Heard by the Bird

Talk and squawk in the news

issue 3, 2022

“Who do I speak with to get a sign like this added back onto I-70?”

—Dillon Davis, c’14, in a May 20 tweet. The iconic Interstate 70 sign, shown here in 1957, stood until at least 1966, when a state report highlighted the marker: “On top of that green highway sign that greets any traveler to any exit there is a big Jayhawk striding out toward the open fields beyond the turnpike. Following him are four smaller Jayhawks, holding their heads just as high, and striding just as big.”

“Praying for peace and freedom for Ukraine and all of us.”

—Facebook post by Rusty Leffel, c’70, l’73, who used his Mission Hills yard as a canvas to show support for Ukraine.

“Research is like setting course in a forest. You get to a different clearing, and you set up camp—and once you’ve set up camp, other people can go from there and explore other things.”

—Michael Branicky, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, discussing a Stanford University database that ranked 16 KU School of Engineering faculty members among the top 2% of scientists worldwide cited in research publications.

“When a Jayhawk family spends the day at the beach.”

—Merrill Reese in a July 5 tweet sharing the sand art he and daughters Amy, j’11, and Emily sculpted while on vacation in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Other ’Hawks in the Reese flock are Merrill’s daughter Megan, c’07; son, Andrew, c’15; and wife, Linda.