April 3, 2002

Contact: Susan King, KU School of Education, (785) 864-0780.

Black faculty, staff council to honor KU students, faculty members April 6

LAWRENCE -- Six University of Kansas African-American students will receive awards and two faculty and staff members will be honored during the ninth annual Black Faculty and Staff Council Student Awards Banquet at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 6, in the Kansas Union ballroom.

Approximately 150 guests, including undergraduate- and graduate-level African and African-American students, are expected to attend this year's event. Six $500 awards will be made to honor students for outstanding academic achievement. KU faculty, staff, administrators, students and their families, and invited community guests attend annually, according to Susan King, KU associate professor of health, sport and exercise sciences and chair of the Social and Cultural Events Committee for the council.

Pearl Rovaris-MacDonald, a motivational speaker and improvisational comedian from Overland Park, will speak. Rovaris-MacDonald is a 1991 KU graduate in psychology who conducts seminars for national organizations such as Hewlett Packard, Lucent Technologies, McDonald's, Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, John Deere and Blue Cross Blue Shield. She teaches seminar participants how to spark creativity in themselves and others instantly and how to change their perspective to understand another person's point of view. She also is a trainer for SkillPath Seminars and an improvisational comedian for ComedyCity in Kansas City.

Chico Herbison, KU assistant professor in African and African-American studies, will receive the Hobart Jackson Service Award for outstanding service toward African and African-American students at KU. A second Jackson award will be made, and the winner's name will be announced after the banquet.

For more information contact Susan King, associate professor in KU's School of Education, (785) 864-0780 or king@ku.edu.

The KU students receiving awards worth $500 and their home addresses are:

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence
Massissou Hathoura, doctoral student in educational policy and leadership, 1730 Bagley Drive #01; Black Faculty and Staff Council Student Achievement Award.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Wichita
Norman Bouwie, business senior majoring in accounting, son of Norman and Lealona Bouwie II, 2938 Meadow Oaks, and a graduate of Wichita Heights High School; National Pan Hellenic Council LaTina Sullivan Leadership Award. (end of Kansas)

GEORGIA
From Dallas
Jeffery D. Mack, doctoral student in English, 31 Camden Trail; is the stepson of Charles Moring, Waverly, Ga.; KU Black Alumni Student Achievement Award.

NEW JERSEY
From South Orange
Courtney Bates, junior in liberal arts and sciences majoring in psychology and in human development, 17-25 Church St. #12, and a graduate of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Mich.; National Pan Hellenic Council LaTina Sullivan Leadership Award.

TEXAS
From Grand Prairie
Caleb Deon Howard, freshman in architecture, son of Irene McQuarn, 4458 Harpers Ferry Drive, and a graduate of South Grand Prairie High School; Black Faculty and Staff Council Student Achievement Award.

VIRGINIA
From Madison Heights
Jamel Scott Sandidge, doctoral student in systematics and ecology, son of Leon and Joan Sandidge, 3003 Galts Milll Road; Black Faculty and Staff Council Student Achievement Award.