/ NEWS / THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
QUOTE OF THE DAY
John Lithgow
FACT OF THE DAY
The word "agony" comes from the Greek "agonia," meaning "contest."
— qi.com
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Featured content kansan.com
Color matters to female students
Video by Aleese Kopf
Every weekday, get your KU news fill
Several female students around campus comment on what color the find most attractive on males.
Video by KUJH-TV
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The first class of students at KU was in 1866, and consisted of 29 men and 26 women. There are now more women than men at KU, but not by much: just about 52% women and 48% men.
ROBERT J. DOLE INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
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What's going on?
THURSDAY
August 26
Student Union Activities will be hosting "Tea at Three" with free tea and cookies from 3 to 4 p.m. on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union.
The Department of Theatre will be hosting "Someone Must Wash the Dishes: An Anti-Suffrage Satire," a free one-woman show starring KU graduate Michelle LaRue, at 7:30 p.m. in Swarthout Recital Hall of Murphy Hall.
FRIDAY August 27
Student Union Activities will be hosting "Tunes at Noon," a free concert with Down with Gravity, from 12 to 1 p.m. on the plaza outside the Kansas Union.
The Department of Theatre will be hosting "The Trojan Women," a restaging of the KU Summer Theatre in Greece production, at 7:30 p.m. in the William Inge Memorial Theatre of Murphy Hall.
TUESDAY
August 31
August 29
SUNDAY
The Dole Institute of Politics will be hosting a talk, "Neutral Ground: Congress Should Enact Cap and Trade Legislation," at 7:30 p.m. at the institute.
The Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies will be hosting "50 Years of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies in the American Heartland," a conference, all day in the Kansas Union.
Student Union Activities will be hosting its annual SUA Carnival from 8 p.m. to midnight in the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center parking lot.
WEDNESDAY September 1
September 1
The Department of English will be hosting a lecture, "From Mississippi (1964) to the Heath Anthology," at 7:30 p.m. in the Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union. Admission is free.
MONDAY August 30
The Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies will be hosting a conference, "Biosecurity: Our Regional and National Response", from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Mo.
THURSDAY September 2
Student Union Activities will be hosting "Tea at Three" from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union. Tea and cookies are free.
Saturday, September 4th KU vs. North Dakota State
KU vs. North Dakota State Outdoor Activities Start: 3pm Kick-Off: 6pm Terrace Schedule: Second 3pm -10pm Fifth 11am -10pm Ninth 11am - midnight
THE
OREAD
Hang with Big Jay & the KU Spirit Squad. Meet KU legend John Hadl. Enjoy live segments with Brian Hanni on the Jayhawk Radio Network pregame radio show, with special guest 'Kansas Comet' Gale Sayers. Enjoy kids activities. Check out the best views in Lawrence from the
Terraces. Be entertained by DJ Sean. Go Jayhawks!
FOOD • FOOTBALL • FUN
Arabic major becomes official
Ukpokodu said this was because of the progressive development of the Arabic program under Associate Professor Naima Boussofara. Other achievements in the Islamic Studies department and an increase in popularity of the North African and Arabic and Islamic culture classes also spurred
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
For the first time, the University of Kansas is recognizing Arabic and Islamic Studies as an official major.
Peter Ukpokodu, chairman of the African and African American Studies department, said the process of creating the major took about five years. The department has had a minor in the languages Arabic, Hausa, Swahili and Wolof for a while.
"Then three years ago we saw that the stars were favorably aligned." Ukpokodu said in an e-mail.
The Arabic and Islamic Studies major requires 33 credit hours. Of these hours, 18 are mandatory and 15 are chosen from five elective courses that complete junior/senior requirements. A minimum of a 2.0 GPA is required for graduation.
Of those 99 students, 58 are enrolled in Elementary Arabic I. If the budget of the department allowed for it, Okpokodu suggested the school could open up more classes and they could fill them all. That, however, would mean having to hire more instructors.
"This is one way to really stand out in the job market," said Robert Halloran, a sophomore from Lawrence who was just able to officially declare Arabic and Islamic
the development of the program.
He said the school had about 12 students enrolled in Arabic in 1998 with only one lecturer. Ten years later, there were 75 student enrolled. This fall, there are 99 students enrolled in Arabic.
Studies as his major this fall. "You are going to have a job with Arabic after you leave college, whether that is in international relations or as a teacher or translator."
"There is no better way to understand a people than speaking the people's language." Okpokodu said. "It allows for amicable coexistence and understanding in the world we share."
Halloran also said he thought there was a growing importance and need for the Arabic language, not only in the world with 1.4 billion Arabic speaking people, but in our own country and our own city.
— Edited by Clark Goble
Ukpokodu said graduates in Arabic and Islamic studies would have plenty of career opportunities in areas such as federal government agencies, teaching, translating, consulting and news agencies.
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