KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2011 / NEWS
3A
Student Senate Notebook
STUDENT SENATE THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
BY ANGELIQUE
amcnaughton@kansan.com
Student Senate committee elections were held last night to determine the chair, vice-chair and secretary positions within the four committees.
According to Senate rules and regulations, in order for a student to be eligible for the executive committee positions he or she must have been a member of one of the committees and attended four meetings throughout the course of the semester. To acquire voting rights, members had to have attended two meetings prior to elections. All executive chairs have voting rights within the Student Executive committee.
No legislation was heard during the meetings that were held in the Kansas Union.
The next Senate meeting, on Wednesday April 27, will be a joint session with the old and new Senate members.
Chairman - Josh Dean of Renew KU.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Dean, a sophomore from Overland Park majoring in economics, political science and math, is finishing up his second year as a member of student Senate. Dean's been a member of the finance committee since he became a senator and held the position of vice-chair this year.
Vice Chairwoman Casey Briner of Renew KU.
Briner, a junior from Flower Mound, Texas, is a pre-law anthropology major.
Secretary — Kelly Cosby of Renew KU.
Cosby, a junior from Overland Park, is majoring in political science and English.
RIGHTS COMMITTEE
Chairman - Aaron Harris of KUnited.
Harris, a senior from Kansas City, Kan., is majoring in Journalism and History. Harris has been a member of Student Senate for a year and a half and
a member of rights committee for one year. Harris previously held positions within the Code of Ethics sub-committee.
Vice Chairman - Sean Elliott of Renew KU.
Elliott, a junior from Stillwell,
is majoring in political science.
Secretary — Jenna Olitsky of KUnited.
Olitsky, a sophomore from Leawood, is a pre-law psychology major.
MUTLI-CULTURAL
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Chairwoman — Devon Cantwell of Renew KU.
Cantwell, a junior from Topeka, is majoring in political science, international studies and women's studies. Cantwell held the position of chair for multicultural affairs last year and this is her third year in Senate.
Vice Chairman — Kris Velasco of KUnited.
Velasco, a sophomore from Wamego, is majoring in political science and communication studies.
Secretary - Meredith Pavicic
Pavicie, a junior from Leawood,
is in her first year in Senate.
UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Chairwoman Christine Lee of I
Christine Lee of Romuald.
Lee, a sophomore from Omaha, Neb. majoring in microbiology, joined Senate two years ago. Lee was the secretary of the university affairs committee last year. She's held positions within committees such as Center for Community Outreach and the Multi-Cultural Education Fund.
Vice Chairman - Tyler Caby of KUnited.
Coby, a freshman from Lee's Summit, is majoring in American Studies.
Secretary — Jenny Pisklo of KUnited.
Pisklo, a sophomore from Tulsa, Okla., is majoring in accounting. She is finishing her first year in Senate.
Relays volunteer devotes 25 years
BY LAURA NIGHTENGALE
Inightengale@kansan.com
Alice Ann Johnston became a Kansas Relays volunteer more than 25 years ago, when a friend invited her to participate. Her friend, wife of then track coach Bob Timmons, prompted a volunteer career that makes Johnston one of the unsung heroes of the Lawrence tradition.
While Johnston's work in the meet headquarters organizing entries and results will be behind the scenes, athletics staff rely on volunteers like her to make an event like the Kansas Relays possible.
Although Johnston herself is not an alumna, her husband is, and her son David was an All-American cross country runner during his career as a jayhawk in the early 90s.
She has seen performances from many of Kansas track and field's greatest athletes such as Al Oerter and Bill Alley, as well as watching her son compete in the Relays.
"We've had some great runners like Jim Ryun, Michael Cox, David Johnston," Johnston said, including her son's names with some of KU's greatest. "A lot of young athletes who were just really wonderful to watch."
This year, Johnston will again get to watch her son compete when he participates in the Street Mile event downtown. The race will take place tonight at 5:30 just before the Elite Men's Long Jump at 6 p.m.
"It's really exciting this year to have the events downtown . . . because we have world-class performers doing that and that will be great fun." Johnston said.
"It was absolutely marvelous to
see women, college women, up doing the pole vault," Johnston said.
Johnston will be participating in this year's Kansas Relays by helping organize in the event's headquarters during the action Friday and Saturday. Events on Friday will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and resume at 8 a.m. Saturday morning.
