Lifeline Online Spring 2009 Issue 102
News for the Investigators, Staff and Friends of the Life Span Institute

FEATURED

A recent study by two LSI investigators in the journal Development Psychobiology recently reported that pupil size in the eyes of children may be used to identify those with Autism Spectrum Disorders earlier than the typical three years of age. Read the full story.

A new scientific society devoted to oromotor development in premature infants was officially created at a recent meeting at KU under the leadership of LSI investigator Steven Barlow. Read the full story.

The new three-story 72,000-square foot Children’s Campus in Kansas City, Kan., is starting to take shape on the corner of 5th and Minnesota Avenue. Read the full story.

IN THE NEWS

A story in the Boston Globe about how we are learning more about the brains of babies quoted LSI Director John Colombo. Read the full story.

When U.S. News and World Report needed an expert for a story on the employability of teenagers with autism, they turned to LSI’s Wendy Parent. Read the full story.

RESEARCH IN ACTION

Judy Carta and Charles Greenwood, Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, are collaborating with colleagues in Australia on the use of a website measurement tool developed by JGCP researchers. Read the full story.

LSI at Parsons helped organize an electronic recycling event for residents of a five-county area that saved tons of stuff from going to landfills. Read the full story.

ADMINISTRATIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS

LSI centers may now have their own “signatures” for stationery, websites and print materials. Read the full story.

MILESTONES

Long-time Parsons Jill-of-all Trades Pat White was among the recent retirees honored by KU. Read the full story.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Six recent awards and 52 proposals submitted in the last few months explain, in part, why LSI researchers and central office staff have been burning the midnight oil. See the complete list.

HONORS

Beaches honored with Bob Dole Award

Ross and Marianna Beach, for whom the Beach Center on Disability is named, received the Bob Dole Humanitarian Award for 2009 from the KU School of Education. Presented on April 10, the award recognizes people with Kansas connections whose efforts have helped the quality of life of people with disabilities and their families. The Beaches are only the second recipients of the award, which was created last year. The inaugural honoree was former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole. See the full story.

Life Span researchers and doc student receive top awards at annual ceremony

Life Span researchers and students scored big at this year’s Graduate School Awards Ceremony held April 29 at the KU campus in Lawrence.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognized LSI faculty for mentoring students and their service to Kansas. In fact, Life Span investigators received one-third of the honors given to faculty and were cited in three out of four award categories.

The Don Steeples Service to Kansans Award went to Steve Fawcett, Kansas Health Foundation Professor of Applied Behavioral Science and director of the Work Group for Community Health and Development.  The award is given to a CLAS faculty member who provides significant service to the people of Kansas as an extension of his or her teaching and research.

Mabel Rice, the Fred and Virginia Merrill Distinguished Professor of Advanced Studies and director of the Child Language Doctoral Program, received the 2009 John C. Wright Graduate Mentor Award. This award honors a CLAS faculty member who demonstrates exceptional effort, care and guidance in advising graduate students.

Jan Sheldon, professor of Applied Behavioral Science, received the J. Michael Young Academic Advisor Award for faculty in the social sciences. Recipients are selected based on their caring attitude and efforts to help students with their educational and career goals. 

Jill Hoover, a doctoral student in Child Language, was recognized at the event for winning top honors in the 2009 Graduate Student Research Competition held in February. Hoover received one of three $500 first-place awards. Her poster presentation was “The Effect of Vocabulary on Grammar Development in Young Children.”

Ryan McCabe, executive director of the KU Graduate and Professional Association, presents Jill Hoover with a first-place award for her entry in the 2009 Graduate Student Research Competition.

Independence Inc. honors Jay Turnbull

The late Jay Turnbull, a long-time Life Span employee at the Beach Center on Disability, received a posthumous award from Independence, Inc. in Lawrence on May 6. The Roger Williams Community Access Award was given to Turnbull as a tribute to his 20-year career at the Beach Center and his impact on the Lawrence community. The award cited Jay’s role in educating the community about disability, acceptance, compassion and respect. Nina Zuna, a researcher at the Beach Center and a Board member of the Independence, Inc., said, “ J.T…. used the community as his audience to teach others about the importance of community access and inclusion. There is no better way to advocate for community access than to live it.”

Jay’s parents, Rud and Ann Turnbull, co-directors of the Beach Center, accepted the honor on his behalf. 

The Roger Williams award, named for an early leader of the disability rights movement in Lawrence, is the highest honor given by Independence, Inc.  Previous LSI recipients are Glenn White, director of the Research and Training Center on Independent Living, and Dot Nary, a doctoral student in Applied Behavioral Science.