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2024 KU seniors honor high school teachers with Wolfe Teaching Excellence Awards

LAWRENCE — Three outstanding high school teachers will be recognized with the Wolfe Teaching Excellence Award this spring at the University of Kansas. Recipients are teachers from Lyndon and Mill Valley high schools in Kansas and Webster Groves High School in Missouri. They each receive a cash award of $3,000, and their respective high schools receive $1,000.

KU undergraduate researchers receive Courtwright Awards

LAWRENCE – Two University of Kansas students are the recipients of the Courtwright Award for Undergraduate Research Excellence for spring 2024 through KU’s Center for Undergraduate Research. Parnian Arafi, a junior in biochemistry from Iran, is researching Alzheimer’s disease. Kaitlyn Sy, a senior in biotechnology from Olathe, is researching cancer. Finalists for the award are from Olathe, Overland Park and Salina.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Aspen Grender, School of Education & Human Sciences, [email protected], @KUSOEHS

2024 KU seniors honor high school teachers with Wolfe Teaching Excellence Awards

LAWRENCE — Three outstanding high school teachers will be recognized with the Wolfe Teaching Excellence Award this spring.

“Probably the highest honor that can be bestowed on a teacher is to have former students recognize them,” said Rick Ginsberg, dean of the School of Education & Human Sciences. “The Wolfe Teaching Excellence Award does just that as former students nominate a high school teacher that had a positive impact on them.”

Nominations are submitted by KU seniors. Students from any major can nominate their former teachers, and the winners can be high school teachers from anywhere in the world. The 2024 award recipients:

Cindy Parker, Lyndon High School, Lyndon
Kara Siebe, Webster Groves High School, Webster Grove, Missouri
Jeff Wieland, Mill Valley High School, Shawnee

Cindy Parker

Parker was nominated by Kaitlyn Moore, a senior in secondary English education at KU. Moore first met Parker during a job shadowing experience during Moore’s sophomore year at Lyndon High School. Parker later joined Lyndon High School as an English teacher during Moore’s junior and senior years. In the nomination, Moore wrote: “Mrs. Cindy Parker is a teacher who changed my life as a high school student … She gives so much of herself to her students, and I hope she knows how much of that love and care we carry with us as we exit her classroom, and that we continue to strive to pass on her kindness and goodwill to the rest of the world.”

Kara Siebe

Siebe was nominated by Quin Dolan, a senior in business administration and sport management at KU. Dolan, who had Siebe as a teacher in a marketing class at Webster Groves High School, wrote: “Mrs. Siebe is truly a one-of-a-kind teacher that the Webster Groves School District is lucky to have. For years, she has shown her commitment to the community, our school, and her students. In addition, she continues to open so many doors for her students by creating many amazing opportunities for us. She taught us how to set goals for ourselves, and more importantly how to achieve those goals.”

Jeff Wieland

Wieland was nominated by Sophia Klaudt, a senior in biochemistry at KU. In the nomination, Klaudt, who had Wieland as a history teacher at Mill Valley High School, wrote: “Mr. Wieland was not just a history teacher for us; his breadth of knowledge extends far beyond that of the classroom curriculum. His passion for educating and spreading knowledge to his students was truly remarkable, and the care that he put into each of his students did not go unnoticed … His teachings are a steady constant in my life that I have and will continuously utilize as I begin the next chapter of my life.”

Recipients each receive a cash award of $3,000, and their respective high schools each receive $1,000. The award winners were selected from a large pool of outstanding nominees by a committee of faculty, administrators and students from KU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and School of Education & Human Sciences.

The Wolfe Teaching Excellence Award was created in 2006 with a $250,000 gift from R. Dean Wolfe, business administration, ’66, and juris doctorate, ’69, and Cheryl L. Wolfe, Spanish education, ’69, Clayton, Missouri, through the Wolfe Family Foundation.

