Volume 124 Issue 7
kansan.com
Monday, August 29, 2011
the student voice since 1904
CAMPUS
Engineering major gaining popularity
SARA SNEATH
ssneath@kansan.com
Max Ellenbecker graduated from the University of Kansas in May with a degree in architectural engineering. Ellenbecker and his classmates mark a shift in KU students' career interest.
Engineering has gained popularity this year, accounting for 7 percent of all the University's undergraduates in May. That's up from 5 percent last year and one of the larger increases of any major.
"I figured it'd be fairly easy to get a job with an engineering degree," Ellenbecker said, "but that wasn't my main reason in going into engineering."
Other majors, such as biological and biomedical sciences, have seen their number of graduates drop 2 percent over the past three years. Business, social sciences and visual and performing arts are the most popular undergraduate majors at the University and have been for the last three years. Those three majors have graduated between 8 and 13 percent of the University's undergraduates in the past three years.
According to data collected by PayScale.com, petroleum engineering is the best-paying degree. In fact, the engineering field dominates the list of Top 10 college majors that lead to high salaries.
While engineering has recently picked up in popularity at the University, students are still primarily choosing degrees not found on PayScale's list of most profitable.
Darci Goddard, a senior from Logan, is double majoring
in business and film.
"I think that having the two degrees together will make me more marketable," Goddard said.
Goddard said she began with a major in film because of her interest in that field. She said she later added a business major for practical reasons.
"I definitely think the business school, in general, does a very good job at career placement," Goddard said. "They are good at networking while you're in school. They ask you once you're done with a class how you are going to apply it to the job market."
Many of the University's top majors can be found on Princeton Review's list of top 10 majors for 2011, including business, psychology, speech and rhetoric studies. According to the Princeton Review, these majors are not necessarily selected based on their hirability but on the skill set they provide. The majors can be applied across the board and provide students with not only a diploma but a competitive mindset.
Travis Ice, a junior from Lawrence, said his ideal career — working in the front office for a baseball team — does not require a specific degree. Yet, he said, majoring in sociology will better prepare him for his goals.
"Sociology is gaged on a lot of research," Ice said. "And what I want to get into is basically all research. Sociology has given me a good understanding of the methods involved."
Edited by Jayson Jenks
Percent of KU Undergraduate Program by Major
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
The Junkyard Jazz Band performs Thursday night at the American Legion Post #14, 3408 W. Sixth St. The Junkyard Jazz Band was formed in 1981 and focus their music on the 1930s and 1940s eras. Guest danced on the dance floor while the band played.
CHRIS BRONSDN/KANSAN
Jazz band keeps classics alive
BRITTANY CLAMPITT bclampitt@kansan.com
Dance partners move around the floor as the band plays Louis Armstrong's classic version of the song, "Hello, Dolly!" It's Thursday night at the Junkyard Jazz Band's open jam session at the American Legion Post 14 and patrons have put on their dancing shoes to movie to the rhythms of old-time jazz.
"Most of them have had this huge gap where they haven't played music since they were 20 or whatever and now they are 60," Roberts said. "They kind of remember they miss it and it's almost therapeutic
Junkyard, as band member Bruce Roberts refers to it, has its core in the tradition of swing-era, Dixieland jazz bands. The genre generates memories in the audience and the musicians, who normally range from 60- to 90-years-old.
dances were principal sources of entertainment.
for them."
"They can remember this music and you can just see it in their eyes," Roberts said. "You know that love that you have for your own music you'll have a long time, and it'll chime you
The band was founded in 1981 and has roots from the University of Kansas and surrounding communities. One of the band's first members, Clyde Bysom, has been playing in Lawrence since he started
"I feel that room swayin' while the band's playin' one of your old favorite songs from way back when..."
band.
From "Hello, Dolly!" by Louis Armstrong
his first local jazz band around 1933 and began playing at the University in 1937.
"That was actually the swing-era and at KU they'd have dances three or four times a week, at the union mainly," Roberts said. With no radio or television, Roberts said the
"With us modern types, we're always trying to screw everything up and put a twist on everything," Steve Sharp, a senior from St. Louis, said. "They were very true to how the original music should have sounded. It was kind of nice to be put back in touch with that."
back and you'll have memories like all of us about certain music or certain songs."
The band invites anyone to attend the weekly jam session. Junkyard especially encourages young musicians to come learn from and test their chops against the more experienced
Sharp is one of two students from the University who have played with the band. Both he and fellow trumpet player Tommy Johnson, a graduate student from Lawrence, valued the learning opportunity.
"The most important thing that I've learned from going and playing with them is when to play, when not to play, how to listen and how to pick things up on the fly," Johnson said. "It's pretty cool because the more you go, you notice
SEE BAND PAGE 3
Index CLASSIFIED 9 CRYPTOQUPS 4 SPORTS 10
CROSSWORD 4 OPINION 5 SUDOKU 4
15%
PRINCETON REVIEW'S TOP 10 MAJORS
1. Business Administration and Management/Commerce
2. Psychology
3. Nursing
4. Biology/Biological Sciences
Don't forget
5. Education
6. English Language and Literature
7. Economics
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2011 The University Daily Kansan
8. Communications Studies/Speech Communication and Rhetoric
9. Political Science and Government
10. Computer and Information Sciences
Don't forget to pick up your KU football tickets! First game is Saturday!
SOURCE: PRINCETON REVIEW
Today's weather Forecasts done by University students. For a more detailed forecast, see page 24.
HI: 90
LO: 68