SHOCKER QUAD RACER
DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY
FINDING ETZANOA
THE SHOCKER WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI MAGAZINE
SPRING/SUMMER 2016
Forms & Functions
NEW IDEAS AT HENRION HALL
CONTENTS SPRING 2016
THE SHOCKER The Many Iterations of Henrion Hall
Mail Surjya Kumar Misra ’77 visits campus after 40 years away. Page 6 Shock Talk Hear what a sampling of Shockers have – or had – to say. Page 7 At the Center Homecoming 2016 sports a literarygenre theme. Page 12 Shock Art Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder, and these Shocker hands. Page 23 Almanac In a rut? You won’t be. Check out our calendar of events. Page 24 Wanderings Take a tour of KMUW’s new digs in Old Town. Page 25 Look Back Pete Armstrong snapped a jazzy photo back in 1940. Page 41
From gymnasium, to creative lair of Shocker artists, Henrion takes on a new identity as the Ideas Lab.
Page 28 “It’s a fine arts version of a makerspace.”
The Fastest Quad Racer Brian Morris ’00 is ranked second in the world by the International Drone Racing Association.
Page 31 “That tree right there, I fly over the top of it, I do a Split S and I go back underneath it.”
Etzanoa
Alumni News Julie Scherz is WSU’s faculty rep to Shocker athletics. Page 44
Don Blakeslee has found the site of a 400-year-old Native American settlement, one of the largest in the country.
Shocker Sports The Wichita State Shockers make an NCAA tourney run, again. Page 45
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Class Notes Catch up on what your former classmates are doing. Page 50 In Memoriam Charles Stansifer ’53/54, Dot O’Neill ’49 leave lasting legacies. Page 58 Coda See Pete Armstrong’s 1940 photo of Charlie “Bird” Parker. Page 64 OUR VISION: To provide opportunities for those who love Wichita State University to connect with one another in vibrant and diverse ways.
“Blakeslee led a five-day dig in Arkansas City.”
Diamond Anniversary Five Shockers receive WSU Alumni Awards at the diamond anniversary banquet and ceremony on June 2.
Page 38 “The honorees prove yet again that a great university produces great alumni.”
THE SHOCKER
MAGAZINE STAFF
Sharing Shocker Pride Dear WSU Alumni Association, Last Saturday (April 16), I visited WSU’s campus after almost 40 years. I had done my MBA from WSU in 1977. Unfortunately, the alumni association was closed. The trip was so sudden that I could not make any prior contact. However, let me tell you, it was an overwhelming experience to be (back on campus). I wish I could have met some people. I went inside Clinton Hall, where my college was and took pictures. I am from India. I’ve been a professor and dean of business administration in universities in India. Now I’m retired and am visiting my daughter and her family in Houston. Thanking you. Sincerely, Surjya Kumar Misra ’77 Bhubaneswar, India
Career Development Center for Helping Find First Job”) is wonderful. You guys did a great job. Thank you. Ryan Schrader ’15 Seattle, Wash. Dear The Shocker, Loved seeing all of the AGH Shockers in the last issue of The Shocker magazine! Thanks again for the opportunity to show our Shocker pride! Tammy J. Allen Allen, Gibbs & Houlik LC Vice President, Marketing and Communications Wichita
Editor’s Note: Along with his note to the WSUAA, S.K. Misra sent a number of photos, which, with his permission, we posted on Facebook. The photos, including the one above of him, his wife and his granddaughter, created quite the Shocker social media buzz. Dear The Shocker, I love the magazine! Marché Fleming-Randle WSU senior assistant dean and assistant to the president for diversity Dear The Shocker, I received the magazine (fall-winter 2015) a few days ago. It looks fantastic. The article (“On to Seattle: Grad Credits 6
ON THE COVER: Wichita State’s Henrion Hall, originally Henrion Gymnasium, is undergoing a transformation into the university’s Ideas Lab, a fine arts take on a makerspace. Cover photo is by Brandon Chauncey ’00. Turn to Page 28. T H E
