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KU today
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1996
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KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P 0 BOX 3585
TOPEKA KS 66601
Hemenway no longer a rookie at KU
- Chancellor Robert Hernenway is advancing a plan to put a new face on Kansas University.
BY TIM CARPENTER
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
The inaugural year of Robert Hemewan's chancellorship at Kansas University offered Jayhawk faithful plenty to squawk about.
dawk about.
"We've had a pretty busy year," said Hemenway, a University of Kentucky transplant prone to understatement.
In only his sophomore season as top gun, Hemenway changed so much about KU that folks needed name tags to keep track of who held which job.
That resulted from the first administrative reorganization of KU in more than two decades. Work on a new personnel chart — attaching people to jobs
— took months. Waiting generated anxiety among faculty and staff. The rumor mill burned white hot.
Hemenway did the same at KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.
In the end, there were winners — David Shulenburger's promotion to provost, for example — and there were losers. A number of well-known administrators were demoted.
The reorganization typified 1995-96 at KU. There was plenty of good news in the land of crimson and blue, but not all went well.
The highs:
The 1996 Legislature passed the $163 million "Crumbling Classrooms" initiative. It allows renovation and construction of academic space at KU and other state universities. KU gets about one-fourth of the money.
RUNÉE KNOEBER/JOURNAL-WORLD PHOTO
- KU Endowment Association generated a record $52 million in donations. That's 38 percent better than last year.
- In athletics, the football team went 10-2. The men's and women's basketball teams made the NCAA Tournament, Roy's boys finished at 29-5.
- Budget problems prompted a yearlong hiring freeze. The freeze thawed July 1, allowing KU to fill three of every four openings.
- And the lows:
- Lawmakers granted faculty a 2.5 percent wage hike, which doesn't kick in until Jan. 1. No increase in KU's general operating budget was passed.
Hemenway, considered a tough grader by his English students, declined to fill out a report card on his performance as chancellor.
"I'm not in the business of rating myself," he said. "I come to work every day and try to do the best I possibly can. I go home at night and try to sleep with the feeling that I've contributed towards that end."
The administrative reorganization was Hemenway's largest undertaking. His objective was to realign KU programs or services so that all effort was directed at improving the educational experience of students.
captured On the Lawrence campus, Hemenway appointed Shulenburger as provost and handed him unprecedented
See Hemenway, page 6A
Robert Hemenway is starting his second year as chancellor at Kansas University.
Up-and-coming Regents Center takes KC by storm
- The Kansas University
- The Kansas University Regents Center has all the looks of a newcomer, until you see its roots.
JOURNAL-WORLD PHOTO
BY RIC ANDERSON
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
The Kansas University Regents Center in Overland Park has logged remarkable increases in enrollment in the past four years.
OVERLAND PARK — It's easy to see the Kansas University Regents Center as a campus in its infancy.
The satellite campus is housed in a gleaming, 4-year-old building packed with up-to-date computer labs and video technology allowing students to learn from instructors on the Lawrence campus and vice-versa. The trees haven't even had a chance to grow much taller than the average student.
But what meets the eye isn't the entire story of the Regents Center.
"A lot of people think, because of the new building, we've only been here as long as the new building," said Loralee Baker-Rapue, public relations specialist at the Overland Park education
facility. "But we've been around since 1975."
In January 1993, the Regents Center took a big leap forward, opening a $6 million, 55,000-square-foot building at Quivira
That was the year the program opened in an elementary school providing graduate courses a convenient hours and nearby
classrooms for students in the Kansas City metro area.
Road and 127th Street.
And the students came. Summer enrollment has grown from 2,076 in 1993 to 4,463 in '96 — a 115 percent jump. Fall enrollment went from 8,729 in '93 to 11,983 last fall, while spring enrollment increased from 9,086 in 1994 to 12,257 this year.
Total enrollment in 1994:
19,891. In '96:28,139. That a 41 percent increase, and now a building that seemed mammoth in 1993 is beginning to feel smaller.
"This year, for the first time, our parking lot is full," Baker-Rapue said. "We're not out of space yet. But if we keep growing like this, the future is that we'll need another building and faculty offices."
In April, the Kansas Board of Regents granted KU permission to raise private funds to add a 66,000-square-foot building to the Regents Center campus.
ic fields to the metro area. The center's programs are tailored to the demands of working adults, and most are held during evenings.
The average student is 33 and married. The majority are parents who are full-time workers who live in Johnson County. They're serious students.
The addition would help the center meet its goal of providing graduate education in 12 academ-
"For faculty members, I'd say universally we've had positive comments about working with our students," Baker-Rapeu said. "They enjoy the give-and-take of the older adults. They bring a lot more to the classroom—they've just got this tremendous perspective."
Among programs in the works include expansion of the MBA, engineering management and health-service agency programs. Also, the center is working with Johnson County Community College to provide courses at the Regents Center that are required for admission to some professional schools on the Lawrence campus but are not offered at the community college.
Chancellor streamlines flagship institution
- KU's chancellor shuffled the administration for the first time in more than 20 years.
BY TIM CARPENTER
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
Chancellor Robert Hemenway took a chisel to barnacles weighing down the Kansas University administrative structure.
"Academic problems will be the priority."
— Chancellor Robert Hemenway
"The chief effect of the reorganization was that academic problems will be the priority," he said. "Now, the important thing is to make it work as effectively as it has the potential to work."
The new structure was christened July 1'. It had been in the works since Hemenway arrived at KU last year. His newcomer status opened the door for reform.
He settled on a framework known as the "provost model," which was recommended by a KU task force. It concentrates authority in the hands of a provost. In the past, KU's decentralized organization slowed decision making.
"Any organizational structure in place 20 years tends to get communication channels clogged, tends to get barnacles attached to it." Hemenway said.
David Shulenburger, former vice chancellor for academic affairs, beat out four other finalists to become KU's provost. Shulenburger retained his old academic duties and absorbed the management role filled by Ed Meyen as executive vice chancellor. Meyen returned to teaching in the School of Education.
Two associate provosts and two assistant provosts were hired to support Shulenburger.
Hemenway also created the position of vice chancellor for information services and dean of libraries. The current library dean, William Crowe, was appointed to that post.
He left in place David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs. He took research and public service away from Andrew Debicki, who was vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and public service. Debicki is now dean of graduate studies and international programs.
"I think it's a very exciting time," Debicki said. "I've had very long conversations with the chancellor. The man has a vision. His initial perspective of the university is different from the way
See Shuffle, page 2A
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Kansas University Endowment Association is governed by a board of about 60 volunteer trustees, which includes the executive committee: Dolph C. Simons Jr., chairman; John C. Dicus, vice chairman; Chester B. Vanatta, vice chairman; Jim Martin, president; Dale Seuflering, secretary; Jeffrey W. Davis, treasurer; Jordan L. Haines, A. Drue Jennings, Olin K. Petefish, John T. Stewart III and Kurt D. Watson.
Association tops $52 million in gifts in '96
- After a banner fund-raising year, officials with the Kansas University Endowment Association are enjoying the positive pressure created by consistently breaking their own records.
It is a reserved and professional joy. Nonetheless Martin, president of the Kansas University Endowment Association, is celebrating a record year of gifts to the university.
BY MATT GOWEN
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
James Martin is happy.
Each year since 1990, total giving has increased. From fiscal year 1994 to 1995, giving jumped from $34.5 million to $37.9 million.
Make that a colossal year.
in the fiscal year that ended June 30, a record of more than $52 million was given to the endowment association, besting the previous year's totals by 28 percent.
Campaign Kansas, a fund drive that ran from 1988 to 1992, raised $265 million. The original fundraising goal for the five-year campan was $150 million
"In my experience, we have not had that kind of meteoric increase in 22 years," Martin said. "Not even during Campaign Kansas."
What exactly does $52 million mean?
During fiscal year 1996, total direct support for KU resulting from fund-raising efforts will top $44 million, said John Scarfe, communications director for the association.
"KU, its students and faculty
A decade ago, gift revenue didn't even top $15 million.
"It makes me wonder just what we'll do for an encore," Martin said. "But it's a good problem to have."
As of June 30, the association's assets stood at a book value of $485 million, up from $420.3 million the previous year, Scarfe said.
Martin attributes the increase to several things, among them more aggressive fund-raising and the dedication of Chancellor Robert Hemenway, now entering his second year at the helm of the university.
"He recognizes the importance of private giving," Martin said. "He's committed to playing a
will have more scholarships, fellowships, buildings ... it's a significant figure." Martin said.
Hemenway's commitment to KU was evident through his frequent e-mails from Lexington prior to his arrival in Lawrence, Martin said.
"Even before the chancellor began his tenure, he and I were in close communication," Martin said, "so that when he arrived he could hit the ground running."
That allows the association to "put the frosting on the cake."
Chartered in 1891, the KU Endowment Association is completely Independent from the university, the association was founded with the intent of "giving money to KU without the state being involved," Scarffe said.
central role in soliciting private contributions."
See Endowment, page 19A
RENÉE KNOEBER/JOURNAL-WORLD PRINTS
James Martin is president of the Kansas University Endowment Association, which logged a record amount of donations in 1996.