 Texas A&M

13 at Iowa State

15 at Missouri

20 Baylor

22 Texas Tech

27 Colorado

■ Cross countrySEPTEMBER

23 at Griak Invitational, Minneapolis

OCTOBER

14 at NCAA Pre-NationalsInvitational, Terre Haute, Ind.

27 Big 12 Championships, Rim Rock

■ VolleyballSEPTEMBER

16 Texas

20 Texas A&M

23 at Colorado

27 at Texas Tech

30 Iowa State

OCTOBER

4 at Missouri

7 at Oklahoma

11 Kansas State

14 Baylor

21 at Texas A&M

25 Oklahoma

28 Texas Tech

■ Men’s golfSEPTEMBER

18 19 KU Invitational

OCTOBER

8 9 at The Windon, Glencoe, Ill.

16 17 at PGA West, La Quinta, Calif.

27 29 at Wilmington, N.C.

■ Women’s golfSEPTEMBER

18 19 at Nebraska Invitational

OCTOBER

2 3 Marilynn Smith Invitational

16 18 at New Mexico State

27 29 at The Derby, Auburn, Ala.

■ Tennis

SEPTEMBER

22 24 at Wake Forest

OCTOBER

6 8 at Indiana

19 22 at ITA Central Regionals

■ RowingSEPTEMBER

30 Oct 1 at Oklahoma

OCTOBER

29 at Iowa

■ Swimming & divingOCTOBER

13 at Big 12 Relays, Lincoln

14 at Nebraska-Omaha

27 at Missouri

■ SoftballSEPTEMBER

23 24 Fall Jayhawk Classic

30 Oct. 1 KU Fall Invitational

OCTOBER

7 8 at Husker Invitational

*For complete fall schedules throughNovember, see kuathletics.com

Sports Calendar

■ Volleyball senior Jana Correa, of Macapa, Brazil

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Richard Lariviere, age 22, a son of Iowa, stood onthe front steps of a hotelin the heart of down-town Bombay, India.Around him swarmed

sights and sounds unlike any he hadever encountered.

“It was so overwhelming from a sen-sory standpoint,” he says. “I remembervividly being intimidated by everything Isaw. I stood there for a few minutes andjust turned around and went back up toour room.”

The year was 1972. He and his wife,Jan, had spent their first weddinganniversary on an Air India flight toBombay. They had made the trip, hisfirst outside the United States, to visitthe country whose languages, law andreligion would form the crux of his grad-uate studies and his career in academe.

But first they had to overcome theculture shock that imprisoned them inthe hotel for 36 hours or more. “Cultureshock is a real, physical phenomenon,”Lariviere affirms. “In strange environ-ments, you notice every single thing that comes within your vision. Prettysoon your brain becomes exhausted.People respond in different ways—some

sleep, others get angry, some weep.”The Larivieres were lucky. An Indian

businessman had befriended the youngcouple on the airplane. His kindnesshelped coax them far beyond the stepsof their hotel. “He gave us so much con-fidence that within a week, we wenteverywhere in India on our own, notknowing the language, not knowing any-thing about the place,” Lariviere says.“We came away with a very positive

impression. Indians, in my biased opin-ion, are uncommonly welcoming andfriendly and tolerant to knuckleheadedforeigners who don’t know anythingabout their culture or their world.”

Thirty-four years later, Lariviere, KU’snew provost and executive vice chancel-lor, is an expert on Indian culture: ascholar of Sanskrit who also reads Pali,Prakrit, Hindi and Bengali, plus Frenchand German; author of a definitive trans-

NEW PROVOST’S OWN EXPERIENCE AS A SCHOLAR GUIDES HIS IDEALS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Worldly Leader� ��

B Y J E N N I F E R J A C K S O N S A N N E RP O R T R A I T S B Y J A M I E R O P E R


lation of ancient Indian law; and arespected consultant to U.S. companiesdoing business in India. In August hewas named to the Council on ForeignRelations, the nation’s most prominentnongovernmental, nonpartisan thinktank on foreign affairs.

From his Strong Hall office, heremains connected to India, correspon-ding daily with friends and colleagueson scholarly and business matters, andreading the daily news.

He also maintains contact withfriends in a U.S. region sometimesknown as a whole other country: Texas.On the popular social-networking siteFacebook, Lariviere trades messageswith, at last count, 68 former students atthe University of Texas, his academichome for 24 years (see story, p. 25). “Asa going-away gesture, some of them

made a group—they called it a memori-al, which made it sound like I wasdead,” he says. “But it has been wonder-ful to get on Facebook and see thatsomeone has written to me.”

The wired ways of today’s studentsfascinate Lariviere, who wants KU tocontinue improving its informationtechnology. He supports the campaignof Jason Boots and Melissa Horen, thisacademic year’s student body presidentand vice president, to provide morewireless Internet areas throughout cam-pus. Boots and Horen meet weekly withthe provost—and both have joinedLariviere’s Facebook group. “Jason andMelissa’s ideas for wireless areas arereally good,” he says. “I also think weneed to make it possible for students tohave more online autonomy in lookingafter the bureaucratic side of their lives.

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“Richard is very focused on getting things done ... He really is, in many ways, the ideal provost. He hasimpeccable intellectual credentials; he cares deeplyabout students and education.” —Chancellor Hemenway

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 25

They need to be able to interactivelycheck progress toward their degreeonline anytime, 24 hours a day.”

And, in a more tame offshoot ofFacebook, he hopes to provide photorosters of all students to professors—andphotos of all teachers not only to stu-dents but also to media who receive fac-ulty news from KU. If we as a commun-ity can more readily connect faces andnames, he says, we can enrich theexchanges between teachers and stu-dents that are fundamental to theUniversity.

Lariviere’s new boss, ChancellorRobert E. Hemenway, commends theprovost’s practical solutions and hisdeeply held principles. “Richard is veryfocused on getting things done,”Hemenway says. “He identifies an issueintellectually and figures out a way toaddress it in a practical way.

“He really is, in many ways, the idealprovost. He has impeccable intellectualcredentials; he cares deeply about stu-dents and education. We share the samevalues.”

Lariviere says he and Hemenway wereon the same wavelength the momentthey met. And before they met, the sto-ries he heard about Hemenway piquedhis own curiosity about KU. “He has anational reputation of being one of thebest university presidents in the coun-try,” Lariviere says. “He’s a really smart

■ During a 1980 trip to India, Lariviere (p. 23)met Ganga and her family in the city of Pune.Their friendship endured, and the Larivieressupported the young girl’s education throughhigh school. The Dalai Lama (top left) visitedthe University of Texas last year and met withLariviere. The photos are sentimental, Jan says,because of the rare occasion—and quips fromcolleagues: “Richard’s staff referred to theDalai Lama as Richard’s twin brother,” shesays. A photo from 1976 (left) captures a typical research assignment: In the Darbhangadistrict of the Bihar State, the Larivieres metwith local leaders, who allowed them to pho-tograph ancient documents for translation and study.

Acareer-aptitude test in junior highschool predicted Richard

Lariviere would become a universityprofessor. But a heart-to-heart talkwith his young wife years later sealedthe deal.

When he arrived as a freshman atthe University of Iowa, JanisWorcester, a sophomore who had satbehind him in high-school chemistryclass, showed him around the campus.“We were just buddies for about ayear of college,” she says, “and thenwe decided to be more than that.”They married in 1971.

As Lariviere finished his bachelor’sdegree in the history of religions ayear later, he registered to take theLaw School Aptitude Test. But he began todoubt his choice. “I remember saying to Jan,‘Let’s just roll the dice and go for the PhD,’and she, in typical fashion, said, ‘Absolutely.’”

To support them, she began her longtimecareer as a high-school biology and chem-istry teacher, while he completed his doc-torate in Asian studies from the Universityof Pennsylvania. His mentor was LudoRocher, professor of Sanskrit, now 80 andstill a dear friend to his protégé.

Following graduation, Lariviere hadplanned to take an exotic post created bythe Empress of Iran to start a Sanskrit pro-gram at Shiraz University in Iran, but heawoke one morning to read that the Shahand Empress had fled the country, and hisjob had vanished.

After staying at Penn to teach for a year,he won a three-year grant from theNational Endowment for the Humanities tostudy and translate ancient Indian texts. “Itmade my career,” he says. “It also made methe happiest person on my block to pay mytaxes every year. I feel a tremendous senseof debt.”

In 1982, the Larivieres settled in Austin,where he was hired as an assistant profes-sor of Sanskrit at the University of Texas.He became director of the Center for AsianStudies four years later. In 1995, he moved

to central administration as associate viceprovost for international programs. From1999 until May of this year, he led UT’sCollege of Liberal Arts, the nation’s largestliberal arts school, with more than 14,000students (the UT College of NaturalSciences is separate from liberal arts).

Last February KU Chancellor RobertHemenway hired Lariviere as provost andexecutive vice chancellor. He succeededDavid Shulenburger as the chief academicand operations officer for the Lawrence andEdwards campuses.

Jan Lariviere in 1998 joined the staff of aUT program called UTeach, which trainssecondary science and math teachers. Thejoint project of the Colleges of Educationand Natural Sciences offered freshmenstudying math and science the opportunityto earn their teaching certification whilepursuing science degrees. “About half ofthose who came in for a taste with that first free course stayed on to certify,” shesays. “It was amazing. We said, ‘You don’thave to decide you’re not going to gradschool or med school.’ But we found mostof them who stayed for teaching ended upas teachers.”

Fittingly, Jan Lariviere now works forKU’s Center for Science Education.�

—

The provost’s journey

� ��Jan, Richard and Anne Lariviere

essays by British Studies faculty at theUniversity of Texas. Lariviere recalls thathis father lamented his lack of educationand “vowed to my mother when sheannounced she was pregnant that hischild would go to college, even if theyhad to sell their house. Of course, theydidn’t own a house at the moment, butnever mind; he conveyed his conviction.”

Sure enough, his parents saw to itthat Richard and his younger sister,Patty, went on to college. But their edu-cations would not have been complete,Lariviere writes, without life lessonsfrom relatives and friends in the bilin-gual communities of French-Canadianson their father’s side and Norwegians ontheir mother’s. In his autobiography,Lariviere thanks these boisterous folks,lovers of the wild outdoors, outlandish

guy who understands the macro valuesof what we’re doing here. It’s easy to getlost in the minutia and the daily strug-gles and lose sight of the fact that we’rehere to transform the lives of these30,000 students. We’re here to producenew knowledge for the world that has aneffect on people’s lives.”

Lariviere’s own life is testimony tosuch transformations. Born in 1950 inChicago, he grew up in Marshalltown,Iowa. His father, who worked for a utilitycompany, had dropped out of schoolafter eighth grade. “The pressures of theDepression and the casual attitudetoward education of the French-Canadian working class conspired todeprive him,” Lariviere writes in a briefautobiography published this month inBurnt Orange Britannia, a collection of


■ Anne, a new graduate of Barnard College, traveled from New York City to visit her parents inAugust. The family sees many similarities between Lawrence and Austin, but they appreciate theirnew city’s smaller size. They enjoy downtown (notably Liberty Hall), the Community Mercantileand the rich local and KU arts offerings.

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 27

pranks and raucous political debate. He counts them among the “superbteachers” who helped shape his charac-ter and career.

In setting goals for their children,Lariviere’s parents were no different thangenerations of moms and dads, saysLariviere, who readily confesses thatwhen he enrolled at the University ofIowa, he knew only that he wanted toget a degree and find a way to pay for it.“I did in college what I wish more of ourstudents could do—I just took stuff thatreally interested me,” he says.

That stuff included law and religionand their effects on society, especiallythe ancient Hindu and Jewish traditions.“I didn’t give a thought to what thecareer implications might mean,” herecalls. “And, much to my father andmother’s credit—both working-class peo-ple who had struggled all their livesfinancially, they never asked, ‘Now, isthere going to be a payoff at the end ofthis? Are you going to get a job?’ I thinkthey had the assumption that if youwent to college, it was all going to beOK.

“And the truth of the matter is, that’sright.”

Although the principle still holdstrue, the privilege of attending collegehas become more costly, forcing familiesto focus more on practical concerns. So,as the University concludes its tuition-enhancement plan, which brought fiveyears of substantial increases, Lariviereardently supports KU’s proposal to theKansas Board of Regents to offer guaran-teed tuition. “Dramatic increases intuition are lamentable and odious,” hesays, “but they are a function of theworld we live in. If I had my way, tuitionwould be zero. I’m hoping guaranteedtuition will provide the large middleclass with some reassurance about whatthe cost is going to be over a four-yeareducation. I’d like to think of it as ourpact with the middle class to make thecost of this remarkable education morepredictable than it has been before.”

The new provost also turns his eyetoward the admissions process at KU,vowing to make it more “holistic.” Hefirst broached this ongoing discussion atthe Regents’ retreat in August. “I knowthis is a legislative matter,” he says, “butI’m not comfortable that we are spend-ing the public’s money as effectively aswe should be given the current admis-sions policy. Right now one out of fivestudents does not succeed. And I guar-antee you there is not a businesspersonin Kansas who would be satisfied withthat rate of failure in their products orservices.”

Lariviere says he hopes someday toarrive at a system that includes multiplemeasures of talent and experience:grades, test scores, résumés, interviewsand essays. “I want the kid who is asuperb violinist, but maybe not thegreatest performer on the ACT, to behere mixing it up with the kid who justknocked the socks off every test. And Iwant that genius—that absolutely gliding,easy, superior performing kid—to be seated right next to a kid who has strug-gled and worked and overcome all sortsof challenges to get here. I want them toknow that the other kind of person isout there and they’re going to have toengage them in the course of their lives.”

