LAWRENC JOURNAL-WORLD
V
PROFILES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1996 11C
Renovation helps Campanile ring true again
- The merry sounds of bells are once again wafting from the top of Mount Oread after completion of a renovation project.
BY MARK FAGAN
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
The carillon inside Kansas University's World War II Memorial Camillare is ringing true again, thanks to a five-year renovation project to realign the bells atop Mount Oread.
While officials are still working to fine-tune the instrument's finishing touches, University Carillonneur Albert Gerken is sitting pretty once again.
"The response is more direct. The instrument doesn't fight you as it did before."
said Gerken, who's been clanging KU's bells since 1963.
"Many people have noticed the difference in sound — it has a much greater dynamic range, and you can just do more with the
"You can just do more with the instrument musically. It just makes it easier. It's a much better range of dynamics and articulation."
instrument musically. It just makes it easier. It's a much better range of dynamics and articulation."
Albert Gerken
In short, he said, the 53-bell carillon is more efficient than ever, thanks to five years of planning and 21/2 years of renovations that wrapped up in April, when the 45-year-old instrument was rededicated.
Realigning the bells — from their origi-
more cohesive sound, with better sound egress. It's no longer caught in the corners."
nal box style to a radial configuration — now allows music to travel unencumbered from the walls of the campanile.
The instrument's original bells once again chime each day, marking each quarter hour and hour. Gerken also plays concert recitals Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
"It's superior to what we had before," Gerken said. "It's a
"It sounds great," he said. "I'm really very pleased."
The renovation was made possible by a $425,000 gift from Keith and Joan Bunnel, of Pittsburgh, Pa. Keith Bunnel was president of KU's class of 1946.
The project was born in 1991, when planning and fund-raising started. The actual work lasted 21/2 years, Gerken said, and included highly specialized work.
After overseeing the renovation, Gerken now has set his sights on keeping the bells in tune. Clapboards, electronics and the keyboard all need regular maintenance, and the Kansas University Endowment Association has set up a fund for that purpose.
"It's for when we have to go in and make repairs," Gerken said. "But this won't ever have to be done again, to this extent."
BELL RINGER
Albert Gerken plays concerts twice a week at Kansas University's Memorial Campanile. Here's the schedule:
Wednesdays: 8 p.m.
during the summer; 7 p.m.
during rest of year.
Sundays: 3 p.m.
Each concert lasts about 45 minutes.
Year as chairman filled with challenges, accomplishments
Regent reflects on complex system
- The first Lawrence resident to pilot the state's university system reflects on challenges facing the Kansas Board of Regents.
BY GWYN MELLINGER
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
Lawrence cardiologist John Hiebert had been chair of the Kansas Board of Regents just a few days when scandal at the state's teaching hospital threatened the credibility of the entire state university system.
More than a year later, having taken steps to prevent a recurrence of the mismanagement that shut down the heart transplant program at the Kansas University Medical Center, Hiebert can be a bit stoic. Still, he doesn't minimize the seriousness of the challenge he faced.
"Don Slawson, a former regent, said this was the greatest threat to the regents ever." Hiebert said.
In addition to the public relations nightmare that followed, Hiebert and his fellow regents grappled with issues such as how to ensure the medical center's survival in the face of heightened
competition. Because teaching is one of their primary functions, academic health centers tend to have overhead 30 percent to 40 percent higher than private hospitals.
"Now we have this environment of managed care where everybody is sharpening their
pencil and discounts are getting deeper." he said.
That's just one of the fiscal challenges the Board of Regents is planning for. Hiebert, whose term as chair ended in
"We are a state which has invested in higher education."
The bottom line, Hiebert said, is that "Kansas will have to apply some strategies to make delivery of education more efficient."
June, said the board has taken steps to prepare the state's universities for enrollments that could be nearly 20 percent higher by the end of the decade.
Two major initiatives approved by the 1996 Kansas Legislature will advance that objective. First was the adoption of qualified admissions standards that will
Dr. John Hiebert
"We have in the pipeline an increased number of students already in the middle schools and in the high schools," Hiebert said. "At the same time, we are a state which has invested in higher education but we have a relatively fixed source of revenue. We are not flush with money."
require incoming freshmen to meet basic academic requirements, rather than simply holding a diploma from a Kansas high school.
The Legislature
also authorized the regents to issue bonds to finance a $163 million capital improvement plan, which will begin the process of repairing the universities' so-called "crumbling classrooms."
In addition, the state universities will explore sharing resources and expanding use of remote classrooms connected to universities by television and computer, but they also are seeking ways to make faculty more productive.
the state university system into the new millennium, carries a component for faculty evaluations, support, development and rewards.
Vision 2020, a plan for taking
The plan, which KU and five other regents universities are considering, re-examines the way faculty allocate their time among teaching, research and service and provides incentives and support for post-tenure faculty to remain productive.
"It's the lincin pin for our credibility with the Legislature," Hiebert said. "It's my opinion that if we are going to maintain fiscal support, we will have to work very diligently to maintain accountability."
If fiscal support from the Legislature can't be maintained, faculty will continue to leave the regents system for more lucrative jobs.
"Unquestionably, faculty salaries are ahead of other things that we need," he said, but added that technological innovations, such as the rapid turnover in computer software and hardware, deserve attention in the budget.
(913) 843-4600 (800) 545-5128 Fax (913) 842-4570 Located downtown at 9th & New Jersey