ROAR
FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
Vol. 4 Issue 1 Fall/Winter 2019
During this festive time of the year
extends warmest holiday greetings to you and your family. Looking for the perfect gift for the Tiger on your list? Consider a gift of paid membership in the FHSU Alumni Association for your favorite Tigers, or perhaps treat yourself. These membership benefits will be sure to make your holidays brighter. Tiger Savings Program – offering a wide range of national discounts including restaurants, travel, retail establishments and more! Exclusive discounts at: • Tiger Spirit Shop – in the Memorial Union or online • Tiger Book Shop • FHSU Athletics • Sternberg Museum • Select Alumni Events • And more! Best of all, your membership supports the activities and events of the FHSU Alumni Association and our mission to engage our alumni and friends in support of Fort Hays State University. For more information, visit us online at www.goforthaysstate.com/membership, or check out the FHSU Alumni & Friends mobile phone app, available in the Apple and Google Play stores. Contact us at alumni@fhsu.edu or 888-351-3591.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ROAR MAGAZINE | VOL. 4 NO. 1 | FALL/WINTER 2019
02 FROM THE EDITOR 03 CAMPUS NEWS
14 18
06 ALUMNI NEWS
12 TIGER ATHLETICS 14 BROTHERLY LOVE
Ball brothers excel together in and out of the classroom
18 A HAWK’S EYE VIEW
Mentoring, collaboration, and research 25 years in the making
22 24
22 ENTREPRENEUR:
SHIRLEY LIU The Hays business that just got bigger and bigger
24 SAVING OLD STUFF
Hays couple making a difference
28 32
28
HOMETOWN AMERICA
A community recipe for thriving on the Great Plains
32 STRONGER FOR
THE FUTURE The ups and downs of Kansas agriculture
34 LEADING WITH PURPOSE Kastle passionate about teaching all students, including veterans
34 38 COVER
A Megacephalosaurus eulerti fossil from the Sternberg Museum collection. Photo by Kelsey Stremel
38 BRINGING ANCIENT
HISTORY TO LIFE Paleoecologist
inspires childlike wonder across space and time
42 CELEBRATING ONLINE LEARNING
42
46 TIGER NOTES
FROM THE EDITOR INTRODUCTIONS Editor in Chief Scott Cason Creative Director/Designer Meghan Oliver Managing Editor Kelsey Stremel Senior Editor Diane Gasper-O’Brien Writers Kurt Beyers Diane Gasper-O’Brien Mary Ridgway Kelsey Stremel Photographers Kelsey Stremel Contributors FHSU Alumni Association FHSU Athletics FHSU Foundation Eric Norris Charlie Schippers
CONNECT Fort Hays State University @FortHaysState @FortHaysState FortHaysState ROAR Magazine is published twice a year (fall and spring) by Fort Hays State University’s Office of University Relations and Marketing. Subscriptions are by paid membership in the Alumni Association. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the FHSU Alumni Association, One Tiger Place, Hays, KS 67601-3767
A note from Scott Cason, Chief Communications Officer Welcome to the winter 2019 edition of ROAR Magazine. As you leaf through the pages of this magazine, you may notice it is different than the last edition. We have removed nine pages of advertisements and used the space to add more news, alumni stories and feature articles. This is just the start of what will be a comprehensive effort to create a more content-rich magazine. Our goal is simply to create an authentic university magazine. To realize that goal, we are going to need your help. We need you to share your personal and professional news and your ongoing connections with fellow your Tigers. We also want to include more alumni voices in this magazine. The theme of this edition of ROAR is “For Kansas, For the World.” We asked Eric Norris ’04 M.A. English and Charlie Schippers ’82 to reflect on their professional careers and the roles they have played in serving their fellow Kansans.
My Calling to Public Service by ERIC NORRIS ’04
My career as a librarian began with a part-time job in the Hays Public Library. Back in 2002 I worked evenings and weekends behind the front desk while I pursued my master’s degree in English at Fort Hays State University. I cannot remember exactly how the posting for the job read, but I doubt it used the words interesting or engaging. I thought, “I like books. I enjoy reading, so…” The job interview questions focused more on how I would work with the public than what I knew about Moby Dick. It should have been my first clue that librarianship wasn’t going to be what I thought it was. Beyond all the misconceptions and stereotypes, the “shushing” and the cardigans, all the stories from library veterans about odd and challenging patrons and the Dewey Decimal System, the very heart of librarianship is public service. A public library is an institution built around the concept of providing a valuable service to its community. However, after the minor moments of heartburn and headache have passed– and they always pass–public librarianship is one of the most rewarding jobs I can imagine. I have the opportunity to help curate the community you and I want to live in. After all, community means a sense of belonging and fellowship every bit as much as it means a place. Public libraries, like public universities, are in the business of community building. My work as the state librarian of Kansas takes me all across our state. Everywhere I go, I meet fellow Tigers who are making a difference through their service in public libraries, education, economic development, and in local government. Each time I meet a fellow alum, I am reminded of the special role my alma mater plays in serving the people of Kansas. While I can’t say that I knew all along that this was what I wanted to do with my life, I am proud to work in a public service field that touches so many Kansans. Oh, and just for the record: I often do wear a cardigan. ROAR
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CAMPUS NEWS Meeting the needs of rural communities now extends to elementary education Extreme teacher shortages are hurting schools all across America. This alarming trend is especially acute in rural areas. Many professionals living in rural areas who already have a bachelor’s degree want to become teachers, but they can’t afford to leave home, work and family to complete the coursework required for the second bachelor’s degree that is the traditional pathway to becoming a teacher. Fort Hays State University, a global leader in serving the non-traditional student, has a solution. The Master of Science in Education with a concentration in elementary education was approved this summer by the Kansas State Board of Education, and classes began this fall. Anyone with a bachelor’s degree who wants to become an elementary school teacher can now do so without having to obtain a second bachelor’s degree. “I have been contacted by a number of graduates and want to come back, but they say ‘I have a family. I can’t quit my job,’ ” said Dr. Valerie Zelenka, associate professor of teacher education at Fort Hays State. Zelenka, the program coordinator, also chaired the committee that developed and guided the program through the approval process. “It is a cohort program because the students need to take the same courses in the same order. Each semester builds on the previous semester’s work,” she said. The program works this way: The students take 27 credit hours, including a semester of student teaching, over the course of two years. Program completers earn a license to teach in an elementary school.
Art and design building dedicated at Homecoming A long-held dream of the Department of Art and Design came officially true at Homecoming with a ribbon-cutting and open house at the brand new, 43,000-square-foot, $14.2 million Center for Art and Design at Fort Hays State University. The building – finished in August, just in time for the start of classes – was named the Schmidt Foundation Center for Art and Design in November following approval by the Kansas Board of Regents. The naming opportunity came as a result of a generous $2.5 million gift from the foundation in honor of local philanthropists Bob and Pat Schmidt. The Schmidts contributed to numerous causes in Hays during their lifetime and have their name attached to several facilities around campus. Pat, a lover of the arts, passed away in 2015, and Bob died in 2017, and their family has continued to support Fort Hays State. Karrie Simpson Voth, chair of the department, calls her department’s new home a “game changer.” “We are standing on a great reputation that was built over decades by former and current faculty. Now we
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have the incredible facility to go with it,” she said. One feature of the dedication was a time capsule with artwork, tools and other items from current students and faculty that will give those attending Fort Hays State in 2044 a glimpse of the art and design program 25 years before. The building’s external walls feature floor-to-ceiling of glass walls. The inside classroom walls also are glass, giving student artists the chance to draw inspiration for the activity outside their classroom. The design also gives passersby the chance to witness the creativity within. Other features that make the building so engaging include state-ofthe-art technology throughout and a second-story balcony that overlooks an atrium filled with chairs and small tables. An enclosed walkway leads visitors to the new Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art in a renovated spacious brick building that housed the university’s power plant until the late 1960s. The former power plant was completely remodeled. The bricks on the outside were cleaned, and matching bricks cover a new storage addition built to the west of the gallery to house the department’s vast art collection.
CAMPUS NEWS Ribbon cutting opens new Kansas Army National Guard office at Fort Hays State
Fort Hays State climbing in national rankings Two national ranking systems recently recognized Fort Hays State University for the quality, affordability, and flexibility of the educational experiences they provide to the modern college student. Online students tend to be more mature and value-conscious as they bring more life experiences and the need to balance personal, professional and financial commitments. In their “Best Colleges for Adult Learners” review of four-year colleges, Washington Monthly Magazine selected FHSU No. 4 in the nation and No. 1 in Kansas. And in its 2020 “Best Colleges for Veterans” nationwide rankings, College Factual identified FHSU as the No. 8 school in the nation, and again, No. 1 in Kansas. FHSU began delivering professional development correspondence coursework to teachers in one-room schoolhouses in 1911. This fall, the university celebrated its 19th consecutive year of enrollment growth. Students enrolled in the university’s online Virtual College, now comprise approximately 49 percent of total enrollment.
In October, the Kansas Army National Guard opened an office on the campus of Fort Hays State University with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the university’s Memorial Union. Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the Kansas adjutant general, and FHSU President Tisa Mason, along with other FHSU faculty members, were present to mark the occasion. The office is staffed by members of the Kansas National Guard Recruiting and Retention Office, who provide members of the Fort Hays State community with information on the educational and professional benefits of enlisting in the Kansas National Guard. “These partnerships between the Kansas National Guard and our state’s community colleges and universities are mutually beneficial,” Tafanelli said. “The men and women who attend these institutions are smart, eager and committed to improving their state and communities; they’re just the sort of people we want in the Guard. “And the students receive great educational benefits as members of the Guard, not just in terms of tuition, but also because of the many great career opportunities we offer. For just about any field of study they have as a student, you can find a correlating career in the Guard.” President Mason welcomed the expansion of the university’s ROAR
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relationship with the Guard. “We take great pride in being able to support these men and women whose sacrifice, dedication and selfless service inspires us all,” she said. “I think what makes us attractive as an education partner is the high-quality programs, unmatched affordability, and dedicated and caring faculty and staff we offer to value-conscious Guard members who want to advance in their civilian and military careers.”
President’s Distinguished Scholar Dr. Grady Dixon, professor of geosciences and interim dean of the Peter Werth College of Science, Technology and Mathematics, is the recipient of the 2019 President’s Distinguished Scholar Award – the top faculty honor bestowed by Fort Hays State University. Dixon’s work on tornado climatology stands out among his peers. His use of distributive lag nonlinear modeling rewrote our modern understanding of tornado frequency, location, and severity. With over 40 published scholarly works to his name, his research topics involve applying weather data to “real-world problems across multiple disciplines.” Dixon’s research on weather and climate provides insight into the relationship between weather and suicide and the effects of weather on wildlife. Dixon credits opportunistic collaboration and mentoring for his success. His high impact teaching practices are a memorable learning experience for all involved – such as his yearly travel through the Great Plains region chasing tornadoes.
FHSU nursing receives largest single grant in university history The Department of Nursing has won the largest individual grant ever at Fort Hays State University. The program is an online pathway for nurses who have the B.S. in Nursing to earn the Doctor of Nursing Practice, an advanced practice family nurse practitioner degree. The grant is $2,796,398 from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “The BSN to DNP program at FHSU focuses on preparing students to care for populations from the newborn to the elderly,” said Dr. Jenny Manry, chair of the Department of Nursing. “Students perform clinicals with both physicians and family nurse practitioners across Kansas, with many students coming from rural and frontier areas.” Jayda Edgar, who is in her third year of the DNP program, has a passion for rural America. “I hope to continue working in small, rural areas as these are the communities that are struggling to find providers,” she said. “I love the personal connection with the patients and communities.”
