KU people: Nielsen tapped for health policy panel

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has appointed Marcia Nielsen, assistant vice chancellor for health policy and governmental affairs at the Medical Center, to chair the new Kansas Health Care Authority.

The authority will look for ways to reduce the cost of health care and expand health insurance coverage for Kansas families.

“ With the creation of the Health Policy Authority Board, the state of Kansas is really on the cutting edge in terms of controlling health care costs, expanding access to care, and promoting wellness,” Nielsen said.

Six members of the nine-person authority are appointed by the legislature, three by the governor. Nielsen will retain her administrative and faculty responsibilities in Health Policy and Management.

KPR, Audio-Reader unveil legacy societies named for Wright, Cerf

Kansas Public Radio and Kansas Audio-Reader Network have created legacy societies honoring the late Dick Wright, former KANU-FM station manager, and Lawrence philanthropist Petey Cerf.

KPR’s legacy society, a planned giving organization, is named for Wright, a renowned jazz specialist and an associate professor of music history for 22 years.

Audio-Reader’s new legacy society is named for Cerf, who was instrumental in founding the radio reading service for blind and visually impaired persons. She donated the original transmitter and was the sole source of its funding for several years.

Wright threw the switch that activated Audio-Reader in October 1971. Cerf died in 1996, and Wright died in 1999.

For more information, visit http://kpr.ku.edu and http://reader.ku.edu.

Hirschey receives first Chandler professorship

Mark Hirschey, professor of finance, is the inaugural recipient of the Anderson Chandler Professorship in Business.

Anderson W. Chandler, chair of the Topeka-based Fidelity State Bank and Trust Co., established the professorship with a $500,000 gift to the School of Business. In 1996, he established a lecture series for the school.

Hirschey, who joined the faculty in 1988, is founding president of the Association of Financial Economists and co-editor of “Advances in Financial Economics,” a scholarly research series.

CLA&S announces staff changes, division name change

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has announced several staff changes and a division name change.

• Kim McNeley has been named assistant dean of College Student Academic Services. Formerly assistant dean of student affairs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, McNeley joined staff Aug. 15, teaming with Karen Ledom, acting director, to provide leadership to the office.

• College Student Academic Services, previously Undergraduate Services, has been renamed to reflect the reorientation of the unit's activities. It will continue to be an academic support office for College departments and for students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees within the College.

• Greg Simpson, chair of psychology since 1999, has become acting associate dean of social sciences. He replaces Barbara Romzek, who became interim dean on July 2.

Besides teaching undergraduate and graduate psychology courses, Simpson has been director of the graduate program in experimental psychology and the faculty adviser for Psi Chi, the psychology honor society.

• John Colombo, professor of psychology and associate director for cognitive neuroscience in the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, has been named acting chair of the psychology department.

Colombo earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has been on the College faculty since 1988.