Today’s News from the University of Kansas
From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu
Headlines
Make an impact during 24 hours of giving on One Day. One KU.
LAWRENCE — Gifts made during One Day. One KU., the 24-hour giving campaign for the University of Kansas, will mean more scholarships, more program support and more opportunities for faculty and students to learn, educate and innovate. Jayhawk alumni, friends and fans will come together Feb. 18 to provide philanthropic support to schools and programs across all KU campuses: Lawrence, the Edwards Campus in Overland Park and all three KU Medical Center campuses in the state: Kansas City, Wichita and Salina.
KU announces Truman Scholarship nominees
LAWRENCE — Four outstanding juniors will be the University of Kansas nominees for Harry S. Truman Scholarships. The students, from Dodge City, Emporia, Lenexa and Overland Park, are competing for the prestigious national awards, which provide up to $30,000 for graduate study. Only about 60 Truman Scholars are selected nationwide each year.
Researchers study how lifelong environmentalists want their remains handled after death
LAWRENCE — Traditional burial in a graveyard has environmental costs. A new study from the University of Kansas in the journal Mortality details how older environmentalists consider death care and how likely they are to choose “green” burials and other eco-friendly options. “This article is specifically asking if older adult environmentalists consider how their bodies are going to be disposed as part of their environmental activism,” said lead author Paul Stock, associate professor of sociology and environmental studies at the University of Kansas.
Book reexamines Hungary, Horthy and the Holocaust
LAWRENCE – Frank Baron’s most vivid childhood memory of 1944 in Budapest is hiding in the basement during a Russian bombardment of his German-occupied hometown. As the University of Kansas professor emeritus writes in his new book, “Stopping the Trains to Auschwitz, Budapest, 1944,” the fate of the city’s 200,000 Jews was in the hands of Hungary’s longtime leader, Regent Miklos Horthy. The book and the accompanying YouTube video, which Baron produced with Lawrence filmmaker Jim Jewell, are an attempt to paint Horthy in the most accurate light possible
Full stories below.
Contact: Michelle Strickland, KU Endowment, 785-832-7363, [email protected]; Michelle Keller, KU Endowment, 785-832-7336, [email protected]; @KUEndowment
Make an impact during 24 hours of giving on One Day. One KU.
LAWRENCE — Twenty-four hours may make up only one day, but that day could alter the lives of KU students, faculty and staff for generations to come.
Gifts made during One Day. One KU., the 24-hour giving campaign, will mean more scholarships, more program support and more opportunities for faculty and students to learn, educate and innovate.
Jayhawk alumni, friends and fans will come together Feb. 18 to provide philanthropic support to schools and programs across all KU campuses: Lawrence, the Edwards Campus in Overland Park and all three KU Medical Center campuses in the state — Kansas City, Wichita and Salina.
In 2020, donors made 3,239 gifts resulting in more than $1.7 million raised to support KU. The smallest contribution was $5, and the largest contribution was $100,000. This year, the fourth consecutive giving day, offers even more ways to make an impact.
This year’s campaign features more opportunities for donors to connect to areas they are passionate about. In 2021, 44 schools and units are taking part in the campaign, an increase from 42 in 2020 and 39 in 2019.
Adding to the spirit of the day, there are numerous matching grant/fund challenges to unlock online at ku.edu/onedayoneku and on social media. There are $570,764 in match/challenge commitments secured to date, with 104 unique matches and challenges.
1. Alumna Dr. Danielle Christiano is challenging fellow Scholarship Hall alumni with a $10,000 challenge for the halls.
2. “The Crazies,” a group of 1978-79 graduates of the School of Architecture & Design, will contribute $5,000 when 50 gifts of any amount are made to the school.
3. The Gattermeir Family Foundation is matching all gifts, dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000, for the Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
4. For every Twitter retweet of KU’s One Day. One KU. “retweet challenge,” $1 will be unlocked to benefit the Greater KU Fund, up to $1,000.
Gifts made online, by phone and in person between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. CST Feb. 18 will count toward One Day. One KU. Visit ku.edu/onedayoneku to find out more and to donate.
The official university Twitter account has changed to @UnivOfKansas.
Refollow @KUNews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.
