KU fine arts convocation ceremony set; Hieberts selected for award

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas School of Fine Art's 2003 convocation is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 17, at the Lied Center of Kansas. The keynote speakers are Dr. David L. and Gunda Hiebert, this year's recipients of the Fine Arts Distinguished Achievement Award. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

The Hieberts have been actively involved with the School of Fine Arts for many years. Since 1996 the couple has hosted recitals and concerts in their home near campus.

For a number of years the Hieberts have made financial contributions supporting the piano division in the Department of Music and Dance, while also making gifts to the dance division, the Gunda Hiebert Dance Scholarship, as well as the Spencer Museum of Art at KU.

More than 200 students and faculty have performed in the Hieberts' home. As many as 25 community members, students, and music and dance faculty are invited to attend each performance. The concerts have grown beyond piano recitals and now include performances featuring string, woodwind and brass musicians, as well as vocalists and entire ensembles.

Now retired, David (medicine '61) was a physician for KU Athletics for 17 years and a radiologist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital from 1967 until 1990. He is a member of the Spencer Museum of Art Advisory Board, the Friends of the Lied Board and the Fine Arts Campaign Committee for KU First, the largest fund-raising campaign in KU history.

Gunda co-owned the Bay Leaf, a downtown Lawrence gourmet store, from 1978 until 2002, when she sold her interest in the business and retired. She earned a bachelor's degree from Oberlin University, a master's degree in French pedagogy from Yale University and a master's degree in French literature from the University of Virginia, and she has attended classes at KU.

For more information, the public may call the KU fine arts dean's office at (785) 864-3421.