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Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, August 31, 1989
3
New dean of law juggles his time
By Beth Behrens
Kansan staff writer
Robert Jerry has relinquished a lot of his leisure activities for his job, but there are still some things in the new dean of law's life that take precedence.
Jerry, new dean of the law school, shares his knowledge with first-year law students in his contracts class.
"Being dean has taken some time from a lot of things I used to do, but it hasn't taken time from John (his son)," Jerry said.
He said his tennis game was suffering and he did not have as much time to play keyboardes with the law faculty rock band, The Moody Bluebooks. But Jerry said he still took the student's schedule to read "Pat the Bunny" "Goodnight Moon" to his 10-month-old son, John, in the evenings.
"I try to read a lot, but it's hard to get through anything much longer than the books that John reads right now," he said. "I enjoy reading history and biographies, but right now I read more current events. By the time I try to read the legal literature, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for leisure reading, except for 'Pat the Bunny.'"
Jerry, 37, said applying for dean was not an easy decision because he enjoyed all aspects of academic life, including teaching, research and service. But he said he believed it was the best time for him, professionally and personally, to serve as dean
"He said, 'I still have time to get back to my research program sometime before I'm thinking about retirement.'"
shoof was a national trend for law school deans to become deans at a younger age. "In some ways it makes sense to do the administrative work early in a career," he said. "I'll still have time to get back to my research program sometime before I'm thinking about retirement."
Jerry's research program led him to receive the Rice Prize, an award
given for the best article or book written by a KU faculty member in the School of Law. His book was titled "Understanding Insurance Law."
A strong debate record in high school and at Indiana State University, both in Terre Haute, Ind., led Jerry into his research and law practice. He said he didn't consider the possibilities of getting into law until college, but debate probably sparked his interest for law.
"The kind of research and analysis that occurs in high school and intercollegiate debate is a lot like what lawyers do," he said. "I think my debate experience did have something to do with my having an interest early on in law.
"I remember as an intercollegiate debater getting soundly thrashed by a couple of KU teams, and that beating that we got at the hands of the KU debaters may have had something to do with my decision not to debate my senior year in college."
After graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor of science in political science and economics, Jerry entered the University of Michigan School of Law where he graduated cum laud in 1977. He was a clerk for a federal judge in Washington, D.C., for one year and then went into private practice in Indianapolis for the next three years.
Jerry accepted an associate professorship position at the University of Kansas School of Law in 1981. His wife, Lisa Jerry, is now a freelance copy editor for University Presses, a company that publishes textbooks. They met while Jerry was practicing law in Indianapolis.
Jerry said teaching was one of his goals as dean. Jerry is teaching a first year course on contracts during the fall semester and will teach an upper-level insurance class during
the spring.
He was chosen for the position of dean by a search committee of professors, representatives and students. He was one of three candidates whose names were sent to Del Brinkman, vice chancellor for academic affairs. Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, Chancellor Gene A. Budig, and Brinkman made the final decision.
Elinor Schroeder, chairman of the search committee, said Jerry was chosen from many well qualified final candidates, but the committee was pleased with the final decision.
Schroeder said she could attest to Jerry's motivation and enthusiasm, and said she was looking forward to
his deanship.
While Jerry was on the Senate Executive committee last year, Schroeder had been talking to him about a problem with health insurance coverage for professors on unpaid leave. The problem begins when professors worked for others, such as the government, to enhance career opportunities.
She said that professors often got health insurance as a fringe benefit from the temporary employers. If the insurance was discontinued at the University, a professor on leave was seen as a new client upon his return, meaning that any previously existing health condition would not be covered. This would include a pregnancy
occurring during the leave of absence.
To avoid this, Schroeder said a professor would have to keep paying the insurance company at the University and maintain double coverage.
Schroeder said Jerry, whose emphasis in law is contracts and insurance, had been on the committee that developed a proposal that was submitted to the Department of Health and Environment, Topeka, to allow the professor to drop the insurance policy during the leave of absence. If accepted, the insurance policy could be started again without the professor being classified as a new employee.
KU clubs make a diverse set.
Kansan staff writer
By Bryan Swan
Students who wish to join a campus club or organization this fall may have trouble interpreting the functions of some of the groups by name alone.
Disorientation, for example, is not a feeling associated with the first day of classes, but a campus publication published each semester to show students that there is more to Lawrence than the tried and true.
"S
"The function of our group is to produce a magazine designed to inform people about interesting things in the community," said Brian Schwegmann, Salina senior and editor of Diorisention. "Basically, it's an alternative guide to Lawrence. There are articles about where to find condoms at midnight, drug testing, and how to resist war taxes."
Schwegmann said that production difficulties prevented publication this semester but that he hoped to have an edition out in January.
Other campus organizations have a more scientific slant. The Cheap Rockets Society designs and builds rocket engines.
: "We are primarily interested in the;economic exploitation and private;commercialization of space," club president James Stillwell, Lawrence junior said. "We're working on rocket engines and rocket-engine test devices to give us hands-on experience and testing, not just theoretical work."
Pamela Hollev
She's a great lady who had to leave last year to have a baby. We wanted to show our appreciation to her and registered this club as a surprise to her.'
Stilwell said students should not expect to see rockets roaring across
president of Buckaroos for Buckalew
campus skies because the rocket engines designed by the club have only two to five pounds of thrust and could not achieve liftoff.
"These rockets are used only as research tools," he said. "One could say that we are trying to reinvent the wheel, see how it works and learn about the engines and what could go wrong."
