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KU News: Researcher aims to boost rural access to 5G, harden wireless network security and help conceive 6G

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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu
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Researcher aims to boost rural access to 5G, harden wireless network security and help conceive 6G
LAWRENCE — A new three-year, $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation will support a University of Kansas researcher’s work to improve the design of 5G connectivity and computing for rural areas — communities with unique network demands based around agricultural and community patterns of living and working. It’s one of a trio of new NSF-funded projects to be headed by Taejoon Kim, assistant professor of electrical engineering & computer science and researcher at the Institute for Information Sciences at KU.
New series will explore disinformation and how university communities can respond
LAWRENCE — A new virtual series this fall at the University of Kansas will ask important questions about the threats that misinformation and disinformation pose to democracy. The series will be led by Najarian Peters, KU associate professor of law and faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School; Patricia Weems Gaston, Lacy C. Haynes Professor of Journalism at KU and former editor at The Washington Post; and Emily Ryan, director of The Commons at KU. The series begins at 7 p.m. Sept. 28; register at https://bit.ly/DemocracyKU.
KU Theatre & Dance unveils 2022-23 season
LAWRENCE — The Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Kansas has announced its 2022-23 season, which will open with “The Labyrinth of Desire,” which runs Oct. 14-22. The five-production season will conclude in April 2023 with “Cabaret.”
Full stories below.
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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch
Researcher aims to boost rural access to 5G, harden wireless network security and help conceive 6G
LAWRENCE — Look closely at any mobile service provider’s map of nationwide 5G coverage, and you’ll notice huge swaths of the country — rural areas — don’t have 5G service.
A new three-year, $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation will support a University of Kansas researcher’s work to improve the design of 5G connectivity and computing for rural areas — communities with unique network demands based around agricultural and community patterns of living and working.
It’s one of a trio of new NSF-funded projects to be headed by Taejoon Kim, assistant professor of electrical engineering & computer science and researcher at the Institute for Information Sciences (I2S) at KU.
“The 5G network system was developed by companies with a profit motive,” Kim said. “Because of this economic incentive, all these 5G networks have been deployed in urban areas, but people living in rural areas still need to pay subscription for their cellphones, including for 5G service. But they haven’t benefited as much as people in urban areas — from the spread of information, the faster speeds, the ability to transfer large amounts of data that really transform our life at a different level.
“How can a company solve the problem in a way that allows them to produce more revenue?”
The KU researcher said a major hurdle in deploying 5G to rural communities has been “nonuniformity” in the spatial distribution of people as well as the demand for data on the network over time.
“In a city, the population is spread out in a way that is mostly uniform, but in rural areas you have a cluster of population there, another cluster there — that’s spatial nonuniformity,” Kim said.
Then there are needs of agriculture. Automated machinery, like combines controlled by GPS, are performing high-level computation and require a lot of communication.
“A huge amount of data must go to the cell tower and then the core network,” Kim said.
“They’ll also want to collect all those data to get statistics,” he said. “But this heavy data use only happens during harvesting time. That’s temporal nonuniformity.”
Kim and his team – KU EECS assistant professor Morteza Hashemi and collaborators from Purdue University – plan to streamline design of rural connectivity and computing, partnering with California-based commercial firm Blue Danube to run tests on a massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) platform — an advanced antenna technology for wireless communications. Kim and his colleagues will use machine learning to understand how 5G can be better deployed to meet rural spatial and temporal demands.
“What’s the main technological approach or hardware or software that will be different in a rural area than in urban areas?” Kim said. “Artificial intelligence can learn this complicated and nonuniform behavior.”
The group will explore using AI to learn uniform and nonuniform behaviors and will seek approaches tailored for rural areas. Kim said one idea is to focus 5G signals more like a beam at specific communities and agricultural operations rather than providing coverage throughout vast, mostly unpopulated regions to get service to a town or two.
“Because it’s nonuniform, it’s more efficient if we focus the energy to a specific direction,” Kim said.
In addition to re-imagining rural access to 5G, two additional NSF awards to Kim will enable him to harden commercial 5G networks for U.S. government, military and infrastructure operator use and develop technology for sixth-generation (6G) wireless technology.
Kim is the principal investigator for a yearlong $750,000 phase one award from the NSF’s Convergence Accelerator program to assist the Department of Defense with enhancements to end devices and augmentations to 5G infrastructure, providing capabilities to U.S. military, government and infrastructure operators to operate through public 5G networks while meeting security and resilience needs.
“The key motivation for this project is the pursuit of ‘Zero Trust’ principles (an approach to designing information technology requiring all devices on a network to be verified) to combat design weaknesses of 5G networks, so we’ll integrate various security solutions to increase the level of trust of 5G,” Kim said.
A third NSF grant for three years and $285,000 will support Kim’s work helping define 6G wireless communications requirements, using artificial intelligence to design advanced wireless-network architecture for the microwave spectrum.
Kim said 5G can provide orders of magnitude improvement in speed, connectivity and latency reduction. However, this improvement hasn’t come from work within the millimeter wave, part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has had limited research success in the U.S. Rather, a boost in network throughput has come from acquisition of new frequency bands and advances in massive MIMO technologies.
Instead of using today’s radio access network architecture, which depends heavily on cellphone towers, Kim will explore how to efficiently use large-scale cellfree massive multiple-input multiple-output (CFmMIMO) networks.
“We must still be looking into using the neighborhood around 5 gigahertz — still microwave, but using a different architectural network,” Kim said.
The current cellphone network is based on all the cellphone towers designed to serve the user within that cell.
“There’s a new concept of ‘cell-free MIMO’ involves removing all the cell boundaries, but we’d have a very strong central unit that controls a massive number of distributed base stations as access points,” Kim said.
He said this work also would encompass cybersecurity aspects, strengthening the resilience of AI algorithms and architecture, as well as cloud radio access networks.
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The official university Twitter account has changed to @UnivOfKansas.
Refollow @KUNews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.
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Contact: Emily Ryan, The Commons, 785-864-6293, [email protected], @TheCommonsKU
New series will explore disinformation and how university communities can respond
LAWRENCE — A new virtual series this fall at the University of Kansas will ask important questions about the threats that misinformation and disinformation pose to democracy, while pairing these challenges with a consideration of care — for ourselves and our communities.
An effort led by Najarian Peters, KU associate professor of law and faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School; Patricia Weems Gaston, Lacy C. Haynes Professor of Journalism at KU; and Emily Ryan, director of The Commons at KU, will offer three opportunities to learn more about the insidiousness of false information, whether shared intentionally or not.
“We need to form community focused on interdisciplinary inquiry and responsive care to combat misinformation and disinformation, as a practice – not just one program,” Peters said. “Wellness requires ongoing, committed practice.”
The series begins at 7 p.m. Sept. 28 with an introduction to the topics and themes these events call into question, while using a praxis of care. It will feature Gaston, a Pulitzer Prize winner and a former editor at The Washington Post, in conversation with Reggie Hubbard, founder and chief serving officer of Active Peace Yoga.
