THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5. 2009
HOMECOMING
PROFESSORS
Graduates return to Kansas as faculty
Faculty alumni explain why they returned to alma mater
BY LAURA DREES
ldrees@kansan.com
Homecoming is all about returns mostly of students and of former faculty. Sometimes those former students return to the University as faculty members. Originally they came from all over the country and world to earn undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in the countless areas the University offers. Their reasons for coming and coming back may differ, but students, alumni and faculty-alumni can agree that coming home to the University of Kansas is easy.
LAURA MORIARTY
Position: Assistant professor department of English
Hometown: Bozeman, Mont.
Degrees from the University:
Bachelor of Social Work (1993)
and a Master's in creative writing
(1999)
Other degrees/work: Carlin Graduate Teaching Award (1999),
George Bentham
Pellowship
for Creative
Writing, Phillips
Exeter Academy
(2000)
Claims to Fame: She has had three novels published: "The
Homecoming offers an opportunity for alumni to return to the University to see what has changed on campus and to enjoy a football game. Some graduates come back to the University just for homecoming, but others have found themselves playing a different role at the University — as professors or teachers.
Moriarty
Center of Everything" (2003), "The Rest of Her Life" (2007), and "While I'm Falling" (2009).
What she likes about the University: "I really benefited from the accessibility of KU and all the opportunities it offered." Moriarty said. She said that she particularly benefited from the University's study abroad programs in which she traveled to Malta. Moriarty said her graduate education here was helpful in polishing her writing and enabled her to publish her first novel. She also credited the University as being supportive of its faculty's writing work because it allowed her the time to publish and write her books. Her most recent book, "While I'm Falling," was released in August.
Thoughts about homecoming: Rather than participating in University-sponsored alumni activities, Moriarty said she created her own. She recently held a mini reunion with a group of friends from college.
Photo courtesy of Spencer Research Library
Advice for current students:
"You can get an excellent education in a huge class if you're proactive."
Moriarty said.
"You have friends that you keep for a lifetime," Moriarty said. She said she considered such relationships another important aspect of her experience here both as a student and as a faculty member.
She advised students to seek out and talk to their professors and to sit in the front rows of classes. She also said she recommended participating in the University's exchange programs and extracurricular opportunities.
On Coming Back: Moriarty, whose father was a Mariner, said she lived in a wide variety of locales in her lifetime, but said she felt something special for Lawrence.
"The opportunities are out there, You just have to go for them," Moriarty said.
"I connected with Lawrence in a way I didn't connect to any of the other places I'd lived ... I'd been back for five years, and then a faculty position opened at KU," Moriarty said.
After a nationwide search for an assistant professor of English, Moriarty was chosen.
"I am happy to be teaching at an institution that offered me so much," she said.
Fun Facts: Moriarty's latest novel is set in McCollum Hall, where she lived her sophomore year and worked as a desk assistant. She was also a Residence Advisor at Hashinger Hall for two years, which she said exposed her to a variety of people.
ROSALEA
POSTMA-CARTTAR
Positions: Associate specialist,
co-director of Spanish Language
Instruction, department of Spanish
and Portuguese
Hometown: Lawrence
Other degrees/work: Master's and $ ^{*} $Ph.D. in Hispanic literature from Cornell University (1991)
Degrees from the University:
Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and in German (1977)
Claims to Fame: Cramer Award for Teaching recipient, has published two textbook-related projects
What she likes about the University: As a student, Postma-Cartarit said she was attracted to the reputation of the Spanish program and was heavily involved in the many
Postma-Carttar
he many extracurricular activities offered. In particular, she took full advantage of study abroad activities and of Student Union Activities.
Thoughts about homecoming:
As a student, she said she attended football games and recalled most clearly the mum-and-pipe cleaner corsages women would purchase from vendors at the homecoming game.
"My current extracurricular activity is three children between the ages of nine and thirteen," she said.
She said she took her children to the homecoming parade when they were younger and she saw the parade for the first time in years when she took them in 2000.
Advice for current students: Postma-Carttar encouraged students to focus on their reasons for taking specific classes so that they could get the best possible academic experience.
part-time jobs in the University's department of international studies and the department of Spanish and Portuguese until a full-time position became available. She said that she was convinced to stay by the quality of the University's program. The strangest part, she said, was returning to teach in her old classroom.
