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Chancellor appoints strategic plan committee

At a kick-off event Jan. 29, Chancellor Robert Hemenway will address a group of faculty, staff and students appointed to work on a university wide strategic plan called Initiative 2015.

They will participate in one of three task forces Ñ teaching and learning, discovering and innovating, and working for Kansas Ñ that are composed of members from all KU campuses.

"Strategic planning can be approached in a variety of ways, sometimes consuming a campus for two to three years," said Hemenway. "We propose a focused effort of several months duration to identify key opportunities for KU to consider in the continuing pursuit of excellence."

Hemenway, who announced the strategic planning exercise during faculty and staff convocation in September, is asking each of the task forces to produce five to seven recommendations by April for initiatives to help set direction for the university between now and 2015.

Hemenway, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Richard Lariviere and KU Medical Center Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Atkinson will review and choose the initiatives to be pursued from those recommended by the task forces. Implementation will begin in the fall.

Co-chairs of the task forces are

  • Teaching and Learning: Heidi Chumley, director of predoctoral education, KUMC; and Greg Simpson, chair and professor of psychology.
  • Discovering and Innovating: Rick Barohn, chair and professor of the Neuromuscular Clinic and program director of the General Clinical Research Center, KUMC; and Steven Warren, interim vice provost for research and graduate studies.
  • Working for Kansas: Gary Doolittle, professor of medicine and telemedicine medical liaison; Doren Frederickson, interim chair and professor, preventative medicine and public health, KUMC-Wichita; and Barbara Romzek, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of public administration.

Membership of the three task forces will be announced in the next Oread.

NOTABLE ALUMS

Paul Keim, who earned his KU doctorate in plant biochemistry in 1981, is a world leader in the genetics of Bacillus anthracis, or anthrax. When the 2001 anthrax letter attacks that killed five occurred, the FBI turned to Keim, whose Arizona lab has the world's largest database of anthrax strains. He made a match within hours. He continues to assist the national intelligence community in the area of biological weapons and genomic analysis.