FHSU ROAR Magazine | Fall / Winter 2022

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Meet Konnor Splichal

Konnor Splichal is a senior ceramics student from Hays. He will graduate with his BFA in Ceramics in the Fall of 2022. Konnor has earned many awards and scholarships for his works, including first place in SACAD (Scholarly and Creative Activities Day). In addition, he has received many Student Honors Exhibition awards. Konnor’s work focuses on creating functional ceramics, such as vases and lamps, which serve as elegant accents for any interior. The work depicted on this page highlights a few of his five-foot-tall floor lamps.

ABOVE

Konnor holds a salt saggar-fired doughnut that will hang on the wall and hold flowers.

ON

COVER: Courtney Ellis studying her lines for her first movie role. Photo by Meghan Oliver.

Dear Friends,

It’s fall on the beautiful campus of Fort Hays State University. We have more students living in cam pus residence halls than we have had in two years, and there is an energy on this campus we haven’t witnessed since before… well, I think you know the “before” I’m referring to. This academic year, we welcomed a student body with a renewed commit ment to get back to living the fully engaged life of a college student.

This issue of ROAR Magazine explores the boldness and the unquenchable curiosity of the people who make this institution remarkable. In the following pages, you’ll get to know Tigers who pushed through obstacles to pursue their dreams. You’ll meet an interior designer who decided in her 40s to return to FHSU to earn a degree in geosciences so she could become the lead geologist for her family’s oil drilling company. You’ll also meet a student from Nepal who is using a generous schol arship from longtime FHSU donor and champion Peter Werth to earn a nursing degree that will allow her to return home to a remote mountaintop village where the inhabitants have limited access to healthcare services.

You will also meet students who have chosen a path less traveled in pursuit of their dreams, including a graphic design senior who interned with one of the world’s most prestigious advertising agencies, not in the firm’s offices in down town Chicago, but from right here in Kansas, as well as a recent graduate of our rapidly-growing Master’s in Social Work (MSW) program who is working to free people who were wrongly sent to prison, managing a private practice, and pursuing a career as a professional actress. And I thought I had a busy schedule.

In the second installment of the Faculty Forum feature, you’ll learn things you likely never knew about dinosaurs from a world-renowned paleontologist, our own Dr. Laura Wilson.

This issue’s Forsyth Library contribution offers a look back at the origin of our institution’s beloved nom de guerre, the “Tigers.” Finally, I think you will enjoy exploring a subject current and former Tiger athletes already know very well. NCAA Division II athletic competition, especially the competition in the Mid-American Athletics Association, gives top student-athletes the chance to chase their competitive dreams without sacrificing any opportunity to pursue the challenging academic path of their choosing.

Welcome to the Fall 2022 edition of ROAR Magazine.

Kind regards,

Tisa Mason, Ed.D., CAE President

INTRODUCTIONS

Editor in Chief

Scott Cason

Creative Director Stocks Creative Managing Editor Boyce Durr

Senior Editor Dawne Leiker

Feature Writer Janette Meis Writers Scott Cason Boyce Durr Cynthia Landis Dawne Leiker

Photographers

Scott Cason David Condos

Semduk Lama Megan LaRocque Dawne Leiker

Meghan Oliver Ryann Smith Zach Woolf

Contributors

FHSU Alumni Association

FHSU Athletics

FHSU Foundation

FHSU Department of Art and Design

FHSU Department of Applied Technology

FHSU Department of Nursing

ROAR Magazine is published twice a year (fall and spring) by Fort Hays State University’s Office of University Communications.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the FHSU Alumni Association, One Tiger Place, Hays, KS 67601-3767

Letters to the Editor

There were several articles of inter est, but for me, the description of the history of Ukraine by Dr. Amber N. Nickell was the most valuable. I probably spent about three weeks in Ukraine over three years visiting several different parts of the country in the early 1990s. I found all of them interesting; many rural areas reminded me of Kansas. Dr. Nick ell’s paper was very informative and well-written; I’m sure her class this fall will be great. Thanks for sending us a copy of the magazine.

—GLENN AND BARBARA WALKER

Thanks for the great article by Dr. Am ber Nickell regarding her perspective on Ukrainian history. It would have been nice to have a short description of Dr. Nickell’s background.

KEN

& SHEILA FRAHM (‘69 & ‘68)

EDITOR: Thank you to the Frahms and Walkers for the suggestion. We’ll include this information in future Faculty Forum features. Below is a bit more on Dr. Nickell.

FHSU live-streams panel discussion on students and trauma

On September 20, 2022, Fort Hays State University hosted a panel of experts for a discussion on dealing with trauma in our schools. The conversation was moderated by Kansas News Service reporter David Condos.

Dr. Sarah Lancaster, an assistant professor in Fort Hays State University’s College of Education and an expert in this field, helped organize the event. She offered the follow ing description of the nature and extent of this issue in our society:

“Trauma is much more far-reaching than some realize. Chronic stress, poverty, parents in prison, witnessing an act of violence or feeling threatened by one, natural disasters, medical issues, etc., can all be trauma. The basic needs of all students have to be met before learning can occur. A student cannot “check” their personal life at the door and learn math because that’s what they are supposed to be doing at school.”

Dr. Lancaster was joined on the panel by Miss Kansas 2022, Ayanna Hensley, who shared her personal experiences with childhood trauma and her commitment as Miss Kansas to promote awareness of this issue across the state. Other panelists included Dr. Curtis Stevens, director of secondary education, and Dr. Lindsey Sellers, both from USD 305 in Salina, Rekala Tuxhorn, an instructor in the university’s Department of Social Work, and Amanda Brown from the FHSU Health and Wellness Services.

About Dr. Amber Nickell: Assistant Professor of History at Fort Hays State University, Amber Nickell is, first and foremost, a pub licly engaged scholar and teacher. She is dedicated to generating public Holocaust education and awareness in her community. She is a podcast host for New Books Network Jewish Studies, Eastern Europe, and Ukrainian Studies and serves as an editor for H-Ukraine.

High Plains Music Camp celebrates 75th anniversary

Since its founding in 1947 by the late Harold G. Palmer, thousands of students have attended High Plains Music Camp on the campus of Fort Hays State University. Seventy-five years later, the camp continues to offer students an unmatched opportunity to study with outstanding musicians and build new friendships with other young musicians.

Students who attended the annual camp in July of this year enjoyed a week of stimulating, concentrated study with nationally recognized musicians, teachers, and con ductors. The camp schedule included nightly professional concerts open to campers and the general public.

FHSU receives $17 million library renovation

grant

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran announced on Friday, June 10, the award of a $17 million federal grant for the renovation of Fort Hays State University’s Forsyth Library.

Moran shared his memories of grow ing up in Plainville, frequently visiting the old Forsyth Library and Sternberg Museum of Natural History, and being the first non-high school graduate to attend summer school at FHSU. Moran also spoke about the importance of the role FHSU plays in western Kansas. He shared his belief that western Kansas’s prosperity greatly depends upon whoever is the president of FHSU.

Ginger Williams, dean of library ser vices, shared an overview of the renovation project and details on the initial work of the Library Renovation Committee she chairs. Over the past several months, the commit tee sought input from students, faculty, and staff to learn more about their needs. The feedback received at these in-person town hall events, and from an online form sent to the entire campus helped shape the com mittee’s vision for a dynamic hub for student engagement and academic exploration.

Kelloggs invest in FHSU Shotgun Team success

A generous $60,000 lead gift from Lorena Kellogg and her late husband, Wilmer, will initiate the construction of a new training center to accommodate the expanding Shotgun Team at Fort Hays State University. The training center will be built at the Hays City Sportsmen’s Club just north of Hays on the 183 bypass and I-70 and will offer a large meeting room, reloading room, and office.

To contribute to the FHSU Shotgun Team and this new facility, visit foundation.fhsu.edu/donate and list “Shotgun Team” as your area of designation.

FHSU welcomes new chief of police

Following an extensive search, Fort Hays State University selected Terrance (Terry) Pierce as its next chief of police. Pierce succeeds Ed Howell, who retired from the force in June of this year after a career in law enforcement that spanned 40 years. Chief Pierce comes to FHSU from Pittsburg State University, where he served as a police sergeant for the last 11 years. A veteran of 26 years of service, Pierce brings a wealth of experience in law enforcement in a university setting.

Hays Police Department Chief Don Scheibler served on the search committee that selected Chief Pierce.

The Forsyth Library opened in 1967, and its three floors have been remod eled over the years to accommodate new departments and services. It currently houses the Writing Center, the Learning Commons, the Center for Ethnic Stud ies, the Honors College, the Tiger Food Exchange, Makerspace, and the various library departments.

“I was impressed by the qualifica tions and the professionalism of all the applicants, but Chief Terry Pierce quickly rose to the top as the best candidate to lead the Fort Hays State University Po lice Department,” said Scheibler. “Chief Pierce’s vast knowledge and law enforce ment experience will be instrumental in helping us to keep our community safe.”

Pierce received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Missouri Southern State University in 2007, where he studied as a non-tra ditional student, taking primarily online courses. In 2015, he earned a Master of Science degree in Human Resource De velopment from Pittsburg State University. He also holds a Specialist in Education degree in Workforce Development and Education from Pittsburg State University.

Before his service at Pittsburg State, Pierce served as a city councilman and police officer in Butler, Missouri.

Terrance Pierce

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran

Dane G. Hansen Foundation brings cutting-edge technology to allied health

Thanks to a $100,000 grant awarded by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, the Department of Allied Health at Fort Hays State University has recently acquired cuttingedge technology that will better prepare students for their chosen professions. FHSU dedicated an additional $75,000 in support of this project and its implementation.

At Fort Hays State University, providing students with emerging technology and training is central to its mission of fostering innovation. The new technology impacts multiple areas of medical imaging and includes a full body, radiologic imaging mannequin, and a wireless digital plate for the radiographic equipment. In addition, they have attained MRI and CT training and simulation software and multiple sonographic tissuemimicking phantoms for simulation. Working with phantoms provides real-life, hands-on learning and allows students to hone their skills before working with live patients.

Students interested in working with sonography or ultrasound can now practice on the new tissue-mimicking phantoms, which include a full abdominal model, models for different stages of pregnancy, and breast imaging. These phantoms replicate real tissue and allow students to practice a variety of scenarios frequently encountered in the field. For students interested in obstetric imaging, the phantoms mimic real pregnancies.

Plans for unique charging station on FHSU campus moving ahead

When Eric Deneault, associate profes sor of applied technology, and former informatics assistant professor Dmitry Gimon began brainstorming five years ago about a collaborative project for FHSU, they were looking for a way to create cross-discipline synergies as well as a fun gathering place on campus.

“We wanted the project to be some thing that would motivate and encourage students to get involved with under graduate research,” Deneault said. “Also, to showcase FHSU students’ content knowledge and skills through application and illustration of a physical model on campus for the community to enjoy and aid in student recruitment.”

The pair settled on creating a unique charging station design through many discussions with FHSU applied technol ogy and informatics students. Informatics students developed schematics for the project, and applied technology students did the design and construction work.

