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Wednesday, November 8, 2000
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By Shawn Hutchinson writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Leonard Krishtalka sat in his office in Dyche Hall last week, trying to think above the rumble of the construction.
Dyche Hall, home to the Natural History Museum and the Biodiversity Research Center, is undergoing slight renovations. Workers moved slabs and cut boards as hammers and nails flew every which way.
The noise probably made it difficult for Kristalka to hear the thoughts moving back and forth in his mind. Kristalka, director of the Natural History Museum and the Biodiversity Research Center, did his best to answer why he came to the University of Kansas.
Krishtalka paused for a second before answering.
"I long knew this was the best university Natural History Museum research center in the country and it was a privilege to be able to lead it," he said. "It was a wonderful opportunity."
The administration side of things
While he was growing up in Montreal, Krishtalka decided that he wanted to be a paleontologist, studying the history and evolution of life on earth.
He got his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Alberta in Canada. He started his Ph.D. at the University of Kansas in 1971, then completed it at Texas Tech University in 1975.
He spent the next several years working as a paleontologist. He
traveled the globe, spending time in Western Canada, the inter-mountain region of the United States, East Africa, North Africa, Europe and China.
"Then about 10 years ago, I turned my attention toward the administration side of things," Krishhtala said. "I wanted to provide to others the same opportunities that had been provided to me."
He worked as a curator at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, where he also was the assistant director for
"He's not only open
ideas, he's also posing new ideas all the time. He's very innovative. He's taking us to whole new places and leading us down new roads."
Linda Trueb professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
science. He also became a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Eventually, he came to the University of Kansas, where he is in his sixth year as the director of the Natural History Museum and the Biodiversity Research Center and a professor of ecology and evolutionary Biology.
"He's not only open to ideas, he's also posing new ideas all the time," said Linda Trueb, a fellow professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "He's very innovative. He's taking us to whole new places and leading us down new roads."
It is Krishtalka's job to make sure all this goes off without a hitch.
A center of excellence
I think my ultimate duty is to lead the museum in its education, research and public service enterprise so that it best fulfills the mission of the University." Krishtalka said. "And we're happy to have one of the centers of excellence at the University of Kansas."
The Natural History Museum and the Biodiversity Research Center's mission at the University is to study the life of the planet for the benefit of the earth and its inhabitants.
But Kristalta admits that he isn't solely responsible for that center of excellence. He gives credit to the museum's curators, the professors, and all of the graduate students who come to the University each year to study biodiversity research.
All those people add up to a successful scientific equation.
"I think that the readers need to know that the museum is like a proverbial iceberg," Krishtalka said. "One-ninth shows about the surface — that's the displays and all the educational programs for school children and adults — but the eight-ninths below the surface is really the bulk of our activities. It involves an enormous amount of research into the plants and animals of the world. And an enormous amount of educational activities in training graduate students and scientists."
Snectacular vision
It's the renowned diorama that helps make up the center lobby of the Museum in Dyche Hall.
By now, the noise outside Krishtalka's office has quieted down, the momentary silence giving him the perfect opportunity to focus on the one-ninth portion of the iceberg.
The diorama incorporates North American plants and animals in their natural environment, and it might be what the museum's best known exhibit. It was put together in 1893 for the Kansas entry into the World's Fair by Lewis Lindsay Dyche — the man for whom Dyche Hall is named.
But Krishtalka thinks for a while and answers.
Kristalta is asked to name his favorite exhibit in the Natural History Museum. It's not such an easy question. It's probably like a parent having to pick a favorite child, or Joe Montana having to pick his favorite Super Bowl ring. It's hard to just pick one.
"The artistry involved, the vision involved, is quite spectacular." Krishtalka said. "In one diorama, he is depicting the life of North America starting in the Arctic and extending all the way to the equator. I mean, this is 1893, and he has put together a diorama that's basically what one would see today on the Discovery Channel."
An embarrassing decision
Leonard Kristhalka is in his sixth year as the director of the Natural History Museum and the Biodiversity Research Center, and is also a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. As the director of the Natural History Museum, Kristhalka oversees about 350 exhibits. Portrait by Knig Krug/KANSAN
The Kansas State Board of Education voted last year to not require the teaching of evolution in public schools. Some were pleased, some were peeved.
But this story isn't all roses.
As somebody who lives and breathes the idea of evolution, Kristalka was affected more than a lot of people.
"The Kansas State Board of Education's decision a year ago was an embarrassment," Krishtalka said. "Kansans deserve a real scientific education."
Kristaltaka said his job hasn't been made any more difficult because of the decision, but said he would like to see the decision reversed in the future. He said it might just happen considering that three of the four candidates who voted for the new science standards were defeated in the primaries.
"In that election. I think Kansas showed two things," Krishtalka
Museum director looks to future through the past
said. "One, they don't appreciate being made a fool of nationally and internationally. And second, that they cherish and value the best possible education for their school children. Especially in science, because our society is increasingly a technological one and a scientific one. If we don't educate our children to thrive in an increasingly scientific educational society, then we are cheating our own children."
Glancing into the future
Krishtalka can see into the future. He looks out at the six buildings that make up the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center — Dyche Hall, Lippincott Hall, Snow Hall, Haworth Hall, Lindley Hall, and the Bridwell Botany Laboratory on West Campus — and knows that a lot of things need updating.
He said the museum was in the process of changing all of the label copy in each of the about 350 exhibits to update the information. He said he was especially excited about a female dinosaur
that was being put together. The dinosaur, a 60-foot behemoth found in Wyoming, was so large it had to be mounted in a crouching position.
Katie Reitz, Seneca senior, works at the Natural History Museum with Krishtalka. She said she noticed his dedication to the future of the past.
"He looks toward the future when he plans things," Reitz said. "He's very dedicated to doing research."
Kristaltak took one brief and final glance into the future as the noise outside his office grew once again.
"The 21st Century is going to be the century of the environment," he said. "And the Natural History Museum, with its accumulated knowledge of the earth's plants and animals and their inter-relationships, is poised to provide the knowledge and inform the solutions that this coming century is going to demand."
— Edited by Amy Randolph
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