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KU School of Business receives largest gift in school history
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Business received a $50 million commitment from an anonymous donor that will transform business education and research at the school. The gift, the largest in KU School of Business history, will also provide funds to advance key initiatives supporting undergraduate student success.
Study examines role of religion in substance use services, finds it’s often located in racially diverse communities
LAWRENCE — People have turned to religion and spirituality to deal with crises and critical needs for centuries. Yet little is known how religion plays a role in substance use care. A new publication from the University of Kansas and Georgetown University explored the religious orientation of facilities within the substance use and addiction system of care throughout the Kansas City region, the religiousness of services, where the services are located and differences in services offered.
Two Lawrence-based projects among recipients of 2023 Rocket Grants
LAWRENCE — The 2023 Rocket Grants have awarded a total of $60,000 for 10 artist projects in the Lawrence and Kansas City area. Two awards will support Lawrence-based projects: the planting of fruit trees around Lawrence Public Library accompanied by collective song by artists Skyler Adamson and Hazlett Henderson, and a new play by Timmia Hearn DeRoy, who recently received her doctorate in theatre from the University of Kansas. Rocket Grants are a partnership between Charlotte Street and the Spencer Museum of Art.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Michelle Keller, KU Endowment, 785-832-7336, [email protected]; @KUEndowment; Lauren Cunningham, School of Business, 785-864-9540, [email protected], @KUbschool
KU School of Business receives largest gift in school history
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Business received a $50 million commitment from an anonymous donor that will transform business education and research at the school. The gift, the largest in KU School of Business history, will also provide funds to advance key initiatives supporting undergraduate student success.
“This transformative gift supports the School of Business’ ongoing commitment to excellence in research and student success,” said Paige Fields, KU School of Business dean. “It will allow our school to further invest in our current mission-driven initiatives, to pursue aspirational objectives and to identify future opportunities, ensuring we continue delivering relevant, innovative business education.”
The newly endowed fund will provide critical resources for several of the school’s priorities, including improving the quality and quantity of scholarly output by providing support for faculty professorships and fellowships.
As the school experiences record growth in student enrollment, this gift also will bolster student success priorities including the school’s recently revamped entrepreneurship programs; career-focused opportunities within the school’s EY Professionalism Program; and scholarship, retention and programmatic efforts among diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB), study abroad and academic enrichment programs.
The donor made the gift in honor of the school’s accomplishments both throughout its history and in recent years following its strategic planning process, which began during the 2017-18 academic year. Under the plan, the School of Business has launched certificate programs; reviewed and updated its undergraduate curriculum; created more flexible undergraduate admissions policies; introduced a master’s degree in business analytics; enhanced research incentives for tenure-track faculty; and built out previously unfinished spaces in Capitol Federal Hall to accommodate growth in the school, among other initiatives. By making this gift, the donor expressed a strong belief in the school’s future and a desire to help propel its stature.
“While a gift of this size is certainly newsworthy, it’s what this gift will enable that is truly worth noting,” said Dan Martin, president, KU Endowment. “The impact of such a sizable gift will have a ripple effect that extends well beyond this current moment in time. We are honored and humbled by the donor’s choice to invest in the School of Business and look forward to sharing future success stories that will be written because of their generosity.”
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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
Study examines role of religion in substance use services, finds it’s often located in racially diverse communities
LAWRENCE — People have turned to religion and spirituality to deal with crises and critical needs for centuries. Yet little is known how religion plays a role in substance use care. A new publication from the University of Kansas and Georgetown University explored the religious orientation of facilities within the substance use and addiction system of care throughout the Kansas City region, the religiousness of services, where the services are located and differences in services offered.
The study showed facilities that appeared more religious, or where faith or religiousness was centered, often offered a wider range of services and were located in racially diverse communities. The findings can help service providers make better referrals to direct people to places that will best serve their needs. The results also provide a roadmap for other communities to better understand their substance use services and gaps to ultimately help more people on the road to recovery, according to the researchers.
The study grew out of a larger project KU has led to better understand what substance use and misuse services are available throughout the Kansas City metro area to combat the opioid epidemic.
“The strong presence of the faith community in the substance use and recovery collective inspired this strategy of exploring the role of faith-based organizations within this system of care. We wanted to understand this topic deeper and contribute the literature by systematically considering the value faith can add in a person’s journey,” said Amittia Parker a KU alumna now with Georgetown University who was part of the services census and lead author of the publication. “Especially in communities of color where seeking mental health and substance use help is stigmatized. Faith-based services are often preferred sources of support for many in those communities.”
Researchers surveyed substance use and addiction services across a continuum including prevention, treatment, recovery and supportive services throughout the metro area, across 10 counties and two states. The facilities were asked how they identify their organizational designation and to what extent faith or religiousness was involved in their organization or service offering. Researchers documented the centrality of religiousness within the organization and in spaces that were faith-centered or permeated — there were usually religious art, scriptures/texts, symbols and personnel such as pastors, rabbis, imams or others as part of their services. This is one of the few studies that collected this type of information and mapped the location of the facilities within the service sector.
The study, co-written with Nancy Jo Kepple, associate professor of social welfare at KU, was published in the Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work.
The findings showed that a high density of faith-based or faith centered services were located in communities of color. That may mean that the organizations are potentially addressing service gaps, as those communities have traditionally been under-resourced and underserved, the researchers wrote. Findings also showed a range of services offered and an association between the number of services offered and religious orientation.
“We found faith-based services were more prevalent in more urban areas, and they were also more likely to provide a variety of services within the continuum of care,” Parker said.
