Monday, October 5, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Cottonwood Falls freshman Janice Keller and her father, Jerry, enjoy some lunch on Campanile Hill before the Kansas - Texas A&M football game. The lunches were provided by the Office of New Student Orientation for the Parents' Weekend tailgate. Photo by Dan Elavsky/KANSAN
About 700 people attend football tailgate party
By Melody Ard
Kansan staff writer
Hundreds of University of Kansas students and their families chose to eat lunch outside Saturday, despite the chilly temperatures and misty conditions.
Heidi Schrandt, graduate assistant of the Office of New Student Orientation, estimated that of the 734 people who preregistered for the first Parents' Weekend tailgate party before the football game, only 34 people opted to eat somewhere else. The families prepaid $5 a person for the lunch. The office collected $3,670.
Schrandt divided her time among watching the efficiency of the food-serving lines, checking in parents and watching the sky for rain.
"It was perfect football weather," she said. "It was a little bit chilly and a little bit dew from earlier this week, and the rain held off for us."
The families did get a bit of shelter from the weather under a tent that had been set up for them at the bottom of Campanile Hill. Schrandt said the office also wanted to give the families front-
"We decided to come to the tailgate instead of going downtown because we wanted to get enthused for the game and see the band and the Baby Jay," said Jessica Fishback, St. Louis freshman. "My parents have never been to a college or professional football game before."
row seats for KU traditions, including the football team and KU marching band's march down the hill into the stadium.
At least one family was confused by the word "tailgate" and expected more of a cook-out than sandwiches, and suggested that as an improvement for future parties.
"We thought there would be somebody grilling hamburgers and hot dogs," said Mike Worthy, father of Olathe freshman Jacqueline Worthy.
Schrandt said the office planned to make the tailgate party an annual event, and the office was busy learning what the parents and students wanted to change for next year.
"As this gets bigger, we definitely would want it to be a hamburger, hot dog and potato salad kind of day," she said.
Natural History Museum receives $2 million grant
By Pallavi Agarwal Kansan staff writer
For the first time, natural history museums across the world can share knowledge, some of it 300 years old, through the information superhighway.
Last week, the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center was awarded a $2 million grant that will be distributed during a three-year period from the National Science Foundation that would allow the museum to create software for the compilation of biological information across the world.
Processing the data will help to understand diseases, predict and possibly prevent certain diseases from occurring, and prevent ecosystems from disappearing off the face of the earth, said Leonard Krishtalka, museum director and project co-principal investigator.
No such software now exists.
This project will help scientists and researchers correlate natural history museum data with environmental data
such as climate, soil type and terrain type, said James Beach, assistant director of informatics at the museum and project co-principal investigator.
Researchers and scientists will be able to predict with this software what environmental conditions can allow for which type of species, and what could happen to species in different environments. Beach said.
For example, if scientists wanted to know which species would die if the temperature rose by one or two degrees, it would be possible to collect from all the data in the world and get a peep into the survival history of birds that have had to contend with temperature increases Beach said.
The project will use both traditional Internet and Internet 2, Beach said.
The grant was awarded by NSF's Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence Initiative. The museum competed with more than 700 applicants, Krishtalka said.
He said the data could help humankind.
"Animals are vectors of disease. We can track diseases they carry and predict where they are likely to occur," he said. "That can help us collect data on the paths of emerging diseases."
The data could also help save rain forests.
Krishtalka said by measuring how many species need to be extinct before rain forests collapse and comparing it to information on existing species, important predictions can be made on the future of a beleaguered rain forest.
Some of the University's partners in this project are the universities of New Mexico, California-Berkeley, CaliforniaSan Diego and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Krishtalka said this project would only be a first step to global integration of biological data.
"At the moment, only 5 percent of the 300-year-old data is accessible because it is actually digitized," he said. "Gaining access to the remaining 95 percent will take much longer."
University recruits minorities at expo
Bv Chad Bettes
Kansan staff writer
Colleges and universities gave their best pitches last night at College Expo '98 in an effort to attract minority students to their schools.
The expo, which was organized by the University of Kansas minority affairs office, was held in the Student Center of the University of Kansas Medical Center. About 100 students and their family members attended.
Robert Page Jr., assistant director of admissions, said this expo was unique because it was planned for high-ability African-American and Hispanic students throughout Kansas City.
competed with the expo.
Although anyone was welcome to attend, Page said invitations were sent to 1,800 students who had achieved a 3.5 or higher grade point average.
Page said that he was pleased with the event, but turnout was lower than expected because the Kansas City Chiefs game was moved to a time that
Thirty-eight colleges from throughout the Midwest sent admissions representatives to display information at the expo.
Lorraine Tolbert, a KU admissions counselor, said students asked about scholarships and application information.
Tolbert said the University made an ongoing effort to recruit minorities, including arranging days for minority high school seniors to visit campus and spend the night.
Sheila Hatcher attended the expo to get information for her son Marcus, a Blue Springs, Mo., resident.
Hatcher said as a parent she was most concerned with the financial aspects of college, so she talked to the KU representatives about the University's reciprocal agreements with Missouri residents.
Dione Greene, Kansas City, Mo., resident, said he was considering four colleges. He came to find out about the programs that schools had to offer, in addition to financial aid information.
The expo offered those who attended the opportunity to attend four educational sessions addressing topics from application procedures to getting involved at college.
The School of Nursing set up a display apart from the general KU exhibit to highlight its program. Minority nurses represented the department and gave complimentary blood pressure readings.
Elizabeth Lounds, a clinical instructor from the school, said it was important for minority students to see other minorities as registered nurses and higher positions in medicine.
Lounds said she was one of four black students in a nursing class of 106 when she attended the University. She wants to help increase that number by promoting KU nursing's high national ranking, urban location and good reputation.
"It's the best program in the area for the money." Lounds said.
For more information call the KU Card Center at 785-864-5845 or Commerce on Campus at 785-864-5846.
Baskin-Robbins 31 Ice Cream Store • The Bike Shop • Boomer's Smoke House • Brown Bear Brewery
Burge Union Bookstore • The Casbah • Children's Book Shop • Classic Gourmet • Coco Loco Mexican Cafe
Gibson Pharmacy • Imperial Garden • Jayhawk Bookstore • Jayhawk Trophy • Johnny's Tavern • Kansas Union Bookstore
Mr. Gatti's Pizza • Orchard Drug • Superior School Supply • University Bookshop • Yello Sub • Yikes
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