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Editor Connie Kachel White Design Bryan Masters ’83 Contributing Art Director Cheryl Capps ’79/81 Staff Writer Jessica Seibel ’08 Contributing Writers Dan Close ’81/93 Amy Geiszler-Jones Photography Brandon Chauncey ’00, cover Dan Close ’81/93 David Dinell ’05 Jessica Seibel ’08 Jeff Tuttle Connie Kachel White Illustration Richard Crowson fs ’91 Scott Dawson ’86 Wade Hampton fs ’91 The Shocker is published twice annually by the Wichita State University Alumni Association (WSUAA) for association members and other selected audiences. Copyright © 2016 by the WSUAA. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Annual magazine subscription is a benefit of membership. For details, please contact the membership coordinator: (316) 978-3826 or stacy.shanahan@wichita.edu. For address changes or other alumni updates, please contact the alumni records supervisor: juanita.reed@wichita.edu. Magazine offices are located at 4205 E. 21st Street in the Woodman Alumni Center. Mailing address: 1845 Fairmount, Wichita, KS 67260-0054. Phone: (316) 978-3835. Fax: (316) 978-3088. E-mail: connie.white@wichita.edu. The Shocker Wichita State’s alumni magazine Spring/Summer 2016 Vol. 18, No. 2 ASSOCIATION STAFF Courtney M. Marshall, president and CEO Tate Blanton, assistant director of alumni programs Scott Heinrichs, director of finance Donna Lamb, executive assistant Lynn Loveland, director of alumni programs Nita Reed, records supervisor Stacy Salters, assistant director of alumni information Jessica Seibel, communications associate Stacy Shanahan, membership coordinator Erin Stieben, director of marketing and membership Connie White, director of communications Sean Zeller, assistant director of alumni programs BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mindy McPheeters ’96, chair Chris Purdum ’07, chair elect Chad Green ’93, vice-chair of finance/secretary-treasurer Kim Hartwell ’78, vice-chair of alumni programs Shawn Penner ’92/93, vice-chair, development programs Holly Dyer ’88, vice-chair of university programs Joe Hand ’99, vice-chair of membership/ volunteer recruitment Denis Dieker ’77/80, immediate past board chair Rachel Allen ’01 Spike Anderson ’93/95, SASO board of directors president, ex-officio Brandon Baker ’06 John Bardo, WSU president, ex-officio, voting Doug Blackman Darron Boatright, WSU interim athletics director, ex-officio Ken Brasted ’91 Cathy Carrier Frank Chappell ’68 Cindy Claycomb ’79/91 Marcella Clegg ’02 Dave Cunningham ’86 Gay Dahlke ’89 Brooke Davids ’08/08 David Fahrbach ’74 Dana Fleming-Mastio ’78 Lou Heldman, WSU vice president for strategic communications, ex-officio Elizabeth King, WSU Foundation president and CEO, ex-officio Margy Long, WSUAA Shockers Forever president, ex-officio Bill Luebbert ’85/88 Luke Luttrell ’02 Darren Muci ’84 Marilyn Pauly ’72, WSU Foundation board chair, ex-officio Lily Wu ’07 Denise Ziegler ’79
SPRING 2016
SHOCK TALK Shockers everywhere, at events long ago or happenings just the other day, always have something interesting to say. Take this sampling as a Shock Talk example:
“Although these are difficult times, we will continue to position the university to grow enrollment by delivering great educational, career and life value to students who choose Wichita State. We will weather whatever occurs at the state level.” — Wichita State President John Bardo in a prepared statement dated April 21 in response to the state budget reduction of 3 percent in State General Fund spending for Kansas Regents universities for the remainder of fiscal year 2016. Wichita State’s share of that reduction totaled $2.2 million. Because of continuing state revenue shortfalls, another reduction, amounting to $2.8 million for WSU, was ordered for the 2017 fiscal year. “In 1982, I was doing magic at a Las Vegas convention in the old Frontier Casino. I was asked if I could go show a trick or two to a guest in the VIP Suite who loved magic. What a gracious and gentle individual Ali was. Spent the better part of a half hour doing table magic for him while he downed a bowl of matzo ball soup. No greater feeling than having the king of the world tell you you’re amazing!” — Bill Gardner ’81/83, posting on Facebook after the announcement of Muhammad Ali’s death on June 3. Today, Gardner’s magic is dealt out in the world of design, as owner and president of Gardner Design, Wichita. His work has been featured in many national and international design exhibitions and publications. In March 2015, he was among the inaugural inductees into the WSU Fine Arts Hall of Fame. SPRING 2016
