President Toledo of Peru, KU chancellor meet, discuss continued collaboration

LAWRENCE -- University of Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway today met with the president of Peru at the presidential palace in Lima to discuss education and continued collaboration between KU and Peru's national university.

Hemenway and President Alejandro Toledo met for 30 minutes this afternoon along with U.S. Ambassador to Peru John Hamilton; the U.S. embassy cultural affairs officer, Lynn W. Roche; and Anita Herzfeld, KU associate professor of Latin American studies.

Herzfeld said the meeting was very positive and that President Toledo expressed support and pledged assistance to promote the relationship between KU and the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima.

Tonight the chancellor and Manuel Burga, the rector of Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marco, will sign a memorandum of agreement of collaboration at a reception for KU alumni. On Tuesday, the chancellor renewed a collaborative research and educational agreement between KU's Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center and the natural history museum at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, for studies in Peru's northern Amazon region.

During the meeting with President Toledo, the chancellor noted the work of Bartholomew Dean, KU assistant professor of anthropology, and his wife, Michelle McKinley, anthropology researcher at KU's Museum of Anthropology. Dean and McKinley have studied the language and culture of the Urarina people in Peru and helped direct the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos' new graduate program in Amazonian studies.

In addition, the chancellor noted that the Anne Sullivan Center, a Lima school to teach poor children with autism or severe mental retardation, was founded by KU graduate Liliana Mayo.

Hemenway was in Peru to receive an honorary degree at a formal ceremony Monday at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. The chancellor was being honored for his scholarship and leadership in higher education and his commitment to the value of promoting diversity in society.

During his trip, the chancellor also is scheduled to meet with Dr. Oswaldo Cegarra, rector of Cayetano Heredia Medical School, Peru's largest medical school; Nicholas Lynch, Peru minister of education; the rector of the National University of San Antonio Abad of Cuzco; historians and researchers in the ancient Incan settlements of Machu Picchu and Cuzco; and a 1977 KU graduate who is the dean of the School of Business at the Pontificia Universidad Catolico del Peru.

No state funds are being used to finance the chancellor's trip.