Find out what fellow Jayhawks are up to in our biweekly edition of “In the News.” It’s like an online version of Class Notes.If you’ve seen Jayhawks in the news who should be featured, email us at share@kualumni.org.
Audiences all over the world saw the Kansas City skyline last year in “American Honey.” The film, which received six nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards — including Best Feature and Female Lead — stars actor Shia LaBeouf. Kansas City Film Commissioner Stephane Scupham, a 1999 graduate and University alumna, worked with the crew of “American Honey” for the duration of its stay in Kansas City. Read full article.
A documentary came out last year celebrating the life of that coach. “Fast Break: The Legend of John McLendon” was directed by University of Kansas film Professor Kevin Willmott who says McLendon is an American hero. In 1936, McLendon was the first black man to graduate from KU with a Physical Education degree. Read more and listen to podcast.
Plenty of people go back to school at a nontraditional age. But most of them don’t take classes for a doctorate at a school in which they are also a professor. Or while they are practicing law full-time. Or at the age of 72. But that’s exactly what Bruce Hopkins did when he decided to get an SJD at the University of Kansas School of Law, where he also serves as a professor from practice. Read full article.
The Center for Undergraduate Research highlights alumni accomplishments on their website. Rebecca Linwood, c’05, is featured this month. Linwood earned a degree in cell biology and is a senior scientist at Merck Animal Health. Read full article.
Nathan Muyskens, former Co-Chair of the White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Practice at Loeb & Loeb, joined the Washington, D.C. office of Greenberg Traurig. Muyskens earned a degree from the KU School of Law in 1995. Read full article.
Kayla Smalley sat down with Catina Taylor, co-founder of the V Form Alliance and founder of Dreams KC, to hear about her entrepreneurial journey in building a new tiny school in Kansas City. Taylor is a 1999 graduate of the KU School of Law. Read full article.
The New Orleans Pelicans have signed current D-League player and former Kansas star Wayne Selden Jr. The 6-5, 230-pound guard has averaged of 18.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists this season with the Iowa Energy. Read full article.
William “Bill” Hougland, former Kansas men’s basketball player and the first player in Olympic basketball history to win two gold medals, died March 6 in Lawrence. He was 86. Hougland, b’52, was a former member of the KU Alumni Association’s national board of directors. Read full article.
KU’s new School of Business building opened its doors last May—and it’s already received several awards and national recognition. David Broz, a’97, an architect for Gensler says while conceptualizing the building back in 2009, the country was in a recession—and staff wanted to bring nobility back to business. Read full article.
Have you heard news about a fellow Jayhawk, or maybe you have news of your own to share? Email us at share@kualumni.org, or fill out our Class Notes form to be included in a future issue of Kansas Alumni magazine. Read more about newsworthy Jayhawks.
Find out what fellow Jayhawks are up to in our biweekly edition of “In the News.” It’s like an online version of Class Notes.If you’ve seen Jayhawks in the news who should be featured, email us at share@kualumni.org.
Jessica Nelson, managing director of TeamKC: Life+Talent, helps tell the Kansas City story to young professionals in an effort to recruit them to the area. Nelson, j’11, is executive vice president of the Greater Kansas City Area alumni network. Read full article.
Sara Shepherd, the LJWorld’s education reporter, shares a number of tidbits from the Hill in her column, including some honors and awards. Four KU graduate students recently completed international research in their respective fields; a research project manager received the KGS Outstanding Support Staff Recognition Award; and KU received a $100,000 grant to help students pursue fieldwork in places like Wyoming and Turkey. Read full article.
Adrienne Rosel Bulinski, a motivational speaker and entertainer, will be the emcee for the 2017 Pancake Day Talent Show Feb. 25. Bulinski, j’05, is a Liberal native and former Miss Liberal, Miss Kansas. She currently lives in Denver. Read full article.
Jacob Burmood, a sculptor and 2013 University graduate in ceramics, recently received agrant from ArtsKC, a fund which makes grants to artists, arts organizations, and arts programs throughout the KC region, for his work with casting draped cloth into bronze. The grant gives him access to more of that bronze, a material that does not come cheap for most sculptors. Read full article.