The Wichita State community came together June 2 to celebrate the diamond anniversary of the WSU Alumni Association’s 60-year-old awards program. Each year since 1955, Shockers have gathered to recognize the accomplishments and distinguished service of WSU alumni, faculty, administrators, staff and university supporters. The banquet and awards ceremony this year — held on campus in the Rhatigan Student Center’s Beggs Ballroom — honored five individuals. Please turn to Page 38 for more about these Diamond Anniversary Shockers. Courtney M. Marshall, WSUAA president and CEO, welcomed event guests and the five honorees: J. Robert Young ’61, standing at left in the photo here, Alumni Achievement Award; Junetta Everett ’79, seated at right, Alumni Recognition Award; Joyce Cavarozzi, seated at left, University Recognition Award; James Erickson, standing, Laura Cross Distinguished Service Award; and Joan Wagner ’99/04, Young Alumni Award. WSU President John Bardo gave special remarks to open the awards presentation ceremony, and Dana Fleming Mastio ’78 was the master of ceremonies for the night. Videos were shown of each of the honorees, after which they accepted their awards and addressed the audience of some 200 wellwishers. Among attendees were a number of university administrators, including Sandra Bibb, College of Health Professions dean; Kimberly Engber, Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College dean; Lou Heldman, vice president for Strategic Communications; Mary Herrin, vice president for administration and finance; Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the WSU Foundation; Dennis Livesay, dean of the Graduate School; Rodney Miller, dean of the College of Fine Arts; David Moses, general counsel; Andy Schlapp, executive director of operations; and Tony Vizzini, provost and senior vice president. Also present were these past award recipients: Dave and Susie Anderson, Alumni Recognition; Laura Bernstorf, Young Alumni; Dave Dahl, Alumni Recognition; Connie Dietz, University Recognition; Mary Herrin, University Recognition; Debbie Kennedy, Shocker Tribute; Mike Kennedy, Alumni Recognition; Elizabeth King, University Recognition; Terri Moses, Alumni Recognition; Marilyn Pauly, Alumni Achievement; James Rhatigan, University Recognition; and Connie Kachel White, Distinguished Service.
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Shocker Faces
AT THE CENTER ASSOCIATION NEWS
Tate Blanton ’13, left, and Sean Zeller are the newest WSUAA staff members.
Cheering on their fave team, from left: Courtney Marshall, Elizabeth King, Susan Pompeo and Deborah Haynes. Courtney M. Marshall, president and CEO of the WSU Alumni Association, back row center, is surrounded by WSU License Plate Scholarship and Legacy Endowed Scholarship 20162017 recipients. The recipients were honored at a May 2 reception on campus.
WSU Alumni Association Members Take Pride in Supporting Scholars
This young fan welcomes home the WSU Shockers – one in particular!
Shocker hoops fans Jodie Forsyth and Jon Markwell are among pre-game rally attendees during Arch Madness. 8
The newly announced 2016-2017 academic year recipients of the WSU Alumni Association’s “Drive Your Pride” WSU License Plate Scholarship and the Legacy Endowed Scholarship were guests of honor at a reception on May 2 at the Marcus Welcome Center. “I enjoyed talking with our honorees and hearing their plans for the future,” says Courtney M. Marshall, WSUAA president and CEO. “We’re pleased to be able to provide $40,000 in assistance to these scholarship recipients as they work toward becoming Shocker alumni.” Recipients of the Legacy Endowed Scholarship are incoming or current students at Wichita State and must be either children or grandchildren of individuals who have completed 30 credit hours or more at WSU and who are also dues-paying members of the WSUAA. The fund to support this scholarship was established by Don Barry ’88 with the intent of not only aiding deserving students with financial assistance, but T H E
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also of helping promote and preserve family ties at the university. “This scholarship,” Barry explained in an article published in the spring 2002 issue of The Shocker, “is our way of recognizing and alleviating the fact that a lot of people are WSU graduates, yet choose to send their children elsewhere. It’s our way of recognizing that Wichita State is a very fine school.” A wealth management professional with more than 30 years of experience as a financial advisor, Barry began his career at A.G. Edwards in 1981. Currently, he is the managing director at a Wichita office of Baird, an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Barry lives in Wichita with his wife Lora. The Legacy Scholarship was first awarded to students enrolled full- or part-time at WSU beginning in fall 2002. Receiving the Legacy Scholarship SPRING 2016
AT THE CENTER MINDY MCPHEETERS ’96, BOARD CHAIR
A 2005 WSUAA ad for the WSU License Plate Scholarship program announces that “more than $150,000” has been raised for scholarships to date. As of this year, that number now tops $530,000.