Deneault described the project as a recreational charging station utilized for outdoor entertainment while charging portable electronic devices. It boasts a dual-sided porch swing made of steel. The one-of-a-kind swing accommodates four people who can sit back-to-back. The energy created by swinging motion is transferred through a shaft to a sprocket which is then fed through a ¾ HP DC motor, creating energy that is distributed to the battery bank. So, as individuals swing, they are producing energy.

New Robbins Banking Institute director brings decades of experience to FHSU

The Fort Hays State University Robbins Banking Institute and The Kansas Bankers Association recently announced the hiring of FHSU alum Tommy Powell as its director.

With more than a decade of sales and support ex perience in the banking industry, Powell completed his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in finance in 2020; in addition, Powell has completed classes in the Robbins Banking Institute program. Powell previously served as a commercial lender in the Hays regional office of Commerce Bank.

The Robbins Banking Institute is part of FHSU’s Department of Economics, Finance, and Accounting within the W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Its purpose is to prepare students for banking industry careers to help alleviate the shortage of banking professionals in Kansas.

Under a new partnership agreement, Powell and the Robbins Banking Institute’s efforts are now managed by the Kansas Bankers Association (KBA). The KBA plans to fulfill the Robbins Banking Institute’s goals of attracting the next generation of Kansas bankers by showing prospective students the benefits of a career in banking and teach ing them the principles of community banking. As director, Powell will also manage and promote the activities of the Kansas Bankers Educational Foundation (KBEF). KBEF is a 501(c)3 non-profit subsidiary of the Kansas Bankers Association.

Federal grant drives

FHSU de-escalation training center expansion

Fort Hays State University’s Department of Criminal Justice was recently awarded an additional $1.5 million to expand operations of the Central Region De-escalation Train ing Center. This marks the department’s sec ond major federal grant award over the past year. In October 2021, the program received an initial $1.25 million grant.

FHSU hosts one of several regional training centers within a national network under the direction of the National Deescalation Training Center (NDTC). The de-escalation training model used by center instructors expands the law enforcement of ficers’ ability to interact with the people they serve and defuse potential situations that otherwise may escalate into the use of force.

THE 2022 FHSU PRESIDENT’S TOUR OF KANSAS, OKLAHOMA, NEBRASKA, AND MISSOURI

Tommy Powell

SEPTEMBER 26: Great Bend, McPherson, Pratt, and Enid, Oklahoma

SEPTEMBER 27: Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence

SEPTEMBER 28: Kansas City, Atchison, and Salina

SEPTEMBER 29: Russell, McCook, Nebraska, and Goodland

SEPTEMBER 30: Dodge City and Garden City

President’s annual media tour expands for 2022

Continuing the tradition created by President Edward Hammond more than three decades ago, Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason went on the road during the last week in Sep tember to meet with reporters, editors, and publishers in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. And for the first time, the tour included a stop in Oklahoma, where the university’s new Regional Tuition Plan has led to a doubling of enrollments from the Sooner State.

The primary goals of the annual media tour are to build strong working relation ships with members of the media, identify where FHSU experts and resources can assist in news reporting, and listen and learn about the issues of greatest concern to the readers, viewers, and listeners of each media outlet.

The most recent grant funding source comes from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) under the Byrne Dis cretionary Community Project Grants program. This program supports projects that improve the functioning of the criminal justice system.

The Department of Criminal Justice plans to use this new funding to:

• Expand the number of law enforcement officers trained in de-escalation, both via online and in-person coursework

• Grow the program’s research capa bilities to advance de-escalation as an evidence-based practice

• Host a research and training conference to disseminate lessons learned and best practices

• Support the national network of deescalation training centers with targeted in vestments that will drive long-term viability

• Launch a comprehensive advertising

campaign to increase the visibility of the center and increase the number of agency training partners

• Establish a prominent location on campus for the center’s offices and training spaces

Dr. Tamara Lynn, chair of the De partment of Criminal Justice and director of the Central Region De-escalation Training Center, recognized the efforts of U.S. Senator Jerry Moran in securing the grant, stating:

“The efforts of U.S. Senator Jerry Moran and his staff have been invaluable in securing the essential funding that drove the rapid expansion of the regional de-escalation training center at Fort Hays State University. Without Senator Moran’s support, we would not be able to train law enforcement officers in advanced deescalation to improve encounters with citizens while also advancing community policing initiatives.”

The president’s key messages focused on the intentional alignment of FHSU’s strategic plan with the Kansas Board of Regents’ strategic plan. A significant area of this alignment is a shared commitment to making a high-quality education an affordable reality for families. FHSU’s tuition and fees have long been the lowest among all KBOR system universities and unmatched nationwide.

President Mason met with journalists from small and large newspapers and specialty online news providers. She also participated in TV and radio interviews. The tour also featured two joint events that highlighted the university’s strong relationships with its Kansas community college partners along with a gathering of alumni of the university’s Bachelor of Social Work cohort program in Dodge City that a local reporter covered.

ALUMNI AWARDS

Rep. Tory Marie Blew, a Great Bend na tive, exemplifies how a degree from Fort Hays State University can shape one’s life. During her time at FHSU, Blew was a member of numerous on-campus organizations like Delta Zeta and the Student Government Association. She was a VIP ambassador for the Office of the President and served as an orienta tion leader for more than two years.

Her involvement on the Fort Hays State campus evolved into an interest in local politics. In her senior year of college, Blew ran for a seat in the 112th district in the Kansas House of Repre sentatives and won.

Since, Blew received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Educa tion, became a teacher, and is a DECA (formerly, Distributive Education Clubs of America) advisor in a rural school district. She was the youngest Kansas

legislator from 2017 to 2020. In 2022, Blew ran for reelection to extend her term and said, “Before going away for college, I always knew I’d return to my hometown. I love this community and cherish the relationships I have with

my constituents – and I will continue to fight for issues important to our district throughout my next term.”

Blew maintains a close relationship with 105th district representative Brenda Landwehr. Landwehr describes Blew as “a bright spot. Always upbeat. She works hard, and she’s fun.”

Blew resides in her hometown of Great Bend and serves as a board member for the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development while working full-time as a human resources director for Pryor Automatic Fire and Sprinkler. She also continues to work for her local Delta Zeta sorority chapter.

When she isn’t working on her many professional endeavors, Blew can be found cooking, on the golf course, or with her husband, Justin, remodeling their first home.

Confident, clever, and creative are just a few words to describe Brandon Penny, a 2013 FHSU alumnus originally from Burlington, Colorado. Penny has translat ed his eye for design into a lasting career in New York City, where he has been designing for Saks Fifth Avenue since 2018 and was recently promoted to senior designer. His work regularly appears to millions of people in emails, direct mail pieces, catalogs, store signage, website content, social media, and more.

Penny joined the art and design pro gram at FHSU to earn his Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design. Penny was a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and his creative side extended to the performing arts, where he was a member of the Fringe Theatre Company, performing in plays and musicals and designing the show posters and programs as the theatre advertising and publicity director.

Following graduation from FHSU in 2013, Penny moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., which led to several opportunities and culminated into his current role with Saks Fifth Avenue.

At Saks, Penny’s work includes high-profile category jewelry and owning business growth via redesigned loyalty program collateral.

In his nomination letter, Vincent Bowhay mentioned, “Brandon’s attention to detail and design are superb, and he brings a level of positivity to everything he does, which I believe makes him most worthy of this distinguished award.”

Angel Han, Saks senior design manager, and Brandon’s direct manager echoed Bowhay’s sentiments, saying, “Brandon Penny is a true gem, and I am so lucky to have him on the design team. The energy, passion, and enthusiasm he brings make Saks a better place for everyone.”

Penny is the son of Susanne and the late Norman Penny and brother of Christopher and Danielle.

You can view Brandon’s work by visiting behance.net/brandonpenny.

BRANDON PENNY ’13 | Young Alumni Award

REP. TORY MARIE BLEW ’16 | Young Alumni Award

DONALD J. RICHARDSON ’67, ’67, ’71 | Alumni Achievement Award

Donald J. Richardson, a 1967 and 1971 FHSU alumnus, has shared his love of the written language with his students for more than fifty years as a professor at Phoenix College in Arizona.

Richardson, a La Crosse native began cultivating his love of learning during his high school days. One of his high school instructors, Ray Newton, praised Richardson’s academic success saying, “I doubt that any other FHSU graduate has such an extensive publication record of both scholarly-academic publications as well as novels.”

Richardson received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Communica tion in 1967 and subsequently earned his Master of Arts degree in English in 1971. His education at Fort Hays State Univer sity set the foundation for him to pursue a Ph.D. at Arizona State University in Phoe nix, Arizona, where he would ultimately take up a professorship at Phoenix College.

In addition to his lifelong commit ment to learning, Richardson is a prolific writer with more than 39 completed Shakespeare Editions, among other publications. He has been inducted into the Phoenix College Hall of Fame, has

received the Phoenix Chapter Presi dent’s Award a handful of times, and has been nominated several times for the Phoenix College Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Though he’s an Arizona transplant, Richardson has remained a proud Fort Hays State Tiger, a fact he’s made known among his thousands of students and acquaintances.

A nimble 74-year-old, Richardson shows no interest in retiring anytime soon. He continues to write, publish, and educate future generations of students while working on many community betterment projects. In his free time, Richardson sings in both choirs and barbershop quartets, volunteers for Duet and the United Methodist Church Out reach Mission Program, and regularly donates blood.

Richardson lives in Phoenix and has four children.

From the western plains of Kansas to the streets of Rome, John L. Allen Jr., a 1989 FHSU alumnus and Hays native, has crafted a remarkable career that today finds him reporting from the steps of the Vatican.

Allen, a 1983 Thomas More Prep-Marian graduate, came to Fort Hays State University to study philos ophy. Following his graduation from FHSU, he attended the University of Kansas, where he graduated in 1992 with a master’s degree in religious studies.

A passion for journalism led Allen to teach journalism at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, where he also supervised the student-run newspaper, The Knight. His journalism skills became nationally known following the death of Pope John Paul II, where his commentary frequently appeared on cable news conglomerate CNN.

He later became the senior Vatican analyst for CNN and regularly lec tured on Vatican Issues. Allen wrote numerous Vatican-centered pieces for The Boston Globe as the publication’s

associate editor. Allen used these pro fessional experiences and his education to transition Crux, a website that was started for The Boston Globe, into a fully self-sustained website that offers independent coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

Allen’s work has appeared in other publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and more. He has authored eleven books about Vatican-re lated topics, from the Pope to the future of the Catholic Church.

He continues writing, editing, and producing for Crux in Rome with his wife, Elise. Allen dedicated this award to his mother, Laura Ilene Allen, who passed in 1999 after serving as a faculty member in the Department of Nursing at Fort Hays State in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

JOHN L. ALLEN JR. ’89 | Alumni Achievement Award

Mike McCarthy, a 1989 alumnus, ties the success he has enjoyed as an NFL head coach to his first coaching experience at FHSU.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a father who worked in public safety and a mother who worked for the state, McCarthy and his four siblings grew up working to make their commu nity stronger.

