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It's no secret. If you want to see stars, Kansas is definitely the place. A more exact location would be the Lake Afton Public Observatory, which has the distinction of being only one of approximately a dozen observatories in the entire country designed specifically so that the average person can look into outer space. Nestled near one of the Wichita area's most popular lakes, the observatory is the public's opportunity to see far more than they usually do with the naked eye —...

Peer Moore-Jansen, Wichita State's only physical anthropologist, can coax narratives from even the most reluctant of bones. From a second-floor lab room in Neff Hall, he reaches for the whitish gray skull of an orangutan, explaining as he runs his finger across a small indentation on the inside of the skull, "She had epileptic-like seizures when she was alive." He hands the cranium across the lab table, pointing to the tiny pockmark that pressure from a deadly brain tumor had le...

Another color I can instantly associate with the islands … is a gardenia white; a color like the underside of the giant tentacle I saw briefly wrapped around the rail on a stormy afternoon on the boat deck. — From the artist's notes The Cruise exhibition catalog, 1994 James G. Davis made this entry in a journal he kept during a three-week cruise he and his wife, Mary Anne '64, took to the South Pacific in the early 1990s. This fleeting vision from the periphery of rea...

Welcome to The Shocker With this first issue of The Shocker, we're saying farewell to an old friend: the Alumni Association's award-winning Wichita State University Alumni News. And while we're sad to see our old friend go, we're excited to introduce to you a new face and a new format, a quarterly magazine we've fondly — and we'd like to think, rather daringly — named The Shocker, short for The Wheatshocker. Between The Shocker's covers, we're going...

Shockers everywhere, at occasions long ago to happenings just the other day, always have something interesting to say. Take this sampling as a Shock Talk example: This is certainly a noisy crowd The girls all talk and laugh so loud But all is forgiven - they're only in fun, Each out in life to be won by one. They all sing well, I'm glad they came, But all their songs relate to a name As though the whole of this good life Was couched in the thought of being a wife. But dear you...

For the third season, the WSU Alumni Association hosts the Distinguished Alumni Speaker Breakfast Subscription Series - offering every alum and friend of the university something worth getting out of bed for! Former Shocker basketball great and NBA player, Antoine Carr fs '83 kicked off the 1999-2000 lecture series with a Sept. 1 breakfast address on campus. But it's not too late to make your reservations — at a special rate of $48 per person — for the remaining eye-opening...

Class of 1949 members were honored guests at Wichita State's 101st commencement on May 14. Other reunion highlights were special luncheons, campus tours and more. Shockers from across the U.S. returned to campus for Fifty-Year Reunion festivities May 14-16. Classmates renewed friendships and shared memories of student life at the University of Wichita in 1949. Through the years, class members have excelled in myriad professions, raised families and contributed to their university and cou...

I am truly humbled to be selected as your 1999-2000 president. I'm awed by the passion and commitment of the people who have served in this capacity before me, as well as the many alumni who serve on the association's board, committees and as volunteers for all kinds of alumni events. As we enter a new millennium, I feel it's important we take time to evaluate and plan for the challenges that lie before this organization. During my tenure as president, I will be working with you to s...

This is an exciting time to be serving as executive director of the WSU Alumni Association. Not only is our university preparing to enter a new millenium under the leadership of a dynamic new president and first lady, Don and Shirley Beggs, but here at the alumni center we're entering a new phase of growth in our programs and projects — and enthusiasm among our members and volunteer leaders. Just this past June, scores of Shocker volunteers, led by co-chairs Linda Foley and Lynn Stepha...

Around Kansas Shocker coaches and athletics administrators are hitting the Kansas highways to meet sports-minded alums for dinner and some Shock talk. For information about appearances in your area, call Pat at (316) 978-3836. Chicago Shocker alumni got together in August for baseball at Wrigley Field. For future happenings, call Chapter President David Payne '74: (773) 871-2420. Kansas City John Severin and Jasmine Benson have been awarded KC chapter scholarships. Congrats to these n...

Sporting Shocker attitudes are MVC Hall of Famer Antoine Carr fs '83, left, and Coach Randy Smithson '82/89. Shocker Auction volunteers climb aboard a KIA Sportage Convertible donated by Steven KIA, Wichita. Tom '59/67 and Joan Gilley '55 at an alumni bash Aug. 30 in St. Louis....

On any given evening this year, 18 student employees will be sitting at their phones under the watchful eyes of Brandon Smith, Wichita State's new coordinator of The Annual Fund for Excellence. The student workers are calling Wichita State alumni, trying to raise money for the annual fund, a program sponsored by the Endowment Association that funds student scholarships, faculty and staff development, as well as equipment and technology needs for the campus. This year Smith has set a high g...

