Audio Archives

Transcript

Schools desperately need more math and science teachers. The University of Kansas’ Transition To Teaching program helps mid-career professionals fill that gap. It prepared Mary Esselman to teach in Kansas City’s Schlagel High. One student doubled his math scores in a year. “It required a lot of effort,” Mary says “But we’re having an impact.”

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

Barbara Grabbe is amazed when Dr. Gary Doolittle checks her vital signs – from 300 miles away. Barb runs a convenience store in Hays. Since her cancer surgery, she’s seen top cancer specialists at the KU Medical Center through Telemedicine. Last year this technology helped 2,500 Kansas families. And allowed Barb to stay in Hays, and run her business.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

Dennie Dighera wanted more than conventional treatment for his prostate cancer. So the Salina businessman sought a second opinion. KU Cancer Center urologist Jeff Holzbeierlein enrolled Dennie in a clinical trial.

He received a unique combination of chemotherapy and hormones followed by surgery.

Dennie’s cancer was high-risk, and surgery alone might have failed, Today, Dennie is back in business.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

During college Donald Peghee spent summers in the University of Kansas Health Careers Pathways program for rural and minority students. The Kansas City Kansas native calls his hospital experiences “wonderful” noting that many physicians and faculty that he met had “caring hearts”. Today the Leavenworth OB-GYN says he’s ready to return the gifts of attention that he received, by mentoring students himself.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

The 1917 Topeka High yearbook was prophetic, describing Aaron Douglas as “one of the most talented artists in school.” Douglas was later described as the “father of African American Art”. The University of Kansas’ Spencer Museum of Art has produced a major exhibit of his Harlem Renaissance work, on display in Lawrence now, next year in the Smithsonian.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

The tap water just tasted bad. So officials at Big Hill Reservoir near Cherryvale asked the Kansas Biological Survey at the University of Kansas for help. Together, they determined that a specific algae was the problem and how the algae outbreak could be prevented. Manager Sam Atherton says that saved time and money. And the water tastes good again.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

The challenge was to build training camps somewhere on Fort Reilly’s 100 thousand acres without damaging native plants and habitat. So architects at the fort asked for help from University of Kansas biologist Craig Freeman. Freeman spent 2 years mapping the fort’s vegetation, and planners consulted his report, to build roads and facilities that respected the prairie.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

Twice a year University of Kansas developmental disabilities specialists drive to western Kansas to test kids for autism. A positive diagnosis can open doors to community and school services – and provide relief. One 15-year-old diagnosed with mild autism said, “For the first time, someone actually listened to me. He knew who I was.”

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

Adopting one child is stressful. Joe and Lourdes Martinez of Wichita adopted four. Helping couples like the Martinezes is what the Strong and Stable Families Project of the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare is all about. Joe says the coping strategies and family life training gave his family a good start.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

The two-bedroom house rolled into the Rosedale neighborhood on a flatbed. Came in five pieces. KU School of architecture and Urban Design students designed it, constructed it. Artists in Kansas city, Kansas, bought it. “An inspired living space,” says the home’s owner.

It took Architecture Magazine’s “Home of the Year” award.

How do you nurture a neighborhood? You start with a visionary house. KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

How much did the state’s temperature rise in the past 40 years? What county has the highest percentage of irrigated cropland? To find out, google the words “Kansas Statistical Abstract,” a University of Kansas guide to data on the state and its counties. Former Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce president Jon Daveline said the only book he opened more often was the Bible. KU works for Kansas.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

A University of Kansas program has 15,000 school kids, fighting fat. Lorenzo, age 8, from Overland Park, is training for a 5 k run. His brother’s given up buttered popcorn. And both kids bicycle more often. So mom chauffeurs them to fewer places, and says "it's humbling when your kids have better eating habits than you do."

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

When Shawnee, Kansas, began a $29-milllion facelift of its downtown business district, Assistant City Manager Carol Gonzales needed to build consensus and keep the project moving. She relied on principles she learned from her University of Kansas mentor, public administration professor John Nalbandian.