FHSU celebrates the Bickles’ lifetime of generosity Don and Chris Bickle, long known for their philanthropy and support of Fort Hays State University, were celebrated at a reception in October when their latest $1 million gift to the university was announced. The majority of the gift will support Tiger Athletics, contributing to the ongoing success of Tiger student-athletes and programs. Their gift will also support the W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship, the robotics program in the Department of Applied Technology, the FHSU Alumni Association, and FHSU President Tisa Mason’s strategic plan for the university. “We are here to honor Don and Chris Bickle – some of our most loyal and generous supporters to Fort Hays State University,” said Jason Williby, president and CEO of the FHSU Foundation. “I want to express our humble gratitude for their loyalty and commitment, but also for their ongoing support and encouragement, which permeates throughout our community.” The reception also featured expressions of gratitude from FHSU
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Athletic Director Curtis Hammeke; Dr. Melissa Hunsicker Walburn, interim dean of the Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship; and Mike Koerner, vice president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Cody Escritt, a graduate student from Nebraska, spoke on behalf of FHSU’s robotics program. “Throughout my undergraduate program in manufacturing and now in my graduate program, as I’m taking a course in advanced education through instructional technology,” he said, “I know I would not be where I am today without our robotics, without our phenomenal instructors, and without your support. It’s very important for students, like myself to have this up-to-date technology, and to learn what it will be like in the field upon graduation.” In typical Don Bickle fashion, he concluded the celebration by leading the FHSU Pep Band, cheerleaders and mascot, Victor E. Tiger, in the university’s unofficial anthem and fight song, “In Heaven There Is No Beer.” Before long, the full crowd of almost 150 people had joined Don in clapping and singing.
ALUMNI NEWS
Tigers from near and far came home to Hays America for the Homecoming Weekend celebration October 10-12. A multitude of events sponsored by the Alumni Association and various groups on campus provided a wide array of activities for Tigers of all ages to enjoy. The College of Education held its first-ever Homecoming reunion, and the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority hosted a 60th-anniversary celebration reunion. Cold and windy temperatures did not deter 42 teams of golfers from the annual Tiger Alumni and Friends Golf Tournament that kicked off the slate of Homecoming activities on Thursday, October 10, at the Smoky Hill Country Club. The tournament included a silent auction that raised funds in support of the Post Rock Region Scholarship, a scholarship program that provides financial assistance to students from the Ellis and the surrounding counties in our region. Tiger football fans enjoyed a Q&A luncheon with Coach Chris Brown,
who entered his ninth season as the Tigers’ head football coach. Friday, October 11, was a day packed full of events. The university hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Center for Art and Design, and the College of Education held the 40th-anniversary celebration and open house to recognize the little Plymouth Schoolhouse’s move from Russell County to campus in 1979. The morning also featured the 50th Anniversary celebration of the founding of the Half Century Club, and members of the 50- and 60-year classes of 1959 and 1969 were honored. Winners of 2019 Alumni Association awards were recognized on Friday evening at the annual Awards & Recognition banquet. These awards honor Tiger alumni for personal and professional successes and service to their communities, the university and the world at large. View our list of award winners on the next spread. Before sunrise on Saturday, October 12, more than 50 runners participated in the Tiger 5K Run/Walk. Kevin Sander of Topeka led the pack with a ROAR
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time of 18 minutes and 31 seconds. Following the Tiger 5K, the annual parade down Main Street, coordinated by the Center for Student Involvement, included more than 90 entries ranging from bands to floats to youngsters lining the street in anticipation of the excitement. For the first time during the university’s annual Homecoming festivities, Oktoberfest became a twoday event. On Saturday afternoon, Tiger football fans enjoyed tailgating festivities, highlighted by the presence of the College of Education’s kidfriendly and interactive Maker Van. Tailgaters were also treated to the music of the Tiger Teacher Nation Band. The day ended in a 19-3 Tiger victory over visiting Emporia State University. A big “thank you” is extended to all attendees, participants, sponsors, and partners who made Homecoming 2019 another huge success. Make plans now to join us for Homecoming 2020, tentatively scheduled for October 1-3!
Nominations accepted for Honorary Alumni Family of the Year Does your family bleed Fort Hays State University black and gold? Then consider nominating them for the FHSU Tiger Alumni Honorary Family of the Year Award, designed to recognize a different multi-generational Tiger family based on their dedication, loyalty and support to Fort Hays State University. All Tigers are eligible for this annual award. Simply complete the nomination form with a 1,000-word-or-less essay and provide a list of names/ graduation years of those family members who have attended/graduated from Fort Hays State University. The winning family will be honored during the 2020 Homecoming weekend in Hays. They will receive a commemorative plaque, one framed picture of attendees, tickets to the football game, where they will enjoy on-field recognition during halftime, and complimentary FHSU Tiger T-shirts. Alumni Family of the Year honorees will also serve as marshals of the Homecoming Parade. Nominations are accepted online at www.goforthaysstate. com/familyoftheyear. Deadline for 2020 is August 15. For answers to your questions, contact the Alumni Association at 888-351-3591 or alumni@fhsu.edu.
the
FHSU Alumni & Friends app
ACCESS YOUR ALUMNI MEMBERSHIP CARD, TIGER SAVINGS AND MORE!
Alumni Events in Spring 2020 Pregame gathering in Claremore, Okla. January 11, 2020 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. J. Farley’s Pub, 609 S. Brady, Suite 105, Claremore, Okla. 2 - 4 p.m. Basketball games at Claremore Expo Center 400 Veterans Pkwy., Claremore, Okla. Oklahoma alumni and friends! Rogers State has joined the MIAA, and the Tigers will be in Claremore for conference basketball action on January 11, 2020. The Alumni Association is hosting a pre-game gathering at J. Farley’s Pub. Afterward, meet the defending MIAA champion women’s basketball team and the men’s basketball team.
Tiger Basketball gathering/game in Wichita February 29, 2020, at Newman University 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Basketball games at Fugate Gymnasium 3100 McCormick St., Wichita, Kan. All Tigers, young and old, are invited to connect with fellow supporters at a pregame gathering before the trek to Newman for what’s sure to be a thriller. Check out goforthaysstate.com, the Alumni Association website, for the latest on the pregame gathering location Tigers are seeking to avenge a 76-75 loss from 2018 when the Jets sank a pair of last-second free throws to win the game.
MIAA Tournament pre-game parties March 4 to 8, 2020 Johnny’s Tavern, 1310 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. Municipal Auditorium, 301 W. 13th St., Kansas City
Download at www.goforthaysstate.com/app or search “FHSU Alumni & Friends” in the online stores to the right.
www.GOFORTHAYSSTATE.com 888.351.3591 | alumni@fhsu.edu
The Tiger men’s and women’s basketball teams will be back at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City for the MIAA tournament. Gather with us for this annual event at Johnny’s Tavern in the Power and Light District. The women are the defending MIAA conference champions, and the men advanced to the conference quarterfinals last season. Come cheer the Tigers on to victory! Learn more and register online at www.goforthaysstate.com/events or call the FHSU Alumni Association Office at 1-888-351-3591 or email alumni@fhsu.edu.
ALUMNI NEWS
FHSU Alumni Association honors six individuals, one couple with 2019 Alumni Awards Eight alumni of Fort Hays State University were honored with awards from the FHSU Alumni Association during 2019 Homecoming celebrations. Four alumni were honored with the Alumni Achievement Award, the association’s highest honor. The Alumni Achievement Award was established in 1959 to recognize graduates who have made outstanding and unselfish contributions in service to their community, state or nation as citizens, in chosen career fields or through philanthropic work.
The award is based on career and professional achievements, service involving community betterment, philanthropic activities and educational achievements. The Young Alumni Award, granted to graduates of 10- through 15-year reunion classes, recognizes those early in their careers who have had outstanding professional and educational achievements, community activities, honors and awards and other accomplishments since graduation Candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree from FHSU, be members of the
Alumni Achievement Award
BUCK ARNHOLD
After 40 years as a full-time professional artist and entrepreneur, Buck Arnhold is still actively creating. Upon completing his B.A., M.A. and M.F.A. from Fort Hays State, he launched his own successful sign and graphics business in Hays. He painted Bob Dole’s Presidential announcement backdrop and murals for many organizations and schools, including FHSU’s Forsyth Library. In 1989, he relocated to the Kansas City area, where he worked for Acme Sign Company with clients such as the Kansas City Chiefs and Boulevard Brewing Company. For the latter, he painted the iconic smokestacks which have been recreated as draft beer tap handles found in establishments across the region. During this time, he also produced works for the personal foundations of former Chiefs players, including Derrick Thomas, Joe Montana and Marcus Allen. ROAR
10-15 reunion classes, and be under age 40 as of Jan. 1 of the year the awards are presented. The Distinguished Service Award recognizes a graduate or friend of the university who has demonstrated a continuing concern for humanity on a universal, national, state or community level, who supports spiritual, cultural and educational objectives, and who endorses and exemplifies the highest standards of character and personal attributes.
Among many other high-flying art projects, Arnhold’s job required him to repaint the Chiefs’ Arrowhead sign atop the stadium by being hoisted 100 feet up in the air on a boom truck and, still not reaching the sign, swinging another 15 feet on a wooden seat hung with ropes, a 5-gallon bucket of paint, a roller and a brush. Always generous in sharing both his art and his knowledge, he has painted murals in El Salvador and designed décor, paintings and murals for countless fundraisers. He has been especially generous to Literacy Kansas City and The Good Samaritan Project, among others. He has painted murals in 28 of the 36 Olathe elementary schools and, hoping to engage and inspire youth in the artistic process, he has also provided annual drawing demonstrations for elementary students. In 1998, he went to work for Associated Wholesale Grocers, where he was responsible for 1,500 murals and art in 22 states. | 08 |
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by KURT BEYERS
Alumni Achievement Award
Alumni Achievement Award
When Kevin Faulkner graduated from FHSU in 1983, he was already a very committed Tiger who showed great potential. He earned two B.A.s, one in political science and another economics, served as president of the Student Government Association, received the Torch Award, and continued his education at the University of Virginia Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctorate. Faulkner has succeeded at the highest level in his professional career, most of which has been spent while working as an investor relations officer for various technology companies in Silicon Valley. After 12 years as a securities and corporate lawyer with two prestigious West Coast firms, he embarked on a career in investor relations that revolutionized that role for technology companies. Under Faulkner, the position moved from an administrative position supporting the CEO and CFO to an outward-facing position working directly with investors while ensuring that all securities, regulations, and insider trading laws are followed. Faulkner has been a generous supporter of Fort Hays State through the FHSU Foundation and the FHSU entrepreneurship program. While serving since 2010 on the Foundation Board of Trustees Investment Committee and on the Executive Committee, he led efforts to improve the Foundation’s investment goals and strategy, which created many millions more in returns than the former strategy would have generated. He has championed FHSU’s W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship by providing resources to the entrepreneurship program, serving as a judge and supporter for the Faulkner Challenge entrepreneur competition, and developing support from local business leaders, regional economic development officials and potential investors.
As a highly energetic advocate of education and community service, Dr. Leigh (Bunn) Goodson has risen through the educational ranks and is currently the president of Tulsa (Okla.) Community College. The foundation for Leigh’s stellar career achievements can be traced back to her experience as an admissions counselor for FHSU, a position she held while she completed a M.S. in organizational communication. Her focus, then and now, is on students and helping change their economic trajectories. Tulsa Community College is a nationally prominent community college that annually serves 27,000-plus students at four Tulsa metro campuses and two community campuses. Under her leadership, TCC was selected as one of 30 colleges nationwide to participate in the Pathways Project, a program sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Through Pathways, and with a significant financial commitment from the college and private funders, TCC was able to increase support services to help students graduate. Those practices have transformed the college. Results include increased retention rates, an increased number of students taking full-time class loads, allowing developmental education students to access college-level classes quicker, and higher retention rates for students of color. Before assuming the TCC presidency in 2014, Goodson served as vice president for research and institutional advancement at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, where she administered $30 million in grants and contracts and directed all federal government relations for both OSU campuses in Tulsa. Her service includes membership on the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce Board, the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board, the Tulsa Area United Way Campaign, the YMCA of Greater Tulsa Metropolitan Board of Directors, and the Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education.
KEVIN FAULKNER
FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. LEIGH GOODSON
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ALUMNI NEWS Alumni Achievement Award
for academic advising, as well as on campus with the Edmund Shearer and Navigator Awards. His most extensive and long-term community-service activity has been with the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. He started as a student volunteer and is now the faculty supervisor who works with student preparers. The program annually provides free tax assistance to more than 150 low-to-middle-income, local taxpayers who need help completing their tax returns. Along with providing professional service-learning experiences for his students, leadership for Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout boards of review, and support for other non-profit community organizations, Engel is a member of the FHSU Foundation Board of Trustees and serves on its Audit Committee. He created a named scholarship with the FHSU Foundation for undergraduate accounting students.
