National Awards

The NCAA thing may not have gone well this year, but KU continues to win national notice in other fields.

The new U.S. News’ America’s Best Graduate Schools rankings came out this month, giving KU 43 nationally ranked programs including 26 in the top 25. Notably, the city management and urban policy program and the special education program continue to be ranked No. 1 among public universities.

Other top rankings include new top ten status for petroleum engineering at eighth, and the School of Pharmacy, saw its Pharm.D. professional degree program gain a new ranking of 16th in the nation. The School of Education broke into the top 20 among public universities, up from a tie for 25th a year ago. At the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., the rural medicine program is tied at 17th among public universities. For a complete listing, visit http://www.ku.edu/~kunews/2005/April/Apr1/rankings.shtml.

Novice debaters win national championship

For the first time in KU debate history, the Jayhawks have won the National Novice Championship Tournament, besting a field of 13.

Lindsey Lathrop, Overland Park sophomore in political science, and Brett Bricker, Wichita sophomore in mathematics, won the event, which was created to recognize outstanding first-year debaters. Jan Hovden, a KU debate team coach and a doctoral student in communication studies from Lawrence, said getting to the semifinal rounds is the novice championship equivalent of the Final Four in college basketball.

Other recent national notices for KU include:

Academic excellence in social welfare

The American Public Human Services Association gave its first Academic Excellence Award to the Kansas Child Welfare Scholars Program at KU. The award was given to Alice Lieberman, principal investigator and professor of social welfare, and Michelle Levy, program coordinator, during the association's 75th anniversary conference March 22 in Washington, D.C.

The scholars program provides specialized educational opportunities in public child welfare practice, along with financial support for undergraduate social work students who commit to employment in public child welfare. The program also provides resources to educators for curriculum development, evaluation and training to foster excellence in public child welfare education and services.

Top honor for Parkinson’s video

KU has won the top national award for continuing education programming for an educational exercise video that KU dance professor Janet Hamburg developed for people with Parkinson's disease.

The University Continuing Education Association presented its 2005 Outstanding Noncredit Program Award to KU Continuing Education in Boston.

“Motivating Moves for People with Parkinson’s” is a pioneering approach based on research to improve the lives of people with Parkinson's disease. Hamburg, who also is a certified movement analyst, developed the approach.

The video features an instructional section with computer animations of a moving skeleton, a 30-minute seated-exercise routine, and practical tips for solving daily movement challenges. Available on video and DVD, it is a collaboration between Hamburg, KU Continuing Education senior producer/director Jim Jewell, j’77, and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in New York City. It is endorsed by other Parkinson's organizations across the country.