KU faculty tour to focus on Native American heritage, economic resources

Editor's note: Counties on route: Barber, Butler, Chase, Douglas, Ellis, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Gove, Graham, Gray, Kiowa, Lincoln, Logan, Morris, Phillips, Rooks, Russell, Saline, Scott, Sedgwick, Shawnee and Thomas.

LAWRENCE -- The Native American heritage of Kansas as well as resources that shape the Sunflower State will be focal points for more than 40 University of Kansas faculty and staff members circling Kansas on a six-day whirlwind tour that begins May 17 and continues May 20 to 24.

This marks the sixth year that KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway has sponsored the tour to help KU faculty new to Kansas learn more about their new home state and the communities that are hometowns for many of their students.

The faculty will visit more than 20 communities and learn about Kansas' history, cultures, economies and landscape as they go. Communities on the 2002 tour include: Colby, Cottonwood Falls, Council Grove, Dodge City, El Dorado, Garden City, Greensburg, Hays, Lawrence, Logan, Lucas, Marienthal, Medicine Lodge, Montezuma, Nicodemus, Palco, Russell, Salina, Sylvan Grove, Topeka, Wichita and sites in Gove and Logan counties.

"We will be visiting the campus at Haskell Indian Nations University, the Kaw Mission museum in Council Grove, the Mid-America All-Indian Center and Museum and spend an hour watching buffalo roam on pastures in Logan County," said Linda K. Robinson, tour director.

"For the past two years, we have visited the Haskell campus and are looking forward to learning about Haskell's new Cultural Center that just opened this spring," Robinson said. "On previous tours but not each year, we have also visited the Kaw Mission. This is our first visit to the Mid-America All-Indian Center."

New stops this year will be to Chase County's historic courthouse in Cottonwood Falls, a flour mill in Marienthal, a windmill farm in Montezuma, Wichita's science exhibition center, Russell's ethanol power plant, a stone quarry in Sylvan Grove and the Czech Opera House in Wilson, Robinson said. They also will be the guests of Ross and Marianna Beach for a picnic dinner at their Ellis County ranch.

"We try to visit with people in sites that may not be typical tour stops but that do give us a picture of the state's rich heritage and diversity," Robinson said.

The 2002 tour begins May 17 with a visit to the state Capitol to meet with a legislative panel and later with Gov. Bill Graves in Topeka before going to the Kansas State Historical Society museum for lunch and a tour.

In Garden City, Wichita and Palco, the KU faculty will make several stops. In Wichita, they plan to visit Wichita State University's McKnight Arts Center, Exploration Place and Boeing in addition to the Mid-America All-Indian center. In Garden City, Victor Ornelas Elementary School, the United Methodist Western Kansas Mexican-American Ministries Health Clinic and Garden City Community College are scheduled.

In Palco, a Rooks County community of about 250 people northwest of Hays, they will visit a wheat farm, a grain elevator, a tool machine company that does international business and a saddle-making shop.

Robinson, who has served as director for the tour for three years, said she has observed that faculty typically begin the tour a little tired from winding up a school year and uncertain about spending a week to tour Kansas.

"By the time we return to the campus, they are energized by the wonderful receptions we've received and some are planning to take their families to visit some of the places we've stopped," Robinson said. "Each year, the faculty tell me they wish we'd had more time to visit at each stop. It's hard to squeeze in all we want to do in a week's time."

The complete itinerary is available online at www.wheatstate.ku.edu or by calling KU University Relations, (785) 864-3256, to receive a copy by mail or fax.