MICHAEL MILLER
Mike Miller earned several degrees from FHSU, including an A.S. in radiologic technology in 1985, a B.S. in general science in 1986 and an M.S. in physical education in 1993. After serving FHSU as a clinical instructor of radiology, he left to pursue his life‒long dream of following in his father’s footsteps and becoming an agent for the FBI. He earned his special agent certification at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. Since 1998, he has served in many roles, most recently as a training coordinator and special agent in Kansas City. Early in his FBI career, he obtained a conviction in a $28 million Medicare fraud scheme. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Miller was deployed to New York on two occasions. During the first, he was a member of the response team that recovered a weaponized anthrax-laced letter sent to The New York Post. On his second deployment, he worked to search for, recover and document evidence and human remains from Ground Zero rubble. He has received multiple awards for his FBI work in a variety of cases, including preventing violence against Westboro Baptist Church members and counter-protestors, recovery of the newborn baby of Bobbi Jo Stinnett, and coordination of searches and testimony in a plot to attack a mosque in Southwest Kansas.
Young Alumni Award
JOSHUA W. SNIDER Completing his B.A. from FHSU in political science in 2005 and his Juris Doctorate from Texas Tech University’s School of Law in 2008, Joshua Snider has become a shining star of Texas and FHSU for his tremendous impact in the U.S./Mexico border region. He currently is a managing shareholder and attorney for Gordon Davis Johnson and Shane P.C., a business boutique law firm in El Paso. He is licensed in Texas and New Mexico and admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served as an advisory member of the State Bar of Texas’ Professionalism Committee in 2014-2015. Snider’s work includes inbound and outbound business transactions, with an emphasis on cross-border issues in Mexico, international tax planning and compliance, multinational joint ventures, complex international structures, wealth planning for high-net-worth individuals, international estate planning and a wide range of domestic and transactional tax and corporate matters. His community service includes serving on the board and as a pro-bono legal counsel for the FEMAP Foundation, a multinational non-profit that raises funds to assist El Paso’s sister city, Ciudad Juarez, and its citizens. The foundation seeks help to improve the quality of life in Ciudad Juarez in health services, education, research, and economic and social empowerment. The foundation primarily assists with funding for the Hospital de la Familia and its nursing school. Snider formerly served on the Millennial Advisory Board for the Hospitals of Providence System, and on the board
Young Alumni Award
DR. COLE ENGEL
A lifelong FHSU Tiger, Dr. Cole Engel, CPA, earned two undergraduate degrees in 2007, a Bachelor of Business Administration in computer information systems and another in accounting. He also earned an MBA in accounting from FHSU, in 2009, and later became a licensed CPA. During graduate school, he served as a graduate teaching assistant. He credits that experience with molding his career path as a university professor. Engel has been an instructor of accounting since 2009. After receiving his Ph.D. from Northcentral University in 2016, he was promoted to assistant professor of economics, finance and accounting. He has written multiple research articles for peer-reviewed publications. During his 10 years teaching at FHSU, Engel has twice earned the Outstanding Faculty Award from FHSU’s W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship. His work in academic advising has been recognized nationally by NACADA, the global community ROAR
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The 2019 Alumni Award Winners: (left to right) back row: Kevin Faulkner ’83, ’83, Pebble Beach, Calif.; Dr. Curt Brungardt ’81, ’84 Council Grove; Cole Engel, Ph.D., CPA, ’07, ’07, ’09, Hays; Buck Arnhold ’74, ’76, ’80, Olathe; front row: Michael Miller ’85, ’86, ’93, Kansas City, Mo.; Dr. Christie (Patterson) Brungardt ’01 Council Grove; Dr. Leigh (Bunn) Goodson ’94, Tulsa, Okla.; and Joshua W. Snider ’05, El Paso, Texas.
for the El Paso Chapter of March of Dimes. He has also provided pro bono legal services to families in need.
entrepreneurs.” They created the university’s Center for Civic Leadership to expand civic engagement opportunities to all students and staff. The Center’s projects include the American Democracy Project, Tigers in Service, the Kansas Youth Leadership Academy, and the Benjamin Franklin Papers learning experience for K-12 students. Christie founded the Women’s Leadership Project to “educate, inspire and empower women to be the leaders of tomorrow.” The Red Flag Campaign is an initiative of the WLP to educate students to recognize the warning signs of dating violence. Red Flag was developed from a separate, highly personal project. The Brungardts founded Jana’s Campaign, a national non-profit organization, as a result of the tragic murder of their 25-year-old daughter, Jana Mackey. Jana’s Campaign was created “with the single purpose of reducing gender and relationship violence.” The campaign has so far been carried to more than 600 middle and high schools and 400 colleges and universities in 38 states.
Distinguished Service Award
DR. CURT BRUNGARDT AND DR. CHRISTIE BRUNGARDT The Distinguished Service Award could have been designed with Drs. Curt and Christie (Patterson) Brungardt in mind. Both are FHSU alumni and longtime faculty members in the Department of Leadership Studies. Curt Brungardt was the department’s founding chair. Upon their recent retirement, they were awarded emeritus faculty status for their service to the university. The curriculum of the Leadership Studies department, with 18 full-time faculty and nearly 1,700 students worldwide, is focused on citizenship and creating citizen leaders. Its methodology emphasizes service-learning and civic engagement. They have described the impetus for their work as: “We have committed our lives to be social FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY
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TIGER ATHLETICS
Volleyball continues growth under Wood-Atkins Tiger volleyball continues to build for the future after completing its second season under head coach Jessica Wood-Atkins. The Tigers won just seven matches in 2019 but pushed numerous teams to close finishes. FHSU finished one place higher than expected in the MIAA standings in a conference that featured five top-25 nationally ranked teams. Three underclassmen were among the top five players in points on the squad, led by freshman Delaney Humm with 336 kills and 371 total points. Humm earned second-team All-MIAA honors. Junior middle hitter Tatum Bartels and sophomore outside hitter Isabelle Reynolds were honorable mention picks.
Women’s soccer enjoys another successful season The Tigers had another strong season under third-year head coach Blake Reynolds. They reached the 10 win mark for the third straight year, ending 2019 with a 10-6-2 season record. FHSU finished fifth in the MIAA. The Tigers played strong defense, allowing an average of less than one goal per match (0.92) and posted nine shutouts. All-MIAA picks (2nd team) were seniors Taryn Schnell (defender) and Darby Hirsch (midfielder) and sophomore forward Cailey Perkins. Receiving honorable mention honors were senior goalkeeper Megan Kneefel and defenders senior Paige Utterback and sophomore Maja Persa.
Football continues success, falls just short of playoffs Tiger football had another great year under ninth-year head coach Chris Brown. FHSU finished 8-3 overall and tied for third in the perennially tough MIAA. But the Tigers came up just one win shy of what would have been a probable trip to the playoffs for a third straight year. Starting 0-2 with losses to eventual MIAA co-champion Central Missouri and Missouri Western, the Tigers knew they would likely have to run the table the rest of the year to make the playoffs. They almost pulled it off. FHSU won seven straight, but a 36-33 double overtime loss in Hays to eventual MIAA co-champion Northwest Missouri State thwarted the Tigers’ chance to jump into the top seven of the NCAA Super Region rankings. This year’s seniors – who tied last year’s group for the program’s most wins (36) in FHSU’s NCAA tenure – went out with a bang. In the season ROAR
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finale, the Tigers posted a new record for points against a collegiate opponent in a 91-7 blowout over winless Northeastern State. The Tigers had 15 players named All-MIAA in 2019, led by the repeat MIAA Special Teams Player of the Year, senior kicker Dante Brown, and a first-team all-purpose back selection, senior Harley Hazlett. Grabbing second-team honors were senior defensive back Tanner Hoekman, junior linemen Ted Hessing (offense) and Javaris Sanders (defense), and sophomore quarterback Chance Fuller. Third-team honors went to senior receiver Layne Bieberle, junior offensive lineman Amari AngramBoldin, and sophomore defensive back Jordan Starks. Honorable mention nods included sophomore receiver Manny Ramsey and five seniors – running back Charles Tigner, defensive back Hayden Kreutzer, linebacker Kolt Trachsel, defensive lineman Sheldon Schmidt, and tight end Matt Wendelberger.
photography by ALLIE SCHWEIZER
Men’s soccer makes eighth straight trip to nationals
Men’s cross country qualifies for NCAA tourney By placing fourth at the NCAA Central Region Championships, Fort Hays State earned one of 10 at-large selections to compete in the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif. FHSU is one of 34 teams that competed for the men’s title, and the Tigers finished 29th overall. This season, the Tigers had the distinction of being coached by a former national champion. Brett Meyer, a graduate assistant coach, won the 1,500 meters at last spring’s NCAA D-II national track and field meet in Kingsville, Texas. In addition to coaching, Meyer – who grew up in Scott City – is training for a shot at qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Trials.
This marked Fort Hays State’s fifth trip to the national championship meet as a member of the NCAA and the Tigers’ first appearance since 2002. Fort Hays State’s highest-ever finish at the NCAA national meet was 10th, accomplished in both 1997 and 2002. Leading the Tigers at nationals were junior Robbie Schmidt, who finished 125th out of the 268 runners, and senior Justin Moore (132nd). Earlier in the season, Fort Hays State won a pair of meets, which included a perfect score at the Bronco Stampede hosted by Hastings College. Israel Barco and Seppe van ‘t Westende were both All-MIAA performers, while senior Reed Rome joined the pair for all-region honors with top-25 finishes at the regional meet.
Women’s cross country wins pair of races in 2019 The women’s cross country team got off to a fast start, claiming first place in its first two meets before finishing the season with a sixth-place effort at the conference meet. They were led by All-MIAA performers Brooke Navarro and Abigail Stewart, a pair of sophomores who each finished in the top 20 at the conference meet.
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The Tiger men’s soccer team continued its tremendous run of success by earning a spot in the 2019 NCAA Tournament field for the eighth consecutive year. The Tigers own the longest active streak in NCAA Division II for consecutive appearances in the tournament, dating back to 2012. The Tigers finished 13-6-2 after losing a 3-2 heartbreaker in the first round at regionals. The Tigers have won at least 11 games a season during every year of the program’s nine years of existence. FHSU cleaned up on conference honors in its first year as members of the Great American Conference in men’s soccer. Santiago Agudelo – Player of the Year in the MIAA, Central Region and NCAA D-II a year ago – added another top conference honor to his resume as the GAC Offensive Player of the Year this season. After the NCAA Tournament, Agudelo, a senior from Frisco, Texas, had scored a schoolrecord 42 goals. That, along with 13 assists, amounted to 97 career points (also a school record). Senior Sergio Villalba earned GAC Defensive Player of the Year, and Alec Bevis was named GAC Freshman of the Year. Firstyear head coach Gerry Cleary was named GAC Coach of the Year. Also earning all-conference recognition were junior defender Moritz Walther and three midfielders: junior Mauricio Etcheverry, sophomore Rogelio Lopez, and freshman Jacob Basden. The Tigers also claimed numerous Central Region honors, with Agudelo chosen as the Regional Player of the Year for a second consecutive year. Joining him on the first team were Villalba and Lopez, while Etcheverry, Walther and redshirt freshman defender Alec Bevis garnered secondteam honors.
