Kansas State University

MANHATTAN -- On Thursday, Oct. 24, the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications will host several events related to Kansas State University's sesquicentennial. The activities are part of the culmination of yearlong celebration and take place during Homecoming Week.

At 10:30 a.m., Jane P. Marshall will give the 14th annual Huck Boyd Lecture in Community Media, "Wildcats, Newspapers and Mulberry Pie: Stories from the Kitchen Table." The lecture will be in university's Alumni Center Ballroom. Marshall is the author of "Teatime to Tailgates: 150 Years at the K-State Table." Marshall, who has a home economics/journalism degree from Kansas State University and who was a newspaper editor and reporter for more than 25 years, grew up on a farm in the Kansas Flint Hills. She currently teaches food writing and is the communications coordinator for the university's College of Human Ecology. The lecture is free and open to the public.

A luncheon will honor Dolph Simons Jr., chairman of the World Company in Lawrence, and Gary Shorman, president and CEO of Eagle Communications Inc., and Bob Schmidt, chairman and retired president and CEO of Eagle Communications. Eagle Communications is a Kansas-based broadband services and media company with corporate headquarters in Hays.

The three men will receive Kansas Leader of the Year awards in community journalism. The awards are given by the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development and the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media, both based at Kansas State University.

The luncheon also honors Richard Fatherley, the late program director of WHB Radio in Kansas City in the "Top 40" radio era. David MacFarland, Kansas State University associate professor emeritus of journalism and mass communications, and other fellow historians recently completed a book that Fatherley had begun before his death. The book, "The Birth of Top 40 Radio," will be released by McFarland Publishing later this fall.

In the afternoon, the Great Plains Radio History Symposium will focus on Kansas State University's contributions to radio. Ralph and Mary Ellen Titus will discuss the history of KSAC/KKSU. Ralph Titus was a longtime KSAC program director and manager and the only person to win the Kansas Association of Broadcasters award for classical music DJ. Mary Ellen Titus is writing a history of the station. A panel of former and current staff members will talk about working at the station. In addition, a panel of former and current staff members of student radio station KSDB will share their experiences working at that station. The symposium is from 1-5 p.m. in the Hemisphere Room of Hale Library. It is free and open to the public. Attendees will be able to view the sesquicentennial exhibit, "Generations of Success: K-State History in Special Collections," in the gallery adjacent to the Hemisphere Room.

The lecture is sponsored by the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and the symposium is sponsored by the center, K-State Libraries and the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development.