About the chancellor

Robert E. Hemenway
16th Chancellor of the University of Kansas Office
230 Strong Hall
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas 66045
p (785) 864-3131
f (785) 864-4120 Home
1532 Lilac Lane
Lawrence, Kansas 66044
p (913) 841-0989 Education
Hastings, Neb. High School, 1959
University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1963, B.A.
Kent State University, 1966, Ph.D. Personal
Wife:          Leah Renee Hattemer, married December 19, 1981
Children:    8 children, 7 grandchildren
Hobbies:    Duplicate Bridge, Walking Academic Experience
Faculty
1966-68      University of Kentucky, Assistant Professor of English
1968-73      University of Wyoming, Assistant and Associate Professor of American Studies
1973-81      University of Kentucky, Associate Professor and Professor of English  

Administration
1981-86      University of Kentucky, Chair, Department of English
1986-89      University of Oklahoma, Dean of Arts and Sciences
1989-95      University of Kentucky, Lexington Campus, Chancellor
1995-Present     University of Kansas, Chancellor Significant Positions, Kansas
American Council on Education, Board of Directors, 2001-2004

American Council on Education, Commission on Women, 1998-2000

Chairman, Association of American Universities Accreditation and Ratings Committee, 1998-2000

National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, Board of Directors, 2002-2004

NASULGC Commission on Human Resources and Social Change, Chair, 2003-2004

NCAA Division I, Board of Directors, 1999-2005

NCAA Division I, Executive Committee, 2001-2005

NCAA Division I, Chair, Board of Directors, 2002-2005

NCAA Division I, Presidents Task Force, 2005-2006

Big XII Conference, President, Board of Directors, 1998-2000

Midwest Research Foundation, Kansas City, Board of Directors

Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute, Board of Directors, 2000-2005

USBank, Kansas City, Board of Directors, 1997-present

KU Hospital Authority Board, Vice-Chairman

Hall Family Foundation Board, 2004-present

Kansas City Area Development Council, Executive Committee, 1999-2002

U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Chairman, Civilian Advisory Committee, 2000-2001

Kansas University Endowment Association, Executive Board

Kansas Bioscience Authority, Board of Directors, 2005-present

Governor Sebelius’ National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Task Force, 2007 Significant Positions, Kentucky And Oklahoma
Dean, Kentucky Governor's Scholar's Program, 1984-86 (Five week Governor's School for 300 academically talented high school juniors, summer 1984, 1985, 1986.)

Chairman Designate, Faculty Senate Council, University of Kentucky, 1985-86 (resigned to accept Deanship at Oklahoma)

Governor's Task Force on Literacy, 1987-89, Oklahoma

Board of Directors, Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences, 1987-89

Chairman, Literature Section, National Research Council, Ford Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowships, 1980-1981

Board of Trustees, Executive Committee, Oklahoma High School of Science and Mathematics, 1986-89

Chair, Civil Rights Advisory Committee, Kentucky Arts Council, 1984-86

Director, Ford Foundation Project, "The Empowerments of Literacy," 1987-89, University of Oklahoma Selected College Accomplishments During Deanship Of Arts And Sciences, Oklahoma, 1986-89
Twenty-five percent increase in proposals submitted for external funding; Fifteen percent increase in Grants Awarded; Forty-eight percent increase in external funding from grants and contracts

Passage of and implementation of new General Education Program

Implementation of Review Procedure for all Departmental Chairs, and review of all Departments' Promotion and Tenure Criteria

Kerr Foundation Grant for summer program in Science and Mathematics for High School Juniors, $250,000

Three Endowed Chairs created and funds secured over 2.5 million in external private funds raised

Outstanding Administrator of the Year, 1988, Black Student Association Selected Campus Accomplishments During Chancellorship, University Of Kentucky, 1989-1995
Increase from 12 (1989) to 82 (1994) of National Merit Scholars enrolled in Freshman Class

Increase in average ACT of entering Freshmen from 23.9 (1989) to 24.8 (1993)

