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Honors Program marks 50th anniversary

The University Honors Program will host an open house from 9 to 11 a.m. April 14 at Nunemaker Center as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.

Kathleen McCluskey Fawcett, senior vice provost, will open a brief program at 9:45 a.m. Robert Cobb, former executive vice chancellor, will present memories of Irene Nunemaker, the benefactor who provided funding to construct a building to house the honors program, and Jack Bricke, professor of philosophy, will present memories of J. Michael Young, a former honors program director.

Honors program alumni, which number about 3,800, have been invited to join the events, including the 10th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium from 1 to 5 p.m. April 14 in the Kansas Union and invitation-only dinners on April 13 at the Alumni Center and on April 14 at the Kansas Union.

About 75 to 100 honors alumni are expected to return to campus for the anniversary in addition to former honors program faculty and staff.

Stanley Lombardo, professor of classics, directs the honors program.

Former directors expected to attend include Francis Heller, distinguished professor emeritus of law and political science; Jim Carothers, professor of English; John Gronbeck-Tedesco, professor of theatre and film; and Barbara Schowen, professor emerita of chemistry.

Three honors alumni speaking at the events include Jennifer Ford Reedy, a 1995 graduate in political science and in religious studies; Stephen R. McAllister, who earned a bachelor's in 1985 and a law degree in 1988 and was dean of the law school; and Craig Nelson, professor emeritus of biology at Indiana University.

Ford Reedy is currently ‘on loan' from McKinsey and Company to direct the Itasca Project, a public/private economic development initiative. She is married to Chris Reedy, also a 1995 honors alumnus, who is a freelance writer. They live in St. Paul Minn.

Del Shankel, professor of biology and former KU chancellor, will speak at the Friday dinner, and Robert Hemenway, chancellor, will join Schowen in speaking at the 6 p.m. Saturday dinner to observe the 10th anniversary of the Undergraduate Research Symposium. The dinners are for invited guests only.

TOPONYMS

The Bridwell Botany Research Laboratory on west campus, built in 1965, was funded by a gift from Texas cattle breeder Joseph S. Bridwell, who was interested in research into developing better strains of grasses and legumes for cattle. The building houses the Ronald L. McGregor Herbarium, named in honor of the longtime director who oversaw a vast expansion of KU's plant collections. In addition to more than 350,000 pressed specimens and a slide collection, the building houses a botanical library.