He yearns for diversity that defies

mere demographics because he believesthat students with varied histories, skills,beliefs and goals learn more from oneanother than they do from the faculty.He wants students to be challenged byculturally rich experiences inside theirMount Oread classrooms as well as dur-ing studies abroad. He applauds therecent goal announced by Nelson Galle,Board of Regents chair, who wants 100percent of Kansas college and universitystudents to study abroad.

“We have to overcome the myth thatstudy abroad will add time to gradua-tion, or it’s only for the rich, or it’s just avacation with credit,” Lariviere says. “Wemust all understand that to becomefamiliar with another region is an inte-gral part of a sophisticated education.”

Curriculum is only part of the advan-tage, he adds. “People who’ve studiedabroad understand that while it’s valu-able to go to India to learn the language,to know the culture, or go to Japan tobecome an expert on the art or com-merce, the truth is that the most valu-able part of any education is knowingyourself better.

“And nothing teaches you more aboutyourself than study abroad.”

Richard Lariviere, whose passage toIndia changed his life, knows a little cul-ture shock can be good for the soul.�

■ The Larivieres attended Traditions Night withthe Class of 2010.


Billy Mills, whose victory in the 10,000 meters at the1964 Tokyo Olympics remains one of the seminaltriumphs in track and field history, keeps close to hisheart a quote he happened upon while researchingthe history of Native-American athletes:

To watch him perform was to admire him; to compete against himwas to learn from him; and to know him was to love him.

“That’s Cliff Cushman,” Mills says from his home in FairOaks, Calif. “He fit the epitome of what I was told a NativeAmerican was: Responsibility, humility, and the power of giving,centered around a core of spirituality. That was Cliff. He was awarrior.”

That was the comfort Mills, d’62, leaned on when he learned40 years ago this fall that his teammate, friend and mentor hadbeen shot down over North Vietnam. Mills didn’t hear the newsfrom a phone call or letter. He was at his desk in his San Diegoinsurance agency when suddenly he felt a “horrible need” toopen the San Diego Tribune and scan that week’s list of casual-ties from Vietnam. “I knew,” Mills says, “that somebody wasthere.”

Mills, himself a former Marine Corps officer, first checked theMarines. He saw none that he knew. His heart sank when hiseyes fell upon the list provided by the U.S. Air Force: Capt.Clifton E. Cushman, missing in action.

He recalled then the last note he had received fromCushman, d’61, shortly before Cushman shipped out for duty inSoutheast Asia.

“I told my wife at that time, ‘I think Cliff doesn’t think he’scoming back,’” Mills says. “It’s probably not fair for me to say,but it just went to my soul that Cliff sees a bigger picture. I justdon’t know how else to explain it. I felt it. And my responsewas, simply, he’s definitely a warrior and he knows how to takecare of himself. God willing, I’ll see my friend again.”

Forty years after he was shot down over North Vietnam, Cliff Cushman is remembered for more than

the Olympic glory that eluded him

THE

Silver Medalist

BY CHRIS LAZZARINO

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 29

Cliff Cushman won the silvermedal in the 400-meter hurdlesat the 1960 Olympics in Rome.Before that he had been a

champion sprinter, miler and longjumper in high school, first in Ames,Iowa, then for two years in Grand Forks,N.D. He was a prized recruit for the leg-endary KU track coach Bill Easton, andas a senior in 1960 helped push KU toits second consecutive NCAA Outdoorchampionship by winning the 400-meterhurdles (bettering his second-place fin-ish the year before, when he also placedsixth in the triple jump).

“Cliff was a big guy, with well-mus-cled legs,” recalls former teammate ErnieShelby, f’59, a two-time NCAA championlong jumper who is now a businessmanin New York City. “He ran with a greatdeal of power, but there was a fluidity, aglide, to the way he ran. It always lookedlike he was just cruising.”

Al Oerter, ’58, a four-time discus goldmedalist and a teammate of Cushman’son the 1960 U.S. squad, says, “As far asI’m concerned the 400-meter hurdles isone of the toughest events in track andfield, and that showed me what kind ofgrit Cliff possessed.”

Though Cushman was a sprinter andhurdler, he also competed on the cross-country team. Mills recalls 8-mile train-ing runs through vicious late-summerthunderstorms when Cushman wouldthrow himself into torrents of rushingstorm water. Coach Easton had alwaysinstilled in the runners the need for seri-ous discipline, but Cushman alsobelieved in finding ways to relax in themidst of stress. Soon enough Mills andothers would join him, sitting in a riverof rain, water rushing over their shoul-ders, and after enough laughs they’d getback to their feet and continue the run.

“Those were those times whenAmerica was going through incrediblesocial upheaval,” Mills says. “The civilrights movement was getting ready tocome into play, black America was chal-lenging white America. And Cliff onlysaw America. He saw the athletes. Hesaw unity through diversity.”

Cushman’s father flew a small Cessna

back home in North Dakota, and Clifftook flying lessons in Lawrence andjoined Air Force ROTC. He accepted hissecond lieutenant’s commission upongraduation and immediately beganflight training.

In 1964 he and his wife, CarolynThroop Cushman Blaine, d’62, movedfrom their post in Everett, Wash., back toLawrence, so Cliff could train for anothershot at his dream of Olympic gold.

“He was a very happy person, veryupbeat, very positive, and very athletic,”Blaine recalls from her home in Fargo,N.D. “He was running on back roadslong before it became a popular thing todo. He always wanted to be healthy andstrong. He had a German shepherd, andthe dog would usually run with Cliff,and I would drive behind in the car.”

Cushman’s pursuit of Olympic goldfamously crashed hard at the OlympicTrials in the Los Angeles Coliseum.Cushman, leading at the time, trippedover the fifth hurdle and thudded intothe cinders. He didn’t know it then, buthe had run his last competitive race.

“It was one of those things that can

always possibly happen in the hurdles,and he was an at-risk runner,” Mills says.“He would put it right on the line, goright to the edge.”

Cushman left Los Angeles thatevening, and during his long flight homehe began to fret. Not about himself, butfor others, especially schoolchildrenback in Grand Forks who surely hadwatched him on television and wereprobably grieving for him.

His “Open Letter to Youth,” reprintedin newspapers across the country andnow preserved word for word in abronze plaque at Central High School inGrand Forks, began, “Don’t feel sorry forme.”

In a split second all the many years oftraining, pain, sweat, blisters and agony ofrunning were simply and irrevocably wipedout. But I tried! I would much rather failknowing I had put forth an honest effortthan never to have tried at all. ... Over 15years ago I saw a star—first place in theOlympic Games. I literally started to runafter it. In 1960 I came within three yardsof grabbing it; this year I stumbled, fell andwatched it recede four more years away.

■ Cliff Cushman entrusted his victory watches to his parents, Martelle and Florence Cushman,during the 1960 Kansas Relays, at which he was named Most Outstanding Athlete. The 440-meterhurdle race—one of his triumphs at that year’s annual spring track festival in Memorial Stadium—is now named in his honor.

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(2)


Certainly, I was very disappointed infalling flat on my face. However, there isnothing I can do about it now but get up,pick the cinders from my wounds, and takeone more step followed by one more andone more, until the steps turn into milesand the miles into success.

I know I may never make it. The oddsare against me but I have something in myfavor—desire and faith. ... At least I amgoing to try. How about you?

◆ ◆ ◆

Carolyn Throop met her futurehusband in summer 1959.After working at a camp in theMinnesota woods she rode the

train home to Kansas City. She heard ayoung man behind her talking withanother passenger seated across theaisle. When she heard the guy say heattended KU, she pulled herself aroundthe tall seat to join the conversation.

“Then we just started talking,” sherecalls. “And we never did sit next toeach other. We just talked over the backof my train seat. It was kind of an all-night train ride, from Minneapolis to

Kansas City, and we visited andfound out everything about eachother’s families. We just had somany things in common.”

Not long after classes started,Cliff phoned Carolyn in her dor-mitory room. She agreed to adate.

“That was the beginning of it,”she says softly.

They married in summer1963. After Cliff’s disappoint-ment in the 1964 OlympicTrials, he resumed his Air Forceflight training. Their son, Colin,was born Nov. 21, 1965, aSunday. Four days later wasThanksgiving, and theCushmans were giving thanksas they brought their sonhome to celebrate the mostjoyous day of their lives.

Then the phone rang. Itwas Cushman’s commanding

officer. His orders had come through. Hewas going to Southeast Asia and wouldimmediately begin training in the super-sonic F-105 Thunderchief.

Not long before Cliff shipped out, inAugust 1966, he and Carolyn visitedErnie Shelby in Los Angeles. Shelby hadshared rooms with Cushman when theytraveled across the United States andEurope on national teams. They’d shareda harrowing taxi ride through Romeafter convincing the driver that theytruly were late to join their squad for anaudience with Pope Pius XII. Theyshared stories about growing up in blackAmerica and white America, and most ofall they shared their friendship andtrust.

After dinner that night in L.A., Cliffasked Ernie to join him out on the bal-cony. There he confided to his friend,“I’m probably not going to come back.”He explained that pilots flying the mis-sions he was training for had survivalrates of about 11 percent, in partbecause tactics of the time required thejets to sweep through on multiple runsat the same targets, diving into intenseenemy artillery long after the advantageof surprise had evaporated.

“I got angry, flat-out angry,” Shelbyrecalls. “I was fuming. But what was Igoing to do, pick up the phone and callthe president of the United States? Whatcould we do?”

◆ ◆ ◆

On Sept. 25, 1966, Capt. CliffCushman and two squadronmates took off for an after-noon bombing run on a rail-

road bridge northeast of Hanoi. Capt.Cushman radioed during the attack thathe had been hit by anti-aircraft artilleryfire. As he was speaking his final knownwords, his stricken jet disappearedbehind a ridgeline.

“He radioed in, saying he was hit andhe was going to have to eject,” saysCushman’s son, Colin Cushman Blaine,40, a professional musician and guitarteacher in Fargo. “They never saw himactually eject, but I guess a beeper goesoff in other planes when a parachute hasbeen opened. They heard the beeper, butnever confirmed the sighting of it. Wejust know he had to eject, and theyheard the beepers. That’s about it.”

The Cushmans received a letter fromone of the pilots who had been on themission that day. He told Carolyn thathe saw Cliff’s plane get hit, and that theyhad searched frantically for several daysto locate another transmission from theelectronic beeper.

“I had no way of knowing whereCliff was,” she recalls, “but I just knewhim, and I knew how strong he wasphysically, how strong he was spiritually... I just felt that if anybody could makeit, he would. If it was God’s will, he’dcome home.”

Cushman was listed as Missing inAction until Nov. 6, 1975, when the AirForce finally declared him Killed inAction. Six days later, Carolyn and ColinCushman organized the memorial serv-ice for their husband and father.

“It brought closure, I think,” she says.“If he wasn’t alive, if he wasn’t cominghome, then this official declaration ofPresumed Killed in Action was the lastword. And as a Christian I know where

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 31

biennial banquet features a programwith Cushman’s photo and a reproduc-tion of “Open Letter to Youth.” ThoughCushman graduated from Grand ForksCentral, the stadium at the new school,Red River High, is named Cliff CushmanField, and the city rivals face off each fallin the Cushman Classic, a festive celebra-tion of the town’s favorite son.

And every few years, usually when alocal TV station or newspaper comescalling, Carolyn or Colin opens the fami-ly’s safety deposit box and pulls out asilver medal from the 1960 Olympics.

It sparkles better than gold.

◆ ◆ ◆

Cliff Cushman could fly, but hecouldn’t catch Billy Mills in across-country race. He’d suretry, though.

Two or three times Mills, a futureOlympic champion in the 10,000 metersand three-time cross country All-American, would be about 450 yards

from the tape, certain of victory, whenhe would hear footsteps.

“So I’m trying to make another move,and I look around, and it’s Cliff! Here’sthis long jumper, hurdler and miler, andhe’s right on me in a cross-country race,and he gives me this great smile andsays, ‘You’d better move, Billy!’”

After Cushman returned from theRome Olympics, the two runnersroomed together in a boarding houseeast of campus. Sometimes whenCushman had left for an early class,Mills would reach into the closet theyshared and find himself staring atCushman’s Olympic uniform.

“I would stroke the arm and say, ‘Thisbelongs to the greatest athlete I know.’

Then I’d dream of joining him. And Iknow I did that at least a dozen times.”

Both were commissioned officers—Cushman in the Air Force, Mills in theMarines—when they met up in LosAngeles for the 1964 Olympic Trials.Mills asked Cushman to shout out hissplit times during his 10,000-meter race,but if the race should turn tactical—ren-dering elapsed times irrelevant—thenMills asked that he only shout encour-agement.

Cushman asked Mills how fast hehoped to run. Mills hesitated: He hadtold only one other person, the coach hetrained with at Camp Pendleton; ifCushman laughed, Mills would becrushed. It was a delicate moment, butfinally he decided that if he couldn’ttrust Cushman—his mentor, motivatorand friend—he couldn’t trust anybody.

“So I told Cliff, ‘28 minutes and 25seconds,’” Mills recalls. “Now, at thatpoint, that was the second-fastest timeever run in the world, and well over aminute faster than I’d ever run before.But he didn’t look startled. He didn’t sayI can do it, he didn’t say I can’t do it. He

said, ‘OK, I’ll help you.’”Mills fulfilled his Olympic dreams.

Thanks to the late kick he spent somany years developing—in part by out-racing Cliff Cushman to the finish line—Billy Mills won the Tokyo 10,000 metersin 28 minutes, 24.4 seconds.

