2002
Arts and Sciences
*
Three K-State physics faculty members have been selected as fellows
in the American Physics Society. Itzik Ben-Itzhak, Brett Depaola
and Bharat Ratra were among the less than one-half of 1 percent
of the international society's members to be recognized with fellowships
this year. According to the American Physics Society, the fellowship
program was created to recognize members who have made advances
in knowledge through original research, made significant contributions
in the application of physics to science and technology or made
contributions to the teaching of physics or to the society. December
2002
*
Bimal K. Paul, K-State geography professor, has been awarded a
senior fellowship to conduct a workshop on disaster and disaster
management in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec. 23-29. The workshop is organized
and funded by the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies, Disaster
Research Training and Management Centre, University of Dhaka,
and the Centre for Development Research, Bangladesh. It targets
university professors as well as non-governmental organization
and government officers. November 2002
*
The geography team from Kansas State University went undefeated
and placed second in total points scored at the Geography Bowl
competition during the annual meeting of the Great Plains/Rocky
Mountain Division of the Association of American Geographers in
Missoula, Mont., in October 2002. The team consisted of Manhattan
residents Greg Vandeberg, doctoral student in geography; Johnny
Coomansingh, doctoral student in geography studying cultural diffusion;
and Paul Mannion, doctoral student in cultural geography; with
Jeff Van Looy, Grand Forks, N.D., who received his master's degree
from K-State in 2002. October 2002
*
K-State's A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications
was recently granted six additional years of accreditation from
the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
The school commended for its dedication to making academic research
and scholarship a major priority, according to the report. The
accreditation report also mentioned fund raising as an area in
which the school excelled. Other strengths include eager faculty,
good community service and strong student involvement in newspaper
and yearbook production. October 2002
*
The K-State Army ROTC program is currently enjoying its best enrollment,
post-graduation placement and training performance in its nearly
140 years on campus, as well as offering the most scholarships
and recruiting a class of freshmen with the highest average ACT
score. This fall, K-State's ROTC program has one of its largest
freshman classes since 1965, when ROTC enrollment was mandatory
at K-State. Lt. Col. Arthur DeGroat, a K-State professor of military
science, boasts 147 cadets total in the ROTC program this year.
Over the past three years, K-State's ROTC program has seen enrollment
increases of 20 percent, then 30 percent and now 40 percent. Other
schools' ROTC programs also have faired well this year in terms
of recruitment, but few as well as K-State. October 2002
*
Four K-State graduate students in the department of psychology's
Cognitive/Human Factors program were recognized with a first place
in a national design competition sponsored by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration
July 26 at AirVenture, a major aviation conference in Oskosh,
Wis. Team members, all graduate students in psychology, were:
Peter Elgin, Dubuque, Iowa; Kim Raddatz, Sidney, Neb.; Christina
Prey, Ferdonia, N.Y.; and Rickey Thomas, Denison, Texas. The competition
was part of a government effort to encourage technological breakthroughs
and their applications to general aviation. Students had the opportunity
to develop innovative systems to support the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration Small Aircraft Transportation Systems
program. K-State took first place for its advanced cockpit display
system and received the highest ratings in both categories of
the competition, which included technology innovations and systems
innovations. K-State's team used usability assessment techniques
with current pilots and research-based human factor principles
to design a system that allowed for non-instrument rated pilots
to land a single-engine aircraft in low visibility conditions.
