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Wed, 09/17/2025

The Big Event will provide community service Oct. 18 in Lawrence

To foster a greater connection between the University of Kansas and the Lawrence area, The Big Event at KU will stage a day of engagement and service next month. There are several ways that KU students, faculty and staff can get involved to say thank you to the surrounding community.
Tue, 09/16/2025

Tool to help teachers use local climate data, engage students' emotions on topic proves to deepen conversations

Imogen Herrick, a researcher at the University of Kansas, created Community Science Data Talks, a tool to help teachers bring local data on climate change into the classroom. A study found that when teachers used the tool and asked students how the data made them feel, they became more engaged in the topic.
Tue, 09/16/2025

Inspired by the true story of a trailblazing astronomer, ‘Silent Sky’ will open Oct. 3 at University Theatre

The University Theatre opens its 2025-26 season with “Silent Sky,” playing one weekend only – Oct. 3-5. Lauren Gunderson’s play tells the story of astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt, whose research led to a shift in understanding the universe, most notably that the Milky Way was not at the center of it.
Mon, 09/15/2025

KU Debate sweeps Missouri State debate tournament

KU Debate teams closed out the championship debates in both the varsity and junior varsity divisions in the Bear-Shock debate tournament hosted by Missouri State University. A squad made up of first-year KU debaters captured the top two spots in the varsity division and the top three spots in the junior varsity division.
Fri, 09/12/2025

Geologic map for Jewell County now available

The Kansas Geological Survey has released a new full-color geologic map of Jewell County, where an ancient inland sea left rocks rich in fossils, time and erosion created a striking landscape, and excavations reveal evidence of prehistoric people.
Thu, 09/11/2025

Spencer Museum of Art announces success of $2 million challenge grant to support its Arts Research Integration Program

The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas today announced the completion of a $2 million challenge grant for its Arts Research Integration (ARI) initiative, bringing total fundraising to endow and fund this visionary program to $5 million.
Thu, 09/11/2025

KU wins grant to increase Lawrence campus awareness of university values

The University of Kansas won a nearly $700,000 grant to help raise awareness and extend the impact of KU’s IRISE Culture Charter for the Lawrence campus. The project will seek to infuse character and KU’s IRISE values into 30 courses and the campus culture.
Thu, 09/11/2025

School of Architecture & Design announces fall 2025 Architecture Lecture Series

The University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design Fall 2025 Architecture Lecture Series begins Sept. 12 with a lecture by Kay Sargent, an interior designer and author working at the forefront of workplace design and research.
Wed, 09/10/2025

Audio-Reader’s Audio Sale returns Sept. 13 at Lawrence Public Library

Music lovers, collectors and bargain hunters alike are invited to Audio-Reader’s Audio Sale, a benefit for the Audio-Reader Network. The sale will take place Sept. 13 in conjunction with the Lawrence Public Library Friends & Foundation’s Book Sale.
Wed, 09/10/2025

Award-winning journalist Bill Kurtis returns home to Kansas to present new book

Join award-winning journalist, host of “Wait, Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” and KANU alumnus Bill Kurtis for the release of his new book, “Whirlwind: My Life Reporting the News.” Kurtis will speak at an event at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at Maceli’s in Lawrence.
Wed, 09/10/2025

Three KU students, alumni receive Fulbright awards

Three Jayhawks have been recognized by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program for 2025-2026, earning opportunities to teach, study or conduct research abroad. Awardees include Nick Caterine in Spain and Levi Van Ryder in the Czech Republic, with Julia Cummings named an alternate for Croatia.
Tue, 09/09/2025

KU Debate opens season with strong showing at Northwestern tournament

The University of Kansas debate team began the 2025-26 season with three teams finishing in the top 10 of the Owen L. Coon Memorial Debate Tournament at Northwestern University, which took place Sept. 5-8 in Evanston, Illinois.
Tue, 09/09/2025

Studies find nonprofits' use of flexible labor negatively affect operational outcomes, lack long-term financial benefit

Hala Altamimi of the University of Kansas is co-author on several studies examining how the push to increase efficiency, or "do more with less," has affected nonprofit organizations. A pair of studies has found that relying on flexible labor affects nonprofits' operational outcomes and can provide short term financial benefits, but not long-term fiscal improvement.
Tue, 09/09/2025

US military’s destructive relationship with the Pacific Ocean explored in new book

A new book edited by Andrew Isenberg, Hall Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of Kansas, focuses on the military’s actions in the Pacific Ocean from World War II through the Vietnam War, offering essays on the inextricable relationship between the natural world and human warfare.
Tue, 09/09/2025

KU design professor lets students in on book cover illustration job for big publisher

