CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, December 7, 1993
3
KU graduate seeks unknown species
Exotic animal researcher ventures to remote places to find amphibians, reptiles
Paul Kotz/KANSAN
By Brian Masillonis Special to the Kansan
Joe Mendelson, Lawrence graduate student, is working on a new species of toad he found in Guatemala. Mendelson is seeking his doctorate in systematics and ecology and this week will be traveling to Australia for a five-week expedition.
Joe Mendelson remembers being fascinated with snakes as a child.
"I'd catch them and keep them as pets," said Mendelson, a Lawrence graduate student.
That fascination led him to seek a doctorate in systematics and ecology with a concentration in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles.
He already has discovered two new species of frog, which will appear in a future issue of "Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington," an annual report of new discoveries in biology.
He also is working on the description of a new species of toad he found in Guatemala.
It will be called Bufo campelli, named after the professor from whom he received his master's degree at the University of Texas at Arlington.
This Wednesday he will be leaving for a five-week expedition in Australia in search of new species of reptiles and amphibians. But this will not be the first time he has traveled far.
He has been in remote regions of Mexico, Guatemala and Peru.
He's seen the Inca terraces of the Andes, the deep green forests and immense swamps of the Amazon basin and he has been challenged by adversity in obscure locations in Guatemala.
Mendelson's expedition alone in Guatemala proved at times to be very scary.
He spent the entire summer with few amenities on a coffee plantation in the middle of nowhere.
"There were times that I'd get lost in a forest," he said. The language barrier also proved difficult at times when Mendelson couldn't tell if the local people were telling him iokes or warning him of danger.
Even with the danger in Guatemala, he found largest documented boa constrictor in Guatemala, at 10 1/2 feet long. Mendelson searches for and compiles different species of frog within one region and compares them with species in surrounding regions. This involves looking under rocks and attempting to find 1-inch frogs on large, leafy trees.
A student in Mendelson's biology lab, Derek Reid, Libral sophomore, said Mendelson was the most interesting
person he had ever met.
"He makes the course seem easy because he brings our material to life in what he does, making it very easy to understand.
"I couldn't believe that a graduate student at KU is involved in such an exotic field of study," Reid said.
Mendelson recently went to Peru as a member of Biotrop, a group comprised of KU researchers from the Museum of Natural History and a Peru conservation organization.
The KU museum team was the only research group allowed in that area since 1941.
After 1941 there was a border dispute between Peru and Ecuador and the strip of land became a military zone. Louis Mandela's first trip to South America
It was Mendelson's first trip to South America.
"Of the 100 species of reptiles and amphibians I saw during the trip, I previously had only seen three of those species in the wild," he said.
Mendelson always knew what he wanted to study, and he even knew he wanted to study eventually at KU.
"Kansas has one of the best herpetology programs in the world," he said.
Bangladesh Club praises KU to pad compatriot enrollment
"We have people from as far as Mexico and Peru at KU."
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Last year, there were only 20 KU students from Bangladesh.
"We started exploring how we could get Bangladeshi students at KU," he said.
Rashid Malik, Dhaka, Bangladesh, graduate student, and his friends decided to change that number.
The result was last year's formation of the Bangladesh Club and the beginning of a letter-writing campaign aimed at Bangladeshi high school students. The letters touted the positive aspects of Lawrence and KU.
The idea worked.
"The response was tremendous," Malik said. "Our population increased two-fold. I can ensure it will increase four-fold next semester."
"A lot of students don't know about Kansas," said Nawshad Shaikh, Dhaka, Bangladesh, sophomore. "This way, they feel secure here."
To build a Bangladesh community in Lawrence, the club also sends electronic mail to Bangladeshi students who attend universities in other parts of the United States.
He said the club planned to continue writing letters until the Bangladeshi community at KU reached about 200.
"The best way is to talk about the best things about Lawrence, and we do that," said Malik. "We got the word out that we're the best."
UNITING TO BE HEARD
But the Bangladesh Club does not just focus on recruiting students from Bangladesh, which is next to India in southeast Asia. The club also helps the students who are new to this nation understand U.S. culture.
"We've got our experiences to go on," Malik said. "We look at each other and say 'What did we face when we came to America?'
The problems Bangladeshi students face come from unlikely sources, Malik say. For instance, their lifestyle and diet usually are at odds with student housing. The Bangladeshi diet includes large amounts of heavily spiced mutton, lamb, beef and chicken.
Bangladesh students also have a hard time finding jobs because international students must wait nine months before they are eligible for campus employment, said Shaikh.
