IRISE fellows, students to develop plan for values-focused KU culture

LAWRENCE — With the establishment of the IRISE fellowship, 12 University of Kansas faculty and staff members are working to develop and encourage a culture at the institution that reflects the IRISE values – integrity, respect, innovation, stewardship and excellence.

The members of the inaugural cohort, who were nominated by peers and appointed by Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Bichelmeyer, will meet throughout the year to identify ways that KU can build a positive culture embodying the IRISE values and design initiatives to foster those values.

Funded by a special grant from the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest University, the “KU IRISE: Values Adoption Initiative” advances the IRISE Culture Charter, an ongoing effort that articulates the values and agreements of the KU community and how its members engage with one another. 

The program will additionally involve undergraduate students and other colleagues to envision ways to make working and learning at KU a healthy and vibrant experience.

The program is led by co-principal investigators Nancy Snow, professor of philosophy, and Linda Luckey, assistant dean in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

“With this opportunity, we aim to inspire others to center these values as they live, work and learn as we pursue KU’s mission of educating leaders, building healthy communities and making discoveries that change the world,” Snow said.

Students in the university honors course Character, Engagement, and Society are studying progressive materials on character development, participating in discussions with a series of guest speakers, and collaborating with faculty and staff to imagine how the IRISE initiative can move forward.

Ten of those students will be selected for a paid research-intensive experience during the spring semester, working again with IRISE fellows to develop and present a sustainability plan at KU that contributes to students’ character development. 

“This will be a meaningful year for our campus as we work together to reflect on the scholarship of character development and propose ways KU can become a more deeply values-driven organization,” Luckey said.

IRISE Fellows

David Day

David Day is director of strategic communications for the Office of Public Affairs. Developing communications for internal and external audiences to engage students, faculty, staff and various external stakeholders, Day raises awareness of university strategies and priorities, enhancing positive perceptions of the university and strengthening the KU brand.

He also has helped manage communications for KU IT, Finance and Operations units, and most recently the Office of the Provost. Day joined KU in 2012 and previously served as director of external affairs for KU IT until his position was elevated to the Office of the Provost and expanded in 2018.

Jill Ellingson

Jill Ellingson is the Neeli Bendapudi Professor of Management in the School of Business. Her teaching courses and research focus on human resource management, individual differences and employment assessment. Ellingson is a fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and a former associate editor for the Journal of Applied Psychology, with additional service on numerous other business and psychology editorial boards. She is an elected officer for the Human Resources Division of the Academy of Management and a past Human Resources Research Organization Fellow.

Mugur Geana

Mugur Geana is a professor of strategic communication in the School of Journalism & Mass Communications and director of the Center for Excellence in Health Communication to Underserved Populations. He also holds an honorary faculty appointment with the research division in the Department of Family Medicine at KU Medical Center. Geana founded the Experimental Research Media Laboratory at the School of Journalism & Mass Communications, and he is the principal investigator for multidisciplinary research collaborations that address public health interventions to underserved communities in Central America and finding ways to deliver updated health information about diabetes to Indigenous Americans.

Bruce Hayes

Bruce Hayes is a professor of French literature & culture, as well as the chair for the Department of French, Francophone & Italian Studies. Author of “Rabelais’s Radical Farce: Late Medieval Comic Theater and Its Function in Rabelais” and “Hostile Humor in Renaissance France,” Hayes has co-edited two special journal issues and published articles and book chapters on Rabelais, Marguerite de Navarre and various religious polemicists. He has additionally been involved with issues related to graduate student training, mentoring and job placement.

Kate Kemper

Kate Kemper is the education program manager of the Center for Service Learning at KU. She manages the certificate in service learning program and course designation processes, oversees the Student Community Action Corps program and supports all members of the CSL team in their projects. 

Before coming to KU, she spent a year serving as a Green Iowa AmeriCorps member in Des Moines, Iowa. Kemper serves on the IMPACT Conference's board of directors and recently earned the KU Student Involvement and Leadership Center's 2024 Rock Chalk Recognition Award for Student Organization Advising.

Mike Krings

Mike Krings is a public affairs officer with KU News Service. He promotes the research and scholarship of faculty, researchers, staff and students in the schools of Education & Human Sciences, Journalism & Mass Communications, Law, Public Affairs & Administration and Social Welfare, as well as the Hall Center for the Humanities, KU Libraries, the Dole Institute of Politics and University Honors Program.

Before joining KU, Krings served as the news editor at the Leavenworth Times and as editor of the Clay County News in Clay County, Nebraska. He has also been a freelance music writer for various publications and volunteered with the Kansas Audio-Reader Network for its “For Your Ears Only” benefit sale and ongoing music sales.

Kemi Obadare

Kemi Obadare is the student support coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ Undergraduate Academic Services. Obadare provides a wide range of individualized support for undergraduate students in the College and their families. She works closely with students to help connect them with needed resources and oversees front office operations of the CUAS as a team supervisor. 

Prior to joining KU and the College, she lived and worked in Africa and Europe.

Emily Ryan

Emily Ryan is the director of The Commons. She works with faculty, staff and students at KU to identify areas of research for interdisciplinary inquiry and engagement, address global and local challenges through collaboration, and create opportunities for meeting people across specializations. 

She works with individuals to create unique formats for programs to ensure that the goals of each session can be reached through the content and structure of engagements. Ryan additionally serves as a co-facilitator of the Health Humanities and Arts Research Collaborative.

Shuai Sun

Shuai Sun is an assistant teaching professor of chemistry. In 2023, he received the HOPE Award, which honors an “outstanding progressive educator” who greatly affects students’ lives and exemplifies Jayhawk values in the classroom through exceptional teaching strategies. He also won first place in Best of Lawrence for teacher five years in a row from 2019-2023.

Sun earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, a master’s degree in physical chemistry from Shandong University and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and chemical education from Shandong Normal University, both in China.

Lynne Vanahill

Lynne Vanahill is director of International Support Services, managing a team of 18 people who serve KU’s international students and scholars.

ISS handles issuing immigration documents, providing orientation and programming, serving as a liaison to campus and community resources, advising on immigration requirements, and assuring compliance in the areas of health insurance and federal immigration-related reporting.

Prior to joining KU, Vanahill served as the director of a one-person international student office at Arkansas Tech University where she managed facets from recruitment and graduation to admissions, programming, study abroad and immigration advising.

Jomella Watson-Thompson

Jomella Watson-Thompson is a professor of applied behavioral science, past director of the Center for Service Learning and associate vice provost for community impact. She works to improve how communities address issues related to community health and development. Her research has focused on neighborhood development, healthy youth development, and prevention, including substance abuse and violence prevention. Serving as a consultant for several community coalitions and community-based initiatives, Watson-Thompson also has researched the effects of community-based processes and intervention to promote mobilization and change in communities.

Jack Zhang

Jiakun “Jack” Zhang is an assistant professor of political science and director of the KU Trade War Lab. He earned his doctorate from the Department of Political Science at University of California, San Diego. His dissertation examines when and why economically interdependent countries use military versus economic coercion in foreign policy disputes. From 2018 to 2019, he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University. Zhang also was selected to the eighth cohort of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Public Intellectuals Program in 2023.