For the first time, The University of Kansas is preparing to give out honorary degrees and is now accepting nominations for candidates.

The Kansas Board of Regents voted last year to let the six public universities grant honorary degrees, with restrictions.

Qualifications for the nominees include the following characteristics: intellectual, scholarly, professional achievement, creative achievement or service to humanity.

Alumni will be considered, but a connection to the university or the state of Kansas is not essential.

Nominations will be accepted until Aug.15 and reviewed by a committee appointed by Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. The degrees will be awarded next May at commencement ceremonies.

To nominate a deserving someone, click here.

For the third-consecutive year some of KU's best basketball players from the last 20 years took the court for charity as they participated in the Rock Chalk Roundball Classic June 16 at Lawrence Free State High School.

This year the event raised money for the Souter family of Lawrence, who recently lost their five-year-old daughter, Jayden, to cancer. A silent auction also helped raise money which included such items as signed jerseys from former Jayhawk greats Danny Manning and Drew Gooden, tickets to a Oklahoma City Thunder game courtesy of Nick Collison and signed boxing trunks from "Vicious" Victor Ortiz, Welterweight World Champion and die-hard Kansas fan.