A "reconstituted" Board of Regents now holds a wider rein on higher education in Kansas This past spring the Kansas Legislature voted into law a historic bill that restructures the system of governance for higher education in the Sunflower State. Swept away is the old Kansas Board of Regents, whose members governed the six so-called Regents universities. In its place is a new Board of Regents. Same name, but with new members and a broader mandate. The board continues to govern Wich...

This July, Jim Schaus became WSU's 16th director of athletics, following Bill Belknap, who retired from the position after six years on the job. Schaus (pronounced Shouse) has spent nearly 20 years in athletic administration with a strong emphasis in external relations and internal management. He has 12 years experience as an assistant athletic director or higher at the Division I level. He's been senior associate athletic director at the University of Texas at El Paso since 1998. &quo...

Liberal Arts Faith's Harvest Using oral and written histories, the associate dean of WSU's Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has written a book about Mennonite communities. Sharon Hartin Iorio, associate professor of communication, says the book grew from her research into how a group interprets change. The Mennonite culture, she explains, has evolved from a closed, German-speaking society into one more integrated with society at large. "I want," she says, "...

We've all done it, stayed up late listening to John Coltrane or Pink Floyd, or whatever made us feel a little sorry for ourselves. We've sat in our wooden chairs in our studios or studies or kitchens while our spouses slept in flannel sheets. We've held a beer or candle or crucifix and studied the delicate architecture of loss that bastard child of memory, prodigal and awake late in the darkness, beating tiny fists against our hollowed guts. We have illuminated loss with...

"View From My Studio" oil on paper, 7x10' Mika Holtzinger '98 Wichita State painting and drawing graduate Mika Holtzinger created this illustrated painting while attending the 1997 summer session at The International School of Art in Umbria, Italy. Holtzinger is now in the graduate painting program at the University of Oregon-Eugene....

"Untitled" mixed media, 18x15" Clay Lohmann '75 The exhibition "Breakfast of Champions: New Work by Clay Lohmann and Julie Green" is showing through Nov. 1 at Trish Higgins Fine Art, 1425 E. Douglas, Wichita. Lohmann, who studied printmaking at WSU under the direction of John Boyd, resides in Norman, Okla....

Dance has flowered at Wichita State since the 1920s. Every fall, the Kansas Dance Festival celebrates artistry in motion. Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance. T.S. Eliot  ...

Anna Anderson '74/76, an English major with minors in philosophy and anthropology, has built a successful career in international banking from a solid liberal-arts base. "Why, yes, I majored in liberal arts. Will that be for here or to go, sir?" Jokes about the value of a liberal arts education are ingrained in America's commerce-driven cultural consciousness. "You wanna know how to get a liberal arts grad off your porch? Pay him for the pizza." But there are unt...

This 1939 Parnassus photograph of William M. Jardine shows the university's chief executive posed in his new colonial-style home looking at a photo of the newly completed president's house. In 1996 Joe Walsh bought a deteriorating old home at 1604 N. Fairmount. His grandparents lived there, and he had fond memories of his time with them. The lead guitarist for the Eagles, Walsh said he wanted the home because he enjoyed the pace of life it represented. He restored it and while it is n...

The George Washington Bicentennial Memorial Bridge is significant to the history and heritage of both Wichita State University and the city of Wichita. The bridge's roots are deep in the founding of the university as Fairmount College because it was constructed out of the stones of Fairmount Hall, the first campus building. Designed by Clayton Staples, a major figure in the arts in Kansas, it was erected to be the university's contribution to the great Washington Bicentennial Celebration...

Now a Shocker, this former Cougar coach has clawed out a national reputation. Judy Favor, a successful head coach at Columbus State (Ga.) University, is the new head softball coach at Wichita State. "She knows how to win … She took a .500 program a few years ago and turned it into one that was ranked No. 1 in the nation." WSU Athletics Director Jim Schaus "I am excited to have Judy Favor as part of our team," says WSU Athletics Director Jim Schaus. "She kn...

Despite a recent injury, Jason Perez, along with fellow seniors Darrin Williams and Carl Lemons, will lead the Shocks. Oklahoma State, Tulsa and Kansas State have been added to future Wichita State's men's basketball schedules, WSU Director of Athletics Jim Schaus and Head Basketball Coach Randy Smithson announced in August. "Jim and I are committed to scheduling games with quality regional opponents," Smithson says. "I understand the importance of these regional oppon...

