The University of Kansas

Life Span Institute names Warren as director

Steven F. Warren, director of the Kansas Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC) and professor of human development and family life, is the new director of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies at the University of Kansas.
Warren, nationally recognized for his contributions to understanding language development in children and leadership in the field of developmental disabilities, succeeds Stephen R. Schroeder as the director of the institute.
As director of the Kansas MRDDRC since January 2000, Warren led the center in a successful competitive renewal of the core funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
“The Life Span Institute is one of the pearls in the crown of the University of Kansas,” Warren said. “This status reflects the efforts of hundreds of faculty and staff over the past several decades. The opportunity to build on this legacy is both an honor and a challenge.”
Warren was associated with Vanderbilt University’s John F. Kennedy Center for Human Development for 17 years as a professor of special education and deputy director before he came to KU in December 1999. He also directed the Kennedy Center Research Training Program, one of the oldest and most prestigious mental retardation research training programs in the nation.
Warren is the president of the American Association on Mental Retardation and the senior editor for the Communication and Language Intervention book series.

Information technology support services and human resources names Zanoni as director
Mary Zanoni will join the KU staff as director of information technology support services and human resources.
As director, Zanoni will manage LAN Support Services (LSS) to ensure superior client service and quality standards. The LSS team supports the technical infrastructure of local area network and desktop environments for those administrative and academic departments that have contracted for service.
“I’m looking forward to building a working relationship with the dedicated, high-caliber staff that has already extended such a warm welcome to me,” Zanoni said.
Zanoni has been the Director of systems administration services at Michigan Technological University since 1995. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1975 from Rosary College in Illinois. She earned a major in mathematics and has also done extensive post-graduate coursework in Computer Science at Michigan Tech.

Former KU administrator lands post with NSF
A former KU administrator has been named head of the National Science Foundation’s education division. Judith A. Ramaley, who was executive vice chancellor from 1987 to 1990 under Chancellor Gene Budig, will lead the division, which has an $800 million budget to support research in science education and teaching methods, with a focus on troubled school systems and minority youth.
After leaving KU, Ramaley served as president of Portland State University and the University of Vermont. She resigned from Vermont in February.

KU Work Group hires public information officer
The KU Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development has hired Valerie Renault as its public information officer. Renault has taught English part-time at KU and was also a freelance writer and editor for five years before she joined the Work Group.
The Work Group, located in the Dole Center, is a not-for-profit organization that develops programs to help build safer and healthier communities. It also co-created a Web site called the Community Tool Box, which provides how-to information for building healthier communities. Valerie’s main function will be to write for the Community Toolbox.

Former vice chancellor for information services appointed CIO at Clark University
Catherine A. Smith has been appointed chief information officer at Clark University. Smith previously served as assistant vice chancellor for information services. Her responsibilities will include reorganizing the university’s technology support services.

Office of University Relations hires Irvin as graphic design coordinator
The Office of University Relations recently hired Michael Irvin as its graphic design coordinator. Irvin earned a bachelor of fine arts in illustration and graphic design from KU in December 1995.
While attending the university, he worked in the archeology office of the Kansas State Historical Society, and he continued to work there for two years following graduation. In 1997, Irvin joined the staff of Jones Seel Huyett Advertising in Topeka as an illustrator and graphic designer. His awards include six Addy Awards, two Citations of Excellence, two APEX awards of excellence and a 2001 Communicator award.