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FEATURE STORIES
Ball brothers excel together in and out of the classroom by DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN photography by KELSEY STREMEL
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hey have been competing with and against each other their entire lives. Their dad used to clear out the family living room for fierce wrestling matches during their younger days. But Brandon, Jonathan and Christopher Ball didn’t have to wrestle with the decision about where to attend college. Brandon followed in the footsteps of his high school coach, a Fort Hays State University graduate. And once older brother donned the black and gold of the Tigers, there was little question that Jonathan and Christopher would follow close behind. Even as college roommates, everything is still a competition for the brothers, who grew up in a close knit family in the tiny Barton County town of Heizer. But they are quick to add that if anyone has a problem with one brother, they have to deal with all three. They treasure their companionship so much that they all live together and split nearly every bill – whether household or recreational toys – three ways. The set-up is really no different for the brothers than when they grew up as best friends and shared bedrooms at home. They attribute their solid work ethic and Christian faith to lessons learned while being homeschooled by their mother. The Balls packed those values in their suitcases when they came to college and now are making a name for themselves in both the athletic and academic arenas at Fort Hays State. For the past two years, Brandon, Jonathan and Christopher all wrestled for the Tigers, and last year all three pole vaulted during the track and field season as well. All are model students academically, each maintaining a GPA of at least 3.8. But make no mistake. The Balls, the epitome of student-athletes, are not clones. Brandon is on track to
graduate in May with a degree in applied technology. Jonathan is a finance major, and Christopher is majoring in information networking and telecommunications. “We are walking down the same path, but we each have our own direction,” said Jonathan, the middle brother and the most talkative of the trio. However, Brandon, normally a quiet sort, has come out of his shell in college and now feels ready to pursue his dream of becoming a high school teacher and coach. The family tradition at Fort Hays State for the Balls began back in 2015 when Brandon was a senior at Hoisington and his high school coach, Dan Schmidt, offered to take Brandon to visit the campus of his alma mater. Schmidt coaches wrestling and track in Hoisington and steered Brandon into both those sports his freshman year at HHS, and they began to form a strong bond. After watching him excel as a multi-sport athlete in high school, Schmidt thought Brandon could add a lot to the athletic and applied technology programs at Fort Hays State. He knew FHSU would be a good fit for Brandon as well. Most importantly, Schmidt was well aware of the quality of education FHSU has to offer. “I told Brandon he needed to know what he wanted to do with the rest of his life,” Schmidt said. “Wrestling and track are going to end, so I said he should go where he would get the best education.” So the coach and his student-athlete scheduled a campus visit to FHSU. “I really like working with my hands, and I thought I could impact students as a teacher,” Brandon said as he jumped up to stir a pot of soup he was making the gang for dinner. He liked what he saw at FHSU, both with the wrestling and the applied ROAR
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technology studies programs. Because of their shared values, his younger brothers followed him to Hays in 2017 and ’18. For the past two years, the Balls have been doing virtually everything together, much like they did while growing up as the oldest of five boys. This past summer, Brandon and Christopher even worked together on a roofing crew in Colorado. Life skills gained in college are not lost on Bruce and Christina Ball, who are pleased their sons all chose Fort Hays State and are proud of their accomplishments. At the top of that list are earning college educations. All three brothers will graduate debt free after combining athletic and academic scholarships, along with money earned from summer jobs, to pay for college. “From the time they were young, we told them that if you can’t pay for it, don’t buy it,” Christina Ball said. “We are very happy, in every way, about the great education they are getting at Fort Hays State. Where else can you go and get a great education for such a reasonable price, live in such a great community and be this close to home?” The brothers are set on enjoying their last year living together in college
From left: Brothers Christopher, Brandon and Jonathan Ball are making the most of their time together as student-athletes at FHSU.
The Ball family legacy continues
“Where else can you go and get a great education for such a reasonable price, live in a great community and be this close to home?” CHRISTINA BALL Mother
and anticipate successful wrestling seasons for Brandon and Jonathan. Christopher decided to concentrate on his academics this year and forego wrestling and track and field because of nagging injuries. His older brothers respect Christopher’s decision and are proud that he made what had to be a difficult choice. It all goes back to their upbringing, when they were taught to carefully weigh their options before making a final decision. “Core values we were taught like respect for others are part of our moral ground,” Jonathan said. “They are a big part of our accountability. We took that same mentality into athletics.” While they were all three-sport standouts in high school – the Balls all played football, too, and earned multiple all-state honors in wrestling – they say the most memorable moment for them together athletically probably came in the spring of 2015. They all finished in the top six in pole vault at
the Class 3A state track and field meet and were honored on the awards stand together. Just as he had from the time they were youngsters, Brandon set the bar high at the collegiate level, too. A twotime wrestling All-American in the 141-pound class, Brandon won his first 27 matches last season before finishing fourth at nationals. He is the No. 2 ranked wrestler in NCAA Division II in his weight class this season and is looking forward to one more shot at a national championship before switching gears to coaching. Jonathan will wrestle at 149 pounds this year. Meanwhile, Christopher will continue to support his older brothers from the sidelines, and all three will attend as many of their two younger brothers’ activities as possible. Joshua is a junior in high school at Hoisington, while Josiah is an eighth-grader. FHSU Coach Chas Thompson said he will miss Brandon next year but will never forget the time he got to coach three brothers simultaneously. “They are all great wrestlers, but better yet, they are well-rounded human beings,” he said. “They have a great work ethic and try hard in everything, whether it be in school or wrestling or working. They are a lot alike in those ways, but each of them is different, too. Each of their stories is still being written.”
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Bruce Ball chuckles when he talks about his oldest son’s start in wrestling. The first year that Brandon Ball went out for Kids Federation Wrestling as a 10-year-old, he qualified for the state tournament. “Shows how arrogant I am,” his dad said. “I had some T-shirts made with a wrestler and the saying, ‘The Ball Legacy Begins.’ ” While it might have seemed like a bold statement at the time, it turned out to be prophetic. Anyone who knew this family of seven in the small Barton County town of Heizer could tell you that more Ball brothers would follow Brandon to greatness: in kids’ wrestling, in high school and now at Fort Hays State. Brandon, Jonathan and Christopher Ball – all student-athletes for the Tigers – won numerous state medals in track and field in high school, too, and were successful on the football field as well. But their most impressive showing at Hoisington High School came in wrestling, where they combined for eight state championships, three other all-state performances and an incredible .960 winning percentage (452-19 combined overall record). Brandon led the way as a four-time state champ, and Christopher won three straight state titles after finishing second as a freshman. Jonathan rebounded from a serious labrum injury his junior year to go 42-0 as a senior en route to a state title. There are still two younger Ball brothers about an hour away from FHSU who are continuing the family wrestling legacy. Joshua is a junior in high school at Hoisington, while Josiah is an eighth-grader. So stay tuned.
Mentoring, collaboration, and research 25 years in the making by KELSEY STREMEL
photography by KELSEY STREMEL & ERICA CLARK ROAR
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t’s 3:32 p.m., and a half-mile plume of dust follows a white Dodge Ram truck along a white chalk road as it travels up and down weather-worn hills and gullies in a remote area on the grassy plains of western Kansas. Under the glaring Kansas sun, the truck comes to a stop. Fort Hays State University biological science graduate student Erica Clark climbs out, stretching to shake off stiffness from the long ride. She pulls a worn backpack and the hard-sided case of a Phantom 4 drone from the pickup bed and prepares to launch. Within minutes, she’s sent the drone high into the big blue sky in search of the nest of an elusive Buteo regalis – the largest hawk on the western plains, and commonly known as the Ferruginous Hawk. The ornithology research Erica and her advisors, Dr. Bill Stark and Dr. Medhavi Ambardar, are conducting has been in the making for more than 40 years. Her task is to observe and uncover insights into the behavior of the reclusive raptor that plays a critical role in the ecosystem of the high plains. The recommendation of a friend played a major role in Erica’s decision to come to Fort Hays State. She’d always loved the outdoors and heard the beautiful university on the plains was home to the most supportive, innovative, and determined faculty in the field. She knew after speaking with Stark that this would be a community where she could pursue her love of wildlife biology, gain skills and experience and, most importantly, build a network to support her future career in wildlife ecology. Stark is renowned for his passion for empowering students to pull on their boots, roll up their sleeves, and build a career in conservation and environmental science through
vigorous fieldwork and research opportunities. He’s also a pioneer in the field of Unmanned Aerial System application, or in simpler words, the use of drones in industry. “We value colleagues, collaboration, and it’s all about the students here at Fort Hays State,” Stark said. “It’s a unique dynamic in our department. Here, tenured faculty are committed to mentoring and supporting junior faculty. Classes blend graduate students and undergraduate students, creating a think-tank for peer mentoring and problem-solving. The research is great, exciting, and interesting, but we are all here to inspire students,” Stark said. The research Erica is now conducting is the very project Stark came to work on as a new faculty member at FHSU before he
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discovered his love for ichthyology and herpetology (fish, reptiles, and amphibians). At the time, his mentor suggested the reclusive bird would be too difficult to study and, instead, there would be more support for him to focus on riparian ecology. As they say, the rest was history. Over the years, though, Stark never gave up on his passion for the majestic Ferruginous Hawk. When a vibrant junior faculty member Dr. Medhavi Ambardar joined the department
“One of the best things about FHSU is that you get more – a lot more – interaction with your professors. And they care.” ERICA CL ARK Graduate Student
of biological sciences, he found the perfect academic partner to help carry on with the possible raptor research project that had long fascinated him. Ambardar works primarily with songbirds, but when Stark approached her and Erica with the idea, she was all in. Together, they developed and were awarded a $223,723 grant from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism to research the relatively unknown bird. “Raptors are special. They play an important role in the ecosystem, and they are a bird that people recognize and appreciate. They are majestic and regal but also reclusive. There’s so much we don’t know about them,” Ambardar said. This elusive behavior is what makes the awe-inspiring bird of prey such an enigma to biologists and conservationists. Together, Stark, Ambardar, and Clark are on a mission to discover the status of the Ferruginous hawk and it’s nesting behavior. The project began with Erica pouring over the journals, field notes, legal documents, and maps of Steve Roth, who conducted a similar study in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Not only has technology changed drastically in the last 40-plus years, but the logistical complexity of conducting research on private land would become one of the most significant challenges of the project.
In Roth’s time, when you wanted to conduct research, you went to the great outdoors and did it. Erica, though, had to start with the daunting task of locating and contacting the landowners and caretakers of the land that Roth documented as nesting sites. Quickly becoming an adept negotiator, she built personal relationships and was able to secure the necessary permissions to conduct her research on about half of the initial 120 documented nesting locations.
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Ferruginous hawks tend to nest in the same location generation after generation. Their nests are massive structures measuring up to 5-6 feet across and built of sticks, grasses, yucca stalks, and even bones collected from the prairie. What’s even more impressive is that these nests are often found 16 meters high and wedged into the face of a Kansas chalk bluff. You’d think it would be easy to study such a large bird with such fascinating nesting habits, but the Ferruginous Hawk is exceptionally reclusive. Purposely avoiding the disruption of any human presence, it tends to nest in very remote areas of the prairie. The next challenge for Erica was how to research such a reclusive bird without causing undue stress during such a critical time as nesting. While the Ferruginous hawk will persistently avoid close contact with humans, it is remarkably tolerant of
Unmanned Aerial Systems or drones. Stark, Ambardar, and Erica created a unique plan for using high-resolution cameras and drone technology to survey the nesting sites, film the hawks, and bring the data collected back to campus for analysis. “It’s cool how much information you can get with the drone, and it’s so much less invasive for the birds,” Erica said. “If you fly ethically, it’s a better management and conservation tool than we have ever had access to before.” They sent the drone out on a flight path over nesting sites where it would
take a 360-degree video of the location and bring back still images. Back at the lab, these videos and pictures could be analyzed for habitat and behavior data as well as used to create a Pix4D rendering. “Everything Erica brings back is so exciting,” Ambardar said. “There is so much we don’t know.” This research will inform future understanding of hawk behavior and the ecological impact of humans on western grasslands. So far, Erica has presented the findings of her research at the Kansas
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Ornithological Association’s annual meeting, the Kansas Natural Resource Conference, and the International Raptor Research Foundation Conference. Erica is only in her first year of this work, and she knows there is no doubt more to be observed, evaluated, and chronicled about the lifecycle and behaviors of this raptor. The team is already preparing for the upcoming year and planning for winter and spring surveys of the nesting sites. “One of the best things about FHSU is that you get more – a lot more – interaction with your professors. And they care,” Erica said. “I came here because of Dr. Stark, and I’ve been so happy to work with Dr. Ambardar as well. She’s easy and accepting and helpful with any issue, whether it’s about research or life.” The collaborative research model in the Department of Biological Sciences ensures that Fort Hays State will continue to play a key role in understanding the ecology of the great plains and pioneering the use of drone technology in field research.
