KU News Release

Kansas City publication lists KU people, radio station on its ‘Best of’ list

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas was mentioned several times on the Pitch’s “Best of Kansas City” list released last week.

The alternative newsweekly’s annual compilation of the region’s top people and places cited Simran Sethi, a professional-in-residence at KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, as best celebrity. The Spencer Museum of Art’s director, Saralyn Reece Hardy, was named best museum director, and student-run radio station KJHK was hailed as the best radio station.

Journalist and activist Sethi is most known for her work promoting sustainable living. Her tips for going green have appeared on treehugger.com, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and the Sundance Channel series “Big Ideas for a Small Planet.”

At KU, Sethi co-teaches two multimedia courses with journalism professor Rick Musser. Next semester, she will teach a class called Media and the Environment.

“I was thrilled to learn I had been named best local celeb,” Sethi said. “I have lived in Kansas for about a year and it is an honor to promote what is going on in a place I love and to subsequently be recognized for those efforts.”

Also earning high praise from the Pitch was the Spencer museum’s Hardy.

“Her deep devotion to arts in the community is well-known in the museum business, cementing her reputation as one of the country’s most thoughtful, hardworking and devoted museum directors,” the Pitch article stated.

The museum’s biggest project this year has been its major exhibition celebrating Topeka-born artist Aaron Douglas, which will remain on display until Dec. 2. Then “Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist” will travel to Nashville, New York City and Washington, D.C. The Spencer-organized exhibit honoring the most important visual artist of the Harlem Renaissance brings together nearly 100 works from public institutions and private collections across the country.

“I was very honored by the (best museum director) designation,” said Hardy. “The part that is most exciting to me is this synergy between Lawrence and the Kansas City community, and I’m looking forward to continuing that.”

For playing what the Pitch calls “the freshest sounds in music,” KJHK was named best radio station. The station is staffed by about 150 KU student volunteers and broadcasts all styles of music and award-winning news, sports and talk programming. KJHK is on the air 24 hours a day and can be heard live online at www.kjhk.org — a good thing for all of the station’s fans who live beyond its signal.

“This award means a great deal to us, especially since KJHK is the only station in the listening area run entirely by students,” said Tom Johnson, the station’s general manager. “KJHK’s students work extremely hard every day to create great radio. I’m excited for all of KJHK’s student staff to receive such remarkable recognition for their efforts.”

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.