for the coming academic year will be Lindsay Achey, criminal justice; Kayla Barton, pre-nursing; Monroe Chrisco, mechanical engineering; Taran Langston, criminal justice; Kristi Neas, secondary history education; and Leslie Strunk, communications. The WSU License Plate Scholarship, informally known as the Drive Your Pride Scholarship, is funded by Kansas motorists who proudly sport WuShock on their vehicle’s license plates in exchange for paying a $35 annual fee. Recipients of this scholarship are current Wichita State students who have excelled both inside and outside the collegiate classroom. Drive Your Pride Scholarship recipients for 2016-2017 are Annie Bui, aerospace engineering; Derek Drew, international business; Ashwin Govindarajan, biomedical engineering; Brianna Hovey, elementary education; Jessica Johnson, dental hygiene; Minn-Chau Johnson, biomedical engineering; Stephanie Merritt, women’s studies; Kaycee Weiser, athletic training; and Jonathan Whitford, bioengineering. For more information about the WSUAA’s scholarship funds, visit www. wichita.edu/alumni. SPRING 2016
Where has your WSU degree taken you? As I sat in a WSU Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting earlier this year, I thought about all the different career paths that began with a common foundation – a degree from Wichita State University. On our Board, we have attorneys, accountants, entrepreneurs, educators, TV personalities, a doctor and others with impressive careers and/or experiences. For many of these Board members, their degree from WSU was not their only or final degree, but it was the one that led them to dedicate their time and resources to support WSU and its alumni. I again thought about how impressive our alumni are as I sat through the alumni awards banquet on June 2. As I listened to the stories about our honorees - the challenges they overcame
in founding a bank, for example, or in being the first African American to graduate in their field and all they’ve accomplished since - it showed that not only does a degree from WSU produce successful men and women, it also helps mold men and women who support and give back to their community. (You can read more about them on Page 38.) And this was just one year’s worth of award recipients. There are literally hundreds from prior years – going all the way back to 1955 – with their own stories of success and dedication. As WSU expands its programs through efforts such as the groundbreaking Innovation Campus, I predict that the list of successful alumni will only continue to expand. We invite you to share your story about where your WSU degree has taken you, we would love for you to post it on our Facebook page, or email it to us at theshockermagazine@gmail.com.
COURTNEY M. MARSHALL, PRESIDENT AND CEO Greetings Shocker Nation! Innovation is everywhere on campus, and the WSU Alumni Association isn’t to be left behind. As the new buildings and partnerships physically take shape, the WSUAA is also building infrastructure for our future. We became fully staffed in February and have been evaluating our programs, processes, technology and partnerships. We have taken our findings, along with the work from our Board, assisted by the Center for Community Engagement, to create our strategic plan. This plan will guide our efforts and complement the university’s strategic goals. We will be unveiling our goals – including better ways to serve you – very soon! As we strive to create, maintain and enhance relationships among Wichita State University alumni, current and prospective students, faculty, staff and friends in order to foster loyalty, T H E
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interest and support for the University and for one another, I encourage you to attend one of our events, “like” an alumni post on Facebook, download our WSUAA app for your Smartphone, or simply go to our website and learn about the many alumni-affairs efforts being made. There are many signs of progress and encouragement daily – be it interviewing student candidates as Shockers Forever leaders or visiting with our awards recipients at our 60th anniversary ceremony – that I can’t help but be excited about our WSUAA work and the many and diverse ways we are supporting WSU. It’s critical to our mission to grow our membership base, and you can help us do that! I encourage you to share the great things happening at WSU with your friends, colleagues and other alumni. And don’t forget to mark your calendars for the biggest Shocker party of them all. Rockin’ the Roundhouse will be Oct. 1, and this year’s theme is 9
AT THE CENTER
Members of the Class of 1966 who were inducted into Wichita State’s 50-Year Club – receiving commemorative medallions as a token of their accomplishments since graduation and a symbol of their lasting connection to their alma mater – are Keith Thompson, Bob Swofford, James Sanders, John Morton, Pat Morton, Janice Kamen, Jim Hockett, Dave Crockett, Norm Conley and Robert Boling.
Class of 1966 Returns to Campus Newest 50-Year Club Inductees
Members of Wichita State’s Class of 1966 returned to campus May 5-8 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their graduation. Among the reunion highlights were a campus tour led by James J. Rhatigan, WSU vice president emeritus of student affairs, a class dinner at Wichita’s Candle Club, and a 50-Year Club Luncheon at the All American Club at Eck Stadium, where class members saw their names up in lights on Tyler Field’s big-screen scoreboard – and were inducted into the university’s 50-Year Club. “Welcome, everyone, to this traditional WSU Alumni Association event – a celebration of our collective history as Shockers,” said Courtney M. Marshall, WSUAA president and CEO, in her opening remarks at the club luncheon. “Today, we’re here to share our Shocker pride and recognize the members of the Class of 1966 who are with us today to be inducted into WSU’s 50-Year Club, membership in which 10
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Among 50-Year Club Luncheon attendees are Marion and James ’66 Sanders. The traditional luncheon was held at a new location this year, the All American Club at Eck Stadium. S H O C K E R
SPRING 2016
AT THE CENTER
Alice Jones ’40, at center above, was inducted into WSU’s 50-Year Club in 1990. At right is Dean Demer and to the left is Anand Desai, WSU business school dean. Janice (Marten) Kamen ’66, second photo, catches up with fellow Shockers at the 50-Year Club Luncheon. WSU President John Bardo, third photo from top, and James J. Rhatigan, fourth photo, each gave special remarks at the Friday event.
