FRIDAY, AUGUST 19.2005
NEWS
FACULTY
Professors honored
"Surprise patrol" bestows six awards on honorees
BY GARY SOUZA
gousa@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
A classroom of American studies students looked up in surprise as Chancellor Robert Hemenway, U.S. Representative Dennis Moore and a slew of media walked through the door of their classroom in Nunemaker Hall yesterday.
A representative from Commerce Bank of Lawrence and from the Kansas University Endowment Association accompanied Hemenway and Moore in presenting a Kemper Award to their professor, David Katzman, The group called themselves the "surprise patrol."
Katzman and Charles Marsh, professor of journalism, were the last of six professors to receive the award yesterday.
"American studies is the best department on campus, and it is indeed an honor to be among such distinguished faculty," Katzman said.
Students in Katzman's and
Marsh's classes were shocked when the visitors appeared.
Jenna Jaeger, Chicago freshman, is a student in Charles Marsh's "Media and Society" class. She said she was curious, at first, when the "surprise patrol" walked into the room. But after Marsh received the award, Jaeger said she was impressed.
The award, which is in its 10th year, was given as a surprise during the professors' classes. The Kemper Awards recognize good teaching with monetary awards of $5,000.
"We must have a great teacher," she said.
"It's always a good idea to recognize good teaching," Hemenway said.
The purpose of the annual awards, which come from the W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, is to recognize excellent teaching and advising at the University of Kansas.
A seven-member selection committee will present awards to 20 professors through Aug.
29. Distribution began yesterday. Seventeen recipients are professors at the Lawrence campus, one is at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, one at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., and the other is a professor at the School of Nursing in Kansas City, Kan.
"The award is totally based on the merit of the instructor," Hemenway said.
The funding for the Kemper Awards is shared between the Kemper Foundation and the Endowment Association.
The Kemper Foundation donated $500,000 for the awards. The Endowment Association matched the amount.
The surprise patrol's first visit yesterday was to Jim Orr, professor of molecular biosciences. Janet Hamburg, professor of dance, David Petr, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and Stephen Egbert, associate professor of geography.
- Edited by Patrick Ross
Shots
CONTINUED FROM 14
CONTINUED FROM 1A
Loehr received information about meningitis in the mail and at orientation.
Natalie Timson, complex director of Oliver Hall, said students received a letter in their mailboxes from Watkins letting them know if they have complied with the new policy, and detailing the proper procedures. Failure to comply with the policy will result in a hold on a student's ability to enroll.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3A
"During our floor meetings we are addressing the vaccination and recommending it," Timson said.
Tempe Harty, manager of
Naismith Hall, said the offcampus hall did not require the vaccination or a waiver. But it is brought to residents' attention by their resident adviser at their first hall meeting.
Currently, there are two meningococcal vaccines available in the United States. The first, called meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine or MPSV4, has been available since the 1970s. The other, called meningococcal conjugate vaccine or MVC4, was licensed this year.
Denning said there are slight chemical differences in how the vaccines are designed. The newer vaccine is able to impart longer-lasting immunity - typically around 10 years—she said.
"Several large immunization programs nationwide have recommended that patients get this new vaccine," Denning said. "The demand is so great that the production can't keep up."
MVC4, the newer vaccine, is in short supply, because the manufacturer did such a great job advertising it, Denning said.
According to the flier, both vaccines work well, and protect about 90 percent of those who are vaccinated. MVC4 costs $93 and MPSV4 costs $73.
Edited by Patrick Ross
"A dark side is there, but now I think light is beginning to shine," Rader said. "Hopefully someday God will accept me."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WICHITA — BTK serial killer Dennis Rader was ordered yesterday to serve 10 consecutive life terms during a tear-filled hearing in which relatives of his victims called him a monster and said he should be "thrown in a deep, dark hole and left to rot."
Rader offered thanks to police, Biblical quotes and an apology to victims' relatives before he was sentenced. Some family members walked out of court during Rader's speech, saying they did not want to give him the time of day.
Rader must serve 175 years, no parole
The sentence — a minimum of 175 years without a chance of parole — was the longest possible that Judge Gregory Waller could deliver. Kansas had no death penalty at the time the killings were committed.
The two-day hearing featured graphic testimony from detectives and sobbing relatives. It culminated with rambling testimony from Rader, who said he had been dishonest to his family and victims and at times wiped his eyes.
"Nancy's death is like a deep wound that will never, ever heal," Beverly Plapp, sister of victim Nancy Fox, testified. "As far as I'm concerned, Dennis Rader does not deserve to live. I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer."
"This man needs to be thrown in a deep, dark hole and left to rot," she said. "He should never, ever see the light of day."
Rader, 60, a former church congregation president and Boy Scout leader, led a double life, calling himself BTK for "bind, torture and kill." He was arrested in February and pled guilty in
June to 10 murders from 1974 to 1991.
Family members of the victims talked about the hearing at a news conference afterward, saying that Stephen King couldn't have come up with more monstrous character than Rader. Jeff Davis, whose mother was strangled by Rader, called Rader's speech a "pathetic, rambling diatribe."
"It's beyond comprehension. It was that pathetic," he said. "He just nauseates me. I just want them to put the cockroach away."
"I know the victim's families will never be able to forgive me. I hope somewhere deep down, eventually that will happen," he said.
Rader's voice choked as he made his half-hour address to the courtroom, saying he had been dishonest to his family and victims and selfish.
He also admitted he tracked his victims "like a predator."
Nola Foulston, Sedgwick County District Attorney, asked the judge that Rader be refused anything in prison, such as markers or crayons, that could be used to draw or write about human or animal forms, or anything that might be used to further his sexual fantasies.
Prosecutors earlier flashed a photograph of Rader wearing a mask, tied to a chair and donning a woman's blond wig. They also showed other pictures the killer took in which he had bound himself and was wearing a dress he had taken from a victim's house — apparently reliving the ecstasy of the murder.
Investigators testified that Rader kept hundreds of pictures from magazines and circulars mounted on index cards, with details of the warped sexual fantasies he dreamed of carrying out.
CORRECTION
Yesterday's University Daily Kansas contained an error. A donation from Dolph C. Simons, Jr. to the University of Kansas and the Douglas County Community Foundation was for a total of $17 million, however only $8.5 million was donated to the University.
ON THE RECORD
An 18-year-old KU student reported $300 in damage to a Honda S2000 between 10:15 p.m. Aug. 15 and noon Aug. 16 in lot 90 on campus.
A 21-year-old KU student reported that a 44-year-old man was stalking the student in violation of a court order about 6:10 p.m. Aug. 16 on the 1400 block of Tennessee Street.
- A 26-year-old KU student reported a $350 Sanyo camera cell phone stolen between 7:30 and 10:15 p.m. Aug. 16 at Oliver Hall.
STATE Girl mauled by Siberian tiger
MOUND VALLEY - A Siberian tiger attacked and killed a teenage girl who was posing for a picture at an animal sanctuary Thursday morning in southeast Kansas, authorities in Mound Valley said.
The Labette County Sheriff's office identified the victim as Haley R. Hilderbrand, 17, of Altamont*
A release said Hilderbrand was at the Lost Creek Animal Sanctuary posing for a photo with the 7-year-old tiger when the animal turned and attacked her.
Officers and handlers killed the animal.
—The Associated Press
---