A former political strategist, Hubbard trains civic leaders and activists to bring balance and intentionality into their work, while encouraging wellness and engagement among the general population. In this capacity, he has worked with members of Congress and their staff, labor unions, educational institutions and individuals across the service sector.
A desire for well-being and safety is a major consideration in the realms of misinformation and disinformation – and what it can make room for if unchecked.
“Certainly through global events, national elections and the aftermath, we see a disparity across individuals and groups about what can be agreed upon as fact,” Ryan said. “Higher education as a field is built upon a common goal to ask questions about the world so that we can better understand it. With all of the resources available to us, it seems in our best interest to call them into a common conversation to address this current imperative.”
All hourlong events in this series are open to the public. To attend the first event, register at https://bit.ly/DemocracyKU.
The second session, at 7 p.m. on Oct. 26, will explore what the data tells us and what role universities play in helping to identify and translate it.
The final session of the semester will take place at 7 p.m. Nov. 30.
Events in this series are supported and presented by The Commons, the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications and the KU School of Law.
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Contact: Lisa Coble-Krings, Department of Theatre & Dance, 785-864-5685, [email protected], @KUTheatre, @KUDanceDept
KU Theatre & Dance unveils 2022-23 season
LAWRENCE — The Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Kansas has announced its 2022-23 season, which offers lightness, love and plenty of action. This year, the University Theatre and University Dance Company, the two production wings inside of the department, are preparing for five in-person productions.
“Our team of students, faculty, staff and special guest artists is committed to giving our community performances that inspire and entertain, whether new works or re-imagined classics,” said Henry Bial, professor and chair of the department. “The support of our audience helps students develop the skills necessary to succeed in the performing arts while gaining the confidence to advocate for positive change in the future.”
This fall features two contemporary adaptations of classical European theatre: “The Labyrinth of Desire,” a cloak-and-dagger romance adapted by playwright Caridad Svich from a 17th-century Spanish classic by Lope De Vega, guest directed by Paris Crayton III; and “Everybody,” adapted by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins from the classic morality play “Everyman” into a dark comedy on the topic of death, directed by doctoral candidate Timmia Hearn DeRoy. The University Dance Company Fall Concert showcases the work of guest choreographer Kristopher Estes-Brown of Kansas City as well as works by faculty members and the recently formed Jayhawk Tap Company.
Spring brings two productions that leverage the collaboration of both the University Dance Company and the University Theatre. Text and movement collide in “Love and Information,” an innovative and dynamic production of a 2012 play by Caryl Churchill, co-directed by KU associate professors Jane Barnette and James Moreno. With an intimate staging by Markus Potter, artistic director/assistant professor, with choreography by Michelle Heffner Hayes, professor of dance, and music direction by Ryan McCall, the award-winning classic “Cabaret” serves as the season finale.
Individual and season tickets are available for purchase online at kutheatre.com, by calling 785-864-3982, or in person at the box office in Murphy Hall, noon-5 p.m. weekdays. KU Theatre & Dance offers discounted tickets for KU faculty, staff, students and retirees, as well as group discounts. The Jack B. and Judy L Wright Student Ticket Endowment is a resource for KU and Haskell students needing assistance attending shows. Contact Jim Dick, managing director, at 785-864-3985.
When the department is contractually allowed, performances will be livestreamed. Those prices will be listed on the website and may vary from in-person prices.
2022-2023 Theatre & Dance Season
“The Labyrinth of Desire,” Oct. 14-22: Masquerading suitors pursue Laura for her beauty, her wit and her dowry. When Florela’s fiancé Alejandro joins the pursuit, Florela pursues him. Florela goes undercover, befriending Laura and falling in love with her, too. This breezy comedy of romance and hijinks asks, “What compels us to hide our true self?” and “To what lengths will we go to satisfy desire?” Adapted by Caridad Svich from Lope de Vega’s play “La Prueba de los Ingenios,” the production’s sharp dialogue and timeless themes mixes cloak and dagger comedy alongside contemporary drama to question the power of love and transformation. Guest directed by Paris Crayton III.
University Dance Company Fall Concert, Nov. 11-13: Faculty choreographers James Moreno, Ashley Brittingham and Maya Tillman-Rayton, together with select student dancers, show their communal love for ballet, modern/contemporary dance and hip-hop. Guest choreographer Kristopher Estes-Brown, the founder and artistic director of Concept Zero, presents a new contemporary work. The Kansas City-based composer, choreographer and educator has had his works produced around the country and has danced professionally with the Milwaukee Ballet, Sacramento Ballet and Eugene Ballet, among others. The newly formed Jayhawk Tap Company is also featured in the concert. Electrifying works explore the connection between emotion and physiology, as well as the agency we give ourselves – and others give us – to feel happiness and pleasure.
“Everybody,” Dec. 2-8: Random is not random. Chance is not by chance. These themes are explored in this modern adaptation by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins of the 15th century morality play. Each night the audience will choose which member of an ensemble cast will face Death and who will play the people, things and morals of which their life (was) composed. With quick, offbeat humor and contemporary dialogue, the play shines a spotlight on that terrifying, illusive, question that we have all had to face, especially in the last few years: What would happen if Death called? In this journey through the meaning of life, we are asked to reflect on love, friendship, materialism, religion and regret. Directed by Timmia Hearn DeRoy.
“Love and Information,” Feb. 9-19: Teasing out the truth and assigning it meaning is difficult, especially in a multifaceted, 24/7 media landscape where misinformation spreads and we find ourselves constantly, mindlessly scrolling. In “Love and Information,” student actors, dancers and designers are given the freedom and responsibility to make a play that resonates for them and their unique perspectives, choosing the order and setting of short scenes which explore the intersections of emotion, knowledge and the search for community. Join us for the department’s first fully collaborative production between theatre and dance, and witness a kaleidoscope of experiences and encounters that investigate how humans create meaning and purpose. British playwright Caryl Churchill has earned several Obie Awards for her work and is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. Co-directed by Jane Barnette and James Moreno.
“Cabaret,” April 20-30: Willkommen to the Kit Kat Club. In this provocative, Tony Award-winning musical, the euphoria of free expression, new relationships and the seedy nightclub scene slowly fades away against the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. An ominous and violent situation begins to emerge; some remain oblivious or apathetic, while others sound the alarm or flee. With grit, dance and a highly celebrated musical score, “Cabaret” ultimately proclaims, “It can happen here.” KU’s unique staging allows for a more immersive experience for audience members. Book written by Joe Masteroff, based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Directed by Markus Potter and choreographed by Michelle Heffner Hayes.
In addition, the department will present the Fall and Spring Senior Showcase, which are academic events open for public viewing. The showcase is the KU Dance major’s capstone project in which students present their in-depth embodied research. Each semester, a different group of students is selected to create works in multiple styles of dance that explore a wide range of subject matter. This year, the department plans to incorporate a few theatre pieces from its courses into the showcase.
The University Theatre and University Dance Company are production wings of KU’s Department of Theatre & Dance, offering five to six public productions throughout the academic year. The University Theatre and University Dance Company productions are funded in part by KU Student Senate fees, and the theatre’s season is supported by Truity Credit Union.
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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

