The Ph.D.-packed bus carrying Kansas University employees on the 1,500-mile Wheat State Whirlwind tour headed back to Lawrence on Friday, concluding the six-day trek to the far corners of the state.

“Kansas is not flat,” said Gail Agrawal, the new dean of the School of Law, refuting the common claim. “I have been surprised and delighted at how beautiful the countryside is.”

The bus carried about 50 faculty and staff members, mainly new employees.

They visited farms and museums, community colleges and civic buildings.

The riders stopped in Mullinville to see the roadside art of M.G. Liggett. They toured the home of famed saloon-basher Carry Nation in Medicine Lodge. They visited in the historically black town of Nicodemus.

Not everyone who wants to can go. About 100 applied to go on the trip. Only 43 were selected. And there were several commentators and crew members.

“The bus can only hold so many,” said Margey Frederick, director of special events and visitor services.

Frederick said the trip is aimed at new hires, but organizers also want to gather people from a variety of KU departments and programs.

The trip, sponsored by Chancellor Robert Hemenway, is meant to give new employees a taste of Kansas, to show them not only the typical sites, but the small towns and back roads and to give them a chance to meet Kansans.

“It has been something I never expected to see and experience,” said Barbara Timmerman, university distinguished professor and chairwoman of medicinal chemistry. “I’m so full of impressions at this moment, I will need time to digest everything.”

Timmerman said nearly all the people she’s met have a KU connection, however distant.

“KU is a presence in the rest of Kansas,” she said. “They were very welcoming of us.”

Agrawal said she has collected names and business cards, though she hasn’t met with many lawyers.

“It teaches me a lot about my new home state,” she said of the tour. “It’s important to know where your students come from and what their life experiences are.”

Agrawal, who begins work later this summer, said many want to know more about her and the other new hires, including new Provost Richard Lariviere.

Lariviere, in the midst of his first few days in the new position, said he’s heard no concerns about the university from Kansans.

“If they have concerns, they didn’t express them to me on the trip,” he said.

Lariviere said he’s been developing relationships with his fellow bus riders.

“This has been a pretty intense week for developing relationships and building friendships,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for them to lobby the rookie.”