Matt Cook’s yearlong illustration project for Simon & Schuster comes to fruition with the release of the children's science fiction book “Press 1 for Invasion,” by J.A. Dauber. The KU professor allowed his students to watch the steps along the way.
Tue, 09/09/2025

Engaged Reading series opens with ‘On Freedom’ on Sept. 11

Engaged Reading, a collaborative series at the University of Kansas that offers a platform for idea exchange across experiences and knowledge, will resume Sept. 11. Each session features conversation facilitators whose KU research and work spans academic disciplines and broader systems of knowledge.
Mon, 09/08/2025

KU ROTC will host 9/11 memorial event at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium

To honor and remember the courage and sacrifice of first responders on Sept. 11, 2001, University of Kansas Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs will hold a 9/11 Memorial Run and gathering at KU. Nearly 100 KU ROTC students, along with area first responders and veterans, will participate.
Mon, 09/08/2025

Former KU student, fashion entrepreneur Elyce Arons returning to Lawrence campus Sept. 26 for fireside chat

Elyce Arons, co-founder of the Kate Spade and Frances Valentine brands, will make her first return to the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence in more than four decades — a visit that will be punctuated by a fireside chat for students and the broader KU community.
Mon, 09/08/2025

University Press of Kansas launches new nonfiction line Plainspoken

A new nonfiction trade imprint focused on bringing Midwest stories into national conversations has launched through University Press of Kansas. The first release will be “Whirlwind” by Bill Kurtis, set to publish in September 2025.
Mon, 09/08/2025

KU School of Business partners with Healthy Bourbon County Action Team to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystem in southeast Kansas

The University of Kansas School of Business has launched a collaboration with a southeast Kansas organization to support local entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Mon, 09/08/2025

Male monarchs throughout history portrayed as ‘mother’ figures, new research reveals

In a new article, Luis Corteguera, a professor of history at the University of Kansas, introduces the concept of “king as mother,” using biblical and classical sources and evidence from nature to explore gendered metaphors meant to shape the perception of male rulers across early modern Europe.
Fri, 09/05/2025

Osage artist wants to engage viewers in conversation

Norman Akers’ paintings on display at Temple Contemporary’s Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery raise issues of indigeneity, even as their surfaces beguile the viewer. They are the fruit of Akers’ spring 2025 residency in Philadelphia.
Thu, 09/04/2025

Study prompts new theory of human-machine communication

Because the modern workplace is inextricably interwoven with technology, two KU communication studies researchers have proposed a new theoretical approach they call “Socio-Technical Exchange” as an improvement upon the well-worn Social Exchange Theory that has dominated the field for decades. They spell it out in a new paper.
Wed, 09/03/2025

New book tells story of Kansas labor court that both flirted with fascism, stood up for workers' rights

KU professor Ben Merriman tells the story of the Kansas Court of Industrial Relations in a new book. The author shares how it was the only such court in the nation and the legacy it has for American labor law today.
Wed, 09/03/2025

KU School of Music announces the Bob and Becky Foster Trumpet Artist in Residence Program

The University of Kansas School of Music has announced the establishment of the Bob and Becky Foster Trumpet Artist in Residence, an endowed program made possible through a gift from longtime KU Director of Bands Robert Foster and his late wife, Becky.
Tue, 09/02/2025

Study: Cellophane bees are built for chill temperatures, more so than honeybees

Scholarship from the University of Kansas shows the cellophane bee is specialized by evolution to handle the harsh shocks and cold temperatures of early spring.
Tue, 09/02/2025

New book to help educators empower every student by changing approach to education

Yong Zhao, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Education at KU, is co-author of "Agents of Impact: How Education can Empower Students to Change Themselves, Their Communities and the World," a book that aims to help teachers and communities embrace new technology and ideas to help every student realize they can make a difference.
Tue, 09/02/2025

Educate & Act series will address journalistic accountability, voting rights, role of higher education in democracy

Educate & Act at the University of Kansas returns in its sixth year to host discussions with scholars, practitioners, students and the community about topics relevant to current events and active engagement with governing systems.
Tue, 09/02/2025

12 instructional faculty members earn promotions

Twelve individuals at the University of Kansas Lawrence and Edwards campuses have earned instructional faculty promotions. University leadership extended their joint congratulations.
Tue, 09/02/2025

Scholar writes that dog conflicts signal deeper issues in intentional communities

A University of Kansas scholar says dog-driven conflicts reveal something serious about the problems inherent in kibbutzim, which are a particularly Israeli form of collective, egalitarian living. Omri Senderowicz's writing appears in the new book “Conflicts and Conflict Management in Intentional Communities.”

Media Contacts

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson

KU News Service

785-864-8858