If you haven’t been to campus lately, you will be in for a surprise the next time you visit. Several new building and renovation projects are changing the landscape for learning, with new or enhanced classroom and lab space. At the same time, we’re expanding the heart of campus westward. For example, where once stood the Burge Union and Stouffer Place apartments will soon be a state-of-the-art science building and new union. Our spring 2017 magazine cover story, “Constructive Development,” shares more detail on current projects and how they will benefit the learning and research experience of our students and faculty.

While KU basketball’s quest for the National Championship grabbed our attention during March, another heated tournament with an equally illustrious KU history took place at the University of Kansas. The KU Edwards Campus welcomed the nation’s best collegiate debaters to compete over four intense days, March 24-27, at the 71st National Debate Tournament. This is the first time KU has hosted the tournament, yet KU Debate’s successful history in national competition rivals that of the KU men’s basketball team. They have won the National Debate Tournament championship five times and have qualified for the tournament in 66 of the 71 years of its existence.

In the past year, a new option for supporting KU programs, faculty and students has taken off. Launch KU, an online crowdfunding platform, has broadened opportunities for alumni and friends to make a big impact no matter the size of their gift. Campaigns have benefited the College in multiple ways, including support for initiatives such as study abroad, scholarships and bringing a T. rex back to campus.

Mary Klayder Study Abroad Opportunity Award

Elizabeth Schultz, professor emerita of english, shares her history with novel that influenced her career, professorship fund.

To mark Black History Month, we have compiled a list of books, research videos and projects from across the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at KU that recognize the central role of African-Americans in U.S. history and celebrate the achievements of black Americans. The list is organized chronologically. Have a project or publication that we missed? Please send it our way.

This March, the University of Kansas will host the National Debate Tournament (NDT) for the first time. For the uninitiated, the NDT is the debate world’s equivalent of March Madness. Spread over five intense days, the top teams from across the USA compete to be crowned the nation’s best debaters. After a hugely successful fall semester, KU was ranked number one in the country in the national varsity debate rankings, and head into the tournament full of confidence. KU’s success in this prestigious event is as long-standing and impressive as that of the Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team.

Across the humanities, sciences and the arts in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, there are inspiring faculty and students busy helping us understand our world better. From dinosaur digs to social media to explaining the Black Lives Matter movement, we have compiled some of our highlights for you below.  

One of the greatest discoveries by a KU alum just got a stamp of approval. In 1930, a 24-year old amateur astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh was working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona to pay for his upcoming freshman year at KU when he discovered Pluto. Tombaugh’s stellar discovery earned him a scholarship to the University of Kansas, where he completed his bachelor’s degree (1936) and master’s degree (1938) in astronomy. Tombaugh and Pluto were back in the news last year when the New Horizons probe finished its nine-year journey to Pluto and sent back some of the highest-quality images of the former planet to date.

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences plays major part in KU’s past, present and future 

James Gunn thanks KU for lifetime of opportunity with gifts that support legacy of creative output 

Part of Craig Marshall’s job as an associate professor of geology is to play with lasers. He’s a specialist in Raman spectroscopy, which involves using lasers to determine the molecular makeup of matter. Marshall frequently employs this technique to analyze minerals and crystals. One application he’s studying is whether Raman spectroscopy could help scientists find evidence of life on Mars.

Chris Brown is a professor of environmental studies and geography