Thursday, September 10, 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Former KU runner dreams idea for his Jayhawk book
By Mariana Paiva
Kansan staff writer
Dave Kamar's connection with the University of Kansas is so intense that 30 years after he graduated, he still dreams about Jayhawks and has stayed up all night writing a short story about the mythical bird.
Kamrar, former mem ber of the Kansas track team, released a book last month called "Jayhawk: Fact or Myth," which was inspired by a dream he had about the origin of KU's mascot.
Kamrar said he wrote the entire 32-page book just after waking from the dream last year. He wanted to have someone else illustrate the book but was unable to find anybody.
"I tried to find someone in Lawrence and here in California to illustrate the book, but no one had time," Kamrar said. "So, I did it myself."
He said he dedicated about 10 to 15 hours apiece to drawing the 10
pictures in the book. The result is a colorful book about how the Jayhawk came to be.
Kamrar said that when he finished the book, he came to the University to show it to Chancellor Robert Hemenway and to have his approval for selling it.
"I fell in love with KU. It is a wonderful place to go to school." Kamrar said. "I still visit in once or
twice a year."
Kamrar said he would donate a portion of the sales to the track program.
"I want to give back part of the scholarship they gave to me," he said.
Gary Schwartz, track head coach and Kamrar's teammate in the '60s, said he was very pleased with Kamrar's commitment to the track program.
but someone who loves the University enough to make this donation, he said.
Kamrar is not a person with unlimited resources,
"We didn't keep in close contact after we graduated, but when I came back to KU in 1988, Kamarar was the first one to call me to congratulate me," Schwartz said. "It is fun to renew a friendship that started in school."
Kamrar said he would come to the University Oct. 3 to promote and sign his book at the Mt. Oread Bookshop in the Kansas Union. The book is on sale in the bookstore for $12.95.
Kamrar said that he planned to release a book about the history of KU basketball and also a memory book about the University.
"As long as I have inspiration, I won't stop writing about KU," he said.
He asks students, faculty members or alumni interested in helping to contribute photos, drawings, sketches and anecdotes.
Kamrar can be reached at 1317 Magnolia Avenue, Modesto, Calif., 95350 or at GOKUO@aol.com.
University purchases new administrative software
By Melody Ard
Kanson staff writer
Admissions, student records, enrollment and billing are among the areas that will be affected by PeopleSoft, a new software package.
The University of Kansas decided to purchase the vendor software for the administrative computer system instead of developing the software inhouse as it had been doing. University Registrar Richard Morrell said.
Abrens said the computer system would cover six areas of University operations: admissions, which includes recruitments and application processing; student records, including enrollment and grades; financial aid packages and awards; tuition, fees and billing; academic advising and keeping track of campus community demographics information.
In addition to making improvements in record keeping, the software will help staff quickly change data within the system.
"I'd say the systems we now have allow the system to be more integrated and makes the administrative process easier," said Ola Faucher, associate director of human resources.
"This particular software has an increasing concentration on higher-education clients."
The system is in the beginning stages of operation at the University, and Morrell estimated that it would take at least a couple years for the system to be fully functional.
Meanwhile, there are six teams of faculty members learning each aspect of the system. Those faculty members will become the "experts" in their departments when the system is in use.
"We have to fade out the old system," Morrell said. "There are 450,000 student-data records to produce. Right now, it is in the early stages. We have a lot of input from users of administrative teams and over 60 faculty and staff members on various teams working on implementation."
Once the University staff is finished familiarizing themselves with the system, the next step will be to do a fit-and-gap analysis of the software.
"Fit means fitting our policies and procedures to the way the software works, and gap means determining what policies and procedures don't work with the system," Morrell said. "After that, we'll close the gaps and
migrate the data, test for bugs and implement."
Faucher said that she expected to find bugs in the system but that they probably wouldn't be things that will be too difficult to overcome.
"Any major software change will have challenges, and this one will too, even though it is focused for higher education," Faucher said. "We will also have special needs for KU."
Morrell said he thought one problem the University would avoid was a shutdown of the administrative computer system at the new millennium.
"The new software is completely 2000 compliant, and we are well in the process of making the old software compliant, too," he said. "We are not under any pressure, and it is a nice pressure not to have. A lot of universities are finding out they'll either miss deadlines or won't have a fully functional product."
Overall, the new software would make the administration computer system more efficient.
"In my opinion, this is the best student-records software I've seen," Morrell said. "What I like about it is that it is very, very flexible. The frustrating thing is how long it it takes to make modifications on the old system."
Doctoral students give psychological assistance to Lawrence schoolchildren
Kansan stuff writer
By Carolyn Mollett
Doctoral students in the clinical child psychology program have the chance to gain realworld experience working with children through the Lawrence public schools.
The Elementary Therapeutic Classroom (ETC) is a program that helps Lawrence children in kindergarten through sixth grades with significant emotional problems. Some of the children have been hospitalized at some point for self-destructive behavior or severe mood swings.
This semester, six of the 25 doctoral students in clinical child psychology are participating.
"A pretty good portion of our students will do that eventually," said Eric Vernberg, associate professor of psychology.
Each ETC session is a half-day in length, and there is a session each day of the school week.
"From the time kids get there to the time they leave, we constantly work with them around their actions and reactions to things," Vernberg said.
The goal of the program is to work with the children so they can return to the regular classroom for the entire day.
"We do quite a few things to help kids to verbalize feelings rather than acting them out," Vernberg said.
Vernberg said some children already had made the transition out of ETC and into the classroom full-time.
Joe Nye was a full-time psychologist with Lawrence public schools while he worked on his doctoral degree in psychology with a minor in pediatric psychology at the University. He saw a need in the public schools for psychological services.
"Historically, these children have had a tough time accessing mental health care." Nyre said.
He decided to create a program that would benefit the schools and give KU graduate students experience. He said that it was difficult at first to bring everyone together but that the clinical child psychology program was very accommodating. He said the kinks eventually were ironed out so the ETC could be created.
"Since its inception, the program has grown 300 percent," Nyre said.
Nyre is currently interning at Harvard Medical School in order to complete his doctoral requirements for the University of Kansas. He said he hoped to
return and continue working with the ETC as it grows.
Camille Randall, Edmund, Okla., graduate student, has been with the ETC since its inception in February 1997.
She said it was important for children who had difficulties functioning within regular school settings to have therapy more frequently.
"Mental health care, more and more, isn't going to be just face to face an hour a week," Randall said.
There are three sessions of ETC. Two are held at Hillcrest Elementary, and one is held at Cordley Elementary.
Each session has six children. One clinical psychology graduate student at a time is in a session. Lawrence special education teachers also teach with the KU students.
The KU students hold individual psychotherapy with the children twice a week, and there are group therapy sessions every day.
The individual sessions are usually a discussion about situations where the children do not act appropriately.
Group sessions usually involve games that teach children how to interact with others and follow rules.
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