CONTENTS

"When I graduated from Wichita State, I set out for Harvard as fast as I could. I hadn't considered pursuing a graduate degree anywhere but at an eastern college, because I believed that was where all the old stuff — all the good stuff — was," says Lee Pelton '73. Bearing his bachelor of arts degree in English and psychology, an unflagging ardor for the 19th-century Romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge, and a quixotic belief that in the East he would find the com...

First of all, while we didn't just randomly draw names out of a hat, this certainly isn't anything close to a scientific conclusion boasting repeatable, measurable results. What we did was ask a group of alumni and a group of wsu faculty and staff to tell us who have impressed them the most as Shockers — in other words, to list those alumni, faculty and staff who, in their opinions, have made the greatest impact on our world and our university and its students. Then we counted th...

Remember Jack and the beanstalk, the giant and that goose that laid those golden eggs? Well, to describe pro wrestling today, I can think of nothing more apt than to tell you it's like a fairy tale — a fairy tale on steroids. At 7 feet 1 inches and let's call it 500 pounds, Paul Wight fs '92 is The Big Show in the big show that is professional wrestling. His signature move is the Choke Slam; his finishing move, The Showstopper. And he is, at press time anyway, the current Wo...

An Absolute Gem Dear Editor: The Shocker came through my letter-box the other day. Thank you for transporting me back to what were certainly my ‘formative years.’ I arrived in Wichita in 1982 and left with a degree in marketing in 1985. But now to the point of this letter. The article, “Our President’s House,” is an absolute gem. The Joe Walsh story and his grandparents and President Morrison — fantastic! It struck a nostalgic chord with me because I rented...

Shockers everywhere, at events long ago to happenings just the other day, always have something interesting to say. Take this sampling as a Shock Talk example: "The first thing I did was learn to record grades. The grades were recorded in big ledger books by hand." "Now wait a minute. You were a freshman and you were recording the official grades of all of your buddies?" "Yes, but I didn't ever cheat." "Did anybody ask you to?" "Everybody...

From Lincoln LaPaz, mathematician and meteoritist, who was awarded the first Achievement Award in 1955 to this year's honorees, Wichita State University has celebrated the accomplishments and service of a long line of extraordinary alumni, faculty and staff. The 1999 award winners, introduced below, will be honored Feb. 3 with a banquet at the Hyatt Regency, Wichita. Each of the honorees has, in unique and far-reaching ways, made superior contributions to Wichita State University and to soc...

READY FOR ACTION: Jim Tackett, left, Jeff Turner ‘73/77 and Jim Mullins ‘71 are among the 120 golfers who played in the Sept. 17 Shocker Golf Tournament. The 1999 Wichita State University Alumni Association Shocker Golf Tournament produced scores of winners — and no real losers. With gifts, prizes, fun and near flawless golfing weather, none of the 120 participants in the annual golf tournament hosted by the Shocker Hellraisers walked away a loser. And one lucky Shocker go...

Decorating pumpkins was only one activity for kids of all ages at the WSU Alumni Association's second fall fling event held in October at Eberly Farm, Wichita. Sack races, hay rides and just about everything in between were featured at the family event. This year's alumni fall fling was a rip-roaring success. The Wild Wild Wu western theme went over in a big way, thanks to the efforts of WSU President Don and Shirley Beggs, women's basketball coach Darryl Smith and men's baske...

John Stallcup '75/80 at an alumni bash this fall in Wellington, Kan. Baseball great Joe Carter fs '81 enjoys a different game, golf, at festivities around his MVC Hall of Fame induction. "Wild Wild Wu" Fall Fling attendees Bev and Greg White get into a Western frame of mind.  ...

First of all, let me take this opportunity to welcome and introduce you to four new members of our wsu Alumni Association staff. Michelle Boyd joined us in October as our Director of Membership and Development. Michelle will be overseeing Alumni Association development projects and working on programs to increase and retain our membership base. She comes to us from Wichita's Convention and Visitors Bureau. Rick Griffin comes on board as Director of Alumni Career Networking to help build a...

WSU President Don Beggs has introduced our university community to a matrix highlighting the three primary constituencies that Wichita State strives to serve: students, faculty and alumni. We embrace this matrix. Two of our major Association programs targeted to enhance students' experiences at wsu are the "Drive Your Pride" license plate initiative, which raises money for wsu's general scholarship fund, and the re-organized, re-energized Student Alumni Association. This key s...

