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Jessica Vasquez, assistant professor of sociology, gazes out at a wheat field swaying in the breeze near Inman. The stop was one of dozens across Kansas on the 11th annual Wheat State Whirlwind Tour.

Faculty, staff breeze through Kansas on 11th annual tour

For five days last month, about 45 KU faculty and staff had a rolling home where the buffalo roam. The group traversed nearly 1,500 miles to learn more about the state they now call home.

Read the blog

For the first time, an active blog tracked travelers' reactions and impressions and featured photos. Read the blog at www.wheatstate.ku.edu/blog.

The 11th annual Wheat State Whirlwind Tour took off from Lawrence on May 19. The trip gives KU faculty and staff — whether new or native to the state — a chance to see what Kansas has to offer the traveler who is willing to get off the beaten path. Along the way, travelers learn more about the state's landscape, history, economy, culture and gain a better understanding of where KU students come from, not to mention some good Kansas home cookin'.

This year's tour made first-time stops at the Kansas Specialty Dog Service in Washington, a facility that trains animals to serve individuals with disabilities; Goodland, the westernmost point in the tour's 11 years; the "prairie castle" on the Kuhrt Ranch near Edson; the "Skyscraper of the Plains" in Ness City; and the Stafford County Flour Mill in Hudson. Along the way, bus riders heard commentary from a trio of KU faculty members with nearly a combined century of research experience in Kansas.

Another first this year was a live blog chronicling the group's travels. The blog, at www.wheat state.ku.edu/blog, kept an active travelogue of where the group had been, participants' reactions and photos from various stops.

Several favorites from past years were on the tour agenda as well. Tourgoers took the ever-popular "ride with the buffalo" on a ranch in Logan County. The group loaded into flatbed trucks and rode into a pasture full of buffalo, coming within feet of the imposing beasts. Small-town ingenuity was on display at the Landoll Corp. in Marysville and in the community of Palco. Kansas' natural beauty was evident throughout but never on display more prominently than during a visit to the Ritchie Ranch, high atop the Flint Hills in Lyon County. Several participants who have never been to an operational farm climbed aboard a tractor and combine and took a spin at the wheat farm of Don Steeples, associate vice provost for scholarly support and the Dean A. McGee Professor of Applied Geophysics.

Throughout the week, the faculty and staff also visited historic sites such as the Brown v. Board of Education site in Topeka, the recently completed National Orphan Train Museum in Concordia and the historically black community Nicodemus. Perhaps most importantly, tourgoers had the opportunity to meet colleagues they might not otherwise get to interact with. While faculty and staff got to know each other, they also visited staff at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Yoder, a unit of Continuing Education, and Dodge City Community College.

Althought all parts of Kansas are unique, those visited by this year's tour seem to have one thing in common: hospitality, as evidenced by the seemingly endless homemade pie provided at each stop.

KU HISTORY:

One of KU's most recognized landmarks was unveiled on this day in 1924. The "Uncle Jimmy" Green statute that stands in front of Lippincott Hall, created by artist Chester French, honors KU's first law dean. James Woods "Uncle Jimmy" Green served as dean of the School of Law for 41 years. After his death in 1919, a group of law students and alumni, who referred to themselves as Green's "boys" commissioned the statue. French originally declined the request to create the statue but changed his mind after visiting KU and hearing stories of affection and commitment to "Uncle Jimmy." For more, see www.kuhistory.com.