BUG BUSTERS
“Eek!” and “Ugh!” were heard around campus the first few days into the fall semester, according to Jamin Anderson, a writer for the Sunflower.
Why?
“I see big black bugs in a lot of the buildings,” junior Carly Holmes told Anderson, who then asked the pros from WSU’s physical plant about the bugs. “The number of bug calls isn’t any higher this semester than normal,” responded Alayna Morena, assistant to the director of facility services.
Morena explained that physical plant workers take student health quite seriously. They check out every bug call received and employ a variety of bug-busting procedures: glue traps to deal with ground beetles and a gel called Drax to eliminate ants, for instance.
Too many creepy crawlies?
Who ya gonna call?
Wichita State’s own Bug Busters — that's who!
CAMP NASA
Talk about an out-of-this world summer getaway:
Jamie Sundgren ’01, a middle school science teacher in El Dorado, Kan., was one of 25 teachers chosen from a national pool of 1,200 applicants to attend a science workshop at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
“The lab deals primarily with robotics and rovers,” Sundgren explains.
“We got to see so many cool things — the Mars rovers, for one. The experience is going to help make things interesting for my students.”
CYBERCHONDRIACS, BEWARE!
Some 73 million of us have surfed the net for health information, according to a study by Pew Internet and American Life.
But that might not be a good thing.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that many health information websites either left out key facts, offered out-of-date or contradictory information or blurred the distinction between advertising and advice.
In short, the study revealed that it’s not always easy to find reliable medical information on the web.
Richard Muma, who is the director of Wichita State’s physician assistant program, recommends that consumers take note of who wrote the page, who sponsors it and what their credentials are.
Also, consider a site’s intent. Beward of product-selling, satire or parody. Beyond that, Muma says, the key to finding legitimate health-care information is checking out a variety of resources.
So look twice the next time you spot a cybershingle.
TAKE THREE
Wichita State’s “I Am Wichita State” branding campaign began its third run in late September.
Developed to increase pride in WSU for both on- and off-campus audiences, the campaign features WSU faculty, staff, alumni and students of note proud to claim their WSU affiliation as a “Thinker, Doer, Mover & Shocker.”
In addition to network affiliate and cable TV placements, Wichita residents are seeing new faces on the WSU outdoor boards (one on the Kellogg flyover and another at Kellogg and Ridge) and on signs in the Wichita Mid-Continent airport concourses. WSU’s campaign debuted Feb. 11, 2001, with its second phase launching in February 2002.
JAZZMUZE
Jazz pianist and composer Joe Utterback ’68/69 has had a hectic summer.
To mention a few of his performance engagements: a pre-Tony Awards dinner at Rockefeller Center, a series of cabaret shows at Judith’s in New York City and a workshop on jazz improvisation styles for organists at a national convention in Philadelphia. And this September, Connoisseur Jazz released his sixth CD, My Heart Stood Still, full of quiet ballads, such as “Stardust,” perfect for late night listening.
Since 1991, Utterback has received annual American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awards for performance of his 200 jazz-influenced compositions, published by Jazzmuze Inc. His catalog includes works — which Igor Kipnis calls “sophisticated and endlessly inventive” — for voice, choir, piano, organ, harpsichord and teaching pieces.
In addition to his music degrees from WSU, Utterback has a doctorate in music from the University of Kansas. A resident of Rowayton, Conn., he teaches at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, is the director of music/organist at the First Congregational Church of Stratford and conducts the Stratford Sister Cities Chorus.