Affirmative Action Program resulting in hiring of 48 tenure track African-American faculty, including Dean of Education, and Dean of Human Environmental Sciences; hiring of 101 women faculty

Integration of Sorority System

Twenty-six percent increase in minority enrollment

Dean of Undergraduate Studies office established (to focus on improvements of undergraduate learning experience, and to oversee general education)

Creation of Staff Council (to advise Chancellor on issues affecting staff)

Twenty percent average salary raise for faculty/staff, 1989-91; nineteen percent increase in Base Budget, 1989-91; state mandated 12% cut, 1992-93, handled without layoffs and without across-the-board reductions; restructuring and realignment effort, 1992-93, resulting in merger of two colleges, elimination of 12 degree programs, and reallocation of $1.2 million; elimination of 37 degree programs, 1993-94

$45 million in capital projects, including new Civil Engineering Building, and new Agricultural Research Farm

$35 million in private funds raised by Lexington Campus Colleges

Increase in research expenditures: Fiscal year 1993, grants and contracts received by Lexington

Campus faculty: $31,168,217

Creation of Central Advising and Transfer Center

Creation of Teaching and Learning Center Selected University Accomplishments During Chancellorship, University of Kansas, 1995-Present
$70 million for "Crumbling Classrooms Project," construction of new buildings and renovation of existing buildings, 1996-present

$234 million for new construction (student recreation center, renovation of residence halls, athletic facilities, etc.), 1996-present

Creation of $21 million campus landscape plan

Creation of Freshman-Sophomore Advising Center

$560 million in private funds raised, 1995-present; Capital Campaign of $500 million, 2001-2004

134% increase in freshmen National Merit Scholars enrolling, from 45 (1995) to 105 (2001)

Increase in average, entering ACT score of freshmen from 23.7 (1995) to 24.5 (2001)

Hiring of 83 new minority faculty, 1995-present

169 new women faculty hired, 1995-present

Increase from $95 million (1995) to $224 million (2001) in research expenditures

Creation of Dole Institute of Politics

Reorganization of Administrative structure, eliminating Executive Vice Chancellor layer of bureaucracy

Goal set for KU to be one of Top 25 public research universities by 2010

55 new patents issued, 1995-present

19 new start-up companies, using KU intellectual property

Created new public authority, Kansas University Hospital Public Authority, resulting in 76% increase in net income, 25,000 new outpatient visits, 1800 new inpatient visits, and growth in total assets of $125 million Publications
Books or Parts of books:

Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977 ) . ( Paperback, 1980 ) . ( English Edition, Camden Press, 1986 ) . Quality Paperback Book Club Selection, 1991.
Reviews:

• New York Times Book Review , Feb. 19, 1978
• New York Times , June 1978
• The New Republic , Feb. 11, 1978
• Ms. , June 1978
• Washington Post Book World , April 16, 1978
• New York Review of Books , Dec. 21, 1978
• American Literature , 50 (1979), 661-662
• The Hudson Review , 32 (1979), 151-154
• The Black Scholar , May-June 1978, 87-88
  

"Foreword," Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters , by Carla Kaplan, Doubleday/Anchor, 2002.

"Their Eyes Were Watching God: The Personal Dimension," in Their Eyes Were Watching God: New Directions , ed. Michael Awkward, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

"In the American Canon," in Redefining American Literary History , ed. Lavonne Ruoff and Jerry Ward, (New York: Modern Language Association, 1990.)

Introduction, Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1984).   Reviews: New York Times Book Review , April 21, 1985.   Translation: Dutch: Amsterdam: Het Wereldvenster, 1987.

"Hurston Buzzards and Elijah's Ravens," in Rainbow Round Her Shoulder: The Zora Neale Hurston Symposium Papers , Morgan State University Press, 1982.

Introduction, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (New York: Penguin, 1981).

"Are You a Flying Lark or a Setting Dove," in The Reconstruction of Instruction: Teaching Afro-American Literature (New York: Modern Language Association, 1978).

