News
Book outlines how to move beyond reliance on student surveys to evaluate, improve college teaching
“Transforming College Teaching Evaluation,” a new book from scholars at the University of Kansas and colleague institutions, outlines a project that developed new ways to more fully evaluate the value of college teaching. The book details how three institutions developed a new, more robust method of evaluation that recognizes how to fully evaluate teaching and how schools can overcome resistance to implement the methods at their campuses.
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Tue, 08/05/2025
ATLAS research fellows advance innovative assessment approaches with AI and adaptive testing
ATLAS research fellows are exploring ways to make assessments more accessible for all learners. Their work includes AI-driven tools that adapt to student needs in real time, especially for English learners and students with significant cognitive disabilities, advancing equity through innovation.
Mon, 08/04/2025
KU receives $1M to expand technology access for Kansans with disabilities
The state grant will support University of Kansas Life Span Institute research toward increasing independence, inclusion and quality of life for people with disabilities across Kansas.
Mon, 08/04/2025
Blake Wilson selected as next director of KU Law’s Wheat Law Library
The University of Kansas School of Law has selected Blake Wilson to be the director of the Wheat Law Library. Wilson brings nearly two decades of experience at KU Law to the role, having served in a variety of positions since joining the law library in 2007.
Mon, 08/04/2025
KU Department of Chemistry announces 2025 awards and scholarships
The Department of Chemistry at the University of Kansas has announced the recipients of awards and scholarships for the spring and summer 2025 semesters, as well as the 2025-26 academic year. The department will distribute more than $472,000 in awards and scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students this year.
Mon, 08/04/2025
KU faculty members selected for 2025-26 Senior Administrative Fellows cohort
Ten KU faculty members have been selected to participate in the Senior Administrative Fellows Program for the 2025-2026 academic year. The program allows a small group of competitively selected tenured faculty to explore academic leadership.
Fri, 08/01/2025
Kansas educators explore the future of learning through AI
Kansas educators are exploring how artificial intelligence can transform teaching and learning. The Center for Reimagining Education (CRE) is partnering with districts to personalize education and prepare students for the future.
Fri, 08/01/2025
Matching skills with jobs in mutual fund industry leads to higher risk-adjusted performance, study finds
In a new study, Gjergji Cici, the Koch Professor in Business Economics at the University of Kansas, explores how firms that match skills of their employees with jobs in the mutual funds industry leads to significantly higher risk-adjusted performance.
Thu, 07/31/2025
Art historian brings to light Korean Buddhist temple design, decoration
A University of Kansas art historian’s new paper focuses on details of 18th-century Korean Buddhist temple design. Maya Stiller writes that like their contemporaries in Europe during Baroque or Rococo periods, Korean Buddhist artisan-monks believed that, when it came to worship structures, more is more, not less.
Wed, 07/30/2025
Techniques honed by Kansas nuclear physicists helped detect creation of gold in Large Hadron Collider collisions
Nuclear physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider recently made headlines by achieving the centuries-old dream of alchemists: They transformed lead into gold, at least for a fraction of a second.
Tue, 07/29/2025
University of Kansas announces summer-fall 2024, spring 2025 graduates
The names of more than 6,700 graduates at the University of Kansas for summer and fall 2024 and spring 2025 have been announced by the University Registrar. Many graduates and candidates for degree celebrated by participating in KU Commencement, which took place May 17.
Tue, 07/29/2025
KU Libraries select FOLIO as new library services platform (LSP)
The University of Kansas Libraries signed an agreement to implement FOLIO, hosted and supported by EBSCO Information Services, as its new library services platform (LSP) – the core system used to manage library operations such as acquisitions, cataloging, circulation and electronic resource management.
Tue, 07/29/2025
Study finds high levels of social infrastructure lead to healthier communities
The United States spends significant amounts of money on health care every year, but health outcomes have not improved. New research from the University of Kansas has found that high levels of social infrastructure, especially in the arts, is connected to healthier communities.
Mon, 07/28/2025
KU faculty earn University Distinguished Professor status
Five University of Kansas faculty members have been named University Distinguished Professors, recognizing their record of research, scholarship and excellence in teaching.
Mon, 07/28/2025
KU chemistry professor receives NSF CAREER Award for research on synthetic polymers
Aaron Teator, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas, has been chosen for a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. The five-year grant totaling more than $687,000 will enable Teator to further his research, which seeks to develop new reactions leading to unique synthetic polymers that have the potential to impact a variety of products.