honors alumni who graduated from our great university 50 years ago – or more.” Marshall went on to set a temporal background by noting some pop culture trivia from the 1960s: 1966 was the year the first episode of “Star Trek” was broadcast, for example, and among the top songs of the year were “I’m a Believer” by the Monkees and “Wild Thing” by the Troggs. She then turned the podium over to Dr. Rhatigan and WSU President John Bardo, who each gave special remarks. Other university administrators in attendance included Tony Vizzini, provost and senior vice president; Sandra Bibb, dean of the health professions college; and Anand Desai, dean of the business school. Representing the WSU Foundation were Darin Kater, senior director of development for planned giving and University Libraries, and Kara Johnson, director of special events. Marshall then introduced members of the 50-Year Club who were in attendance. Members recognized were Roger Zwemke from the Class of 1965; Gerry Sibley, Class of 1960; Marjorie (Wolfe) Swofford, Class of 1956; Hank Farha and Jo Brown, Class of 1951; and Alice Jones of the Class of 1940. Members of the Class of 1966 were then inducted into the 50-Year Club. Each new club member was presented a medallion. “The medallion,” Marshall said, “commemorates your accomplishments since your graduation, and symbolizes your lasting connection with your alma mater.” Receiving medallions were Robert Boling, who lives near Sedgwick, Kan., Norm Conley of Wichita, Dave Crockett, also of Wichita, Jim Hockett of Topeka, Kan., Janice (Marten) Kamen of Wichita, John and Pat (Kemp) Morton of North Newton, Kan., James Sanders of Wichita, Bob Swofford of Sapulpa, Okla., and Keith Thompson of Westminster, Colo. As a fitting close to 50-Year Club induction ceremonies, Jo Brown ’51 led luncheon-goers in singing the Alma Mater: SPRING 2016
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AT THE CENTER
Making up the royalty court for Homecoming 2016: The Saga of Wichita State University are these eight Wichita State seniors. From the left, they are Ashlyn Funston, Ben Varenhorst, Michael Schultz, Whitney Wilson, Tim Eichler, Brittany de Hoyos, Maha Madi and Dalton Glasscock. And, although not an official member of WSU’s homecoming royalty, WuShock is always king of the court!
Homecoming 2016
The Saga of Wichita State University
Whitney Wilson and Tim Eichler are crowned WSU Homecoming Queen and King during a Feb. 13 coronation ceremony. 12
At the height of weeklong homecoming festivities back in February, WSU seniors Whitney Wilson and Tim Eichler were crowned Homecoming Queen and King on Feb. 13 during a halftime ceremony in Charles Koch Arena. Queen and king candidates were Ashlyn Funston, Ben Varenhorst, Michael Schultz, Brittany de Hoyos, Maha Madi and Dalton Glasscock. Activities for the literary genre-themed Homecoming 2016: The Saga of WSU started off with a Shocker Spirit Day on Feb. 9, when Shockers all over the world shared their Shocker pride by wearing school colors all day – and T H E
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posting snapshots of their Shocker wear on social media. Wichita State students John Huynh and Bobby Edwards sang their way to winning the third annual Shockers Got Talent contest on Feb. 10. Mason Bivens, who tore up Scott Joplin’s ragtime piece “Maple Leaf Rag” on the piano, took second place, and, in third, was Sam Jessup, who performed an elegantly luminous Poi (light) dance for the panel of judges: Courtney M. Marshall, president and CEO of the WSU Alumni Association; Roy Moye III ’15, gospel singer and former Shockers Got Talent winner; Justin Hall ’14, SPRING 2016
AT THE CENTER
Shockers Got Talent contestants John Huynh, left, and Bobby Edwards perform “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” by Meghan Trainor at the CAC Theater. The Shocker duo goes on to win the third annual talent competition, which is sponsored by the WSUAA’s Shockers Forever.
