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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Jan. 8, 1963
Facets of a Geologist's Life Rival Those of Polished Gem
By Joanne Primm
A geology professor's life is as varied as the formations he studies.
It is as cluttered as his book shelf and as diverse as the chunks of rock lying around his office.
WAKEFIELD DORT JR., associate professor of geology, plays several roles.
- First, he is a teacher. He teaches a section of geology I and advanced courses in geomorphology and is in charge of the 22 geology I laboratory sections.
"There are hundreds of faces in front of you," Prof. Dort said, referring to the Geology I lecture section. "You give them the grades, but you can't tell if you're accomplishing anything.
"THAT'S THE FRUSTRATING aspect of teaching - no concrete accomplishment.
"But when they come and tell you what they've seen and the jobs they've got, that's the real reward of teaching," Prof. Dorf said.
- As a geologist, he does work in the "field." He has spent the last three summers in eastern Idaho working on an excavation project sponsored by the museum of Idaho State College at Pocatello.
"IT'S NOT JUST the geographical area of Idaho that's so wonderful," he said convincingly in his KU office recently. "It's the whole field of geology.
"If you stop and question some of the superfluous explanations, there are endless problems. You look into one, and it branches into three or four others," he explains.
Prof. Dort is also assisting an anthropology class in its excavation of a burial mound in north Kansas City. He studies the soil of northeast Kansas during the school year when he is unable to do more extensive research.
HE IS A MOVIE critic of sorts. Several years ago, Prof.
Dort spent the summer viewing more than 500 films used for geologic education. The result was a directory of geoscience films, published last spring, for the American Geological Institute.
"I nearly went batty," he said.
He established criteria, located sources, sent for the films, looked
Prof. Wakefield Dort
at them, sent them back, and wrote a short critical review of each.
"THE EXPERIENCE was really an eye-operer. Most of the films were poor and inaccurate." Prof. Dorf said.
- Prof. Dort writes on geologic subjects. He recently: published a
"The information is no good if it's just in your head. It must be published for the use of others," the geologist-teacher said.
preliminary report of the project in Idaho.
"Somewhere in here, I'm supposed to write a book for McCraw-Hill, a manual of field geology," he said. "It's not intended to teach, but to remind. You slip it into your pocket and use it as a 'memory jogger.'"
UNTIL TWO YEARS ago, he was the geology and geophysics editor of two magazines. That meant he had to look through about 40 journals a month and write an abstract of each article in those areas.
- . Prof. Dort has been elected to his third term as treasurer of the 1200-member National Association of Geology Teachers.
HE IS FINALLY, and perhaps most of all, a student. He keeps about 1500 scientific reports — "I stick largely to the ones in my field" — 300 books, and innumerable pamphlets in his office in Lindley Hall.
covered with maps.
Prof. Dort pointed to a pile of bulletins and papers. "These have been filed for attention. That's where I throw stuff that ought to be looked at pretty soon.
An 8' x 10" bulletin board stands against the south wall of his office, covered with maps.
"FROM HERE ON DOWN," he said, indicating two-thirds of the stack, "has been there at least two years.
"There are so many more things that interest me than I could ever get to," he said.
In spite of his conglomerate activities, Prof. Dort believes in relaxation.
"YOU CAN'T STAND pressure forever," he said. "I always keep some paperback in a desk drawer. When things get too much, I close the door and read a few pages."
Negro Says Jury Rigged
JACKSON, Miss — (UPI) — Mississippi supreme court is expected to rule within a few days on a bid for freedom by Clyde Kennard, a Negro who tried to enroll at the all-white University of Southern Mississippi.
Kennard, 33, a former University of Chicago student, was arrested a year after his 1959 enrollment attempt and charged with stealing four sacks of chicken feed. Indicted and convicted by white juries, he was sentenced to seven years in the state penitentiary.
Higher courts rejected his appeal. In his appeal, Kennard charged that members of his race had been systematically excluded from the Forrest County grand jury which indicted him. The appeal said that Negroes were unable to register to vote in Forrest County and that voter registration was a prerequisite for jury duty.
His Negro attorney, R. Jess Brown of Jackson, re-opened the argument recently after the Justice Department said it had uncovered evidence that Negro voting applicants faced discrimination from Theron Lynd, Forrest County's 402-pound circuit clerk.
Brown requested that the U.S. North Mississippi District Court issue a writ of habeas corpus freeing Kennard from the penitentiary, but Judge Allen Cox ruled last month that the matter should first be taken to state courts.
Then Brown asked the state supreme court for permission to seek a new trial for Kennard in Forrest County Circuit Court. The request is under consideration.
The justice department is seeking Lynd's imprisonment in a civil rights case before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans.
Kennard, a bachelor, ran a small chicken farm near Southern Mississippi when he decided to apply for admission.
Humanities Lecture Is 100th in Series
Elmer F. Beth, KU professor of journalism and Humanities Committee chairman, will deliver the 100th Humanities Series lecture, "Privacy: Your Right to be Let Alone," at 8 tonight in Fraser Theatre.
"My objective," said Prof. Beth, "is to explain the status of the right in 1963 and to consider some of the problems and conflicts attending it, such as the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press."
Prof. Beth has spoken to a number of groups about defamation and privacy.
Louvre Curator Acclaims Paintings
A curator of painting from the Louvre in Paris has announced that several paintings by Jacopo da Empoli and Theodore Rombouts, now on exhibit at the KU Museum of Art, are among the most important works of these artists in the United States.
The paintings, "Sacrifice of Isaac," by Empoli, and "Musicians," by Rombouts, are both owned by the Museum.
Pierre Rosenberg, the curator, is presently Facillon Professor of Art at Yale University. He has been touring the U.S. viewing French and Italian paintings.
University Players Presents
the Off-Broadway Hit
'The Fantastics'
Jan. 11-19
Experimental Theatre
8:30 — 1 dollar
Tickets now on sale at University Theatre Box Office
Nine KU Students to Leave For Costa Rica Feb.22
The fourth group of KU students to spend an academic year at the University of Costa Rica in San Jose will begin preparations Feb. 17.
Nine KU students and one Washburn University student will be in the country from March to mid-November. They will attend an orientation period in Washington, D.C., and arrive in Costa Rica Feb. 22.
Mr. Carl Deal, head of library acquisitions, is faculty adviser for the group.
SELECTION OF THE students is based on merit: all students considered have 16 hours of Spanish and are above average students. Some scholarships are being awarded.
The trip is part of an exchange program with the University of Costa Rica. In addition to faculty exchanges, several Costa Rican students will attend classes at KU the second semester.
KU students going to Costa Rica are; Judith Anne Allison, Clearwater sophomore; Effie Jolene Boldridge, Lexington. Mo., junior; Jan
L, Flora, Quinter junior; Judith H. Kunkler, Kansas City junior; John H. Magill Jr., Shawne Mission senior; Germaine Kay Mourning, Clearwater sophomore; Judith Ann North, Keokul, Iowa, sophomore; Louise Elaine Proctor, Augusta sophomore, and Stephen H. Wolf, Quinter junior.
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