“When I got back, Cliff wrote me thisbeautiful letter,” Mills recalls. “He wrote,‘Billy, I cried when I watched you win ontelevision. Not because of what youachieved, because I’ve been there, Billy.But I cried because of where you began.’”

It was the last lesson Cliff Cushmanhad to offer his friend. Running, like liv-ing, was not about the winning.

It was, and always will be, about thetrying.�

he is. I know that he had a very strongfaith in God. And I know that if he died,and I’m sure that we have to assume thatthat’s what happened, that he was takencare of.”

For his gallantry and heroism, Maj.Clifton E. Cushman was awarded theSilver Star, the Distinguished FlyingCross, two Air Medals and the PurpleHeart. No remains have ever been found.

◆ ◆ ◆

In February 1976, Carolyn ThroopCushman, still living near her par-ents in Omaha, Neb., married a der-matologist named Richard Blaine.

Soon afterward they and Colin moved toFargo, where they still live. Dick Blaineand Cliff Cushman actually graduatedfrom the same Grand Forks high school,a few years apart from each other, andBlaine openly shared his admiration forCushman; he even kept a copy ofCushman’s “Open Letter to Youth” onhis office wall.

“Cliff sent a letter to Colin shortlybefore he was shot down,” Carolyn

Blaine says. “And in that letter, he said,‘If anything ever happens to me, andyour mother remarries ...’”

Through soft tears she bravely contin-ues, “He wanted Colin to have the samelove and respect for my husband as hedid for his own father. It was like Cliffwas preparing the way, if something hap-pened. He was realistic. He knew that itwas a dangerous mission he was goingon. He sensed that when he wrote thatletter to Colin.”

The family is justly proud that CliffCushman has not been forgotten inNorth Dakota. The state’s sports hall offame, established in 1992 in Jamestown,honors its inductees with the CliffCushman Memorial Award, and its

KU Vietnam Memorial

F-105 Thunderchief

JAMIE ROPER

BY STEVEN HILL | PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMIE ROPER

AS HARVESTERS SWEEP ACROSS THE PLAINS,THEY TEACH A NEW GENERATION


With the GrainWith the GrainI

t’s summer in Kansas, and RickFarris is more popular than theGood Humor Man. The cellphone stashed in his white cov-eralls chirps constantly, andFarris, a talkative sort who’s

harder to rattle than a can of beans, isadept at fishing it out without inter-rupting whatever he happens to bedoing at the moment.

For the past 40 years, Farris, b’67,has run the custom harvesting busi-ness that his father founded duringWorld War II. From May to September,he and his crew ride a wave of ripen-ing wheat north, from Hobart, Okla.,

to Sweetgrass, Mont., reenacting theannual migration of men andmachines that transforms even thesmallest farm towns into bustling cen-ters of commerce as cutters haul in theyear’s crop of winter wheat. Many ofthe 60 or so farmers Farris BrothersInc. serves are the sons and grandsonsof his father’s clientele. “It’s like visit-ing family every place we go,” he says.

The crew—Rick’s nephew PatrickFarris, b’97; his 12-year-old son, J.J.;and several young men who’ve joinedup through an internship program atOhio State University—is a sort of fam-ily, too. By summer’s end they will bebound together by the many mealsthey’ve shared, the long days they’veworked side by side, and the closequarters they’ve called home.

This morning they’re working inSherman County, where Farris lives.Untimely rain—the bane of farmersand custom harvesters alike—haseveryone jumpy. Rain during the grow-ing season boosts yields, of course, butwet weather at harvest time keeps com-bines out of the fields and exposesripe wheat to weather damage.Scattered storms rolled through thecounty overnight. As Farris takesreports from farmers on his cellphone, he’s plotting a way his crewcan hopscotch the countryside, findingdry fields to work. Their schedule istight: A day lost to rain will dominodown the line, and every time thephone rings, there’s a farmer on theother end with a field of ripe wheat,anxious to learn how soon Farris andhis crew will aim their convoy of com-bines and trucks his way.

Farris seems unperturbed by it all.

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 33

“If you can’t remain calm, you maketoo many mistakes,” he says, as he turnshis truck down a muddy road and pickshis way among puddles. “You can’tafford to have equipment damaged orpeople hurt.” While equipment advanceshave greatly improved safety along withefficiency, dangers remain.

Farris hops out and wades into a fieldof golden grain. He plucks a fat head offa wheat stalk, roughs the germ out ofthe husk, and tosses a handful of kernelsinto his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.“Too damp,” he says, and heads back tothe truck.

One farmer is about to learn his fieldis too wet to cut; another will have hiscrop harvested sooner than expected.

“It’s always this way at harvest timeout here on the Great Plains,” Farrissays. “Some days you just go as hard asyou can and hope for the best.”

◆ ◆ ◆

By the time he came to MountOread, in 1962, Rick Farris had been working the wheat harvest for five years. By the

time he earned a degree in accounting,he’d figured out there was nothing heliked better.

“I was interviewing with accountingfirms, including Kennedy and Coe, andone of the partners had a brother in theimplement business, so I told him whatI’d been doing,” Farris recalls. “He said,‘Aw, heck, you don’t want to come inand do this; you can’t stand to sit behinda desk.’ And he was right.”

Like the farmers and ranchers theywork for, custom cutters must master agood many tasks.

There are machines to repair, booksto balance, customers to recruit, workersto hire. And that’s during the slow season.

Even by these standards Farris seemsa jack-of-all-trades.

He’s active in U.S. Custom Harvesters,Inc., a Hutchinson-based trade groupthat fights for the industry’s interests inWashington, D.C. (Farris was presidentof the group in 1988 and currentlyserves on its legislative committee.) Tim

Baker, executive director of the group,credits Farris for sniffing out proposedfederal regulations that could haveproven disastrous.

“He’s picked up on things no one elsesaw and that could have meant thedeath of the entire industry if they comethrough and we make no comment onthem,” Baker says. “Rick is one of thosepeople who potentially could be the sal-vation of an entire industry. That’s thekind of guy he is; he always has his earto the ground.”

Like the farmers and ranchers they work for, custom cutters must master a good manytasks.There are machines to repair, books to

balance, customers to recruit, workers to hire.And that’s during the slow season.

■ Pete Buttermeier and Daniel Mumfordbreak from mechanized labors to shift over-flowing grain the hard way. Rick Farris relies on his cell phone to touch base with customersbut uses more tactile methods—chewing a handful of kernels—to judge a field’s readiness for the combine.

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 35


Farris also helps develop and field-test new technology for manufacturerCase New Holland, continuing a familyconnection to the brand that dates to the1920s, when his grandfather sold thedistinctive red tractors and threshingmachines in his family’s dealership. Hisfather operated some of America’s firstself-propelled combines when he enteredthe business, and now Farris himselfhelps Case’s engineering group come upwith new ways to improve the machines’power and efficiency.

But by his own estimation he is, morethan anything, a teacher.

Every summer, Farris takes on severalinterns from The Ohio Program, thereciprocal internship program at OhioState that sends international agricultureand horticulture students to the U.S. andAmerican students overseas.

“We take entry level people and trainthem to operate this very complexmachinery,” Farris says. “What we’rereally doing is training a cadre of youngpeople to operate American-made

machinery overseas. I don’t want to seeus get in a position where we are notworld leaders in the manufacture ofthese things.”

Pete Buttermeier, one of six studentson Farris’ crew this summer, says thehands-on experience he’s getting inAmerica is hard to come by back home.

“At home, there would likely be onlyone combine and it would be the farmmanager driving the machine,” saysButtermeier, who hails from CountyCork, Ireland, and attends HarperAdams University College in Newport,England. “The young guys wouldn’t getto drive. But you come here and you getstraight to it.”

Interns log anywhere from 650 to 800hours on a combine in just six months;it may take six to eight years to earn thatmuch experience in England. Farristeaches them to operate the latest GPSfield-mapping equipment and interpretthe reams of agricultural data moderncombines generate. They learn to adjustcombine settings and operate in different

crop conditions and to clean and main-tain equipment.

For the first half of his vocational“placement,” Buttermeier worked for sixmonths in a British implement dealer-ship, where he saw combines up closebut never in action. Now he regularlydrives the $250,000 machines. “A muchbetter experience,” he says.

For Daniel Mumford, of Derbyshire,England, “getting to drive the big stuff”rather than simply working on it, as hedid back home, is the payoff. But therehave been cultural lessons, as well.

Farris’ shop is in Edson, about 10miles east of Goodland. A few houseshunker around a one-room post office,where Farris’ mother was postmaster for

■ Twelve-year-old J.J. Farris pitches in at harvest time, positioning grain trucks for older crewmembers to drive to town. ‘Like labor liquid and refined’: Wheat streams into the grain pit atMueller’s, a Goodland elevator.

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 37

41 years. Railcars idle on a siding near agrain elevator. Beyond, fields yawn formiles.

When Mumford and his companionsarrived here, they had to recalibrate:What is thought an inconveniently longdrive back in England is practically amilk run in western Kansas. The townsare much smaller than they are used to.The sky, the farms, the combines—eventhe soda cups (especially the sodacups)—are much bigger.

“This is the part of America you neverhear much about at home,” Mumfordsays. “I didn’t have a clue what it wouldbe like here. You hear on the telly whathappens in the big cities. The impressionyou get is Americans are all nuts; they go

around shooting each other. But peopleare actually a lot nicer than you expect.”

Farris gears today’s teaching sessionto Buttermeier. As the crew gathersaround, he spreads a schematic drawingof the combine across a tailgate andexplains how he tweaks factory settingsto sharpen the machine’s performance.Buttermeier is writing a paper on thetopic. Farris’ lesson is to the point: Noteverything can be done by the book;field conditions require adaptation.

“Some stuff you just can’t learn in atextbook,” Farris says later. “You can doonly so much training before you have toget hands-on. All the theory in the worlddoes no good if you don’t get to see thewheel turn.”

Agood bit of morning slips away,eaten up by odd jobs—a smallfield of wheat to cut, a coupleof truck tires to patch—before

Farris and his crew reunite on theGolden Wheat Ranch south ofGoodland.

Ranch owner John Golden, c’54, is anex-mayor of Goodland, a former statelegislator and an abundant source ofKansas lore. If a more fervent booster ofSherman County and western Kansasexists, I’d like to meet him. On a napkinhe draws a map of the state and dividesit into thirds, sketching average rainfall,topsoil depth, altitude. Western Kansasdoesn’t start on the outskirts of Topeka,Golden wants you to know; it starts at


mile marker 144 on I-70, near the 100thmeridian, the traditional dividing line inAmerica between arid west and rainyeast. You don’t come out west; you comeup. It’s higher and drier here on whatGolden and his fellow Goodlanders call“the topside of Kansas.”

As he watches, all four of Farris’ redcombines lumber into the sun-coloredwheat, then fall into staggered formation

■ A travel trailer makes a cheery summer homefor Rick Farris’ international crew (Brian Toohey,Tipperary, Ireland; Ian Talbot, Birmingham, England;Simon Teagle, London; and Daniel Mumford,Derbyshire, England), who pack lunches or enjoya cup of tea in preparation for another workday.Patrick and Rick Farris listen as John Goldendelivers a disquisition on western Kansas atCrazy R’s Restaurant.

and begin methodically chewing up thefield. There’s something quintessentiallyKansas about the sight. For such bigmachines, combines are surprisinglyagile—so nimble that a skilled driver cando-si-do a 30-foot grain head through a19-foot gate. Each is a factory on wheels,capable of cutting and threshing morewheat in 12 minutes than a farmer in theearly 1800s could cut in a day.

“You’re just glad to seethe crop coming out ofthe field, regardless of

yield. There are so manychallenges you have toovercome that whenyou come out with

something that rewardsyour efforts, there’s a

feeling of elation.”—John Golden

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 39

Golden is old enough to rememberHamm Town—the fleet of combines,trucks and trailers hauling crew, partsand food—that custom cutter NormanHamm used to roll through ShermanCounty. Hamm, who was based in Perry,was a teacher, Golden says. “He madedamn sure everyone who worked forhim was a good student of the harvest.”

He says Farris does the same, and thebenefit reaches far beyond ShermanCounty.

“These guys return home and they tryto influence their local economies to dothe things they see working so well herein the U.S.,” Golden says. “The rest ofthe world gets an uplift from their beinghere with the best of the best.”

When the lead combine’s hopper isfull, Patrick Farris extends the longauger to signal he’s ready to unload. A

truck pulls alongside and grain beginsflowing into the bed. It’s a key moment,distilling all of a grower’s work andworry into something tangible: a com-modity to be measured, weighed, valued.In The Witness of Combines, Kent Meyersdescribes grain “pouring from the spoutsand brimming in the trucks, lappingagainst the sideboards like labor liquidand refined.” Myers was writing of thelast corn harvest on his family’sMinnesota farm, but he could have beendescribing any grain harvest anywhere inthe world.

For Golden, who’s spent the last fewdays with one eye on the crop andanother on the skies, there’s a sense ofrelief and satisfaction.

“You’re just glad to see the crop com-ing out of the field, regardless of yield,”he says. “There are so many challengesyou have to overcome that when youcome out with something that rewardsyour efforts, there’s a feeling of elation.”

◆ ◆ ◆

As day slips into twilight, Farris’combines march on, trailingtheir plumes of diesel and dust.Trucks buzz alongside to relieve

full hoppers, then ferry their prize to aGoodland elevator. The sun disappearsbeyond the Colorado border, and stillthe combines roll. They’ll work until theelevator shuts down for the night, thenfill the trucks so they’ll be ready tounload when it opens again in the morning.