Contact: Andy Hyland, Office of Public Affairs, 785-864-7100, [email protected], @UnivOfKansas
KU announces Truman Scholarship nominees
LAWRENCE — Four outstanding juniors will be the University of Kansas nominees for Harry S. Truman Scholarships.
The students are competing for the prestigious national awards, which provide up to $30,000 for graduate study. The awards are given to college juniors for leadership in public service. They are highly competitive, with only about 60 Truman Scholars named nationwide each year.
This year’s KU nominees:
1. Radhia Adbirahman, from Overland Park and Vancouver, British Columbia
2. Rachel Hall, Lenexa
3. Gustavo Murillo-Espinoza, Emporia
4. Leah Stein, Dodge City
Criteria for the nominations include an extensive record of campus and community service, commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit and advocacy sectors, communication skills and a high probability of becoming a “change agent,” and a strong academic record with likely acceptance to the graduate school of the candidate’s choice.
The campus nomination process is coordinated by the Office of Fellowships, a unit of Academic Success. Students interested in applying for the Truman Scholarship in future years are encouraged to contact the office, which can nominate a limited number of students each year.
Scholars receive priority admission and supplemental financial aid at some premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling and special internship opportunities within the federal government.
Since 1981, 20 KU students have become Truman scholars. Samuel Steuart was the most recent KU student to receive the honor in 2019.
Congress established the Truman Scholarship Foundation in 1975 as the federal memorial to President Harry S. Truman. A national selection committee reviews applications from more than 800 nominees for the Truman Foundation. Approximately 200 students will be named finalists in late February and invited for regional interviews in March and early April. The scholarship recipients will be announced in late April.
More information about KU’s nominees is below:
Radhia Abdirahman, of Overland Park and Vancouver, British Columbia, is a double major in global & international studies and human biology with an emphasis in applied behavioral sciences. The daughter of Hassan Dirie and Hibo Rabile, she graduated from Tamanawis Secondary School. Abdirahman is a member of the University Honors Program, the McNair Scholars Program, the Multicultural Scholars Program and the University Scholars Program. In the Honors Program, Abdirahman has served as a freshman seminar assistant and an honors ambassador, and she recently took a leadership role in the Common Cause: Social Justice and Racial Equity Symposium. As a freshman, Abdirahman was selected for the Rising Jayhawk award for her leadership of a service initiative as vice president of the Muslim Student Association. She currently serves as development director for the Center for Community Outreach and co-director of advocacy with the HEAL KU program. She is an intern for the Hall Center for the Humanities, Spencer Museum of Art and Kansas African Studies Center’s Mellon-funded Sawyer Seminar Series on “Chronic Conditions: Knowing, Seeing, & Healing the Body in Global Africa.” She is a Foreign Language Area Studies Fellow for Arabic.
Rachel Hall, of Lenexa, is a double major in global & international studies and political science with a minor in intelligence and national security studies. The daughter of Debbie and Keith Hall, she graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School. Hall has had internships with the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York and with Global Ties KC, a nonprofit that facilitates international visitor leadership programs and citizens diplomacy. Currently, she is completing an internship course for the U.S. Army TRADOC and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and is an Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence Scholar. She previously served as an intern for St. Thomas Episcopal Church, coordinating summer community service events for children and a mission trip to Houston for hurricane cleanup. On campus, she is involved with Canterbury House and, as a student of Russian, the KU Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Club. She also has held leadership positions in Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
Gustavo Murillo-Espinoza, of Emporia, is majoring in molecular, cellular & developmental biology and a minor in Latino/a studies. The son of Silvino and Veronica Murillo, he graduated from Emporia High School. Murillo-Espinoza is a member of the University Honors Program, the Multicultural Scholars Program and TRIO STEM, and he was selected as a freshman for the Center for Undergraduate Research’s Emerging Scholars Program. He continues to work in the biomolecular lab of Joanna Slusky, associate professor of molecular biosciences. Murillo-Espinoza is involved in several organizations for fellow Mexican and Hispanic students, including Phi Iota Alpha, and the Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund. KU Endowment selected him for the Tradition of Excellence Scholarship based on his leadership with these organizations. For the past two years, Murillo-Espinoza served as a student leader for OPTIONS, a pre-semester program for first-generation, low-income and underrepresented students. Murillo-Espinoza is a chemistry tutor for the Peer-Led Undergraduate Supplement program and is a student ambassador for TRIO and the University Honors Program.
