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After 10 years of bringing worldwide attention to sexual assault, ‘What Were You Wearing?’ art installation returns to KU in April
LAWRENCE — For a decade, the “What Were You Wearing?” survivor art installation has brought attention to sexual violence and given a voice to survivors. The exhibition, which first opened at the University of Arkansas, returns to the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence from April 2 to 18 during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Co-creator Jen Brockman — who has led KU’s Sexual Assault Prevention & Education Center since 2016 — is available to speak with media at the opening public reception from 4 to 6 p.m. April 4 in the Kansas Union Gallery.
KU names new director to lead Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum
LAWRENCE — Nico Franz, Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Ecology and director of biocollections at Arizona State University, has been named the next leader of the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas. He will begin his role as the Krishtalka Director in mid-August, with a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.
Jack Zhang named inaugural recipient of KUIA Advisory Board International Teaching Award
LAWRENCE — Recognized for innovation in incorporating international education in the classroom, Jack Zhang, assistant professor of political science, is the inaugural recipient of the KU International Affairs Advisory Board International Teaching Award. Zhang will give a lecture on his work during an award presentation and reception from 2:30 to 4 p.m. April 18 in the Kansas Union’s Big 12 Room. Zhang integrates teaching and research in his Trade War Lab, which seeks to understand the U.S.-China trade war and its effect on heartland communities through a data-driven, firm-centric approach. Students conduct research on policy-relevant topics by working in teams to map out global supply chains, survey business leaders, and collect data on tariff exclusions and congressional bills.
KU Law to honor three distinguished alumni
LAWRENCE – Three University of Kansas School of Law alumni will receive the law school’s highest honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, next month. The award celebrates graduates for their professional achievements, contributions to the legal field, and service to their community and the university. U.S. District Judge Monti Belot, Jan Bowen Sheldon and Paul Yde will receive the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award at a private dinner on April 13 in Lawrence.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, KU News Service, 785-864-8858, [email protected], @ebpkansas
After 10 years of bringing worldwide attention to sexual assault, ‘What Were You Wearing?’ art installation returns to KU in April
LAWRENCE — For a decade, the “What Were You Wearing?” survivor art installation has brought attention to sexual violence and given a voice to survivors. The exhibit returns to the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence from April 2 to 18 during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
First exhibited at the University of Arkansas in April 2014, the project was conceived by leaders of that university’s sexual assault advocacy and resources center, Mary Wyandt-Hiebert and Jen Brockman.
Brockman — who has led KU’s Sexual Assault Prevention & Education Center since 2016 — and her colleague were inspired by the Mary Simmerling poem “What I was Wearing.” The pair interviewed survivors about what they were wearing when they experienced sexual violence. Using donated thrift store items, they recreate the outfits and put them on display with survivors’ quotes. The outfits on display have included athletics uniforms and child-sized dresses like those survivors wore when they experienced the violence.
This framework has been used for installations by more than 300 organizations across six continents. Since 2018, many of the organizations have hosted the installation repeatedly in several locations and communities. KU’s installation next month will include touch screens with which visitors can see locations where the installation has been hosted.
Members of the media and the public are invited to an opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. April 4 in the Kansas Union Gallery, where Brockman will be available to speak with reporters.
In the 10 years since Brockman and Wyandt-Hiebert sowed the seeds for the installation, they are seeing the project “blooming.” Notably, in 2022 the “What Were You Wearing: Fashion Exhibit” by RISE was done in collaboration with the United Nations.
“To be the inspiration for so many different projects is really humbling,” Brockman said.
One of the decisions the creators are most proud of is keeping the installation as free, open-source material.
“No one should profit off the stories donated by survivors, and keeping the installation as open source allows for a community response to this shared issue,” Brockman said.
Over the past decade, social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok have added “depth and movement” to how the installation is experienced in a virtual space.
“It has allowed for access to the conversation to a much larger audience, with survivors around the world utilizing those platforms to answer the universal question “What were you wearing?” Brockman said.
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Contact: Mindie Paget, Office of Research, 785-864-0013, [email protected], @ResearchAtKU
KU names new director to lead Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum
LAWRENCE — Nico Franz, Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Ecology and director of biocollections at Arizona State University, has been named the next leader of the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas. He will begin his role as the Krishtalka Director in mid-August, with a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.
“I am thrilled and honored to join the KU community as director of the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum, a global leader in biological collections-based research, student training and educational impact,” Franz said. “Societal engagement and understanding of biological diversity are fundamental for prosperous communities and for a sustainable planet. For 160 years, the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum has grown outstanding intellectual, collections and data resources. Those accomplishments and the values that drive them will enable us to invent the future of biodiversity science.”
The Biodiversity Institute is an internationally recognized center for research and graduate student education in evolutionary biology, systematics and biodiversity informatics, with curated collections of more than 10 million plant, animal and fossil specimens and 2 million cultural artifacts. It is one of 11 designated research centers that fall under the KU Office of Research.