Today Gonzales is city manager and downtown Shawnee is thriving too. KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

Hutchinson police officer Mike Robinson stopped a truck for a defective brake light. Next thing he knew, he’d stopped a bullet, too – just below his left knee. Mike used the training he received at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, which is run by the University of Kansas, and it helped save his life.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

It's not just athletes who make comebacks. Ask Gene Delaney, who's coming back from a farm accident that paralyzed him below the waist. KU’s Assistive Technology for Kansans program has helped equip him so he can keep working…a lift to get up on his tractor cab. Hand controls to drive. Even financing.

And Gene? He supplies the guts and willpower.

KU Works for Kansas. Paid for by KU.

Transcript

English sentences come in all shapes and sizes. Making them beautiful means carefully piecing together words, phrases and clauses. The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning gave Suzan Moyer strategies to teach kids to write many kinds of sentences. For her junior high students in Cheyenne County, it’s been a language-changing experience.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

The Ottawa Herald's been publishing since 1869. But editor Jeanny Sharp wanted better sales, and an improved image. So she worked with a University of Kansas journalism class to develop a marketing plan. KU students spent 3-thousand hours on the project.

Now the paper has a new slogan, is running TV ads and subscriptions are up. KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

The largest groups of immigrants to settle Kansas in the 1800s were Germans. But Plattdüütsch, the low German dialect once spoken here, is all but gone. Thanks to University of Kansas student Scott Seeger, dozens of people of all ages are now learning low German, preserving a piece of Kansas heritage.

KU Works for Kansas. Paid for by KU.

Transcript

Think traffic safety and you might picture congested city highways. But University of Kansas engineering professor Tom Mulinazzi put his expertise to work in rural Barton County. He taught local officials how to analyze stop sign locations for current safety codes. One year later, ninety intersections are now safer than ever before.

KU Works for Kansas. Paid for by KU.

Transcript

Looking for kid-friendly web sites? Then click on the University of Kansas' 4kids.org. You'll find thousands of sites that KU staff have reviewed and rated “kid friendly.” Fourth-grader Colson Bayles of Lenexa recommends the “cool spots” link. Go to w-w-w dot the numeral four k-i-d-s dot org.

KU Works for Kansas. Paid for by KU.

Transcript

When Derek Osburn graduated in anthropology he wasn’t dreaming about starting a business. Then, in 1997, he and a partner opened a cell phone retail store. The Small Business Development Center at the University of Kansas counseled them on marketing, human resources, and financial planning. Emphasize customer service the center advised.

Four stores later, they're glad they did. KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

Sometimes you can talk, but not be heard.

Ask Kim Goodnight. The Ford County Commission chairman honed his communications skills in the University of Kansas Certified Public Management program. When a utility asked to build a wind farm in Spearville, Goodnight negotiated. Ford County will get more than $300,000 a year for 30 years to offset expenses.

Transcript

Satellites help Dietrich Kastens grow corps on his family farm in Rawlins County. Twice a month, University of Kansas scientists use satellite data to prepare colorful maps for what’s called the Green Report. It tells Kastens how moist or parched his crop is compared with the previous week, month or even year.

KU Works for Kansas. Paid for by KU.

Transcript

Every summer, Lon Ray Frahm uses just under 2 billion gallons of water to raise corn on the family farm in Thomas County. And every winter, like clockwork, the Kansas Geological Survey based at the University of Kansas helps measure water levels under his land.Lon wants to conserve water for his family’s future... and the geological survey’s helping out.

KU Works for Kansas.

Transcript

LeaAnn Cleaver’s birth defect makes walking hard.

But spending hours a day in a wheelchair makes gaining weight easy. So she signed up for WOW, the KU exercise program designed just for people in wheelchairs.

Then the Pleasonton native dusted off her exercise bike and started lifting weights too. Now she moves better. Feels lighter too.

KU Works for Kansas.