UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, May 2, 1997
5A
New KU Med dean full of ideas
Powell hopes to integrate school into larger University community
By Emily Vrabac
Kansan staff writer
The new executive dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine has several goals and ideas after just two weeks on the job.
Deborah Powell came to the Med Center from Lexington, Ky., where she was professor and chairwoman of pathology and laboratory medicine.
Powell said she had spent the past two weeks acquainting herself with Kansas City and the campus.
"The first two weeks have been very hectic," she said. "It's always somewhat difficult to move to a new
Despite having been here a short time, Powell has already established some goals.
"I'm very excited about this job and the kinds of things we can do in the next few years," she said. "Ultimately, I'd like to see us as part of the larger University community."
Powell said she would like to work with the Lawrence campus to create a new interdisciplinary program.
"Since one of my big issues is women's health, I would like to
meet with some of the deans on the Lawrence campus to develop a women's health concentration," she said.
The program would involve several departments because women's health issues transverse many areas, Powell said. She said she would especially like to work with faculty in the areas of law, education, and arts and sciences.
Powell would also like to assure others that the Med Center's new structure will be feasible.
"I want people to feel that we have a sort of stable administration here, that the structure is new, but it's going to be stable and going to be for a long time," she said. "A lot of it is really getting the word out to people that this is our mission and this is what we want to do."
Josh Carey, second-year medical stu.
dent from Oklahoma City, said he had been impressed with Powell when he was on the interviewing committee.
"She sounds phenomenal," Carey said. "Her focus is obviously student-directed."
Carey had particular interest in one of her goals.
"She wanted to maintain the continuity of the dean's office for a while," he said. "In the past 10 years, we've had 12 deans, and that is a problem."
Powell said that her new position helped keep her mind off those she left in Kentucky.
Powell appreciated how willingly the people at the Med Center and in the city have accepted her.
"People here, not just in the Med Center but in Kansas City, are very friendly," she said. "That struck me on some of my early visits, and it's still here."
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Foundation aids computer development
By Osvaldo Munoz
Special to the Kansan
Two University of Kansas entities have been selected to be part of a $170 million national effort to spur the development of computer programs—everything from making it easier to get information on plants and animals to detailed models of the weather.
The Natural Science Foundation will award grants to the Natural History Museum and the Kansas Association for Networked Supercomputing Applications, a cooperative organization of the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Wichita State University and the Kansas state government. Funding will start Oct. 1, 1997 and will last five years.
Bradley Kemp, public relations director for the Natural History Museum, said the museum would get $60,000 for its project.
The Natural History Museum's project will allow people to develop new methods of managing information on-line of the flora and fauna across North America.
However, Barbara Pashke, program assistant for the Kansas Association for Networked Supercomputing Applications, said the funding for the association hadn't been decided yet.
Leonard Kristhalka, director of the Natural History Museum, said the project would create a wide range of new opportunities for scientists, educators, students and policy makers.
Kemp also said the museum was one of 37 institutions nationwide in the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure.
"The Natural History Museum is posed to become the premier national site for biodiversity informatics for the 21st century, and our participation in National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure contributes substantially to that effort," Kristalka said.
Until the museum's project, scientists, for example, had to do their research in many different institutions. Now they will be able to access the information through the Internet.
The Kansas Association for Networked Supercomputing Applications will develop software to enhance the computer facilities and train researchers to use it.
Ken Bishop, the principal KU researcher involved in the association and a professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, said the new resources would enable researchers to develop more detailed models of weather, ground weather and crop coverage, and it will improve the design of processes at chemical plants.
The National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure is a partnership of academic and research institutions led by the San Diego Supercomputing Center.
Gen Xers not slackers; many volunteer locally
By Paul Eakins
Kansan staff writer
Generation X: a bunch of slackers who don't care about their community and don't get involved.
Some people may think this is the perfect definition of the up-and-coming generation composed of young professionals, high school and college students.
However, as those involved in volunteer organizations in Lawrence know, this generation, including KU students, cannot be generalized as such
Many students, well before the highly publicized Summit on Volunteerism in Washington D.C., have been volunteering by helping the poor, the disadvantaged, those with disabilities or those who just need a helping hand.
this process, offering students the opportunity to help people in their community.
