Department Highlights

William Woods, professor of geography, was quoted in an article in the September issue of National Geographic about soil in the southern hemisphere. The article discusses terra preta, or soil containing carbon. It's not known how much carbon can be stored in the soil, but Woods thinks it has great potential. "The world is going to hear a lot more about terra preta," he said.

Congratulations to Prof. Shannon O'Lear on her Kemper Fellowship! The Kemper fellowships recognize outstanding teachers and advisers at KU as determined by a seven-member selection committee. Now in their 13th year, the awards are supported by $650,000 in gifts from the William T. Kemper Foundation (Commerce Bank, trustee) and $650,000 in matching funds from KU Endowment.

Terry Slocum has been named a 2008-2009 senior administrative fellow. The program allows selected faculty the opportunity to explore senior administration through meeting with senior administrators, visiting administrative units across campus and discussing national trends in higher education.

Jerome E. Dobson, professor of geography, has received the 2008 CaGIS Award of Distinction.

On May 20, 2008, David Braaten and Johannes Feddema, both professors of geography at the University of Kansas, met for the first time with other members of the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group in Wichita. Earlier in the month, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius named the two KU experts to the panel that is tasked with exploring how the state could cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Congratulations are in order for Andrew Allen -- Andrew was a member of the University of Wyoming World Geography Team, which won the Association of American Geographers (AAG) regional geography bowl competition for the second consecutive year.

Megan Holroyd has been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad fellowship to study KiSwahili this summer in Arusha, Tanzania.
Brett Chloupek has received another $27,000 FLAS award to continue his study of Polish.
Heather Putnam has received a $6,500 FLAS to study KiSwahili for the summer term at the Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI).
Luke Struckman has received a $6,500 FLAS to study 3rd year Arabic in Morocco.
Hilary Hungerford has earned a 2nd year $27,000 FLAS to study Hausa. She has also received the 2008 Outstanding Thesis Award from the College, and the Howard Baumgartel Peace and Justice Award for 2008.
Ryan Good and Megan Holroyd earned $4000 fellowships from the African Studies Center, for Applied Research on African Health and Development through funding from the Oswald Family Foundation.

Congratulations to Ava Dinges and Andrew Oberthaler who have won American Meteorological Society Undergraduate Scholarships! Congratulations also to Sylvia Davison who has won an AMS Minority Scholarship and plans to come to KU.

Congratulations to Dan Rose, who, (on behalf of the City of Topeka ) recently received KAM’s ( Kansas Association of Mappers) prestigious 2008 ‘Outstanding Kansas Mapping Project Award’!