Jayhawk Runner To Participate In Traditions Night

Aug. 15, 2005

Lawrence, Kan. –

KU middle distance runner Mark Gdowski, a student-athlete from Fremont, Neb., will be participating in the torch ceremony at Traditions Night on Monday, Aug. 15, 2005, at 8 p.m. in Memorial Stadium. The microbiology major will be the junior class representative.

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About 2,000 new and returning students as well as faculty, staff and the public annually attend Traditions Night. Diana Carlin, dean of KU’s Graduate School and International Programs, will emcee the program that will include music by the KU Marching Jayhawk Band, directed by James Hudson, conductor.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway; Marlesa Roney, vice provost for Student Success; Nick Sterner, student body president; Jim Marchiony, associate director of athletics and Bonnie Henrickson, women’s basketball coach will each speak briefly. James Carothers, KU professor of English, will talk briefly about KU’s history and traditions – including the torch ceremony. Michael Davis, the Kansas Alumni Association’s senior vice president for alumni programs, will teach new students the fight song and the Rock Chalk Chant.

The 2005 passing of the torch will begin about 8:55 p.m. with a representative of the Mortar Board honor society, Audrey Worthing, Dallas, Texas, bringing the torch from the Rock Chalk Cairn to pass it to the senior class representative, Whitney Ryan, Tulsa, Okla. As Ryan proceeds downhill toward the stadium, she will pass the torch to the junior class representative, Mark Gdowski Fremont, Neb. He will pass the torch to the sophomore representative, Jessica Fleming, Omaha, Neb., who will pass the torch to the freshmen, Miller and Wagstaff, to carry it into the stadium.

KU’s Traditions Night program has received national recognition as an exemplary practice that actively engages students in learning about the culture and traditions of the campus.