The Center for Community Outreach at the University has been an integral part in
Emily Heath, co-director of CCO and Ozawick junior, said that, although more would be nice, many students volunteered.
"We have 10 to 15 percent on the student body involved in some amount of volunteering," Heath said. "The numbers are increasing every day."
CCO and other volunteer organizations at the University, as well as the individuals involved, have earned recognition from the Roger Hill Volunteer Center, 211 E. Eighth St., which finds volunteers for more than 150 Lawrence organizations.
Students Tutoring for Literacy, run by the CCO, was awarded the Group Project of the Year Award and a $500 prize by the center.
The literacy tutoring program has about 120 KU students who
tutor at places such as elementary schools, the Adult Learning Center, and at Ellsworth Hall to foreign-exchange students, Heath said.
The program was started eight years ago by KU students.
"Several students saw that illiteracy was a problem in Lawrence, so they started that program," she said.
"It's eye opening. It makes you appreciate what you have," Heath said.
Heath, who tutored in the program last semester, said it was rewarding.
Amy Griggs, coordinator of the volunteer center, said students represented 60 to 75 percent of the volunteers she referred to organizations.
"Some volunteer because they know it's right," she said. "Others do it for their resumes or for the experience. Whatever the reason, you're still helping."
Local artist publishes book
Skinny D to celebrate work at Bottleneck release party
By Mark McMaster Kansan staff writer
The book, titled The Boy With No Ears, is a collection of Richards' spoken word pieces, along with fiction and nonfiction pieces. Richards will celebrate the book's release at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
"We plan to take it to some of the more liberal bookstores," Richards said. "A lot of the book is sort of questionable to some peoples'
Local artist Doug "Skinny D" Richards, best known for his contributions to the Lawrence music scene in bands such as Slackjaw, has published his first book.
"The whole thing is an overview of about two and a half years of work," he said. "The original goal I had for it was to get something together that would be presentable to different publishing companies."
Richards published the collection himself and now plans to sell it at local book and music stores. A special full-color edition, of which 100 copies were printed, will be available for $10 at the release party on Sunday.
"We plan to take it to some of the more liberal bookstores."
"I've read a lot of his stories, and his stuff is fantastic," she said. "It's intense and often brutal, but brutally honest."
ethics. I can't see chain stores picking it up." Jacki Becker, who works with Richards at Pipeline Productions, praised the book, agreeing that some of the content was graphic.
Other Art Whore projects include a monthly spoken word night at the Granada, an art gallery which will open in a few months, and the musical group Absence.
"Art Whore is a conglomerate of artists," Richards said. "it's an umbrella term we use to define all these projects."
The book, which is illustrated by Tyson Shroeder, Lawrence resident, is a project of the recently conceived Art Whore collaboration.
Richards, a vocalist and passionist for Absence, describes it as "quasi-tribal industrial."
The University of Kansas Hillel Foundation Presents:
Yom Hashoah: In Remembrance of the Holocaust
To remember those who died and celebrate those who live.
Sunday May 4th,1997 7:30 p.m.
At Lawrence Jewish Community Center 917 Highland Drive, One block east of 9th & Iowa Admission is Free.Call 749-Jews for directions.
842-4455
Ask about our spacious 4 bedroom floorplan!
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Located at 940 Mississippi, the Hillel House is close to campus, affordable and a great opportunity for Jewish living. Rooms available immediately for the Summer and Fall semesters.
For information or an application call 832-8755.
What is... long, green, and filled with students?
- 24th and Ridge Court.
- 15th and Crestline will be combined with 6th and Crestline.
Your ride to class this summer.
- Summer Passes are available June 3rd at the Banking window on the fourth floor.
- window on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union
- Student pass: $30.00
- Non-student pass: $35.00
STUDENT
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SENATE
KU on WHEELS
Don't Forget...
- No buses on Stop Day
- Last day of finals is the last day of buses
- Saferide ends the night of the last day of finals