Some organizations on campus were created to show appreciation. Buckaroos for Buckalew is a group dedicated to preserving the memory of Trina Buckalew, a former secretary for Student Senate.
"She's a great lady who had to leave last year to have a baby," said Pamela Holley, Topeka senior and club president. "We wanted to show our appreciation to her and registered this club as a surprise to her."
Holley, who attended a Senate workshop last year, said Billy-WAG, short for William What A Guy, was a similar organization.
ders that was started by people in Senate just for fun.” Holley said. “At our workshop we needed a mock organization to demonstrate how student groups get funding. We created this to show how it would all work.”
Sanders, Lawrence senior, is the Student Executive Committee chairm
On the more serious side is the Mortar Board, a group that has nothing to do with construction or artillery but instead promotes academic interests.
"We are an honor society of 35 seniors selected last year out of 200 applicants," said Brenda Eisele, Fredonia senior and club president. "We are a service organization that furthers community and national projects that promote interest in academics. We'll also be dealing this year with AIDS awareness, women's issues, a KU/Haskell exchange program and environmental awareness. We are a very diverse group."
"It's a fan club for William San-
Unique among the variety of campa-
house housing groups is the Russian Hus-
bian.
"Some of the professors in the Slavic Department were interested in establishing a house and when I came back to school they asked me if I'd do that," said Louise Redford, Shawne junior and Russian House resident. "I bought the house and renovated it and now I rent it out to the students."
Students interested in joining any registered campus group can visit the Organizations and Activities Center in the Kansas Union for club information.
Astronomers celebrate successes of Voyager 2 Some prepare for star, planet gazing at the Douglas County Fairgrounds
By Jennifer Reynolds Kansan staff writer
The Astronomy Associates of Lawrence has Voyager 2 in its sight.
Friday night, from 8:30 to 10 p.m. the ALL will explore the late summer sky at a Voyager watch party.
The party, located at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, building 21, will be held in celebration of the highly successful mission of the Voyager 2 space probe, said Mark Brown, vice president of AAL.
Voyager 2 completed its mission with a close approach to the planet Neptune this week. Earlier this year, Voyager 2 passed by Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.
Telescopes will be set up outside the building to look at Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Brown said.
"We're mainly going to look at the planet Neptune since Voyager just went by there," he said. "It might seem strange because even through a telescope, Neptune just looks like a star."
is up there," he said. "We'll look for star clusters, nebulas and various assorted stars."
Brown said the group also would do some star gazing.
Besides star watching, the party will feature some video watching.
"We're just looking for whatever
From 8:30 to 9 p.m., a video about Voyager discoveries at Jupiter and Saturn will be shown.
From 9:30 to 10 p.m., a video will show the Voyager spacecraft itself as well as the Uranus discoveries.
Brown said the Voyager watch party was one of several star-gazing events the AAL would hold this semester.
The events are in place of the Friday night open house meetings sponsored by AAL last semester at the Tombaugh Observatory, located in Lindley Hall, he said. The open house meetings were canceled because of fire code problems in the observatory.
Brown encouraged any interested people to come to the watch party and to bring a pair of binoculars.
The event will be canceled if the sky is too cloudy, he said. If the weather is questionable, those interested may call the Tombaugh Observatory at 864-3166.
SAC seeks counselor for advice
By Doug Fishback Kansan staff writer
Students needing advice may find help a little easier to come by if the Student Assistance Center hires a fifth counselor.
She said advertising for applicants would begin tomorrow.
Margin of Excellence money boosted the center's budget enough this year to support another full-time position, said Lorna Zimmer, center director.
"We were about ready to be swallowed up," Zimmer said. "It will be a relief to have a new person."
The financing is part of the $1.5 million the school received this year under a $700,000 grant.
The Margin of Excellence has provided the center with $21,000 for the new position, said Lindy Eakin, KU budget director.
The Margin of Excellence is the Board of Regents three-year plan to bring the total financing of its seven institutions to 95 percent of their peer schools, and to bring faculty salaries to 100 percent of their peers.
The center, at 123 Strong Hall, now employs four full-time counselors and four support-staff members, Zimmer said.
In addition to these general duties, the counselors have specialized and technical expertise.
the tour counselors share a workload generated by walk-in students, who seek everything from grade petition information to help in planning academic schedules.
She said she wanted the new counselor to have data collecting and program coordinating abilities, because the center likely would launch a program to study student performance. How much what KU might do to retain students?
Zimmer said she wanted to conduct studies that would give practical guidelines for improving the climate at KU.
"I'm not interested in information for information's sake," she said. "I want something that will go somewhere."
One of the four current counselors coordinates services for 150 physically-disabled students served by the center, she said.
Another counselor deals with concerns of non-traditional students — those students who perhaps are self-supporting, or are coming to the University after years away from school.
Center representatives also review building designs for accessibility to the handicapped, review course timetables and monitor transportation quality and availability in and around KU, she said.
The workload at the center has grown considerably since the center started 10 years ago, Zimmer said. Three disabled students were served in its first year, she said, and now 150 are being served.
When the center was started, counselors sponsored three or four special workshops each semester, she said. The center now sponsors about 40 workshops each semester that address specifics, such as notetaking skills.
Zimmer said the goal of the center was to help students learn to be responsible and to help themselves in the face of bureaucracy.
"I think both of those are areas where students grow tremendously while they are in college," she said. And Zimmer likes to see the
And Zimmer likes to see the growth.
"It's very interesting, and it's very rewarded," she said.
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