Chicago Fri., Jan. 28 — Chicago-area alumni will attend a Chicago Bulls game, with a pre-game get-together at Moretti's. Tickets are limited, so call now for details: (316) 978-3836. Great Bend Roy Rogers '58 and Howard Partington '76 hosted the first Central-Kansas alumni dinner this fall. Wichita State President and Mrs. Don Beggs were guests of honor. Interested in getting involved with area alumni chapter development? Call Rogers, (316) 792-2971, or Partington, (316) 7...

Dr. Erach Talaty is a favorite with his students, who give him high marks for making learning enjoyable and credit him with a great deal of energy and passion for his work. "There were a lot fewer buildings, for one thing," says Professor Erach Talaty, reflecting on the Wichita State University campus as it was when he first arrived 30 years ago. He recalls a younger WSU, one with a chemistry department just beginning to grow. Talaty would play a major role in the development of tha...

Music at WSU won't sound quite the same after the spring 2000 semester. Why's that? Harrison Boughton, long-time School of Music professor, will be leaving the university, retiring after 38 years of teaching and conducting choral groups. While colleagues, students and former students are sad to see him go, plans for his retirement celebration are rapidly gaining momentum. Slated for May 5-7, 2000, the milestone event will feature a Saturday night mass-choir performance by past members...

Business Star Lumber History The Center for Entrepreneurship has revived its Business Heritage publication series after a nine-year hiatus. The series, which recognizes local and regional entrepreneurs, has featured 12 books, telling the stories of Fourth National Bank and Trust and the Hesston Corp., among others. Its 13th book, just out, is Building Wichita: The History of Star Lumber and Supply Co. 1939-1999, written by Scott Dalrymple, Beech Professor of Business Administration and chair o...

See now they vanish, The faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them... — T.S. Eliot Nobody is ever missing. — John Berryman   1. Crows file in from Kansas fields, hundreds, a column that reaches back and ahead to distances where even the black point that may or may not be the beginning and end disappears. This reminds me of the leaves the starlings replaced in '72, a canopy that hung over our neighborhood as Jack D. and I killed them with our...

"Münster Benches" painted aluminum Scott Burton, 1939-89 One of the newest acquisitions of the WSU Endowment Associa­tion Art Collection, this pair of benches was purchased from Max Protetch Gallery in New York City. Like many contemporary sculptors, Burton attempted to bridge the gap between fine art and public art, creating objects that are accessible rather than esoteric. Burton's benches are at once aesthetically interesting and utilitarian....

"Untitled" Stephen Miner ‘83 Wichita artist Stephen Miner chooses his subject matter directly from the everyday world. "I want to 'still‘ life, freezing a moment in time and elevating the mundane to a higher status," Miner explains. His works — oil paintings, water colors and photography — have been exhibited in Kansas and Oklahoma....

To celebrate, the museum is featuring the exhibition "25 Years of Collecting," which showcases selected works from its permanent collection. However much the museum's art offerings have changed through the years, its mission has remained unwaveringly the same. As the museum's founding director, Martin H. Bush once explained: "WSU has an obligation to give its students a sense of the major accomplishments in world art if it is to provide a truly universal education. This...

Murillo researches materials and photographs to find the right historical images for his murals, then makes those images into slides. He projects the slides on an overhead and draws the images in the dark. He used this technique while drawing the Chisholm Trail State Bank mural. While reflecting on the advantages of "modern techniques," he said he was surprised to learn that some artists, including famed British painter David Hockney, contend that European painters from the 1500s used...

The Coleman Co. announced in September a half million-dollar gift to Wichita State to enhance WSU's world-class baseball facilities. The outfield hill area will be named Coleman Hill in recognition of the donation. "I'm excited about Coleman Hill. It adds another area of entertainment and recreation for our fans. I can't wait to see it built." — WSU Athletics Director Jim Schaus "We are very appreciative of the generous support of The Coleman Co.," sa...

At the Eiffel Tower, Craig Steven and his Shocker teammates introduced a little American tradition to the French. "We were waiting in line at the base of the tower," Steven explains, "and we got the whole line started doing the wave." Walking into Levitt Arena in the off-season is a different experience from attending major sporting events there. First of all, parking isn't a problem. The roundhouse, a place usually full of noise generated by thousands of boisterous fa...