In the lead machine, Pat Farris rideswith his dog, a sweet Lab mix namedMolly, tucked in beside him. He startedworking for his uncle when he was J.J.’sage and joined full time after graduatingfrom KU. He’ll take over the businessafter Rick retires.

Like his uncle, he realized there wasnothing he’d rather do than be a part ofthe harvest ritual. In the off-season thereis time to ski and hike in Colorado.During the harvest, days are long but thepace suits him.

“I have a corner office,” Farris says,gazing out the big wraparound windows

of his air-conditioned cab, “and the view is always changing.”

Later, when the last of the truckshave been filled and the combines havebeen cleaned and gassed up for tomor-row, Rick Farris rolls toward home. It’salmost midnight, and the dark countryis lit only by a blaze of stars and theoccasional strobe that signals all’s wellwith an irrigation pump.

Farris’ cell rings again and again onthe drive back to town, and he patientlydispenses updates and assurances.When the last call is done, he stashesthe phone back in his coveralls and sayswith a tired grin, “I’ve got to put myfarmers to bed every night.”

You can see the farmhouse lightswinking out all over westernKansas.�

Crash injures crew intern

While advances in technology havemade the harvest safer than it once

was, accidents still happen. On July 4, just afew days after ansas lu ni visited Farrisand his crew in Goodland, two grain trucksdriven by interns collided on a dusty gravelroad in Sherman County.

Local rescue workers worked for 20minutes to free Ian Talbot, a 22-year-oldfrom Birmingham, England, from the crushedcab of one truck, and he was flown by airambulance to Denver. Doctors there ampu-tated Talbot’s foot.

“These kids become like your own family,” Farris says. “It’s tough to have any-thing happen to them.”

In years past, according to Farris, one ofhis interns had received an emergencyappendectomy and another was treated fora rattlesnake bite. This is the first work-related accident for his crew in 40 years.

“This has really made me rethink mytraining program,” Farris says. “And our pro-gram has been a model for others in theindustry.”

Talbot will remain in Denver throughSeptember while he recovers from the accident.�

—

Association B Y R A C H E L N Y P


The 2006 Fred Ellsworth

Medallion winnerswill be honored

Sept. 22 at theAdams Alumni

Center.

The Alumni Association, with the help ofthe Chancellor’s office, KU Athletics andthe KU Endowment Association, eachyear selects alumni who have given back

to their alma mater in the selfless tradition of thelegendary, longtime Association secretary FredEllsworth, c’22.

This year’s recipients of the EllsworthMedallion for unique and significant service toKU are Larry Borden, b’62, g’67, ColoradoSprings, Colo.; A. Drue Jennings, b’68, l’72,Prairie Village; and Joe Morris, b’61, Leawood.

Borden, vice president and chief operatingofficer of Winslow Motors, began his volunteercareer as a chapter leader, hosting countlessevents for Jayhawks in Colorado, and helping torecruit students and support athletics programs.For his efforts as a local ambassador, he won theMildred Clodfelter Alumni Award in 1989, theyear he began assisting KU on a national scale.He served his first term on the AlumniAssociation’s national Board of Directors from1989 to ’94. In 2002, he returned to the Board.During the 2004-’05 year, he led the Associationas national chair, guiding the organizationthrough the transition to a new president andCEO. He has contributed to numerous programs

through the years, including theRock Chalk Ball in Kansas City.

For the KU EndowmentAssociation, he is a ChancellorsClub member who served aschair of the group’s advisoryBoard. He and his wife, Nancy,have continued to host KUevents in recent years.

Their hospitality also is evi-dent in Lawrence, where thisyear the Bordens’ generosityprovided an outdoor renovationat the Adams Alumni Center,

including extensivelandscaping andenhanced lighting, tocreate a more invitingspace for alumni togather when theyreturn to the Hill. TheBorden Family Plazaalso complements thenew gateway to thenortheast entrance ofcampus.

Time and timeagain, Drue Jennings,senior counsel for thelaw firm of ShughartThomson & Kilroy,has stepped in for theUniversity whenneeded. A formerfootball letterman, hefilled a gap at KUAthletics in 2003 asinterim athletics direc-tor, helping KU tohire men’s basketballcoach Bill Self andcurrent Athletics

Director Lew Perkins. Lately he has championedKU’s cause in Kansas City as a member of theEdwards Campus advisory board and chair ofthe Advancement Board for the KU MedicalCenter and the University of Kansas Hospital.His efforts with the Kansas City Area LifeSciences Institute are vital to reaching KU’s goalto become a national cancer center.

His long record of service to the Kansas Citycommunity helped him earn KU’s highest honor,the Distinguished Service Citation, in 1999.

Jennings also currently serves KU Endowmentas a trustee, budget chair, and executive commit-tee member. He was a donor to KU First andCampaign Kansas.

From 1999 to 2004, he advised the AlumniAssociation as a member of the national Board of Directors. During the 1990s, he representedalumni on the KU Athletics Corp. board andoffered guidance to the School of Law as a

Spirited JayhawksAlumni leaders earn Ellsworth

Medallions for exceptional KU loyalty

Borden

Morris

Jennings

Board of Directors

CHAIRMarvin R. Motley, c’77, l’80,

g’81, Leawood

CHAIR-ELECTJoe C. Morris, b’61, Leawood

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEJay Howard, b’79, Austin, TexasJoe C. Morris, b’61, LeawoodMarvin R. Motley, c’77, l’80,

g’81, LeawoodWalter F. Riker III, c’70,

j’78, Aurora, IllinoisTedde Tasheff, c’78,

New York, New YorkSue Shields Watson, d’75,

Wichita David B. Wescoe, c’76,

La Jolla, California

DIRECTORS TO JULY 2007Con M. Keating, c’63,

Lincoln, NebraskaJoe C. Morris, b’61, LeawoodAllyn W. Risley e’72,

Houston, Texas

DIRECTORS TO JULY 2008Carol Ann Adams Brown,

c’72, Alexandria, VirginiaTom H. Collinson,

c’00, PittsburgTedde Tasheff, c’78, New York, New York

DIRECTORS TO JULY 2009Robert T. Stephan, ’54,

LenexaBecky VanWyhe Thomas,

e’86, Baldwin CitySue Shields Watson, d’75,

Wichita

DIRECTORS TO JULY 2010E. Grant Larkin, c’78,

Garden CityMelissa Rodgers Padgett,

c’83, LawrenceWalter F. Riker III, c’70,

j’78, Aurora, Illinois

DIRECTORS UNTIL 2011Jeff P. Briley, d’74, Overland

ParkHoward E. Cohen, b’79,

LeawoodJay Howard, b’79, Austin, TexasBradley G. Korell, l’97,

Austin, Texas Curtis R. McClinton Jr.,

d’62, Kansas City, MissouriWinifred S. Pinet, c’80, g’82,

Plymouth, Michigan

HONORARY MEMBERS

Gene A. Budig, EdD, Princeton, New Jersey

E. Laurence Chalmers Jr., PhD, San Antonio,Texas

Archie R. Dykes, EdD, Leawood

Delbert M. Shankel, PhD, Lawrence

Administrative Staff

Kevin J. Corbett, c’88President

ALUMNI CENTERTimothy E. Brandt, b’74

Director of Adams Alumni Center

ALUMNI PROGRAMS & MEMBERSHIP

Jennifer Alderdice, g’99Director of Student Programs

Michael W. Davis, d’84, g’91Sr VP for Alumni Programs

Heath Peterson, d’04Director of Kansas Chapter Development

Jill Simpson Miller, d’01Director of National Chapter Development

COMMUNICATIONSChris Lazzarino, j’86

Associate Editor, Kansas Alumni magazine

Jennifer Sanner, j’81Sr VP for Communications and Corporate Secretary

Susan Younger, f ’91Creative Director

FINANCEDwight Parman

Sr VP for Finance and HumanResources and Treasurer

HOSPITALITY SERVICESBryan Greve

Sr VP for Hospitality

INTERNET SERVICESMike Wellman, c’86

Director of Internet Services and Special Projects

RECORDSBill Green

Sr VP for Information Services

Stefanie ShackelfordVice President for Alumni Records

SPECIAL EVENTSLora Stoppel

Vice President for Special Events

The Alumni Association was established in 1883 for the purpose ofstrengthening loyalty, friendship, commitment and communicationamong graduates, former and current students, parents, faculty, staff andall other friends of The University of Kansas. Its members hereby uniteinto an Association to achieve unity of purpose and action to serve thebest interests of The University and its constituencies. The Association isorganized exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes.

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 41

member of its board of governors.For years Joe Morris, chair of The

Capital Corp., has shown his KU loyaltyin numerous ways. He is currently atrustee of KU Endowment, for which heis also a Chancellors Club member,Elizabeth Watkins Society member and adonor to both KU First and CampaignKansas. In 2002 he established anendowment to provide unrestrictedfunds, along with support for athleticsand three professional schools: business,architecture and journalism. He alsohelped the school that gave him his startas a member of the School of Businessboard of advisors, and he has served onan advisory committee for advancedheart research at KU Medical Center.

For the Association, Morris remains astalwart as 2006-’07 chair-elect of thenational Board and a driving forcebehind the Association’s recent improve-ments in bylaws and governance. Inaddition, he has served on the financecommittee and the resources task force.He has volunteered for Jayhawks forHigher Education, traveled with FlyingJayhawks and faithfully attended boththe Rock Chalk Ball and SouthwestOpen Golf Tournament.�

■ Sarah Blaney (l to r), Christine Lesterand Betsy Winetroub, c’05, serve as coor-dinators for key Association programs.Blaney works with the Kansas HonorsProgram, which honors the top 10 percentof high school seniors in Kansas each year.Lester helps organize special events,including reunions and the Rock Chalk Ball in Kansas City. Winetroub assists withmembership acquisition and retention.

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Association


Jayhawk RoundupWichita alumni, friends

to gather Oct. 21

The KU Endowment Associationand Wichita alumni are prepar-ing for the fourth edition of theJayhawk Roundup Oct. 21 at the

Murfin Stables. The roundup raises funds to support

clinical programs at KU Medical Center’sWichita campus and provide scholar-ships each year for one Wichita-area stu-dent on the Lawrence campus and onethird-year student in the School ofMedicine-Wichita. Last year’s roundupdrew more than 500 alumni and friendsand raised $70,000. The Murfin Stables,owned by David, b’75, e’75, and JanetLusk Murfin, d’75, of Wichita, provide aunique and inviting home for the event.

This year’s theme, “Year of the Hawk,”highlights Asian culture. The festivitiesbegin at 6:30 p.m. with a silent auctionand reception, followed by dinner, a liveauction and dancing.

For information or to register for theevent, visit jayhawkroundup.org or callLynn Loveland, development director for the School of Medicine-Wichita, at316-293-2641.�

■ More than 2,300 students filled the AdamsAlumni Center parking lot Aug. 14 for the annual Ice Cream Social. The ’Hawk Week event,hosted by the Student Alumni Association, fea-tured cool treats, music and prizes as a preludeto Traditions Night in Memorial Stadium. Big Jayand Baby Jay helped serve frozen concoctionsand dished out free T-shirts, and students headedindoors to roam the Alumni Center on a scavenger hunt.

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■ Incoming students (l to r) Hillary Vogan and Whitney Kimball were greeted by alumniAug. 3 at the Eastern Kansas Jayhawk Generations Welcome Picnic, hosted by Associationboard member Becky VanWyhe Thomas, e’86, and her husband, John, j’83. Association staffand local volunteers organized picnics in nine Kansas cities, drawing 107 new students and368 alumni. Eleven national picnics drew 139 students and 447 alumni.

JAM

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Class Notes B Y K A R E N G O O D E L L


1948Charles Harkness, c’48, g’54, EdD’63,

makes his home in Woodbury, Minn. He completed a two-year Peace Corpsassignment at Arabaev University inBishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he helpeddevelop the international students’ program.

1951Marcene Dameron Grimes, c’51, is

executive director of the Alzheimer’sAssociation in Topeka. She lives inTecumseh and wrote Ill Blows the Wind, anovel that recently was published byLeathers Publishing.

James Paddock, c’51, l’56, was hon-ored earlier this year by the KU Schoolof Law. He’s a retired judge and formermember of the Kansas Commission onJudicial Qualification. James and hiswife, Ruth, live in Lawrence.

Earl Windisch, e’51, a retired seniorpartner in Black & Veatch, makes hishome in Overland Park.

1953James Amend, e’53, stays busy during

retirement with travel, church work andvolunteering. He lives in Council Bluffs,Iowa.

1954Phil Hahn, c’54, collaborated with

five other authors on a book titled Naked Wednesdays. He makes his homein Coos Bay, Ore.

1955Lee, ’55, and Sylvia Hyde Lowder,

s’80, celebrated their 50th anniversaryearlier this year. They live in Allen.

James Perkins, b’55, is a partner in the Sage Moon Gallery inCharlottesville, Va.

John Trombold, c’55, m’58, a founding medical director of the ScrippsCancer Center in La Jolla, Calif., also

helps with the center’s annual auction,which this year netted more than $1.3million. John and his wife, Marcia, live in Del Mar.

1960Carolyn Jeter, d’60, is an associate

adjunct professor at Johnson CountyCommunity College in Overland Park.

Joseph Reitz, b’60, a KU professor ofbusiness, received a DistinguishedAlumni Award from the school. Hemakes his home in Eudora.

James Williams, b’60, is a retired lieu-tenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force anda retired senior technical specialist withNorthrop-Grumman. He lives inRiverside, Calif.