The award fund is managed by KU Endowment, the official fundraising and fund-management foundation for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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Contact: Erin Wolfram, Academic Success, 785-864-2308, [email protected]

KU undergraduate researchers receive Courtwright Awards

LAWRENCE – Two University of Kansas students who earned Undergraduate Research Awards are the recipients of the Courtwright Award for Undergraduate Research Excellence for spring 2024 through KU’s Center for Undergraduate Research.

The Courtwright Award for Undergraduate Research Excellence was established at KU Endowment in 2020 through the contributions of David (Class of 1974) and Chris Courtwright (Class of 1983). The Courtwright Award seeks to recognize undergraduate students with majors in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences whose research and creative work stand to make meaningful contributions to their fields of study.

Courtwright Award finalists are selected from applications for the Undergraduate Research Awards each semester. This is the seventh iteration of this award.

The recipients:

Parnian Arafi

Parnian Arafi is a junior in biochemistry from Iran mentored by Michael Wolfe, professor of medicinal chemistry.

“Alzheimer’s disease is a major global public health challenge, with a growing number of people affected, raising serious concerns within the scientific community,” Arafi said. “My research focuses on uncovering the complexities of Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis by investigating the impact of Alzheimer-mutant presenilin-1 on amyloid β-peptide production by γ-secretase. This study has the potential to offer new (Alzheimer) treatment strategies.”

This past April, Arafi gave a speech about her research during the annual MIKIW conference at the University of Illinois-Chicago — the longest-running and largest regional medicinal chemistry conference in the U.S. — and presented a poster with the same title at the 39th Mossberg Honors Symposium at KU. Arafi also presented a poster about her research at KU’s 27th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Kaitlyn Sy

Kaitlyn Sy is a senior in biotechnology from Olathe mentored by Jack Treml and Randall Logan, faculty members in biotechnology.

“Cancer, a devastating disease caused by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, takes the lives of nearly 1 in every 6 people worldwide. My project investigates how cancer survives, thrives and wreaks havoc in the body despite constant surveillance by the immune system, which normally destroys abnormal cells,” Sy said. “The long-term goal of this research is to shed light on new approaches to treating cancer to ultimately improve outcomes for cancer patients.”

Sy shared her research through an oral presentation titled “Hiding in Plain Sight: Is Lactate an Invisibility Cloak for Cancer?” at KU’s 27th Undergraduate Research Symposium. She also presented “The Role of the Warburg Effect in Immune Evasion in Solid Tumors: Assessing the Effects of Lactate on the Immune Responsiveness of T Cells in vitro” at the 2024 Hawk Talks Conference at the KU Edwards Campus. A manuscript has been submitted for publication in the Midwestern Journal of Undergraduate Sciences.

Other spring 2024 finalists

Emily DeMars, a senior in history and political science from Salina: “Sovereignty and Sobriety: Temperance, State-building, and Native Disenfranchisement in Oklahoma,” mentored by Kent Blansett, associate professor of history.
George LaHood, a senior majoring in film & media studies from Overland Park, “Unreal Engine and Virtual Production Short Film,” mentored by David Mai, assistant professor of film & media studies.
Kaitlyn (Kit) Savoy, a junior majoring in biology from Olathe, “Electric Dispersal Potential of Fungal Spores,” mentored by Benjamin Sikes, associate professor of ecology & evolutionary biology.

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Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

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Educational research should pinpoint anti-Black aggressions to build better policy, scholar writes

LAWRENCE — In 1974, Harvard psychiatrist Chester Pierce coined the term “microaggressions” to examine how African Americans experienced subtle and everyday acts of discrimination. Several decades later, the term “racial microaggressions” became the more common term for how all people of color experienced such acts. University of Kansas faculty member Dorothy Hines writes in a new article that researchers should instead focus on anti-Black aggressions, as it does not dilute the different experiences people of color have in their education. “What was at the heart of what Dr. Pierce was trying to get at?” she said. “What it means to be Black in America is different than what it means to be Black in France, which is different than what it means to be Latino in America.”

