April 23, 1999
The tour starts with a one-day trip on May 21 to Topeka and a meeting with Gov. Bill Graves and a stop at the Diagnostic Center, then to Kansas City and Johnson County Community College.
The five-day tour of Kansas is May 24 - 28.
The annual trip, run first in 1997, takes KU faculty and staff on a 1,700-mile whirlwind tour of Kansas, where participants will meet a host of individuals, including the governor, legislators, farmers, ranchers, teachers, artists and school principals.
In its first two years, the tour started by going west to Topeka, Salina and Hays, but the 1999 tour will start by traveling south and east to La Cygne and Mound City, then visit the southeastern Kansas cities of Fort Scott, Pittsburg, West Mineral and Parsons, before stopping for the night in Independence.
"We need to change about 50 percent of the tour each year so that we can visit many of the communities that we haven't experienced before," said Erin A. Spiridigliozzi, assistant dean of KU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the organizer of the tour. "There's a lot to see in this beautiful state."
The idea for the tour came from Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway, who wanted to introduce KU professors and administrators, many of whom are new to the state of Kansas, to their adopted state. The participants interact with Kansans while visiting a wide range of locations throughout the state.
So far the reaction from the tour and around the state have been positive.
"To dedicate the private time that you have for this project speaks loudly," said Rep. Richard Reinhardt, D-Erie, while meeting the 1998 tour in Chanute. "It adds to the credibility of the university."
Tour participants have also been enthused about the trip.
"This trip has been fantastic," said Sally Frost Mason, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a participant in the 1998 tour. "I've taught kids at KU for 18 years from places like Iola, Sedan and Hutchinson, and now I have a pretty good idea why they turned out as well as they did."
This year's tour will visit a mix of historic and well-known locales as well as some that are off the beaten path.
Highlights of the 1999 tour include visits to:
- The Fort Scott National Historic Site and Museum;
- Big Brutus, the world's second largest electric mining shovel, in
West Mineral;
- Parsons State Hospital;
- The Cessna Plant in Independence;
- The world's largest hand-dug well and the world's largest Brenham
meteorite in Greensburg;
- Monument Rocks in Gove County;
- Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Chase County.
The tour is sponsored by the KU Chancellor's Office with funds from state and endowment sources. Personnel from the Chancellor's Office, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kansas Geological Survey, University Relations and representatives from KU-affiliated offices across the state assist with the tour.
More information on the tour can be found on the Web at http://www.ku.edu/~bustour.