The Hays business that just got bigger and bigger
O
by MARY RIDGWAY
nly 0.3 percent of the Kansas population starts a new business. Applying the national average, only 25 percent of those will be women, and startups led by Asians is 11 percent. Of all new businesses nationally, only 80 percent survive to the second year and only 56 percent last five years. Shirley Liu ’05, ’07 has kicked all the odds to the curb by creating a new business called CloudStorage LLC. Liu, president and owner, is a young Chinese woman whose humble presence disguises her tenacity, dedication, rigor and resilience. She is an innovator who started with an idea that now provides for her family and other people in Hays and abroad.
photography by KELSEY STREMEL
Her journey to Hays started in China at SIAS University, where she earned a dual-degree in business administration from both SIAS and Fort Hays State University. The two universities have partnered to provide American education in China for almost 20 years. Liu worked very hard on her dual degrees and graduated at the top of her class. For her achievement, she was awarded full tuition at Fort Hays State University to earn her graduate degree. She completed her master’s degree in communication studies in 2007. After graduating, she and her husband returned to Zhengzhou (pronounced Jung Jo), in the Hunan Province, where she taught marketing, ROAR
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international trade, and business management for four years at SIAS. But, after a while, Liu became restless. She was growing tired of teaching the same thing year after year and needed a new challenge. She and her husband decided they wanted to move back to Hays. On arriving, she was a little nervous because she didn’t have a job and was finding it difficult to enter the local workforce. Ultimately, she had to make some choices to put food on the table. Liu was always interested in starting a small business and decided to start selling on eBay out of her home. With one shelf of products and a small business loan, CloudStorage was born, and the entrepreneurial venture began
to grow – very quickly. She began by partnering with a friend from China in 2012. The partners created two companies one located in Shanghai and the other in Liu’s home in Hays. The Shanghai partner served as a purchasing agent to provide Liu a way to bid on parcels of used server components. “I started at my home. Then I rented an office. And then I buy and sell, buy and sell, and it just got bigger and bigger,” she said. The business quickly outgrew her home, and she relocated to a small office in the Hadley Center. One office grew to five. Then the people from Hadley said CloudStorage was not going to fit in the smaller offices and offered to move the business to the basement that had available space. It was the 6,000-square-foot former laundry area of the old hospital and the business operated there for almost three years. “I would tell them, ‘I need more space. Sorry, I’m getting bigger,’ ” Liu said. “Every time that I got bigger they would clear another area for me. They were always accommodating to our changing needs.” The business continued to get bigger. In 2017 she bought the former American Legion building on Canterbury Road and remodeled it.
CloudStorage, now 7 years old, specializes in selling refurbished servers and components – memory cards, hard drives, and CPUs. Its customers are usually data centers or IT departments in companies, schools or banks. Buying new components is very costly, so buying quality products in refurbished condition, including a warranty, is a good option. Most of the refurbished products are from wellknown American brands. Liu is very conscientious about not compromising data and providing a quality product. Her team wipes and tests the components using U.S. Department of Defense standard best practices. “We don’t want to leak our vendor’s data, nor introduce bugs into our customer’s systems,” said Liu. And she stands behind her product. CloudStorage offers a superior level of support to her customers. “Right now, our warranty is talked about. It’s really good. Our memory cards come with an automatic one-year warranty. For the networking cards and modules, we provide a three-year warranty. My competitors only provide 90 days or expect customers to pay extra money to extend a warranty,” Liu said. “We put a lot of effort into building
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relationships with our customers. We are not only winning the competition by lowering our prices, but also we provide warranties; we provide services; we revisit our customers and follow-up with them; we always pay attention to them. That helps us maintain our great customer base. Customers will think about us if we think about them.” Liu and CloudStorage are now in a position to give back to the community. The FHSU Entrepreneur Club has toured the facility and she enjoyed sharing her experience with students. CloudStorage also sponsors an FHSU scholarship. In three years, the business will donate $10,000 to name the endowed Business and IT scholarship from CloudStorage. At the end of summer, CloudStorage came in third in the 2019 Duck Derby cardboard boat competition to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters. “Starting a business just made sense. I came back to Hays with only an intent to feed myself and have some income, but it turned out to be a really good business,” said Liu. “I’m very happy I can help other people too. I have a good team and provide local employment. I’m also very proud that I’m able to help some international students after they graduate,” she said. Today, CloudStorage is a thriving business that employs 14 people in online sales, accounting, preparing server components, shipping and receiving, data processing and an IT department. Many of her employees are Fort Hays State students or graduates. From a little home start-up to a remarkable and solid business, Liu has impacted Hays, the United States, and the world. Through persistence and innovation, and determination, she has succeeded against the odds.
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“My dad’s motto was to leave a place better than you found it,” says
by DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN photography by KELSEY STREMEL
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Kris Munsch, assistant professor of applied technology at Fort Hays State University. “I never forgot that,” Kris said while relaxing on a couch in the machine shed on his farm in Hays. “It applies to everything in life.” Kris had to dig deep to continue living up to that philosophy after his 16-year-old son, Blake, died in a vehicle accident in 2005. He cried. He walked around in a daze, in a state of disbelief. His life was shattered. He sold his two local businesses and moved to eastern Kansas. After hitting rock bottom, Kris started to dig out of his despair. He realized that through Blake’s death, he could help others embrace life. While teaching at Bonner Springs High School, he created The Birdhouse Project for parents who have gone through the loss of a child. The project features a series of questions written on pieces of wood which are used to build a birdhouse. Hundreds of people have found solace by building their own birdhouses. Even then, though, Kris was still unsettled. So he took off on a year’s retreat from a regular lifestyle, traveling to 48 states alone by car, “to find himself.” After a year on the road, he landed back in Hays, where he wound up teaching in the Department of Applied Technology at FHSU. It seemed like the perfect fit. Building is one of Kris’ first loves, and while always seeking to make a difference, teaching his craft to others is a natural extension of that. Then, settled back into somewhat of a routine, Kris Munsch met his match. In his spare time, Kris runs his own
home inspection business. One day, he was asked to inspect a house in Hays that a spirited entrepreneur-minded woman named Larissa was interested in buying. Kris had never met anyone with quite the same passion for restoring houses as himself. He told Larissa about a gothic Victorian house he was restoring in Hays, and “I invited myself over to see it,” she said. Kris said he stood on the porch and listened in awe as Larissa talked about restoration ideas – ideas he hadn’t even thought of before. Who was this spunky woman who is passionate about saving old stuff, and where did she come from, Kris wondered. It didn’t take him long to find out. They talked for hours. They began spending more and more time with each other, and they soon learned that together they could make a difference – in whatever project they tackled. They were married in 2018 and have restored six houses since. Thus began the union of saving old stuff, and they are on a mission to make a difference in everything they touch. Kris and Larissa make an ideal team, because they agree to disagree. “Kris says ‘I’d tear this out,’ ” Larissa said, talking about one of their projects. “And I say, ‘No, I’d keep those.’ ” “Larissa usually wins out,” Kris said. “That girl knows what she’s talking about.” He’s not the only one who thinks so. Larissa has more than 100,000 followers, national and international, on her Instagram account OldHouseLove. Many popular and well-known restoration folks tag her posts because of her social media presence. The couple also created their own YouTube weekly series, “Saving Old Stuff with Lariss ’N Kris” that focuses on saving old houses, vehicles and animals.
Larissa’s followers got to witness the Munsches participate in one of their largest projects so far when they videoed the move of a two-story Craftsman house 70-some miles from Ness City to their farm on west 27th Street in Hays. They are restoring the house in their spare time while living in a downtown Victorian home they restored together and turned into an Airbnb. The 1920s Craftsman house was once inhabited by the 29th governor of Kansas, Andrew Schoepple, when ROAR
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he was starting his law career in Ness City. The Munsches dubbed the house, “The Govna,” which they plan to make their home when it is all finished. “If a house has a name, it has soul,” Larissa said. “And this house definitely has soul.” The Munsches are drawn to the spirit of less fortunate animals. They took in ducks that someone dropped off on the side of the road. A blind pony that was headed to slaughter has a safe home on the Munsch farm along with about 50 other animals of various
species. Larissa, who thought about becoming a veterinarian before following other interests, follows Facebook animal rescue pages to find rescue animals. People drive from far and wide to drop them off – or the Munsches themselves go fetch them from harm. Saving rescue animals, Kris says, helps ground a busy life.
And it is a busy life, with Kris’ teaching responsibilities at FHSU and the couple’s house restoration projects, along with other side businesses. One project that has especially kept Kris on the go is The Sticks Cubed, developed as part of his Birdhouse Project. The Sticks Cubed was designed to help people deal with any kind of loss, whether it be a death, health issues, divorce, loss of a job – anything. Kris has traveled the country presenting to a variety of organizations and schools and annually presents it to students in FHSU’s Death and Dying class. Kris uses Pick-Up Sticks and a Rubik’s Cube to help people understand their life experiences, how
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they got to where they are now and how to move forward, with each stick representing one of those experiences. The cube also represents different aspects of a person’s life, and he talks about how to deal with all sides of the cube. “If your car breaks down, it’s not that big of deal if you have the tools to fix it,” Kris said. “Personal tragedy is similar. If a person has some tools to help guide them through the aftermath of a tragedy, they can move forward a lot faster.” Kris can attest to that. After years of struggling with his own uncertainty, he has mastered moving forward, leaving each place he visits better than he found it.
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HOMETOWN AMERICA A community recipe for thriving on the Great Plains story and photography by KELSEY STEMEL
J
ust north of Prairie Dog Creek, where the Smoky Hills give way to the expansive high plains and amidst a sea of fall sorghum and cornstalks, lies the tightknit community of Norton, Kansas. Grain trucks make their way to the elevator. People smile and say hello. The local cafe, Destination Kitchen, is bustling at noon. On Main Street, you’ll find a mix of historic buildings standing proud with their modern renovated interiors alongside strikingly bare storefronts. It is the epitome of small-town rural America. News throughout the Midwest continues to echo U.S. census reports detailing an exodus from western Kansas. The population in most rural western counties reached its peak 50
years ago and has steadily declined as young people fled farms and small towns for the allure of big-city jobs and the promise of greater economic opportunity. Norton is a resilient community, firmly grounded in its past and keenly focused on the future. The Norton County Community Foundation (NCCF), led by executive director Tara Vance, is changing the exodus narrative, rallying resources and collaborating with state and local organizations and thought leaders to rewrite the playbook on living and thriving in rural American. “We have to be more creative,” Vance said. “We must be innovative, visionary, and tap into as many revenue sources as possible. We’re fortunate
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here that the community foundation board has always been thinking outside the box.” It’s a robust model for any foundation. The NCCF plays many roles in the local community, fulfilling the mission statement, “dedicated to serving today for tomorrow, to make our community a better place in which to live.” In her role, Vance facilitates donor recruitment, she’s a community convener and leader, and she’s working in economic development and legislative affairs to advocate for new jobs and opportunities. The NCCF has grown from approximately $227,000 in assets when Vance stepped into her role in 2016 to nearly $4 million today, including commercial real estate investments.