Introduction to Mules and Men (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1978).

Introduction to The Late Charles Brockden Brown (Columbia, S.C.: J. Faust and Co., 1976).

Introduction to Born to Be: The Autobiography of Taylor Gordon (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975).

The Black Novelist , ed. Robert Hemenway (Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Co., 1970).

"Zora Neale Hurston and the Eatonville Anthropology," in The Harlem Renaissance Remembered , ed. Arna Bontemps (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1972), 190-214. Articles
Various articles, reviews, and op-ed pieces in such periodicals as The New York Times , Chronicle of Higher Education , Kansas City Star , Wichita Eagle , Louisville Courier Journal , Lexington Herald Leader , American Literature , Modern Fiction Studies , Journal of American Folklore , Journal of Black Studies , and elsewhere. Honors And Awards
Graduation with Honors in English, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1963.

N.D.E.A. Graduate Fellowship, Kent State University, 1963-66.

Phi Beta Kappa (Honorary, 1989)

National Endowment for the Humanities Younger Humanist Fellow, 1970-71.

National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellow, 1974-75. (Spent at Folklore Institute, Indiana University).

University of Kentucky Distinguished Research Award, 1978.

New York Times, "Best Books of 1978," December 3, 1978.
"Best Biography of 1977," Society of Midland Authors. (Shared with John Bartlow Martin.)

Rembert W. Patrick Prize, Florida Historical Society, 1978, awarded to best book about a Florida Subject.

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Fellow, 1980.

Over $2 million dollars in Research and Project Grants as P.I., 1969-present: National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Ky. Humanities Council, Kerr Foundation, National Science Foundation.

Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Nebraska, Omaha, 1994.

Commencement Speaker, Kent State University, 1994.

Distinguished Alumnus Award, Kent State University, 2000.

Commencement Speaker, Hastings college, Hastings, Nebraska, 2000.

Honorary Degree in Letters, Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska, 2000.

Honorary Doctorate, University of Nebraska, Omaha, 2001.

Honorary Doctorate, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru, 2002.

Named 7th Most Influential Person in College Athletics, by Smith & Street’s Sports Business Journal, 2004 National Interviews
Humanities, NEH Journal, December, 1983.

National Public Radio, "Voices in the Wind," February 4, 1979.

Washington Post , May 21, 1978.

Humanities (Newsletter of NEH), November 1977.

American Playhouse , PBS, February 14, 1990.

National Endowment for the Arts, CD on Zora Neale Hurston and Their Eyes Were Watching God, January 2006. Lectures
Lectures on Zora Neale Hurston and other topics over the past 20 years at Yale, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Florida A&M, Wesleyan, Smith, Morgan State, Fisk, VPI, Emory, Tennessee State, Florida, Indiana, Tulsa, New York-Barnard College, The Atlanta Historical Society, New Orleans, and elsewhere. Professional Duties And Consultancies
Member, Commission on the Literature and Languages of America, Modern Language Association, 1979-82.
Member, National Council, American Studies Association, 1979-81.

Script consultant, WGBH-TV, Boston, 1980; KCET-TV, Los Angeles, 1990.

ESL consultant, Haitian Task Force, Lexington, Kentucky, 1983. Public Service
Project Director, Poetry to the People Project, UK-Lexington/Fayette Urban County Government, 1983-84 (NEH grant, $60,000).

Yates Elementary PTA - President, Lexington, Kentucky, 1983-84.

Columnist, Kentucky Kernel, U.K. Student Newspaper, 1978-79.

Little League Baseball Coach, 1980.

Lexington Youth Soccer Association, 1978, 1980. (Assistant Coach).

Sponsor, Haitian Refugees, 1982-86, Lexington, Kentucky.

Faith Lutheran Church, Council President, 1985, Lexington, Kentucky.

Mayor's Task Force on Youth Issues of the Nineties, Lexington, KY.

Kansas City Area Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.

Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors, 2003-present.