Spencer Museum announces 2024 Brosseau Creativity Award recipients

LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has announced the 2024 recipients of the Jack & Lavon Brosseau Creativity Awards, which honor innovative and risk-taking creative work in the categories of writing and diverse media from KU undergraduates. Honorees include students from Lawrence and Lenexa.

KU Libraries honor student employees at Dean’s Award luncheon

LAWRENCE — Leaders at the University of Kansas Libraries hosted the annual Dean’s Award for Student Employee Excellence award luncheon May 2, recognizing the essential contributions of student workers and highlighting outstanding student employees and ambassadors. Honorees include students from Olathe, Phillipsburg, Scott City and Wichita.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings

Educational research should pinpoint anti-Black aggressions to build better policy, scholar writes

LAWRENCE — For more than a decade, educational research has lumped all people of color together when examining microaggressions perpetrated against them. A University of Kansas scholar has published an article that argues educational research should instead study anti-Black aggressions as scholars originally intended and use the approach to build more equitable policy at the individual and institutional levels.

In 1974, Harvard psychiatrist Chester Pierce coined the term “microaggressions” to examine how African Americans experienced subtle and everyday acts of discrimination. Several decades later, the term “racial microaggressions” became the more common term for how all people of color experienced such acts. Dorothy Hines, associate professor of curriculum & teaching and associate professor of African & African-American studies at KU, wrote in a new article that researchers should instead focus on anti-Black aggressions, as it is both true to Pierce’s original intent and does not dilute the very different experiences people of color have in their education.

Published in Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, the article proposes examining anti-Black aggressions on three levels: micro, institutional and macro.

The micro level includes experiences individuals commonly experience, such as a Black student being told they are inherently incapable of learning, which comes from societal beliefs about race and culture. Institutional level aggressions include policies and programs based on racism, such as school discipline policies that routinely result in disproportionate action taken against Black students. Macro level aggressions include ideologies and beliefs that result in policy such as state-level bans on teaching Black history.

In arguing for studying anti-Black aggressions instead of racial microaggressions against all people of color, Hines said the approach both is truer to the original idea of microaggressions and more fully delves into the experiences different groups have.

“We cannot dilute the unique experiences African Americans have had. The article discusses what happens when we take an idea and expand it beyond what was originally intended,” Hines said. “What was at the heart of what Dr. Pierce was trying to get at? What it means to be Black in America is different than what it means to be Black in France, which is different than what it means to be Latino in America.”

Hines further wrote that including all racial microaggressions in one research frame moves away from the history of the theory and changes how and why researchers examine such questions. She therefore calls for a Black epistemological future in educational research. Scholar Patricia Hill Collins described epistemology as “the way in which power relations shape who is believed and why.” To that end, research centered in Black epistemology would more adequately understand the Black experience in American education and better empower more just policies and approaches on all levels, according to Hines.

“Overall, I argue it’s not just thinking about racial microaggressions. We need to look at how certain people experience things in education and in life every day, and we need to be intersectional,” Hines said. “We have a responsibility to do morally right things. For me, it’s having a welcoming experience for Black students, staff, faculty and being supportive and doing research that addresses their lived experiences.”

That research would allow scholars to honor the original spirit of microaggression theory and ask more direct questions about the Black experience in American education, Hines said.

“Like Pierce’s work on anti-Black aggressions, Black epistemological futures are a call to researchers to see African Americans rather than disregard them in theory,” Hines wrote in the article’s conclusion. “Moreover, this model explores the impact of knowledge construction with the Black body while reshaping the types of questions that are asked, avoided, and necessary to hearing the African American narrative, wherever it may be.”

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Contact: Elizabeth Kanost, Spencer Museum of Art, 785-864-0142, [email protected], @SpencerMuseum

Spencer Museum announces 2024 Brosseau Creativity Award recipients

LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has announced the 2024 recipients of the Jack & Lavon Brosseau Creativity Awards. Established by benefactor Lavon Brosseau in 2011, the awards honor innovative and risk-taking creative work in the categories of writing and diverse media from KU undergraduate students in any area of study.