 

 

 

 

Wheat Scoop: Kansas wheat leaders sign purchase letter of intent with Taiwan Flour Mills Association

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Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]
For audio version, visit kswheat.com.
Kansas agricultural leaders inked a deal with a Taiwanese delegation on September 16 that will directly benefit wheat producers, thanks to a commitment to purchase 69.8 million bushels of U.S. wheat, worth approximately $567 million from U.S. farmers over the next two years.
Kansas Wheat Commission Chairman Gary Millershaski, who farms in Kearny County, signed a joint letter of intent with representatives from the Taiwan Flour Mills Association (TFMA). Through the letter, Kansas wheat farmers committed to continuing to grow high-quality wheat supplies, while importers and suppliers working in Taiwan will privately negotiate the terms, quantities, prices and conditions for the purchase and sale of wheat.
“While we may face challenges on our farms in terms of weather and market volatility, we are committed to growing the best quality wheat possible, and we will continue to be the world’s most reliable choice,” Millershaski said in remarks to the delegation. “I’m honored to sign this agreement representing Kansas wheat farmers, the largest producers of hard winter wheat in the U.S. It is meaningful to all farmers in the U.S., especially for those of us in the state of Kansas.”
Taiwan is the sixth largest U.S. wheat export market, thanks in large part to nearly six decades of work through U.S. Wheat Associates and its legacy organization to establish a long and beneficial history of cooperation between Taiwan’s flour milling industry and the U.S. wheat industry. Since first establishing a promotional office in Taipei, Taiwan has purchased more than 45 million metric tons (1.65 billion bushels) of U.S. wheat, according to U.S. Wheat Associates.
Taiwan has also sent 13 agricultural trade missions to the United States since 1998. This year’s mission included stops in Washington, D.C., for meetings with leaders from the U.S. wheat and grain industry. Following these meetings, the flour milling group visited Kansas, Idaho and Oregon for a firsthand look at U.S. wheat production and to meet the people responsible for supplying high-quality wheat to Taiwan. The trade team visit included a stop at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center in Manhattan, Kansas.
In addition to the intent to purchase U.S. wheat in 2023 and 2024, the Taiwanese delegation also signed Letters of Intent with the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) to purchase soybeans and corn. The overall estimated commitment in the three letters totals $3.2 billion.
Together, the biennial goodwill mission showcases the economic benefits to Kansas farmers, agribusinesses and rural communities from decades of agricultural trade.
“This has been a challenging year on Kansas farms,” Millershaski said in his remarks. “We have faced an extreme drought, inflation, market volatility, and increased input costs and availability. In these uncertain times, what wheat farmers need are partners and long-term trade agreements that benefit both U.S. farmers and international wheat buyers.
“Your commitment to purchase U.S. wheat sends a strong message to our farmers that we will have a market and incentives for Kansas wheat farmers to continue to grow the best quality wheat to hold up our end of that agreement.”
Learn more about the Taiwan Goodwill Mission at https://www.uswheat.org/wheatletter/taiwan-team-signs-letter-of-intent-to-purchase-69-8-million-bushels-of-u-s-wheat/.
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Written by Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat

KU News: Homecoming events, multimillion-dollar grants for educational outreach

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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu
Headlines
Week of activities for KU Homecoming begins Sept. 26
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas will host its 110th Homecoming Sept. 26-Oct. 1. The week will feature a variety of events for alumni and students, culminating in the KU football game against Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, in David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. On Friday, Sept. 30, a Rock Chalk Block Party on Massachusetts Street will feature the Homecoming Pep Rally and a free concert by country artist Chris Lane.
New federal awards to SWIFT Education Center will fund projects that move schools from inclusion to rightful presence
LAWRENCE — SWIFT Education Center, within the Life Span Institute at the University of Kansas, has received two federal awards for a total of $13 million to support educational systems in transforming their policies and practices to create schools where students have the resources and sense of belonging that they need to thrive.
New assessment model will allow teachers to modify instruction as students learn
LAWRENCE — Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessments Systems (ATLAS) has teamed up with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on a $2.5 million grant project to develop an innovative assessment model that provides students opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and skills not only at the end of the school year, but also as they learn.
Second DEIB vice provost candidate to present Sept. 23
LAWRENCE – The second candidate for the University of Kansas Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging vice provost position will give her public presentation from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, in the Kansas Union Woodruff Auditorium. The event will be livestreamed. Nicole Hodges Persley, an associate professor in KU’s departments of American Studies and African & African-American Studies, is currently serving as the interim vice provost.
Jayhawk Global aligns existing resources to meet the needs of future students
LAWRENCE – Following an extensive review process, a number of University of Kansas institutions will be aligned with Jayhawk Global, a new organization that is responsible for promoting online education at KU. The Center for Online and Distance Learning will join the Jayhawk Global team, while Lifelong & Professional Education (LPE) will also now report to the vice provost for Jayhawk Global. LPE currently encompasses the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute, Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Professional Programs.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Paige Freeman, KU Alumni Association, 785-864-0953, [email protected], @kualumni
Week of activities for KU Homecoming begins Sept. 26
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas will host its 110th Homecoming Sept. 26-Oct. 1. The week will feature a variety of events for alumni and students, culminating in the KU football game against Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, in David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The theme for this year’s Homecoming celebration is “Home on the Hill,” and activities will include:
1. Monday, Sept. 26, 5:30-7 p.m. — Homecoming Kickoff in Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union. Get details on all the events of the upcoming week in a fun, festive setting, complete with a performance by the KU Spirit Squad and appearances by special guests.
2. Tuesday, Sept. 27, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. — Campus Pop-Up Event on Ascher Plaza at the Kansas Union. Hosted by the Kansas City Area Development Council, this event will spotlight the many career opportunities, attractions and other perks that Greater Kansas City has to offer. Attendees will be able to connect one-on-one with young professionals in the region as well as learn about the Student Alumni Network and Jayhawk Career Network.
3. Friday, Sept. 30, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. — Home Football Friday: Homecoming Fest on Ascher Plaza at the Kansas Union. Get in the spirit for Saturday’s football game against Iowa State with activities hosted by the KU Alumni Association and free Insomnia Cookies and Pepsi products.
4. Friday, Sept. 30, 5:30 p.m. — Rock Chalk Block Party on Massachusetts Street. Join fellow Jayhawks for an evening of music, games and activities, including the Homecoming Pep Rally and a free concert by country artist Chris Lane. The event, hosted by Kansas Athletics, is presented by Central Bank of the Midwest and supported by Adidas.
In addition, throughout Homecoming week, Jayhawks around the globe will have opportunities to connect as part of Kyou Networking Week, a series of in-person and virtual events. All Kyou Networking Week activities are listed at kuconnection.org.
All KU student organizations registered through Rock Chalk Central are invited to participate in the Homecoming Student Competition, which includes the Homecoming Sign Competition, Rock the Mic: Karaoke Night, Chalk ’N’ Rock and Jayhawk Jingles. Students can register here until 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 23. More information on the Homecoming Student Competition can be found at kualumni.org/homecoming.
KU’s Homecoming is sponsored by Best Western Plus-West Lawrence, Central Bank of the Midwest, Konica Minolta, the KU Bookstore and Pepsi Zero Sugar. Jayhawks can purchase the official 2022 “Home on the Hill” Homecoming T-shirt online from the KU Bookstore.
For more information and to view the full schedule of Homecoming activities, go to kualumni.org/homecoming.
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The official university Twitter account has changed to @UnivOfKansas.
Refollow @KUNews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.
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Contact: Kari Woods, SWIFT Education Center, [email protected]
New federal awards to SWIFT Education Center will fund projects that move schools from inclusion to rightful presence
LAWRENCE — SWIFT Education Center, within the Life Span Institute at the University of Kansas, has received two federal awards for a total of $13 million to support educational systems in transforming their policies and practices to create schools where students have the resources and sense of belonging that they need to thrive.
The first award, a $10 million, five-year cooperative agreement funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, will launch the National Center on Inclusion Toward Rightful Presence. Amy McCart, research professor and co-director of SWIFT, is the primary investigator for the grant and will lead the new center.
McCart said that a guiding principle of the new center will be to partner with local and state education agencies across the nation to support educators and their students as they move beyond inclusion, or physical presence, in schools and classrooms, to co-created systemic conditions for rightful presence, where students have true belonging.
“For too long, students with disabilities have been treated like guests in their schools, asking to be included,” McCart said. “This groundbreaking work will start with the presumption that the school belongs to students who have been left on the margins. SWIFT will work with educators to end policy and practice barriers that lead to disenfranchisement and replace them with systemic change for equity.”
This work will focus on students who receive intensive support to achieve at-grade-level or alternate-grade-level standards. This includes students who identify with autism, intellectual disability, deaf/blind, traumatic brain injury and multiple disabilities. McCart said that the center will demonstrate the effectiveness of this transformational process in up to 32 schools in four states, as well as provide specific technical assistance to other education agencies as needed.