Beginning this semester, the KU School of Business and the Business Analytics Club will present a monthly symposium on topics surrounding data analytics. The second symposium in the series will feature Ruben Sigala, b’97, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Caesars Entertainment Corp. Read full article.
Leawood-based Blooom raised $9.15 million in Series B financing, giving it the resources necessary to boost its marketing to reach more of its target audience of middle-class workers and grow even faster. Blooom CEO Chris Costello, b’95, told the Kansas City Business Journal that the $9.15 million gives the company plenty of time to prove that it has a business model that can grow. Read full article.
Students can now quickly and easily keep up with the actions of President Donald Trump, thanks in part to the work of a student here at the University. Peter Federman, who is working toward his Ph.D. in public administration, helped develop Track Trump, which is downloadable on smartphones and has a desktop version. Read full article.
Sixteen students, faculty and staff have been selected as University of Kansas Men of Merit, recognized for positively defining masculinity through challenging cultural norms, taking action and leading by example while making contributions to the university and/or the community. Read full article.
Two recent KU graduates, Austin Barone, b’16, and Lei Shi, e’05, PhD’17, were selected as part of Pipeline’s 2017 entrepreneurial fellowship class, announced at the Innovator of the Year event Jan. 26 in Kansas City. Both graduates’ startups were launched through The Catalyst, KU’s student business accelerator. Read full article.
The partners at McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan PC elected Kristie Remster Orme as the first woman president in the firm’s history. Orme is a 19-year veteran of the firm, a member of its Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Banking & Financial Services groups. She earned a degree from the KU School of Law in 1997. Read full article.
Hissan Anis and Kate O’Hara Gasper were promoted to partner status at Lathrop & Gage, effective Jan. 1, 2017. Anis earned a degree from the KU School of Law in 2009; Gasper graduated in 2008. Read full article
Have you heard news about a fellow Jayhawk, or maybe you have news of your own to share? Email us at share@kualumni.org, or fill out our Class Notes form to be included in a future issue of Kansas Alumni magazine. Read more about newsworthy Jayhawks.
Find out what fellow Jayhawks are up to in our biweekly edition of “In the News.” It’s like an online version of Class Notes.If you’ve seen Jayhawks in the news who should be featured, email us at share@kualumni.org.
Ric Averill retired at the end of December as artistic director of the Lawrence Arts Center, where he worked for more than 16 years. But Averill, f’72, g’85, clarified that he’s not retiring from the arts. Read full article.
Former KU volleyball standout Sara Matthews was named head volleyball coach at the University of Delaware. Matthews, d’02, served the last two seasons as an assistant coach at TCU and has also previously served on the staffs at USC and West Virginia. She was a Jayhawk Scholar in 1999, and earned Big 12 All-Academic First Team honors in 2000. Read full article.
Kathleen Warfel, c’79, is among the three actors starring in Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady, which opened Jan. 11 at Union Station’s H&R Block City Stage, who reminisced about their careers and shared tips for success. Read full article.
A year ago Austin Barone finished up a 21-hour semester, having crammed in enough hours to graduate in December. This year, his startup business, Just Play Sports Solutions, has clients nationwide. Barone, b’16, is a former kicker on the KU football team and credits The Catalyst, KU’s student business accelerator with helping boost his business. Read full article. Have you seen a story featuring a Jayhawk? Send it our way so we can include it in a future post! Email us at share@kualumni.org.
Have you heard news about a fellow Jayhawk, or maybe you have news of your own to share? Email us at share@kualumni.org, or fill out our Class Notes form to be included in a future issue of Kansas Alumni magazine. Read more about newsworthy Jayhawks.
Find out what fellow Jayhawks are up to in our biweekly edition of “In the News.” It’s like an online version of Class Notes.If you’ve seen Jayhawks in the news who should be featured, email us at share@kualumni.org.