Leah Stein, of Dodge City, is majoring in sociology and minoring in social justice in the United States. The daughter of Michael and Coleen Stein, she graduated from Dodge City High School. Stein is a member of the University Honors Program and was selected last year for the University Scholars Program, which seeks to identify top sophomores from across campus. She was also selected last year for Mortar Board honorary society, for which she serves as the social chair. Over the spring and summer, Stein worked on two political campaigns in southwest Kansas. Stein has been involved in the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics Student Advisory Board, where she has engaged in programs such as this fall’s Gratitude Drive-Thru for veterans. She is current president of Chi Omega and has previously served as vice president and Foundation Ambassador. She is a student ambassador for the university and interned with KU Alumni Association.
Subscribe to KU Today, the campus newsletter,
for additional news about the University of Kansas.
http://www.news.ku.edu
Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch
Researchers study how lifelong environmentalists want their remains handled after death
LAWRENCE — Traditional burial in a graveyard has environmental costs. Graves can take up valuable land, leak embalming chemicals and involve nonbiodegradable materials like concrete, as well as the plastic and steel that make up many caskets. But the other mainstream option — cremation — releases dangerous chemicals and greenhouse gasses into the environment.
So, what’s an environmentalist to do when making plans for the end of life?
A new study from the University of Kansas in the journal Mortality details how older environmentalists consider death care and how likely they are to choose “green” burials and other eco-friendly options.
“This article is specifically asking if older adult environmentalists consider how their bodies are going to be disposed as part of their environmental activism,” said lead author Paul Stock, associate professor of sociology and environmental studies at the University of Kansas.
In addition to a literature review on the ecological costs of various disposal methods, Stock and co-author Mary Kate Dennis of the University of Manitoba interviewed 20 people in the Kansas. Participants were 60 years and older, engaged in environmental activities and possessed spiritual values that guided their environmentalism.
“We were really surprised to see both answers — that yes, they’re planning on green burial, and no, it’s not even on their radar,” Stock said. “We were often the ones introducing these people that are so knowledgeable in so many areas of the environment and activism to green burial. We would ask them, ‘Do you want your body to be buried in a green burial?’ And many would say, ‘I don’t know what that is, can you tell me about it?’”
The researchers said awareness of green burials — where a body is placed into the soil to facilitate decomposition without durable caskets or concrete chambers — is growing for some older people. But the practice of green burial remains clouded by a funeral industry looking to make profits, and it can be influenced by considerations of family, religious and cultural traditions, as well as the practices of institutions like the military that carry out funerals.
“The business of burial has shaped all of our ideas about how we can be buried,” Dennis said. “A lot of participants said they weren’t aware of green burial. We’re sort of presented with two choices — you’re going to be put in the cemetery or cremated. Then, we start expanding to other options, but that’s only been in recent times. You see some of their desires, like, ‘I want to be put out on the land.’ Or you see in some of our green-burial narratives where people took it into their own hands. But you have to have be empowered to go against the grain, so I think for a lot of us we didn’t even know a green burial was possible, and pushback from society, capitalism and the funeral industry has created a situation where we don’t even know the possibilities — some of the environmentalists in our study didn’t know there were laws that say they can be buried on their own land.”
The researchers found more than half of their environmentally minded participants planned on eventual cremation.
Among those planning burials, there was “unequal knowledge about green burial as an option” even though Lawrence is at the vanguard of green burial in its municipal regulations and even boasts a green-burial section in the local cemetery, Oak Hill, where “metal, concrete, plastic, other synthetic materials and/or stone may not be used for interment.”
“We heard different stories and different requests or thoughts of what they’re going to ask their loved ones to do with their bodies,” Stock said. “The introduction of green burials is very much — like a lot of their thoughts on where or how they wanted to be disposed of — about a sense of place. What struck us and what was so interesting was that Lawrence had, at least at the time, the only municipal-owned cemetery in the country that allowed green burials.”
Perhaps the varying answers given by participants is a result of a lack of conclusive evidence that no one form of handling human remains is decidedly more eco-friendly than another, as the issue has been little-studied.
