Fridav.March 12.1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A • Page 3
4.
University plans to repeat survey
Continued from page 1A
95 percent were satisfied with the nature of their work
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the survey results reinforced the University's commitment to raise faculty salaries — an issue being debated in the state Legislature.
Ronald Ash, professor of business, is co-chairman of the committee that administered the survey and prepared the report. He said many companies used similar surveys to measure employee attitudes.
"Management has discovered that basically it's very hard to satisfy your customers without having satisfied employees," he said.
The report states that dissatisfaction has been shown to lead to low levels of commitment, high turnover and reduced work effort.
Ash said the survey was administered because most faculty knew their salaries lagged behind those at comparable institutions, but there was no data to demonstrate the impact on attitudes of faculty.
He said the committee had expected to find dissatisfaction with pay, but the high numbers surprised him.
"Eighty percent was kind of a shock," he said. Ash said the 37 percent response rate was high for this type of survey and could be considered reflective of the whole faculty.
"Usually in a mail-out survey if you get 30 percent, it's considered a good response rate," he said.
The committee used two well-established, pre-existing surveys for its own study. Ash said, and modified them slightly to make them more applicable to faculty and University work.
Sandra Gautt, assistant provost and a member of the committee, said the Provost's office had supported the survey financially and planned to repeat it regularly to track changes in attitude in relation to changes in policy and procedure.
"Especially if the Legislature comes through with the pay increase," she said, "we want to develop a tool to provide feedback to administration and to governance."
Robert Basow, president of Faculty Council and associate professor of journalism, said it was up to the faculty to make changes in areas other than pay, such as operating procedures and influence.
He said there were no surprises in the report.
"A faculty committee did the study, now a faculty committee should implement it," he said. "It's not the administration's problem."
there were no surprises in the report.
"It's like when the doctor says you have to go on a diet," he said. "We know what's wrong, now what are we going to do about it?"
Among the least satisfied with pay issues at the University were faculty members in the School of Journalism, which ranked at the bottom of every category except those dealing with benefits.
"Maybe it's because journalists are often better informed about these kinds of things," said James Gentry, dean of journalism. "I've never found them reluctant to speak out."
The full report can be viewed at www.ukans.edu/~unigov/table.html.
—Edited by Kelli Raybern
Police: No suspects in KU graduate's New York murder
By Sarah Hale
Kansan campus editor
Although New York police haven't found any suspects or clues in the murder of former KU student Amy Watkins, the investigation will continue.
Det. Robert Samuel of the New York police department said that her murder had been handled seriously but that the investigation hadn't produced any leads.
Watkins, who was killed about 9:45 p.m. Monday near her Brooklyn apartment, was 26. She graduated in 1996 from the School of Social Welfare.
She was murdered on her way home, after leaving a nearby subway station.
new York law enforcement reported that to avoid leaving fingerprints, the wrapper kapped a six-inch, smooth-edged kitchen knife in a plastic bag before stabbing Watkins in the back.
The knife, which punctured one lung and her aorta, was pushed deeply into her back, indicating a person with strength, officials said.
Watkins was pronounced dead at 10:45 p.m. Monday at Interfaith Center in Brooklyn.
Samuel said that more than 25 homicide detectives were trying to round up witnesses and answers.
"This is not your ordinary type of murder." Samuel said. "We have crime every day, but this was very vicious, and she was so young. It's important."
"This story has gotten a lot of attention because of how she was killed and because it's a nice area," Samuel said. "She wasn't a bad person — she was a social worker. People want to know what's happening."
Higgins said that Watkins' story was touching to New York residents because she was in the city to help victims of violence, particularly women.
New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced yesterday that there would be a $10,000 reward for anyone who provided information leading to the apprehension and conviction of Watkins' killer or killers, said Matthew Higgens, who works in Giuliani's press office.
Giuliani attended the wake for Watkins yesterday in New York and said a few words. Higgins said Giuliani also would attend the funeral if his schedule permitted.
