Helping students overcome anxieties about math, Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, professor of mathematics and courtesy professor of electrical engineering and computer science, has been awarded the 2015-16 Chancellors Club Professorship by KU Endowment. These professorships are held by outstanding faculty who are chosen by students and colleagues. Teaching professors retain the title as long as they teach at KU. 

Major Dan Rooney, an F-16 pilot in the Oklahoma Air National Guard, was on a commercial flight in 2006 that would end up changing his life and guiding his future.

Balancing the arts and the sciences comes naturally to Natali Diaz-Yepes, a graduating senior double majoring in dance and biology. Diaz-Yepes’ father is a doctor of biology statistics, and she’s been in love with dance since the age of three. This solid foundation in both fields keeps her days interesting and her evenings busy. The last few semesters, she has found herself alternating dance and science classes throughout her days. Many people may find this a challenging switch every couple of hours, but Diaz-Yepes finds it really plays to her strengths. “Whenever I go to one of my biology labs, I seem to approach the experiments very creatively; and when I’m in the dance studio working on choreography, I always rely on very calculated and methodical approaches,” Diaz-Yepes said. Diaz-Yepes finds inspiration in interesting places.

Marcus Florez, B.S. in chemistry, Class of 2015 

Marquise Paige, B.S. in geology, Class of 2015 The student carrying the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ banner at graduation this year is not the same student he was as a freshman four years ago. Student senator. Geology major. Camper. Researcher. None of these were experiences Marquise Paige, a Wichita senior, had envisioned when he first enrolled at the University of Kansas. He described himself as a shy student who was planning to keep his head down, get good grades, and graduate with a degree in petroleum engineering. Yet, within a few months of arriving at KU, he was running for Student Senate and soon after, headed for a new major. “When I first started KU, I was really introverted. I didn’t really talk to people a lot and kept to myself. I didn’t know a lot about myself because I didn’t have a lot of experiences,” Paige said.

Getting a job is often as much about who you know as it is what you know. For students looking to enter the technology field after graduation, the Jayhawk network has opened new doors in California’s Silicon Valley.  This January, a group of about 20 KU students made the 2,000-mile trip from Lawrence to Silicon Valley for the inaugural Tech Trek.

Faculty called upon for expertise as media cover significant current events When a young man was fatally shot by police in Ferguson, Mo., media coverage did not naturally gravitate toward examining mid-century suburban development in the St. Louis area. For Clarence Lang, however, the connection between the current situation and his historical research on St. Louis was clear. “In terms of my interest in race, urban politics and governance, social movements and the 20^th century, I think that positioned me in an interesting way to comment on contemporary issues,” said Lang, an associate professor of African & African-American studies and American studies. Recently, national and world crises have dominated headlines and media have frequently sought researchers’ expertise to gain a new perspective and better understand the context of current events.

Looking at the sum of his career, William Fisher attributes many of his accomplishments to a crucial conversation during his college years. Initially, Fisher was intent on a biochemistry major as an undergraduate at Southern Illinois University. That is, until a professor (who just happened to grow up on a wheat farm in Kansas) said he didn’t think Fisher was cut out for chemistry. Fisher was surprised, even more so by what his professor said next. “That was quite a shock to me. And he said, ‘Well, I’m not [cut out for it> either. I’m pursuing a degree in geology. You ought to go and talk to the people over there.’ That was the beginning of my junior year,” Fisher said. “So I transferred to geology.