The services offered at the faith-based organizations often went beyond substance or mental health treatments, including housing. However, the same facilities were less likely to provide housing for individuals who identify as transgender and expressed ambivalence about medication-assisted treatment. Faith-based organizations are known to provide free or low-cost services for low-income individuals or those without insurance.
“This brought up for us that there are gaps in the service sector and likely people not being well-served. There are a growing number of people who do not identify as religious or spiritual, and also may be under-resourced or uninsured under-resourced,” Parker said. “This research on the service sector, religious orientation and gaps in services can hopefully open conversations about the service offerings across facilities in the community and who may or may not be the best fit at these respective facilities.”
More secular organizations were also found to often offer specialized services, such as hospital-based inpatient detox, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient services. It is clear that secular and faith-based organizations are contributing to the service sector in unique ways, the researchers wrote.
Among facilities that identified as religious, the majority were Judeo-Christian based, which can leave a gap for followers of other religions or individuals who are spiritual but not in a traditional religious sense, according to the researchers.
The study is not intended to promote one type of service over another but to meet the goal of social work in helping people achieve access to the services and supports that they desire and prefer, and optimal health as they define it, Parker and Kepple wrote. That can help facilitate a match of services that results in satisfaction and increased likelihood of recovery.
“This can lead to a misfit or negative interaction,” Parker said of making referrals without considering individual needs. “When people are in that moment where they are ready to seek help, it is a very critical time. This study helps elevate the idea that there are many things to consider when helping people seek help, and understanding the religious orientation of the facility or organization can help reduce the risk of the client being uncomfortable and having a negative experience.”
The findings offer not only a better understanding of what is available in the Kansas City area but a roadmap other communities can use to determine what is available in their area. Additionally, it helps point out that facilities can collaborate, whether faith-based or not, to ensure individuals are getting the best possible services for their needs.
“It is necessary to continue to examine the integration of (or lack of) FBOs (faith-based organizations) within the system of care, and especially within the substance use system of care. This study provides insights into where FBOs may assist in addressing services gaps within the substance use system of care in addition to existing limitations,” Parker and Kepple wrote. “Understanding how FBOs continue to respond to the needs within communities, where FBOs are located and provide services, as well as the service offerings and serve access gaps, will remain important into the future.”
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Contact: Elizabeth Kanost, Spencer Museum of Art, 785-864-0142, [email protected], @SpencerMuseum
Two Lawrence-based projects among recipients of 2023 Rocket Grants
LAWRENCE — The 2023 Rocket Grants have awarded a total of $60,000 for 10 artist projects in the Lawrence and Kansas City area. Two awards will support Lawrence-based projects: the planting of fruit trees around Lawrence Public Library accompanied by collective song by artists Skyler Adamson and Hazlett Henderson, and a new play by Timmia Hearn DeRoy, who recently received her doctorate in theatre from the University of Kansas.
Rocket Grants, a partnership of Charlotte Street and the Spencer Museum of Art, support innovative, artist-driven projects outside of established arts venues through funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. This year’s selected projects address a broad range of topics, from uplifting local music to raising awareness about fatalities related to pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum.
The awardees were selected from a highly competitive pool of 77 applications. For this cycle, the jury consisted of four artists and nonprofit leaders: Mona Cliff, artist and former Rocket Grants recipient based in Lawrence; Eureka Gilkey, executive director at Project Row Houses in Houston, Texas; Blanca Herrada an artist based in Lawrence; and Thomas James, curator and executive director at The Last Resort Artist Retreat in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Rocket Grants promise new experiences in unexpected places this year,” said Saralyn Reece Hardy, Spencer Museum director. “It is especially inspiring to see the commitment to community and place through many forms of art-making in our region. Projects demonstrate adventurous and imaginative latitude roaming through visual art, music, collective celebration, theater and poetry.”
The public is invited to celebrate this year’s recipients at an awards ceremony from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 6 at Charlotte Street in Kansas City. A press preview will occur immediately prior to the ceremony from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information about Rocket Grants and this year’s award recipients, visit www.rocketgrants.org.
A complete list of 2023 Rocket Grants recipients:
Fruit Tree Community Choir / Skyler Adamson and Hazlett Henderson
A celebration of planting community fruit trees around the Lawrence Public Library accompanied by collective song.
Flew the Coop Sessions / Cody Boston
A live music video series that provides local artists with high-quality video and audio recordings of their performances.
Kawsmouth River Carnival / Jac Danger, Matthew Lloyd, and Kimmon Smutz
A playful, interactive festival on the Missouri River offering an immersive art experience for the Kansas City community.
The KC Queertet Live Video Series / Adee Dancy
A string quartet dedicated to uplifting and accompanying queer musical artists in Kansas City.
“On Born Children and Ghosts” / Timmia Hearn DeRoy
A new play that speaks to local and international experiences of pregnancy and childbirth.
Poetry Takes (P)residence / Rhiannon Dickerson
A micro-residency for regional poets of color, amplifying LQBTQIA, female, immigrant and rural voices.
“Seasons and Cycles” / Kyle Jones and Paul Berlinsky
A public concert in February 2024 at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium.
Kansas City’s Removal Act: The Reckoning on Andrew Jackson Monuments / Neysa Page-Lieberman
A community-centered research project that explores the reckoning of Andrew Jackson monuments in the Kansas City–area.
“The Black Farmer’s 2 Dilemmas” / Ryan Tenney
A performance at Sankara Farm, a Black, family-owned and operated agro-ecological farm in Kansas City.
The Trendsetters: Teen Fashion Showcase with Social Impact / Remy Wharry
A series of eight monthly workshops with high school students, followed by a fashion showcase at 18th and Vine.
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