1961Donald Brada, c’61, m’65, was named

associate dean for graduate medical edu-cation and designated institution officialat the KU School of Medicine in Wichita.

William Hines, l’61, recently was hon-ored by the KU School of Law. He’s theJoseph F. Rosenfield Chair in Law at theUniversity of Iowa in Iowa City.

1962Wayne Wolsey, PhD’62, is a professor

at McAlester College in St. Paul, Minn.

1964Parker Lessig, c’64, g’66, PhD’70,

this spring received a DistinguishedAlumni Award from the KU School of

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 47

Business, where he’s a professor.

1965Charles Mosley, e’65, teaches chem-

istry and coaches football at Free StateHigh School in Lawrence. SondraSchutte Mosley, f’65, g’93, teachesmusic at Central Junior High School.

1968Martin Bebb, c’68, teaches math at

Tulsa Central High School in Tulsa,Okla.

James Hughes, g’68, PhD’71, is a professor emeritus of geography atSlippery Rock University. He lives inGrove City, Pa.

John Kelly, b’68, l’71, practices lawand mediation in Houston. He lives in Katy, Texas.

1969Leland Helmle, c’69, develops air traf-

fic management software for Aerospace

Computing at NASA Ames ResearchCenter at Moffett Field, Calif. He lives inCupertino.

Clyde Toland, c 69, l 75, is executivedirector and curator of the Allen CountyHistorical Society in Iola, where he andNancy Hummel Toland, g’74, make theirhome. She teaches fourth grade for USD257.

1970Dan Clutch, c’70, is chief of personnel

security and ethics for the U.S.Department of Health and HumanServices in Rockville, Md. He lives inSilver Spring.

Kathleen Hird Kostner, f’70, works asa photographic artist and jeweler at HirdPhotography and Design Center inLawrence.

1971Brenda Pine Dulny, d’71, g’87, teaches

kindergarten at Benninghoven

Elementary School in Shawnee. She livesin Lenexa.

1972Jac ueline astera Kenny, d’72, g’76,

teaches German and Spanish at NeoshoHigh School in Neosho, Mo.

Allyn Risley, e’72, is vice president ofglobal LNG shipping at BG US Servicesin Houston.

Christopher Smith, l’72, practices law with Sonnenschein Nath &Rosenthal in Washington, D.C. He lives in McLean, Va.

Charles Spitz, a’72, was honored earlier this year by the Grand MasonicLodge of New Jersey and the U.S. CoastGuard for his service to Boy Scouts ofAmerica. He’s an architect, planner andcode consultant in Wall Township, N.J.

1973John Brazelton, j’73, serves as chief of

video production services for the U.S. Air


Class Notes

Force in Los Angeles. He lives inRedondo Beach.

Leonard Clark, l’73, is assistant direc-tor of athletics at Wichita StateUniversity.

Paul Stevens, g’73, recently wasinducted into the Missouri PressAssociation’s Newspaper Hall of Fame.He’s central region vice president of The Associated Press, and he lives in Lenexa.

1974Herbert Haines, c’74, g’78, g’82,

PhD’83, received a SUNY ResearchFoundation and Scholarship Award earlier this year from State University ofNew York, where he’s a professor of sociology and anthropology. Herbertlives in Homer, N.Y.

Charles Hilton, e’74, is a senior princi-pal engineer for Computer Sciences

Corp. in Washington, D.C. He lives inDumfries, Va.

Paul Post, l’74, practices law inTopeka.

1975Stephen Braun, c’75, is executive

director of Tarrant County ACCESS forthe Homeless in Fort Worth, Texas. Helives in Hurst.

Thomas Cobb, j’75, lives in Olathe.He’s vice president of Farmers Bank

and Trust in Overland Park.

1976Timothy Cahill, a’76, is vice president

of architecture with HNTB Companies inKansas City. He recently was named2006 Distinguished Alumnus by the KUSchool of Architecture and UrbanDesign.

Kenna Giffin, c’76, j’76, received abachelor’s of music earlier this year from

School Codes Letters that follownames indicate the school from which alumniearned degrees. Numbers show their class years.

a School of Architecture and Urban Design

b School of Businessc College of Liberal Arts and

Sciencesd School of Educatione School of Engineeringf School of Fine Artsg Master’s Degreeh School of Allied Health

School of Journalisml School of Lawm School of Medicinen School of Nursingp School of PharmacyPharmD School of Pharmacys School of Social WelfareDE Doctor of EngineeringDMA Doctor of Musical ArtsEdD Doctor of EducationPhD Doctor of Philosophyno letter Former student

assoc. Associate member of the Alumni Association

the University of North Texas in Denton,where she lives.

1977Robert Berglund, a’77, is vice

president of strategic programs atMerrick & Company in Aurora, Colo. He lives in Parker.

James Conley, c’77, serves as pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Parish in Wichita.

Jeffrey Jordan, c’77, g’79, works as asenior cost engineer with Project Time

& Cost in Westminster, Colo. He lives inLittleton.

1978Christopher Banta, b’78, was pro-

moted to vice president of grocery mer-chandising with Marsh Supermarkets.He lives in Fishers, Ind.

Nancy Budd Fultz, s’78, is a clinicalsocial worker with Comcare in Wichita.

Charles Mitts, b’78, owns DirtyWorkin Wichita.

Eric Morgenstern, j’78, is president

and CEO of Morningstar Communi-cations in Overland Park. He receivedthe Bronze Quill Award earlier this yearfrom the Kansas City InternationalAssociation of Business Communicators.

Mohamed Razik, e’78, g’81, PhD’84,directs programs for L-3 Communi-cations/Integrated Systems in Greenville,Texas. He lives in Rockwall.

1979Kathryn Kay Potter Crask, f’79,

d’79, serves as an orchestra adjudicator

Lene a chief wins praiseas national leader

As chief of the Lenexa PoliceDepartment, Ellen TylerHanson makes decisions thataffect the safety of her commu-

nity and the integrity of her staff. She’snot afraid to make the tough call.

“She is not about making the easydecision; she is about making the rightdecision,” says Capt. Steve Smith, a 29-year veteran of the force.

Her integrity and leadership, longrespected within her department andcommunity, are also drawing nationalpraise. This spring, Hanson, c’75,received the Leadership Award from thePolice Executive Research Forum inWashington, D.C.

Since 1984, the Leadership Awardhas recognized law enforcement profes-sionals who make outstanding contribu-tions to the field and exemplify the high-est principles and standards of a trueleader in policing. She joins the ranks of law enforcement leaders in Chicago,Boston and New York City who’vereceived the national award.

Modest about her achievements,Hanson credits the department for thehonor and is excited for the recognitionit brings the city.

“It is something everyone here can be

B Y T A M M Y D O D D E R I D G EProfile

proud of,” she says.During 16 years as chief,

Hanson has been a leader increating community andregional initiatives that havebecome models for excel-lence in several areas ofpolice work.

Among them are the SafeSchool Program and theKansas City Metro DisasterTactical Response Team.Another program, PartyPatrol, which targets under-age drinking, receivednational attention on the CBS show “60 Minutes.”

Hanson takes pride in herwork and has the foresight toplan. But the success of herprograms can be traced to her manage-ment skills.

“She has the best interpersonal com-munication skills of anybody who is achief law enforcement officer,” Smithsays. “She does not micromanage. Sheinspires others to reach their maximumpotential. She leads by example andmentors people unselfishly. She also isvery receptive and supportive of newideas and encourages risk-taking.”

One of Hanson’s ongoing goals is todevelop her staff members into strongleaders. She does this by providing them

a number of training opportunities, bothwithin and outside the department. Shealso sets the tone for decision-making.

“One of the things I have workedhard on and would like to see passed onis instilling my staff with the ability tomake tough decisions,” she says. “I haveseen my peers and others who strugglebecause they don’t make the tough decisions that impact a department. Ifyou have a problem, you need to dealwith it.”�

—Dodderidge, j’83, is a Lenexa free-lance writer

■ “Most of the chiefs who have been recognized with thisaward have been from huge cities, so this says we are doingthe work of major cities,” says Lenexa police chief Ellen TylerHanson, who this spring earned the Leadership Award forher contributions to law enforcement.

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Class Notes

for the Southern California Band andOrchestra Association. She lives in YorbaLinda, Calif.

Jay Smith, e’79, g’81, is president ofLunamar Homes. He lives in New PortRichey, Fla.

1980Thomas Dinkel, c’80, is an account

executive with Fox Sports Net Ohio inCincinnati.

Michael Stucky, b’80, is vice presidentof manufacturing at Foxworth Galbraithin Dallas.

Nancy Woodbury Whitney, c’80,recently became director of humanresources for the Elkhorn, Neb., publicschools.

1981Scott Smith, g’81, recently became

president of the HNTB Corp. in KansasCity.

Mary Stadler, b’81, is vice presidentand assistant controller at Sprint in

Overland Park.Gregory Tanner, b’81, owns Gregory

Tanner LLC in Chandler, Ariz.

1982Jill Yates Bagby, j’82, president of

Message Point, lives in Leawood.Greg Baker, c’82, b’83, is president of

Arvest Bank in Branson, Mo.

1983William Pfeiffer Jr., ’83, is president

and CEO of Commercial Lithographingin Kansas City.

MARRIEDWilliam Raack, j’83, to Kimberly

Bettisworth, Oct. 22. They live in St.Louis, where he’s news director atKWMU-FM at the the University ofMissouri.

1984Lee Carvell, e’84, manages the

plastics technical center for Chevron

�Then & NowThe annual freshman migration to the

KU campus is always a sure sign that thefall semester has begun. Adjustments togroup living are part of the ritual, as thisyoung man in the early ’90s finds out.Shaving in a residence hall bathroomwith floor mates is all part of the fun.

Phillips Chemical Company. He livesin Bartlesville, Okla.

Lonnie Dillon, e’84, works as seniorengineer at Modern TechnologySolutions in Alexandria, Va. His home is in Henderson, Nev.

Robert Holmes, c’84, is president ofR.E. Holmes Enterprises. He lives inWest Sacramento, Calif.

George Sherwood, c’84, is a com-mander in the U.S. Navy assigned as anattache in Azerbaijan.

Daniel Young, c’84, is a senior IT

analyst with American Identity inOverland Park. He lives in Olathe.

1985Susan Evans Wollenberg, b’85,

is vice president of financial planning for Kansas City Southern. She livesin Overland Park.

1986Kevin Dilmore, c’86, j’88, writes

for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City.Wendy Kraft, c’86, is sales and

account director for EnergyGateway. She lives in Brecksville, Ohio.

BORN TO:Mark, b’86, l’02, and Elizabeth Kiene

Logan, ’87, daughter, Grace, May 5 in Lake Quivira. Mark practices law in Shawnee.

1987Caryne Finlay Mount, f’87, owns Caryne

Finlay Art to Wear in Livermore, Calif.Carl Sa on, b’87, lives in Allen, Texas.


Class Notes

AMA president defendsdoctor patient sanctity

William Plested III, presidentof the American MedicalAssociation, was a youngchest and heart surgeon in

Los Angeles, fresh from his residency atUCLA, when California found itselfembroiled in a medical liability crisisthat resulted in both the 1975 MedicalInjury Compensation Reform Act andPlested’s determined advocacy for thepatient-physician relationship.

“It all kind of came out of the blue forme,” he says from his Colorado vacationhome. “I always thought that if I workedhard, took an outstanding residency andwas a good surgeon, that I would beassured of a practice and a livelihood.Little did I understand that some triallawyer could come in and make upsome kind of case against me and do mein. I never even considered it.”

Plested, m’62, became president ofthe 10,000-member-strong Los AngelesCounty Medical Association, joined theboard of the California MedicalAssociation and eventually became thatgroup’s president. He continued a simi-lar rise within the American MedicalAssociation, leading to his election in2005 as the AMA’s president-elect.

That put him in line for a yearlong

term as president, which began this pastJune, and a term beginning in June2007 as immediate past president.

Together the three presidents serve as the influential group’s primaryspokesmen, and Plested clearly intendsto use his time in office as an aggressivedefender against what he sees as serious ills.

“All along my motivation hasremained the same,” Plested says. “Weneed to protect the practice of medicinefrom outside influences, and goodnessknows there are plenty of them.”

Plested says neurosurgeons canexpect to be sued every one to threeyears, obstetricians every three years,and the outlook is similarly dire for cardiac surgeons.

“The more training you have, themore you will be sued,” he says. “Itmakes no sense.”

Plested says his education at KU was“second to absolutely none,” and heintended to remain and study plasticsurgery. But his mentor suggested heconsider a general-surgery residency atUCLA; there he became enamored withcardiac surgery, then a young field, andin 1970 he set up practice in LosAngeles.

When given the chance he enjoysoutdoor sports around his summerhome, near Durango, Colo., but

Plested understands that, for now, he’ll more likely be testifying for aCongressional committee or addressinga distant Rotary club than relaxing inthe mountains.

“As long as there are physicians whobelieve in what makes the professionstrong—providing the best possible quality care to their patients—we’ll survive.”�

Profile

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■ Surgeon William Plested, president of theAMA, cites medicine’s recent embrace of information technology as critical: “Electronicmedical records will transform the practice of medicine. It makes things a lot safer forpatients, so it’s an exciting time.”

Class Notes


He’s CFO of Square One Advertising andSouthwest Media Group.

BORN TO:Mark, b’87, and Susan Schmidt

Henderson, j’96, son, Thomas Luke,March 28 in Lawrence, where he joins abrother, Andrew, 3.

Sharon Price Love, e’87, and David,daughter, Katherine Ruth, April 4 inOlympia, Wash., where Sharon is anenvironmental program manager for theU.S. Department of Transportation.