The second award is a research grant funded through the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education to develop “Resources Aligned and Integrated for Student Equity,” or RAISE. Educators will use RAISE to make instruction and support decisions for students with complex learning situations. Principal investigator Jeong Hoon Choi, assistant research professor and associate director of research and evaluation at SWIFT, will lead the $3 million, four-year grant.
The project will partner with 18 grade schools, kindergarten through fifth grade, in a single school district to validate RAISE as a decision-making process for students with or at risk for disabilities because of conditions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. SWIFT’s National Center on Inclusion Toward Rightful Presence will use RAISE in its work with schools as well.
“As school systems adjust to meet the needs of students resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that we continue to think about students who benefit from the most complex support,” Choi said. “This project will allow us the opportunity to empirically investigate how our data-informed instructional decision processes can best support school staff to match available resources to ensure students thrive in general education.”
McCart added that the two awards offer an opportunity to influence education in ways that build on research and transform school environments for the benefit of students in ways that will have widespread positive influence.
“With the collective imperative to build equity and join justice, SWIFT is at the ready to support their partners in this work,” she said.
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Subscribe to KU Today, the campus newsletter,
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Contact: Jackie Hosey, Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems, [email protected], @atlas4learning
New assessment model will allow teachers to modify instruction as students learn
LAWRENCE — Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessments Systems (ATLAS) has teamed up with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on a $2.5 million grant project to develop an innovative assessment model that provides students opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and skills not only at the end of the school year but also as they learn.
The Pathways for Instructionally Embedded Assessment (PIE) project will use research-based cognitive models of learning as the basis for assessments that give educators timely information about their student’ academic progress. Learning pathways created for the PIE project will help teachers guide their students to academic success by showing them where the student is, where the student has been and where the student is going. Teachers can then tailor instruction throughout the school year to better ensure that students make progress on their pathway toward grade-level academic achievement.
Brooke Nash, ATLAS associate director for psychometrics, is PIE’s principal investigator. Russell Swinburne Romine, ATLAS associate director, and Eun Mi Kim, ATLAS math research lead, are co-principal investigators. According to Nash, many state education agencies are interested in assessment solutions that provide their teachers with a way to monitor students’ academic progress throughout the year as well as achievement at the end of the year.
“Districts and state departments need measures of student achievement for planning, program improvement and accountability purposes. Teachers need timely and instructionally meaningful information about their students’ academic progress while learning is occurring,” Nash said. “Statewide standardized assessments built to provide information at the end of the school year do not provide assessment results teachers need to refine their instruction as students are learning.”
Despite growing interest in innovative assessment models, limited state resources often hinder the flexibility to explore new models. PIE is a proof-of-concept project that will serve approximately 1,500 fifth-grade general education math students and their teachers in Missouri, with potential to serve thousands more if developed for full-scale use.
“This grant funding provides DESE the opportunity to accelerate our plans to redesign the state’s assessment system,” said Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven. “The PIE project will give us a chance to advance our goal to better see where and when students need more academic support in order to become success ready. We are very excited to get to work on this project.”
ATLAS is a center within the Achievement & Assessment Institute, a designated research institute at the University of Kansas.
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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/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Evan Riggs, Office of the Provost, 785-864-1085, [email protected], @KUProvost
Second DEIB vice provost candidate to present Sept. 23
LAWRENCE – The second candidate for the University of Kansas Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) vice provost position will give her public presentation from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, in the Kansas Union Woodruff Auditorium.
The presentation will be livestreamed, and the passcode is 551402.
Nicole Hodges Persley, interim vice provost for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, is the second of four candidates who will present her philosophy on the role diversity and inclusion play in higher education in the United States and how her philosophy would advance Realizing Intersectional Standards of Excellence (RISE) on KU’s Lawrence and Edwards campuses and further KU’s mission considering current challenges and trends in higher education.
She is an award-winning KU professor, artist and community leader with over 15 years of experience in diversity, equity and inclusion work, where she has created intentional equity pathways between academic and creative communities.
Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to offer their impressions and observations of each candidate online. There will be separate surveys for each of the four candidates where members of the KU community will have the chance to share their opinion of each candidate. Feedback on Hodges Persley’s presentation is due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, and a recording of her presentation will be available here until the survey closes.
Each candidate will meet with Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, provost and executive vice chancellor, as well as campuswide DEIB leaders and DEIB office staff, vice provosts, deans, KU Athletics, faculty-staff affinity groups, university governance and a representative from the chancellor’s office during their campus visit.
In addition to her work in DEIB, Hodges Persley has served in several areas of KU administration from department chair to director of museum studies. She is an associate professor in the departments of American Studies and African & African-American Studies and a faculty fellow in the University Honors Program, where she teaches courses on acting, directing, hip-hop studies, African American studies, performance studies and transnational performance. She has written five books, including a forthcoming book, “Hip-Hop in Musical Theater,” set to publish in 2023.
Hodges Persley is a working professional director who specializes in works that explore race and performance in American theater. She has directed critically acclaimed theater and performance works throughout Kansas City, New York and Los Angeles and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) as well as the Stage Director and Choreographers Society. She has been invited to share her creative and scholarly work internationally at universities as a visiting scholar.
