Pinckney neighborhood picnic scheduled today

The Pinckney Neighborhood Assn. and friends will gather for the group’s annual picnic from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Burcham Park.

Picnickers should bring their own picnic lunches and can bring a dish or dessert to share. Drinks will be provided.

Attendees will examine the Baker wetlands mitigation project and discuss changes in ideas and purposes of the Kansas River and construction of the present dam and reservoir system. Dale Nimz will lead the discussion.

State offers grants for recycling tires

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will offer $200,000 in grants for programs that recycle waste tires. Local governments and businesses are eligible for grants.

The grants will cover up to 75 percent of the equipment costs to start or enhance a tire recycling program. Equipment used to convert tires into combustion fuel is eligible, but equipment used to transport tires is not. The grants come from a 25-cent excise tax on new tires.

Grant applications must be postmarked by Friday and sent to the department’s Bureau of Waste Management, 1000 Jackson, Suite 320, Topeka 66612-1366. For more information, call (785) 296-1600.

KU names two winners of teaching awards

Kansas University’s School of Education has named next year’s Gene A. Budig teaching professors in education and special education.

Suzanne Rice, associate professor of teaching and leadership, was named the ninth Budig teaching professor in education, and Edward L. Meyen, professor of special education, was named the second Budig teaching professor in special education.

Winners will receive a stipend of more than $10,000 and deliver a formal lecture in the 2003-2004 school year.

Rice, who has been at KU 10 years, has concentrated her interests in the foundations of education, including philosophy, ethics and policy.

Meyen, former dean of the School of Education, is co-director of the e-Learning Design Lab at KU. He focuses his research on developing online courses.

The awards were created by Budig, a former KU chancellor.

KU sets final exams

Kansas University has announced the following final examinations:

• Nannette Nicholson, hearing and speech, “Clinical Decision Analysis of TEOAE Parameter Performance in Predicting Hearing Outcomes at Octave Frequencies: Univariate and Multivariate Approaches,” 8 a.m. June 2 in 3005 Miller, KU Medical Center.
• Ellen Mir, mathematics, “Relative Topological Properties of Hausdorff Spaces,” 10 a.m. June 3, 306 Snow Hall.