Clinton Lake Museum opens for season

The Clinton Lake Museum began its 21st year of operation Saturday. The museum, near the shore of Clinton Lake at Bloomington Park, operates from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

This year, the museum features a new exhibit dedicated to weather. The museum has several other rotating and permanent exhibits.

An architect’s design for a new addition to the museum is also on display. The proposed addition would add 4,800 square feet to the museum and would look like a green barn to match the building’s current motif.

Teachers receive grants

Nine Lawrence teachers last week received grants totaling $1,505 as part of the Carl Knox Staff Development program.

The awards, created in honor of former schools Supt. Carl Knox, go to educators seeking to improve their teaching skills.

The recipients were Katie Becker and Melissa Stucky, Hillcrest School; Carolyn Welch, Langston Hughes School; Terri Durgan, Quail Run School; Janeal Krehbiel and Dani Lotton-Barker, Southwest Junior High School; Mike Ortmann, Lawrence High School; and Mary Chapman and Debra Denson, Free State High School.

Becker, Denson, Lotton-Barker, Ortmann and Stucky received stipends toward summer travel to China and Japan. The trip is part of a program organized by the Kansas University Center for East Asian Studies.

Chapman received a stipend to support her participation in a summer seminar in Siena, Italy, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Durgan’s grant will pay tuition for an Assessment Training Institute in Portland, Ore.

Krehbiel received tuition for a Choral Music Experience course in Kansas City.

Welch will receive a stipend toward a five-week Fulbright-Hays seminar in Argentina.

KU prof named dean at William and Mary

A longtime member of the Kansas University history department faculty has been named dean of faculty of arts and sciences at the College of William and Mary.

Carl Strikwerda, who has been at KU since 1987, will lead the division that includes 350 faculty and 5,500 students in Williamsburg, Va.

“It’s a new challenge,” he said. “KU’s been a great place to be for 17 years. I’ll miss it. I’ve had so many good colleagues.”

Strikwerda, who also has been associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences since 1998, has written three books and is known for his work in the areas of modern European history and the history of globalization.

His wife, Gail Bossenga, an associate professor of history at KU, also has been appointed to the history faculty at William and Mary.

N.Y. School to honor departing principal

New York School will honor retiring principal Sharen Steele with a reception.

The reception will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 12 at the school, 936 N.Y. Refreshments will be served, and an open microphone will be available for people to share their memories.

Steele has been the school’s principal for 15 years.

Barbecue cook-off set

The Lawrence Sertoma Club will have its sixth annual state championship barbecue cook-off and fund-raiser Friday and Saturday at Broken Arrow Park, 29th and Louisiana streets.

Nearly 50 barbecue teams from throughout the Midwest will compete in 48 categories with cash prizes totaling $4,800.

The public is invited to come to the contest and taste samples from the teams for $5 per person. Sample tasting will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The public will vote for its favorite team.

The winning team will compete later in the year at the American Royal in Kansas City, Mo. Money raised from the Sertoma event will be used for civic projects in Douglas County.

Also Saturday, Chris Cakes will put on an all-you-can-eat pancake feed starting at 7 a.m. at the park.