THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
NEWS
3A
RECOGNITION
Kemper awards presented to 20 University professors
BY HALEY JONES hjones@kansan.com
Twenty professors from both the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas Medical Center have each received a $5,000 W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence.
The awards, given away for 13 years at the University, were established to recognize professors who had demonstrated excellence in teaching and advising.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway led a surprise patrol that presented professors with awards between Aug. 21 and Sept. 2.
The awards are supported by $650,000 from the William T.
Kemper Foundation and $650,000 from the Kansas University Endowment Association in matched funds. The 20 fellowships distributed this year amounted to $100,000.
Hannah Britton, associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies and political science, received a Kemper award
Britton
Aug. 27. Britton said the programs she was involved in were nurturing environments for improving her teaching in innovative ways.
"The idea is to create a classroom environment where we can
learn from our students as well — where we're able to take intellectual chances and risks," Britton said.
She said her outstanding undergraduate and graduate students were part of the reason she was selected for the award.
"My research nurtures my teaching and my teaching nurtures my research." Britton said.
Britton said she had done research in South Africa on female political leaders that related to her teaching at the University.
Hossein Saiedian, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and winner of a Kemper fellowship, agreed that his students were a source of inspiration and motivation for him in his teaching.
He said winning the award
made him feel a responsibility to present the standard of excellence the University wanted to convey to its students and the community.
Saiedian
Jon Tunge, associate professor of chemistry and winner of a Kemper
tellingship, said his love of his material motivated him to want to share his knowledge of chemistry with others.
that knowing his teaching had helped his students was encouraging.
He also said
"When students drop me a note to say how easy the chemistry section on the MCATs was or how they appreciated learning, that's something that motivates you to do as good or better next time," Tunge said.
Tunge
"It's hard to get people interested in a subject if you're not interested yourself," O'Lear said.
Shannon O'Lear, associate professor of geography and winner of a Kemper fellowship, said she liked the way geography had made her look at the world and she wanted to share that with others.
to help her with research for one of her projects.
O'Lear said she would use the money to hire an undergraduate
Both Tunge and Saiedian said they planned to put some of the $5,000 toward their own children's college funds.
O'Lear
Saiedian said he wanted to
use some of the funds from the fellowship toplan a retreat later this semester for his students. Britton said she wasn't sure how she would spend the money, but she might put it towards another trip to Africa.
Edited by Scott Toland
Kemper awards
1. Hannah Britton, associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies and political science
2. Elizabeth Asiedu, associate professor of economics and associate chair and director of graduate studies for the department of economics
3. Marta Caminero-Santangelo, associate professor of English
4. Paul Hanson, professor of chemistry
5. Shannon O'Lear, associate professor of geography and environmental studies
6. Michael Detamore, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering
7. Hossein Saiedian, professor and associate chair of electrical engineering and computer science
8. Ward Thompson, associate professor of Chemistry
9. Jon Tunge, associate professor of chemistry
10. Wanda Bonnel, RN, Ph.D, professor of geriatric nursing
and nursing education 11. Won Choi, Ph.D, professor of preventive medicine and public health
12. John Hoopes, associate professor of anthropology
13. John Nalbandian, professor of public administration
14. Kristi Neufeld, assistant professor of molecular bioscience
INTERNATIONAL
By nightfall, there was no sign of renewed clashes or any attempt to evict the protesters. But the festive atmosphere of recent days had evaporated. Families and children were mostly gone and helmet-
As a precaution, City Hall ordered 435 public schools closed for three days, while some international private schools opted to shut for a week. The U.S. and other nations warned their citizens of the danger of violence in the capital.
15. Raj Bhala, distinguished professor in school of law
16. Lori Messinger, Associate professor of social welfare and director of the bachelor's in social welfare program
17. Glen White, director of the Research and Training Center on Independent Living and professor of applied behavioral
science
Tensions remained high as thousands of protesters who were demanding Samak's resignation defied the ban on assembly by staying camped out at the prime minister's official compound, known as Government House, which they seized seven days earlier.
18. Mary Banwart, associate professor of communications studies
Two fellowships remain, both of which were to be announced at the KU Med Center. The names were not available at press time.
Thailand's leader declares an emergency state
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand's embattled leader struggled to keep the peace and his grip on power Tuesday after declaring a state of emergency that was openly flouted by thousands of anti-government protesters in the capital.
"If the military uses force to stage a coup, it will create a lot more problems," the general said.
While Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej sought to tamp down newly violent unrest pitting largely prosperous urban forces against the country's impoverished rural majority, he also was hit by an electoral commission finding that could disband his party and bar him from politics.
Samak said he had no choice but to impose emergency rule in Bangkok after a week of political tensions exploded into overnight rioting and street fighting between his supporters and opponents that left one person dead and dozens injured.
