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University, KU Alumni Association open Jayhawk Welcome Center and renovated Adams Alumni Center
LAWRENCE — The new Jayhawk Welcome Center, a dynamic and inviting space that represents a new era in student recruitment for the University of Kansas, is now open for campus tours by prospective students and their families — as well as events and programs for current students, returning alumni and the KU and Lawrence communities.
KU Autism Conference to feature wide range of sessions for professionals, scientists, families
LAWRENCE — Researchers, students, professionals, educators, families and advocates are invited to Autism Across the Life Span, an annual conference presented by the Kansas Center for Autism Research & Training at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute. The conference will take place in-person from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 24 at the KU Edwards Campus BEST Building in Overland Park.
Bestselling author to discuss the ‘dark history and troubling present of eugenics’
LAWRENCE — A scientist, broadcaster and bestselling author who focuses on the complicated, interwoven history of genetics and race will give a public seminar at the University of Kansas in early March. Adam Rutherford will discuss “Eugenics and the Misuse of Mendel” at 5 p.m. March 7 at the Lied Center of Kansas Pavilion. During a reception following the talk, Rutherford will sign copies of his most recent book, “Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics.”
Full stories below.
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Contact: Jennifer Sanner, KU Alumni Association, 785-864-9782, [email protected]; @KUAlumni
University, KU Alumni Association open Jayhawk Welcome Center and renovated Adams Alumni Center
LAWRENCE — The new Jayhawk Welcome Center, a dynamic and inviting space that represents a new era in student recruitment for the University of Kansas, is now open for campus tours by prospective students and their families — as well as events and programs for current students, returning alumni and the KU and Lawrence communities.
The building is attached to the dramatically renovated Adams Alumni Center, home of the KU Alumni Association, at 1266 Oread Ave., the entrance to historic Jayhawk Boulevard on KU’s Lawrence campus.
“The Jayhawk Welcome Center helps KU create a campus visit that no other university can match,” said Chancellor Douglas A. Girod. “Through our state-of-the-art video displays, prospective students can experience many aspects of KU life that they would not see on an ordinary campus tour. They also can see stories highlighting the research and innovations of our faculty and students, along with the achievements and service of Jayhawks around the world. The entire experience powerfully conveys what it means to be a Jayhawk.”
Funded entirely through private gifts to KU Endowment, the $29.4 million project includes 30,000 square feet of new space that will house 25 members of the KU Admissions staff. Alumni Association staff members have returned to their offices on the third floor of the renovated Adams Center, which since 1983 has served as the alumni association’s headquarters.
Both structures feature breathtaking views of Mount Oread and exhibits, including a two-story video board and a 360-degree virtual experience that transports visitors to classrooms, campus events, laboratories, Allen Fieldhouse and David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The complex also includes varied spaces for KU and community events and meetings, along with dedicated space for current student leaders on the Student Alumni Endowment Board and retired KU faculty and staff who are members of the Endacott Society.
“With the collaboration of university leaders, KU Endowment, alumni donors and Jayhawk-led corporations, we set out to create a home that would unite Jayhawks past, present and future and help the university achieve its enrollment goals in a highly competitive arena,” said Heath Peterson, Alumni Association president. “We’re truly grateful for all those who shared our vision and provided the leadership and resources to make this project a reality after years of planning.”
The KU Admissions team began hosting tours for prospective students and families on Feb. 13, and early reviews have been positive, according to Lisa Pinamonti Kress, assistant vice provost and director of undergraduate admissions. “The comments from students and families confirm that the Jayhawk Welcome Center provides an amazing first impression,” she said. “It has been fun to watch the students react as they see their names on the amazing welcome board and walk through the digital exhibits before they tour our beautiful campus. We are confident that the welcome center will enhance our recruitment of future Jayhawks.”
For more information on the Jayhawk Welcome Center, including space reservations, visit jayhawkwelcomecenter.org.
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Contact: Jen Humphrey, Life Span Institute, 785-864-6621, [email protected], @kulifespan
KU Autism Conference to feature wide range of sessions for professionals, scientists, families
LAWRENCE — Researchers, students, professionals, educators, families and advocates are invited to Autism Across the Life Span, an annual conference presented by the Kansas Center for Autism Research & Training (K-CART) at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute.