Submissions included film, collage, music, photography, textiles and sculpture. Students represented a range of disciplines, including visual art, art education, film and media studies, music, English and Spanish. Both of this year’s award recipients are first-year students.

In the writing category, Laryn Anne Elliott-Langford of Lenexa was recognized for her poetic quilt “I AM SPECIAL, NO YOU’RE NOT.” Elliott-Langford is a first-year student in visual art with a minor in fibers. Elliott-Langford’s quilt responded to the unexpected loss of her father in January 2024, and she sewed words and imagery that remind her of him over the fabric. She writes, “The thread is my grief and its evolution. These sewn words can be removed and will unravel someday, as his voice will be forgotten and muffled through time. This is his living headstone.”

In the diverse media category, Matthew Kurniawan of Jakarta, Indonesia, was recognized for his symphonic poem “Gambaran Nusantara (Sketches of Indonesia).” Kurniawan, a first-year music composition major and classical guitarist, was inspired to compose this piece after a trip to Bali, where he watched a traditional performance of an energetic Kecak fire dance. The form of the piece was inspired by Indonesia’s national motto, which translates to “Unity in Diversity.” He writes, “The piece contains three contrasting sections, each with its own differing motifs, moods, and melodies, yet they are unified by a single recurring theme: a metallic, gamelan-like sonority emulated through xylophones, tubular bells, a glockenspiel, and a piano.”

An honorable mention in the diverse media category went to Alice Lubin-Meyer, a sophomore in photography from Lawrence. Using a large format view camera, Lubin-Meyer explored the meaning of “home” by taking documentary photographs of her grandparents’ longtime home as their lives changed due to aging and health concerns.

More information about the awards and excerpts from the recipients’ projects are available online.

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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: Wendy Conover, KU Libraries, [email protected]

KU Libraries honors student employees at Dean’s Award luncheon

LAWRENCE — Leaders at the University of Kansas Libraries hosted the annual Dean’s Award for Student Employee Excellence (DASEE) award luncheon May 2, recognizing the essential contributions of student workers and highlighting outstanding student employees and ambassadors.

This year, 147 student employees contributed essential work across all major offices and divisions of KU Libraries.

“With the support of staff supervisors, student employees have significant impact on the reach and work of the libraries, engaging with multifaceted projects and meeting a wide range of patron needs,” Libraries Dean Carol Smith said to the DASEE lunch crowd of students and staff.

Nicholas Schemper, a senior in history and classics from Phillipsburg, was awarded a DASEE for his work in the Access Services Department at Anschutz Library. Schemper was honored for his reliability, initiative, and ability to collaborate with and supervise other student workers.

“With the long hours that we have at Anschutz, we really depend on our student supervisors a lot to help fill in gaps when other staff members can’t be there,” said Morgan Smith, Anschutz operations manager. “Nick is one of those people who you know, beyond a doubt you can depend on.”

Schemper has been instrumental in both daily operations and special projects over the past two years at Anschutz.

“As a student supervisor I will oversee everyday tasks that need to be done like shelving or scanning,” Schemper said. “Other times there will be big projects that we need to do, like last summer we had a huge shifting project where we literally shifted thousands and thousands of books, and it took every single one of our student workers.”

Hailey LaPlant, a senior from Scott City and Wichita, was honored for her contributions at the Watson Library circulation desk, where she has worked for five years. LaPlant’s responsibilities have grown over that time from covering the desk to helping guide and train new student employees. She also takes part in wellness-related efforts and plant care at the library. LaPlant has been especially helpful this year in covering extra shifts with increasing responsibilities to fill gaps in scheduling and staffing.

“My favorite thing over the past five years is just meeting all the people,” LaPlant said. “I know I’ve made some friends that I’ll keep for hopefully a lifetime. All the staff and students we work with, they’re amazing; it’s such a community.”

Cash prizes were awarded to the DASEE winners, who were nominated by supervisors and selected by a committee including members of the KU Libraries Board of Advocates. The DASEE Awards were established and are sustained through a gift from Lorraine Haricombe, former dean of KU Libraries .