In addition to capturing first place, Elgin and Thomas were also
awarded summer research fellowships at the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration's Langley Research Center. They worked
in the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Technology Program Office in
Hampton, Va. September 2002
*
Krishna Tummala, K-State's director of the graduate program in
public administration and professor of political science, has
been placed on the Senior Scholar Roster by the J. William Fulbright
Foreign Scholarship Board, the Bureau of Education and Cultural
Affairs of the Department of State, and the Council for International
Exchange of Scholars. The Roster is a list of approved candidates
who are qualified in their field to be matched with incoming program
requests from overseas academic institutions for Fulbright Senior
Specialists. As program requests are received, candidates are
contacted by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars
according to their expertise and further considered. Tummala's
name will remain on the Roster for up to five years. Tummala served
in India as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in 1990. September 2002
*
Brian Barnett, a May 2002 summa cum laude K-State graduate, received
a Fulbright grant to teach in Belgium during the 2002-2003 school
year. Barnett earned bachelor's degrees in French and Spanish
from K-State. Barnett will teach English to French-speaking students
at a university in Belgium. Barnett will head to Indiana University
for a teaching assistantship when he returns to the United States
from Belgium. June 2002
*
K-State English instructor Susan Jackson Rodgers was awarded the
Mid-List Press First Series Award for Short Fiction in April 2002
for her collection of 16 short stories titled, "Revolutions
and other stories." The contest is designed to encourage
and nurture short fiction writers who have not previously published
a book. It is an annual competition that began in 1995, awarding
$1,000, publication and a standard royalties contract. This year's
contest received 350 submissions. Publication is scheduled for
September 2003. June 2002
*
K-State students and the campus radio station, KSDB-FM "The
Wildcat, 91.9," received 11 Kansas Association of Broadcaster's
radio awards this year, more than any other Kansas college and
the most in K-State history. "The Wildcat, 91.9" is
a student-operated radio station that specializes in modern rock
and urban music. The Kansas Association of Broadcasters' award
winners were recognized at the Kansas Association of Broadcasters'
2002 Student Seminar Tuesday, April 16, in Topeka. April 2002
*
K-State students Rachel Potucek and Nathan Jackson won national
championships in speech competition at the American Forensics
Association National Individual Events Tournament, hosted by Bradley
University, Peoria, Ill., April 6-8. K-State has had more national
champions than any school at the tournament, with 14 national
champions since 1992, and K-State was the only school in the nation
to win two national championships this year. Potucek won in impromptu
speaking and Jackson won in prose interpretation, the first time
K-State has won that category at the national level. K-State's
individual events forensics speech team placed seventh in the
nation at the national championship, competing against nearly
100 schools and more than 550 competitors. April 2002
*
Lillian Kremer, university distinguished professor of English
at K-State, was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities
Fellowship for 2002, an award providing $40,000 for the year's
research. She received the award for her work, "Holocaust
Literature," a two-volume reference of critical essays on
multi-genre Holocaust writing including 312 writers from many
nations. She is currently in Washington D.C. conducting research,
editing and writing. The two-volume reference work contains analysis
of Holocaust literature by authors from North and South America,
Europe, Australia and Israel. The literature spans the historic
period from the implementation of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws through
the concentration and death camp universe to contemporary responses
of second and third generation writers. April 2002
*
For the 11th consecutive year, K-State's student yearbook, the
Royal Purple, was honored with a Gold Crown Award from the Columbia
Scholastic Press Association. The Kansas State Collegian, K-State's
student-run daily newspaper, was the sole winner of the College
Media Adviser's four-year daily broadsheet competition and was
given the Apple Award for best of show at the Spring National
College Media Convention. April 2002
*
Steven Wall, K-State assistant professor of philosophy, was offered
a Laurence S. Rockefeller Fellowship at Princeton University's
Center for Human Values for 2002-2003. He is the first K-State
philosophy scholar to ever be offered the Rockefeller Fellowship.
The Rockefeller Fellowship is offered annually to outstanding
scholars and teachers who are interested in devoting a year in
residence at Princeton. While in residency, the scholars write
about ethics, human values and participate in various activities
at the university; including university seminars, colloquia, public
lectures and a Fellow's seminar. Rockefeller Fellows are also
given access to Princeton's Firestone Library and a wide range
of university activities to assist them with research and writing.
Wall was chosen for the Fellowship based on the significance of
his proposed research and its relevance to the purposes of Princeton
University. He was also cited for the quality of his previous
research and the contribution he is likely to make in the future
through teaching and writing about ethics and human values. He
is one of four scholars offered the Rockefeller Fellowship for
2002-2003. March 2002
*
Sanjay Rebello, K-State assistant professor of physics, received
a $436,000 CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.
The award is from the Faculty Early Career Development Program
and goes to professors who have spent three years or less on track
to be tenured. According to the National Science Foundation, the
CAREER program "recognizes and supports the early career-development
activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become
the academic leaders of the 21st century." Most CAREER awards
go toward pure science or technology research, Rebello said. But
his research focuses on learning by college students. The award
will fund personnel who survey and interview students taking physics
courses. March 2002
2005
Arts and Sciences
2004
Arts and Sciences
2003
Arts and Sciences
Achievements
index
K-State
College of Arts and Sciences
