Heard on the Hill: Former interim CLAS dean Greg Simpson is finalist for post at Tennessee; KU student wins competition that includes trip to Japan; KU libraries host writing, research events

Your daily dose of news, notes and links from around Kansas University.

• A former interim dean of KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is an announced finalist for the University of Tennessee’s dean of arts and sciences.

Greg Simpson, professor of psychology, served as KU’s interim dean in 2009 and 2010 after Joseph Steinmetz left for Ohio State University.

He was a finalist for the permanent position at KU, but Danny Anderson, who was serving as KU’s interim provost at the time, got the liberal arts and sciences post instead.

Simpson, who once proudly told me that he is the son of a newspaper reporter, is up against Allan Burns, chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Florida; John Zomchick, professor of English and executive associate dean for academic personnel at Tennessee’s College of Arts and Sciences; and Theresa Lee, chairwoman of the department of psychology at the University of Michigan.

• Kelly Stroda, a KU junior from Salina who is the incoming editor of the University Daily Kansan, will first be participating in a nine-day study trip to Japan.

She was one of nine winners of the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition from the Scripps Howard Foundation.

The winners, who are from schools across the country, were chosen based on their quality of work, an essay and letters of recommendation.

The students will be traveling to regions well outside those affected by the recent earthquakes and tsunami, and the agenda includes a trip to Hiroshima.

• Students looking for a little writing help can stop off at a couple “writing night” events this week at KU libraries. Subject librarians can assist with research and KU Writing Center staffers can help with the writing part of it.

Tonight, students can visit Watson Library’s Clark Instruction Center and Tuesday night, the Anschutz Library Instruction Center will host the event.

Both events are scheduled from 7 to 11 p.m., and no registration is required.

Refreshments will be provided.

Undergraduates working on any research or writing project are welcome at the event.

I definitely remember writing a lot of papers between 7 and 11 p.m. (and maybe a little later than that) when I was at KU.

• I’ll be out of the office today, so no Heard on the Hill tomorrow. But I’ll still be taking tips for Heard on the Hill any time, day or night. Just send an email to ahyland@ljworld.com.