In addition to libraries student employees, two members of the KU Libraries Student Ambassador Program (KULSAP) were also recognized for outstanding service. KULSAP members meet throughout the year with libraries’ leadership to engage and build awareness among fellow students and enhance libraries’ services and facilities. Margaret Baechle and Zoe Camarin were honored for their creativity, dedication and leadership in the group.

“It’s a really rewarding club, everyone in (KULSAP) is super fun and nice, and just enjoys being there,” said Baechle, a junior in English from St. Louis who served as president of KULSAP this year. “We have a lot of free range with what we can do.”

“It’s very beneficial not just through making connections, but also learning about what the libraries have to offer,” Camarin said.

Camarin, a freshman from Olathe, said KULSAP was the first club she joined at KU. “I’ve made some of my best friends in this club,” she said. “And I’ve learned things I probably wouldn’t have known if I just walked into the library.”

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KU News Service

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Fax: 785-864-3339

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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings

Accountability standards based on rules of democracy needed in times of rising political violence, scholar argues

LAWRENCE — When a family or group of friends sit down to play a familiar game they’ve played many times before, they generally don’t need to refer to the rules — unless someone breaks them. The values of liberal democracy have been transgressed in numerous forms in the last decade, yet many are unfamiliar with what the “rule book” would say those values are.

A University of Kansas scholar who fears Americans have forgotten the rules of democracy has published a study calling for a renewed dedication to democratic values and assigning accountability standards for government workers and scholars.

Christopher Koliba, Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at KU, has written a piece that draws from contemporary political and legal philosophies of “small-l liberalism” and democracy to define a set of seven standards focusing on authority, rights, tolerance, truth claims and professional deference. The standards are especially timely in an age of growing populism, democratic backsliding and polarization, he wrote.

The work, published in the journal Public Administration Review and subject of a recent presentation by Koliba at the Kansas City and County Managers Conference, stemmed from research he conducted on the public health and administration crisis of 2020.

“I was looking for the potential that norms and standards were being violated here and then started to look at the literature on democracy, especially the small-l liberal variety that the U.S. and other systems were founded on,” Koliba said. “That led to revisiting the works of political philosophers about what is liberal democracy in the context of modern society and what it entails. I argue we’ve taken those values for granted and assume we all know what we’re talking about. I feel that is what we’re up against.”

Koliba examines liberalism not as it is commonly referred to in political discourse as being associated with certain political parties, such as the Democratic Party in the U.S. or Labor Party in the United Kingdom. Instead, he means the version that has shaped democracies with values such as eschewing abuse of power, preeminence of individual rights, honoring tolerance and restraint, and appealing to reason and truth.

Those values have been challenged the last decade as democracies around the world — including the United States, Poland, Hungary and Brazil — have seen rising populism, openness to authoritarianism, retractions of rights and apathy to truth-telling, Koliba said. That has also resulted in increasing threats of violence, incivility at public government meetings, polarization and false accusations.

“Politics has always been a contact sport, but when it comes to poll workers and local government administrators having their lives threatened while carrying out the public’s business, we need to have a clear set of democratic principles that we can at least debate and then hold each other accountable to. This should be the beginning of a conversation,” Koliba said.

That process should begin with a renewed dedication by public administrators and public administration scholars to a set of seven liberal democratic accountability standards outlined in the study:

Citizen authority standard: Citizens have authorizing and monitoring power over elected officials and democratic institutions.

Individual rights standards: Individuals in liberal democracies are endowed with rights to freedom of expression, assembly and pursuit of “the good life.”

Checked authority standard: Liberal democratic institutions and elected officials and public administrators who run them will have their powers checked and balanced.

Tolerance standard: Policy actors will exercise tolerance of differences.

Institutional forbearance standard: Policy actors will willfully restrain coercive actions to preserve existing accountability standards and democratic institutions.

