Heard on the Hill: Memorial for KU professor Janet Hamburg set for April 2; Senate bill restores Pell Grant funds; KU Alzheimer’s study attracting attention; ‘Women on the Bench’ event is Thursday

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

• A public memorial service for KU dance professor Janet Hamburg is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, April 2 at the Spencer Museum of Art.

Hamburg, a nationally-known researcher and teacher, died in September.

She was particularly involved with people who had Parkinson’s disease and developed an acclaimed exercise program to help people with the disease.

A scholarship fund in her name has been established at the KU Endowment Association.

• Inside Higher Ed is reporting that the U.S. Senate’s version of a spending bill that would last for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year would restore many of the cuts made by the House.

That would include keeping the Pell Grant maximum at $5,500 per year and protecting other student aid and academic research programs, too.

The website reports that the bill, if passed, could set the stage for a potential government shutdown. So stay tuned.

• A KU Medical Center study linking the risk of Alzheimer’s disease to whether mothers have the disease is attracting a lot of national attention.

The study comes out of KUMC’s Alzheimer and Memory program.

Here’s professor and study author Jeffrey Burns talking about it in the Wall Street Journal. The Los Angeles Times also wrote about the study.

Even the Times of India picked it up, quoting KUMC assistant professor and fellow study author Robyn Honea, using the headline “Mums, not dads, pass on Alzheimer’s risk.” And, contrary to what The Times of India may believe, Honea is, in fact, a woman.

The study is published in the current issue of Neurology (but a subscription is required to read beyond the article’s abstract).

• KU’s Women in Law group will host its third annual “Women on the Bench” panel, featuring Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol A. Beier, federal district court Judge Julie A. Robinson and retired judge Kathryn Carter.

The event is free and open to the public, and is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Dole Institute of Politics.

• I’ll be in Westwood all day for the KU Hospital Board’s bi-monthly meeting, but don’t let my non-presence stop you from sending me tips for Heard on the Hill. Keep them coming at ahyland@ljworld.com.