1988Angela Meyer, c’88, m’93, practices

medicine in Derby, where she and herhusband, Arlen Sheldon, c’88, maketheir home with their children, Aria, 4,and Aden, 2. Arlen works for Cessna.

Brian Moore, c’88, g’92, directs development for Avila College in Kansas City, Mo.

1990Mark Briggs, c’90, is a partner in

the Phoenix law firm of Quarles &Brady Streich Lang. He also serves on the Arizona Commission forAppellate Court Appointments.

Brenda Eisele Jackson, c’90, is ahealth care consultant for Mercer. Shelives in Lawrence.

Eric Montgomery, j’90, lives inTopeka, where he’s chief of staff to themajority leader of the Kansas Senate.

MARRIEDStephen Gingerich, c’90, to Heather

Pollock, June 17 in Akron, Ohio, wherethey live. He’s an assistant professor ofmodern languages at Cleveland StateUniversity.

1991Holly Lawton, j’91, recently was pro-

moted to sports editor at the Kansas

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 55

City Star. She and her husband,Christopher Ralston, j’90, live inOverland Park.

Jeffrey Petillo, b’91, is senior marketmanager of Unum Provident. He lives inSeattle.

BORN TO:Trisa Leibig Koberowski, j’91, and

Craig, son, Cole Lee, Dec. 7 in Pottsboro,Texas, where he joins two sisters, Kayle,9, and Chloe, 2. Trisa is a publicationsadvisor for the Sherman IndependentSchool District.

1992John Cain, b’92, owns Crew Creative

Advertising in Los Angeles. He lives inValencia.

Julia Mayden Holmes, b’92, is busi-ness manager for the Family Care Clinicin Abilene.

Brian sher, p’92, works as districtmanager for USA Drug. He lives in Afton,Okla.

1993Daniel Deaver, e’93, manages

Magnetic Auto Decals and KoozieCan Holders go anywhere to display your KU pride!

Auto Decals, set of 2 emblems(passenger and driver’s-side) with six feathers ..............................$35Koozie Can Holders withmagnets ....................................$10*KU Alumni Association members receivemerchandise discounts on selected items.

Class Notes

in Overland Park.Rebecca Rourk Steinhaus, j’94, writes

copy and is a creative consultant forCopygirl Ink in Orlando, Fla.

1995Christopher Earl, b’95, sells real

estate for Stephens Real Estate inLawrence.

James Mardock, c’95, is a professor of English at the University of Nevada-Reno.

1996Kendra Hopkins, c’96, is a proof

reader and copy editor for the AmericanHospital Association in Chicago.

John Lee, c’96, m’00, works as a pediatric radiologist at Fairfax Radio-logical Consultants in Fairfax, Va. He lives in McLean.

BORN TO:Kevin Cattaneo, c’96, and Carrie,

daughter, Calista Diane, Jan. 5 in

engineering for Industrial ProjectManagement Associates in OverlandPark.

Harry Herington Jr., l’93, recentlywas promoted to president of NIC inOlathe. He commutes from Lawrence.

Thomas Hilbert, d’93, and his wife,Dari, live in Topeka with their sons,Maurice, 3, and Abraham, 1.

Darin Stephens, c’93, is regionaldirector of Gap Inc. in Toronto.

1994Michelle Blackwell Bradley, h’94,

directs health information services forWichita Specialty Hospital.

Tony Campbell, b’94, is senior man-ager of the professional practice depart-ment of KPMG. He and Catherine BubbCampbell, b’94, live in New York City.

Rikki Schreiber, e’94, is lead designengineer for Spirit AeroSystems. Shelives in Derby.

David Stearns, c’94, works as a GIS data source specialist with NAVTEQ


Fairway. Kevin is a dentist in PrairieVillage.

Meredith Wittmer Crenshaw, n’96,m’03, and Charles, son, Nathan Edward,Feb. 8 in Madison, Wisc. Meredith is ananesthesia resident at the University ofWisconsin Hospital.

1997Mar ory Eisenman, c’97, is a

ssistant to the dean of students atMarymount University. She lives inAlexandria, Va.

Sonya Gulati Brown, g’97, and Troy,c’00, make their home in Poway, Calif.She’s vice president of professional serv-ices at Del Mar Database.

Amy Richmond, j’97, manages mar-keting projects for Discover Card inRiverwoods, Ill. She lives in Chicago.

MARRIEDJulie Baker, c’97, to Les Brin, Oct. 1.

They live in Park City, and Julie coordi-nates publications for Alternative Gifts

�International in Wichita.

Kyle Helmer, ’97, and Kylie Colgan,j’02, c’02, May 5. They live in Stilwell.He’s a mortgage underwriter for CapitalOne Home Loans in Overland Park,where she’s an account coordinator forSaatchi & Saatchi Advertising.

Jason Leiker, c’97, l’02, g’03, toShawna Mersbergen, Feb. 4 in KansasCity. They live in Lenexa, and Jasonworks for Duggan Shadwick Doerr &Kurlbaum in Overland Park.

wahl uses his beanto brew business his way

Every Thursday, Mark Zwahlcups eight coffees. Cupping, inthe lingo of java connoisseurs,means tasting. “The best cup of

coffee has a taste band, a range of flavorsthat fit together nicely to make a com-plete character,” says Zwahl, c’83, g’85,owner of two Z’s Divine Espresso coffeeshops in Lawrence.

As a global commodity, coffee is sec-ond only to oil. Zwahl had that fact inmind after graduating from a fast-tracksmall business course at KU in 1996. “I wanted to build a socially responsiblebusiness,” he says, “and coffee seemedlike the perfect vehicle. I hoped I couldmake a living in Lawrence and do thingsa little differently.”

Zwahl’s flagship store, opened in2000 on East 23rd Street, featured thefirst drive-through coffee window intown and he roasted his beans in a hot-air popcorn popper. “I started fromscratch,” Zwahl laughs, “on every level.”To educate his palate, he joined a “some-what academic” coffee club and cuppedhis roasts against the experts’ selections.

Zwahl’s first store got off to a slowstart. Undaunted, he devoted his atten-tion to research and development, con-vinced that building a better cup of cof-

B Y T O M K I N GProfile

fee would translate to bet-ter sales. He went to roast-ing school in Idaho, hecupped incessantly, hiscoffee improved, the drive-through caught on andsales took off.

In 2001, Zwahl openedhis second store, down-town. Business was boom-ing. And then in 2003 hecame down with WestNile virus. In Kansas thatyear, 17 cases of WestNile, including onefatality, were documented.For nearly two years,Zwahl felt like a wrung-out rag.

Once again, downtime meant studytime. He honed his vision of responsiblebusiness, of being “more than just a nicesales ringout.” He examined sustainabi-lity and fair-trade issues, and set strin-gent standards for his conscience: “Abusiness shouldn’t just serve the com-munity; in a smaller way, you also haveto serve the whole world.”

Today, both Z’s Divine Espresso loca-tions are Lawrence fixtures. Zwahlemploys a full-time roaster and turns out500 pounds of roasted beans a week. InMay, he traveled to El Salvador to serveon an international jury for the presti-

gious Cup of Excellence competition.Zwahl has his steam back.

He also is launching Coffee for aCause, which challenges coffee drinkersto put their money where their mocha is,and he’s the regional recruiter for theMankind Project, an international men’sgroup. Ideas for coffee tastings, classesand educational DVDs also are in the air.

Zwahl smiles as he looks around hisbustling downtown store, waving to theregulars. “A lot of people love coffee,” hesays, “and I’ve always been a ‘change theworld’ kind of guy.”�

—King is a Lawrence free-lance writer.

■ Mark Zwahl recycles coffee grounds for fertilizer and dis-counts prices for patrons who bring their own cups, just two of the policies that helped Z’s Divine Espresso in 2003 win astatewide award for pollution prevention.

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 57

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Then & NowThe women’s tennis club of

1892, among the earliest women’ssports groups at KU, included

17-year-old Edith HuntingtonSnow (center, seated), daughter

of Chancellor Francis Snow.

I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 59

BORN TO:Jennifer Joseph Johnson, j’97, and

Scott, daughter, Jane Joseph, Jan. 1 inDenver. Jennifer is a marketing managerfor Sports Authority in Englewood.

1998Patricia Alm, n’98, is a nurse at St.

Joseph Medical Center in Kansas City.Patrick Brown, c’98, works as a finan-

cial adviser for Smith Barney FinancialServices in Kansas City. He lives inLawrence.

Michael Goodwin, g’98, recently waspromoted to vice president of informa-tion technology at Hallmark Cards inKansas City.

Allison Arbuckle Taylor, j’98, lives inOverland Park and works for AT&T.

Steven Tramba, c’98, is a senior oper-ations analyst for W.W. Grainger Inc. inLake Forest, Ill. He lives in ArlingtonHeights.

Erin Veazey, j’98, manages partnershipmarketing and sales for Pier 39 in SanFrancisco.

Christopher Warren, c’98, is a specialagent with the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation. He lives in New York City.

BORN TO:Kimberly Johnson Cathey, c’98, and

Brian, e’99, son, Joshua Andrew, May 4in Friendswood, Texas, where he joins abrother, Jacob, who’ll be 2 in November.

Jarret, b’98, and Julie Goin Rea, c’00,son, Jackson Dylan, Feb. 22 in Lawrence.

1999Aaron Bolton, l’99, teaches Spanish at

Francis Howell High School in St.Charles, Mo. He lives in Webster Groves.

John Katzer, b’99, g’00, is an assur-ance and advisory senior for Deloitte inWilton, Conn. He lives in Stamford.

Blair Williamson, b’99, is a businessanalyst with Avenue A/Razorfish in SanFrancisco.

MARRIEDHeather Jones, l’99, to Michael Lee,

Feb. 19. They live in Arlington, Va., andshe’s an associate with Wilmer CutlerPickering Hale and Dorr in Washington,D.C.

BORN TO:Andrew, e’99, and Elizabeth Sigg

Hineman, c’99, m’03, son, Kalo Andrew,Feb. 2 in Prairie Village. Andy is presi-dent of AdAstra Metro Golf, and Libby isa family-practice resident at ResearchMedical Center.

Kristina Spangenburg Rosenthal,c’99, and David, c’00, son, AndrewJakob, Jan. 14 in Lawrence, where theylive. Kristina is CEO of Budget Blinds ofTopeka, and David manages MidwestEstates in Lawrence.

2000Allison nderwood Burwell, b’00, is

an association and conference coordina-tor for Diversified Consultants inShawnee Mission. She lives in ColoradoSprings, Colo.

Robert Easterling, c’00, works as anintake specialist with the Kansas HumanRights Commission in Topeka.

Tanner Hancock, ’00, has a chiroprac-tic practice in Wichita.

Shawn Stone, PhD’00, was promotedlast year to associate professor of physicsat Buena Vista University in Storm Lake,Iowa.

BORN TO:Christine Mondt, p’00, daughter,

Mara, Jan. 27 in Assaria. Christine man-

ages the pharmacy at Walgreens inSalina.

Michael, c’00, l’03, and TiffanyAfanador Siegrist, c’04, son, Aden,March 21 in Overland Park. Michael isan associate attorney with CommercialLaw Group in Leawood, and Tiffanysells insurance for California Casualty.

2001Jessica Bristow, g’01, g’03, works as

an intern architect at Neumann MonsonArchitects in Iowa City.

Shannon Clements, g’01, makes herhome in Grain Valley, Mo. She’s a seniorbusiness analyst for Addams-Gabbert &Associates in Lee’s Summit.

Alison Hickman, b’01, g’03, works asan accountant for the Hyatt WorldwideReservation Center in Omaha, Neb.

Lindsay Puett, b’01, manages market-ing programs for Bluetooth SIG. Shelives in Kansas City, Mo.

Frank Sciara, b’01, is a real estate analyst for Collateral Mortgage Capital in Kansas City.

Cyclist finds his niche as promoter and coach

On one end of Jim Whittaker’scoaching spectrum are the“itty-bitties,” the cyclingcoach’s nickname for the kids

who show up on tricycles and trainingwheels to compete in the CycleWorksTwilight Bicycle Races he organizes eachsummer at Haskell Indian NationsUniversity.

At the other is Gary McGregor, ownerof Reynolds’ Bicycles in Atchison, whounder Whittaker’s tutelage won the2005 national championship in theSenior Olympics road race for cyclistsaged 70 to 74.

Between are several dozen talentedriders nationwide who Whittaker, c’91,g’00, guides in his personal coachingenterprise VeloTek Performance, or as head coach of the Kansas City-areaGP VeloTek cycling team.

Whittaker rode his first bike race in1975 and decided to make his career inthe sport after earning his master’sdegree in exercise physiology and sportspsychology. The lack of cycling events inLawrence at the time inspired him tostart promoting races, in part so he’dhave a place to compete. That grew intoRevolution Racing, a promotion com-pany that stages races across northeast-

ern Kansas. Now the three busi-ness ventures intersect to thepoint that Whittaker picks upcoaching clients from the riderswho show up at his races.

It’s sometimes a challenge togenerate interest in a Europeandominated sport that, before therecent surge in popularity fueledby Lance Armstrong, was barelyknown in America, much less inLawrence.

“In a ball-dominated town, Ihave to grow my audience fromscratch,” Whittaker says.

The Twilight Races drawproven Category 1 roadies andpromising junior cyclists inaddition to big-wheel ridingbeginners. Many juniors join theGP VeloTek team, where theyare making their mark nation-ally. VeloTek riders won three events at the U.S. Cycling Federation Nationalsthis year and another team member,Kansas State student Mark Smelser, wonthe criterium race held in downtownLawrence at the 2006 USA CyclingCollegiate Road NationalChampionships.