To overcome these problems, the club formed a big-brother, big-sister type of organization. Each member is responsible for the well-being of new members when they arrive, Shaikh said.
The club also wants to bring speakers to KU about the Bosnian situation and this summer's floods, Malik said. Bangladesh, like Bosnia, is mostly Muslim, and is often struck by flooding.
"We want to tie it up with our own problems and try to find a common solution." Malik said.
Jobs increase for graduates
By Shan Schwartz
Kennedy staffwrites
For the first time in five years there is good news on the job front for new college graduates.
That news is a survey of 618 businesses, industries and governmental agencies that projects a 1.1 percent job increase for 1994 college graduates, the first increase in five years.
The annual recruiting trends survey was released yesterday by the Career Development and Placement Services office at Michigan State University.
"The pendulum is beginning to swing in a positive direction for job opportunities," said Patrick Scheetz, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute, who conducted the study.
Those expecting the greatest increase in hiring new college graduates included:
- banking, finance and insurance
aerospace, chemical and engineering
food and beverage processing hotels, restaurants and recre-
health care services
Scheetz reported that employers' methods of conducting business had changed fundamentally in recent years because of computers and other automated technologies.
ational facilities
Numerous clerical, support and middle management positions have been eliminated to cut costs, the report said. However, personnel staffing has been cut enough to enable some employers to begin hiring new college graduates.
Fred Madus, placement director in the school of business, said the number of companies recruiting for KU business graduates increased last year after three years of decline. He said that companies' involvement in the Business School's career fair this fall also had increased significantly.
Students in the masters of business administration program experienced the most notable improvements in job offers, Madus said.
"Our MBAs did quite well last year," he said. "Their salaries were significant, and a large percentage of people had jobs by mid-summer."
Students question fees plan
Regents proposal seeks higher salaries for faculty
By Donella Hearne Kansan staff writer
The student governments of Regents schools are facing choices about the future of their tuition dollars.
This month these students have been voting either to endorse or to oppose the plan that would designate part of e 2 to o percent.
Student leaders across the state are questioning the merit of the Partnership for Excellence program, which was developed to increase faculty salaries through a tuition increase.
a 3 to 9 percent increase in tuition for faculty raises.
Emporia State University's instate tuition would go up 5 percent, according to the plan. Emporia State's student body president, Wes Montee, said their student senate had voted to oppose the program.
"There was overwhelming support for that resolution." Monte said.
The plan proposes to bring faculty salaries and tuition fees
Tuition plan
STUDENTS — KU, K-State and Wichita State students would pay a 9 percent increase in in-state tuition and a 13 percent increase in out-of-state tuition. Emporia State, Pittsburgh State and Fort Hays State would face a 5 percent increase for residents and a 13 percent increase for nonresidents.
STATE — The Legislature would increase its contribution to the Regents schools by 3 percent of the State General Fund. $9.3 million of the money raised from the tuition increase would be designated to go directly to faculty salary increases.
BOARD OF REGENTS — Students would have increased input in selection and tenure of faculty. The Board would agree to drop tuition increases back to 5 percent if the Legislature did not increase general fund financing by at least 3 percent.
Source: The Associated Press KANSAN
up to the same level as those of peer schools. Peer schools are those schools that are similar in the population they serve, the size of their student bodies and their state legislature's budgets.
Montee said Emporia already was paying more for education than peer schools, which is one of the reasons the students are opposing the plan.
"Besides, it's the state's responsibility to fund faculty salaries," he said.
KU's student body president, John Shoemaker, said he thought that the Kansas student governments that were opposing the plan did not fully understand its purpose.
He said he thought the presentation of the plan to students at other schools had not explained that tuitions would increase, whether the plan was put into effect or not.
"Our student senate is 100 percent behind it," he said.
"The students are behind it. I think the reason for that is that our press has relayed the information in a reliable and concise manner."
Kansas State University also was considering a resolution to oppose the plan, which failed after Shoemaker appealed to their student government.
KU would face a 9 percent increase in resident tuition and nonresident tuition would increase by 13 percent.
Shoemaker, who helped develop the Partnership for Excellence plan, said he would like to be able to explain the reasoning behind the plan to all of the Regents schools.
"This plan is foreseeing a tuition increase and finding a way it can most help the individual schools," he said.
He said the plan would guarantee that a portion of the money from the increase would be used only for the faculty salary increase.
"There is no reason to be against this plan," he said. "There is no down side to it. It baffles me that people would come out in opposition to this plan."
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