KU News Release

KU professor to lead 15th annual Stop Day walking tour of campus May 11

LAWRENCE — Ted Johnson, professor emeritus of French and Italian, will lead his traditional Stop Day tour of the University of Kansas campus from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, May 11. Stop Day is the day between the last day of classes and the first day of final examinations.

The tour will begin at the Natural History Museum’s main entrance and end at Weaver Court, adjacent to Spooner Hall. The pace is leisurely, and each stop has a theme for discussion. Questions and participation from the group are encouraged. Walkers may join or leave the tour at any point. Individuals and groups are welcome to follow along.

“Over the years we have had some really wonderful conversations about the campus,” Johnson said. On past tours, he said, there have been “really moving remarks by international students from eastern Europe, Africa and so forth. In a word, beautiful dialogues befitting (the) university.”

Johnson has conducted this tour since 1992. He specializes in 19th- and 20th-century poetry, Proust and interrelations of literature and the visual arts. He twice has received Mortar Board’s recognition as an Outstanding Educator at KU, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and, in 1992, the Senior Class H.O.P.E. award to Honor an Outstanding Progressive Educator. Johnson also leads equinox walking tours of the campus by starlight.

In case of inclement weather, Johnson will begin his presentation in the foyer of the Spencer Museum of Art at 9 a.m. Lunch will be at noon at the Kansas Union, and the group will return to the art museum at 1 p.m. Should the inclement weather clear, the walking tour will resume at the appropriate time and place. Otherwise, times and places for the tour will be as follows:

9 a.m. — “Whoso Findeth Wisdom Findeth Life,” Natural History Museum main entrance
10 a.m. — “The Seven Liberal Arts and the Classical Tradition,” Lippincott Hall
11 a.m. — “Make Our Garden Grow!” Twente Hall, St. George and the Prairie Acre
Noon — “Memory, the Muses and the Liberal Arts and Sciences,” Watson Library, Stauffer-Flint and Wescoe halls, Anschutz Library and Military Science Building
1 p.m. — Lunch, Murphy Hall courtyard (sandwiches available at the snack bar)
2 p.m. — “Civilization Is Measured by the Extent to which People Obey Unenforceable Laws,” Green Hall, then up the hill to the KU Foundry
3 p.m. — “Of Cycles and Civilizations,” Chi Omega fountain and Vietnam War Memorial
4 p.m. — “Of Memory, Memorials and the Forest of Academe,” Memorial Campanile (perspectives on Memorial Stadium and the Kansas Union), then up through Marvin Grove
5 p.m. — “Tentative Syntheses and Perspectives,” Weaver Court, adjacent to Spooner Hall

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