Dozens seek help from KU law expungement clinic; another new diversity administrator job on campus; alumnus’ visual effects team wins Oscar

photo by: Sara Shepherd

The School of Engineering complex on the University of Kansas campus is pictured Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. The newest building, LEEP2, in the center, opened in August 2015.

I checked with organizers this week and learned that more than 40 people hoping to expunge items from their criminal records sought help from a University of Kansas School of Law event last weekend. The KU Legal Aid Clinic’s Feb.”Clean Slate” Expungement Clinic, which I wrote about beforehand (see that story here), took place Feb. 25.

KU legal interns met with 44 people, all deemed financially eligible for the clinic’s help, said Meredith Schnug, KU Legal Aid Clinic associate director and clinical associate professor of law.

“We are now in the process of determining which clients will be eligible to file for expungement; for those who are not, we will provide them further legal advice about when they may be eligible or what they need to do to become eligible,” Schnug said this week, via email.

She said the clinic was continuing to get calls from more people seeking expungements. “So far, we think it was a very successful event,” she said.

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Also this week, while trolling job postings for my Heard on the Hill about other schools currently in the market for CEOs) I came across a posting for another new diversity administrator job at KU. Similar to a position created last year in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and filled by professor Jennifer Hamer, the KU School of Engineering is seeking a senior faculty member to become the school’s associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Diversity is a challenging area for engineering, and not just at KU. “Successful candidates are expected to be leaders in advancing diversity and inclusion for faculty, students, and staff, and also contribute to the development of academic and research programs in which women and underrepresented minorities are fully represented,” the KU job description says.

The KU jobs website indicates the posting has expired or the position has been filled. I have a message out to the engineering school to check on the status of the selection process.

UPDATE: Engineering just announced who’s been hired as its associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion this week, according to Cody Howard, the school’s public relations director. It’s Andrew Williams, currently a professor and director of the Humanoid Engineering & Intelligent Robotics Lab at Marquette University. Williams, who’s scheduled to start in July, earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from KU and has served on the School of Engineering advisory board since 2013.

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Last but not least glamorous, a KU alumnus appears to have won an Oscar on Sunday. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences shared, in a tweet, that former KU film and media studies student Barry St. John was a member of the visual effects team for “The Jungle Book,” which won an Oscar in that category.

Another fun fact from St. John’s imdb.com resume? He started as a production assistant on KU film professor Kevin Willmott’s 2004 “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America,”.

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• I’m the Journal-World’s KU and higher ed reporter. See all the newspaper’s KU coverage here. Reach me by email at sshepherd@ljworld.com, by phone at 832-7187, on Twitter @saramarieshep or via Facebook at Facebook.com/SaraShepherdNews.