Sally Buzbee, j’88, has been named executive editor of The Associated Press effective Jan. 1, 2017. Buzbee is currently AP Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief. She began her career with AP as a reporter in Kansas in 1988. Read full article.
Former KU football player Kale Pick was named head coach of the Fort Scott Community College football team Wednesday night after serving as the team’s offensive coordinator this fall. Pick, c’13, graduated from Dodge City High School in 2008 and played at KU from 2008-2012. Read full article.
David Dillon, retired chairman and CEO of The Kroger Co. and a University of Kansas alumnus, will head the search committee for a new KU chancellor. Dillon was student body president at KU, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business in 1973. Read full article.
New York City alumni network board members Kellie Johnson, a’06, and Brandon Snook, f’05, are both featured in this article from the campus paper highlighting Cornerstone Tavern, where Jayhawks in the Big Apple gather to watch KU basketball and football. Read full article.
Jason P. Romero says his biggest accomplishment for the year had nothing to do with the law. It was a restoration of a ceramics studio he assisted with at the Mattie Rhodes Center, a non-profit for families where he sits on the board of directors. Romero, c’06, l’09, g’09, g’14, is an associate with Husch Blackwell in Kansas City. Read full article.
Lauren G. Hughes has joined the Wise & Reber law firm in McPherson as an associate in the firm’s Estate Planning and Transactional practice groups. Hughes, a Texas native, received her Bachelor of Arts in both English and American Studies from KU in 2013 and earned her Juris Doctorate from the KY School of Law in 2016. Read full article.
Curtis Summers, l’05, resigned as partner at Husch Blackwell LLP to become a shareholder at Littler Mendelson PC. Summers worked as a law clerk for Judge Kathryn Vratil in the U.S. District Court of Kansas and has spent the rest of his career at Husch Blackwell, where he became a partner in January 2014. Read full article.
Aaron Vanderpool, l’16, is one of three attorneys with engineering and business backgrounds who recently joined Hovey Williams LLP, based on Overland Park. Read full article.
Kathy Greenlee, b’85, l’88, has been hired as vice president of aging and health policy at the Center for Practical Bioethics. Greenlee is a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Read full article.
You may be wondering what this has to do with KU: one of the co-creators and executive producers on the show is 1988 alumnus Scott Thomas. He is beginning the process to revamp the show so many people loved. Read full article.
Larry Meyers, who earned a law degree from KU in 1973, spent 24 years on the highest criminal court in Texas. He switched political parties in 2013 and ran for re-election this year and was defeated. Read full article.
Have you heard news about a fellow Jayhawk, or maybe you have news of your own to share? Email us at share@kualumni.org, or fill out our Class Notes form to be included in a future issue of Kansas Alumni magazine. Read more about newsworthy Jayhawks.
Find out what fellow Jayhawks are up to in our biweekly edition of “In the News.” It’s like an online version of Class Notes.If you’ve seen Jayhawks in the news who should be featured, email us at share@kualumni.org.
Marlon Marshall, c’13, oversees the largest division of Clinton’s campaign and interacts with just about every other aspect of it. Officially, he’s the director of states and political engagement. A St. Louis native, Marshall is the most senior African American on either presidential campaign. Read full article.
Sarah Deer, a visiting law professor and alumna of the University, is part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. She was diagnosed with breast cancer ten years ago at the age of 33 and was “sidelined” for a year. Read full article.
Brothers Ben and Jacob Burghart have created their own short-action films, which will culminate with the production of “Follow the Leader,” the duo’s first feature-length film. They recently started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the production process. Read full article
Marty Duvall, who earned a master’s of business administration degree from KU, was named chief executive officer and member of the board of directors of Tocagen Inc., a clinical-stage, cancer-selective gene company. Read full article
Two University alumni have ventured into the realm of Los Angeles entrepreneurship and a documentary series that follows the journey of entrepreneurs throughout the world. Tyler Reynolds, c’10, and Philip Ozorkiewicz,c’14, met when they were both upperclassmen at the University. Read full article
Mayra Aguirre will join the Hall Family Foundation in January as the new vice president and secretary, where she will build on her grant-making experience and community background. Aguirre earned a law degree from the University of Kansas. Read full article
The Polsinelli Transactional Law Center at the KU School of Law was established with $250,000 in gifts and pledges from 67 KU Law alumni and friends employed by Polsinelli- representing a 100 percent alumni participation rate. Read full article
Philip Anschutz, b’61, knew early in life that he was put on this earth to be a collector of businesses. When he was 10, he told his parents he would own the Broadmoor hotel one day—and in 2011 he finally acquired it.