The NCCF functions as an investment holding group for community nonprofits. The foundation awarded $212,514 in grants locally in September 2018 to August 2019. Of those funds, $100,000 is pass-through funding from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation. “Their thought process at the Hansen Foundation is brilliant,” said Vance. “They empower other foundations to give locally, knowing that the community foundations know their community inside and out. They know what the community needs so they can give where it will make the most difference,” said Vance. In Norton, the breadth of projects impacted through these grants is extensive, ranging from the Storefront Renewal Project to promoting a family-friendly workplace initiative to expanding public transportation. The foundation has also provided gifts to the Protect Seblius Lake, the largest tourist attraction in Norton county; to local schools, hospitals, and to support community celebrations. “We are much more than fundraisers,” said Vance. “We are community leaders who bring people together from all areas, extrapolating ideas from everyone, not just CEOs and presidents. We include people from all walks of life in our community who want to make a difference.” The NCCF was invited to participate in the Kansas Community Philanthropy Innovators Network, a pilot project this year spearheaded by the Kansas Health Foundation and Network Kansas to build community capacity to address economic development. The focus of the $820,000 initiative is on building skills of community teams through coaching, technical assistance, economic development, and impact investing. Each participating community foundation has identified short-term action plans and established long-
term goals, including revitalizing downtown cores, strengthening local entrepreneurship, and leveraging technology to retain and attract businesses. “NCCF was chosen because they knew our capacity for work and innovation,” Vance said. “One of the things we’ve identified from our work with KCPIN is the gap in our entrepreneur infrastructure.” Vance and many others see entrepreneurs as the key to both Norton’s future and its past. In Norton, there is a large manufacturing base – one of the reasons the community has remained economically stable over the years. These businesses grew from the ground floor with one or two people and now employ more than 300 people. Manufacturing and big businesses are essential for jobs in rural communities, but there is also a need for mom-and-pop businesses as well. For a region to thrive, there needs to be a healthy mix of entrepreneurs with the capacity to envision what success means for them and their community. ROAR
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In many ways, the need for diverse businesses and collaboration throughout the community is similar to Fort Hays State, explains Vance. “At FHSU, there’s a culture of cross-collaboration and bringing different people together with different ideas to make big, impactful things happen. Here, we are identifying opportunities and collaborating to grow for the good of the community,” Vance said. People working together to share ideas, support each other, and meet the common goal of a thriving community is easy to see in Norton. Vance cites the NCCF’s success with impact investing as one of the many innovative ways it has created community excitement and economic growth in Norton. Impact investing provides opportunities for community members to invest resources locally. Instead of participating in traditional investment opportunities, people can put those resources into bringing new businesses to town that need support and capital. It provides an opportunity for
philanthropists to become investors in the business and partners with the community foundation. The beauty of this model is that many business ventures make sense in a small rural community that maybe don’t look great on a traditional cost-benefit analysis for a bank or traditional lender. The Heaton Building, in particular, is a quintessential example of foundation and economic development work in rural Kansas. It is a social purpose real estate project envisioned and backed by Gloria and Norman Nelson, with support of the Dane G. Hansen Foundation as well as many community volunteers. It is a marvel of renovation and collaboration well worth a visit and a physical reminder of the success and promise for the future of Norton. “A successful grant program has touchpoints to all different areas,”
Vance said. “Our environment in the Heaton Building makes us a unique creature, giving us visibility, viability, and it provides a constant reminder that we are engaged in the community.” The Heaton Building was renovated to preserve its historical detail but also includes the modern touch of new materials – such as aluminum stair risers produced at a local manufacturing company and detailed chandleries handmade with reclaimed light fixtures. Inside the beautifully renovated building are 16 local businesses and organizations, including the NCCF, a coffee shop, massage therapy, chiropractor, law office, retail space, construction office, the Gloria A. Nelson Cultural Arts Center, and more. When Shopko Stores Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed
“I want to scream, ‘Rural first.’ Giving back to rural communities should be in our DNA, and I want it to be a given in anyone’s planned giving. Building strong rural communities shouldn’t be learned behavior but observed – just like eating or speaking.” TARA VANCE
Executive Director, NCCF FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY
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the doors on the store in Norton this year, the community responded. The NCCF and local community leaders and organizations rallied to support the opening of The Nest in the Heaton Building. The Nest offers clothing, pet food and supplies, sporting goods, gifts, and more. It is an essential business for the sustainability of a rural community. The Heaton Building will also soon be home to Cozy Co-Working, a collaborative workspace with scalable capacity for 10 to 15 members. The airy, light-filled space in the heart of the town will provide flexible work options, connect local entrepreneurs, and serve as an energetic environment for business growth and peer-to-peer mentoring. With the success of these many programs, it’s easy to see why other community foundations frequently seek Vance’s advice. “I’m in the business of building relationships, and I know that matters,” Vance said. “I am passionate about this community and Northwest Kansas. Much of what the foundation does isn’t apparent at the moment, but it is vital for the future. I know a sliver of what the future looks like and it’s phenomenal.” Vance spent much of this fall on the road, sharing the work and success of the NCCF and inspiring others. Kansas has an incredible support system for rural communities, but there is a challenge in matching those resources with the physical needs of small towns. She is working to facilitate conversations that focus on finding better ways to match resources with the support, intellect, and people that need it most. She wants to empower other community foundations to collaborate and write their own small town economic development success stories on the high plains.
STRONGER FOR THE
future The ups and downs of Kansas agriculture by CHARLIE SCHIPPERS It is amazing to think back over 37 years ago. I was getting out of college at Fort Hays State University and wanted to be involved with agriculture in my future job. I grew up on a farm, thinking agriculture was the best and greatest business. I was the ninth of 11 kids in my family growing up, so I knew that I would need to find a job off of the family farm. I was fortunate to obtain a job with the Farm Credit System on June 1, 1982. I trained at Marysville, Kan., for six months before moving to the Ness City office. I was a loan officer in Ness City for two years, and then I transferred to the Federal Land Bank of Hays office in March 1985. The ’80s were some very turbulent years for farming and banking. Changes transpired that affected everyone. High Plains Farm Credit
photography by KELSEY STREMEL
was created in 2000 because of the merger between the Federal Land Bank of Hays and the Larned PCA. This merger allowed me to work with short- and long-term lending. In 2017, I started working at both the Ness City and Hays offices as they merged. I have had various roles within Farm Credit but have mainly worked with farmers and ranchers my entire career. Being a loan officer at Farm Credit has been an exciting and challenging job and taught me new things every day. It has been a gratifying experience getting to know and work with some of the best people. It creates a great sense of satisfaction when a customer reaches the goals they have set forth for their operation. Agriculture continues to be one of the most trying yet rewarding, industries as technology evolves and
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new challenges arise. Farmers are some of the most innovative people in the world, and they continue to adjust to make the best of their situation. I had an opportunity in the ’90s to invest and work after hours with my brothers in a farming operation. As producers trying to make a profit, it taught me some different perspectives and viewpoints from other people. Dealing with the uncontrollable weather, diseases, pests, and everchanging markets make every year new and challenging. This helped keep me more up to date with farming technologies and feel the challenges farmers faced. We had some great conversations that were good learning experiences for all of us. I feel this was a great experience for me, and I enjoyed working on the farm and with my brothers.
A question we hear a lot lately is, “Are things going to get as bad as the ’80s with crashing land values and bankruptcies.” In my opinion, I do not think the ag economy will get as stressed as the ’80s. Today, interest rates are still low with fixed-rate loans available. The crop insurance programs are better today to help provide an improved income safety net. Land values have come down some from the highs around 2015 but are still fairly stable. These land values have usually allowed producers to restructure loans or sell land to reduce debt if needed. Today, with inflation and large capital requirements, everyone is dealing with more money, which can cause additional stress. No one knows the future for sure, but the ag economy will continue to go through cycles with highs and lows. Making adjustments and hanging on through the lows is the challenge
facing businesses and producers. I feel good knowing the agricultural economy will go through its cycles, but it will get stronger, and things will get better. The producers and businesses that adjust and change to make their operations profitable will keep getting stronger for the future. • • • I want to share some words of wisdom from people I have heard over the years. “Work hard and be smart about it.” “You need to put yourself in a position to be able to take advantage of opportunities when they come available.” “People make their own luck.” “Don’t worry about the accident since no one was hurt. Equipment and iron can be replaced; people cannot.” “Your operating profits are not yours to spend until you have paid your income taxes.”
Charlie Schippers graduated from Fort Hays State in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in agribusiness. He has enjoyed helping farmers be successful and staying connected to agriculture throughout his 37-year career at Farm Credit. Charlie is looking forward to retirement and spending time with his wife of 38 years, Joan, their three children, Kayla, Jenna and Brad, and six grandchildren.
Kansas agriculture economic impact • The Kansas agriculture economic contributions are valued at nearly $65.7 billion annually, accounting for 42.3 percent of the state’s total economy (five-year average). • The agriculture sector in Kansas employs 248,216 people through direct, indirect and induced effect careers, or 12.6 percent of the entire workforce in the state. • If food retail and ethanol production are included, the economic contribution rises to over $80 billion, and employs more than 21 percentage of the workforce. • In Kansas, there are 45,759,319 acres of farmland, which accounts for 87.5 percent of all Kansas land. More than 21 million acres in Kansas is harvested for crops and over 14 million is pastureland for grazing animals. • The Kansas agricultural sector includes renewable energy production, food processing, research and education, agribusiness, crop and livestock production and more. • Kansas exports nearly $3.8 billion in agricultural products. The leading exports are beef, wheat, soybeans and corn. *Data from the Kansas Department of Agriculture 2019 Economic Contribution Report
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LEADING WITH
PURPOSE Kastle passionate about teaching all students, including veterans by DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
A
. young Seth Kastle ready to . graduate from Kensington xHigh School back in the late 1990s had no desire to go to college. So he signed up to join the U.S. Army Reserve halfway through his senior year. Little did he know that 20 years later, he would be married with two daughters and be telling his story as Dr. Seth Kastle. It’s a story he is glad to tell, especially if it can help others. Kastle had several titles attached to his name before becoming a wellrespected and accomplished assistant professor of leadership studies at his alma mater. Before becoming a retired first sergeant, a veteran of two wars, an author of two children’s books, and a developer of an innovative degree program at Fort Hays State, Kastle finally heeded his mother’s request to
photography by KELSEY STREMEL
at least give college a try. After one failed attempt, he returned to FHSU and graduated in 2005 with a B.S. in leadership studies. The journey to that Fort Hays State office took him through two years of deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq and a heart attack before retiring from the reserves after 16 years. As the first sergeant of a logistics company, Kastle was only one rank away from becoming a command sergeant major, the top of the NCO corps and a long-time goal of his. He was on track to make it in a year or so if only he could stay in. But he was tired of being away from his family for about four months out of the year so he decided to retire. His return home for good didn’t come without its challenges, however. Kastle and his wife, Julia, another veteran of almost two years in combat
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zones, had another companion during their journey together: post-traumatic stress disorder. They met while in the army and were in Iraq together. After they were demobilized in 2004, the Kastles moved to the Hays area for work and school. Julia also graduated from Fort Hays State, with a B.S. in medical diagnostic imaging. After her graduation, they moved to Wichita, where Julia took a position at Wesley Medical Center. Kastle found a job as an academic advisor at Southwestern College’s adult education branch in Wichita. He completed his master’s degree in leadership studies at Southwestern and started teaching online. Even while settling into a post-war, civilian routine, Kastle still struggled with PTSD – in what he describes as a fire in his chest when he feels anger.
The downward spiral continued when one of his best friends, Bryan Nichols, died while piloting a helicopter in Afghanistan. Kastle found himself making more and more bad choices, and he was afraid he was going to lose his wife and children. He finally decided to seek help and says that “every piece of my life today is better because I took that first step and continue to take steps. This is a continual process, and I am going to have to be really purposeful in managing it.” “It’s all about self-awareness,” he said, “understanding yourself and what your triggers are. If I don’t get in front of it, it grows to a point that it controls me, and I can’t reason.” Then one day in 2014, Kastle sat down at his kitchen table and began writing, trying to explain to his young daughter why he was acting the way he was. “The post-war version of me is the only version of me my kids know,” Kastle said. “I wanted a way to explain to them, educate them that this isn’t their fault.” A friend encouraged him to publish his writing. “Why is Dad So Mad?” is a story that explains that even though Dad gets angry, he still loves his family more than anything. The book became a Kickstarter hit, and he was featured on NBC with Lester Holt. He formed Kastle Books and wrote another book with the help of his wife – “Why Is Mom So Mad?” The books get in the hands of
“I think it’s figuring out what your passion is – for me, that’s teaching.” DR. SETH K ASTLE Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies
Veterans Day Celebration 2019
a lot of military families who need them. And Kastle’s teaching career, after earning an Education Doctorate from Baker University in 2017, has now blossomed into a tenure-track professorship at Fort Hays State. “I think it’s figuring out what your passion is – for me, that’s teaching,” he said. That passion for Kastle now is teaching, something he pursued during his first try at college when he was thinking about going into elementary education. Before his stint at Southwestern College and now at Fort Hays State, Kastle was in a teaching role as a drill sergeant in the army. So it’s no surprise that he particularly enjoys helping veterans who attend Fort Hays State. He spent a large part of the last two years designing and campaigning for a new Associate of Applied Science program for active duty current service members and veterans. The program is unique in that it assigns college credit for basic NCO leadership courses that are transferable ROAR
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nowhere else. It took more than 18 months – much of that time tracking down exactly who he needed to talk to in the Army educational command – but he eventually obtained the official blessings of the U.S. Army, FHSU and the Kansas Board of Regents. In this degree program, a soldier/ veteran student with all the possible credits transferring would have eight classes, only two semesters, at a cost of a little over $5,000, to get an associate’s degree in technology and leadership. That program began this fall. Kastle definitely is glad he listened to his mother’s pleading to give college a try. “The future is not going to build itself,” he said. “So having the opportunity to engage with young people and have somewhat of a hand in that is truly an awesome feeling. Moving here to teach is the most purposeful thing I’ve ever done, in my civilian career, anyway.”