"It's a huge meet and it's like a three ring circus. There's something going on all the time that's very interesting," Johnston said.
Edited by Emily Soetaert
Isaac Gwin/KANSAN
The University is conducting research into the neurological variations between children with autism and those who do not. The research focuses on differences in pupil dilation.
RESEARCH (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
and her associate John Colombo, who also has a Ph.D. in psychology, are conducting groundbreaking research into the neurological variations between children who have an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, and those who do not. They believe that children with ASD have unique visual scanning and pupil dilation responses to social interactions.
Anderson and Colombo are able to test this theory through the use of a sophisticated eye-tracking device. A child is placed in an elevated car seat facing a TV. A still picture or video is then brought up on the screen for the child to look at. As the child watches the images of people or things, the eye-tracker, which carries a strong resemblance to a web camera, records and maps the child's eye movements and pupil dilation.
"We have discovered that children with an ASD and children without have similar gaze patterns when looking at faces and following eye movement," Anderson said. "The significant difference is
in the pupil response, which is an indication of thought processing."
When a person is processing information obtained visually, the pupils will dilate slightly. Anderson and Colombo's research shows that this is not the case for a child with an ASD whose pupils will actually constrict, indicating a lack of thought process for social interactions.
For Sam, this would imply that though he might be looking at someone who is speaking to him, it does not mean he is taking in any information or even understanding that he is the one to whom is being spoken.
Pupil response also links a to deeper brain function, Anderson said. Tracing these abnormalities back to the source could potentially reveal an overall cause for the prenatal neurological disruption that leads to a person having an ASD. In other studies, Anderson and Colombo have found that children with ASDs will have a slightly larger pupil baseline size. This information, coupled with the current knowledge on ASDs, may one day lead to highly accurate early detection techniques that could be conducted at birth. It would also make it easier to diagnose a child with a higher functioning ASD like Asperger's Syndrome.
"It's really a very simple way to diagnose an ASD that
Anderson also commented on the significant rise of autism diagnosis in the U.S. over the past 20 years.
wouldn't require the five hours of assessment that it typically takes to diagnose a child." Anderson said. "Now, of course we are still in the early stages of the study, but we're hopeful."
"I think we're to a point where there is more awareness of autism and that the earlier diagnostic screening tools that are now available are really helping to identify more children with ASDs." Anderson said. "This is especially true for children with Asperger's Syndrome whose problems aren't as obvious."
AVENUES OF SUPPORT
Sam is fortunate to have been diagnosed this early in life. The opportunities and support he will have will provide a tenfold increase in his chances for learning how to handle himself socially, but at some point Sam will grow up and may still require some assistance.
"We have a lot of people out
there who were diagnosed with autism very late in life," said Sean Swindler, K-CART's director of community program development
"I'm so happy that more and more people are beginning to know about autism and understand it."
K-CART considers itself am
and evaluation. "That and people who were diagnosed at a typical time, but they leave school and childhood services and they have nothing available to them. We are trying figure out ways to help them navigate the systems that may be able to help support them."
K-CART, in a collaboration with Johnson County Community College, has implemented an ASD support club where people who have an ASD and those who do not can socially interact and learn from one another.
DEBRA KAMPS director of K-CART
bitious in its training, not only with professionals who work with autistic children, but also with families who attend its spring and fall workshops that focus on new, innovative techniques in helping people with ASDs. To date the center has trained over 180 autism intervention providers.
The Kansas Department of Education is currently funding a K-CART project to help train elementary school teachers and even students' peers on how to interact with kindergarteners and first graders who have ASDs. It has already been implemented in eight counties in Kansas.
With more discoveries and better training methods being developed all the time, Sam's future looks to be a bright one. Hopes for what is to come at K-CART are high.
"I'm so happy that more and more people are beginning to know about autism and understand it," said Debra Kamps, the director of K-CART, at an autism awareness month celebrative
LOOKING AHEAD
"The more people that become aware, the more accepting people will be. That is where we need to be headed."
Those closest to Sam are encouraged by the work put forth by K-CART.
"As the end result of our involvement with K-CART, I would like for Sam to be looked at as just a regular child," said Lindsey Taylor, Sam's mother, as she watched him stare at the little toy car. "I hope that us getting him involved this early will allow us to be able to make enough progress now so that he'll be fine when he's older. It would be my dream for Sam to be looked at as a normal kid and not a kid with autism."
Edited by Emily Soetaer
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