The University of Kansas

New directors find home in Fine Arts

The KU Department of Music and Dance has announced the appointment of John P. Lynch as director of bands and John Paul Johnson as director of KU choral activities.
Lynch, who had been associate director of bands at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., will begin in August.
As a clarinetist, he has performed in the New York City area, and he has conducted throughout the United States and Europe.
Lynch earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Indiana University; a master’s degree in music education at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.; and a doctor of musical arts degree in wind conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Johnson, who will take over as choir director in August, was director of choral activities and professor of music at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos.
Johnson comes to KU with 19 years of experience as a conductor, clinician and judge. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., and a master’s degree in music education and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Former KU professor now chair at Hofstra
Carole Rich, former journalism professor in news and graduate director, will be taking over as the chair of journalism and mass media studies at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. She will be replacing Bob Greene. Rich came to KU in 1987 and was the graduate director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications from 1993 to 1994. In the fall of 1998, she went to the University of Alaska in Anchorage as an Atwood professor and two years later was promoted to a full-time professor.

Former KU administrator named chair
A former KU administrator recently was named chairman of the board of Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals Inc. Ralph Christoffersen was a professor of chemistry and vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1966 until 1980. In 1980 he took over the presidency of Colorado State University, and in 1983 The Upjohn Co. hired him as vice president for its biotechnology and research divisions. He received the W.E. Upjohn Award for contributions in biotechnology in 1988.

Murguia named to board
The National Council of La Raza, the leading Hispanic advocacy group in the country, has named Janet Murguia, executive vice chancellor for university relations at KU, to its board of directors.
Murguia is among nine newly elected board members. The board is a 32-member group made up of elected officials and representatives of community-based organizations, the corporate sector and academia.
Other new members include Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO; Robin Read, president and CEO of the National Foundation for Women Legislators; Horace Deets, former executive director of AARP; and W. Roger Haughton, chairman of the board and CEO of the PMI Group Inc. and its subsidiary, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., one of the largest private mortgage insurers in the United States.
The council is a private organization that works to reduce poverty and discrimination and improve life opportunities for Hispanic Americans.
Murguia, who grew up in Argentine, the Mexican-American neighborhood of Kansas City, Kan., became executive vice chancellor in July 2001.

Printing services hires customer service manager

Richard Gilbert is the newest member of the KU Printing Services team. He started work as a customer service manager on March 25. He will assist various customers with their printing projects as well as fine-tuning the processes and procedures in the customer service department.