"This heinous crime is made all the more tragic because Amy Watkins came to New York City from her Kansas hometown to help others," Giuliani said in a prepared statement. "Tragically, her promising life was cut short by a vicious predator. But her gentle spirit and devotion to others has touched all New Yorkers."
Marc Wilson, Watkins' friend and 1995 KU graduate, said that the media attention had been somewhat of an intrusion for the friends and family.
If it happens that Wilson said, "But the attention has made the family and friends feel better. We know that there's a real effort to find out who did this."
Watkins' funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the Church of the Resurrection in Manhattan, N.Y.
There also will be a graveside service at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Bellerive Heritage Garden Cemetery in St. Louis.
A memorial fund has been established for Watkins at the YWCA Battered Women Task Force, 225 S.W. 12th St., in Tonka Call (785) 354-7927 for more information.
An additional fund has been started in New York. Checks can be sent to the Amy M. Watkins Memorial c/o Mr. Lawrence Watkins, 20 E. 74th St. Apt. 76, New York, N.Y. 10021.
Edited by Aerica Veazey
Lawrence farmers chosen to make trip to Washington
Farmer John Pendleton tends to one of his plants in the Pendleton's Country Greenhouse. The Pendle-tons grow a variety of plants using hydroponics in the greenhouse. Photo by Gus Koffler KANSAN
By Heather Woodward
woodward@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Next week will be a strange one for John and Karen Pendleton, who live on a farm about five miles east of Massachusetts Street. Instead of tending to their crops, the couple and their three children will get on a plane bound for the nation's capital.
The Agriculture Council of America chose the Pendletons to travel to Washington D.C., along with a family from Wisconsin, to speak with children at six inner-city schools about farming as part of National Agriculture Week, March 14-19.
The Pendletons will attend a reception hosted by the ACA, where Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, a former
"We looked at about 10 to 15 families nominated by commodity groups across the board, and Farmland Industries in Kansas City nominated the Pendletons," said Kathleen Montgomery, public relations director for the ACA. "Part of their appeal was that they not only represent typical Kansas farmers, but that they also grow minor crops and flowers."
This is the first year that the week has included interaction between farmers and inner-city children.
The growing divide between city and rural life is a reason that the Pendletons, who have always lived in Lawrence, think talking to children living in a big city is crucial.
"I think its important for kids in big cities and in Lawrence to know where their food and clothing comes from," Karen Pendleton said. "People need to be concerned about the people actually growing those products. The cities and farms are getting farther and farther apart. In some ways it's more of an education for my kids to be able to see a big city."
Kansas congressman, will be in attendance. Linda Tuttle helps the Pendletons in their greenhouse. The greenhouse holds rows and rows of hydroponically-grown tomatoes, which means that water is the main source of fertilization for the plants. Tuttle said she agreed that the polarization of the cities and the country was growing.
"When you have always lived in an area surrounded by concrete, it is hard to remember the parts of life that do not occur in the city," Tuttle said. "Agriculture is still a very important industry in the U.S. It is one of the few things that is still exported on a world market."
ine Pendletons will tell students about how they produce corn, wheat and soybeans, typical Kansas crops, on their 400-acre farm and how they have sold vegetables at their country market since the early '80s, when they stopped breeding cattle.
"We started producing asparagus, and people would come out to buy $10 of asparagus and hand us a $2 bill and say what else can you sell me," John Pendleton said. "That's when we started growing tomatoes."
Their country market now sells flowers as well, which Karen Pendleton, who used to work in the gerontology center at the University of Kansas, said sell better than the produce.
The irony, say the Pendletonts, is that flowers are easy to grow and do not involve the unending work that comes with the asparagus season in April and May. During that time, the couple hires about 30 part-time workers to help harvest. Work starts at 7:30 a.m.
produce. "People are willing to spend more for what they look at than for what they eat," she said.
Karen Pendleton said, "People can make much more money doing something much easier."
—Edited by Kelli Raybern
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