KU News Release

Three KU faculty members to receive awards for service to Kansas

Robert Basow

LAWRENCE — Three University of Kansas faculty members are being honored this spring for service to the state.

Recipients of the Steeples Service to Kansans Award are Robert Basow, associate professor of journalism; H. George Frederickson, the Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor of Public Administration; and Stephen McAllister, professor of law.

Don Steeples, the Dean A. McGee Distinguished Professor of Applied Geophysics and vice provost for scholarly support, and his wife, Tammy, established the award fund in 1997 to honor Don Steeples’ parents, Wally and Marie Steeples, and to recognize outstanding service by KU faculty to other Kansans. KU Endowment manages the fund.

H. George Frederickson

Previously, the award had been limited to faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Science. This year, the award was extended to the university at large. The award provides recipients with $1,000 and an additional $1,000 base adjustment to their salaries.

“Through the generosity of the Steeples family, the College is able to formally recognize the great contributions made to the state of Kansas by our faculty,” said Joseph E. Steinmetz, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “We are especially pleased that for the first time, we were able to honor faculty members both inside and outside the College with Steeples awards.”

Stephen McAllister

Recipients will be honored by their respective schools during commencement.

Information about the 2008 recipients is below.

Robert Basow, during his 21 years at KU, has instructed students in strategic campaigns, marketing communication and international marketing. Under his direction, students have worked to strengthen KU’s outreach programs in the Biodiversity Institute, the School of Medicine, the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets and the KU Bookstore. Basow has also guided campaigns to increase tourism in Overland Park and help media such as the Lawrence Journal-World, Olathe Daily News and Union Broadcasting better serve their communities. Basow and his students are currently working on projects for Lawrence Habitat for Humanity, KU’s Department of Student Housing and the Kansas Department of Commerce. He also teaches military officers attending the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth on civilian aspects of strategic communications.

H. George Frederickson, a KU faculty member since 1987, is an internationally known expert in public administration, policy and governmental ethics. His service to Kansas includes the development of the Ethics Program for the United Government of Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County. He wrote the Unified Government Code of Ethics and served for 10 years as the part-time ethics administrator for the unified government. In 2004, the unified government received the Public Integrity Award of the American Society for Public Administration. Frederickson teaches courses in governmental ethics and has developed what is known in public administration as the social equity or social justice perspective on public sector ethics.

Stephen McAllister is the solicitor general of Kansas and the first and only solicitor general who represents the state in constitutional cases. Since the mid 1990s, McAllister has assisted the Kansas attorney general’s office with significant constitutional cases, often in the Kansas Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States. McAllister has handled cases ranging from assisting in the resolution of the school finance litigation to defending the separation of powers and the proper roles of the various branches of state government. In addition to his service in the law school, McAllister has served as dean of the School of Law and interim director of the Dole Institute of Politics.

The award fund is managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

-30-

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.