THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
RecycleMania continues
Kansas is at 7th place in the Big 12 for the most recycled items. ENIVORNMENT | 6A
TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010
Casbah offers space to Merc
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Downtown space would be The Merc's third attempt. LAWRENCE | 6A
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 109
ARTS
Photo exhibit is a twister of a tale
Collin Johnson/KANSAN
Tristan Smith, visitor service director for the museum assembled the exhibit yesterday. He said the "Kansas Tornado" display is a historic aspect of storms in Kansas.
BY NANCY WOLENS nwolens@kansan.com
Spring is near, which means tornadoes could be just around the corner. The University's Natural History Museum opened its "Kansas Tornado" photography exhibit today to feed the public's fascination with tornadoes and to illustrate the wreckage and ruins Kansas storms have left behind. "Kansas Tornado" was produced by the Kansas State Historical Society and is a Kansas Interpretive Traveling Exhibit. The showcase of these menacing twisters, held in the Panorama Gallery on the fourth floor of the museum, will be open until April 25 and correlates with the museum's spring severe weather theme.
Nancy Sherbert, curator of photographs and special collections acquisitions for the Kansas State Historical Society, said she put the exhibit together several years ago.
"I searched through our photograph collection to determine what tornado photos we have on file," Sherbert said. "After I identified several storms, I conducted my research by reading newspaper accounts, people's recollections from diaries, letters and books."
Tristan Smith, visitor services director for the museum, assembled the exhibit yesterday and said it has about 10 parallels with historic photos of various kinds of destruction of communities hit by tornadoes; the photos are showcased with descriptions and eyewitness accounts of the storms, he said.
According to the Historical Society's website, its traveling exhibits have both freestanding and wall-hung panels that measure 3 feet by 4 feet and display about 44 images of twisters.
Tornadoes showcased in the exhibit include the windy mammoths that blew through Emporia, Iola, Lawrence and Topeka. The website speculates that it is possible the Historical Society's collection of tornado photos contains one of the first pictures of a tornado caught on film on April 23, 1884, in Anderson County.
One of the most disastrous tornadoes in the state's history tore through Topela on June 8, 1966, and left 20 miles worth of damage.
Kendra Caspers, a senior from Topeka, has lived in Kansas her whole life and hasn't been in a tornado yet, but she said
she's had some close calls.
"I have had to go to my basement multiple times for tornado warnings and watches," Caspers said. "A funnel once formed above our house but it never became something to worry about."
Caspers said she looks forward to checking out the tornado exhibit at the museum to see what kind of destruction Kansas has had in the past.
According to the National Weather Service's 2010 Severe Weather Awareness packet, 2009 did not have a record amount of tornadoes, June recorded 46 tornadoes, the most reported in a single month for 2009. The first tornado of 2009 was on March 7 in Reno County, the Hutchinson area. In total, there were 103 twisters in 2009.
In 2008, Kansas had a record of 187 tornadoes, which killed four people and injured nine. The first tornado in 2008 was on March 2. In May alone there were 127 twisters. From 1950 to 1990 Douglas County reported 37 tornadoes, compared to the statewide total of 3,961.
Jared Leighton, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Topeka, said tornado season reaches its climax in late May and starts to lessen through the month of June.
SCIENCE OF SEVERE WEATHER, UPCOMING MUSEUM EVENTS
**WHEN:** Tuesday, March 9 at 7 p.m.
**WHERE:** The University's Natural History Museum
WHAT: Meteorologist Scott Blair, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Topeka, will discuss the formation of tornadoes and share pictures he has taken. He will also talk about his firsthand experiences documenting severe storms; he has witnessed more than 100 tornadoes in 14 states.
"Typically it'll start to ramp up in early April and come to a peak somewhere in mid-to late May," Leighton said. "Through the beginning parts of June it kind of tapers off, and once we get to July tornadoes it won't overactive yet."
WHEN: Wednesday, April 14 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: The University's Natural History Museum
Edited by Kristen Liszewski
The "Kansas Tornado" exhibit is free to the public and is open during the museum's hours: 9 a.m to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
WHAT: Storm chaser and historian, Jay Ante, will share his point of view on severe weather in Kansas and will conduct an investigation of Kansas history, tornado myths and legends to offer a different way of thinking about tornadoes. Ante teaches history at Johnson County Community College.
TORNADO
SEASON
BEGINS
Specified by the National Weather Service, tornadoes transpire often during the spring and summer months and thrive in balmy, humid atmospheres. Often, if there is a tornado watch or warning in the area, there will be a dusky, green color to the sky with hail and a loud noise comparable to a train.
SAFETY TIPS
The National Weather Service offers tips to stay safe during a tornado on its website. Out of all the precautions people should take it is important to remember the word DUCK;
Down to the lowest level
U under something sturdy
C over your head
K keep in shelter until the storm passes
TORNADOES DISPLAYED IN "KANSAS TORNADO" EXHIBIT
ACADEMICS
Explore an interactive graphic of applicants at kansan.com
BY ALEESE KOPF akopf@kansan.com
Demand rises, admissions lid stays put for med school
Katie Fast received the best news of her life on Dec. 23, 2009. It was on this day that Fast, a graduate from Tabor College in Hillsboro, could finally relax. After applying three straight years to the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Kan., she was accepted.
Despite a critical shortage of physicians in the U.S. and a record-high number of applicants, medical
Fast struggled through a process that 42,269 graduating seniors across the country faced last year
bearer the country need no later -- applying to American medical schools. During the past decade, medical school applications have steadily increased. The University's medical school followed the trend, seeing 2,429 applicants this year compared to 2047 in 2008.
schools are not necessarily accepting more students.
In fact, while applicants to the medical school have nearly doubled since 2001, it has not increased the number of applicants it accepts during that time. Of the students who applied for admission into the medical school in 2009, only 14 percent were accepted.
According to the Association of Medical Colleges website, the U.S. is expected to face a shortage of 124,000 to 159,000 physicians by 2025.
"A lot of that is due to the fact that we've got a growing and aging population that in the next couple of years is really going to put big strains on the health care system," said Dr. Atul Grover, AAMC chief advocacy officer, in a press briefing in January on legislation that would help address the shortage.
In 2006 the AAMC called for
medical schools to increase enrollment by 30 percent by 2015 to address the national shortage. A 2008 survey shows that 98 of 125 accredited schools had increased their first-year enrollment from how many they enrolled in 2002. An additional 15 schools demonstrated plans to increase by 2013, showing more than 90 percent of schools either already increased or plans to increase enrollment.
index
During 2009, first-year enrollment in the nation's medical schools rose was nearly 18,400 students, a 2 percent increase from the year before, according to an AAMC October 2009 news release. While the medical school was not one of the 98 that increased enrollment, they do have plans to do so.
SEE DOCTORS ON PAGE 3A
Classifieds...3B Opinion...5A
Crossword...4A Sports...1B
Horoscopes...4A Sudoku...5A
All contents, unless stated otherwise; © 2010 The University Daily Kansas
Man cites God in ravaging Michigan hotel room
weather
He was arrested in the morning, but not before he shot the bed and walls, and put a clock in a microwave. ODD NEWS | 2A
TODAY
41 24 AM clouds. PM sun
WEDNESDAY
44 25
THURSDAY
Partly cloudy
46 30
weather.com