"I teach classes in the same room where I took classes. It sometimes makes that 30-year difference hard to pin down." Postma-Carttar said. "It's been a long time."
On Coming Back: Both Postma-Carttar and her husband are from Lawrence, and when he got a job in the area, they agreed that the town would be a good place to live as adults. She initially held a few
Fun Facts: Postma-Carttar has been taking Spanish since her days in Lawrence's Pinckney Elementary School and Central Junior High School, where she met her husband.
"Go see your professors during office hours, and get to know them outside of class," she said.
"Because I'm a KU alumnus, I have a special interest in today's KU students making the most of the opportunities they have here," she said.
JEREMY LILL
Position: Accounting lecturer, School of Business
Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.
Degrees from the University;
Bachelor of Science in business
and in accounting (December
2002)
Business administration from the Consortium Institute of Management and Business Analysis
Claims to Fame:
Other degrees/work: Master's
President of Epsilon Tau Chapter of Phi Beta Delta, International Honor Fraternity
What he likes about the University: Lill said he found the diversity of people, opportunities and academics most important from a former student viewpoint.
"We have a lot of really brilliant people here," Lill said. "If you surround yourself with a lot of high-quality people, you perform at a higher-quality level."
Lill
The strangest part, he said, was walking up the hill no longer as a student but as a professor.
Thoughts about Homecoming;
When he attended the University,
Lill's parents and grandfather
attended a football game every year,
usually the homecoming game.
"It almost seemed like the build-up to the football game was the fun part," Lill said.
Advice for current students:
"Professors talk to recruiters all the time," Lill said. He recommended students set themselves apart from all other students by putting forth extra effort on exams and projects in classes or extracurricular activities. He said that good experiences with faculty members would result in opportunities.
Lill said that he still went to football games and he was most likely to see his former friends and acquaintances at homecoming.
On Coming Back: Lill said he always had a long-term goal of returning to the University and that he hoped to come back to the University again after he gets his
doctorate elsewhere
"Coming back was just my dream job presenting itself," he said. He also said that returning was only possible because he had kept in contact with the people who mentored him.
Fun Facts: Lill's master's degree involved a long-term residency in Italy, so he is fluent in conversational Italian. His father, grandfather and sisters also attended the University.
EDWARD A. MARTINKO
Hometown: Colorado Springs Colo.
Positions: Professor of ecology, evolutionary biology and environmental studies, department of
evolutionary biology, courtesy professor, department of geography
Degree from the University: Doctorate
entomology (ecology) (1976)
Martinko
physiology from the University of Colorado at Boulder (1970)
Claims to Fame: Director of the Kansas Biological Survey, the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program (KARS) and of the University of Kansas Field Station and Ecological Reserves. He is also published in scientific journals and is a member of scientific associations.
Other degrees/work: Bachelor of Science in chemistry and in biology from the College of Emporia (1967) and a Master's in
What he likes about the University: He said what attracted him first was the reputation of the entomology program. He then stayed because of the research opportunities available to him.
"To stimulate the development of new research- that's become the mainstay of my career," Martinko said.
Thoughts about Homecomings Alifetime member of the University of Kansas Alumni Association, Dr. Martinko said he went to tailgates at the Adams Alumni Center before football games.
"I think the Alumni Association provides an excellent opportunity to stay in touch with the University and join the excitement generated by the faculty and staff and
students," he said.
Advice for current students: Martinko encouraged students to participate in activities and areas that interested them most.
"Their career will benefit from that excitement." Martino said.
On Coming Back: Martinko said he advised consideration before deciding to return to an alma mater, particularly from an academic standpoint. He decided to stay at the University after getting his doctorate.
"I think that Lawrence and the University of Kansas offer an outstanding quality of life, and I am tickled to be part of it," he said of his own situation.
Fun Facts: Martinko is also a member of the University of Colorado Alumni Association, but, he said he participated more actively in the University of Kansas Alumni Association "for obvious reasons." He transitioned to studying entomology while at the University of Colorado.
— Edited by Lauren Cunningham
图 3-29 空心球体中各层材料的应力分布