KU students clean up: Nation's top pianist, national scholarship winners and more

Photo courtesy Lindsay Kiliany / The University Daily Kansan

The best collegiate pianist in the nation calls KU home. All four KU nominees for prestigious Goldwater Scholarships won the awards, joining other KU scholarship winners. It has been a good month for KU students.

Here is a summary of recent successes:

Top pianist in nation: Amir Khosrowpour, a junior from Irvine, Calif., took top honors at the annual Music Teachers' National Association Collegiate Artist Performance Competition on March 18 in Cincinnati.

Khosrowpour, who majors in both performance and composition, won after completing a rigorous national process that ended with his 45-minute final performance. His instructor is Jack Winerock, professor of piano. Steinway & Sons co-sponsors the piano division of the competition, offering the winner a grand piano first prize, valued at $35,900.

Goldwater Scholars: All four KU students nominated for the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships to encourage excellence in science, engineering and mathematics won the national award. The scholarships provide up to $7,500 for tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Winners who will graduate in 2003 receive one year of support; those graduating in 2004 receive two years of support.

KU's Goldwater Scholarship winners all plan to graduate in May 2003. They are:

• Ryan D. Kinser, Oklahoma City senior, majoring in mathematics and philosophy; he plans to become a research mathematician.

• Adam L. Kraus, Grantville senior, majoring in astronomy, physics and mathematics; he has a career goal of research in astrophysics.

• Bonnie A. Sheriff, Lawrence senior, majoring in chemistry; she plans a career of research and teaching in chemistry.

• Ian T. Tice, Tecumseh senior, majoring in mathematics and physics; he plans to teach and conduct research in mathematics.

Twenty-nine KU students have been named Goldwater Scholars since the first scholarships were awarded in 1989.

Hartford Doctoral Fellows: Miko Nakashima and Mercedes Bern-Klug, doctoral students in the School of Social Welfare at KU, were selected as two of only seven finalists nationwide to win the inaugural presentation of the Hartford Doctoral Fellowship.

The fellowship, sponsored by the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York, provides $40,000 and numerous mentoring opportunities. It supports the research of promising graduate students in the field of geriatric social work.

Both students were recognized for their innovative research dealing with end-of-life issues among older adults.

Pharmacy school success: For the second year in a row, the entire graduating class of the School of Pharmacy passed the national examination that is a major step toward obtaining professional licensing.

All 87 May 2001 graduates of the KU Pharmacy School passed the North American Pharmacy Licensure Examination. The national average pass rate was 93 percent.

This good news comes on the heels of another achievement for the Pharmacy School. Recently, the school received the maximum six-year extension for accreditation by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education.

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