Henry Levitt Arena. When you hear that, what images come to mind? Perhaps memorable Wichita State Shocker basketball games, teams or players. There is also the classic round-house configuration that produces a festive and raucous basketball environment. Although these are common attributes of Levitt Arena, its use and value offers so much more to Shocker athletics, WSU and the greater Wichita community. The athletics department recently announced a six-month study to review the concept of re...

Triple Digits Under head coach Darryl Smith, the women's basketball team topped the 100-point mark for the first time, slamming down 103 points to the Lamar University Cardinals' 64 in a Nov. 21 game in the Roundhouse. The Shockers fell just short of the school's all-time scoring record of 107. The team did play up to record-setting status, posting 14 three-pointers and shooting an amazing 56 percent from the arc, besting its field-goal percentage of 45 percent. Shoot Out in Sti...

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 Association, call (316) 978-3826. D. "Dale" Richmond '55, speech, '65 m ed psych, of Right Associates, Wichita, is serving as first vice president on the Wich...

Shocker Nancy Nyberg '76/92 has done it all in the movies, from gaffer to writer and producer. If it can be done in the film industry, Nancy Nyberg '76/92 has done it. Producing, casting, public relations, research, developing content for web pages — virtually every aspect of making movies is listed on her resume. While assisting with initial research for the blockbuster movie "Titanic," one of her more unusual tasks was finding water tanks big enough to shoot the mov...

Rick Mulkey '92 is the author of the poetry collection, "The Age of Reason." Given the precise nature of his poems, the careful attention to language and detail, the vivid way he turns a phrase, it is surprising to learn that before Rick Mulkey '92 arrived at WSU, he had never really written or studied poetry. "I didn't know how to read a poem," he says. "I had already gone through a master's program and thought I knew how, but didn't." Some...

Chuck Jackson '68 is one of the most professional and popular editors the Oakland Tribune has ever had. Here's a reason for journalism majors and Sunflower staff writers to take heart: Charles "Chuck" Jackson '68, the editor of the Oakland Tribune, was recently honored in San Francisco when he received the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists' prestigious Career Achievement Award for print. It was no small affair, either. More than 3...

Dr. Alejandro J. Aillon, Oct. 4, Halstead Hospital chief of surgery, chairman, Department of Surgery, Halstead, Kan. Betty Jean (Kelley) Armour '41, Sept. 19, homemaker, Fresno, Calif. Lucile M. Allen, Oct.10, homemaker and friend of the university, Wichita. Ruth M. Anderson '37/47, Nov. 3, retired University of Arizona associate professor and former Denver Children's Hospital speech pathologist, Tucson, Ariz. Faye E. (Martin) Astle '65, Sept. 30, homemaker and university fri...

A dedicated, award- winning teacher, Albert Gosman taught at WSU for more than a quarter of a century. A dedicated member of the WSU community for more than 25 years, Dr. Albert L. Gosman, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, will be remembered for his commitment to teaching and his counsel to engineering students. After earning an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and then a master's from the University of Colorado, he received a doc...

As advisor and associate dean, Sam Akao helped many students find their way through the Ivory Tower. Dr. Samuel Akao, WSU College of Education adviser, came to Wichita State in 1994 as associate dean of University College. When the college was reorganized in 1998, he joined the College of Education as an adviser in its student services section. As associate dean, Akao helped plan, develop, implement and evaluate programs and services to enhance the freshman-year experience in University Coll...

In the eighth grade in public school on Long Island we learned a theory about how life started when things heated up in a puddle. The chemical mix and a zapping heat flash were perfect to form the first cell. Life began. Soon amphibians crawled out of the sludge and there was survival of the fittest. I knew Spencer Tracy starred in Inherit the Wind, about the Scopes monkey trial, which happened in olden times. Nobody ever on Long Island going to the mall or anything questioned evolution and besi...

Dissin' WuShock In its annual ranking of universities and colleges, the U.S. News & World Report provided a list of the 25 "weirdest college nicknames and mascots." That's all well and good, but somehow they seem to have passed over our beloved, unique WuShock. After all, what could make a weirder mascot than a fistful of wheat? While we can't quibble about the USC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs or the Evergreen State College Geoducks, the list includes the Pittsburg State...