Hodges Persley is the artistic director of KC Melting Pot Theatre, an African American theater company in Kansas City, and the co-founder of CreateEnsemble.com, the first social media collaboration platform for artists and allies of the global majority. She received her bachelor’s degree in French and art history from Spelman College, a master’s degree in American studies from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in African American studies from the University of California-Los Angeles and a doctorate from USC’s Department of American Studies & Ethnicity.
Two more candidates are scheduled to present in the weeks ahead.
1. Candidate 3, 2-3 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 28, The Forum at Marvin Hall
2. Candidate 4, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 3, Kansas Union Big 12 Room
More information about the search is available online.
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Contact: Valerie Hawley, Jayhawk Global, [email protected]
Jayhawk Global aligns existing resources to meet the needs of future students
LAWRENCE – When Michelle Mohr Carney accepted the role of founding vice provost for Jayhawk Global in February, her charge from Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, provost and executive vice chancellor, was to lead the strategic development process by facilitating the design and implementation of a new organization that is responsible for promoting online education at the University of Kansas.
During the past eight months, Carney, who also serves as the dean of the School of Social Welfare, has conducted an extensive review of existing functions, processes and structures by meeting with and listening to deans, vice provosts, faculty and many internal partners. Through critical analysis from the lens of the future student, Jayhawk Global started to take shape as natural partnerships and restructuring opportunities started to evolve and became clear.
“Through months of hard work taking inventory of all available resources on campus and evaluating structures and procedures,” Carney said, “we have innovatively and strategically aligned already existing expertise and knowledge in the areas of instructional design, marketing, recruitment, enrollment management and student success to create strong partners and teams. I am confident in the organization we’ve created and excited to share our plans with the campus community.”
Jayhawk Global is an education innovation center at KU that delivers and advances nontraditional forms of learner engagement, including online degree programs, professional and workforce development, certifications, competency-based education, credit for prior experience, employee training and enrichment learning.
“KU teams will work collaboratively with our renowned scholars, academic units and noncredit entities to expand our already exceptional educational opportunities for future Jayhawks and their ever-evolving needs,” Carney said.
The landscape of online education changed dramatically due to COVID-19. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in fall 2020, 30.3% of students at U.S. public institutions were enrolled in some, but not all, distance education courses and only 24.2% of students were not enrolled in any distance education courses.
Demand for online courses has increased locally, even as the traditional college student returns to campus. In fall 2021, 45% of students enrolled in classes on the KU Lawrence campus enrolled in at least one online course. The number of students taking an online or hybrid course across all KU campuses in fall 2021 was up 37% from fall 2019.
Jayhawk Global will advocate for and partner with academic units to coordinate and assist in creating high-quality, engaging online degree programs, minors, courses and certificates, as well as support the existing College Online degree majors and minors within the Jayhawk Global structure. To further its mission of providing outstanding support and guidance in instructional design, the Center for Online and Distance Learning (CODL) will join the Jayhawk Global team.
Lifelong and Professional Education (LPE) will also now report to the vice provost for Jayhawk Global, which should elevate existing programs and connect KU to new lifelong learners, regardless of where they are in their careers or their location. LPE currently encompasses the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute (KFRTI), Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC), the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Professional Programs.
These divisions have provided noncredit education and workforce training and development since 1891. They will maintain their responsibility and operate under the Jayhawk Global umbrella out of the same locations, providing the same high-quality online and on-ground noncredit programming. A rebranding campaign to identify Jayhawk Global will be launched in the coming months, including movement of webpages to the Jayhawk Global website.
A number of existing structures and staff will have key responsibilities in the new scope of Jayhawk Global. Emily Zentner, interim vice provost for LPE and director of LPE’s business services, will now be the assistant vice provost for finance and business operations. Stacy Cordell, director of professional programs for LPE, will now be the assistant vice provost for Academic and Professional Programs.
Valerie Hawley, who has assisted in the strategic development process and advising on marketing and student success for Jayhawk Global for several months, will continue to serve Jayhawk Global as assistant vice provost for marketing and student success. Hawley also serves as the marketing, communications and advancement director for the social welfare school.
Carney has agreed to stay on as the founding vice provost for Jayhawk Global through May 2023. This continuity will allow Jayhawk Global efforts time to grow, strengthen and prepare for a smooth transition to new leadership to be identified through a national search.
“The success of a venture like Jayhawk Global is essential to KU’s ability to advance as a leader in higher education,” Bichelmeyer said. “We are fortunate to already have great scholars and instructors who are eager to share their passion and expertise with potential students who are striving to achieve their personal goals and ambitions. Jayhawk Global will break down barriers and improve access to some of the best academic programs and most engaging education available anywhere in the world. I appreciate the detailed work Michelle and her team have undertaken to identify the structure, the initial offerings, the talent, the faculty support and the student support that will give this initiative a solid foundation. I’m excited to see what programs will help us grow Jayhawk Global and make KU’s academic programs as accessible and respected around the globe as they are at home in Kansas.”
As part of KU’s new strategic enrollment planning process, KU deans will be working with Nick Stevens, interim vice provost of enrollment management, and department chairs to consider whether they should offer their academic programs across a range of formats. In addition to the research residential format at the KU Lawrence campus, opportunities include workforce and continuing professional development at KU Edwards, online and noncredit programs through Jayhawk Global, and over time there will be more opportunities to provide certification and competency-based programs. Deans are currently informing Jayhawk Global administrators of future programming needs and opportunities.
On Oct. 1, Jayhawk Global will open the application process and launch marketing efforts for two of KU’s new online degree programs, the Master of Social Work and Doctor of Philosophy in Advanced Social Work. Later this fall, Jayhawk Global plans to open additional degree programs to admit students who will begin studies in the spring, summer and fall 2023 semesters.
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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
http://www.news.ku.edu
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]
Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