The conference will take place in-person from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 24 at the KU Edwards Campus BEST Building in Overland Park.
Registration is $95 for professionals, including researchers, providers and educators. The cost is $50 for families and $30 for students. Participants may register to attend online.
Matt Mosconi, K-CART director and KU professor of clinical child psychology, said the conference is an opportunity for people in the autism community — researchers, educators, providers, and autistic people and their families — to come together.
“There is something for everyone at this event,” he said.
The conference features presentations from nationally recognized scientists, including KU faculty. Highlights include discussions on advancing inclusive research; resources and strategies for families of people with autism; managing medication and therapeutic intervention for co-occurring conditions with autism; transition from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood; health care access within rural and urban environments; and self-determination of career goals.
The conference also will feature a panel discussion by women with autism on how this demographic has been historically overlooked within the autistic community. They will discuss neurodiversity, sexuality, relationships and community engagement.
Keynote speakers for the 2023 speakers are Elizabeth McGhee Hassrick, assistant professor with the Life Course Outcomes Research Program at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University, and Lea K. Davis, associate professor of genetic medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and assistant professor of biomedical informatics, physiology and biophysics, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Vanderbilt.
McGhee Hassrick’s work focuses on investigating social network support systems for people with autism in different life stages along with their family, schools and communities.
Davis works at the intersection of genetic epidemiology, psychiatry and medical informatics to investigate the genetic basis of a wide range of mental health conditions. A major effort in her lab is to understand the links between biology and environment and both mental and physical health using data extracted from medical records and linked with genomic information.
“We are pleased to host these innovative researchers pursuing work in the area of autism,” Mosconi said. “Dr. McGhee Hassrick brings new ideas and opportunities to support autistic people by applying sociological ideas about relationships and society. Dr. Davis’ work is bringing new understanding to how environmental factors may interact with an individual’s unique biology to increase risk for common psychiatric diagnoses.”
A full schedule is available on the conference website.
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Contact: Mindie Paget, Office of Research, 785-864-0013, [email protected], @ResearchAtKU
Bestselling author to discuss the ‘dark history and troubling present of eugenics’
LAWRENCE — A scientist, broadcaster and bestselling author who focuses on the complicated, interwoven history of genetics and race will give a public seminar at the University of Kansas in early March.
Adam Rutherford will discuss “Eugenics and the Misuse of Mendel” at 5 p.m. March 7 at the Lied Center of Kansas Pavilion. During a reception following the talk, Rutherford will sign copies of his most recent book, “Control: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics.” The Raven Book Store will be on hand to sell the book.
“The emergence and translation of (Austrian scientist Gregor) Mendel’s discoveries about genetics into English coincided with the rise of eugenics and provided its most devoted apostles with a biological mechanism to justify their bigotry,” Rutherford wrote in a preview of his seminar. “An ideological commitment to Mendelian pedigrees formed the pseudoscientific basis for mass sterilization and genocide.”
“We now have a much more sophisticated understanding of human genetics,” he wrote. “But this eugenic specter limps on in our culture, reinforcing a view of biology that is simplistic, deterministic and wrong.”
The seminar is sponsored by the KU Center for Genomics, which brings together both biomedical researchers and those using genomics to study fundamental biological questions of development, behavior, evolution and ecology.
“Dr. Rutherford is one of the most accomplished science communicators in the world and is especially adept at translating the mind-bogglingly complex concepts in genetics and evolution to nonspecialist audiences,” said Jennifer Raff, associate professor of anthropology and Center for Genomics advisory board member. “He is at the forefront of the movement to confront racist rhetoric with hard scientific data and challenge commonly held assumptions about heredity. The KU Center for Genomics is hoping that his visit will help inform essential conversations about science and society in our community.”
Rutherford is a lecturer in biology and society at University College London. His doctoral research centered on development of the retina, but he now focuses on the interface between genetics and society, and public understanding of genetics, with a particular interest in the history and legacies of scientific racism and eugenics.
He has written several bestselling books, including “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived” and “How to Argue With a Racist.” He also presents a number of radio programs for the BBC, including “The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry” and a series on eugenics called “Bad Blood.”
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