SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
50th Year, No.13
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Tuesday, July 24, 1962
GEOLOGY BRINGS TOGETHER youth and age in a stimulating mixture, as University of Kansas Science and Math Camp students from 70 high schools in 16 states make their own thin sections of 240-million-year-old plant fossils collected in southeastern Kansas.
Camp Achieving Gratifying Results
A six-year-old experiment in how to interest talented high school students in science careers is achieving gratifying results at KU.
The seventh annual KU Science and Mathematics Camp just completed brought together 96 talented students from 70 high schools in 16 states, selected from hundreds of other highly qualified boys and girls.
THEY WERE introduced to the principles and methods of 16 scientific fields, ranging from anatomy to zoology, through anthropology, astronomy, bacteriology, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, entomology, geography, geology, mathematics, physics, physiology, psychology, and radiation biophysics.
Through lectures by senior KU scientists, work in the University's regular laboratories, and field trips, the young scientists were expected to become acquainted with the techniques and apparatus of modern science, to return to their high schools inspired to work harder and accomplish more, and to decide for themselves if science is for them.
After seven Camps, how is it working out?
IN "UNSOLICITED testimonials" attached to unsigned evaluation questionaires, the recent Campers had difficulty finding words glowing enough to express their enthusiasm. The campus environment, the lectures, the laboratory experience, the University—all received highest praise. Moost important, the immediate aims of the Camp are being realized.
Wrote one sophomore girl, "The first two years of my high school career were literally wasted because I slid along just barely making the honor roll each time. At this camp I have been inspired to go home and not only make the best grades possible but also to learn every single thing I can. I am sure my parents will be very glad of this."
The equipment was important to some. "Being from a small town," wrote one junior boy, "I don't get to use the extensive varieties of lab equipment that you have here. This
camp has broadened my scientific interest beyond compare. I am no longer interested only in one or two branches of science."
SOME SUMMED it up as did a sophomore boy, "One of the best educational experiences I have ever had." A junior boy hit close to the heart of the camp when he wrote, "I feel that I learned a lot about science as a whole and also found out more definitely what my fields of interest in science are."
A sophomore girl called the Camp, "A priceless experience. Coming from an extremely small high school. I have never had and never would have had the opportunity to come in contact with the various phases of science. This experience has better prepared me to make a decision for my future. But even more important to me was the opportunity to work with boys and girls interested in science and who had the ability to pursue these interests. As I compare my knowledge of science that I had before this camp to what I now have I see that my mind was broadened tremendously."
A final tribute by a sophomore girl from another state may have summed up the experience for many: "I can honestly say that this camp and KU are the most wonderful places I have ever been. It provided a clear view into the sciences I have been wondering about for a long time. It helped me to decide on my future, and I want to come to Kansas to school when I'm ready."
Brittenham New Assistant Coach
A former Nebraska javelin thrower is KU's new assistant track coach, effective Aug. 15. He replaces Bob Lawson who becomes head coach at Iowa State University Aug. 1.
Dean Brittenham has been head track coach at Bakersfield, Calif. north high school for the past four years.
U.S.State Universities Vary Requirements
The 88 state universities analyzed showed a diversity ranging from some half dozen schools requiring only a high school diploma for admission, to some requiring SAT test scores as high as 600. A wide range also existed in subject requirements, with many schools making no subject requirements at all for admission and others specifying exact units in certain academic fields.
State universities vary greatly in their requirements for out-of-state student admission, an Association of College Admissions Counselors study indicates.
RANK IN CLASS or high school average was listed as an admissions factor by 81 of the universities, but the class rank requirements varied considerably. Some schools demanded only that the applicant rank in the top three-fourths of his graduating class; others limited admission to those in the top quarter or top fifth. Many schools specified a C high school average, with two schools requiring a B- average, two a B average and one, the University of California, a B+ average.
Although many schools said they liked to have student scores on the SAT, ACT, CEEB and Achievement tests, only 28 of the total indicated they would not admit students who tested below a specified cut-off score. On the Verbal and Mathematical SAT tests, cut-off scores ranged from 400 in the case of some schools to 600 in the case of others. One school demanded an ACT Standard score of 18, another of 19.
Subject requirements also differed widely, although all schools required 15 or 16 units for admission. Thirty-five of the universities required four units in English, 28 only three units and the remainder did not specify. Some schools required three units in Mathematics, others none. The same range existed in Social Science requirements. All school required one unit in science, and some required up to three. In the area of languages, requirements ranged from none to three units, with 70 schools having no language requirements at all.
Forty-three of the schools said they restricted the number of outof-state students admitted.
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The Five-Day Week
The five-day week doesn't exist at many major state universities and land-grant institutions, according to a Florida State University survey.
