KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas students have each won a $1,000 Chancellor’s Writing Prize offered through the KU Writing Center.

Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little will present the prizes to Laurie Lewis, a senior in secondary English education from Topeka, and Theresa Brown, a doctoral student in health, sport and exercise science from Kansas City, Mo. The prizes will be presented in a private ceremony Oct. 9 in the chancellor’s office.

Established by former Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway in 2007, the annual prize honors an undergraduate and a graduate student who collaborated with a faculty member and a KU Writing Center consultant to improve his or her writing abilities and produce outstanding original compositions. The Chancellor’s Writing Prize encourages excellence in writing, acknowledges the importance of consultation from faculty and the KU Writing Center and promotes writing across KU’s curriculum. Prizes are awarded on or near Oct. 10 of each year to commemorate the date the KU Writing Center opened.

This year’s contest was for writing created to meet specific course requirements in a KU department or program during summer or fall 2008 or spring 2009.

Lewis won for her paper, “Prospectus for a Teaching Unit on Louise Erdrich’s ‘The Birchbark House.’ ” Her faculty mentor was Steve Evans, lecturer in the Department of English. Lewis attended Lake Howell High School in Winter Park, Fla.

Brown’s prize-winning paper was titled “Relationship of Exercise Participants’ Perceptions of the Caring Climate to Their Motivational Responses in College Aerobic Classes.” Her faculty mentor was Mary Fry, associate professor of health, sport and exercise science. Brown received a bachelor’s degree in 1998 from Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., and a master’s degree in 2000 from the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

This year’s winners were selected by a board that included Jennifer Church-Duran, assistant dean for user services, KU Libraries; Frank DeSalvo, associate vice provost, Student Success; James Hartman, professor of English; Leonie Pallikkathayil, associate professor of nursing; Noel Rasor, assistant director, public administration, Edwards Campus; and Terese Thonus, director, KU Writing Center.

The deadline for submissions for next year’s contest will be June 1. Applicants must be enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students at KU during the summer 2009, fall 2009 or spring 2010 semesters. Theses and dissertations do not qualify.

Entries should be submitted as a two-part portfolio that demonstrates the process and results of collaboration of writer, faculty mentor and the KU Writing Center. Watch for contest details online at www.writing.ku.edu.