“Dr. Franz has an impressive record of building collections infrastructure and interdisciplinary research teams,” said Belinda Sturm, interim vice chancellor for research. “He is passionate about making collections accessible and integrated with coursework, and I look forward to supporting the growth and impact of the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum under his leadership.”
Franz is an evolutionary biologist and insect systematist who has dedicated the past 18 years of his career to collections leadership at public universities. His research focuses on developing innovative, accessible biocollections infrastructure and biodiversity data science services, including AI- and logic-enabled tools to integrate evolving systematic knowledge. He is the principal investigator of the National Science Foundation-funded National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Biorepository and iDigBio Symbiota Support Hub, which sustains more than 1,800 collections and 90 million global occurrence records. At Arizona State, he serves as curator of insects and directs both the natural history collections and the Biodiversity Knowledge Integration Center. He and his team also run an immersive Biocollections Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Summer Scholars Program.
Franz earned a master’s in biology from the University of Costa Rica and a doctorate in systematic entomology from Cornell University.
“I am grateful to the search committee — led by Saralyn Reece Hardy and Chris Beard — for their time and effort in attracting an outstanding pool of candidates and successfully recruiting Dr. Franz to KU,” Sturm said. “I would also like to thank Jorge Soberón for his engaged leadership of the Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum as interim director while we worked to identify a permanent director. This role is critical to KU’s continuing excellence in researching the biological diversity of life on Earth and sharing that knowledge broadly.”
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Contact: Christine Metz Howard, International Affairs, [email protected], @KUintlaffairs
Jack Zhang named inaugural recipient of KUIA Advisory Board International Teaching Award
LAWRENCE — Recognized for innovation in incorporating international education in the classroom, Jack Zhang, assistant professor of political science, is the inaugural recipient of the KU International Affairs Advisory Board International Teaching Award.
Zhang will give a lecture on his work in international education during an award presentation and reception from 2:30 to 4 p.m. April 18 in the Kansas Union’s Big 12 Room.
The award honors KU faculty members who have provided outstanding and sustained leadership in international education through teaching, advocacy and mentorship. In particular, the selection committee was impressed with the international lens and experiential learning opportunities that Zhang has brought to his courses, along with his commitment to mentorship and research.
“In a short time, Jack Zhang has had a tremendous impact on the way we teach international material at KU, the way we bridge research and teaching, and the way we collaborate across disciplines when we do internationally engaged work,” wrote Melissa Birch, director of the Institute for International and Global Engagement, in a nomination letter.
Zhang, who earned his doctorate at the University of California San Diego, came to KU in 2019. An expert on U.S.-China relations and the role of business in international politics, Zhang is also the interim associate director of the Center for East Asian Studies. During his time at KU, he has taught introduction to international politics and foreign policy analysis and developed four Asia-related political science courses that are cross-listed with East Asian studies.
In his nomination letter, John James Kennedy, chair of the Department of Political Science, noted that Zhang teaches some of the most popular courses in the department.
Through grants and collaboration with faculty from other departments, Kennedy wrote that Zhang “has developed innovative ways to engage students in international relations and East Asian studies.”
Through grants from the centers for Teaching Excellence and East Asian Studies, Zhang has made international relations more relatable to students by building writing assignments around a U.S.-China trade war simulation or country risk analysis research project.
“Students seem to really engage in these opportunities to dive deeper into East Asia through role-playing, research and classroom activity,” wrote Akiko Takeyama, CEAS director and professor of women, gender & sexuality studies, in a nomination letter.
Zhang integrates teaching and research in his Trade War Lab, which seeks to understand the U.S.-China trade war and its effect on heartland communities through a bottom-up, data-driven, firm-centric approach. The lab allows undergraduate and graduate students to conduct collaborative research on policy-relevant topics by working in teams to map out global supply chains, survey business leaders, and collect data on tariff exclusions and congressional bills.
“Professor Zhang has created a unique experience for students teaching them to look beyond the headlines and how to evaluate the social and political implications of international policies,” Kennedy wrote.
Since its inception, the Trade War Lab has employed dozens of undergraduate students and five graduate students and is supported by more than $500,000 in internal and external grants. Ten of Zhang’s undergraduate research assistants have received Undergraduate Research Awards. Zhang has also co-written multiple papers with his graduate students.
Nominators also praised Zhang’s mentorship. Takeyama pointed to Zhang’s work with students from KU’s Emerging Scholars program, which supports low-income students’ transition into college by providing research opportunities in their first year. In 2023, Zhang received the Grant Goodman Undergraduate Mentor Award for his research mentorship.
He advises students in political science, global & international studies, economics and business who focus on East Asia in their theses or capstone projects.
“Many students in these disciplines are not necessarily trained to study East Asia or employ cross-cultural comparisons,” Takeyama wrote. “By working with Jack and receiving his advice, some students expand their geographic scope to include other parts of the world, namely East Asia.”
