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Wednesday, January 13, 1988/University Daily Kansan
KU women's leader quiet about achievements
By Noel Gerdes
Assistant campus editor
Actions speak louder than words, says Barbara Ballard, director of KU's Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center and associate dean of student life.
"When I decide there are some things I want to do, I do them," she says.
All the same, Ballard doesn't like to talk about her accomplishments.
She doesn't like to talk about how she was elected to the Lawrence school board in 1985 or about becoming the first black woman president of the board last July.
She doesn't like to talk about her induction into the KU Women's Hall of Fame in April 1985, being voted an
monorary member of KU's class or 1986, or being KU's Outstanding Woman Staff Member in 1984. The rest of a list of accomplishments fill a four-page resume.
"She has achieved a status that women can look up to," said Alice Fowler, vice president of the Lawrence school board. "Not only young women, but young men also
Lisa Jones/KANSAN
Ballard won't call herself a role model, but she said she was flattered when others said they looked up to her.
Barbara Ballard, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. Ballard also is president of the Lawrence school board.
Kansan Fact: 7,900 KU Students Spend Over $300 A Month!
would do well to use her example of going to your highest potential."
"If people think that I am a role model, then I'm very pleased about that, although I did not set out to be a role model," she said. "What I did instead was that I accomplished some of the things that I have always wanted to do with my life."
Missy Kleinholz, Topeka senior and president of the KU commission on the status of women, said Ballard was a role model because of her success in higher education, her position as associate dean, and her ability to bring out the best in a person.
"She says 'jump,' and people do jump," Kleinholz said.
Ballard is the adviser to the com mission on the status of women.
But she added that although Ballard commanded loyalty, she wasn't domineering.
"I've never seen her be short with anyone," Kleinholz said. "She has such a good grip on human relationships."
Outside of her involvement in education, Ballard also works with the Leadership Lawrence program, the Lawrence Arts Center, the Ballard Community Center (no relation), the Hilpit Child Development Center and Kansas Women's Sports, Inc.
"I'm proud of them, and I certainly enjoy the things that I do. I wouldn't do anything I didn't really enjoy." Ballard said. "I'm extremely proud of being elected to the school board, and I'm extremely proud I was elected president this summer, but I really don't talk about it much."
Ballard may not like to talk about her accomplishments, but she does like to talk about her family.
Her son, Greg, is a 16-year-old junior at Lawrence High School.
"He plays football, basketball, baseball, track, soccer and golf," she said. "He's very athletic and very academic. The two A's are very important in our house."
"And I don't ever forget my husband," Ballard said. She has been married to her husband, Albert, an ROTC instructor at Paseo High School in Kansas City, Mo., for 19 years.
"Probably our main emphasis is our son," she said. "I think in many
ways, we share common interests because he's very interested in students and in working with students in different ways, something real and setting some goals."
Ballard also likes to talk about students.
"My job, or the job that I want it to be, is to really be available to students," she said.
"I see so many students," she said. "I'm in and out of scholarship halls, residence halls, sororities and fraternities. I speak to about four groups a week, and these groups can be anywhere from eight to 125."
Ballard gives workshops on topics that range from date rape to leadership skills. She also teaches a course on counseling to staff members at KU residence halls each semester.
Ballard earned a doctorate in counseling and student personnel services from Kansas State University in 1980. She earned a master's degree in counseling and guidance from K-State in 1976. She taught fifth and sixth grades in a California elementary school from 1972 to 1974.
Her bachelor's degree, from Webster College in St. Louis in 1967, is in music education and vocal arts. Ballard said that she enjoyed music and still sang regularly in her church choir. But she said she had no desire to sing professionally.
"I started out thinking that music might be fun, but as time went by, I realized that I'm really more of a counselor," she said. "I like being able to help people make changes.
"I like to challenge and push people to do more than they think they can."
Her husband, Albert, said that although Ballard stayed busy with a schedule that often ran from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., her high standards and goals were worth the effort.
"She strives to have everyone do his best," he said.
Barbara Ballard said the secret to her successes was that she took risks.
"Learn all you can about yourself," she said. "People learn more about themselves by taking risks. If you take the safe way, then you do only what you know you can do.
"But I think you have to remember that to take a risk does not always mean that you're going to be successful ... you have to be prepared to take the consequences.
"But if I have something in my mind that I want to do, I pursue."
Official says fear of lead in fountains unfounded
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A federal report released last month that warned of lead contamination in refrigerated drinking fountains was unfounded, a federal official said.
Lawrence J. Jensen, an assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the authors of the report based their research on an experiment at two Navy bases and that they hoped to conclusions" about water fountains nationwide.
A 555-page draft of the U.S. Public Health Service report caused California state schools Superintendent Hill Honig to advise schools to shut off fountains until the "potential lead hazard" was known.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., made the draft public as chairman of a House subcommittee on health and environment. He said it showed that "electric drinking water coolers across the country may be poisoning the water they distribute."
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that an official in the Public Health Service said revisions will be made before the final report is presented to Congress, probably in the next several weeks.
Jensen said the report. "The Nature and Extent of Le Poisoning in Children in the United States," also incorrectly attributes the Navy data to 1987 EPA studies on water fountains in schools. Those studies were never made.
Lead in drinking water is a serious health hazard, but singling out fountains in schools and causing panic was unnecessary, Jensen said.
Jensen said lead contamination occurred somewhere between water treatment plants and homes and businesses.
A spokesman for the water cooler industry, Arnold Braswell, has called on federal health officials to disavow the report.
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