“Development isn’t very glamorous,because everyone would rather talkabout pro cycling,” Whittaker says. “But once you realize that every pro

starts as a beginner, this is where theexcitement is.”

He clearly has a knack for bringing outthe most in his young riders. As he pre-pares to start the race, the itty-bittieswatch and listen raptly as Whittakerreminds them of three rules: Have fun, besafe and go fast.

“The great thing about cycling is youcan be any age and ride a bike,” he saysafter they charge off. “Once the kids getinto it, the whole family is hooked.”�

Profile B Y S T E V E N H I L L

■ Jim Whittaker has parlayed his love for two wheelsinto a career as a cycling coach and race promoter.“What drives me, ultimately, is to be able to grow thesport I love,” he says.

Class Notes


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Corey Snyder, d’01, recently became asports-medicine physical therapist at theUniversity of Michigan. He lives in AnnArbor.

BORN TO:Christopher Clemence, c’01, and Jing

Jing, daughter, Adelaid Bechtold Zhang,June 3 in Houston.

2002Christopher Brandon, c’02, j’03, man-

ages accounts for NASCAR in New YorkCity. He recently completed a master’s ineducation at New York University.

Brianna Livergood, j’02, coordinatestraffic and accounts for Kate Spade inNew York City.

BORN TO:Myriam Vuckovic, PhD’02, and Robert

Schlotterer, son, Benjamin PaulSchlotterer, March 3 in Bethesda, Md.

2003Hilary Smith, d’03, is a physical

therapist at KU Medical Center inKansas City.

Jared Spletstoser, g’03, PhD’05, is apostdoctoral fellow at ColumbiaUniversity in New York City.

Jessica Stretz, c’03, works as a pro-gram administrator for the UrbanInstitute. She lives in Arlington, Va.

MARRIEDEva Davis, n’03, and Shawn

Chevreu , ’06, June 24. They live inTucson, Ariz.

2004Claudia Borge, j’04, coordinates

accounts for Grapevine Communicationsin Bradenton, Fla.

Jason Machtley, b’04, works as afinancial analyst with DST Systems. Helives in Overland Park.

Emily Monahan Peak, d’04, and herhusband, Adam, celebrated their firstanniversary June 24. They live in Olathe,and she teaches math at Spring Hill


Class Notes

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I S S U E 5 , 2 0 0 6 | 63

High School.Nathan Reeves, f’04, is a worship

and arts associate at Antioch BibleBaptist Church in Kansas City.

Ross Schroeder, e’04, works as an engineering associate for the Kansas Department of Transportation in Great Bend.

Elizabeth Springer, j’04, coordinatessponsorship sales and marketing forLIME Media in New York City.

Tony Vyhanek, b’04, is a team leaderwith Cbeyond Communications in OakBrook, Ill.

MARRIEDBrandt Pangborn, c’04, to Julie

Maughan, June 24. They live in Omaha,Neb., where he’s district sales managerfor Worldwide Express.

Lorissa Powell, f’04, to CalvinMcGuire, May 28 in Parkville, Mo. They live in Lawrence.

BORN TO:Eric Moore, n’04, and Christina,

Madelon Sue, April 23 in Wellington,Colo., where she joins a brother, Brody, 2.

2005Amy Co , j’05, directs communica-

tions for the Gilbert (Ariz.) Chamber ofCommerce. She lives in Scottsdale.

Eric Kelting, j’05, manages accountsfor Compex Litigation Support inKansas City.

Dustin Lanning, e’05, is a softwareengineer for Cerner. He lives in OverlandPark.

Erika Ecklund Postula, c’05, works forthe YMCA in Detroit. She lives inNorthville.

Andrew Reed, p’05, lives in Parsonsand works as pharmacist in charge at theOswego Drug Store.

Paige Worthy, j’05, lives in New YorkCity, where she’s an assistant editor atHarris Publications.

MARRIEDBetsey Johnson, p’05, and Nicholas

Gallinger, p’05, April 28. They make

their home in Fort Collins, Colo.

2006Ryan Forster, c’06, works for Lanier

Worldwide. He lives in Gardner.Emily Huffhines, ’06, is an account

executive for Nicholson Kovac. She livesin Overland Park.

Dena Seibel, ’06, works as an analystwith the Federal Reserve Bank ofKansas. She lives in Lawrence.

Tina Shea, ’06, teaches in the KansasCity school district. She lives in Lenexa.

Rob Werling, b’06, is an auditor withKPMG International in Kansas City. Helives in Lawrence.

AssociatesDavid Shulenburger is vice president

for academic affairs at the NationalAssociation of State Universitites andLand Grant Colleges. He and his wife,Carol Prentice, d’69, g’79, make theirhome in Washington, D.C.

1930sLela Siebert Gilbert, c’38, l’42, g’46,

90, May 8 in Lakewood, Colo. She hadserved in the Colorado House ofRepresentatives and had worked in thereal estate business. Survivors include adaughter, three grandchildren and eightgreat-grandchildren.

Andrew Glaze, e’37, 91, April 19 in St.Joseph, Mo., where he was a retired engi-neer and architect. A memorial has beenestablished with the KU EndowmentAssociation. He is survived by his wife,Betty Howe Glaze, assoc.; two sons, oneof whom is Lawrence, b’78; and threegrandchildren.

Norine Howard Johnson, ’33, 95, May21 in Topeka. She is survived by adaughter, Ann Johnson Havenhill, d’58;two sons, one of whom is Howard, c’59;eight grandchildren; three stepgrandchil-dren; 12 great-grandchildren; and sevenstepgreat-grandchildren.

Wilbur Leonard, c’39, l’41, 89, June14 in Topeka, where he was an attorney.He served as U.S. attorney for Kansasduring the Eisenhower administration.Survivors include his wife, O’Thene HuffLeonard, c’41; three daughters, two ofwhom are Nancy Leonard Dietze, ’00,and Jodi Leonard Kaigh, c’81, m’88; abrother, Alvin, c’41; a sister, ElaineLeonard Vick, c’85, s’92; and five grand-children.

John McDonnell, c’38, m’41, 88, June10 in Kansas City, where he was a retiredphysician. He is survived by two daugh-ters, one of whom is Mary, c’65; threesons; a sister, Alice McDonnellRobinson, c’44, g’47; eight grandchil-dren; and four stepgrandchildren.

Eldon Smith, c’39, 87, Sept. 25, 2005,in Sarasota, Fla. He was retired comptrol-ler of the infrastructure of NATO inBrussells, Belgium. A memorial has beenestablished with the KU EndowmentAssociation. A sister, Virginia, c’42, survives.

tronics. He is survived by his wife, IdaMae Woodburn Sutton, c’48, c’51; a son,Michael, e’89; a daughter, ElizabethSutton Hamm, ’87; and four grand-children.

1950sRobert Bell, c’50, d’53, 82, April 7 in

Mill Creek, Wash., where he retired froma career with Boeing. He is survived byhis wife, Barbara; a son; a daughter; a sis-ter, Maxine Bell Wilkes, ’49; a brother;and five grandchildren.

Karen Eddy Brennan, d’57, 70, Jan.22 in Indianola, Iowa, where she was ateacher. She is survived by her husband,Joe, three sons and eight grandchildren.

James Cazier, ’55, 75, May 4 inWamego, where he was a hospitaladministrator. He is survived by threesons, David, b’82, Daniel, ’77, and James,’89; a daughter, Joyce Cazier Orban,c’75; two sisters, Joyce, d’54, and JudithCazier Peddicord, assoc.; nine grandchil-dren; and two great-grandchildren.

Daniel Dibble, b’54, 73, May 25 inMission Hills, where he was managingpartner of the law firm of Lathrop andGage. He is survived by his wife, JeanGordon Dibble, d’55; a daughter; twosons, one of whom is David, c’82; a brother, Paul, b’58; and eight grand-children.

Walter Fuller, e’59, g’68, 70, May 30in Overland Park, where he was retiredfrom Bendix Allied Signal. He is survivedby his wife, Jean Lowry Fuller, ’77; adaughter; a son; three sisters, DebbieFuller Shapiro, b’76, Laura Fuller Fisher,b’78, and Susan Fuller Lyon, ’62; andtwo grandchildren.

Harvey Grandle, c’52, 76, July 28,2005, in Bellevue, Wash., where he wasretired director of internal audit withBoeing Computer Services. He is sur-vived by his wife, Mary Crews Grandle,’53; two daughters; and five grand-children.

Helen Krug Treger, c’37, 91, June 6 inTopeka, where she had been office man-ager for a medical practice for more than40 years. She is survived by a son,Herbert, c’70, l’73; a grandson; threestepgrandchildren; and three stepgreat-grandchildren.

1940sPreston Burtis Jr., b’41, 86, March 22

in Garden City, where he had a career inthe automobile business. He is survivedby two daughters, one of whom is Becky,d’73; and two sons.

William Coleman, b’48, 85, April 24in Overland Park. He is survived hiswife, Ruby; two sons; three daughters,one of whom is Sherri Coleman Hanna, f’98, g’06; a sister; and sevengrandchildren.

Frank Eberhardt, e’46, 86, Nov. 21 inMercer Island, Wash., where he was aretired civil engineer. He is survived by asister, Margaret Eberhardt Wilson, c’48.

Evelyn Kamprath Edwards, c’42, 84,May 20 in Abilene. She was president ofGus Edwards Co., and is survived by ason and four grandchildren.

David Francisco, c’41, m’44, 85, May20 in Prairie Village, where he was anorthopedic surgeon. He also haddirected the cerebral palsy clinic at theKU Medical Center. He is survived by his wife, Jean; two daughters, includingMarci, a’73, a’79; a son, Duke, c’75; a sister; and four grandchildren.

Harriet Hattie Davis Grant, c’45,83, May 29 in Topeka, where she wasretired from the Menninger Foundation.A son and two grandchildren survive.

Victor Hildyard, m’42, 89, March 17in Denver, where he was a retired profes-sor and otorhinolaryngologist. He is sur-vived by his wife, Cleo; two daughters ason, Victor, c’69; six grandchildren; and12 great-grandchildren.

Frederick Sutton, e’49, 83, June 10 inLawrence, where he had owned Audio-

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Douglas Kent, c’51, 76, April 3 inEvanston, Ill., where he was retired fromthe U.S. Postal Service. A sister, DorisKent Fox, c’37, survives.

Bruce Laughlin, b’50, 79, May 12 inShawnee Mission. He lived in Olatheand had directed the Career Planningand Placement Center at Kansas StateUniversity. Survivors include his wife,Elaine Knecht Laughlin, d’49; two sons,one of whom is Ron, a’78, a’80; twodaughters, one of whom is Jan, ’83; a sis-ter; nine grandchildren, including JillWoodworth Nachtrab, d’97; and threegreat-grandchildren.

Sue Haines Ott, d’58, 69, May 20 in Prairie Village. She was a teacher and had worked at Johnson CountyLibrary. Surviving are her husband, Ron, c’59; a son; a daughter; a sister,Marcia Haines Roulier, d’61; and fivegrandchildren.

Karen Hansen Petitt, c’56, 71, Jan.20. She divided her time between homesin Naples, Fla., and Rochester, Minn.Surviving are her husband, Robert, c’50,c’56, m’61; two daughters; a brother, HalHansen, b’58; and three grandchildren.

Louis Petrie, c’56, 73, May 16 inKalaheo, Hawaii. He is survived by hiswife, Ferne, a daughter, a son and fivegrandchildren.

Richard Provost, ’52, 82, April 26 inDenver. He was a former retail developerin Venezuela and is survived by twodaughters, two sons, a sister and threegrandchildren.

Walter uiring Jr., c’50, 80, Aug. 21,2005. He owned an insurance firm inPlano, Texas, and is survived by his wife,Mary, two sons and three grandchildren.

Alvaro Wille, c’54, g’55, PhD’59, 78,June 11 in Costa Rica, where he was aprofessor and had founded the entomol-ogy museum at the Universidad deCosta Rica. Survivors include a daughter,Leticia Wille Bozzoli, ’81, and a son.

Helen Amy Wilson, c’51, 77, June 11in Lawrence. A son, a brother and threegrandchildren survive.

1960sJohn Toland, c’66, l’69, 61, June 2 in

Kansas City. He practiced law in Iola and

is survived by his wife, Karen JeffriesToland, ’01; three sons; a daughter,Carol, c’04, l’06; his mother, JuneThompson Toland, c’36; and a brother,Clyde, c’69, l’75.

1970sMichael Gilliam, ’77, 52, June 6 in

Overland Park. He is survived by twodaughters; three brothers, one of whomis Donald, c’86; and a sister.

Paul Margheim, d’79, 51, June 7 inAndover. He was district sales managerfor Cramer and is survived by his wife,Debra; two daughters, one of whom isMollye, ’06; a son; his parents; his grand-mother; two sisters, Patricia MargheimEdwards, n’79, and Lois MargheimSukolics, ’80; and a granddaughter.

Ernest Plagge, g’70, 69, Aug. 29, 2005in Wichita. He was principal of GoddardHigh School and is survived by his wife,Judith Cranmer Plagge, d’60; two daugh-ters, one of whom is Erika PlaggeStrandell, g’98; a brother; a sister; andtwo grandchildren.

1980sKaren Hearn Suman, d’85, 44, March

6 in Windsor, Colo. Surviving are a son;a daughter; and two sisters, DaphneHearn, b’88, and Stephanie Hearn, j’85.

