KU News Release

New fellowship established for KU’s Beach Center on Disability

Ann, Jay and Rud Turnbull

LAWRENCE — A new fellowship will support University of Kansas doctoral students and researchers who are affiliated with KU’s Beach Center on Disability.

Rud and Ann Turnbull, the Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professors at KU, created the fellowship in honor of their son, Jay Turnbull, through a $26,000 gift to KU Endowment. As a child, he was diagnosed with intellectual disabilities and autism.

“We wanted to honor our son, who has worked at the University of Kansas for 20 years and who has been welcomed into this community everywhere he has gone,” Rud Turnbull said.

Rud and Ann Turnbull founded the Beach Center, named for KU Endowment donors Ross and Marianna Beach, in 1988. Since then, they have served as co-directors. Rud Turnbull said the new fellowship also represents their appreciation for their professional opportunities at KU and the Beach Center. In addition, he said he and his wife are deeply appreciative of the education their daughters, Amy Turnbull Khare and Katherine Turnbull, received at KU.

Steve Warren, vice provost for research and graduate studies, said the new fellowship is a fitting tribute to Jay Turnbull, whom he has known since 1980. Warren described him as an excellent employee at the Beach Center who has made lasting friendships with co-workers.

“The Jay Turnbull Fellowship is a tool that will help us train more people in the world who will have all the skills and knowledge needed to make a difference to people with developmental disabilities,” Warren said.

Now 41, Jay Turnbull leads a productive and independent life. Since the age of 22, he has lived on his own, in his own home, with support from family and friends. He works as an office and clerical assistant at the Beach Center, a department of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies and the Department of Special Education.

Rud Turnbull said his son’s presence at the Beach Center has helped students and faculty understand that individuals who have intellectual disabilities can become productive members of their communities. “That’s a powerful lesson,” said Turnbull, who described his son as a “professor of reality.”

The Turnbulls, and the Beach Center, are highly respected nationwide, said Lourdes Putz, director of United We Stand, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based support program that serves culturally diverse families who have children with disabilities throughout greater New York City. Putz described the Turnbulls as her role models.

“Rud and Ann realize that the people we serve are such an important part of our society as a whole and that very often their needs are not clearly identified or highlighted,” Putz said. “They were the first that have really tapped into the need for understanding cultural diversity and to truly understand what that means.”

Jay Turnbull has been a strong asset for the Beach Center. Putz said, “He emphasizes the work, the vision and the belief of Ann and Rud Turnbull and the work of the Beach Center.”

The Jay Turnbull Fellowship 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.

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