Ottawa University earns $100,000 building grant

An Overland Park charitable foundation donated $100,000 for construction of an athletic facility at Ottawa University.

The Sunderland Foundation’s gift will help finance a 20,000-square-foot, one-story building that will house a training facility, exercise and rehabilitation areas, a classroom and hall of fame. The building will cost $2.8 million.

“The new athletic center is a state-of-the-art facility benefiting both the campus and the entire Ottawa community,” said John Neal, Ottawa president.

The foundation was started in 1945 by Lester Sunderland, who served three decades as president of Ash Grove Cement in Overland Park. The foundation provides grants for buildings, capital projects, higher education, youth services and museums.

Ottawa University is a Christian, liberal arts school with 8,500 students on campuses in Kansas, Arizona, Indiana, Wisconsin, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

Environment: Wildlife leader concerned with urban development

Topeka When talk turns to wildlife, former Kansas Gov. Mike Hayden gets wound up.

Hayden, now secretary of Wildlife and Parks, told a new state committee studying natural resources that one of the main challenges facing Kansas was the loss of animal habitat to urban encroachment.

As an example, Hayden said that outside the back door of his Lawrence home, “I’m watching nine homes being built. It wasn’t just a few years ago, somebody ran their bird dogs through there.”

Hayden said he remembered as a child in western Kansas that the day before the opening of pheasant-hunting season “was as big as Christmas Eve,” with families taking in boarders and restaurants and motels full of people. Now pheasant populations are depressed, he said.

Education: Lawrence school district fills two new positions

The Lawrence school district hired two mid-level administrators to be resource specialists in the areas of math and science and arts and humanities.

Supt. Randy Weseman said Friday an administrative restructuring permitted the hiring of Cherie Nicholson and Terry McEwen, pending approval by the school board Monday.

Nicholson, assigned to work with math and science teachers, is a consultant with the Kansas State Department of Education and a former school teacher.

The arts and humanities job will be filled by McEwen. He’s a literacy coach with Arvada West High School in Arvada, Colo. He’s also taught music in elementary and high schools during more than 20 years of teaching.

Weseman’s hires were the result of a staff reorganization endorsed by the school board in 2001.

Students: KU to stage job fair

Kansas University students returning for the fall semester can learn about campus employment opportunities at a job fair Aug. 20.

KU’s Student Employment Services will have a Student Employment Job Fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the fourth-floor lobby of the Kansas Union. About 30 KU departments and several off-campus employers will be represented.

Part-time job opportunities also can be found at www.ku.edu/~uces. The list is updated daily.