His decree gives the military the right to restore order, allows authorities to suspend civil liberties, bans public gatherings of more than five people and bars the media from reporting news that "causes panic."
"If the military has to get involved, it will not use force and will be on the people's side," Anupong said. He dismissed speculation the army was positioning itself to seize power again, less than two years after a 2006 coup.
Samak and the army chief, Gen. Anupong Paoichinda, both said authorities viewed emergency rule as a last resort and stressed they wanted to avoid violence.
"I did it to solve the problems of the country," Samak said in a televised news conference at a military headquarters in Bangkok. "I had no other choice. The softest means available was an emergency decree to end the situation using the law."
At a separate news conference, Anupong said that if troops were ordered into Bangkok's streets, they would be armed only with riot shields and batons.
clad protesters armed with sticks patrolled the grounds.
"It's a temporary lull and a new storm is gathering," said Tihitnan Pongidsihirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
Samaks's "back is against the wall," Thitinan said. "If he enforces the emergency decree, there will be violence because the (protesters) are not budging. But if he doesn't enforce it, there is a sense of anarchy rule. It's a lose-lose situation for Samak."
Some anti-government groups taunted authorities by threatening to switch off water and electricity at police stations and other government offices Wednesday.
A labor federation for state employees said 200,000 of its members would go on strike to support the protesters. Their walkout could disrupt train, bus and air service and cut electricity and water to some government buildings, said Sawit Kaewwan, secretary-general of the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation, which comprises 43 unions for state employees.
Yet another challenge confronted Samak when the Election Commission recommended Tuesday that his People's Power Party be disbanded for fraud during elections last year. Samak and other party leaders would be banned from politics for five years if judicial authorities upheld the ruling,
though other members could form a new party and retain power by winning new elections.
Democracy in Thailand has a history of fragility, with the military staging 18 coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. Samak's faceoff with anti-government protesters is only the latest conflict in two years of political tumult.
The group behind the anti-Samak protests, the People's Alliance for Democracy, formed in 2006 to demand the resignation of thenPrime Minister Shkin Sainawatra, eventually paving the way for the bloodless coup that ousted him. Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon, recently fled to Britain to escape corruption charges.
Many of the same allegations behind the uprising against Thaksin — corruption, stifling the media and the ruling party's buying votes from the rural poor with cash and other benefits — dominate the protests against Samak, who led Thaksin's allies to victory in last December's election.
Despite its name, the alliance — a mix of royalists, wealthy and middle-class urban residents, and union activists — argues Western-style democracy doesn't work for Thailand. It said the ballot box gave too much weight to the impoverished rural majority, who the alliance said were susceptible to vote buying that bred corruption.
MINK LAW DAY 2008
Missouri Iowa
Nebraska Kansas
Thursday, September 4, 2008 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Overland Park Convention Center 6000 College Boulevard Overland Park, Kansas OPCC directions at http://www.opconventioncenter.com
MINK Law Day provides prospective law students with an opportunity to speak with law school representatives from around the country. If you are interested in attending law school, come to learn what law schools are looking for in applicants. Attendance is free. Informational break out sessions will be held at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00 p.m. with topics on Admissions, Scholarships and Financial Aid Career Opportunities and the Student Perspective.
It wants most lawmakers appointed rather than elected.
The prime minister has repeatedly insisted he would not bow to demands that he step down. Samak gave no timeframe for how long emergency rule would be in effect but predicted it would be over "moderately quickly."
Pre-Register at http://law.missouri.edu/mink/
Thailand woke up Tuesday to jarring television images of bloody overnight street battles in which protesters from both sides fought with sticks, knives and slingshots.
Anti-government supporters cheer during a rally at the Government House on Tuesday in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand's prime minister declared a state of emergency in the capital after street fighting overnight between opponents and supporters of the government left one man dead and dozens of people injured.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS September 3, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Student Involvement & Leadership Group
BUDDHIST SOCIETY FOR THE CREATION OF VALUE
Presents at its Introductory Meeting a film by Soka Gakkai International OUR SHARED HUMANITY Film Q&A
SUNDAY-SEPTEMBER 7-6 PM
ALDERSON AUDITORIUM
KANSAS MEMORIAL UNION
Contact for more info: buddhist@ku.edu Free and open to the public
ATTENTION STUDENTS:
Free Online Wall Street Journal Free print KC Star, USA Today NY Times and LJ World
Gain easy access to the Wall Street Journal Be up to date on latest national and international news Papers already paid for by student fees
Swipe your KU card in the newspaper machines around campus to access the print papers. Email May Davis at mayday1@ku.edu with your first name, last name and email address to get access to the Wall Street Journal online. The Wall Steet Journal Online values at $100.
For more info contact: May Davis - Chairperson Newspaper Readership Program Advisory Board - mayday1@ku.edu