Zhang created the Trade War Lab speaker series, which has brought to KU more than 20 scholars from around the world in partnership with various campus co-sponsors such as IIGE, CEAS and the University Career Center. Along with the speaker series, Zhang has co-hosted the past three local China Town Hall events, which follow the national town halls organized by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. During his time at KU, Zhang has forged local partnerships with the International Relations Council, Dole Institute of Politics, World Trade Center of Kansas City and Kansas City Chamber of Commerce to promote global awareness.
International issues have also been a focus of Zhang’s research. He has published articles, book chapters and think tank reports on the U.S.-China Trade War. He is working on a book manuscript about the national security implications of economic interdependence with China.
Zhang’s scholarship has been recognized nationally. In 2023 he was one of 20 leading China specialists selected as a fellow for the Public Intellectuals Program through the National Committee on United States-China Relations. In 2021 Zhang was named a Wilson China Fellow through the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Asia Program, in conjunction with the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. He has been interviewed by Bloomberg, CNBC, NPR, CGTN, Arirang TV, Strait Times and South China Morning Post as well as KU’s “When Experts Attack!” podcast.
“The combination of the timeliness of the research topic and the extent of Jack’s scholarly network has greatly enhanced KU’s visibility in the media and academia,” Birch wrote.
Financially supported by the KUIA Advisory Board, the international teaching award comes with a $1,000 stipend.
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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.
https://kansaspublicradio.org/podcast/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Emma Herrman, School of Law, [email protected], @kulawschool
KU Law to honor three distinguished alumni
LAWRENCE – Three University of Kansas School of Law alumni will receive the law school’s highest honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, this year. The award celebrates graduates for their professional achievements, contributions to the legal field and service to their community and the university.
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot, Jan Bowen Sheldon and Paul Yde will receive the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award at a private dinner on April 13 in Lawrence.
Monti Belot
Monti Belot, L’68, was nominated to the District of Kansas by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. Belot took the oath later that year and became a U.S. district judge where he presided over many high-profile cases such as the first U.S. trial related to the Rwandan genocide. In 2008, upon reaching age and service requirements, Belot took senior status. Although a federal district judgeship is a lifetime paid appointment and service to the court is no longer required from a senior judge, Belot remained steadfastly dedicated to the bench and heard cases until 2015. Prior to joining the bench, he served as a JAG Corps officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, clerked for U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown and became an assistant U.S. attorney followed by several years in private practice.
Jan Bowen Sheldon
Jan Bowen Sheldon, Ph.D., L’77, was a professor at KU in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science from 1977 until her retirement in December 2020. She also served as a courtesy professor in the School of Law from 1981 until her retirement. She is currently a professor emerita. Sheldon taught in the areas of juvenile law, delinquency, truancy, behavior therapy, alternative dispute resolution and legal rights of dependent populations. She was inducted into the KU Women’s Hall of Fame and the Women in Behavior Analysis Hall of Fame and has received numerous awards for her teaching, advising and service including the Steeples Service to Kansas Award and the Kemper Teaching Fellow Award. Sheldon was a founding board member of Community Living Opportunities (now GoodLife Innovations), Full Citizenship and the Lawrence Partnership for Children and Youth. She developed the Family Enhancement in-home therapy program as well as the Douglas County Truancy Prevention and Diversion Program, which she co-redirected for more than 40 years. Sheldon was also the director of the Edna A. Hill Child Development Center at KU for more than 20 years. Her community honors include serving as a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary International and receiving the Distinguished Contributions to Behavior Analysis Award from the Kansas Association for Behavior Analysis and the Jan B. Sheldon Award for Excellence in Advocacy, Mentorship and Meaningful Change from the Center for Supportive Communities.
Paul Yde
Paul Yde, L’85, M’85, was the head of the U.S. antitrust practice of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer from 2002 until his retirement in 2021. He defended hundreds of large mergers and acquisitions before the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and various state attorneys general, including many of the largest and most complex transactions worldwide. Yde also defended dozens of clients in some of the most significant civil and criminal antitrust investigations at the FTC and DOJ. For this work, he received numerous professional honors, including being cited for more than 20 years as a leading U.S. antitrust lawyer by Chambers, Global Competition Review, Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, New York Times Dealbook and other publications. He wrote numerous articles on antitrust law and economics in scholarly and trade publications and served as an editor of the Antitrust Law Journal and the ABA’s Antitrust magazine. Prior to private practice, Yde served in several positions in antitrust enforcement with the Ohio Attorney General and at the FTC, including advising two federal trade commissioners. After his retirement, Yde co-founded Hector Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on neuroscience innovation with an emphasis on developmental disabilities.
Previous Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are listed on the law school’s website.
The law school will also recognize James Woods Green Medallion honorees and members of the Dean’s Club. Named after the law school’s first dean, the medallion recognizes the school’s major financial supporters. This year’s honorees include:
Orval Baldwin II, L’80
Jane Finn, L’77
Timothy Glassco, L’02
Adam Godderz, L’01, and Meg Godderz
Theresa Leaming
William Moore, L’06
Jan Bowen Sheldon, L’77, and James Sherman
Lawrence Sheppard, L’66
Randall Snapp, L’85
Jean Wise, L’92.
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