After graduating high school, Mc Carthy attended Baker University in Baldwin City and played as a tight end. He then moved on to FHSU and joined John Vincent in coaching the Tigers for the 1987 and 1988 seasons as a graduate coaching assistant. At FHSU, McCarthy studied sports administration and coached linebackers until his graduation in 1989. He furthered his education at the Uni versity of Pittsburgh, where he worked as a graduate assistant before coaching wide receivers for the 1992 season.

McCarthy joined the Kansas City Chiefs organization in 1993 and re mained with the team until he became the quarterbacks coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1999.

From 2000 to 2004, McCarthy worked for the New Orleans Saints. In his first season as offensive coordinator, McCarthy was named NFC Assistant Coach of the Year by USA Today. He then spent 2005 with the San Francisco 49ers as offensive coordinator before returning to Green Bay as head coach.

McCarthy served for more than twelve years as Packers head coach, one of the teams most successful stretches in franchise history. Led by future Hall of Fame quar terback Aaron Rogers, McCarthy’s Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 2011.

In 2020, McCarthy was named head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

McCarthy and his wife, Jessica, have five children. Together, they created the McCarthy Family Foundation which has supported outreach to the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, among other initiatives.

1965 FHSU alumna Dr. Judith “Judy” (Sims) Billings followed her passion for nursing to educate and serve her community.

Billings first put her dreams into action as an aide at the Smith County Memorial Hospital before attending Fort Hays State to study nursing. After graduating from FHSU, Billings moved to Kearney, Nebraska, where she worked as a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital.

Billings began educating future nurses in 1968 at St. Francis School of Nursing in Grand Island, Nebraska. After com pleting her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Minnesota in Minne apolis, she taught at South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota.

In 1976, Billings continued her pro fessional career at Kearney State College (aka University of Nebraska Kearney), where she served as an instructor and de

partment chair. During that time, she de veloped and managed the first bachelor’s degree nursing program west of Lincoln, Nebraska. By the time Billings retired in 2005 from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing, she saw the graduation of more than 1,000

students from the Kearney program.

Billings’ work has been recognized in a myriad of honors and awards, including the Nebraska Nurses Association Out standing Achievement in Nursing Award, Kearney State College’s Council of Deans Distinguished Service Award, Nebraska Nurse’s Association Outstanding Nurse Educator Award, the Freedom Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service, and more. She was also invited to Washing ton, D.C., to participate in a think tank about the future of patient/family council care in communities.

Billings has remained active in com munity service projects, serves on several guilds and church committees, and regu larly volunteers at CHI Good Samaritan Hospital. In her free time, Billings enjoys reading, traveling, sewing, and quilting.

Billings lives in Kearney and has five children.

MIKE MCCARTHY ’89 | Alumni Achievement Award

DR. JUDITH “JUDY” (SIMS) BILLINGS ’65 | Alumni Achievement Award

FALL SPORTS RECAP

Men’s Soccer Seeks 10th Straight Appearance in NCAA Tournament

In just 11 years, the Fort Hays State Men’s Soccer program has built quite a resume in a relatively short time compared to other sports at FHSU. The Tigers have enjoyed a winning season every year and currently hold the nation’s longest active streak of consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division II National Tournament.

The Tigers have produced 11 or more wins every year except for the COVID-19 shortened spring season during the 202021 academic year, in which the team only played a total of seven matches. Putting up at least 11 wins every year is not an easy feat considering teams can only play a max imum of 18 regular season games. The run of national tournament appearances began in the program’s second year (2012). The Tigers are looking to put together a strong enough resume again in the fall of 2022 for a 10th-straight appearance.

The Tigers have already made quite a bit of history in the string of national tourna ment appearances, making it to the national semifinals once (2018) and the national quarterfinals four times (2014, 2015, 2016, 2021). Eleven individuals have garnered All-America honors, including one national player of the year, and eight have earned conference offensive or defensive player of the year honors. The men’s program holds an overall record of 132-54-23 heading into the 2022 season.

Football

Football entered its 11th season under head coach Chris Brown in 2022. Brown has estab lished a strong 71-43 record since taking over the program in 2011. The Tigers made ap pearances in postseason games for four straight years from 2015 to 2018, playing in two bowl games before a pair of NCAA Playoff appearances in 2017 and 2018. The Tigers have won two MIAA titles under Brown’s guidance. The Tigers returned nine All-MIAA selections to this year’s team, including 2021 All-America First Team tight end selection Hunter Budke. Quarterback Chance Fuller is on the cusp of breaking the career passing yards record at FHSU while already holding the single-season and career passing touchdown records.

Chance Fuller

Volleyball

Tiger Volleyball entered its fifth year under head coach Jessica Wood-Atkins in 2022. The Tigers won 13 matches in 2021, their most under Wood-Atkins' guidance. All-MIAA performers from 2021 returning to this year’s squad included Morgan Christiansen, Riley Tinder, and Claire Olson. Christiansen, Olson, and Tinder were all MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award recipi ents, while Olson, Tinder, and returner Emily Ellis were MIAA Academic Excellence Award recipients with perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Women’s Soccer

Women’s Soccer will enter its first year under head coach Tyson John in 2022. The Tigers went 8-8-3 in 2021. The program has qualified for the MIAA Tourna ment seven straight seasons, with two appearances in the NCAA Tournament during its 11-year history. Emily Hutchings and Reilly Madden are All-MIAA perform ers returning to the team this year. Both were MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award recipients last year, each with 3.9 cumulative GPAs.

New Leadership for Two Sports

The Fort Hays State Women’s Soccer and Baseball pro grams saw head coaching changes prior to the start of the 2022-23 academic year. Tyson John is the new head coach of the women’s soccer program, while Justin Wichert takes over the baseball head coach position.

TYSON JOHN John brought 13 years of head coaching experience at the four-year college level to FHSU. Most recently, he was at NCAA Division I member University of South Carolina Upstate, where he coached for six years from 2016 to 2021. While there, he took a strug gling program that had never won more than four matches in a season to six wins his first season, and a program-record 11 wins a few years later.

Before his six years at USC Upstate, John was head coach for five years at Martin Meth odist College in Tennessee from 2011 to 2015, and the program had at least 14 wins all five seasons. He coached Martin Methodist to a pair of NAIA National Quarterfinal appearances. John started his head coaching career at Lyon College in Arkansas, where he coached for two seasons from 2009 to 2010, and the team won at least 10 matches each season. John replaces Blake Reynolds, who coached the FHSU program from 2017 to 2021 and won 39 matches over the four seasons.

JUSTIN WICHERT

Wichert comes to FHSU from Trinidad State College in Colorado, where he was head coach for four years, from 2019 to 2022. He led the program to 112 wins over four seasons, including two trips to the postseason. Wichert had previous expe rience at the NCAA Division II level as an assistant coach at both University of Arkan sas-Fort Smith and Pittsburg State University. He also spent time as an assistant at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. As a student-athlete, Wichert pitched at both Cowley College and William Jewell College and was draft ed by the San Diego Padres.

Tyson John

Justin Wichert

BICKLE-SCHMIDT ATHLETIC COMPLEX

Fort Hays State University has unveiled plans for a new athletic complex. This game-changing facility will span nearly 20,000 square feet in the south end zone of Lewis Field.

With the growth of our athletic programs, we’ve outgrown current training facilities. The Bickle-Schmidt Athletic Complex will be well-utilized by our football team, but will enhance training capabilities for all student-athletes.

The complex will offer position-specific meeting rooms, coaches offices, a team meeting room large enough to facilitate 130 athletes, and a locker room fit for 130 as well.

Through the generosity of several supporters who have already stepped forward to help make this dream facility a reality, we are well on our way. However, additional fundraising is needed. There are several opportunities available to those interested in being a part of this exciting new addition to Fort Hays State. Keep in mind that any gift or naming can be made in honor of a loved one, on behalf of your business, or in memory of a family member or friend.

How You Can Help:

Make a gift to the Bickle-Schmidt Athletic Complex in any amount – large or small.

Name a football locker at $3,000 each. You have the option to pay $3,000 in full or make an initial payment of $1,000 and be billed annually for the remaining payments.

Name a space within the athletic complex. Spaces range from $50,000 - $500,000.

Contact Jason or Curtis to visit further about the opportunities available:

Jason Williby

Curtis Hammeke

Director of Athletics, FHSU Athletics 785-628-5620 or jjwilliby3@fhsu.edu

President and CEO, FHSU Foundation

785-628-4050 or chammeke@fhsu.edu

To make a gift or to learn more, visit https://foundation.fhsu.edu/athletic-complex

Roof From the of the World

to the Plains of Kansas

STORY BY BOYCE DURR PHOTOS BY ZACH WOOLF AND SEMDUK LAMA

ONE STUDENT’S JOURNEY

The Himalayas, home to many of the world’s high est mountain peaks, separates the Indian subcon tinent from the Tibetan Plateau. This range of massive mountains covers more than 1,500 square miles and passes through India, Pakistan, Afghani stan, China, Bhutan, and Nepal.

While snow-topped peaks can be seen throughout the year, the greater mountain range includes a wide variety of grasslands, shrublands, and forests. Glacial runoff and natural springs make up many rivers and mountain lakes, providing life-sustaining water throughout the region.

While some areas within these mountains support cities with large populations, like Kabul in Afghanistan, with a population of almost 4.5 million, or Kathmandu in Nepal, with nearly 1.5 million people, these are the exceptions. Most of this area is relatively unpopulated, with small remote villages being the norm and some of the last truly nomadic tribes’ peoples wandering this wilderness.

The people in these remote locations must be self-sufficient, with smallfarm agriculture being the primary means of subsis tence. Growing crops and raising animals like goats and yaks produce much of what the villagers use for food and trade with others for the few essentials they lack.

It is one of these small villages, Pugmo, in the mountains of Nepal, that Fort Hays State University sophomore Nyima Gyalmu Lama calls home. With just 44 households, Pugmo is located within Shey Phoksundo Nation al Park, Nepal’s largest national park. Like most of the villages in this area, Pugmo is accessible only by foot or helicopter, as there are no roads, trails, or paths suitable for vehicles to travel.

“It is a two-day trek from Pugmo to the Dolpa airport in Juphal, where you can take a plane to Kathmandu,” Nyima ex

plains as she describes the route she would take from her home to Nepal’s capital city.

How exactly does someone from such a remote village in Ne pal find their way to Hays, Kansas, to study nursing? The answer to that question involves overcoming challenges, making sacrifices, and seizing opportunities when they arise.

A lifelong advocate of education, Nyima’s father, Semduk Lama, went to great lengths to support her and her four siblings in their education. Due to the challenges of living in such a remote location, Nyima’s father enrolled her and her younger brother, Tsuldrim, in a boarding school in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, when she was only six years old. He did this to ensure they would have more opportu nities than if they had stayed in their village.

In addition to leading the rural hometown school, which he founded nearly 25 years ago, and is now the managing director, Nyima’s father does social work for the benefit of the village. He helps promote overall health and hygiene; he helps raise funds for the preservation of cultural monuments, local folk songs, and other cul tural traditions; and he pro motes skilled local training like crafting and painting.