Susan Bloomfield Welsch, c’82, 54,May 22 in Butte, Mont., where she wasexecutive director of the ButteSymphony Association. She is survivedby her husband, Tom, l’81; a son; adaughter, Kelly Welsch Lowman, ’92;her mother; two brothers, one of whomis Timothy Bloomfield, ’72; two step-brothers; a stepsister; and a grandson.

The University CommunityVernon Branson, m’42, c’47, 88, June

19 in Lawrence, where he was a pediatri-cian. He established the Birth DefectsCenter at the KU Medical Center, wherehe taught pediatrics for many years. Heis survived by his wife, Jessie CassidyBranson, n’42; a son; three daughters,two of whom are Martha Branson Berger,c’75, n’77, g’83, and Rosemary BransonJones, m’85; and eight grandchildren.

Jack Culvahouse, 76, June 7 in

Lawrence, where he was a retired profes-sor of physics. He is survived by his wife,Ruth Roberts Culvahouse, ’80; two sons,John, c’78, d’79, and Jeffrey, e’83; adaughter, Alison Culvahouse Hodges,’79; a sister; and six grandchildren.

Deborah Misty Gerner, 50, June 19in Baldwin. She was a professor of politi-cal science and is survived by her hus-band, Philip Schrodt, her parents and abrother.

Robert Wilson, 96, June 26 inLawrence, where he was a professoremeritus of paleontology. A daughter,Margaret, ’87, survives.

AssociatesLenora Heim, 91, April 23 in

Lawrence. Surviving are her husband,John, assoc., a son; two daughters, oneof whom is Deanna WorkmanMcWilliams, ’60; 10 grandchildren; and20 great-grandchildren.

Jerry Hutchison, g’67, PhD’70, 73,July 14, in Flat Rock, N.C. Through nearly 30 years at KU, he had worked for the Alumni Association, held severaladministrative positions in the Office ofAcademic Affairs, and taught in theSchool of Education. Survivors includehis wife, Ellen; his former spouse, JanisBrown Hutchison, ’72; four daughters,Jamie Kennedy, d’77, Julia Martin, j’80,Susan Stocker, ’83, and Jennifer Purvis,’83; a son, Jeffrey, ’88; two stepsons; twograndsons, Adam Kennedy, ’04, andSean Kennedy, student; three grand-daughters; and two stepgrandchildren.

Martha Peterson, c’37, g’43, PhD’59,90, July 14, in Madison, Wisc. She hadbeen dean of women and received KU’shighest honor, the Distinguished ServiceCitation. She later served as president ofBeloit and Barnard colleges and wasinducted into the KU Women’s Hall ofFame. Her partner, Maxine Bennett, sur-vives. A memorial has been establishedwith the KU Endowment Association.

Martha Rath plinger, 96, March 31in Syracuse, N.Y. She is survived by adaughter, Karen, c’70, son, Robert Jr.,d’65; three grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and a stepgreat-grandchild.

Rock Chalk Review

For parents eager to save moneyfor their children’s collegetuition, 529 plans seem like acan’t-miss investment.

The state-sponsored savings plansoffer a twofold tax advantage. First, IRSrules allow 529 contributions to growtax free, and withdrawals are tax free ifused for eligible higher-educationexpenses. Second, many states sweetenthe deal by granting a state tax deduc-tion to residents who contribute to anaccount.

But Raquel Meyer Alexander, b’93,assistant professor of business, hasfound that 529s are far from sure things.Investors must choose carefully from adaunting number of options, and herresearch suggests that they are notchoosing well.

“In the 529 market, the averageinvestor is college educated, high wealth,and older, yet they are doing a poor jobpicking 529 plans,” Alexander says.“They are getting taken.”

Alexander and LeAnn Luna, researchassistant professor at the University ofTennessee, conducted a study last yearthat looked at which plans investorschose. They discovered that 529s withthe highest fees attracted the mostmoney, while states that offer the biggestincome tax deductions attract less.Investors are passing up tax breaks fromtheir state plans and instead opting forhigher fees in other states. In fact, someplans draw 98 percent of investors fromout of state, typically charging nonresi-dents much higher fees than residents.

“Why are Maine and Rhode Island,two tiny states, among the top fivelargest plans?” Alexander asks. “Why

would someone choosethose states when theycould stay home and geta state tax deduction andpay lower fees? Advisersare pushing those plans.”

She believes complex-ity is driving the trend.Every state offers at leastone plan, and each triesto make its plan standout. Faced with so manychoices, consumers turnto professionals foradvice.

“We ask people withexpertise for help, butexperts don’t provide expertise for free,”Alexander says. “Their incentives are toprovide a good plan and make a living.”

Professional help makes sense forthose who find it cheaper to pay foradvice than to spend time researchingthe many options, Alexander notes, andsome markup is to be expected. But low-and middle-income investors shouldconsider how much they are paying infees and what they are getting in return.One plan Alexander and Luna studiedcharged a whopping 10 percent in fees.About 80 percent of 529 investors usebrokers, even though many of the plansthese advisers recommend are age-basedportfolios, which diversify among stocks,bonds and other asset classes in a presetformula that adjusts periodically as achild gets closer to college age.

“It’s not clear to me why you wouldpay an adviser to put you in an age-based portfolio when their only questionis, ‘How old is your child?’ she says.“They’re not picking stocks for you.”

Alexander would like to see simplifi-cation in the 529 industry, which hasattracted $75.1 billion in investments,and she sees progress now that stateshave started disclosing returns and theSEC is looking into the industry. SECInvestigators have requested Alexanderand Luna’s research for their inquiry.

Meantime, Alexander offers these rec-ommendations for investors:

Look first at your home-state plan:Most states that offer a tax deduction doso only for state residents, and manywaive maintenance fees for residents.

Buy direct: Opt for direct-sold plans,which you can set up directly with thestate. These usually offer lower fees,which makes a difference in the longrun. “The finance literature has looked atthis long and hard, and the biggest pre-dictor of returns is low fees,” Alexandersays.

Choose an aged-based portfolio:These automatically adjust to keep yourmoney invested appropriately as the


Buyer bewareProfessor’s research suggests that college savers

must choose 529 plans with utmost care

■ Assistant Professor Raquel Meyer Alexander advises parents to seek simplicity in their tax-exempt education savings plans.

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child gets closer to college.It also pays to keep informed on

changes affecting 529s. This summer,Congress made permanent the federaltax exemption for the plans (which hadbeen scheduled to sunset in 2010), andKansas announced that in 2007 it willbecome one of only three states that giveresidents a tax break for contributing toany state’s 529 plan (not only Kansas’Learning Quest plan). Kansas alsoannounced that it will start a matchingprogram for low-income families.�

—Steven Hill

◆ ◆ ◆

SNAP judgmentAlumnae hope teaching younggirls to handle hard feelingsavoids serious troubles later

Anger management programs for girls are rare, according to school psychologist KimGrant, but it’s not because

girls lack anger.In fact, Grant says, up to 5 percent of

elementary schoolgirls show aggressivebehavior that by high school can lead tobigger problems, including academic fail-ure, peer rejection and teen pregnancy.

To help prevent such troubles, Grant,g’07, took an anger management pro-gram developed by the Child Develop-ment Institute in Toronto and adapted it for use in elementary schools. She

and Hana Dreiling, c’03, g’07, tested theprogram in a local school as part of agraduate research project.

Called SNAP, the program teachesgirls 7 to 12 years old to recognize signs that they are becoming angry anddevelop skills to manage those feelings.

“There are some long-term effects wedon’t want our girls, our sisters anddaughters, to go through,” Grant says.“We need to better understand how girlsunderstand anger, so we can providesome services addressing those needs.”

SNAP, which stands for “Stop NowAnd Plan,” emphasizes self-control andproblem-solving strategies. Because girlsare generally more verbal than boys,Grant says, she modified the program tofocus on girls’ need for talk. Discussionplays a big role in the group sessions.

Girls also feel anger differently thanboys, Grant says. “Girls tend to be morecovert in their aggression. Boys will hiteach other. Girls are more likely to shun,to gossip.”

That may be one reason there aremore anger management programs forboys, says Grant’s faculty adviser, RobertHarrington, professor of psychology andresearch in education.

“With boys you’re probably going toknow they’re aggressive; they’re throw-ing chairs and swearing at you,”Harrington says. “Kim’s project bringsawareness that girls can show aggressiontoo, but in a different way. We need tobe aware that aggressive girls are some-times harder to identify.”

Grant found that girls benefited from

the sessions by learning to talk abouttheir feelings instead of lashing out. Bythe end of the 13-week program theyexhibited problem-solving abilities thathad been missing at the start.

There were also signs that SNAPhelps girls deal with problems in self-image that, Grant and Harrington say,often affect aggressive girls. Whereasboys act out, girls tend to “act in.” Theiranger leads to depression and anxiety.Hurting others, they hurt themselves.

“I learned I can do a lot more thingsthan I used to,” one student said of theprogram. “I felt before the SNAP groupthat I was not as good as anybody elseand now I know that everybody has thesame amount of goodness.”�

—Steven Hill

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Golf holds fast to its traditions,and its instructional books

tend to do the same. Rare is themanual with insights not alreadycovered in classics of generations

■ PeopleWise Puttingby Dr. James S. Payne and Larry W. WagsterSterlingHouse Publisher, $17.95

past by Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan,Jack Nicklaus and Harvey Penick.

James S. Payne, g’69, EdD’70,professor of special education atthe University of Mississippi andthe creator of a self-improvementsystem he calls “PeopleWise,”offers something new. His slim,snappy book, PeopleWise Putting,written with former Mississippigolf coach Larry W. Wagster, pres-ents modern brain research that

can help golfers lower their scores.“Putting is 43 percent of the

game,” Payne writes, “but fewgolfers master it.”

Payne’s methods might be dis-carded by traditionalists who fretover swing mechanics or equip-ment, but the book should be awelcome addition to the librariesof golfers who explore their pas-sion with open minds.�

—Chris Lazzarino

The brain game

Kim Grant

Oread Encore

Thirteen names circle the north rim ofMemorial Stadium. All-Americans all, butnot all remain familiar. So, as we find ourseats and again spend fall afternoons

scanning the Ring of Honor, a history lesson:Just who was Oliver Spencer?Spencer, d’53, grew up on a farm in Hopewell,

between Pratt and Dodge City. His mother,Estella, died young. As Ollie, the third of four surviving brothers, neared high-school age, Clark Spencer and his sons left Hopewell, whereschools played six-man football, and moved toUlysses, in southwest Kansas, so Ollie could play on an 11-man team.

“Three boys and the father would work in thefields all day and one would take care of

the house and do the cooking, andafter two weeks they’d switch off,”recalls former coach Don

Fambrough, d’48, who recruitedSpencer as an assistant to coach

J.V. Sikes. “I’ll tell you, thathouse was spotless. Youcould eat off the floor.”

Mr. Spencer greeted theKU coaches warmly, but

feared he couldn’t spare Olliefrom the farm. Shortly before

school was to begin, he askedSikes and Fambrough to return forone more visit.

“It was the four boys and thefather and coach Sikes and myself,

sitting in that small house, and Inever will forget: Mr. Spencer looked up, had this big smile on his face, and said, ‘Well, I’ve gotten together with the boys, andwe’ve decided that we can double up on theworkload and let Ollie go to college. We’venever had anybody in our family to ever go

past high school. He’s got a chance to get a

college education, and we’re not going to standin his way.’”

As a sophomore, Spencer backed up futurePro Football Hall of Famer Mike McCormack,’51, then started alongside 1951 All-AmericanGeorge Mrkonic, d’53. Also on the team was fel-low southwest Kansan Galen Fiss, of JohnsonCity, with whom Spencer shared his frighteningfirst trip to Lawrence. Fiss, d’53, who died July17, became a Pro Bowl fullback with theCleveland Browns.

Spencer, named All-American in 1952, was asixth-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions andstarted on their 1953 NFL championship team.He joined the Oakland Raiders in 1962 as anassistant coach, spent the ’63 season as a player-coach, and resumed his full-time coaching careerin 1964.

As the Raiders’ offensive line coach, Spencerassembled and coached one of the game’s great-est pools of talent, including Hall of Famers ArtShell, Gene Upshaw, Jim Otto and Bob Brown.

“Ollie loved football with all his being,” sayshis daughter, Shari Spencer Horton, d’76. “Twoabsolutely truthful things that can be said abouthim are that he was a fine line coach and anextraordinary judge of talent.”

Another of Spencer’s Oakland linemen wasLindsey Mason, ’78, whom the Raiders draftedout of KU after Spencer watched him beat run-ning back Billy Campfield, ’78, in a game of rac-quetball.

“You don’t run across many people who havea sense of being true to themselves in an environ-ment where so much is inflated,” Mason says. “Asa young man, I was very blessed to have OliverSpencer in my life.”

Spencer won a Super Bowl ring with theRaiders’ triumph in January 1977; when the teammoved to Los Angeles after the 1981 season,Spencer chose to remain in the Bay Area, wherehe opened an insurance agency. He died of aheart attack on April 28, 1991.

“You know, every time I walk in that stadium ...” Fambrough says, pausing to suppressa surge of emotions, “... I see Ollie’s name upthere ... A lot of great memories. A lot of greatmemories.”�

■ After his 1953 graduation, All-Americanlineman Oliver Spencer

spent nearly 30 years as a player and coach

in the NFL.

B Y C H R I S L A A R I N O

The All-American BoyHis name now more familiar than his story, Oliver Spencer

should not be forgotten


KU Alumni Association1266 Oread Avenue | Lawrence, KS 66045-3169

28 32 - Kansas Alumni magazine

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