music director at Holy Savior Catholic Church in Wichita; Greg Williams ’82, a program director and the Hitman on Wichita’s Power 93.5; and WuShock, who gave a giant thumbs-up to every talented competitor. Also putting in great performances for the judges were singers Ceth Holder and Brittan Smith, and pianist Paul Ngo. Staged in the CAC Theater, Shockers Got Talent has become a key homecoming week event. Another key happening was the Nearly Naked Run, held in the cold of the night on Feb. 11. Shocker runners, who brought clothing to donate to the DAV, followed a campus course that finished just outside the Rhatigan Student Center. Inside, runners warmed up and refueled with pancakes and more. “It was fun,” says Shockers Forever member Kisha Brand about her part in helping out during Homecoming 2016: SPRING 2016
Shockers Got Talent contestant Sam Jessup performs a Poi (light) dance, going on to claim third place in the student talent competition, a key event during homecoming week. T H E
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Shocker Snapshots Across the Country
Re-energizing Alumni Connections is a Priority From New York City to California, WSU Alumni Association-supported Shocker get-togethers are becoming more frequent these days. Growing from traditional Shocker men’s basketball watch parties, events this year have ranged from alumni dinners in Dayton, Ohio, and San Jose, Calif., in partnership with the WSU Foundation, to baseball outings in NYC and Anaheim, to an artful reception at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo. David Payne ’74, an accounting graduate who served as president of the WSUAA’s Chicago alumni chapter for several terms back in the 1990s, found and brought the group’s club sign to the Feb. 24 pre-game party before the Shockers took on the Loyola Ramblers in men’s basketball action. “It’s good having the alumni association working to have a bigger presence here again,” Payne says. “There are still a lot of Chicago Shockers interested in our university!” Lynessa Rico ’05/05/09 is one of those Chicago Shockers. At the pre-game party, she struck up a conversation with Lynn Loveland, WSUAA director of programs, and, long story short, ended up re-connecting with her alma mater as a WSU Distinguished Alumni Speaker. (Turn to Page 16 for more on this.) That’s just one of dozens of Shocker re-connection stories sparked by WSUAA events from across the country. If you live in a major metropolitan area with a concentration of Shockers (either in the United States or internationally) and are interested in learning more about the WSUAA’s rebuilding of alumni chapters, contact Sean Zeller: 316-978-3874 or sean.zeller@wichita.edu. 14
Alumni happenings in Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, San Jose, Dayton, Kansas City, Anaheim and Providence spark WSU connections all across Shocker Nation. T H E
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SPRING 2016
AT THE CENTER
Leaders Selected for the WSUAA’s Shockers Forever The WSU Alumni Association’s student alumni group, Shockers Forever, has chosen officers for the upcoming 20162017 academic year. “We have a very active and diverse group of students heading up our new Student Alumni Board,” says Tate Blanton ’13, WSUAA assistant director of alumni programs. “They are eager to continue Shockers Forever traditions – and create some of their own!” Shockers Forever officers are Jared Santos, president, who is a sophomore majoring in accounting and finance; Margy Long, vice president, a senior who’s studying chemistry and business; Kayla Haase, secretary, a junior majoring in business management; Alyssa Ward, director of outreach, a sophomore who is working toward a degree in business management; Ashlyn Funston, director of traditions, a senior; Heba Madi, director of marketing, who is a junior; and members-at-large Robert Castleberry, a WSU senior, and Tim Eichler, a senior and a Wallace scholar who is majoring in aerospace engineering and minoring in mathematics. “We’re all looking forward to the exciting opportunity of engaging with Wichita State students through our Shockers Forever activities and programs,” Blanton reports. “We’re already gearing up for next year’s roster of events – including Homecoming 2017, which is the largest event that we host each year. Our officers and members always pull out all the stops with planning for this big event!” Stay up to date with Shockers Forever on Facebook.
Shockers Forever 2016-2017 officers are, from the left, Alyssa Ward, Jared Santos, Kayla Haase, Tim Eichler, Margy Long, and, not pictured, Ashlyn Funston, Heba Madi, Robert Castleberry.
WSUAA HAPPENINGS
California
Watch Partyin’ Wichita State’s Courtney M. Marshall, WSUAA president and CEO, and Royce Bowden, engineering school dean, were joined by California Shockers for a Shocker Basketball Watch Party on Jan. 27 in San Jose. Some of the Shockers who attended the event were Rod ’74 and Pamela Alston, Richard Conlon ’76, Wayne ’60 and Carolyn Craft, Eric Eggel ’94/98, David Landis ’82, Umar Saeed ’97/98, and Tom ’62 and Sibyl ’61 Snyder.