The local school runs from March to Septem ber or October each year because of brutally cold winters. The lack of heating systems makes keeping the school operating in the winter months impossible. Instead of going to school for half of each year, Nyima grew up studying year-round in boarding school.

The time studying in Kathmandu was a period of growth for Nyima. She lived in a boarding school hostel, similar in many ways to college dorms in the United States. She attended classes where English was the only language they were allowed to speak during the school day. Nyima communicated with other students in

How exactly does someone from such a remote village in Nepal find their way to Hays, Kansas, to study nursing?

The answer to that question involves overcoming challenges, making sacrifices, and seizing opportunities when they arise.

Nepali, the official language of Nepal, only outside of school and rarely spoke Kham, the language spoken in her village back home.

Communication with her family, or anyone from her village, was limited to the occasional handwritten letter as there were no phones, email, or other electronic communication options available in her town at that time.

Nyima witnessed her father’s dedication to education for the people of their village grow through the years while she was studying in Kathmandu. Once she graduated from high school, Nyima discussed what she would do next with her family. At her father’s suggestion, Nyima decided to study forestry. He believed it would provide Nyima with a career that would be of benefit to the community and their village’s national park.

However, from a young age, Nyima recognized the lack of medical care throughout her village and always hoped she would be able to do something to help. A desire to address these needs led her to discover a love of physical education, health, and science.

After returning to Kathmandu and beginning to work on her bachelor’s degree in forestry, Nyima discovered a scholarship opportunity from Peter Werth Jr. that would allow her to change her focus and study nursing in America. A Hays native, Werth is a 1959 Fort Hays State University graduate. Through his philan thropic work, particularly in the area of education, Werth’s gen erosity has impacted the lives of many students across the globe, students like Nyima.

As a graduate of FHSU with a Bachelor of Science in chem istry, Werth used his background to create many life-changing

entrepreneurial and service initiatives. In 1982, he founded ChemWerth Inc. in Woodbridge, Conn. ChemWerth develops active ingredients used in gener ic drugs. Through his philanthropic contributions, he became the namesake of FHSU’s Peter Werth College of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, as well as the Peter Werth Black and Gold Room in FHSU’s Memorial Union.

Nyima’s desire to help others and focus on the public good found a kindred spirit in Peter Werth. So, how did these simi lar-natured individuals cross paths? Peter’s son, Peter Werth III (Pete), is the founder and director of Himalaya Currents Inc, a 501 C3 nonprofit that works on energy and educational projects throughout villages in the Dolpa region of Nepal.

It was through this work that Nyima’s father came to know Pete. Pete approached Peter with the idea of providing a scholar ship for a student in Nepal, for which Nyima was eventually able to apply. After completing an application for the Peter Werth scholarship, Nyima was selected for the program.

“I am very thankful and happy to have been given this incred ible opportunity,” she said. “I want to thank the Werths, especially Mr. Peter, for this opportunity. The whole experience is just far beyond my expectations.”

Nyima’s parents were hesitant about her traveling to the United States – so far from home. However, they valued the educational opportunity for her future. Honored to be chosen from among many applicants, she prepared herself for a new adventure.

“I never dreamed I would be able to study in the United States,” Nyima said. “I feel very fortunate.”

Nyima spent her freshman year completing courses through the FHSU Online program from Nepal while awaiting visa approvals and the lifting of COVID restrictions. She maintained a grade point average of 4.0 during this time.

Arriving in Hays in January of 2022 and setting foot on the campus of Fort Hays State was exciting but also a bit of a cultural shock for Nyima. It took several weeks for her to adjust to the lack of spices and overall sweetness in American food and drink.

“I am still surprised how many cold drinks, like iced coffee and tea, people drink here, even in the winter,” Nyima said, comparing the food to her native cuisine back in Nepal. She even admits that she cannot eat many things, like muffins, because they are so sweet compared to the ones she had in Nepal.

As a sophomore, Nyima now lives on campus in Agnew Hall, enjoying classes in anatomy, psychology, music, and statistics, and is working in the Forsyth Library.

“I am finishing my general coursework and look forward to more health-related courses in the future,” Nyima said.

Thanks in part to the work of the Werth family, the people of Pugmo now have access to technologies that were unavailable until recently. Almost every home has a television and cell phones, and access to the internet is now available within the village, making communication with the outside world readily available. There are even social media pages, like Nyima’s father’s school Facebook page, which highlights many of the school and village activities. You can visit the page at: facebook.com/TaprizaSchoolDolpoNepal

“My instructors here at Fort Hays State University have been remarkable,” she added, “and I’m absolutely loving my studies.”

As part of the scholarship agreement between Nyima and Peter Werth, she must earn her nursing license and serve her hometown village of Pugmo for at least three years following graduation.

Nyima’s experience with the lack of modern medical services in northern Nepal continues to motivate her. Her goal is to bring knowledge and access to healthcare to those in her village.

Pugmo is a community of people engaged in physically taxing work, where the inhabitants are relatively uneducated about mod ern medicine and healthcare, and they have been forced to address medical issues on their own for generations.

Nyima understands the demands of agricultural work and how it may impact others’ willingness to report problems. She intends to work hard to reduce those barriers and to build trust with the people of her community. She knows trust is essential in getting the villagers to follow her medical advice.

You, too, can change the trajectory of a student’s life. For more information, call the FHSU Foundation at 785-628-5620, email foundation@fhsu.edu or visit foundation.fhsu.edu.

STORY BY SCOTT CASON PHOTOS BY MEGHAN OLIVER

Triple Ellis

Life OF

Courtney

FEW OF US CAN PACK AS MUCH LIVING AND IMPACT INTO A 24-HOUR PERIOD AS FHSU ALUM COURTNEY ELLIS ‘20, ‘21.

By day, she works as a champion for the wrongly incarcerated with the Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) in Kansas City. And in the evening and on weekends, she divides her time between managing her private therapy services practice and chasing a lifelong professional dream vastly different than what she does as a social work professional.

LIVE ON STAGE

The Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) was founded at the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law in 2000. It operates today as a partnership with UMKC, the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas, the Nebraska Innocence Project, the Iowa State Public Defender’s Wrongful Conviction Divi sion, and other regional organizations and universities. MIP is part of a nationwide network of organizations dedicated to freeing the wrongfully incarcerated. The organization’s mission is to educate about, advocate for, and obtain and support the exoneration and release of wrongfully convicted people.

The staff at the MIP includes around 20 people, but Courtney Ellis is the only licensed professional social worker in the organization. She is responsible for as sisting both freed and incarcerated clients and area exonerees in their effort to tran sition to life outside prison after wrongful incarceration. Her responsibilities include providing case management, crisis inter vention, and reentry and support services.

Ellis’ path to this role is not one she would have predicted when she came to Fort Hays State as a transfer student

from Dodge City Community College in 2017. Kendal Carswell serves as the field director for the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) degree programs. One of his jobs is to secure capstone clinical experiences known as “practicums” for students in both programs. Carswell is very good at his job. This year alone, he has placed 108 students in 41 communities and environ ments ranging from schools to hospitals to social services agencies.

In the spring of 2020, Carswell was working on a new relationship with an organization whose noble work intrigued him-the Midwest Innocence Project. After several meetings and phone calls, Carswell convinced the MIP leadership to take on an intern. He knew that he needed to right person with the right skills and temperament to serve as the first social work intern with the organi zation. He’d known Ellis since her time in the BSW program and knew her to be mature, resourceful, and self-confident.

Carswell worked with her through a challenging BSW practicum experience at Larned State Hospital, the largest psychiatric facility in Kansas. He felt

that this experience demonstrated to him that Ellis was not easily discouraged and would bring creativity and thought fulness to a role with MIP that had yet to be defined.

Courtney Ellis effectively invented the role of the sole social worker in the organization. She turned an internship opportunity into a full-time position with MIP. Ellis remains one of a handful of social workers currently employed with any of the 71 Innocence network organi zations worldwide.

In her relatively short tenure with the organization, Ellis has worked with clients involved in some of the most high-profile wrongful incarceration cases in Kansas City area history, including the case of Kevin Strickland, who spent more than 40 years of a 50-year sentence in prison for a triple murder he did not commit. Ellis and her MIP colleagues are working to help Strickland transition to a life of freedom he has really never known.

Soon after starting her work with MIP, Ellis opened a private therapy practice in Kansas City. She was con fident that she had the organizational and time management acumen to make it all work. She was confident she would be able to wrap building her business around her commitments with the MIP. Remarkably, she also felt the time was right to pursue a lifelong dream. She wanted to act, dance, and sing on stage or screen. It didn’t matter to her. She just wanted to take her shot at becoming a performing artist.

Courtney Ellis in the Kansas City Theatre in the Park 2022 performance of “School of Rock.”

PHOTO COURTESY COURTNEY ELLIS

Courtney Ellis and Emma Bieker

This seemingly sudden dive into professional acting was not a venture Ellis stepped into blindly or without prepa ration. While a student at Hays High School, she began taking voice lessons from FHSU Associate Professor of Music Ivalah Allen.

“I soon discovered that she had a tremendous vocal presence, with range and strength to serve her well as a stage performer,” said Allen. Ellis and Allen continued working together throughout her four years as an undergraduate stu dent at FHSU.

In the fall of 2020, Ellis took a bold leap and auditioned for a role in an independent film. It was a musical set to be filmed in Kansas City. “Nelly Don: The Musical” recounts the life of Nell Donnelly Reed, an early 20th-century Kansas City fashion designer whose dress label, Nelly Don, became known across the nation as a leading manufacturer of stylish yet affordable clothing for more than 50 years.

The Nelly Don story is not just an ode to glamour. The story is about one woman’s pursuit of the American dream in a world where female empowerment was virtually non-existent. It is the story of kidnap ping and intrigue, where corrupt political

figures, shady business moguls, and the Kansas City mob all play leading roles.

Ellis landed a prominent role in the film in her first professional audition. Soundtrack recording and choreography production began early in 2022, and film production is now nearing its conclusion. The movie is scheduled to debut late in 2023 or early in 2024.

She has parlayed that success into several additional roles, including several TV commercials and several roles in the Kansas City Theater in the Park’s musical production of “School of Rock” this past summer.

Ellis believes she has a responsibility to pay her good fortune forward. This fall, she worked with Kendal Carswell to secure her second MSW practicum intern from FHSU. That intern, Emma Bieker, has been working with Ellis for only a few months, but her new mentor already inspires her.

“I think she’s very brave. She’s a pathfinder in many ways. She’s opened doors for others like me, and she brings a high level of hope and commitment to everything she does,” said Bieker.

What is next for Courtney Ellis? She has grown her private practice and now serves ten clients. She plans to use the

income and scheduling flexibility she is creating through her private practice and her work with the Midwest Innocence Project to allow her to continue to pursue a parallel career as a performer.

As if she wasn’t busy enough, Ellis is constantly working on her craft, adding dance and acting training to the voice lessons she has continued taking since leaving FHSU. She recently signed with the Kansas City-based Moxie Talent agency. And like all performers, she knows she is one of more than 100,000 aspiring actors worldwide, all chasing a dream. She also knows from person al experience that fortune favors the bold. Boldness has always been a great strength of Courtney Ellis.

