Vashti Goracke has a bittersweet relationship with dance. Some days are good, some days are bad. There can be lots of pain. But she wouldn’t trade anything for the ability to tell stories and say whatever she’s thinking and feeling through dance.
Graduation Profile: College experience alters path for senior
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.
Distinguished Alumni: Sharon Lee cares for fellow Kansans through low-cost clinic
Rodney Hill, visiting artist from Rennie Harris Puremovement in Philadelphia, taught a hip-hop class as part of the dance department visiting artist series.
Liberal arts and sciences graduates go on to successful and sometimes unconventional careers. They combine personal passion with the flexibility of their degree to build careers that are both fulfilling and challenging.
Alumna combats violence against native women through tribal law reform
Chaos. That’s how Sarah Deer, College alumna and MacArthur ‘genius’ grant winner, describes her typical day.
Sarah Deer speaks with WGSS 521 “Women and Violence” class
Mentoring students, counseling rape victims and fighting to close cracks in the legal system fill her days. At night, she unwinds with her husband Neal Axton (whom she met at KU law), their Beagle/Chihuahua mix and some mind-numbing, Netflix bingeing.
The University of Kansas Army ROTC commissioned its first female Field Artillery officer this spring following Pentagon orders in 2013 to open combat-arms branches to women across all military services. Madeline Wilcox, of Leavenworth, commissioned on Monday, May 19, as a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery branch. “Cadet Wilcox’s selection to Field Artillery was a surprise to her and us, but as the Army moves to put females into combat arms, Cadet Wilcox has great potential to do well,” said Lt. Col. Storm Reynolds, professor of military science. Wilcox joined Army ROTC in 2010, during the spring semester of her freshman year at KU. She earned a degree in political science.
Distinguished Alumni: Edgar Heap of Birds known worldwide as innovator of conceptual Native American art
Growing up in an underprivileged area of Wichita, Kansas, it never occurred to Edgar Heap of Birds that being a professional artist was an option for a career. Luckily, for the art world, the many students he’s taught, and the people he’s honored and educated with his art worldwide, it was.
Distinguished Alumni: William Fisher embarked on successful geology career thanks to trouble with chemistry
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.
Graduation Profile: Honduran filmmaker looks to the future
Honduran filmmaker, Hispano Durón, looks to a creative future making films and teaching at the University of Honduras after successfully achieving his Ph.D in film and media studies. Durón gives keynote speech at the II El Heraldo Film Festival in Honduras, October 2013.
Being a filmmaker in Honduras is no easy feat. That didn’t stop KU doctoral student Hispano Durón from writing and directing the first Honduran feature film of the millennia – and only one of a few Honduran feature films ever.
With no film school in the country, Durón left home early to pursue his dream.
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.
“Cadet Wilcox’s selection to Field Artillery was a surprise to her and us, but as the Army moves to put females into combat arms, Cadet Wilcox has great potential to do well,” said Lt. Col. Storm Reynolds, professor of military science. Wilcox joined Army ROTC in 2010, during the spring semester of her freshman year at KU. She earned a degree in political science.
Growing up in an underprivileged area of Wichita, Kansas, it never occurred to Edgar Heap of Birds that being a professional artist was an option for a career. Luckily, for the art world, the many students he’s taught, and the people he’s honored and educated with his art worldwide, it was. 