University Daily Kansan/Wednesday. January 13, 1988
5B
Charles Stansifer, director of the Center for Latin American Studies.
Stansifer Continued from p. 1B
Griffith, who now lives in Lawrence, said few students had the drive and determination that Stansifer had.
"He was very industrious and dependable, and he got his work in on time," Griffith said. "He was a model student.
"I didn't even have to lay a pencil on his dissertation. He was the sort of student that made a professor feel like he was in the right business."
1,
I don't like the word 'workaholic,' but I guess I am one. I think work can be beneficial and therapeutic. I don't feel even close to being burned out.'
- Charles Stansifer director of Latin American studies
After he graduated from Tulane with his doctorate, Stansifer taught Latin American history at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette from 1959 to 1963.
He came to KU in 1963; and today, he devotes most of his time to improving the Latin American Studies program.
To do so, he works to improve exchange programs between KU and Latin American universities and attends conferences where information about programs at other universities is discussed. He said he traveled to three or four conferences a year in Latin American countries.
Part of his job, Stansifer said, is to get Latin American leaders to speak at KU. He said he was fortunate to get Sergio Ramirez, vice president of Nicaragua, to speak at KU in October 1986.
Stansifer said he had known Ramirez since they met in Costa Rica in the 1960s. They both enjoyed talk about Latin American history and a friendship developed, Stansifer said. When Stansifer called Ramirez, he was willing to come to KU and speak.
"I think that dealing with the most prominent leaders, such as Mr. Ramirez, stimulates interest in studying the region," Stansier said. "And we learn about the region through its leaders. We don't really learn what is going on in Latin American countries — we don't learn directly — until we get high-level skokemen on campus."
Staniser does not talk only to Latin American politicians. Three or four times a year he consults with Rep. Jim Slattery and Sen. Nancy Kasse-
baum to discuss how he believes Costa Rica and Nicaragua will react to certain U.S. policies. For Stansifer, the purpose of those discussions is to try to influence U.S. policy decisions on Central America and to provide advice on the region.
And any talk about U.S. policy in Central America usually centers on aid to the Nicaraguan contras, Stansfer said. He said he had told Slattery and Kassebaum that he opposed aid to the contrasts.
"I think diplomatic efforts are much more likely to produce lasting results that are beneficial to the United States." Stansfer said.
Stansifer said he also made two or three speeches each month at colleges and churches in places such as Emporia, Topeka and Kansas City. He said he usually told the groups why he believed President Reagan's Central American policies had been bad for the region.
"Our policy since Reagan has been so destructive, in my opinion, that it is essential that someone in my position make it clear what has happened," Stanford said. "The worst thing President Reagan has done is to use the military instead of trying to find diplomatic solutions. In the process, he has shattered the morale of the state department and violated international law."
Stansifer has interests besides his job. He said he relaxed when he worked in his garden at his country house and he said he ran 20 to 25 miles a week.
But there is no doubt that Stansifer's favorite activity is his work.
"I don't like the word 'workaholic,' but I guess I am one," Stansifer said. "I think work can be beneficial and therapeutic. I don't feel even close to being burned out. I am just as enthusiastic and energetic, maybe more so, than when I began this job."
Visit to celebrate 30th year of KU-Costa Rica program
Interuniversity exchange has served more than 900
By Brenda Finnell
Kansan staff writer
The events of 1958 may be beyond the memory of most KU students. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president then, and U.S. citizens that year celebrated the launch of the first U.S. satellite to go into orbit
The year 1958 also was an important time in the history of the University of Kansas study abroad program. That was the year then Chancellor Franklin Murphy signed an agreement with Rodrigo Facio, rector of the University of Costa Rica, to establish an exchange program between the two universities.
Next month, from Feb. 5 to March 1, more than 75 KU officials and program alumni will travel to Costa Rica to celebrate the program's 30th anniversary.
During the past three decades, more than 600 KU students have studied at the University of Costa Rica, located in San Jose, the country's capital. In addition, approx. 100 KU students have studied at KU since the program began.
Mary Elizabeth Gwin, director of study abroad, said the program was the oldest interuniversity exchange plan in the Western Hemisphere.
Thirty-nine KU students now are studying in Costa Rica, and about 30 Costa Ricans are studying here. Gwin said the program was generally one year long and began in February each year. Participants are required to have two years of college-level Spanish or the equivalent.
Gwin said that many exchange students were political science or Latin American studies majors but did not have discipline took part in the program.
For example, botany majors often are interested in studying the tropical rain forest environments in Costa Rica or in analyzing its more than 2,000 varieties of orchids, Gwin said.
T.
The successes are the students. They come away with a much deeper understanding of the two cultures.'
Robert Lineberry dean of liberal arts and sciences
Gwin said program organizers attempted to make participation in the program a personal experience.
"When our students get there, people go out of their way to do things for them, to open doors for them and to open classes for them," she said.
Charles Stansifer, director of Latin American studies, served as program director in Costa Rica in 1966 and 1974. The program has benefited not only students who have studied, but also faculty members who have served as visiting professors at the university, he said.
The time in Costa Rica allows students to "perfect their Spanish abilities and gain a Latin American perspective from the inside," said Stansifer, who will travel to Costa Rica for the celebration.
Chancellor Gene A. Budig also will be there, and Gov. Mike Hayden, Sen. Nancy Kassebaum and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole have been invited, Gwin said. It is not certain whether they will be able to attend, she said.
Budig will re-sign the exchange pact with University of Costa Rica rector Fernando Duran in a Feb. 29 ceremony. Gwin said the agreement had been renewed about every five years since the original signing.
Other events during the five-day celebration include a reception, a tour of the San Jose area and a one-day Pacific coast cruise. A picnic at a mountain agricultural experiment
station also is planned. In addition, Gwin hopes a meeting can be arranged with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his work on a Central American peace plan.
Seminars on Central American politics, press, current literary criticism trends and the transfer of technology also are planned.
Stansifer said he hoped during next month's visit to help organize an alumni association of Costa Ricans who have graduated from KU, a step he believes will strengthen the exchange program. He said he also wanted to plan future conferences in both Lawrence and San Jose.
The relationship between the two universities has flourished because of both luck and the hard work of officials at each university, Stansifer said. He said KU was fortunate to become associated with a stable Latin American university that had grown stronger through the years
Robert Lineberry, dean of liberal arts and sciences, who will be in Costa Rica for the celebration, said the reunion should honor participants from both Costa Rica and KU. He said he also expected the event to make ties between the two universities to even stronger during the next decade.
When measuring the accomplishments of the program, Lineberry points to the program's participants. "The successes are the students," he said. "They come away with a much deeper understanding of the two cultures."
Gwin said the anniversary events celebrated the solid relationship between the two universities. The exchange program is "one small way of fostering world peace — people to people," she said.
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