6D = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FEATURES
MONDAY,AUG.19,2002
The Associated Press
LAWRENCE — Graduates who work in Kansas at least three years in their chosen field could have state-sponsored student loans forgiven, under a new program aimed at keeping skilled workers in the state.
Lawmakers approved the workforce development loan program during the past legislative session, and the mechanics of putting it in place are now being worked out. The program is aimed chiefly at vocational and technical students.
"We had been hearing from small businesses and large businesses that they were having problems getting and keeping help," said State Rep. Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, an advocate for the program.
The loan program was modeled after a similar program Kansas has used to hire physicians to rural areas, McKinney said.
Now the Kansas Board of Regents is working out details to get the program started. It isn't yet clear when the loans will be available or how many students might be able to advantage of them, said Diane Lindeman, the regents' director of student financial aid.
"We're hoping that after three or four years they will have married and settled down," giving them more reasons to stay in Kansas, McKinney said.
Contributed as
Loans will be made available according to a student's need. The regents also have to set up a list of educational programs in which an applicant must enroll to be eligible for the plan.
The loans will be funded by $500,000 taken each year by the Kansas Department of Human Resources from the federal Workforce Investment Act. The U.S. Department of Labor still must approve the use of Workforce Investment Act funds.
Deborah Gerner, professor of political science and a specialist on conflict resolution, met with Yasser Arafat in May. The Palestinian leader is pictured on an unadated file photo.
Professor meets Palestinian leader
"From a recruiting standpoint, I think it's a great idea," said David Sostarich, director of Radiology Services at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. "We are up to staff and have been for a while, but there are lot of places that aren't."
Some of those who might benefit from the loans are students in medical programs, such as radiology and lab technicians. And Kansas employers are expected to benefit by knowing they will be getting a trained employee for at least three years.
Without incentives, Kansas faces a tough time recruiting and keeping medical lab technicians because they are in short supply across the nation. Many fail or drop out of training because of the class demands, said Skinner, who will soon have to start paying off her student loan.
"There were eight people in my class," she said, "and I was the only one who graduated."
When Deborah Gerner first met Yasser Arafat, she was impressed with the leader's charm.
By Todd Smith
Kansan staff writer
On her most recent visit, she saw in his frail stature the toll taken in Israeli-conflict conflict on his life.
On May 18, the Palestinian leader met with Gerner, professor of political science and a specialist on conflict resolution, and a dozen other Arab, European and American scholars and journalists to discuss the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The conference, "The Second Transformation of Palestine," took place at a hotel in Ramallah, Palestine, and was sponsored by Berzeit University. Gerner was invited to the conference by the university.
Gerner said she met Arafat once before in the 1980s.
"He has the ability to talk to people and look at them intently so that you feel as though he is talking directly at you," Gerner said. "Until then I had never understood why Palestinians had such affection for him."
Gerner said Arafat discussed the need for the U.S. government to get more involved in facilitating peace negotiations between Israel and Palestinian groups.
"That is what kept coming up over and over again," she said. "At one point he said, 'We are not asking for the moon.'"
Gerner said she thought the conflict's central issue was that Israelis were occupying Palestinian land in
violation of international law.
She said Palestinians also had to face blockades and checkpoints on roads between different parts of their territories.
"This means that if you are sick, you come in an ambulance and are stopped at the checkpoint, put on a stretcher and walked across the checkpoint area, and then put on another ambulance at the other side," Gerner said.
Her first-hand experiences of the conflict in the Middle East carry over into her classes.
Omur Yilmaz, graduate student from Cyprus, took Gerner's Polities of the Middle East and International Mediation and Conflict Resolution classes.
Yitmaz said Gerner's familiarity with the issues in the Middle East added practical knowledge to Gerner's courses and application to political science theories involving conflicts in countries.
"It is one thing to talk about theories, it is a completely different thing to talk about the real experiences that leaders have." Yilmaz said. "Especially when she has observed leaders coming to the table to talk and negotiate."
Gerner lived in Ramallah in 1996 and has made about 20 trips to the Middle East since the mid-1980s. She taught international studies for graduate students at Birzeit University in Palestine.
The conference honored the late Palestinian-American Ibrahim Abu-
Lughod, a scholar, author and activist who died May 23, 2001, in Ramallah at the age of 72. Ab-Lughod had been a doctoral adviser to Gerner when he taught at Northwestern University. The international studies program at Biziret was renamed in his honor.
The conference was supposed to be held at Birzeit University but the current conflict made it too difficult to hold it there.
On June 12, Gerner returned to Palestine with a group of Quakers focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Quakers have been involved in a search for peace in the area since 1948.
"The Quakers have a long history working towards peace and reconciliation, so this is a continuation of that activity." Gerner said.
She said she found the Palestinians to be welcoming, warm and hospitable people who place a high value on education. Yet, they are understandably angry and demoralized, she said.
"Palestinians have lived under occupation since 1967." Gerner said. "We forget that an entire generation of people have grown up only under occupation."
Gerner has written and edited books on the Middle East conflict. Gerner edited Understanding the Contemporary Middle East in 2000. The second edition of her book, One Land, Two Peoples: The Conflict over Palestine, was published in 1994.
Contact Smith at editor@kansan.com. This story was edited by Mike Gilligan.
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