MILITARY FRIENDLY SCHOOL FHSU has been named in the Top Military Friendly Colleges and Universities for the last nine years running. We are committed to empowering both active duty and veteran military personnel and their spouses. Through the Virtual College, students can take a class or earn a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate degree–all on their own schedule, from anywhere in the world. Get to know an FHSU Tiger veteran, military spouse, and active duty service member.
“Serving for almost five years as an M1A2 crewman, I’ve gotten to experience the lands of many countries and states. As I’m currently in South Korea, I’ve been blessed to attend the FHSU Virtual College because I can achieve my goal from any location. My dream has always been to own a dairy farm; that’s why I am trying to receive my bachelor’s degree in agricultural business. With hard work, I can achieve those goals, whether I’m home in the United States or on another deployment.”
MICHAEL McMAKIN JR.
Staff Sergeant in the United States Army
“My husband is in the United States Air Force, and he got orders to Ramstein Air Base, Germany about a year ago. Moving around with two young children has made getting my degree a lengthy process. Finding FHSU was such a relief because it meant no more transferring, no more lost credits, and no more losing money. Now that I can focus more on my classes and less on what I will do once I move again, my GPA has improved significantly. FHSU has made it possible for, not just me, but every other person in similar situations to have the opportunity to get their degree. Thank you, FHSU, for being what we need in a college!”
VICTORIA HERTZ
Military Spouse
“I’ve had careers in the military, as a helicopter mechanic, and as a contractor at Fort Riley, and I’ve worked other jobs. I came back to FHSU and decided to move into cyber security. It’s a growing field with a projected need of 1.5 million more employees in the next year alone and a projected growth of another 3 trillion in business by year 2030. I’d like just a piece of that. FHSU has great resources to connect me with learning opportunities and help me get to that next step. There are programs like the Student Veterans Association, leadership studies programs, and faculty and instructors are always willing to help.”
WILLIAM “BILL” HERONEMA Veteran
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Paleoecologist inspires childlike wonder across space and time story and photography by KELSEY STEMEL
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G
azing through the window of the Oceans of Kansas Paleontology lab inside the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, you might catch a glimpse of freshman Brynn Wooten meticulously scraping away more than 80 million years of sedimentary deposits from a Cretaceous fossil. As a child, she would beg her parents to make the trip from their home in Westminster, Colo., to visit the museum where carefully preserved fossils under glass cases seemed to come to life. Brynn enjoyed creating images in her mind of what life under the ocean in the Western Interior Seaway looked like during the Mesozoic Era in Kansas. Ultimately, her love for ancient animals, plants, and the museum brought her to Fort Hays State University. “I dreamed of coming here, studying paleontology, and volunteering at the museum,” Brynn said. “Now I’m here, doing what I’ve always wanted to do and learning
from incredible people like Dr. Laura Wilson. It’s so cool – she’s a rock star in paleontology (no pun intended), and she’s doing it all. She’s proof you can be a scientist, a professor, a curator at a major museum, and have a family.” If you ask Dr. Laura Wilson, associate professor of geosciences and curator of paleontology, how she does it all, she’d humbly laugh and say, “that’s a myth.” “You have to sacrifice something,” Wilson said. “It’s a balance. Some days it works. Some days it doesn’t, and you have to find what works for you.” Wilson shared Brynn’s child-like awe for ancient life, and it’s that evercurious way of viewing the world she strives to inspire in others. Wilson is incredibly driven, and with a network of supportive family and colleagues surrounding her, she seems to have found the recipe for work and life balance that works for her. Growing up in Georgia, Wilson’s family supported her passion for earth science, nature, marine biology and
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sharks, and eventually paleontology. “I remember telling my parents that this was what I was going to do, and they were always supportive, but I’m pretty sure they thought I’d grow out of it – and I didn’t,” Wilson said. Today, Wilson is at the forefront of a booming era in paleontology, fueled by the “Jurassic Park” generation. The magic of seeing Tyrannosaurus rex come to life on the big screen shaped pop-culture and fueled a national interest in science, inspiring a generation. Those children, Wilson included, grew up holding onto that fascination with ancient life and science. This is the generation that is making an impact and delivering groundbreaking discoveries in paleontology. Wilson considers herself a paleoecologist. She uses research and observations of modern vertebrates and compares these with the fossils from ancient animals to draw conclusions and insight into what the ecosystem may have been like tens of millions of years ago. Bone histology, or the study of the microscopic structures of bone, is one of the tools Wilson and students can be observed using in the lab, looking for clues to how the extinct animal grew, developed and lived, and to determine its age when it died. The plains of Kansas are renowned for their exceptional Late Cretaceous marine sediments, which hold clues to the ecology of the Western Interior Seaway. There are fantastic fossils in the local limestone and chalk deposits, including those of Hesperonis birds, Pteranodon pterosaurs, Clidastes mosasaurs, and Dolichorhynchops plesiosaurs, as well as those of sharks, ammonoids, crinoids, and brachiopods. Wilson’s role at Fort Hays State and the Sternberg Museum is unique, and it is the reason she came to Hays. Her position is split among teaching,
advising graduate students, and service as the chief curator of the museum. That connection to the museum and science outreach is deliberate and essential. Wilson is an advocate for science literacy and champions. “It’s essential to all of society. A broad understanding of science has the power to affect change in our communities and world on a high level – but the challenge is that science education is self-selective. You have to want to learn it.” “Paleontology is a gateway drug to science,” Wilson said. “It heightens the imagination, and it is fascinating to think of all we don’t know about plants and animals throughout history.” Science and the thought process learned from science-related studies
“Paleontology is a gateway drug to science. It heightens the imagination, and it is fascinating to think of all we don’t know.” DR. L AURA WILSON
Associate Professor of Geosciences and Curator of Paleontology
permeate everything in modern society. Science affects how products are developed and marketed, the choices we make at home and in our careers, and in how we think about news and information. “What I learned in my education was critical thinking skills and how to write,” Wilson said. “Facts are memorizable, or you can look them up, but how to synthesize information, question, think critically, and communicate are things that are harder to teach.” In the classroom, Wilson has the opportunity to spend in-depth time with learners, building relationships, and fostering learning. At the museum, she may only have minutes to capture the interest of a visitor and share a spark of her passion for science. Charles Dickens once wrote of Mary Anning, affectionately known as the Princess of Paleontology, and an icon for women in STEM and geosciences, that “history shows what humble people may do, if they have just purpose and courage enough, toward ROAR
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promoting the cause of science.” These words describing one of the earliest paleontologists also aptly describe Wilson’s passion for teaching science literacy and the many achievements in her career. There is no question that she is an influential role model in paleontology and a humble figure for the women in STEM movement. Wilson is the only female chair in the Peter Werth College of Science,
Technology and Mathematics at Fort Hays State. She is the first female from FHSU to be published in the prestigious Journal of Nature and to be featured on NPR’s Science Friday. She was also a presenter at the historic 2016 Paleofest Conference – the first paleontology conference to present an all-female academic line-up. If you ask Wilson what she’s most proud of in her career, she won’t hesitate to say it’s her students. Graduate student Mackenzie KirchnerSmith is now at the University of California-Berkeley completing a Ph.D.; Kelsie Abrams is the Burke Museum Fossil Lab Manager in Seattle, Wash.; and Cyrus Green is now a curatorial assistant at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at
Harvard University. Wilson has done an incredible job building upon FHSU’s already outstanding reputation in paleontology. She engages a network that brings students to Fort Hays State and sets them up for success to go on and do great things in paleontology afterward. You can see the impact of her drive and determination in the Dane G. Hansen Paleontology Research Center & Oceans of Kansas prep lab. She spearheaded the grant-writing and fundraising for the state-of-the-art facility where students can prep fossils for preservation, display, and research while also interacting with the public. “We are scientists from the day they are born,” Wilson said. “We are asking questions and problem-solving. Then,
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somehow we outgrow that curiosity. One of the keys to science education and building scientific literacy is reminding people to hold onto that child-like wonder. It’s about inspiring people to ask questions and critically think about finding solutions or best answers.” The open windows of the lab provide a glimpse into the world of science and the history of Kansas ecology – engaging the community in science education. Visiting Sternberg, you will often see Wilson, or an aspiring paleontologist, working inside and encouraging all who pass through the Sternberg Museum to view the world through the eyes of a child and to continue lifelong learning. To support the Sternberg Museum, community outreach, and student research in the fossil prep lab gifts can be made online by visiting foundation. fhsu.edu/donate and typing “Fossil Prep Lab” as the area of designation.
Celebrating Online Learning Fort Hays State University recently celebrated National Distance Learning Week and all our online students near and far who are reaching their goals and learning in the Virtual College. FHSU is a visionary leader in distance education, with 6,924 students enrolled online. This growth is a testament to Fort Hays State’s commitment to delivering high-quality, affordable, and distinctly unique online learning experiences that meet the needs of our FHSU Tigers wherever they are.
“I chose FHSU because it was an online, affordable option to pursue my Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. I have goals to continue working in rural Kansas and, hopefully, someday teach at the college level! (maybe even as an FHSU instructor!) I can keep my full-time work as a nurse practitioner, my “part-time” job as a flight nurse, and still receive an education that can open more doors for me in the future. I am also the mother of two young children, so the flexibility of the online college has been an enormous benefit to allowing me to have family time and still reach my educational goals.”
SARAH HILLE Kansas
“Being a part-time student, a full-time manager, and a father of two, keeps me on my toes. But, with assistance and support from all those around me and the tremendous online program at FHSU (paired up with just a little sleep and lots of caffeine), I’m doing it. I plan to start my sophomore year Intersession 2020, only 18 months after starting college! Thank you to all of those supporting me through my journey!”
PHILIP RAITHEL Pennsylvania
“I can take all of my classes online while teaching full time. Not only am I gaining fantastic work experience, but I’m also gaining knowledge for my field from highly experienced and dedicated instructors. They are always ready to answer questions and allow us to become critical thinkers who integrate new information into practice. My students love hearing about my classes and learning about alternative education programs. Without FHSU, I wouldn’t be a business teacher. I would still be trying to find the perfect fit.”
JAIME GIGSTEAD Kansas
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“Before going back to school, I spent weeks researching dozens of universities. I needed a program that was flexible and affordable, and there were specific areas of philosophy I wanted to study to further my writing career. Just when I was getting discouraged, I stumbled across FHSU’s Virtual College. It had everything I needed to get the degree I wanted, and I didn’t have to rearrange my life to start learning again.”
JOHN BARDINELLI
Colorado
“Currently, I homeschool my three children and do my schoolwork right alongside with them. Years ago, I went back to school, but when we started our family, I chose to focus on my children and set it aside. Now that they are older and are watching, I decided to chase my dreams of getting my degree! One of my favorite memories is seeing their faces when I received my associate degree from a local community college! I love knowing that I am modeling for them what it means to not give up on a dream!”
FEE ROCHA Wyoming
“After researching FHSU, I was excited to find that they offered a degree in technology leadership that would build upon the AAS I already had. As a full-time employee, father of three, and husband, I was worried about going back to school. After reading great reviews about FHSU, I enrolled and have loved it ever since. I even wear my Tiger gear and catch FHSU sports online. After being an off-and-on student for several years, I will make the walk across the commencement stage in December 2020 finally.”
DONALD RAY Louisiana
“The technology leadership B.S. program through FHSU’s Virtual College is giving me the pathway I need to bridge that knowledge into a well-rounded education. I love that I have been able to start working in my career while taking classes at my own pace, all without having to backtrack and take credits not previously earned in my AAS program. I feel that the technical education from my AAS degree paired with the leadership courses at FHSU will make me especially well prepared to one day become a construction project manager.”
K ATRINA LaLUNA Virginia
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The Journey campaign is the largest, most aggressive campaign in Fort Hays State University history. We kicked off the campaign in the fall of 2016 intending to raise
$100 million in support of scholarships, academics, student life, and athletics. Each and every gift increases our capacity to grow and thrive. With that said, we are grateful and humbled to have had such gracious alumni and friends step forward.
CAMPAIGN TOTAL as
of
November
1,
2019
$92,750,000
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Number of lives changed through FHSU’s Journey campaign: The possibilities are endless!