KU News: Controversy over Columbus is old news, scholar shows

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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu
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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
Controversy over Columbus is old news, scholar shows
LAWRENCE – As annual commemorations of Columbus Day (Oct. 10) are once again met with protest and demands to remake them as Indigenous Peoples Day, a University of Kansas literary scholar can comment on the history of explorer Christopher Columbus’ popular reputation, noting that it began to suffer well before the Civil War.
In the latest volume of the journal Scholarly Editing, Laura Mielke, University of Kansas Dean’s Professor of English, has co-written a critical “microedition” of John Brougham’s 1857-1876 “Columbus Burlesque.” The first version of the comic play was titled “Columbus, El Filibustero!” That was a term applied to soldiers of fortune – more like privateers than mercenaries, though – in Brougham’s day.
Brougham was a popular Irish-born actor and playwright who traveled across 19th-century America, staging a series of historical burlesques that he wrote and directed and in which he starred. In the new microedition, Mielke compares different versions of the play with each other and shows how the text changed over time.
The play’s popularity was an early indication, Mielke said, that even while the nation was still in Westward Expansion mode, there was a growing recognition of the cost to Native Americans.
“For Brougham to call Columbus a filibustero is to indicate that the discoverer of the ‘New World’ — in air quotes — was no different from these men who were going off in the interest of personal gain and U.S. politics and trying to take control of other people’s countries,” Mielke said.
Yet despite satirizing Columbus, Mielke said, it’s frustrating that Brougham only went so far, “end(ing) with a patriotic song … and a star-spangled banner scene.”
That, too, has lessons for today, Mielke said.
“We see his awareness, even then, of the problematic nature of the legacy of Columbus and the American use of Columbus as a national figure. He saw it, and he centered a play on it. And then he walked back from that in order to keep them laughing and paying for tickets.”
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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
http://www.news.ku.edu
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]
Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

KU News: $2.4M grant to expand KU undergraduate degrees in intelligence and national security program

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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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$2.4 million grant to expand KU undergraduate degrees in intelligence and national security program
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has received a $2.4 million grant from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to add undergraduate degrees in biotechnology, information technology and cybersecurity to its existing intelligence and national security program. Additionally, Garden City Community College and Kansas City Community College will now join the Kansas Consortium, which has included KU, Dodge City Community College and Seward County Community College.

