Unions to raise money for tsunami victims

The Kansas University bookstores and cafeterias in the Kansas and Burge unions will team with KU students to raise money for Indian Ocean tsunami victims, the bookstores announced Friday.

Ten percent of sales in the establishments will go to the student-led fund-raising campaign between Monday and Friday, when the customer mentions the tsunami effort. Textbooks, computers and electronics are not included in the offer.

Money from the project will go to KU UNICEF. UNICEF and the Center for Community Outreach are organizing the fund-raising effort.

Event

Workshop gives insight into Groundhog Day

Area children have the opportunity to learn about the history of Groundhog Day with the help of the Watkins Community Museum of History.

The museum will offer a special Groundhog Day workshop for children ages 6 to 9 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 at the museum, 1047 Mass.

Phyllis Bia will show the participants how to determine the winter weather by creating a landscape collage, followed by stirring up and eating “dirt dessert.”

Reservations are required. The workshop costs $10 per child, $8 if their families are members of the Douglas County Historical Society or $5 for children who are in the Boys & Girls Club.

Call the museum at 841-4109 for more information.

Research

Grant money to aid Lawrence students

A $923,200 federal grant awarded to Kansas University researchers will create a new project to help Lawrence public school students with communication disorders.

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education, will create the Augmentative and Alternative Communication in the Schools project, which will be directed by Jane Wegner, director of the Schiefelbusch Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at KU. Graduate students will earn master’s degrees while working with public school students and their families.

Augmentative and alternative communication, a relatively new area of study, uses gestures, communication boards, books, sign language and communication devices to help restore communication in individuals with severe disabilities. Those include cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury, stroke and neuromuscular disorders.

The four-year project will begin in the fall.

KU prof commended by Secretary of Army

A Kansas University professor has earned the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award from the Secretary of the Army for his work in Iraq.

Charles W. “Chick” Keller, assistant professor of engineering management at the Edwards Campus in Overland Park, served as deputy director of the Programs, Project and Contracting Office in Baghdad from May through November 2004.

He oversaw a $12 billion construction effort to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure, including education and public building projects.