Mon, 07/28/2025
Renowned medieval scribe’s innovative glossary reveals evolution of languages
In a new book, Misty Schieberle, professor of English at the University of Kansas, focuses on 15th-century scribe and poet Thomas Hoccleve, whose trilingual glossary combines a variety of sources in innovative ways.
Thu, 07/24/2025
KU centers team up to introduce local students to STEM fields in physical performance
A new partnership within the Achievement & Assessment Institute at the University of Kansas blends STEM education and physical performance training to offer middle school and high school students hands-on experience in sports medicine, exercise science, and strength and conditioning.
Wed, 07/23/2025
Study of now-submerged migration routes redraws map of how humans settled beyond Africa
An improved simulation of ancient sea levels can reveal how melting glaciers continuing long after the Last Glacial Maximum may have transformed migration pathways and shaped the rise of civilizations in Afrlca.
Wed, 07/23/2025
Elizabeth Dole’s Senate papers open for research at Dole Archives
The Robert and Elizabeth Dole Archives and Special Collections at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics recently opened former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s Senate papers for research and public access at the University of Kansas.
Wed, 07/23/2025
KU researcher advocates scientific framework to unlock music therapy’s full potential
Music therapy isn’t a “soft science,” according to KU Life Span Institute researcher Deanna Hanson-Abromeit, who advocates for wider adoption of her framework to evaluate and strengthen music therapy as a health intervention.
Wed, 07/23/2025
Researchers unveil evolutionary effects on mammalian species due to extreme environments
New research from the University of Kansas reveals an unexpected way animals adapted to high-altitude environments.
Tue, 07/22/2025
Paleontologists will convene in Kansas to boost sharing and crediting of scholarly data
A conclave of about 20 prominent paleontologists, data scientists and editors from academic journals will gather Aug. 4-5 at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum to improve how data is shared among professionals in the field — and beyond.
Tue, 07/22/2025
Study finds news releases written by humans more credible than AI content
A study from the University of Kansas found that when people read news releases they were told were either written by a human or generated by artificial intelligence, they found the human content more credible and the organization it represented more trustworthy. The study was published in Corporate Communications: An International Journal.
Tue, 07/22/2025
Insight from KU Center for Public Partnerships and Research helps Michigan reimagine anti-poverty strategies
A recent partnership between the Achievement & Assessment Institute’s Center for Public Partnerships and Research (CPPR) and the state of Michigan has led to new insights about how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding is used — and how it might be refined to better serve families facing economic insecurity.
Mon, 07/21/2025
Women activists seek to raise Tanzanian girls’ age of consent from 15 to 18
In a new scholarly article, Agnes Phoebe Muyanga, doctoral candidate in women, gender & sexuality studies at the University of Kansas, investigates the steps women’s organizations, activists and advocates are taking to raise the age of consent from 15 to 18 years old for girls in Tanzania.
Fri, 07/18/2025
Expert can comment on Israeli moves to defend Syrian Druze, election outlook
A University of Kansas associate professor of Jewish studies says Israel’s Druze religious minority might be more inclined to back Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu as a result of his recent military moves to protect their kinfolk in southern Syria.
Wed, 07/16/2025
Research shows freshwater fish like complicated shoreline environments, just as saltwater species do
A University of Kansas associate professor is co-author of new research seeking to ascertain how fish react to waterfront edges using a variety of underwater seawall panels made to resemble plant roots. The intent is to attract wildlife — both plant and animal — improving species diversity and water quality.
Wed, 07/16/2025
Scholar argues for move away from meritocracy in schools to redefine purpose of education
Yong Zhao, an education scholar at the University of Kansas, argues in a new article that education should move away from the idea of meritocracy, which fosters unnatural competition among students and unequal outcomes, to the Human Interdependence Paradigm, in which schools help every student use their strengths to guide their own education and solve problems for the world to reach their unique potential.
Wed, 07/16/2025
KU professors awarded Big 12 Faculty Fellowships for 2025-2026 academic year
Six KU faculty members have been selected to participate in the Big 12 Faculty Fellowship over the summer and the upcoming academic year. These scholars will visit and collaborate with faculty and students across the Big 12 Conference.
Tue, 07/15/2025
Study examines early sensory processing and development in people with autism
A researcher from the University of Kansas Life Span Institute recently published a comprehensive review of differences in sensory processing for people with autism during the prenatal (in utero) and neonatal (birth to a few months old) phases of life.
Tue, 07/15/2025
IT-capable employees improve relevance and timeliness of financial reporting, study finds
In a new study, University of Kansas School of Business researcher Adi Masli examines IT-capable employees’ role in the production process of financial information, deducing that enhanced management of raw data during this process decreases technical errors and increases data processing speed.