We would like to hear what you think about the content of this issue of ROAR Magazine. Contact FHSUNews@fhsu.edu.

“She’s a pathfinder in many ways. She’s opened doors for others like me, and she brings a high level of hope and commitment to everything she does.”

—EMMA BIEKER

PHOTO LUKE HARWERTH,

PAUL HARWERTH, AND NICOLE

MCCROSKEY

It’s true! Make a gift to FHSU and your gift will be matched dollar for dollar by a program called the “Kansas Comprehensive Grant Match” through the state of Kansas. Your gift will support students at Fort Hays State who are Kansas residents, enrolled full-time, and demonstrate financial need. This is a needs-based grant impacting FHSU students who need financial support the most – students who dream of completing a bachelor’s degree, but may not make it to graduation without others lending a hand. Your gift could change the trajectory of a student’s life.

Having your gift doubled is easy:

Make your gift online by visiting https://foundation.fhsu.edu/donate. Simply list “Kansas Comprehensive Grant Match Fund” as your area of designation.

Send a check made payable to the FHSU Foundation to the following address and write “Kansas Comprehensive Grant Match Fund” in the memo line.

FHSU Foundation, P.O. Box 1060, Hays, KS 67601

785-628-5620 | foundation@fhsu.edu https://foundation.fhsu.edu

What if we told you that every dollar you donated to Fort Hays State University would be matched?

MEGAN LAROCQUE’S UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

STORY BY DAWNE LEIKER

PHOTOS BY EMILY BRECHT, MEGAN LAROCQUE AND ALEXANDER GOULETAS

VISITING CHICAGO

Megan LaRocque outside the Leo Burnett Building.

IT WAS AN INTERNSHIP

FROM 800 MILES AWAY.

But the distance didn’t keep Megan LaRocque from delivering her unique perspective to the world-re nowned advertising agency Leo Burnett Chicago during her summer 2022 internship.

LaRocque, a senior graphic design major from Cawker City, chose the internship with Leo Burnett because it offered her an excellent learning opportunity to further her design skills and future career. Participating in a remote internship meant that LaRocque would not have to relocate to Chicago for the summer, which would have entailed finding housing and many other expenses.

“The remote option gave me the opportunity to pursue this great experience without taking on a major financial burden,” she said.

LaRocque was offered the internship and a $5,000 scholarship opportunity after winning the 28th annual Pencil Project Portfolio review. The Pencil Project is a talent development and recruiting program established by Leo Burnett at FHSU in 2018. Agency representatives, among them Kerri Soukup, FHSU graphic arts graduate and executive creative director at Leo Burnett, reviewed student portfolios for the project in April of 2022.

Soukup, with a 23-year tenure at Leo Burnett, said the Pencil Project provides a non-traditional pathway to a career in advertising. Typically, large ad agencies draw their talent from portfolio reviews or directly from advertising schools, Soukup said. To invest in students from a small graphic design program on the High Plains of western Kansas is a unique and innovative approach to identifying and nurturing talent, and one that aligns well with her company’s culture.

“Every time I can come back to Fort Hays, it’s easily the most fulfilling day of my year,” Soukup said. “It’s really important for me to help students of all ages see how graphic design is one way to use their creativity along their career path.”

After winning the Pencil Project, LaRocque started her internship on June 6, working with Soukup’s creative team. During the last few weeks of her internship, she worked with a group of other interns on concept pitches for Wingstop, a chain of chicken wings restaurants that is a Leo Burnett account. LaRo cque said the interns focused on how best to influence people to choose Wingstop over other brands in a very competitive marketplace where inflation is rising.

Interns for Leo Burnett provide the company with fresh perspectives.

“We did a lot of Gen-Z adver tising,” she said.

For LaRocque, that Gen-Z perspective can be found by looking for relevancy among her generation.

ABOVE: Street view of Leo Burnett building.

LEFT: Original designs from LaRocque’s portfolio.

“What are young adults watching, viewing,” she said. “We did a lot of social listening. What are they tweeting about? You get ideas based on what people are saying about the products. That’s how we formulated our ideas.”

LaRocque said she is grateful she could work with a large company such as Leo Burnett. Although she had previously thought a large urban-based company would not fit her career goals, she found the personal and professional connections she experienced with Leo Burnett very appealing.

She traveled to Chicago toward the end of the internship for a presentation and to meet her fellow

interns. LaRocque’s team of interns worked remotely and met for the first time in person during this trip.

“I had never been to Chicago,” LaRocque said. “It was my first time flying alone. I just exited the airport and hopped in a taxi and went straight to the office. I got there with about 30 minutes to spare before I had to make a presentation.”

LaRocque highly recommends the hands-on experi ence of an internship. She had hoped to see how creative ideas are transitioned into production, as well as the business side of an advertising company. She also wanted the experience of presenting her ideas to a client. Her ex pectations were met through the Leo Burnett internship.

“Seeing how a company functions is very beneficial,” she said. “Also, just knowing how to think creatively with other people and on behalf of clients is eye-opening.”

KERRI SOUKUP

Nurturing the relationship between FHSU and Leo Burnett has long been a passion for Kerri Soukup, ‘97, executive creative director for Leo Burnett and graduate of FHSU’s graphic design program. She is immensely thankful for what she calls the “gem of a design program in my own backyard” that she found at FHSU.

Soukup grew up in Ellsworth, Kansas, about an hour from FHSU, and never envisioned herself as a graphic designer in a major city.

“I didn’t know that graphic design was something I could study,” she said. “So, it’s really important for me to help students of all ages. To show them that graphic design is one way to find their path forward and use their talent to break into a creative industry.”

“I didn’t even know how to dream big enough about what I could be.”

Although there were definite cost savings that made her remote internship experience more manageable, LaRocque said it was more difficult to forge relation ships with team members remotely. In that regard, being physically in a workspace together would likely have benefited the team.

“I didn’t feel like I actually knew the people until I got there. After that, it was just fun, hanging out with coworkers. I wish I could have had more of that,” she said.

LaRocque is in her final semester at FHSU this fall and uses her design skills working for the FHSU Foundation. She hopes to reach out to Leo Burnett or perhaps a design company in Kansas City when she starts her career path after graduation.

During her time at FHSU, Soukup learned conceptual design, resourcefulness, and the importance of discipline and work ethic. The collaborative atmosphere at FHSU instilled in Soukup the tools to succeed in a highly competi tive career path.

Her passion for connecting FHSU students to careers with Leo Burnett continues. With her guid ance and experience in the industry, Soukup has the following advice for art and design students:

“Stay curious and humble. Stay open to critique. Use it to make yourself and your work better. Always be open to learning because that never ends.”

It was an internship from 800 miles away. But the distance didn’t keep Megan LaRocque from delivering her unique perspective.

Playing cards designed by LaRocque

Love and Oil do Mix

Some people go their entire lives without finding their one true love. Gove County native and Fort Hays State University alum Janel (Herl) Staab has been fortunate enough to find not just one but two - her husband Kurt and her work as a geologist in the Kansas oil industry.

STORY BY JANETTE (DREILING) MEIS ’93

PHOTOS BY DAWNE LEIKER

FHSU

GRAD JANEL STAAB

finds true calling through mid-life career change.

Janel grew up on a farm near Castle Rock, where her father, a farmer, invested in a few oil wells. When Janel was a middle school student, they drilled for oil on her family’s property. Janel begged her dad to take her with him to the location.

“Dad said it was no place for girls,” said Janel. “I would beg him every day to ride along.” One day he finally gave in. It was gritty and grimy work, but she loved it.

Janel met her high school sweetheart, Kurt Staab, at Thomas More Prep-Mar ian High School in Hays when she was 16. Kurt’s family owned Staab Oil Com pany. She often rode with Kurt to the different well sites to explore the world that she had always been told was “not a place for girls.” It was then that she fi nally got her chance to experience a well site from the derrick to the doghouse, not knowing that this would eventually become her future profession.

After high school, Kurt and Janel enrolled at Fort Hays State University. Kurt majored in ag business, and Janel in sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice. Janel’s parents were big advo cates of higher education and wanted all their children to obtain degrees. Her mom was especially fond of FHSU, which might explain why both of Janel’s brothers and oldest sister are all FHSU graduates. Janel, on the other hand, wasn’t necessarily keen on the idea of college. She was ready to get married and start a family.

“To make sure we finished college, our moms made a deal that neither would pay for a wedding until we graduated,” Janel laughed. The deal held. Janel graduated in December 1990, and Kurt in May 1991. Shortly after Kurt’s graduation, they were married.

Janel’s career path quickly turned in a different direction after her marriage to Kurt. With 9,000 acres of land and 700

cattle, she needed to explore other work options that would allow her the flex ibility to be on the ranch to help Kurt when needed. Then with the addition of children, Erica, born in 1994, John in 1995, and Zane in 1999, she was also a busy mom.

Janel did interior design and remod eling work, including a faux finishing job that she did free of charge for G & J Accents to help draw in new business. After that, the jobs came rolling in, too many to complete, so she started teaching the process to others. Later she expanded her business to include custom blinds, eventually expanding into home and business remodeling.

In 2005, after the passing of Kurt’s dad, Kurt and Janel bought his share of Staab Oil Company. Janel rediscovered her love of the oil business and became more active. Being a co-owner gave her a whole new perspective, and she started to pay more attention to all aspects of the business. She took particular interest in what the company geologist was doing on the well site. Janel watched as

he collected and analyzed samples to determine how drilling should proceed. One day she told Kurt, “I could learn how to do that,” so, in 2011, she decided to go back to college to get a degree in petroleum geology.

Janel was hesitant to tell anyone about her plans to work in a male-dominated field. Would she be accepted in this line of work? Could she go to college and raise a family too? Would she fail? - were just a few things that were set in her mind. To her surprise, she received full support from her family, even her dad, who she thought wouldn’t be happy with her decision. Randy Kilian, a well-site geologist, and Butch Drylie, a logging engineer, were the first to know of her plans. Both played important roles in her onsite training, making the transition into this new career almost seamless.

Janel discovered that much had changed since she walked the halls of Fort Hays State University in the 90s. Mastering new technology was a chal lenge. Computer software and scientific calculators were all foreign to her.

“I had to ask my children for help,” Janel laughed. She often shared the kitchen table with her son John, doing homework. “He was probably my biggest cheerleader.” Although she faced many obstacles, Janel was determined to make this mid-life change and follow her pas sion. During her senior year, her class, which consisted primarily of 20-year-old men, headed to Utah and Colorado for Field Camp. She spent three weeks in the field, applying her new research skills and identifying and analyzing geological features. For Janel, this was the kind of real-life experience she craved.

The group first stopped at Dinosaur National Monument, then Ketobe Knob in Price, Utah. This unique area was discovered by and named after Dr. Kenneth Neuhauser, retired FHSU geology professor, and his brothers. Although it was a long time to be away from her family, this experi ence at Fort Hays State University made a lasting impression on the budding geologist.

