ACROSS KU KU UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
Hossein Saiedian, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, center, got a nice surprise in August.
Here they come, again Every year, at the beginning of the fall semester, it happens. A contingent of suit-clad administrators bursts into the classrooms of unsuspecting KU faculty members. They make short speeches, shake hands and pass out $5,000 checks. The “surprise patrol” congratulates 20 sometimes-speechless recipients across the Lawrence and Medical Center campuses. Their awards, the W.T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching
Excellence, recognize standout teachers and advisors at KU. Now in their 13th year, the awards have been supported by $650,000 from the William T. Kemper Foundation (Commerce Bank, trustee) and the same amount in matching funds from the Greater KU Fund at KU Endowment. The Kemper Foundation originally committed to funding the awards for five years — but had too much fun to stop. — Kirsten Bosnak
A shot in the arm for Greensburg KU UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
The KU pharmacy students’ free flu vaccine clinic served two hundred Kiowa County residents, young and old.
In a typical year, KU pharmacy students help Student Health Services with campus influenza vaccination clinics. But this fall, 19 members of KU’s Academy of Student Pharmacists made a leap. They held a flu clinic of their own, traveling more than halfway across Kansas to do it. The students settled on Greensburg for two reasons: the hardships it has endured since the 2007 tornado wiped out 95 percent of the town, and the fact that it’s in Kiowa County, one of six Kansas counties with no pharmacy. To raise money for the vaccines, students sold T-shirts and cleaned Memorial
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| KU GIVING | WINTER 2009
Stadium after football games. Donors helped with about $1,500 in gifts. Lifelong Greensburg resident J.D. Harrell, 86, was one of more than 200 Kiowa County residents who received free flu vaccines at the clinic, held Oct. 11. “A lot of us love this place and are determined to stay,” Harrell said. “And all the volunteer help — whether cleaning up debris, helping us build houses, or in this case, giving vaccinations — is extremely important.” The KU students learned how to plan and operate an immunization clinic and give the shots. They also connected with Greensburg-area residents.
“We’re all Kansans,” said fourth-year pharmacy student Neil Young, who helped plan the clinic. “This community has been through a lot. As Kansans and KU students, we need to step in and help them every way we can.” It was fitting that the clinic was held in Greensburg’s 5.4.7 Arts Center, constructed by KU architecture students during spring 2008 academic semester. “The architecture students built this building and used their specialties to benefit this community,” Young said. “The clinic is our way to help.” — Lisa Scheller