Truthfulness standard: Policy actors are obligated to pursue and draw on truth claims as the basis of their practices and actions on behalf of the public.

Professional discretion standard: Professional policy actors will adhere to codes of conduct, ethics and standards of practice associated with the legal, political, bureaucratic and professional institutions of liberal democracies.

The standards can and should be debated, Koliba said, but they are especially timely given growing distrust in the government, deep and persistent polarization, growing expressions of intolerance and apathy toward truthfulness. Those trends present potential irreparable harm toward democratic institutions, necessitating the need for public officials and scholars to commit to historical standards and principles of liberal democracy.

While there has long been such disagreement, polarization and populism throughout democratic history, especially in the United States, current trends and resulting threats of politically motivated violence make the standards especially salient, Koliba said. For example, populist movements of the past such as the American Revolution, Women’s Suffrage and Civil Rights movements were dedicated to expanding rights instead of restricting them. Given recent exacerbation of those trends as well as democratic backsliding, liberal democratic accountability standards should be factored into public standards of accountability as well as empirical studies and theoretical frameworks, he said.

“It’s easy to take democracy for granted. I myself have done it,” Koliba said. “I’m thinking deeply about how to embrace these standards in the curriculum I teach. Our field is globalized, and there is a debate about universal values in public administration. I think there is a lot of work to be done to elevate democratic governance principles. And in speaking with some of our leaders of city and county government, I believe this sentiment resonates with them as well.”

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

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Phone: 785-864-3256

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Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

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University of Kansas receives top-five ‘Military Friendly School’ ranking

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas ranks fifth nationally among Tier 1 research institutions in the annual “Military Friendly Schools” survey. The annual survey is the longest-running review of college and university investments in serving military-affiliated students. Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using public data sources and survey information. More than 1,800 institutions participated in the 2024-2025 survey, with 537 earning special awards for going above the standard.

Black-Cheslik family provides $1 million gift to support Department of History professorship

LAWRENCE — Members of the Black-Cheslik family of Kansas City, Missouri, are avid University of Kansas basketball fans and equally passionate about the power of a liberal arts education. Julie Cheslik and her husband, Paul M. Black, provided a $1 million gift through KU Endowment to establish the John P. Black Professorship in History. It was named for their son John Black, of Fairway, who graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in history. The professorship honors the faculty who inspired John Black and provides the opportunity for more students to be taught by top scholars in the field.

Religious demographic change shifts support toward Christian nationalism, study finds

LAWRENCE — Newly published research from a University of Kansas professor of political science suggests that exposure to religious demographic change shifts support for Christian nationalism and perceptions of discrimination against whites and Christians, but exposure to racial demographic change has limited influence. Don Haider-Markel’s work was published in Public Opinion Quarterly.

Full stories below.

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Contact: April Blackmon Strange, Lt. Gen. William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center, 785-864-6715, [email protected], @KUvets

University of Kansas receives top-five ‘Military Friendly School’ ranking

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas ranks fifth nationally among Tier 1 research institutions in the annual “Military Friendly Schools” survey.

The annual survey is the longest-running review of college and university investments in serving military-affiliated students. Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using public data sources and survey information. More than 1,800 institutions participated in the 2024-2025 survey, with 537 earning special awards for going above the standard.

“This ranking reflects KU’s long-standing commitment to serving our more than 1,900 veterans, service members, spouses, dependents and ROTC students,” said April Blackmon Strange, director of the Lt. Gen. William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center. “It’s also a testament to the collaborative efforts across campus that foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for our military-affiliated community.”

Methodology, criteria and weightings were determined by Viqtory with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey scores with the assessment of the institution’s ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer) and loan default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans. The rankings and survey criteria are available online and will be published in G.I. Jobs magazine’s May and October issues.

The Military-Affiliated Student Center at KU – a nearly 3,000-square-foot center in Summerfield Hall – serves as a centralized resource for KU’s military-affiliated community. It includes a lounge with 24-7 access, study spaces, headquarters for the KU Student Veterans of America organization, VA Work Study opportunities, staff to help with GI Bill benefits, military tuition assistance and more.

