The University of Kansas

Opera star to return as faculty member

International opera star Joyce Castle has accepted a position as professor of voice in the Department of Music and Dance.
The versatile mezzo-soprano begins her tenure at KU in August in a position that allows her to continue her active stage career.
“I am extremely pleased that Joyce Castle will be joining the School of Fine Arts faculty this fall,” said Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean of fine arts. “She will be part of a voice and opera faculty that will attract national recognition to the Department of Music and Dance.”
Not only is Castle an internationally recognized singer, she is a hometown favorite, having lived in Baldwin City, where her parents, George and Ethel Malicky, still reside, from fourth grade through high school. She also lived in Lawrence while attending KU.

Castle holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in theatre and voice from KU, a degree that was created for her by Lewin Goff, former director of the University Theatre, and Thomas Gorton, former fine arts dean.
“I am thrilled to be coming back to KU; I am a very proud alum,” Castle said. “Through a nurturing faculty and caring atmosphere here, I began to build my voice and acting abilities while finding great performance opportunities. It started me on my journey.”
Castle has an upcoming concert of Bernstein’s music April 10 at the Lied Center with baritone Kurt Ollmann, a concert they will repeat in June in Barcelona, Spain.
Castle has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Company, New York City Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and in the opera companies of Seattle, Santa Fe, Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. She has appeared on PBS television broadcasts, Saturday afternoon Texaco broadcasts from the Met, and has recorded a variety of 20th century music.

Carlin helps arrange debates in Benin
Diana Carlin, dean of the Graduate School and International Programs, recently traveled to a west African country to help election officials set up a debate featuring presidential candidates from 12 political parties.
Carlin, national director of DebateWatch for the last two U.S. presidential elections, had thought her debate duty was done for another four years. But democracy came calling.
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs asked Carlin if she could clear her schedule and head to Benin to help organize that country’s first-ever presidential debate.
“It was 4 o’clock on a Friday afternoon and they asked, ‘Can you tell us in 30 minutes if you can go to Benin?’” Carlin said. “It was kind of a struggle to rearrange my life for the next week, but it’s not very often you get the opportunity to be on the ground floor on something like this.
“To physically be there in the process of planning a country’s first-ever presidential debate is very exciting.”

KU Med researchers receive grant
Thanks to one of two $20,000 pilot grants recently awarded by the KUMRI Strategic Alliance — an alliance to promote collaboration between KU and the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, Mo.—researchers will study the relation between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk.
Recipients of the grant are Jonathan J. Li and Sara Antonia Li, KU Medical Center Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, and Kathleen Phillips, Pharmaceutical Product Development Division, Midwest Research Institute, for “Promotion of Estradiol-Induced Breast Cancer in Female ACI Rats by Ethanol.”
Jonathan Li says numerous studies have shown a positive association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk. Using a special model of rats susceptible to breast cancer, the KU and MRI scientists will work toward understanding the toxicological and biochemical mechanisms involved in the process.
The KUMRI Strategic Alliance was established in November 1999 to take advantage of opportunities to collaborate on research, share resources and minimize costs, with the ultimate goal of raising the profile of science and technology research in the region. The alliance crosses all of the research disciplines of both institutions and all three Greater Kansas City locations — Lawrence and Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo.

Wiesner named assistant to the Registrar
Renee Wiesner has joined the University Registrar staff as the Assistant to the University Registrar. She will be the primary contact for residency questions and determinations. Wiesner had worked for Sallie Mae in Lawrence for 10 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from KU.