Read full article.
The blog post features a conversation with Austin Barone, b’16 co-founder of Just Play Sports Solutions and former KU football player, who shares how a coaching staff can embrace smartphone usage in the locker room. Read full article.
Have you heard news about a fellow Jayhawk, or maybe you have news of your own to share? Email us at share@kualumni.org, or fill out our Class Notes form to be included in a future issue of Kansas Alumni magazine. Read more about newsworthy Jayhawks.
Find out what fellow Jayhawks are up to in our biweekly edition of “In the News.” It’s like an online version of Class Notes.If you’ve seen Jayhawks in the news who should be featured, email us at share@kualumni.org.
Johnson County District Court Judge Gerald T. Elliott, who was appointed to the bench in late 1990, will retire when his current term ends in January 2017. Elliott graduated from the KU School of Law in 1964. Read full article
Ric, f’72, g’85, and Jeanne Averill, d’73, g’80, have been part of Lawrence’s art community for over 40 years. Both earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University, and credit the local community for their success over the years. Read full article
Jeffrey Quong Li has joined the firm as an Owner, focusing on its China practice. Li, l’04, will be based in Washington, D.C., and will advice Chinese companies in strategic business activities in the United States. Read full article.
From his childhood in East Baltimore to his days playing safety for the University of Kansas football team, Smithson has witnessed the plight of men, women and children facing hardship. Smithson has tried to give back to the Lawrence community as much as he can — reading to students at elementary schools, visiting patients in the hospital, even ringing a bell for the Salvation Army. Read full article.
On Sept. 9, Robert Fairchild will step down from his position as the district’s chief judge, one he has held for about 14 years, and into the position of senior judge. Fairchild, l’73, worked as an attorney for 23 years and was appointed Division One judge in Douglas County in 1996. Read full article.
Chris Keary, who has been serving since Jan. 1 as interim director of the Public Safety Office and chief of KU Police, will assume the role in an ongoing capacity. Keary, c’83, holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from KU and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Washburn University. Read full article.
University of Kansas alumna Jean Kerich has been retired for over nine years, but that doesn’t mean she has retired from her passions. Kerich, ’60, still serves as a bus driver for the University of Kansas’s track and cross country teams. Read full article and watch interview.
Have you heard news about a fellow Jayhawk, or maybe you have news of your own to share? Email us at share@kualumni.org, or fill out our Class Notes form to be included in a future issue of Kansas Alumni magazine. Read more about newsworthy Jayhawks.
In 1966, 12 KU Theatre students left Lawrence and drove to Creede, Colorado, a flailing mining town in the San Juan Mountains, never dreaming that their trip would become one of a lifetime for themselves and the town.
Steve Grossman was a junior at KU when a flier posted on a Murphy Hall bulletin board titled “Operation Summer Theatre” caught his eye. He made the call, took an initial visit to Creede and shook hands to commit to return for the summer with friends in tow.
Upon returning to Lawrence, Grossman, c’67, g’97, recruited 11 fellow theatre students to found the now “legendary” Creede Repertory Theatre. Founding members include: Shari Morey Lacey, ’69; Pat Royse Moynihan,c’67; Steve Reed, c’70, c’70; Kay Lancaster, c’66, g’70; Gary Mitchell, c’66, g’72; David Miller, c’69; B.J. Myers, c’69, g’71; Connie Bohannon-Roberts, d’66; Earl Trussell, c’70; Joe Roach, c’69; Lance Hewett, c’70; and Grossman.
