 | University of Kansas: Encyclopedia - University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas (often referred to as just KU or Kansas) is an institution of higher learning located in Lawrence, Kansas. The University was founded in 1865 by the citizens of Lawrence, under a charter from the Kansas Legislature, with the assistance of a donation of 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land on Mount Oread in Lawrence from former Kansas Governor Charles Robinson and his wife Sara and a monetary gift from philanthropist Amos Adams Lawrence. In the Fall 2003, the University enrolled 29,272 students. The total faculty head count was 2,158. The total staff and faculty count was 12,328 employees.
The University's Medical Center and hospital is located in Kansas City, Kansas. The KU Edwards Campus is located in Overland Park, Kansas in the Kansas City metro area. There are also educational/research sites in Parsons, Topeka and a branch of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita.
KU is home to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics as well as Kansas Public Radio. Radio station KANU was one of the first public radio stations in the nation. The university is host to several notable museums including the Kansas Natural History Museum, the KU Museum of Anthropology, and the Spencer Museum of Art. The University is one of 60 elected members of the prestigious Association of American Universities.
The chancellor of the University of Kansas is Robert Hemenway, who has served in that capacity since 1995, taking a very active approach toward improving academics.
University of Kansas - Academics
The University is a large state sponsored university. In addition to a large liberal arts college, it has schools of Allied Health, Architecture and Urban Design, Business, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Journalism and Mass Communication, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Welfare. The study of academic Sociology originated at this university, in 1890, for the first time in America.
The most recent edition of Peterson's Guide to Competitive College calls KU "one of America's premier universities." The Fiske Guide to Colleges, for more than a decade has awarded KU a four-star rating for academics, social life, and overall quality of university life.
University of Kansas - Notable faculty
- Don W. Green, Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering – editor of Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, the world's most widely used reference by chemical and petroleum engineers.
- James Gunn – Hugo Award winning science fiction author and creative writing professor.
- Kenneth Irby – poet and creative writing professor.
- Stanley Lombardo – Classics professor and translator of numerous Classical works into English, including Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid.
- Paul E. Wilson, (deceased) distinguished emeritus professor of law. Wilson argued Brown v. Board of Education on behalf of the State of Kansas.
- Steven A. Epstein, Distinguished Professor of Medieval History. Ph.D. from Harvard (1981). Multiple book publications to his name concerning late-medieval Genoa and Renaissance Italy.
University of Kansas - Computing
KU's academic computing department was an active participant in setting up the Internet and is the developer of the seminal Lynx text based web browser. Lynx itself provided hypertext browsing and navigation prior to Tim Berners Lee's invention of HTTP and HTML.[1]
University of Kansas - Athletics
The school's sports teams wearing crimson and royal blue are called the Jayhawks. They participate in the NCAA's Division I (I-A for football) and in the Big 12 Conference.
KU football dates from 1890, and has played in the Orange Bowl twice: 1948 and 1968. They are currently coached by Mark Mangino, who was hired in 2002. The team plays at Memorial Stadium, the oldest NCAA football stadium west of the Mississippi River.
The men's basketball team, currently coached by Bill Self, is a perennial national contender whose last national championship was in 1988. The team plays at Allen Fieldhouse, one of the oldest current basketball facilities in the NCAA. Kansas has counted among its coaches Dr. James Naismith (the inventor of basketball), Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Phog Allen (sometimes dubbed "Father of basketball coaching"), and New York Knicks coach Larry Brown.
University of Kansas - Distinguished alumni
For athletes, see the relevant section in Kansas Jayhawks
- Philip Anschutz, Billionaire, founder of Qwest
- William H. Avery, Governor of Kansas, 1965-1967
- Stewart Bailey, television producer, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
- Scott Bakula, Actor
- Brian Barker, Judge and Queen's Counsel in England
- Etta Moten Barnett, Actress/singer. First black artist to perform at the White House. Bess in Broadway production of Porgy and Bess
- Danni Boatwright, winner of Survivor: Guatemala
- Linda Z. Cook, CEO, Shell Gas and Power, part of Royal Dutch Shell
- Richard Davis, Founder, K.C. Masterpiece Barbecue Products Inc.
- George Docking, Governor of Kansas 1957-1961
- Robert Docking, Governor of Kansas 1967-1975
- Bob Dole, Kansas' US Senator 1969-1996, Republican presidential nominee in 1996. WWII combat veteran
- Bob Dotson, Documentarian and NBC reporter. 4-time Emmy Award winner
- Robert Eaton, Former CEO, Chrysler Corporation
- Joe Engle, (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) NASA Astronaut
- Donald J. Hall, Sr., Chairman of the Board of Hallmark Cards, and one of only three honorary alumni of the University of Kansas
- Kevin Helliker, 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner for Explanatory Journalism and Chicago bureau chief, Wall Street Journal
- William Inge, Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning author/playwright
- Don Johnson, Actor
- Nancy Kassebaum Baker, US Senator from Kansas 1978-1997
- Robert Kleist, Founder and CEO, Printronix
- Phill Kline, Attorney General of Kansas 2003-present
- Neil LaBute, Filmmaker/screenwriter. Won Independent Spirit Award for In the Company of Men, Nominated for Palme D'Or for Nurse Betty
- Alf Landon, Governor of Kansas 1933-1937 and Republican candidate for the 1936 US presidential race against Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Deane Waldo Malott, Chancellor of KU, President of Cornell University
- Sara Paretsky, Novelist. Best known for her frequent protagonist, V.I. Warshawski
- Mandy Patinkin, Actor/singer ("The Princess Bride"). Emmy and Tony winner
- Paul Rudd, Actor
- Jim Ryun, US Olympic runner, Kansas' 2nd District US Representative 1997-present
- Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas, 2003-present
- Vernon L. Smith, 2002 Winner, Nobel Prize for Economics
- William Stafford, Poet and pacifist. Winner, National Book Award for Travelling Through the Dark
- Dee Wallace Stone, Actress, (E.T.)
- Clyde Tombaugh, Astronomer, Discoverer of Planet Pluto
University of Kansas - Tuition and Costs
The University of Kansas is repeatedly listed as one of the best buys in higher education by such publications as Kiplinger’s, the Fiske Guide to Colleges, Kaplan’s and the Princeton Review. Tuition at KU is 13 percent below the national average, according to the College Board, and the University remains a best buy in the region. Its 2004-05 in-state tuition and fees of $4,737 were lower than the University of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and most other public universities.
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