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Tuesday, April 7, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Danny Ray/KANSAN
Diana Dickerson, a 1986 K graduate displays examples of marsupials from the KU Museum of Natural History. Dickerson left April 2 for the island of Tasmania to begin a two-year study of the pouched mammals.
Student leaves KU to study marsupials
By ILL JESS
Special to the Kansan
While most KU students slave over term papers and study for finals, Diana Dickerson is halfway around the world in Casamania, an island just south of Florida.
Dickerson, a 1986 KU graduate, left Los Angeles on Thursday for the University of Tasmania to begin work toward a master's degree. She will study marsupials, animals that carry their young in pouches.
Although she originally planned to concentrate her studies on wallabies, small relatives of kangaroos, Dickerson said last week that her professor in Tasmania would like her to study the sugar glider instead. The sugar glider is an Australian version of the North American flying squirrel.
"They're beautiful creatures," Dickerson said. "There really is a need to start studying their behaviors."
"I'll really be interested in what he finds out," he said.
Robert Timm, assistant professor of systematics and ecology, and assistant curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum where Dickerson worked until March, said that not much was known about the sugar glider and that it was of real interest to mammalologists.
Dickerson has been studying the sugar glider since late December, but she said she still did not know much about the animal.
Her studies will include research and field work, she said. One aspect of the sugar glider that she said she found in her study was its scent-marking behavior.
"A lot of animals do it," she said. "They rub against things to mark their territories. The sugar glider leaves a musky scent. It's really an important aspect of their behavior patterns."
Dickerson became interested in marsupials through her KU studies. She began as a biology major, and decided to specialize in zoology. She
then specialized further into systematics and ecology and mammalogy before finally beginning her studies of marsupials
Timm said that Dickerson's job at the museum also played a part in her study of marsupials.
"Her job helped develop her know-ledge of marsupials." Timm said.
Dickerson said she chose the University of Tasmania because the university had a strong program in music.
"It's not very populated and there is lot of bush and wild land," she said.
The University of Tasmania, with about 8,000 students, specializes in the studies of marine life and marsupials.
Dickerson first contacted the university in the fall of 1985. To be accepted there, she first had to be approved by the chairman of its zoology department, who also will be the professor in charge of her studies. She then had to send transcripts, and be accepted by the school and the department.
Finally, the Australian government had to approve her entrance into the country and she had to get a visa and a passport.
"They even checked my police record before giving me a visa. They don't want any 'illegals' coming into the country," she said.
Dickerson was accepted to the university in September, but was not accepted by the country until January.
"The process was incredibly long," she said. "When I think about it, if I had known all that I would have to go out and see her wonder if I would have done it."
Dickerson said she planned to study for two to three years in Tasmania.
"Australian students get a free education, but foreigners have to pay a yearly fee. It doesn't matter if you're there all year or three months, you still have to pay the same fee," she said.
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