“Creede Repertory Theatre is a shining example of how the arts can invigorate and sustain a community,” said Henry Bial, director of KU School of the Arts. “We are proud of CRT’s KU roots and were honored to participate in the celebration of its Jayhawk founders.”
Lawrence and the University of Kansas are still legendary in Creede, and the Department of Theatre was honored to be a part of the celebration. Mechele Leon, chair and professor of theatre; Kathy Pryor, managing director of University Theatre; and Bial attended the anniversary festivities, which included a KU alumni event, a talk back with the KU founders and a dedication of the Founders Lobby.
The Department of Theatre’s connections to Creede are far from over. Lily Lancaster, a KU theatre student, is finishing up a summer internship, and KU theatre alumni return each year to see and star in productions—not to mention the many alumni who have set up permanent roots and careers in Creede as well.
“It is clear to me that Creede Repertory Theatre and KU Theatre share a legacy founded on a devotion to making great theatre, developing and supporting theatre artists, and celebrating the communities that support us,” Leon said.
—Heather Anderson, marketing & communications coordinator, KU School of the Arts
The KU connection to Creede was chronicled by Jennifer Jackson Sanner in Issue 5, 2005, of Kansas Alumni magazine during the theatre’s fortieth anniversary year. Click here to read the feature from our archives. We hope you enjoy the nostalgic look back at a piece of Jayhawk history!
Above: The twelve founding members and KU theatre alumni the first summer in Creede, Colorado.
Above: Seven of the founding members of the Creede Repertory Theatre at the dedication of the Founders Lobby during the 50th anniversary celebration this summer.
Top photo: Mechele Leon, chair and professor of theatre, in front of the Creede Repertory Theatre.
During a long career as a radio and TV broadcaster, KU associate professor of film studies John C. Tibbetts interviewed dozens of Hollywood film stars, musicians, writers and theatre people. Many interviews were set up by studio publicity departments as part of long press junkets in which performers would do round after round of interviews to promote a new film.
Drawing on his undergraduate education in design, Tibbetts, f’69, g’75, PhD’82, found a way to make himself stand out in this assembly line approach to film promotion: He painted watercolor portraits of the performers and presented them for signing during his interviews. More than 80 of those portraits bearing the autographs and inscriptions of the subjects will be featured in “Stargazing,” an exhibition that opens Dec. 7 and runs through Jan. 31 at the Kansas City Public Library.
“Many of the interviews were arranged through the studios, and they really guard against every Tom, Dick and Harry seeking an autograph,” Tibbetts says. “But I got to know the publicity chiefs and they got to know me and my work, and I had carte blanche and was able to bring in paintings of whoever I wanted to get signed.”
Tibbetts says the paintings “were a wonderful icebreaker.” Performers would sometimes confide their own lover for painting or other private interests they would never otherwise share. Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury and Michael Douglas were some of the many subjects who asked for copies, which Tibbetts was happy to provide.
“I like to think the subjects themselves really enjoyed it,” he says. “Arnold Schwarzenegger–I did five or six with him–when I’d come in to talk to him, he’d say, ‘Well, what did you paint this time.’”
The interviews that came out of these sessions have been archived by the KU Libraries’ Center for Digital Scholarship as “Over the Rainbow: The John Tibbetts Archive of Conversations in the Arts and Humanities.” They can be viewed online through KU ScholarWorks. For more information on the “Stargazing,” visit kclibrary.org.
During a long career as a radio and TV broadcaster, KU associate professor of film studies John C. Tibbetts interviewed dozens of Hollywood film stars, musicians, writers and theatre people. Many interviews were set up by studio publicity departments as part of long press junkets in which performers would do round after round of interviews to promote a new film.
“Many of the interviews were arranged through the studios, and they really guard against every Tom, Dick and Harry seeking an autograph,” Tibbetts says. “But I got to know the publicity chiefs and they got to know me and my work, and I had carte blanche and was able to bring in paintings of whoever I wanted to get signed.”