What’s in a name? Magic, in author’s Birdverse
LAWRENCE — The power of a name is an important concept to R.B. (Renee) Perelmutter, as the associate professor is known to students and fellow faculty in the University of Kansas Jewish Studies Program and Department of Slavic, German & Eurasian Studies. Writing as R.B. Lemberg, the author has published their first fantasy novel, “The Unbalancing,” through Tachyon Publications. A launch party is planned at 7 p.m. today, Sept. 20, at The Raven Book Store.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Mike Denning, Office of Military Graduate Programs, 785-864-1684, [email protected]
$2.4 million grant to expand KU undergraduate degrees in intelligence and national security program
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has received a $2.4 million grant from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to add undergraduate degrees in biotechnology, information technology and cybersecurity to its existing intelligence and national security program.
Additionally, Garden City Community College and Kansas City Community College will now join the Kansas Consortium, which has included KU, Dodge City Community College and Seward County Community College.
The grant is made possible through the ODNI’s Intelligence Community Centers for Academic Excellence (IC CAE) program, which was established in 2005 to meet the nation’s demand for a diverse cadre of professionals to carry out the nation’s security priorities and obligations. Through the program, a select group of about 40 institutions across the nation is educating students in multidisciplinary areas of interest to the intelligence community to better understand the intelligence community and its role in securing the nation. KU was initially named an IC CAE program in 2017.

“Our intelligence and national security certificate and minor have been very popular credentials for undergraduates from all academic disciplines,” said John Kennedy, chair of the Department of Political Science. “Additionally, our IC CAE designation is recognized by the hiring officials throughout the intelligence community. Several graduates of our program are already working in the intelligence community.”
KU’s investigating team includes Randy Logan, director of the biotechnology degree program; Carolyn McKnight, senior director of community engagement at the KU Edwards Campus; Carl Taylor, chief security officer for KU; and Mike Denning, director of the Office of Graduate Military Programs.
“This grant will capitalize on KU Edwards Campus’ previous work in reducing barriers and creating academic pathways for community college students to complete bachelor degrees in high-demand fields,” said Logan, the principal investigator for the award. “Moreover, this award is well-aligned with KU’s Jayhawks Rising strategic plan, which aims to offer programs that make the transition to KU smoother and lead to meaningful employment.”
The nine-year grant includes funding for minority student scholarships, faculty research grants and curriculum development.

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Refollow @KUNews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.


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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
What’s in a name? Magic, in author’s Birdverse
LAWRENCE — The power of a name is an important concept to R.B. (Renee) Perelmutter, as the associate professor is known to students and fellow faculty in the University of Kansas Jewish Studies Program and Department of Slavic, German & Eurasian Studies.
“Names in general are of perpetual interest to me,” Perelmutter said. “It’s a research interest, a creative interest and a personal interest. I, myself, have changed names a number of times.”
Thus, names are important, too, to the writer/poet R.B. Lemberg, Perelmutter’s author name, in their first novel set in the fantasy realm known as the Birdverse. The new book from Tachyon Publications, “The Unbalancing,” follows Lemberg’s acclaimed 2020 novella, “The Four Profound Weaves,” which was shortlisted for that year’s Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy and Ignyte awards.

Lemberg will read from the new book as part of a launch party at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, at The Raven Book Store.
One of the two protagonists of “The Unbalancing,” the nonbinary poet Erígra Lilún, calls upon the magic of their “deepname” in an attempt to stave off a looming ecological disaster. Lemberg explained the concept, which is central to the action in the Birdverse.
“I envision deepnames as a kind of a neurolinguistic feature, a type of neurodivergence that can be invoked at will,” the author said. “If you put somebody who has this magic into an fMRI machine … the places where the deepnames reside in the mind would light up. It is obviously a fantasy premise. But that’s what started this whole thing.”
More importantly, the author said, as canonized in the Birdverse works:
“Deepnames can be triggered by invocation — either spoken out loud or whispered or even spoken inside the mind. Then you can do magic with it. You have the magical ability to see it. It’s like a star or constellation that floats around your head, and we can use these geometrical structures to affect the world.”
“It’s a neat magic system that is based on language, because in order to acquire deepnames, but also in order to know what to do with the deepnames, you need to understand how language is produced. It really has to do with breath; how you train your breath to produce particular sounds. … I love when readers geek out over this magical system and ask me details. It’s awesome.”
Even more thrilling, the author said, are notes from readers saying how much the Birdverse stories, poems and books, with what one critic in Library Journal called their “deeply queer” viewpoint, mean to them.
“I just want to feel that my community finds my work meaningful,” Lemberg said. “And I’ve been rewarded in my career by hearing back from people who read my work when they’re feeling down, or who have special place on their shelves for my books because they affirm their lives. People came out and figured out who they are because of my work. There’s no higher honor for me as a writer than this.”
Without giving away any plot spoilers, the author said “The Unbalancing” is “my queer Atlantis.”
“It is a novel about failure. What happens when communities fail — the best communities, out of the best intentions? What happens when systems fail?
“I wrote it in 2020, during the pandemic, when I think many of us were grappling with these questions of where we’re going and what is going to happen. I think many of us are still grappling with these questions. I wrote this book after a very dear friend of mine passed away suddenly at a young age. It still is very heavy for me, and so I wanted to write something that would be both sad and uplifting at the same time. I didn’t want it to be a disaster book. I wanted it to be full of queer joy and hope. I hope that both those emotions are there.”
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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu

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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