Points of Distinction

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

  • U.S. News ranks 25 graduate programs; city management and urban policy No. 1 in nation

    Twenty-five KU liberal arts graduate programs have been ranked by U.S. News and World Report. Those programs are

    • Audiology (joint doctoral program with KU School of Allied Health)
    • Biological sciences doctorate
    • Chemistry doctorate
    • City management and urban policy master’s
    • Clinical child psychology doctorate
    • Clinical psychology doctorate
    • Creative writing master’s
    • Drama/theatre master’s
    • Earth sciences doctorate
    • English doctorate
    • Fiber arts/textiles master’s
    • Fine arts master’s
    • History doctorate
    • Human development and family life doctorate
    • Mathematics doctorate
    • Metals/jewelry master’s
    • Paleontology doctorate
    • Physics doctorate
    • Political science doctorate
    • Psychology doctorate
    • Public affairs master’s
    • Public finance and budgeting master’s
    • Public management administration master’s
    • Sociology doctorate
    • Speech-language-pathology (joint master’s program with KU School of Allied Health)
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  • Black scientists less likely than white counterparts to receive NIH funding, study shows

    Black scientists were significantly less likely than their white counterparts to receive research funding from the National Institutes of Health, according to an analysis of data from 2000 to 2006.

    KU professor of economics Donna Ginther was the lead author on the study commissioned by the NIH; it appeared in the Aug. 19 issue of the journal Science.

    The researchers found a 10 percentage point gap in research funding — even after taking into consideration demographics, education and training, employer characteristics, NIH experience and research productivity.

    “In order to improve the health outcomes of all Americans, it's important for the biomedical workforce to reflect the diversity of the population,” Ginther said. “As the population becomes increasingly diverse, we will continue to get further from that goal unless the research community intervenes.

    All NIH grant applications from 2000-2006 were reviewed in the two-year study of 83,000 submissions.

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  • Professor wins rhetorical scholar award

    Robert C. Rowland, professor of communication studies, has received the 2011 Douglas W. Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award from the National Communication Association.

    The award is the NCA's top research award in rhetorical studies. It honors an outstanding scholar who has done research in rhetorical theory, rhetorical criticism, or public address studies.

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  • Lizard discovered by KU researchers makes ‘Top 10’ list of new species

    The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University has ranked the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard (Varanus bitatawa), a giant fruit-eating lizard discovered in the Philippines last year by KU researchers, a Top 10 New Species list for 2011.

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  • Freshman to retrace route of Freedom Riders

    A student from the University of Kansas has been chosen to participate in 2011 Student Freedom Ride.

    William Dale, a freshman from Topeka majoring in English and American studies, was one of 40 students from around the country selected from 1,000 applicants to participate in the ride, which is being organized by the PBS series "American Experience."

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  • Professor earns national honors for early career scientific achievement

    Emily Scott, associate professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas, has received national recognition for her research on the structure and function of cytochrome P450 enzymes — proteins responsible for the breakdown of drugs and other foreign chemicals in the body.

    Scott has been named a recipient of the 2011 Drug Metabolism Division Early Career Achievement Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

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  • Four students win awards at national conference for minority scientists

    Four KU students received awards for their research presentations at the national conference of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.

    Eugene Cody, a senior in math from Phoenix, Ariz.; Rodolfo Torres Gavosto, a junior in chemistry from Lawrence; Kelsy Kinderknecht, a senior in math and French from Ellis; and Diana Restrepo, a senior in molecular biosciences from Overland Park, received the awards.

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  • KU part of $120 million national initiative to overhaul reading instruction

    Three University of Kansas researchers and a KU alumnus are part of a monumental $120 million multi-university undertaking to overhaul how reading is taught to U.S. children by 2015.

    The Reading for Understanding Research Initiative is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

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  • Research reveals robust marmots thrive on climate change

    Mountain rodents called marmots are growing larger, healthier, and more plentiful in response to climate change, according to a researchers at the University of Kansas. 

    Nature, one of the world’s foremost scientific journals, published the results of the groundbreaking study. It is the first to reveal that changes in seasonal timing can increase body weight and population size simultaneously in a species — findings likely to have implications for a host of other creatures, especially those that hibernate.

    Established by Kenneth Armitage, KU professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology, the decades-long investigation tracks yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado.

  • Geologists launch $4.2 million geothermal project

    University of Kansas geologists have embarked on the first phase of a $4.2 million, three-year project designed to make it easier and more profitable to power electric plants with geothermal energy.

    Geothermal energy uses the heat from subterranean hot springs and other geothermal sources to generate power. Today, geothermal plants provide electricity to customers in only six states, but the potential is far larger. KU geology professors and students started work this summer in Nevada’s Clayton Valley, 150 miles from Reno. Their first task is to create detailed maps of the surface and subsurface.

    The effort is one of only 24 projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under its Innovative Exploration and Drilling Program. KU’s Department of Geology received $2.4 million in federal stimulus funding to help pay for the project.

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  • KU grad elected president of Colombia

    Juan Manuel Santos, who graduated from KU with degrees in economics and business, has been inaugurated as president of the Republic of Colombia.

    Before his election, Santos, 58, served three years as defense minister to outgoing President Alvaro Uribe.

