Award recognizes faculty’s service to Kansas


Thu, 05/16/2013

author

Kristi Henderson

LAWRENCE – Through teaching, research, advising and mentoring, the faculty members of the University of Kansas serve a large audience through their work. Some go even further in their service to the state of Kansas. Three such faculty members have been honored for their exemplary contributions to the people of Kansas with the Steeples Service to Kansans Award.

The recipients of the 2013 Steeples award are Martin Dickinson, School of Law; John Hachmeister, visual art, and Kelly Kindscher, environmental studies.

Don Steeples, the Dean A. McGee Distinguished Professor of Applied Geophysics, and his wife, Tammy, established the award in 1997 to honor Don Steeples’ parents, Wally and Marie Steeples, and to recognize outstanding service by KU faculty to other Kansans. The award provides recipients with $1,000 and an additional $1,000 base adjustment to their salaries.

Martin Dickinson is the Robert A. Schroeder Distinguished Professor of Law. He was nominated primarily for his work relating to tax law and estate planning. Over four decades he has served on numerous state-level advisory committees relating to property taxes, income tax, estate tax and trust administration. These committees have suggested important revisions to Kansas law that have protected the elderly and helped ensure a fair system of revenue generation for the state. While serving as dean of the KU law school from 1971 to 1980, Dickinson created new admission criteria, recruited outstanding faculty and convinced legislators to fund a new building, all of which strengthened the school’s profile regionally and nationally.

John Hachmeister is an associate professor of sculpture in the School of the Arts. The Steeples Award recognizes his promotion of “the arts in the community” in and around Kansas. Perhaps the best example of this is his 25-year commitment to preserve and maintain the Garden of Eden folk art site in Lucas. Lucas has since been designated as the “Grassroots Arts Capitol of Kansas.” Hachmeister was also instrumental in developing a partnership between KU and the Kansas City School for the Blind. The program, Accessible Arts, connects KU art students with children at the Kansas City School for the Blind to create tactile objects used as learning aids for many subjects including math and science. Most recently, Hachmeister connected four area artists with a trustee to create four larger-than-life statues in Independence depicting works of Kansas-born playwright William Inge.

Kelly Kindscher, courtesy professor of environmental studies and ecology and evolutionary biology, has served the state of Kansas for more than 20 years as a voice for the environment of Kansas, especially its plants and prairies. Kindscher, who is also a senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey, has always focused on public education and engagement in his work, whether speaking to city and community groups, leading walks introducing Kansans to native plants and prairies or providing environmental advice across the state. Kindscher's research interests are focused on prairie and montane meadow plant communities, wetland and prairie restoration, conservation of Midwest/Great Plains ecosystems and ethnobotany.

Funds for the Steeples award are managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment was the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

Thu, 05/16/2013

author

Kristi Henderson

Media Contacts

Kristi Henderson

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

785-864-3663