The university is one of just 104 campuses nationwide to have the Department of Veterans Affairs VetSuccess on Campus program with a dedicated VA VSOC counselor on campus.

In addition to the center, KU has several scholarships and an emergency fund for military-affiliated students, a Veterans Upward Bound program and a series of Graduate Military Programs. KU is one of more than 50 universities to have all branches of ROTC and one of eight universities designated as a Department of Defense Language Training Center, which educates hundreds of service members in strategic languages and regional area studies.

The KU Edwards campus has a Veterans and Student Leadership Lounge. Additional KU academic programs and certificates are available both on Fort Leavenworth and in Leavenworth for military and civilians in the area. KU also has a 4,000-member Veterans Alumni Network.

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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]

Religious demographic change shifts support toward Christian nationalism, study finds

LAWRENCE — The proportion of Christians relative to non-Christians in the United States has been declining for decades. For those identified as “Christian nationalists,” this religious falloff is considered inseparable from the decline of America itself. Simultaneously, the nation is becoming more racially diverse.

While some might assume this implies a correlation between Christian nationalism and racism, a new study indicates the relationship is more complex.

“This paper reveals that a big part of what’s driving support for Christian nationalism is in fact this fear and anxiety over religious demographic change and not specifically about racial demographic change,” said Don Haider-Markel, professor of political science at the University of Kansas. “That being said, we still find those with higher racial resentment are more supportive of Christian nationalism.”

His new paper, titled “Fear and Loathing: How Demographic Change Affects Support for Christian Nationalism,” suggests that exposure to religious demographic change shifts support for Christian nationalism and perceptions of discrimination against whites and Christians, but exposure to racial demographic change has limited influence. This effect is mediated by emotion because such religious change increases anxiety and disgust.

It’s published in Public Opinion Quarterly.

Co-written with Brooklyn Walker, who earned her doctorate at KU and now teaches at Hutchinson Community College, the research notes how modern Christianity is increasingly packaged around a political identity.

“I don’t see Christian nationalists as true believers,” Haider-Markel said. “They are just people who are willing to use the language and symbols of Christianity to appeal to a broader public. They aren’t necessarily adhering to or especially concerned with the underlying theology.”

However, he said he was surprised to learn the extent to which non-whites will also adhere to the beliefs of Christian nationalism – even when it seems potentially detrimental to their own community.

“When I first thought about titling this piece, I wanted to title it ‘Christian Nationalism So White,’ Haider-Markel said, before settling on the infamous Hunter S. Thompson reference.

“But instead we see how support for Christian nationalist beliefs isn’t just occurring amongst whites. It’s also happening amongst Blacks and Hispanics. It suggests that maybe for whites, their Christian identity is very much tied up with their whiteness, and I wouldn’t dispute that. But for racial minorities, their Christianity isn’t specifically tied up with their racial or ethnic identity.”

To explain this apparent incongruity, Haider-Markel found the answer in community perception.

“If I’m an ethnic minority or racial minority, having a strong racial identity doesn’t really help me that much. But having a Christian identity does elevate me. So adhering to Christian nationalist beliefs — and basically believing that my religion should play a bigger role in our government — really helps Black and Hispanic people elevate themselves within this broader social system.”

He notes groups such as the Proud Boys or Boogaloo Boys that took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection often call themselves “Western chauvinists.” That’s seen by many as coded language for being white nationalists. But the Proud Boys actually have non-white members. In fact, leader Enrique Tarrio, who was just sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy, is Hispanic.

“So how is it that non-white people can adhere to a group that seems to have white supremacist beliefs?” Haider-Markel said. “It’s for that same kind of reason. Because they’re not explicitly racist, non-whites can affiliate with this group and elevate their own status.”

For the research, he embedded an experiment from an online survey of 1,459 total participants from across the country. Among the survey questions asked: “How do religious and racial change emotionally affect white Christians? How does awareness of demographic change affect Christian nationalism and perceptions of anti-white and anti-Christian discrimination?”