“There’s not a clear line,” Stock said. “What really struck us was there’s not actually too much science done on comparing what’s more environmental. There are really just one or two papers out there using common environmental measurements — whether it’s a carbon footprint or some other kind of way — to even give us technical measurements to compare. We essentially don’t have too much information to guide us as scientists, much less for older adults as to what is the greenest way of taking care of ones remains.”
The investigators predicted that as green burials gain in popularity, more options for green disposal of bodies will become commonly available, even ones that today seem eccentric.
“The mushroom suit — when we talk about that with our undergrads they’re usually sort of puzzled and intrigued,” Dennis said. “People wonder, ‘How does that work?” But it’s an interesting one. Basically, you’re wrapped in material and then mushrooms grow out of you, and it cleans the toxins. There’s going to be more new and awesome ways to be buried that we haven’t even heard of yet.”
Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.
https://kansaspublicradio.org/when-experts-attack
Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
Book reexamines Hungary, Horthy and the Holocaust
LAWRENCE – Frank Baron’s most vivid childhood memory of 1944 in Budapest is hiding in the basement during a five-week-long Russian bombardment of his German-occupied hometown. Baron’s father had converted from Judaism to his wife’s Catholic faith, raising the children in the church, so deportation to Auschwitz was only a theoretical threat under Nazi racial laws. Not so, however, for their Jewish neighbors.
As Baron, now a professor emeritus of German languages & literatures at the University of Kansas, writes in his new book, “Stopping the Trains to Auschwitz, Budapest, 1944,” (Kansas Scholarworks, 2020) the fate of the city’s 200,000 Jews was in the hands of Hungary’s longtime leader, Regent Miklos Horthy.
“Would Horthy cooperate with Hitler’s Final Solution, allowing the deportations of Budapest’s Jews to the gas chambers, or would he somehow resist and incur the Fuehrer’s wrath? This issue of collaboration with Hitler was fraught with peril then and remains controversial now in the portrayal of Hungarian history,” Baron said in a recent interview.
The book and the accompanying YouTube video, which Baron produced with Lawrence filmmaker Jim Jewell, are an attempt to paint Horthy in the most accurate light possible, with many shades of gray between absolute vice and virtue.
“The Hungarian government today doesn’t want to hear this kind of information that I’m writing about,” Baron said. “Why? Because it doesn’t like to hear that Hungarians were collaborators with the Germans. So why did so many help out? They hated the Jews. But even that was not enough. When the Jews left, they also left their wealth, of which the collaborators expected to gain possession.”
The so-called Auschwitz Report of two prisoners who escaped the now-infamous Nazi extermination camp in Poland galvanized anti-Nazi opposition in the spring of 1944, Baron wrote.
“How the facts about Auschwitz finally awakened not only the conscience of political and church leaders inside Hungary but also that of the world outside Hungary are little understood, even today,” Baron wrote. “Could Hungary, without outside help, impede the powerful momentum of the deportations? It had already consumed the Jewish population of Hungary outside of Budapest. The rescue of the Budapest population is an important issue that still deserves close attention.”
During a period of six months in 1985 as a Fulbright scholar in Budapest, Baron became aware that his own cousin, Mária Székely, had played a role in these events. She had taken on the task of translating the Auschwitz Report, which had been smuggled into Hungary. The detailed and provocative information acted as a catalyst in subsequent events. “My cousin’s description of what happened during the summer of 1944 made me realize how important these events were,” Baron said.
“With the tide of battle then going against the Axis powers, many collaborators began to rethink their loyalties,” Baron said. That included Horthy, who had already countenanced the deportation of nearly 400,000 Jews from Hungary’s countryside.
“There was a lot of pressure on him,” Baron said. “And he might have thought that he would be considered guilty if the Allies actually took over. So there were different reasons that forced him to act. And I tried to analyze numerous factors that converged in a very short period of time and forced him to act.”
Baron’s book delves into the day-by-day details about a secret network of determined individuals who brought the Auschwitz Report to Horthy’s attention and also alerted him to an opportunity to challenge the Germans by force. At the same time, the Allies, alerted by the news of the Auschwitz Report, warned Horthy that he had to put an end to the deportations. This Horthy did, as the title of Baron’s book says, stopping the trains to Auschwitz.
KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]
Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs
