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THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ADMINISTRATION
Familiar face will run Student Affairs in fall
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
mschmidt@kansan.com
If the new Vice Provost for Student Affairs seems familiar, its probably because she isn't new. Tammara Durham was selected to fill the position last May out of the three candidates recommended by the Provost's search committee. Durham, who had already held the position in the interim during the search process since last September, now assumes a more permanent role as an advocate for students.
During the interim, Durham approached the position as though she was the acting vice provost for student affairs, but focused on short term goals, she said.
"If you want to be successful, you have to act as if the interim isn't there to be productive," Durham said.
Durham is now working on a long term strategic planning initiative under the University's Bold Aspirations, which she expects to be finished in six months. Durham sees herself as an advocate for students in and out of the classroom, which means she will represent the interests of the students to administrators when students are not present, Durham said. In addition, Durham acts as an adviser to Student Body President and Vice President Hannah Bolton and Brandon Woodard, respectively.
- The Office of Multicultural Affairs is now under the direction of Blane Harding, who was hired after a nationwide search. The office provides education about cultural diversity on campus and in the community and information on multicultural programs and activities.
- Mathematics professor Rodolfo Torres is an associate vice chancellor for research and graduate studies and a vice president of the KU Center for Research Inc. Two other associate vice chancellors will work with Torres to oversee research administration and planning.
- Denton Zeeman, a 2012 graduate of the School of Business's MBA program, will serve as program manager for RedTire. The program is designed to pair Kansas business owners looking to retire with qualified graduates from Kansas Regents institutions, including the University. RedTire will screen interested candidates and help through the purchase and transition of the business.
- Jeff Chasen is the University's new director of institutional compliance. Chasen will oversee the program, which works to make sure that the University is adhering to all necessary laws, rules and regulations.
"I help with their platform and use them as a sounding board for the current student perspective," Durham said. "It's a two-way street."
SOURCE: University of Kansas
While the relationship between student leadership and the vice provost's office has not changed much since the official appointment, it has become more stable, said Bolton.
- Jane McQueeny is the new director of Institutional Opportunity & Access. The office was created to make sure the University is an equal opportunity employer and to help promote diversity on campus. McQueeny previously worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
New University hires
- The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences hired Larry Fillan as director of student academic services. The office helps students in the school with educational planning as well as career or life goals. Karen Ledom served as the interim director, but has now returned to her position as administrative director.
"Since she's been finalized for the role, it's been easier to work with her because we know she'll
Bolton said Durham has advised she and Brandon on how to present the changes they suggested in their campaign platform approved by faculty senate.
be here for the entirety of the year," Bolton said.
Sara Rosen, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, pointed to Durham's background in both student and academic affairs when selecting her to permanently fill the position.
ing our goal to raise the awareness and stature of the academic mission of the university in all student affairs units," Rosen said. "She is creative and innovative, and she is a great advocate for our students"
"Her background is a particularly good fit for KU in support
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing Engineer Adam Steltzner reacts after the Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars on Aug. 5. Steltzner and some coworkers have been pegged as nerds of NASA.
Durham said she has an open door policy, and students should feel free to voice their concerns, especially during her office hours on Tuesdays from 10 am to noon in 133 Strong Hall.
NASA 'geeks' mark new era land Mars Curiosity rover
PASADENA, Calif. — Known to the Twitterverse and the president of the United States as "Mohawk Guy" of the Mars mission, Bobak Ferdowsi could be the changing public face of NASA and all of geekdom.
Ferdowsi, whose shaved scalp also features star shapes, is a flight director for the Mars rover Curiosity — a mission that captured the nation's imagination with its odd-defying, acrobatic landing.
-Edited by Kelsay Cipolla
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCIENCE
Seltzner directed the daring landing of the rover and appears in a NASA movie trailer describing why the Aug. 5 Mars landing involved "seven minutes of terror". The movie, posted on YouTube, became a hit.
"You guys are a little cooler than you used to be," President Barack Obama said in a Monday congratulatory phone call to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Given Ferdowsi's success, Obama, a "Star Trek" fan, joked about the Mohawk and suggested he might try it: "I think that I'm going to go back to my team and see if it makes sense."
And Mohawk Guy isn't the only star. There's also former rock 'n roller Adam Steltzner, sometimes called "Elvis Guy" because of his padded and sideburns.
Mohawk Guy's Twitter followers have soared to more than 50,000. Over the weekend, he and the 49-year-old Steltzner appeared on NPR's game show, "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me"
He's been doing Google+ hangouts. And, oh yes, he's gotten marriage proposals.
Strange hairstyles are a tradition for the 32-year-old Ferdowsi, who once donned a cut that was supposed to resemble a rocket plume — red, orange and gold.
Last week, in a Los Angeles Times interview, he acknowledged his haircut might be "a little bit of a shock" to some. He said most people think of the serious, buttoned-
In the unmanned world of space robotics, engineers are just as detail obsessed as Mission Control in Houston. But JPL doesn't handle life-and-death astronaut missions, and more risks can be taken.
It was all run by Steltzner, who twice got F' in high school math, initially skipped college to play music and enjoys making his own jam.
Such as the remarkable landing system of Mars Curiosity that featured a giant parachute, retrorockets and the gentle controlled lowering of the one-ton rover with cables.
But he noted that in 1967, engineers at his workplace, Jet Propulsion Lab, or JPL, wore Spock ears for the launch of a Venus-bound spacecraft.
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down Apollo 13 NASA.
CRI
The JPL missions are run in a creative conclave nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles and managed by the California Institute of Technology for NASA.
JPL prides itself on its university like atmosphere. Some engineers come to work in Hawaiian shirts, shorts and flip-flops.
"The button-down white shirts and ties were always in Houston they were not here," said Gentry Lee, who is chief engineer for planetary flight systems at JPL and is one of Ferdowsi's bosses.
"Geeks have hit pop culture," said Ken Denmead, editor and publisher of geekdad.com.
"The communications barriers have come down between the geeks and the normals if you want. The differences have faded away."
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