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  • Spintronics breakthrough holds promise for next-generation computers

    Using powerful lasers, Hui Zhao, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, and graduate student Lalani Werake have discovered a new way to recognize currents of spinning electrons within a semiconductor.

    Their findings could lead the way to development of superior computers and electronics. Results from their work in KU’s Ultrafast Laser Lab will be published in the September issue of Nature Physics, a leading peer-reviewed journal, and was posted online in early August.

    Zhao and Werake research spin-based electronics, dubbed “spintronics.”

    “The goal is to replace everything — from computers to memory devices — to have higher performance and less energy consumption,” said Zhao.

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  • $8.9 million in grants to train foreign language and international specialists

    The U. S. Department of Education will provide $8.9 million over four years in grants to KU’s international area centers. The  funds will strengthen the university’s foreign language instruction and area studies programs and provide fellowships for students studying languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Portuguese in preparation for careers in such areas as government, business and education.

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  • Students earn Fulbright grants for research abroad

    Eight students from the University of Kansas have won prestigious Fulbright grants and one student received a German Academic Exchange Service Study Scholarship for study and research abroad for the 2010-11 academic year.

    The Fulbright program is the leading international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and people of other countries. Fulbright grant recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. Fulbright grants provide funding for roundtrip travel, maintenance for one academic year, health and accident insurance and, where relevant, tuition.

    Since the program’s inception in 1946, 421 KU students, including this year’s awardees, have received Fulbright grants.

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  • Alumnus' public art display among best in nation

    A frozen fountain of plastic water bottles created by a University of Kansas sculpture graduate has been named one of the best public artworks in the United States and Canada.

    Americans for the Arts, a leading nonprofit organization that advocates for the arts, cited “Frozen Assets,” created by Matthew Farley, as one of 40 of the year’s best public artworks in its 2010 Public Art Year in Review project. It is the only national award that specifically recognizes public art projects.

    The works — in 29 cities in 15 states – were chosen from more than 300 entries and reflect “the most exemplary, innovative permanent or temporary public art works created or debuted in 2009,” the group said.

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  • History professor wins Scotland's biggest literary prize

    Donald Worster, the Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Distinguished Professor of U.S. History at the University of Kansas, received the Scottish Book of the Year Award for his biography “A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir” from the Scottish Arts Council. The award is funded by the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust.

    Worster will receive 30,000 British pounds in recognition of his literary talent and the significance of his biography, which positions Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, as a national icon for Scotland and a figure of global significance for concern about the environment.

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  • Professor earns prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship

    John Karanicolas, assistant professor of molecular biosciences and bioinformatics, has received a Sloan Research Fellowship, which provides $50,000 in research support over two years.

    The prestigious fellowships are given to young faculty members performing promising research in physics, chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, and neuroscience.

    Karanicolas' research studies how cells communicate with each other in the brain.

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  • U.S. News: 28 KU programs rank in top 30; special education, city management are No. 1

    Twenty-eight KU programs rank in the top 30 spots among public universities nationwide, and KU's special education program continues to rank first among special education programs, according to U.S. News and World Report.

    The 28 programs and their rankings are

    1. City Management and Urban Policy (Master)
    1. Special Education (Master/Doctorate)
    2. Community Health (Master/Doctorate)
    2. Occupational Therapy (Master/Doctorate)
    3. Paleontology (Doctorate)
    3. Public Management Administration (Master)
    4. Public Affairs (Master)
    4. Speech-Language-Pathology (Master)
    7. Audiology (Doctorate)
    9. Nursing-Midwifery (Master)
    9. Petroleum Engineering (Master/Doctorate)
    9. Public Finance & Budgeting (Master)
    10. School of Education (Master/Doctorate)
    11. Social Work (Master)
    12. Music (Master)
    12. Physical Therapy (Master/Doctorate)
    13. Clinical Child Psychology (Doctorate)
    18. Clinical Psychology (Doctorate)
    18. Pharmacy (PharmD)
    21. Psychology (Doctorate)
    22. Healthcare Management (Master)
    23. Drama/Theatre (Master)
    24. History (Doctorate)
    25. Nursing-Anesthesia (Master)
    26. Fine Arts (Master)
    28. Nursing (Master)
    30. Biological Sciences (Doctorate)
    30. Political Science (Doctorate)

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  • Doctoral student receives national fellowship for cancer research

    Alison Donnelly, a doctoral student in medicinal chemistry from Grand Island, N.Y., is one of 11 students nationally to receive a $26,000 fellowship from the American Chemical Society Division of Organic Chemistry. The fellowship supports her graduate study.

    Donnelly's research studies ways of disrupting cancer growth by inhibiting a type of protein known as Hsp90.

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  • KU among four universities receiving $20 million grant for climate change, renewable energy research

    A $20 million, five-year award for climate change and renewable energy research will link four universities: KU, Kansas State University, Wichita State University, and Haskell Indian Nations University, along with several in-state and out-of-state companies.

    The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, will

    • predict the effects of climate change
    • assess how farmers decide which crops to grow
    • explore the use of nanotechnology to harness solar energy, and
    • investigate climate change and energy issues on Native American lands, while developing a pathway for Native Americans to earn doctoral degrees.
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  • Climate change triggers dwarfism in soil-dwelling creatures, according to KU research

    A spike in global temperatures and carbon dioxide levels 55 million years ago resulted in soil-dwelling creatures decreasing in size by nearly half, according to KU research.

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