Now in his 27th year at KU, Haider-Markel has done extensive studies in criminal justice, policing, gun rights and LGBTQ rights.

“I hope ‘Fear and Loathing’ helps people understand what’s motivating Christian nationalist beliefs. Because I do see it as a potential threat to a multiracial democracy,” Haider-Markel said. “Presumably, if strong supporters of Christian nationalism had their way, the role that religion might play in our politics and policymaking in the future would be ‘problematic.’”

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Contact: Michelle Keller, KU Endowment, 785-832-7336, [email protected]; @KUEndowment

Black-Cheslik family provides $1 million gift to support Department of History professorship

LAWRENCE — Members of the Black-Cheslik family of Kansas City, Missouri, are avid University of Kansas basketball fans and equally passionate about the power of a liberal arts education.

Julie Cheslik and her husband, Paul M. Black, provided a $1 million gift through KU Endowment to establish the John P. Black Professorship in History. It was named for their son John Black, of Fairway, who graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in history. The professorship honors the faculty who inspired John Black and provides the opportunity for more students to be taught by top scholars in the field.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, John Black moved home with his parents, which provided a unique window for them to witness his growing enthusiasm for his KU classes. He was particularly engaged with those taught by Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor David Farber and others in the KU Department of History, which is known for its award-winning faculty.

“I was just floored by the great education he was getting, particularly in his history classes,” Cheslik said. She even joined her son in watching films during his HIST 356 class, titled At the Movies: US History on the Silver Screen, and delved into assigned readings for another course, HIST 374: The History of Modern American Conservatism, both which ignited lively family discussions.

“For us, as parent and adult child — having that experience with him was really valuable to me,” Cheslik said.

The family has previously made gifts to support Kansas Athletics and the University of Kansas Medical Center, as well as numerous programs with other organizations.

Laura Mielke, KU professor and current interim chair of the Department of History, said the gift is transformational.

“Julie Cheslik and Paul M. Black have recognized our department as a home to scholar-teachers who, like Professor David Farber, bring their research and wisdom into the classroom to create spaces of transformative exchange,” Mielke said. “This gift will allow us to add and retain world-class scholar-teachers to our faculty. We also see the John P. Black Professorship as a unique opportunity to celebrate the students like John who bring a passion for learning to KU.”

The couple’s eldest son, Paul J. Black, is a doctor who also began his path in liberal arts, earning his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame before attending KU Medical Center, where he graduated in 2023. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is completing his residency in urology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“I was always pushing the kids to be liberal arts majors, and I think it served them both well,” Cheslik said. “We’re happy to be able to provide this professorship so other kids from Kansas or who come to Kansas to get this great education can learn from the best.”

Cheslik is a professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and serves on the law foundation board of trustees. She received her bachelor’s degree and juris doctor from the University of Iowa, both with highest distinction.

Paul M. Black is a health care consultant who was previously COO of Cerner and CEO of Allscripts. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State University and holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Iowa. He serves on the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library board of directors and The University of Kansas Health System Advancement Board.

“I think it’s really important for everyone to have somewhat of a liberal arts background to know a little bit about authors, historians and events that have taken place that have shaped where we are today,” said John Black, who works in sales at Community CareLink, a health software company that serves nonprofits, community health organizations and government agencies. He discovered his minor and some of his favorite professors through a simple internet search.

“I looked up ‘best teachers at the University of Kansas,’ because I was trying to find some electives to take,” John Black said. “Dr. Farber’s name was one that came up, and that’s really what started all of this.”

Farber has written and edited numerous books on modern issues from World War II to the war on drugs and is regularly tapped by news organizations to provide expert commentary.

“I think the humanities provide a massively important background and understanding for our democratic citizenry,” Farber said. “It’s wonderful to see the Black family offer support for what we in the humanities do and what we in the history department, in particular, do. I’m grateful, and I think it demonstrates the importance of the kinds of things historians teach.”

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