As Dale Faber '82 and Bobby Kennen join the coaching staff, Coach Smithson says, "I have great confidence in Bobby and Dale. I think they are the right fit at the right time." "We are extremely pleased to announce that Dale and Bobby have joined our staff," says Head Coach Randy Smithson '82/89. "They will be an improvement to our staff, our program and the total operation. I feel that the coaches in the past have done a great job, but these two are a great fi...

Baseball Signings Wichita State continues its national dominance as Shockers played in their 13th-straight NCAA Tournament — the 18th in the last 20 years — and hosted their eighth regional in the 1990s. WSU also has had a slew of players and signees selected in this year's baseball draft. All told, 10 Shockers were chosen, as well as four Shockers-to-be. Topping the list of Shockers who have signed professional contracts is Chicago Cubs first-round pick Ben Christensen. Christ...

Comings, goings, appointments, retirements, honors, accolades and other personal alumni news. Former students are designated by fs. Members of the Wichita State University Alumni Association are identified by an asterisk (*). Membership dues support alumni publications as well as other programs and services. To join the WSU Alumni Association, call (316) 978-3826. K.T. Woodman '36, geo, (deceased) has had a WSU scholarship endowed in his name by his daughters June Adams, Elaine Brady, Eled...

It might be hard to imagine that Tony Beugelsdijk '71 spends his spare time surrounded by planes, saws, hammers and nails in his workshop in Los Alamos, N.M. He does, after all, spend the majority of his time working with robots and other high-tech equipment at the prestigious Los Alamos Research Institute and with Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical in Ann Arbor, Mich. But then again, both woodworking and science require precision — and the same may also be said about Tony Beugelsdijk. Beugel...

Since her teenage days of camping and hiking in Colorado, Nancy Moore '67/71 has taken a giant step — up. Though the Texas native has been an outdoors enthusiast for most of her life, her mountain trekking began in 1985 in the Himalaya range after she responded to an adventure tour company advertisement that read, "Why not escape to Nepal?" Moore packed her bags for a trek to a region of Asia that draws visitors for its adventurous and aesthetic appeal. "What attracts m...

It's easy to picture Peter DeGiglio '73 in his room at Brennan Hall, a Ski Kansas poster on the wall and four or five other students gathered around telling stories and making plans to visit the hangouts that then populated Wichita. It's also easy to imagine that DeGiglio, who possesses an enviable wit and unassuming demeanor, was often at the center of attention during those collegiate times. To hear him tell it, he made the best of those years. Maybe that's why he's help...

Armadillo Futures I Residents of the greater Wichita area will have to pay closer attention to their feet. That's the conclusion Shockers have arrived at after reading two different news releases, both about armadillos. First, an article in the July 2 El Dorado Times reports that the strange, tank-like creatures are migrating north into Kansas from Texas and Mexico in record numbers. Donald Distler, associate professor of biology at WSU and director of WSU's Biological Research Station...

Dr. Max Scott Allen '33, May 23, retired professor of medicine at the University of Kansas, Prairie Village, Kan. Jack J. Armstrong, May 9, retired dentist and WSU friend, Wichita. Kenneth M. Banie '33, Oct. 31, 1996, retired International Harvester equipment sales consultant, East Moline, Ill. Toy E. Barnes '79, June 28, retired physician's assistant, Wichita. William E. Batson '76, July 21, Waukegan, Ill. Vera Beachy, July 12, former medical records employee and WSU fr...

Harry F. "Bud" Lawless '38 was committed to helping others. A familiar face at university and Alumni Association events, Lawless compiled impressive records of service that benefited not only his alma mater, but also his profession and community. A business administration graduate, he left Wichita for a time as part of his 37 years of service to twa, taking assignments in New York, Chicago and St. Louis. In Miami, he was twa's general manager of sales and service for the South...

Dorothy Belden '88 fought hard for what she believed in. In 1957, she was one of the first women hired as a copy editor at Wichita's The Beacon newspaper and later became the first woman on The Eagle and Beacon's editorial page staff. During the 1960s and '70s, she helped lead the local women's movement. She served as the first president of the Kansas Women's Political Caucus and spoke out against low pay for women at The Eagle and Beacon, where she also worked to organ...

Insurance against boredom does not get a lot of emphasis as a purpose for education. There is no reason it should, but a lot of our time is spent outside our majors, and smatterings of irrelevant knowledge can add interest to such idle hours. "Education should open the mind to the enjoyment of new possibilities and variations on one's own beliefs." The other day, some friends and I saw a Japanese movie whose suggestion that daydreams are the only form of hope puzzled us until s...