Royals vs. Angels Los Angeles-area Shocker alumni and university friends gathered April 27 to watch the KC Royals take on the SPRING 2016
Angels at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The Angels defeated the Royals, 4-2. Lynn Loveland, WSUAA director of programs, greeted Shocker grads and guests, among whom were Steven Armour ’00, Bob Borlase ’59, Jim and Gayle ’74 Fenwick, Kathleen Graves ’69, Gideon ’12 and Kimberlee ’12 Massey, and William McLeod ’69.
Kansas City
Artful Enterprise Kansas City-area Shockers, including Fred Valentine ’57, Nancy Mosier ’67, and Jon ’83 and Kelly Callen, as well as WSU administrators, including Bob Workman ’78, Ulrich Museum of Art director, and Rodney Miller, fine arts dean, were treated to a special viewing of the Gordon Parks Exhibition on Jan. 7 T H E
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at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
JOIN US: Sporting KC Soccer Oct. 23, 2016; 3 p.m. — Sporting KC vs. San Jose Quakes, One Sporting Way, Kansas City, Kan. Get together with fellow Shockers for soccer, food and fun. Come early to tailgate at 1 p.m. on Sprint Plaza, which is on the west side of Children’s Mercy Park. To RSVP: wichita.edu/kcrsvp. For info: sean.zeller@ wichita.edu, or 316-978-3874.
Suds & Shocks Kansas City-area Shockers shared a night of beer-tasting, barbecue and fun on April 7 at the Boulevard Brewing Co. Among attendees were Britton ’04 and Chelsey Wilson, Danny ’76 and Shari Nicholas, Jason ’95 and Jenny Kuder, Doug ’89 and Robyn ’92 Schmidt, and 15
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Rico Speaks on the Lure of Color
Lynessa Rico ’05/05/09, the founder and president of Bright Consumer Consulting, a Chicago-based consumer behavior consulting and marketing research firm, knows a lot about color. Not just the colors themselves, but how color and color combinations influence our subconscious consumer purchase decisions – how color can drive sales. Rico, who holds degrees in business administration, marketing and management from WSU and a doctorate in business psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, uses her business and color savvy to educate marketers, designers and innovation teams at a number of corporations – Redbox, Groupon and Victoria’s Secret are three – about consumer-behavior trends and how best to optimize strategic color decisions in product development and marketing efforts. With 14 years of richly hued experience as a business development pro, Rico has research interests in color preference, consumer behavior, behavioral econom-
Lynessa Rico ’05/05/09 of Chicago presented a WSU Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series lecture the evening of May 5 at Wichita State’s Eugene M. Hughes Metropolitan Complex.
ics, sensory marketing, and personality types. An avid long-distance runner who also loves musical theater, she lives in Chicago with her daughter and three cats. The evening of May 5, Rico returned to her alma mater to speak about the lure of color as a WSU Distinguished Alumni Speaker. One of her key points during
the presentation, which was at WSU’s Hughes Metroplex, was the importance of “never stop learning.” Among the attendees were Laura Bernstorf ’04, Elaine Bernstorf ’76/78/93, Sonia Greteman ’82, Sara Jones ’70. So what’s Rico’s favorite color? Purple.
Jim ’71 and Judy Mullins.
hit theaters Sept. 9.
WSUAA
Royals vs. Yankees
JOIN US: Boathouse Outing
WSUAA HAPPENINGS
New York City
New York City Shockers got together May 11 on the Terrace Rooftop Deck at Yankee Stadium to watch the KC Royals beat the Yankees 7-3. Sean Zeller, WSUAA assistant programs director, was on hand to meet WSU alumni, including Lucille Katz Posner fs ’43, Sean Corcoran ’96, Maura Pendleton ’99 and Jane Gabbert ’77, who, by the way, has landed a significant role in the soonto-be-released movie Sully, a “miracle-onthe-Hudson” biopic starring Tom Hanks as pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who landed U.S. Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January 2009. Gabbert plays the role of the plane’s main flight attendant. The film is set to 16
Oklahoma City
Saturday, Aug. 20; noon to 3 p.m. — Boathouse District OKC, for fun the whole family can enjoy. Join Courtney M. Marshall, WSUAA president and CEO, for lunch, mingling and all kinds of activity options: a zipline, America’s tallest dry slide, rock walls, kayaks and other watersport activities. For details: sean.zeller@wichita.edu.
Wichita
JOIN US: Beer Tasting & Tour Sunday, Aug. 14; 6 p.m. — Guided Beer Tasting & Tour, Central Standard Brewing, 156 S. Greenwood St., Wichita. Join Courtney M. Marshall, T H E
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president and CEO, for a special Shocker behind-the-scenes tour of one of Wichita’s newest breweries. For details: sean.zeller@wichita.edu.
