GSU finalists carry strong research credentials
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The weighty credentials of the two finalists read more like those of a candidate for top job at a prominent medical institution.
Instead the two are vying for the top spot at Georgia State University, Georgia’s largest urban research university.
On one CV: Adjunct professorship of pediatrics and orthopedics, expert on Medicaid and HMOs.
On the other: Consultant to the World Health Organization and author of a book on cancer epidemiology.
Academics Deborah Freund, an expert on health care, and Harris Pastides, an epidemiologist, compose the short list of candidates to replace GSU’s retiring leader, Carl Patton, who plans to leave office at the end of this month.
Both candidates have extensive experience in medical fields and both have been considered for college presidencies in the past.
The selection of finalists with such strong research portfolios was no accident, said Susan Herbst, the vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University System of Georgia, which oversees GSU and the 34 other public institutions in the state.
During Patton’s 16 years at the Georgia State helm, the onetime commuter school evolved into a destination university for undergraduates and graduate students, becoming a more traditional college campus with on-campus housing and, soon, even its own Division 1 football team. GSU is now looking to “move to the next level” in research, Herbst said.
The two candidates were pared from dozens of names in a monthslong process that isn’t over.
The search was narrowed to two after finalist Guy Bailey, the chancellor of the University of Missouri at Kansas city, pulled out late last week.
Regents policy requires that finalists be named 14 days before board members choose a new president — but there’s no rule governing how long the process can go past two weeks.

ajc.com

A strong storm system that settled across much of western Kansas prompted dozens of tornado warnings Friday but no reports of fatalities or widespread damage.
Most of the tornadoes were reported in lightly populated rural areas, but a funnel cloud touched down in Ellis at 8:30 p.m., officials in that city said.
Errol Wuertz, public information officer for the Ellis County Emergency Management Office in Hays, said the tornado knocked down trees and power lines while damaging sheds and other small buildings.
Emergency workers surveying the area Friday night found no major damage, Wuertz said.
In Comanche County, dispatchers began receiving reports of tornado damage in the town of Protection at about 10 p.m.
Those reports indicated that trees and power lines had been knocked down. Sheriff’s deputies were trying to confirm reports of damage to homes and businesses.
In Stafford County, emergency workers were investigating reports of possible tornado damage south of Macksville.
Kiowa County officials said a funnel cloud passed directly over Greensburg, causing minor damage. A massive tornado destroyed most of Greensburg a year ago.
Authorities in the Trego and Gove counties also reported destruction. They said crews were out assessing the damage.
Friday’s severe weather stayed well west of the Wichita area, but National Weather Service meteorologist Mary-Beth Schreck said that could change today.
The unstable weather pattern that produced Friday’s storms has been drifting east at a rate of 50 to 100 miles a day.
The unstable air could settle over south-central Kansas today and reach the eastern part of the state on Sunday.
Weather Service meteorologist Ken Cook, recommended that those headed to the state’s lakes for Memorial Day weekend take along a weather radio.
“They really need to watch what the weather’s doing,” he said.
Today’s Wichita forecast calls for the possibility of rain in the afternoon, with a high in the upper 80s.

kansas.com

<table> </table> Plié, relevé, passé,” the teacher called out, as tawny, graceful women bent and leapt to the piano’s waltz music.</p><p>It was exactly 50 years ago, but William Whitener’s memory of first walking into Seattle’s Cornish School remains diamond-clear.</p><p>The tiny boy of 7 was enthralled at the sights and sounds, and this year — coincidentally the 50th anniversary season of the Kansas City Ballet — he decided to try to capture that in choreography.</p><p>“First Position” receives its world premiere this week alongside Donald McKayle’s new piece on Kansas City jazz. (See cover.)</p><p>Both works attempt to capture a slice of their creators’ past — the moment, perhaps, in which they knew they wanted to dance.</p><p>“What I’ve tried to do with this ballet is to show how a boy would enter the world of ballet, to evoke the awe and wonder,” said Ballet artistic director Whitener, who in March takes his company and his new work to New York’s Joyce Theater.</p><p>“I walked into Cornish and what did I find? Women in tulle dancing, many of them waltzing and posing in classical-era tableaux.”</p><p>Whitener didn’t even know you could take <em>lessons </em>in ballet. It was like a peek at a magical world largely hidden from boys.</p><p>“There are lots of ballets about girls, but it’s very seldom you see the entrance into ballet through the eyes of a boy.”</p><p>Set to music by Glazunov that oozes “ballet-ness,” the piece evokes the spirit of great classical ballets like “Giselle” or “Swan Lake” — without actually quoting them — in subtle ways that will make dancers nostalgic.</p><p>In the piece, Matthew Powell is the young man who wanders in unawares.</p><p>But he’s not playing the part of a child, Whitener said.</p><p>“He’s the spirit of youth.” Powell’s character joins a boys’ class, dances with girls, partners. Ballet characters, “moments” and fundamental techniques referenced, fleetingly.</p><p>The title, “First Position,” alludes to the first thing a student learns in ballet class, Whitener said: feet turned out to form a straight line, heels and knees touching.</p><p>The piece also contains stylistic nods to his predecessors at the Ballet, former artistic directors Tatiana Dokoudovska and Todd Bolender, which informed viewers should notice.</p><p>Nevertheless “First Position” is not just for balletomanes, Whitener said.</p><p>“It’s about evoking the awe and wonder of <em>anyone </em>first coming to ballet. I happened to be 7, but it can also happen to an adult. It’s about discovery.”</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">‘First Position’ </span></strong><br /> <strong>What: </strong>Kansas City Ballet presents William Whitener world premiere</p><p><strong>When: </strong>Thursday through Feb. 24</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Lyric Theatre</p><p><strong>Tickets: </strong>$30-$60, or $10 rush tickets for students and seniors an hour before curtain </p><p><strong>Call: </strong>816-931-2232 or kcballet.org</p><p></div>

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