A poll of 76 of these institutions showed that 75%, or 57, operate Saturday classes for regular resident students. The extent of use varied widely, however, with one
school reporting 80% of its classes meeting on Saturday and 11 reporting one per cent or less of its classes in this category. Twenty-four schools offering Saturday classes required certain parts or all of the student body to enroll for them. Enrollment was optional in the remainder.
SATURDAY CLASSES were used more by institutions operating on the semester calendar than by those using the quarter calendar, the survey showed, and more by major state universities and land-grant institutions in the midwestern and west coast states than in the southern and western mountain states.
Nor does the eight-hour day exist for university faculty members, as reported in a University of Colorado survey of faculty workload.
Full-time members of the university's teaching faculty spend an average of 56.8 hours a week on professional duties, the survey showed. These included 36 hours devoted to class meetings, preparation of lectures and laboratory demonstrations, reading and grading papers and examinations, and other teaching oriented activities. The remaining 21 hours each week were devoted to
research and scholarly writing, as well as to other professional duties such as university and departmental committee work, curriculum and research planning.
Department chairman and directors of special programs are even farther from the normal work week than their hard-working colleagues, with an average of 59.5 hours a week spent on professional duties. One-half of this time was devoted to administrative work, university and departmental committees and other non-teaching duties. This group spent a substantially smaller amount of time than their full-time teacher colleagues on research and writing.
Fund Raising
West Virginia University reports that a speech by one of its English professors, Ruel E. Foster, has paid unexpected dividends. Foster's speech "Coming Changes in the University World," delivered at a meeting of the Middle Atlantic Placement Officers Association, was so impressive that the Gulf Oil Cor-
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New Accelerator Important Addition
The homemade accelerator KU has used for the past 14 years has outlived its usefulness and its reliability, according to Dr. Ralph W. Krone, professor of physics. But KU is getting a new commercially manufactured one, which will be operational in time for the 1963 spring semester.
To the layman it is just like a tank full of wires and tubes controlled by imposing pieces of electronic equipment, but to a KU nuclear physicist the Van de Graaff accelerator is the most important single piece of equipment in the laboratory.
THE NEW MACHINE will be obtained through a $149,430 addition to an existing Atomic Energy Commission contract which supports basic research by Dr. Krone and Dr. Francis W. Prosser Jr. The accelerator has been provided for their use and that of Dr. L. Worth Seagondollar, also a professor of physics, who is engaged in research supported by the National Science Foundation. Through the cooperation of those two agencies the three KU physicists will continue to direct research in low energy nuclear physics. A Van de Graaff accelerator produces energetic particles — protons and deuterons — which bring about nuclear changes the physicist studies. Dr. Krone and Dr. Prosser explain it this way:
"In the early studies of atomic structure, scientists bombarded atoms with beams of light, then studied the light that emerged, thereby gaining information about the properties of matter. Now scientists bombard nuclei with highly energetic particles, such as protons, deuterons and neutrons, to learn about the structure of the nucleus. This cannot be done experimentally without the use of accelerators."
THE NEW MACHINE is basically the same thing as the old one, but it goes to a higher energy, produces higher intensity beams of particles, and is much more reliable, Dr. Krone says.
Campus Activities
Many Van de Graaff accelerators are in use, but KU has the only such machine in the state and in the Big 8 Conference. Kansas State University, however, is making plans to obtain one in the near future.
Today
7. 30 p.m.-Swimming. Robinson Gymnasium. Co-educational Pool open every night, Monday through Friday.
Tomorrow
3:30 p.m.—Film Features of Fact and Fiction. 3 Bailey Hall. "Russia" (color), "American in Orbit," "Tjurunga" (color).
6 p.m.—SUA Dinner. Kansas Union.
Thursday
4 p.m.—Film. SUA. Kansas Union Forum Room. "The White Poodle."
5:15 p.m.—Intramural softball. “?” Marks vs. Pharm. Chemicals; Delta Function vs. Haworth.
8 p.m.—Senior Recital. School of Fine Arts. Swarthout Recital Hall. Rebecca Shier, soprano. Leann Hillmer at the piano, and Kent Riley, clarinetist; Ben Clinesmith, cellist; Robert Hiller, pianist. Admission free.
Although the Van de Graaff, which is one of several machines developed to produce high energy particles, has been in use since about 1930, all accelerators were home-built until 1948. The High Voltage Engineering Corporation in Burlington, Mass., began producing them commercially at that time, and is still the only company which does so. Before the accelerators were commercially available, the complex instruments took two or three years to assemble.
THE ACCELERATOR can be operated by one or two people at a time, and it is anticipated that the new machine can be operated 12-16 hours a day. Experiments with the present machine will be halted Sept. 1 when the laboratory will close to prepare for the new equipment.
The laboratory itself is no simple matter to maneuver. Equipped with a series of half-walls, stacks of concrete blocks and other protective
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