2C = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MONDAY.AUG.19.2002
Nontraditional students
Cross-state commute ends for two students
By Jay Pilgreen Kansan staff writer
The last day of summer classes felt a little better for Robin Unruh and Stacy Brendemone than it probably did for most students. It was the last day they had to drive from Garden City — 369 miles away — for class.
Unruh and Brendmeen made the drive once a week for two years as they attended the University's master's social welfare program. After this week, they can fulfill the goals they made when they started their graduate studies. They can become licensed social workers.
Unruh said she and Brendmoon would drive to Topela the day before their classes and stay with Unruh's sister. They would finish their drive early
the next morning, and head back to Garden City after their classes were done at 6 p.m. Brendmoen said they would get back to Garden City between 12:30 and 1 a.m., ready to go to work the next morning.
Brendmeen said they scheduled all their classes in one day, and would wait a week in between trips. She said she and her family were glad the commute was over.
"It was a very strenuous time," Brendmoen said. "My husband was very supportive."
Brendmoen laughed as she said her husband, Todd, assumed household responsibilities while she studied. She said he did the laundry and took their daughter, Alexandra, wherever she needed to go.
Brendmoen said there weren't
many,options as to where she could attend school for her field of study.
Jan Jess, field placement coordinator for the graduate program at KU, said the majority of students were placed in a local area, ranging from Topeka to the Kansas City Metro area, but that other students commited to KU from Hays and Missouri, not quite as far, because there aren't many options for that region.
"KU has basically been the regional program for a long time,"Jess said.
She said Washburn had a graduate program, and recently Wichita State and Newman University had become accredited.
Jess said the department of social welfare let Unruh and Brennoen take all of their classes in one day, as well as
"I've had a couple of people ask me about KU. If you're going to do it, you have to be prepared for all the hours on the road and the toll it takes on your family life."
Stacy Brendmoen student who commuted weekly from Garden City
complete their 720-hour work requirement for their degrees in their home towns.
"We were able to approve their
internships at their work." Jess said. "That way, they could have financial support."
Jess said students could set up their internships in a variety of places, and encouraged students from western Kansas to work there. She said it was a frontier that had few social workers in place.
When they become licensed, both Brendmoen and Unruh can move up in their field. Brendmoen said she was the interim supervisor of the Garden City office of St. Francis Academy Inc., and with her master's degree, she said she could get the title permanently. Unruh will be eligible for promotion as a clinical therapist.
Brendmoen and Unrub said they were glad they accomplished their goals, but warn anyone interested in
doing what they did
"I've had a couple of people ask me about KU," Brendmoen said. "If you're going to do it, you have to be prepared for all the hours on the road and the toll it takes on your family life."
Unruh also warned people wanting to make a long-distance commute to find someone with common interests. She said a companion was important on the road.
"We've laughed together, cried together and argued together." Unruh said. "Now that it's over, it was worth it, but I don't recommend anyone do this by themselves."
Student parking extended in Learned lot University researchers learn more about dinosaurs' food
Contact Pilgreen at editor@kansan.com
Todd Smith
Kansan staff writer
Engineering students will find more parking spaces available on campus after hours largely because of one student's efforts.
Kyle Johnson. Wichita junior and engineering student senator, said he was frustrated students could not park in a portion of Lot 41 — the lot west of Learned Hall, — until after 7:30 p.m.
Starting this fall, the blue portion of lot 41 will be open to students after 5 p.m. except for ten spaces. The entire lot was previously restricted from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
A blue lot is parking designated for faculty and staff with blue parking stickers from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., according to information posted on signs in the lot.
Johnson said he took pictures of the parking lot and monitored who was using the lot.
"Every time I surveyed the lot, there were more illegally parked vehicles than legally parked vehicles," he said. "The number of legally parked vehicles never exceeded five."
He took his results to Carl Locke,
dean of engineering, and they compromised to have half the lot open to students after 5 p.m.
The Parking Commission went even further and made a proposal to open the entire parking lot after 5 p.m. Johnson said.
Johnson said Provost David Shulenburger did not approve the Parking Commissions recommendations of opening the whole lot after 5 p.m. because there were no guaranteed parking spaces for faculty and staff at night.
In response, Johnson took a petition around to the engineering faculty that excluded ten spaces to be designated as faculty spaces until 7:30 p.m.
Johnson said he took the petition back to Shulenburger with more than 60 signatures.
"It then had a meeting with Shulenburger regarding the obvious support from the engineering faculty on the parking changes and he agreed to my proposal," he said.
photo credit
Contact Smith at editor@kansan.com.
Paleontology graduate student Katrina Gobetz and adjunct assistant professor Stephen Bozarth have pioneered a method for finding plant cells trapped in hardened plaque from the teeth of 140-million-year-old dinosaurs and other extinct creatures. Identifying the cells in the plaque tells the duo what the animals ate.
Your dentist may hate plaque, but two University of Kansas researchers love it because of the window it provides on the eating habits of ancient animals.
Mike Campbell Special to the Kansan
"When an animal eats, not all the cells in its food are destroyed," Gobetz said, "Some cells get trapped in the plaque, which protects them very nicely until we come along to study them."
Kyle Johnson, an engineering student senator, was upset that student parking in Learned Hall Lot 41 was restricted until after 7:30 p.m.
Roommates stuck to the couch?
Gobetz starts by scrapping the hardened plaque, known as calculus, off the teeth. The calculus is the same gunk the hygienist cleans off your teeth at the dentist.
Gobetz uses some of the same techniques as a hygienist. Sometimes,however,she needs more vigorous methods.
Phytoliths arise because plants absorb various non-nutritional minerals from the soil at the same time that they absorb water. The plants store these minerals in the phytoliths to get them out of the way, and the phytoliths eventually fill up.
- Find new roommates.
After removing the calculus, Gobetz dissolve it in acid to free some very hard cells trapped inside. The cells, called phyllotites, come from plants that the animals ate.
- Sell the couch.
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"I can get a little of the calculus with a regular dental pick, but I usually have to use a hammer and chisel, too," she said.
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The minerals make the phytoliths extremely tough, so that the cells can survive almost any abuse such as chewing, the passage of 140 million years or a bath in acid.
Once the phytoliths are free of the calculus, Bozarth can look at them with an electron microscope and identify from what plants they came.
Campbell is a journalism intern with the PRISM program.
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