Janel graduated in Decem ber 2013 and spent the first few months on location with other

FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL

TO TODAY Janel is still enjoying the life she has built with her husband Kurt.

geologists. Her mentors, Randy Kilian and Butch Drylie taught her everything they could. With Butch’s help, she learned how to read and interpret log sheets that show the various formations at each depth which assist in picking the best location to drill. It was in the Fall of 2014 when Janel experienced her first well site; on her own.

“It was a surreal moment, a personal high,” she said. “It has been an amazing experience for Kurt and me. We love working together and making challenging decisions on when and where to drill.”

Although this is a family affair, Janel’s role as a geologist is no simple task. Before deciding to drill, she must complete preliminary work, including

comparing logs from other nearby sites. Once drilling starts, Janel tracks the time to drill each foot to determine the change in the rock formation. She then looks at rock samples every 10 feet and analyzes them under a microscope. She’s looking for a dark liquid bubbling out of the rock samples – evidence of oil.

“Sometimes you’re surprised and find oil in a formation that no one else in the area has,” said Janel.

It isn’t a glamorous job. In fact, it can be dangerous at times. Gases stored in the ground for millions of years are released during drilling, which, if not handled correctly, can be hazardous to the crew. Additionally, countless days can be spent on the well site to oversee the process. Janel has spent as many as six days on one well site, with only short breaks for sleep. It’s not unusual to find her in the early morning in the geo shack, recording rocks and ordering tests to decide when to set pipe.

It’s been a big change in Janel’s career from interior design to geology. Instead of selecting paint and fabric swatches, she is now looking for oil in rock formations and logging samples. With the combina tion of Janel’s determination, hard work, and the knowledge and skills she ob tained at FHSU, she fulfilled her dream.

After 31 years, Kurt and Janel are still enjoying the life they have built together as a couple, as parents, and as co-owners of an oil company and working ranch. Their diligence has paid off. Their children are following in their footsteps, planting and harvesting the fields, and working cattle - building the Staab legacy.

We would like to hear what you think about the content of this issue of ROAR Magazine. Contact FHSUNews@fhsu.edu.

It’s been a big change in Janel’s career from interior design to geology. With the combination of Janel’s determination, hard work, and the knowledge and skills she obtained at FHSU, she fulfilled her dream.

PLAINS TIGERS ON THE

THE ORIGINS OF FHSU’S BELOVED MASCOT

STORY BY CYNDI LANDIS PHOTOS FORSYTH LIBRARY UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

GRANDSTAND

AT LEWIS FIELD

Through the 1938 construction and dedication of Lewis Field and Stadium, this 1940 photo brings the athletic vision of President Lewis to life

Ask any mammologist, and they will confirm that the tiger is not indigenous to the plains of Western Kansas. So how did the tiger become synonymous with a beloved institution like Fort Hays State University? The story begins in the nascent days of W.A. Lewis’s tenure, an adminis tration renowned for scholastic ambition and foresight.

William Alexander Lewis was a dreamer and a doer. At the age of 36, he was selected to lead the Western Branch of the State Normal School in September 1913, conditional on the promise that under his leadership, the Western Branch would become an independent institution and chart its own future. To lay the foun dation of a new vision ahead of the 1914 inauguration, the first academic year of the Lewis Administration is filled with land mark moments that established the school colors, the mascot, the future of athletics,

and the name change to Fort Hays Kansas Normal School.

The official color of the school up until this point was Old Gold, reflecting the connection to its parent institution in Em poria. However, Lewis suggested a second color should be adopted to distinguish it from its affiliation with Emporia, recom mending the use of black and gold. It is unclear whether the school colors were adopted before or after the tiger mascot debuted, but some claim that his sugges tion for using black as a secondary color was to support his fondness of a tiger as a school mascot.

Rumors of the origin of the tiger vaguely suggest that Lewis had ties to Missouri, but neither his education nor his career were affiliated with the Uni versity of Missouri in Columbia. A closer look at his past reveals that his roots were scattered throughout the Midwest, with Missouri being the location of much of

his young adult life; the Missouri Tigers established their athletic nickname in 1890 and must have had a strong fandom across the state by that time.

The FHSU tiger was first introduced on February 12, 1914, during a two-game series between the FHSU men’s basket ball team and McPherson College. The standard basketball uniform had been an Old Gold jersey, but the players came out wearing jerseys with a hungry-looking tiger sewn on, marking the debut of the Normal Tigers. Whether legend or lore, it’s been said the tigers were down at the half, so they changed back to their Old Gold jerseys, regaining confidence and eventu ally defeating McPherson 36 to 27. They played McPherson again the next night, sporting the tiger jerseys for the full game, defeating their opponents a second time.

The Leader student newspaper stated, “they pinned their faith on the famished tiger and the hope that his desire for gore would be satisfied.” James Forsythe, who documented 100 years of FHSU’s history in Lighthouse on the Plains, claims “the goal was to end each athletic contest with a victory so the tiger on their jerseys would look content and satisfied.” In their recap of the basketball season, the 1914

President W. A. Lewis (1913-1933)

Reveille yearbook puts quotes around the “Tigers,” marking its new identity and describing the team’s “fighting spirit.” The Tiger identity quickly took root with the 1915 Reveille reporting the scores for the athletic events as the Tigers vs. opponents and documenting several “athletic yells and airs” that cheer on the tigers. In less than a year under the Lewis Administration, a new identity was created and feverishly adopted - the Black and Gold Tigers.

Shortly after those elements were es tablished in the school’s identity, the school received a gift of bison in 1914 by C. W. Nutter; they were kept in a 15-acre pasture northwest of campus near present-day Rarick Hall and in sight of the railroad. Even though Lewis viewed the bison as important symbols to the frontier heritage of the college and used them for recruiting and public relations to help railroad passen gers remember the campus, the seeds of the Tiger had already taken root. The Tigers had usurped the plains’ previous monarchs and would rule the prairie.

The inauguration on March 6, 1914, officially separated the school from its parent institution in Emporia and marked the beginning

of the Fort Hays Kansas State Normal School and Lewis’s role as President.

Throughout his presidency, Lewis avidly supported the scheduling of athletic games, even when transportation at the time was challenging. In the early days, teams included students and faculty and played nearby high schools, town teams, or whoever they could schedule.

Also notable in 1914, the school was admitted to the Kansas Athletic Confer ence. The K Club was formed as one of the first student organizations, awarding 12 notable athletes with “K” letters. To build on this momentum, Lewis envisioned “a brand new Sunday-go-to-meeting grandstand” built on the athletic field so that “patrons in the future can be assured a good seat while watching contests” on the athletic field. Later deemed the original Lewis Field, this grandstand stood on the land between Forsyth Library and Malloy Hall. The grandstand he envisioned was completed in 1925 to seat 1,500 people when enrollment was 516 students.

In addition to the athletic field, the campus changed dramatically under Lew is, with walkways, landscaping, and mature trees creating an oasis between several newly built buildings: Sheridan

Coliseum (1917), Elizabeth Custer Hall (1922), Cody Commons cafeteria (1923, later incorporated into Memorial Union), Forsyth Library (1926, now McCartney Hall), Science Hall (1928, now named Al bertson Hall), and the power plant (1932) many of which have names influenced by Lewis’s interest in recognizing this area’s military history.

The legacy Lewis left behind trans formed the identity and reputation of a branch of teacher education training toward a full-fledged liberal arts curric ulum that valued music, athletics, and scholarship with the goal of developing alumni who embody the unconquerable spirit of the plains and lead a life of service, leadership, and high ambition. He was known for dreaming big and achieved great transformations that became deeply rooted in the FHSU identity.

After his death in 1933, the Lewis Field and Stadium we know today was named to honor President Lewis and was completed in 1938, which is its own story of innovation toward a grandiose vision of the future of the institution during the depression under President C. E. Rarick. But that’s another story.

EARLY BEGINNINGS

LEFT: Two of the twelve notable athletes of the 1913-1914 season to receive “K” letters, the origin of the K Club.

RIGHT: 1923 photograph of the original Lewis Field located where Forsyth Library and Malloy Hall currently stand.

RIGHT: 1915 drawing of the proposed campus as planned by President Lewis

Observe, ask questions, experiment, analyze, experiment again

Informal scientific communication key to sparking new discoveries

BY DR. LAURA WILSON

One of the fundamental compo nents of scientific research is the justification of the study-clearly telling your audience why your research is important and why they should care. While sitting in a graduate-level Paleobiology course my first year as a master’s student, my professor asked the class, “why is pale ontology important?”

Here, one of the most famous paleontolo gists in the world was challenging his students to justify not their research topic, but their careers as scientists. Why should society care about what we do? What do we contribute? That class conversation is always in the back of my mind, and in the almost 20 years since, I have been building an answer to what study ing ancient life brings to the table.

Perhaps the most obvious impact of any type of research (scientific or otherwise) is to expand our knowledge. As humans, we are innately interested in the world around us. The desire to ask questions and explain observations are a delightful product of our large brain capacity and complexity. As a result, geologists and evolutionary biologists strive to understand the 4.54-billion-year history of our planet, leading to spectacular findings. In dinosaur paleontology alone, the past fifteen years have uncovered some groundbreaking discoveries.

It has been well-established for decades that birds are dinosaurs (in the same way that cats are mammals) and therefore dino saurs evolved the ability to fly at some point

in their evolutionary history. However, recent discoveries of feathered dinosaurs from China have completely revolutionized our ideas on the origin and evolution of flight. Paleontologists have found hundreds of fossils of dinosaurs that were clearly unable to fly but had feathers.

This tells us the evolution of feathers was not directly connected to the evolution of flight, as we once thought. Rather, we now think the initial function of feathers was as insulation to help regulate body temperature (like how mammals use fur) or for display to attract mates (like many bird species today).

These discoveries have also led scientists

to suggest flight did not evolve just once, but possibly four times in different dinosaur groups! This shift in our understanding is even reflected in popular culture with feath ered dinosaurs making an appearance in the latest Jurassic World movie.

New research has also challenged our understanding of when endothermy (“warm-bloodedness”) evolved in different animals. For decades, paleontologists have debated when dinosaurs evolved the ability to regulate their internal body temperatures. However, there is now growing evidence that endothermy first appeared before dinosaurs in an ancestor they shared with crocodiles.

This means that not only were all

dinosaurs possibly warm-blooded (rather than just those closely related to birds), but that the ancestors of crocodiles and alligators were warm-blooded, too. A fas cinating implication is that living alligators and crocodiles, which are ectothermic (or “cold-blooded”), may have evolved from warm-blooded ancestors and then lost the ability to regulate their body tempera tures-completely turning our understand ing of reptile evolution on its head!

Of course, these discoveries do not mean a whole lot outside the field of pale ontology if researchers cannot effectively communicate their relevance. Conse quently, there is a growing emphasis on science communication-connecting the significance of new discoveries, how sci ence works, and how to critically evaluate information to non-scientists. While the need to effectively communicate scientific ideas is important in all fields, paleontolo gy is often seen at the forefront.