$92+ million is an incredible accomplishment, but there are a few more numbers we are proud to share with you:
NUMBER
OF DONORS
21,974
NUMBER OF
GIFTS UNDER
60,644
RAISED FROM GIFTS UNDER
$100
$100
$2,689,700 TOTA L
S C H O L A R S H I P D O L L A R S AWA R D E D
$15,605,913 To those who have contributed, thank you! If you have not yet made a gift in support of FHSU’s
Journey campaign, we invite you to do so by visiting: https://foundation.fhsu.edu/donate_roar
FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY
785.628.5620
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FOUNDATION.FHSU.EDU
https://foundation.fhsu.edu
foundation@fhsu.edu
TIGER NOTES
Mary Maude Moore
Fort Hays State University lost a Tiger community icon this past summer. But the legacy of Mary Maude Moore will live on. A scholarship was established several years ago in memory of a group called the Impromptwos, which Moore established at FHSU in the early 1960s. While serving as assistant professor of music from 1959-67, Moore created the group from student musicians who were all singing together in a practice room one day. Moore thought “they sounded pretty good,” and so was born the Impromptwos, originally made up of six females and four males and later expanded to 14 total. Their selections included folk songs, old favorites
and tunes from Broadway musicals. The Impromptwos made their debut performing at FHSU events, such as Homecoming, but eventually took their show on the road to off-campus venues, including other schools, conventions, dinners, hootenannies, and concert halls. They also were featured on radio and television programs throughout Kansas and the surrounding states. Carried by two station wagons, the Impromptwos sometimes traveled hundreds of miles by night, always returning to campus in time for early morning classes. In the summer of 1962 they completed a six-week USO tour of Greenland and Iceland. In 1965, the Impromptwos performed 85 shows during an eight-week tour in Korea, Japan, Okinawa, the Phillippines, Guam and Taiwan. Immediately following their Far East USO tour, they were honored as the only nonprofessional group offered an extended ROAR
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contract to play multiple shows daily at Disneyland for three weeks. The Impromptwos were also featured on Campus Talent ’66, an hour-long television program showcasing the top entertainers from Kansas colleges and universities. They also recorded two albums. Although the group disbanded in 1967, the members occasionally gathered for reunions to share stories and celebrate the bond they enjoyed as family and with their director. Moore said the seven years she spent in Hays were the highlight of her life, saying the people of Kansas have a special place in her heart and that she will always consider Hays as her home. She retired to California and died August 25, 2019, at the age of 90. Friends and former members can honor the group and their director by contributing to the Impromptwos Scholarship Fund. To support the fund, please visit fhsu.edu/foundation and enter “Impromptwo Scholarship” as the area of designation.
Kari Bruffett
Family tradition at Fort Hays State University ran deep for Kari (Austin) Bruffett while growing up in Victoria – just 10 miles from the local university. Her grandparents and parents are all graduates of FHSU. But one of the main reasons she chose to stay close to home for college was the opportunity to work on student publications early in her college career. “I wanted to be able to learn
by doing, not just by completing coursework,” said Bruffett, a 1991 graduate. “I knew I could do that at FHSU.” Bruffett actually worked on FHSU’s school newspaper, the University Leader, the summer before her freshman year in college. She has spent the majority of her career in the overlapping worlds of politics and policy, with the primary focus on health policy. She currently is vice president of policy at the Kansas Health Institute in Topeka. Bruffett credits her overall experience at Fort Hays State for training her well for her government position, including late nights working on the newspaper, teaming up with her peers to accomplish a common goal.
“It was like running a little enterprise,” she said. “There’s nothing like it. You just had to make things work, and we learned a lot about improvising and problem solving and working with all different class levels.” She shares fond memories of FHSU with her parents, Eric and Pat (Stearns) Austin, high school sweethearts from Cawker City who attended Fort Hays State in the 1960s and married while in college. Eric followed in the footsteps of his parents, Arthur and Gracie (Luder) Austin, also FHSU grads. “Great memories of Fort Hays State,” said Bruffett, now married with two middle school children of her own. “I will never forget my time there and the life lessons I learned.”
Richard “Andy” Anderson
Richard “Andy” Anderson retired in 2018 after practicing dentistry in Colorado Springs for 52 years, but he still fondly remembers his time spent on the Fort Hays State campus. Anderson was born and raised in the small western Kansas town of Gove, where he was a multi-sport athlete. Anderson was offered athletic scholarships in two different sports, baseball at Kansas State University and
basketball at Fort Hays State. A standout pitcher, Anderson accepted the baseball scholarship to K-State but never felt like it was the right fit. After stopping to visit friends at FHSU the following summer, it didn’t take him long to ask Tiger Basketball Coach Cade Suran if a scholarship was still available. “I thought, ‘This is where I want to be,’ ” Anderson said. “Coach gave me that scholarship, and I never left.” It turned out to be a life-altering decision for Anderson. He played many memorable games in Sheridan Coliseum, where he was a two-year starter for the Tigers and was part of the 1962 conference championship team that advanced to the NAIA national tournament. While playing basketball,
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Anderson noticed a certain cheerleader, Patti Thiele, who he later married and with whom he raised two sons. Anderson was interested in studying dentistry. When it came time to apply for dental school, the fearless young man decided to ask President M.C. Cunningham to write a reference letter for him. Cunningham obliged, Anderson was accepted in the UMKC Dental School, and the rest is history. “That’s what I loved about the personal environment,” Anderson said. “I’m sure President Cunningham’s letter is the reason I got in at that time.” Anderson tried to convince his grandchildren to attend FHSU, despite living halfway across the country. “It’s the greatest place there is to go to college,” he said.
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TIGER NOTES
1960s
Larry ’66 and Lyn ’66 (Beck) Fenwick, Macksville, made a generous donation to establish the Larry and Lyn Fenwick Reading Room in Forsyth Library. The reading room is an important feature in the library’s renovation plan, scheduled for completion in 2023. Joyce (Roberts) Roberts Lott ’61, ’61, Quinter, recently published the book “Spiritual Encounters at the Kitchen Counter.” For more than 20 years, she has written for Union Gospel Press and during that time she also wrote a series of devotions for Cook Publications. She has also written other articles and poems.
1970s
Daryl Carswell ’75, Hays, retired as computing services director in the Technology Services department at FHSU. Keith Harper ’75, Hays, retired as assistant head baseball coach after nearly 40 years of coaching baseball at Hays High School. Leo Herrman ’71, ’74, La Crosse, associate professor of psychology at FHSU, was elected president of the Kansas Association of Masters in Psychology.
Rebecca “Becky” (Meier) Sander ’75, retired as an associate professor of nursing at FHSU.
Gregory “Greg” Joerg ’85, Wichita, was appointed chief financial officer at Berry Companies Inc.
Darvin ’79 and Tammi Strutt, Colby, were honored by the naming of the south section of the Living Center East dorms at Colby Community College. The newly-renovated building was renamed Strutt Hall.
Ronald “Ron” Johnson ’81, St. Joseph, Mo., was hired as communications director of the National Scholastic Press Association and Associated Collegiate Press.
1980s
Geralyn (Kraus) Allen ’81, Hays, retired as a human resource specialist at FHSU. Curtis “Curt” Brungardt ’81, ’84, Hays, retired as the Omer G. Voss distinguished professor of Leadership Studies and executive director of the Center for Civic Leadership at FHSU. Keith Dreiling ’83, ’90, Hays, professor and chair of the FHSU Department of Mathematics, presented a paper titled “Kaprekar’s Constant” at the Kansas Section Meeting of the Mathematical Association of America in Pittsburg. Randall “Randy” Graver ’84, Salina, assumed duties as chief executive officer of Equity Bank in Liberal. Lori (Broetzmann) Hertel ’82, ’89, Hays, received her Ph.D. in health psychology from Walden University. ROAR
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Chelle (Holden) Kemper ’81, ’01, Montezuma, graduated from Southwestern College with a Doctor of Education degree and was hired as the special education assistant director of the Southwest Kansas Area Cooperative District in Ensign. Donald “Don” Reif Jr. ’82, Hoisington, created the Don E. Reif Scholarship in support of students studying political science. Pre-law is a key emphasis of the scholarship. Reif was also appointed to the FHSU Foundation Board of Trustees. Virgil Scott ’81, Broomfield, Colo., has completed a six-year term on the Denver Rotary Club Foundation Board of Trustees. He served as president from 2016 to 2017. Steven Sedbrook ’85, ’87, WaKeeney, was selected to be the interim chair of the Department of Health and Human Performance at FHSU.
Pamela “Pam” (VonHemel) Young ’82, ’83, Albion, Neb., retired as a speech pathologist at Boone Central Schools after 36 years of service.
1990s
Jon Armstrong ’96, ’08, Hays, has been promoted to director of admissions at FHSU. Grant Bannister ’93, Manhattan, was appointed to chief judge of the 21st Judicial District. Emily (Edmonston) Breit ’96, ’00, Hays, received the Van Hoisington Faculty of Distinction Award for the 2019-2020 academic year and was recognized as an outstanding faculty member of FHSU’s W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Tricia (Kohl) Cline ’99, ’02, Ellis, was hired as the dean of enrollment management at North Central Kansas Technical College, responsible for enrollment at the Hays and Beloit campuses. Elodie (Sheesley) Jones ’98, ’00, Hays, assistant professor in FHSU’s Department of Advanced Education Programs, received the 2019 My-GoTo-Mentor Award from the College of Education. Lorrie (McClelland) Mowry ’92,’99, Cambridge, Neb., was recently named the winner of the 2019 award for Outstanding Contributions to Business Education by a PostSecondary Teacher. Kenton Olliff ’97, ’00, Hays, accepted the position of associate professor in the Department of Advanced Education Program at FHSU.
Russ Pfannenstiel ’91, Hays, celebrated the 25th anniversary of Cervs. Cervs went from a single gas station to an independently owned chain of convenience stores that is beloved for its Popt Popcorn and Snoballs. Eber Phelps ’96, Hays, was selected to serve on the Hays City Commission. Heather Stamper-Voss ’91, Plainville, was hired as a fourth and fifth-grade teacher at Stockton Grade School. Edgene “Alan” Wamser ’95, Hays, graduated from Leadership Hays. Tamara “Tammy” (Brooks) Wellbrock ’94, ’02, Hays, founded Girl Twin Solutions, a consulting business that will offer training for Chambers of Commerce, businesses, nonprofits, and government entities, as well as coaching for individuals.
2000s
Erica (Cherney) Berges ’01, Hays, graduated from the Leadership Hays program and was named interim executive director of the United Way of Ellis County. Christie (Patterson) Brungardt ’01, Hays, retired as an assistant professor in the Department of Leadership Studies at FHSU. James “Jamie” Kuehl ’07, Dodge City, owner, and operator of several McDonald’s locations, was appointed to the FHSU Foundation Board of Trustees. Brett Whitaker ’06, ’08, Hays, was named interim chair of the Department of Leadership Studies at FHSU.
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2010s
Tory Arnberger ’16, Great Bend, assumed duties as human resources director at Pryor Automatic Fire Sprinkler. Jessica Augustine ’12, Ellis, was hired to instruct journalism at Hays High School. She will also serve as an advisor in support of the Guidon newspaper and the Indian Call yearbook. Jonathan Clayton ’17, Jim Thorpe, Pa., presented “What Makes a State Swing?” at the Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies conference. Tori (Clark) Riedel ’16, Catharine, graduated from the Leadership Hays program.
Friends of FHSU
Jill Arensdorf, Hays, chair and associate professor in the Department of Leadership Studies at FHSU, was appointed provost and vice president of academic affairs. Kathleen “Kathi” (Cultron) Sanders, Russell, professor of advanced education programs at FHSU, received the 2019 My-GoTo-Mentor Award from the FHSU College of Education.
SHARE YOUR NEWS
We want to hear from you, whether it’s new employment, honors, appointments or births. Visit goforthaysstate.com/ alumupdate; send your news to FHSU Alumni Association, One Tiger Place, Hays, KS 67601; or email alumni@fhsu edu.
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ENCORE 2019-2020 FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY
SERIES
Produced by Eagle Communications
*Image shown is from Cirque Mechanics: 42ft.
FINDING NEVERLAND THURSDAY, JANUARY 23
FIESTA FOLCLÓRICO! TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11
THE HUNTERTONES FRIDAY, MARCH 13
BANDSTAND
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15
TUESDAY, MAY 16
All performances are in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center at 7:30 PM. Ticket information is available at the Memorial Union Student Service Center, by calling 785-628-5306, or by visiting www.fhsu.edu/encore
