University Daily Kansan, June 23, 1980
Nancy Dykes is both adviser and wife
By DAVID STIPF
By DAVID STII
Staff Reporter
Before Chancellor Archie R. Dykes decided to leave the University of Kansas, he sought an opinion about his move from one of the University's most highly regarded public relations experts, his wife.
Nancy Dykes, whose work with the University has closely paralleled the chancellor's during the past seven years, said in a recent interview, "I never wanted to make it happen. He would never have made the move without discussing it with me.
"I advised him it was the right decision—sometimes opportunities come up and you don't know if you'll win them again, so you have to take them."
This advice probably played a large part in the chancellor's decision to resign because it was given by one of his most indispensable aides.
As chancellor's wife, she has shared many of the social obligations required of the chancellor-planning and acting responsibilities and parties—as well as the chancellor's long hours, which start at 6 a.m. and end at 11 p.m. seven days a week.
Slightly out of breath from carrying in grocery early Saturday morning just before the interview, she said, "Sorry I'm late. Sometimes, I can't find time to go shopping later in the day.
"I do all the things a homemaker does. And I do all the planning for social events, including purchasing food, sending out invitations and hiring extra
MRS. DYKE'S attention to the details of social planning has given her a reputation as a consumate hostess. Carol Shankel, program coordinator at the University of Utah, has worked at Shankel, executive vice chancellor, said. "She's concerned about every detail of a dinner or luncheon, from the recipes and menu right down the chain."
"She has been a great asset to Chancellor Dykes. She's been very dedicated to her role and has worked very hard."
But dedication and attention to detail are only prerequisites for her work as one of the primary molders of KU's public image. More important are her gifts of tact, warmth and humor. And there is another, less obvious quality, suggested by her light southern accent and elegant clothing. Her character will be characterized as unaffected gentility.
HER APLOMB and diplomacy,
tested and proven in the world of social
engagements, have also served her well
in some of the more spontaneous events
connected with her life in the chancellor's residence.
"Once, soon after we came to KU, a shirless young man came to the front door with a package under his arm," she said.
"I answered the bell and he said, 'I've got a bomb here that will blow up the whole campus, the whole county, the whole state.' He went on and on like that and I was pretty frightened until campus security came."
Looking back on the incident, Mrs. Dykes expressed concern for the man's mental health and said, "He was just a misguided individual."
DESPITE SUCH incidents, most of
Mrs. Dykes life at KU has been one of constant activity, handling the chancellor's social engagements. Although she is a teacher for many years to spend on her hobbies of tennis
and golf, she has found time to do volunteer work at the KU Medical Center and Watson Library. She also has served on the Lawrence Savings Association board and the endowment board of Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Additionally, she's found time to be a mother for her two sons, John, 25, and Tom, 22.
"It's been hard to spend time with our sons," she said, "but they never expressed any resentment.
"Archie's been in administration so long that they started out not getting to spend as much time with us as some children do with their parents, so they never felt that something was taken away."
TOM, WHO WILL ENTER KU's medical school in the fall, and John, who lives and works in Lawrence, are still deciding to see the Dykes have decided to stay in Kansas.
CHUCK ISAACSON/Kansan staff
Nancv Dvkes
"We like the people here and both our children are here," she said. "Our older son just love a girl from Kansas.
"I think Kansas is pretty unique in the Midwest. It has been on the forefront of a lot of social issues and has been more liberal about a lot of things than other midwestern states—passing Rights Amendment for example."
ONE OF HER job possibilities after leaving KU is elementary school teaching. Mrs. Dykes, who has a degree in elementary education, taught kindergarten, first and second grades for chancellor Nancy Willems' wife precluded teaching.
"I missed the first year after I quit, but I've been so involved in a different sort of way that I haven't felt that I missed anything," she said.
"I don't know about teaching again when I leave KU. I have to take classes to renew my teaching certificate. To have renewed my certificate while I've been at KU would be ideal, but I didn't have the time.
"But who knows? Maybe I'll be batting back and forth between Lawrence and Topeka to go to school after all."
Headquarters offers friendly ear
By SHAWN McKAY
Staff Reporter
It was 8 p.m. when the telephone rang. A crying female voice, on the verge of hyterics, began explaining her problem.
It was not the first call of its kind to Headquarters that night and it was not the last.
Thirty-five minutes later the crisis was over. She had stopped crying and felt calm enough to hang-up the phone and continue life on her own.
Headquarters, a personal crisis and short-term counseling center at 1602 Massachusetts St., received more than 12,000 calls last year.
SOME OF THE Calls were from people on the brink of suicide. Some were from people on the verge of divorce or running away from home. Others, like the woman who called in, were simply in need of a friendly voice.
"We serve as a listening ear to anyone who needs it," Marcia Epstein, director of Headquarters, said last week. "We don't feel like we have a lot of problems to solve their problems. We're just here to help them sit through them."
"The only staff then was just the people who lived there and a few of their friends." Epstein said. "Today, we have 50 to 70 staff members who keep the center open 24 hours a day, 363 days a year."
Headquarters began in 1969 when three KU students opened a 24-hour drop-in center for students with drug problems.
HEADQUARTERS TAKES applications for new volunteers in May, August and January. Staff members receive 45 hours of training, suicides, drug abuse and sexual problems before they take their first call.
"Our people are drawn here for a
wide variety of reasons. Some are here because they seek personal growth and others to gain practical knowledge in their field of study." Frosten said.
Larry Carter, Lawrence graduate student, said he volunteered because he thought people should be involved in something larger than them-
"You should discover what you do well and then do it," he said. "I've gotten a lot of life and I feel that I owe something in return."
Carter, who has worked at Headquarters for more than a year, said that people called just to talk about their problems.
"It may well be that people are also talking to their friends about their problems, but when you hear someone talk to them, need someone to talk to. It puts quite a strain on your friendship to call them every morning at four," he said.
MANY OF THE people who call are also seeking professional help.
"Many are seeing a counselor two times a week. But the question is, 'How do you make it from your Monday to your Friday appointment?' We're here to help someone needs it." Carter said.
People will often respond to a voice on the phone when they won't to a friend or a relative.
"We try to be non-judgmental when we listen," Carter said. Same thing, but with that that's not always the case. Friends think they need to tell you what you've done wrong and don't realize the need, to just tell someone your faults.
Jeff Eggerman, a volunteer, said that people were more willing to talk when they didn't have to give their name.
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