Because we have dinosaurs. I may be biased, but nothing across the sciences seems to quite catch the interest of people like extinct animals. Because of this, I of ten refer to paleontology as the gateway to science. Similarly, I have heard others refer to fossils as ambassadors of science. Dino saurs and other extinct animals grab the imagination of children, tethering them to a world of inquiry and discovery. One can argue that children are born scientists. Asking questions, wanting to know why, trying to do new things, and then trying again in a different way if they fail.

This is the foundation of science: making observations, asking questions, experimenting, analyzing the results, and experimenting again. Fascination with fossils and paleontological discoveries encourages scientific thinking in chil dren, but also keeps them engaged as they grow older. I think the most critical role paleontology plays is encourag

ing lifelong learning and providing a platform to engage people in the process of science. In a world where misinfor mation is so easily and quickly shared, encouraging people to think critically could not be more important.

The excitement of new discoveries and using paleontology to encourage public interest in science were intuitive answers in class 20 years ago. However, the con tribution of paleontology to conservation and sustainability is something I have seen more recently only through the lens of my own research. My Ph.D. advisor would often refer to the fossil record as “an experiment that has already run.”

Fossils represent the results of evolution ary experiments performed under a set of specific conditions. With an increasing desire to make a broader impact through my research, this analogy strikes a chord with me.

I study marine ecosystems of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway-an ocean that stretched across North America from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean 66 to 100 million years ago. This was an important time in Earth’s history because global temperatures were higher than they are today. In terms of an experi ment that has already run, studying chang ing ecosystems during a warm period in Earth’s past is essential for understanding and predicting the effects of current cli mate change on modern ecosystems.

For the past two years, specifically, I have been studying Protostega, a fossil sea turtle that lived in this Western Interior Seaway. While my initial questions focused on how Protostega grew, I wondered if my research could have wider implications. Much of my understanding of how these extinct animals lived comes from studying modern sea turtles. All seven living species of sea turtles are threatened (with two species critically endangered), and climate change plays a

significant part in population decline.

Because of this, I am now investigating how understanding ancient sea turtle growth and evolution during a greenhouse climate can shed light on current sea turtle conser vation efforts. Conservation paleobiology, using paleontology tools and knowledge to inform ecosystem preservation and biodiver sity restoration is just one more way that the field of paleontology can make an impact.

Two decades later, that one class period still resonates with me. It has not only influenced my own research and outreach activities but inspired the lessons I strive to pass on to Fort Hays State students. Students are challenged to ask questions, seek answers, and distill information from a variety of sources.

Research methods and formal writing skills are still emphasized, but now there is a growing importance towards engaging students in informal science communi cation. Students have opportunities to participate in face-to-face outreach events and practice crafting narratives on social media platforms. And as a paleontologist, studying those experiments that have already been run, those ambassadors of sci ence, is where I find the spark that drives me to discover, share, contribute, and pass that spark to the next generations.

BIO:

Dr. Laura Wilson is the curator of paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History and a professor of geosciences at FHSU. Her research interests include studying the bone histology of marine vertebrates to uncover life history strategies of extinct animals, as well as comparisons between mid-latitude and high-latitude ecosystems along the Western Interior Seaway.

FHSU’s 102nd Homecoming an unforgettable success

Fort Hays State University’s 102nd Homecoming welcomed new and familiar faces to our beautiful campus. Classmates from the 50- and 60-year reunion classes exchanged memories and stories of their time at FHSU. Faculty and staff cheerfully greeted alum ni returning to campus and showed off both new and renovated spaces, like the recently updated Rarick Hall.

Golfers participating in the annual Homecoming tourna ment teed off Thursday morning with more than 40 teams on the course. As the sun set that evening, Tiger fans gathered for the annual bonfire and pep rally and celebrated Homecoming’s commencement with music and food from local vendors.

Friday welcomed guests for a full slate of events, including walking and bus tours of campus and Hays, a Half Century Club induction and luncheon, the Oktoberfest, and the annual Alumni and Friends Awards Banquet celebrating this year’s six alumni award winners. Several on-campus entities invited alumni back to their individual areas, including Criminal Justice, Forsyth Library, FHSU Wrestling, and Geosciences. Political Science celebrated a milestone in its history marking 85 years since its inception.

President Tisa Mason welcomed community members for a campus update and breakfast on Saturday. The classes of 1962 and 1972 gathered together for reunion breakfasts before heading off to the Homecoming Parade. Fully warmed up from tailgating festivities, Tiger football fans cheered on FHSU as they faced off against the Washburn Ichabods.

Year after year, the warmth and camaraderie of Homecoming demonstrates the strength of our extended FHSU family and what a special place Fort Hays State University truly is. FHSU Homecoming 2023 is set for September 28-30, so mark your calendars!

VISIT: FHSUalumni.com/alumni-update

MAIL: FHSU Alumni Association, One Tiger Place, Hays, KS 67601

EMAIL: alumni@fhsu.edu.

Jack Heather

Fort Hays State University faculty impact students’ lives so profoundly that the effects ripple across generations. Jack Heather came to FHSU in 1950 and built the radio curriculum and training programs for Fort Hays State students from the ground up. This curriculum trained, educated, and inspired gener ations of award-winning broadcasters, including Kansas Association of Broad casters Hall of Fame member Tad Felts.

Felts came to FHSU in 1951. He had never considered a career in broadcasting until he took a class taught by Heather that changed the course of his life. Felts enjoyed the curriculum of that particu lar class so much that he proceeded to take every course in radio broadcasting,

leading to a more than 70-year career in broadcasting.

Felts became a familiar voice on radio stations across Kansas but landed in his

hometown of Phillipsburg full-time in 1972, where he became an announcer, news, and sports director. His show, The Tadpole, an interactive question-and-an swer program, became his most popular segment. Felts is a multiple award-win ning broadcaster who inspired further generations, including current Voice of the Tigers sportscaster Gerard Well brock.

Wellbrock, also an FHSU alumnus, worked with Heather and Felts early in his career.

“I feel extremely fortunate to have had Jack Heather as an instructor for my first two years at FHSU. Couple that with hav ing Tad as a mentor; I feel, in some small way, I’m able to carry on the tradition that Jack started at FHSU.” Wellbrock said.

Harold

G. Palmer

The familiar swell of music fills Palmer Hall at Fort Hays State University each summer for the annual High Plains Music Camp. Harold G. Palmer es tablished the camp more than seventy-five years ago.

An FHSU music alumnus and band instructor at Fort Hays State Teachers College, Palmer trailblazed music in struction and band direction for gener ations to come. When Palmer came to FHSU as an instructor in 1943, the band started with only nine members. After two years, Palmer’s band size increased to more than a hundred.

He began the High Plains Band Camp in 1947, with more than 250 high school students from across the state attending. Years later, the camp was

renamed the High Plains Music Camp with the addition of orchestra and choir. Bruce Siemsen, FHSU alumnus of ’56 and ’66, played in Palmer’s clarinet choir for four years and recently recounted how this experience, and Palmer, shaped his life.

“[Palmer] worked us hard, but we enjoyed it,” Siemsen recalled. “He left a lasting impression on thousands of lives.” Following his participation in Palmer’s clarinet choir, Siemsen played

in the United States Army Band. He now resides in Holyrood.

Palmer guided generations of stu dents and cultivated an environment where young musicians could learn and thrive. His years of service led him to receive the FHSU Alumni Achievement Award in 1979, three years after he re tired from his 29-year tenure. The Hays native passed away in 1990 after decades of dedication to his students and the university.

SHARE YOUR news

We want to hear from you. Send us your news, updates and information by visiting https://FHSUalumni.com/alumni-update or emailing alumni@fhsu.edu.

CLASS NOTES

1980s

John Heim ‘84, Alexandria, Va., was chosen as the recipient of the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Kansas School of Education & Human Services.

Katrina Hess ‘89, Hays, retired from her position as owner and physician with Hess Medical Services on July 15th.

Rebecca “Becky” Kiser ‘80, ‘94, Hays, earned first place in Best Story originating from a Public Notice through the 2022 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence.

Kendall Krug ‘83, Hays, retired from his position as owner and optometrist with Kendall L. Krug, OD PA at the end of July.

Charles “Charlie” Riedel ‘83, Overland Park, was inducted to the Kansas Press Association Hall of Fame.

Curtis Simons ‘86, ‘90, Emporia, retired from Emporia High School after nine years as athletic director and thirtysix years as a teacher and administrator.

Earlice “Leesa” Switzer-Rupp ‘80, Houston, Texas, had her first book, “A Kansas Sunrise,” published by Dorrance Publishing Co, Inc. in March 2022.

Mitchell “Mitch” Thompson ‘88, McGregor, Texas, was hired as the head baseball coach at Baylor University.

David “Dave” Younger ‘87, Ulysses, retired from USD 214 in Ulysses after serving as superintendent for 10 years.

1990s

Corey Burton ‘94, Ellis, was hired as superintendent of USD 214 in Ulysses effective July 1, 2022.

Eric Depperschmidt ‘99, Hays, was hired as director of development with the Fort Hays State University Foundation.

Lori (Nuss) Hurst ‘96, Hutchinson, was recognized by the Wichita Business Journal as a 2022 Health Care Hero for Nurses.

Scott Kedrowski ‘97, Garden City, joined Garden City Community College as the Dean of Advancement and Alumni Relations.

Monique (Scheck) Koerner ‘95, ‘19, Hays, was hired as the family and community wellness extension agent for the Cottonwood Extension District.

Meagan (Bange) McNiff ‘94, Olathe, joined Burns & McDonnell as a senior project controls specialist.

Scott Newland ‘98, ‘02, Wichita, was promoted to President and CEO of the Sedgwick County Zoo.

Sheri Stone ‘95, ‘97, Hays, was promoted to director of nursing at North Central Kansas Technical College.

Darin Thomas ‘96, Mansfield, Texas, was hired as director of baseball operations with Baylor University.

Mark Wahlmeier ‘95, Colby, was hired as an optometrist to take over Krug Optometry and begin Vision Source of Hays.

2000s

Clifton “C.D.” Clark ‘04, Hays, was presented the Faculty Member of the Year award by FHSU.

Jessica (Ahlquist) Ebert ‘05, Tescott, graduated from the Kansas Agricultural and Rural Leadership (KARL) Class XV.

Michael “Mike” Hammett ‘08, Monroe, La., was named “Voice of the Warhawks” with Warhawk Radio Network.

Nathan Musick ‘07, ‘14, Wichita, was hired as the manager of accounting operations with Foley Equipment.

Nicholas Peters ‘08, Hillsboro, was chosen as a member of the Kansas Agricultural and Rural Leadership (KARL) Class XVI.

Shane Schartz ‘02, ‘03, Hays, was recognized as a Faculty of the Year honoree for the 202122 academic year by the FHSU Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

Stacey (Gould) Smith ‘00, ‘00, Hays, was recognized as a Faculty of the Year honoree for the 2021-22 academic year by the FHSU Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

2010s

Rebecca “Becky” (Esau) Bartell ‘13, Hesston, accepted an additional position as director of the Department of Nursing with Bethel College.

