THE TAO OF WU
Maneuvering through the treacherous waters (make that rows of wheat) of university life has never been easy. The first week can prove harder than the entire semester, which is why the staff at The Sunflower teamed up to produce a Survival Guide for WSU students. Written in a style that appeals to traditional freshmen, the guide features coupons for local eateries and watering holes and offers tips on everything collegiate, Shocker-style. High points? Courtney Cloyd’s observation that the Pizza Hut on campus is not operational and an important reminder (again from Cloyd) that WSU’s squirrels are friendly, while its rabbits are not. Who knew?
THE CEDAR HOUSE RULES
It was where you met friends after the big game. Your name’s even carved into that special table across from the bar. It was The Cedar — it’s still The Cedar. But the Shocker hangout’s new owners have revamped the bar’s image. Brothers Terry and David Baker have added healthier choices to the menu — salads, wraps and a knock-out red pepper soup. (Don’t worry. Old favorites are still available. And yes, they still serve beer.) On the horizon: expansion of a patio out back and a coffee shop to the west. The name? The Cedar House Coffee Shop, of course.
DIGGIN’ TOWANDA
Don Blakeslee, WSU anthropology professor, spent spadefuls of time getting beneath the surface of Towanda, Kan., this summer. He and members of his Introduction to Anthropology class spent July weekends looking for the trading post and ranch of J.R. Mead, one of Wichita’s founders. Mead’s family donated a number of materials to WSU’s Special Collections, including account books and other records of the post, located in Towanda circa 1863. In addition to relics from the post, Indian artifacts and traces of prehistoric life associated with an Indian trail that went through the area may also be found during the dig. We have to wanda what all they’ll uncover.
HOLD THE SYRUP
In July, geographers at Texas State University and Arizona State University determined what Kansans have always known (despite Hollywood films that indicate otherwise): the Sunflower State is flat as a pancake. In fact, the geographers used a laser scan of a pancake purchased from an International House of Pancakes to compare with an image of an east-west profile of Kansas based on information gleaned from U.S. Geological Survey data to prove that Kansas is actually flatter than a pancake. That mystery over, the next question is, Maple or blueberry?
G-MAN POET
Larry Brooks ’78 earned a master’s degree in fiction from WSU, but prose, it turns out, was not his calling. After a foray or two into the wild world of teaching, Brooks enlisted in the CIA, where he became a telecommunications officer, a post that sent him to 20 countries before his retirement in 2001. And since 1990, this G-man has published more than 100 poems in various publications. We wonder if any will be turned into espionage thrillers á la Tom Clancy novels. The Rhyme of the Ancient Covert Operator? Hmmm. Maybe not.
HONORS SWEEP
Tejas Mazmudar ’03, a WSU aerospace engineering grad, has been selected as Sigma Gamma Tau’s Outstanding Aerospace Engineering Senior for the region. (Six regions comprise the national aerospace engineering honor society.) Mazmudar is the fourth WSU engineering graduate to receive this honor in the past six years. Other winners are Brenda Yurko in 1998, Janna McKenna in 1999 and Andrea Vavra in 2001. Klaus Hoffmann, aerospace engineering professor, is the Sigma Gamma Tau adviser at Wichita State.
STRIKES & SPARES
Wichita State sophomore and Team USA member Anita Manns, from Austin, Texas, represented the United States at the 15th World Tenpin Bowling Association World Championships this September in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — and brought home a bronze medal in trio competition. Manns also finished strong in team competition, placing eighth. In women’s all-events, she placed 26th in a field of 234 competitors. The only collegiate player on Team USA, Manns says she was thrilled to participate in her first international tournament: “The experience was incredible. I can’t put it into words. There’s nothing like standing on a platform and having someone put a medal on you.”
SI ON CAMPUS
The writers of Sports Illustrated On Campus are fond of lists — lists of things to do, lists of people doing them, all kinds of lists. And WSU has been featured in them at least twice this fall semester. We caught this, for instance: Coming in at No. 92 in SI’s The 100 Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate (Whatever the Cost) is “Visit the original Pizza Hut, a modest 1,077-square-foot building on the Wichita State campus.” We’re not sure how this relatively non-sporting activity cracked the top 100, but, hey, Bill Parcells ’64 did once work at a Pizza Hut in Wichita.