Suzann (Thompson) Bouray ‘13, ‘15, Ellinwood, completed a doctorate in Educational Leadership at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Matthew “Matt” Cook ‘11, ‘13, Hays, was appointed MIAA Basketball Tournament Committee Chair.

Sean Dreiling ‘12, ‘14, Hays, was named the head boys’ basketball coach at Hays High School.

Matthew “Matt” Guza ‘12, Gibsonia, Pa., was hired as a senior cybersecurity engineer with Bering Straits Native Corporation.

Layton Hickel ‘13, Hays, was hired as defensive line coach with Fort Hays State football.

Kayla Jarvis ‘12, Phillipsburg, graduated from the Kansas Agricultural and Rural Leadership (KARL) Class XV.

Daniel Kelly ‘18, Wichita, was named the head boys’ soccer coach at Hays High School.

Brady Peters ‘10, Hyattsville, Md., was hired as presidential writer at The White House.

Regan (Ochs) Reif ‘13, Great Bend, was chosen as a member of the Kansas Agricultural and Rural Leadership (KARL) Class XVI.

Kaitlin (Fabrizius) Robben ‘16, Hays, joined the HaysMed Pediatric Clinic as an advanced practice registered nurse.

Jeffrey “Jeff” Sekavec ‘13, Monument, Colo. , was the recipient of the 2022 Colby Community College Tangeman Award for Teaching Excellence.

Ashley (Fitzsimmons) Smith ‘17, Pratt, joined the Pratt Area Chamber of Commerce as President and Chief Executive Officer effective July 5th.

Jerrod Stanford ‘12, Parsons, was hired as head men’s basketball coach at Colby Community College.

Danielle (Leclair) VonFeldt ‘17, Hays, joined the HaysMed Family Medicine Clinic as an advanced practice registered nurse.

Drew Young ‘20, Hays, was hired as annual giving coordinator with the FHSU Foundation.

DEATHS 1940s

Elizabeth (Gibson) Baumgardner ‘41, Wake Forest, N.C., April 20, 2019

Maxine Starkey ‘49, ‘49, Brewster, June 6, 2022

1950s

Richard “Dick” Barton ‘59, Scott City, August 8, 2022

James Browne ‘54, Lynden, Wash., June 22, 2022

Donald Burnett ‘57, Arlington, Texas, July 28, 2019

Charles Fankhauser ‘54, Overland Park, May 6, 2021

Merrill Frydendall ‘56, ‘60, Mankato, Minn., July 31, 2022

Dorene (Powers) Jennings ‘57, Denver, Colo., April 2, 2022

2020s

Thomas “Tommy” Powell ‘20, Hays, was announced director of the Fort Hays State University Robbins Banking Institute and the Kansas Bankers Association.

Fritz Kramer ‘59, ‘60, Ellis, June 29, 2022

James “Jim” Marshall ‘56, Topeka, June 26, 2022

Leroy “Lee” Munk ‘59, Salina, August 6, 2022

Carlos Murphy ‘59, ‘60, Hutchinson, June 25, 2022

TIGER NOTES

Kay (Hahn) Nord ‘55, Peaks Island, Maine, June 8, 2022

Joseph “Joe” Staab ‘58, Federal Way, Wash., June 2, 2022

Charles Stones ‘55, ‘59, Garden City, May 8, 2022

Orvileta (Gracey) West ‘55, Garden City, June 10, 2022

1960s

Judith (Utz) Birkenbaugh ‘68, Kingman, June 7, 2022

Sharon Daniels ‘67, Ness City, April 30, 2022

Hilary Dreiling ‘65, ‘70, ‘75, Hays, May 20, 2022

Janice (Hallagin) Dunavan ‘65, Pawnee Rock, August 6, 2022

Andy Hanson ‘64, Herndon, July 3, 2022

Duane Harper ‘68, ‘72, ‘77, Waucoma, Iowa, August 17, 2022

Larry Kilian ‘60, Eudora, July 31, 2022

Leland Kincaid ‘62, Dodge City, July 26, 2022

Maurilyn McConnell ‘68, Oklahoma City, Okla., August 5, 2022

Eleanor (Aden) McMindes ‘65, ‘69, ‘74, Salina, April 9, 2022

Marilyn (Stremel) Niernberger ‘60, Midlothian, Va., July 12, 2022

Melvin Pfannenstiel ‘62, Hays, August 8, 2022

Shirley (Wilson) Pfeifer ‘62, Hays, August 12, 2022

Charley Rasp ‘63, Enid, Okla., August 24, 2022

Earl “Rusty” Russell III ‘66, Gainesville, Texas, July 20, 2022

Richard “Dick” Scott ‘66, Overland Park, June 23, 2022

Larry Soice ‘67, ‘68, Wichita, April 28, 2022

John Terry ‘67, ‘72, Atwood, August 12, 2022

Leon Ukens ‘63, Leesburg, Fla., July 23, 2022

Norman Utz ‘61, Houston, Texas, June 9, 2022

Cecil Vonachen ‘65, Kansas City, June 24, 2022

Robert “Bob” Wagner ‘60, ‘65, La Crosse, May 7, 2022

Mary (Ryan) Winter ‘63, ‘64, Great Bend, July 29, 2022

1970s

Mary (Sims) Arnold ‘76, ‘79, Snook, Texas, Feb. 15, 2022

James Bisbee ‘74, Wichita, Dec. 26, 2021

Lester “Les” Burgardt ‘71, ‘77, ‘79, WaKeeney, June 12, 2022

Jeannine (Depperschmidt) Call ‘75, Hays, June 10, 2022

Robert Carlson ‘71, Formoso, August 23, 2022

Marsha (Gillispie) Crook ‘75, Garden City, June 4, 2022

Carol (Shriver) Eubank ‘70, Coats, Dec. 25, 2021

Kathryn “Kathy” (Rohrbough) Gregory ‘74, ‘95, Wichita, June 9, 2022

Hal Hollembeak ‘79, Great Bend, July 10, 2022

Jay Hrabik ‘75, Lyons, July 4, 2022

Thomas Hull ‘72, Downs, June 26, 2022

Sharon (Hoover) Keltner ‘74, Minneola, June 17, 2022

Michael Kilgore ‘74, Wichita, July 31, 2022

Carle Kuhn ‘72, ‘77, Beloit, October 28, 2021

Delma (Marston) Miller ‘71, Great Bend, August 4, 2022

Patricia (Bickel) Percival ‘76, ‘78, Hays, July 15, 2022

Steve Rome ‘75, Hugoton, August 8, 2022

Barbara (Gregwire) Scheck ‘74, Russell, June 18, 2022

Patricia (Searle) Ward ‘71, ‘77, Casper, Wyo., May 20, 2022

Ron Pflughoft ’70, Apple Valley, Calif., Sept. 11, 2022

Cynthia Wittman ‘72, Ulysses, July 19, 2022

1980s

Curtis Bunting ‘81, Olmitz, June 4, 2022

Lucille (Jensen) Herman ‘85, Lawrence, August 2, 2022

Raymond Lee ‘88, Kansas City, Mo., June 16, 2022

David Leikam ‘80, Hays, July 19, 2022

Victoria (Frazier) Rajewski ‘85, Hays, May 11, 2022

Jeannine “Jean” Marie Ross ‘85, Hays, August 24, 2022

Rosalee “Rose” Steimel ‘82, ‘83, Salina, July 25, 2022

Lisa VonFeldt ‘87, Plainville, June 6, 2022

1990s

Ida “Susan” (Chance) Beying ‘98, Easton, June 15, 2022

Barbara (Daniels) FanshierPhillips ‘97, The Villages, Fla., July 19, 2022

Diane (Dunavan) Gibson ‘93, La Crosse, July 8, 2022

Kenneth Hanson ‘92, Salina, August 6, 2022

Kris (Jost) Jantz ‘90, Syracuse, July 27, 2022

Christiane “Chris” (Wade) Luehrs ‘92, Hays, July 14, 2022

Shannon (Grant) Nichol ‘98, Topeka, July 30, 2022

Curtis Schmidt ‘99, ‘04, Hays, June 16, 2022

MARRIAGES

1990s

John Ludes ‘95 and Claire (Bohm) Mullen ‘15, Sept. 30, 2021

2000s

Daniel Dysinger and Kelly Geist ‘09, May 14, 2022

Rich Risewick and Tara (Towns) Vance ‘04, May 20, 2022

2010s

Andrew Blaylock ‘20 and Amanda Hurla ‘19, ‘20, April 30, 2022

Daniel Honas ‘15 and Olivia Wiesner ‘18, April 30, 2022

Dylan Moore ‘16, ‘18 and Ashley Parrott ‘16, June 4, 2022

Tanner Staab ‘16, ‘20 and Ashten Slater ‘17, ‘20, ‘20, July 23, 2022

Henry Stoltenberg and Maureen Duffy ‘14, ‘17, May 20, 2022

2020s

Jason Armenta and Chantal Solorzano ‘20, May 24, 2022

Stephan Healey and TyLynn Peterson ‘21, June 25, 2022

Ryan Hillman and Taryn Rupp ‘20, May 7, 2022

Clint Rogers and Lauryn Davis ‘21, June 25, 2022

Easton Slipke ‘21 and Morgan Leiker ‘21, June 4, 2022

BIRTHS

1990s

John ‘95 and Claire ‘15 (Bohm) Ludes, Salina, a boy, Boe John, April 2, 2022

2000s

Joshua Dreher ‘09 and Jaclynn Ward, Hays, a boy, James, May 10, 2022

2010s

Chandler and Katelyn ‘16, ‘21 (Hecker) Schmidt, Hays, a boy, Kohen James, March 17, 2022

Taylor and Jessica “Jessie” ‘14, ‘16 (Havice) Hess, Wichita, a girl, Ava Jane, April 5, 2022

FORT

HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

face daily challenges but possess the tenacity and perseverance to overcome life’s most testing obstacles. Hezekiah Herrera, a 2018 and 2020 FHSU alumnus, embodies the determi nation and diligence upon which FHSU was founded and built. Herrera, the son of an immigrant father and born into a low-income family, never dreamt of becoming an educator; nonetheless, one currently pursuing a doc torate. After a heartbreaking divorce, Herrera became a single parent to his two children. Determined to ensure a better future for his children, Herrera enrolled at Fort Hays State to pursue both his undergraduate and later graduate degrees in education.

As he began to study, he realized how close his children were to checking many of the boxes educa tors use to assess early childhood development and social-emotional well-being. Now, as a special ed ucation teacher for children with intensive support needs in San Diego, California, he hopes to em power children to change the world through education.

His favor ite moment at FHSU? Hearing “we did it!” from his young son at commencement.

Herrera views his graduation as a turning point in his life that exchanged pain and struggle for purpose and meaning. More than ever, he left the stage encouraged that he would break the cycle of poverty for his children and others whose lives he touches.

A proud Tiger at heart, Herrera hopes his story encourages first-generation students to explore the possibilities at FHSU. He says, “Fort Hays State Univer sity makes a world-class education accessible - and the American Dream attainable for anyone.”