JOIN US: Rockin’ the Roundhouse Saturday, Oct. 1; 6 p.m. — Red White and Wu: RNR 2016, Charles Koch Arena. The WSUAA’s annual fundraising extravaganza takes on the colors of an election year while keeping its traditional Shocker-spirit verve and feel. Volunteer positions on planning and auction acquisition committees are still open. To learn more about volunteering, contact Lynn Loveland, WSUAA director of programs, at lynn.loveland@wichita.edu. For a complete roster of Wichita State Alumni Association events, projects and activities, including Shocker travel SPRING 2016
ON THE HILL “lazy, crazy days of summer” on campus. Well, crazy maybe, but definitely not lazy. Despite state budget issues you’ve read about, we are moving ahead on numerous fronts to provide students with the quality of education and campus environment that will lead to fulfilling lives and careers. We remain dedicated to the university’s vision of developing a global reputation for applied learning and research. We have already achieved that status in aviation through the National Institute for Aviation Research. Now we need to bring together academic excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship in a half dozen other fields. One idea that greatly appeals to me is the transformation of Henrion Hall into an Ideas Lab. If you look at this magazine’s cover photo, you can envision the positive impact of renovating the interior of one of the oldest buildings on campus, while keeping its historic facade. If you ever attended a game in Henrion, President John Bardo or had a class there, I encourage you to think about it in an introduces us to the Ideas Lab Leadership entirely new way, as a univergateway to 21st century Council and updates sity creativity. Henrion will have us on all manner of updated studios for sculpture, innovative activity ceramics and painting, while adding labs in multidisciat Wichita State. plinary areas such as design and video production. I expect it to become a gathering center for all people with a creative bent – students, faculty and staff from all disciplines, plus engaged community members. Five Wichita couples are partnering with the WSU College of Fine Arts and the WSU Foundation to privately raise $4 million or more that will be matched by university funds. The Henrion effort is part of the comprehensive fundraising campaign, which will be publicly announced by the Foundation this coming fall. For more information, you can talk with members of the Ideas Lab Leadership Council: Curt Gridley ’80, Tracy Hoover, Clark ’75 and Sharon ’76 Bastian, John ’70/73 and Nancy Brammer, Joy ’00 and Brian ’96 Heinrichs or Bill ’81/83 and Andrea Gardner. Information is also available from Rodney Miller, fine arts dean, or Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the WSU Foundation. On the other side of campus, you can see the first two Innovation Campus buildings that are well under construction. Both will be completed this fall: The Experiential Engineering Building will include 25 laboratories and a community makerspace called GoCreate, a Koch collaborative. The first partnerTHESE AREN’T NAT KING COLE’S
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ship building will house the Airbus Wichita engineering center for up to 400 Airbus employees and Wichita State students engaging in applied learning with the company. A third building was announced in April. The Law Enforcement Training Center is a collaboration of the city of Wichita, Sedgwick County and the WSU Criminal Justice Department, where police officers, deputies and students will be trained and educated. This June, we announced that the mixed-use section of Innovation Campus, near 21st Street and Oliver, would feature a new Element by Westin hotel. We’re also in discussions about additional amenities including a coffee shop with drive through and well-regarded restaurant brands. It’s all part of an effort to create an innovation district that attracts students and employers and boosts economic growth for the city and state. In his 2011 book, The Coming Jobs War, Gallup chairman Jim Clifton addressed where the next major wave of American jobs will come from. “From the combination of the forces within big cities, great universities and powerful local leaders,” Clifton wrote. “Those three compose the most reliable, controllable solution.” We’re feeling that keenly in Wichita and at the university. That’s why we’ve chosen this path of innovation and entrepreneurship, and why we’ve gotten deeply involved in community efforts, including the Greater Wichita Partnership, Chamber of Commerce and Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth. Our proposed merger with Wichita Area Technical College is all about strengthening the workforce to help Kansas companies grow and students succeed. When we speak about the Innovation University, we mean something broader than the 120 acres of Innovation Campus. Innovation is well underway in every college of the university, from the cancer research in the College of Arts and Sciences, to the dance performances being created in the College of Fine Arts; from College of Education research to address the Kansas teacher shortage, to the Koch Global Trading Center in the College of Business; from the Cassat Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic in the College of Health Professions, to the University Innovation Fellows in the College of Engineering. We can’t win the future with just one big idea. We need a thousand to bloom. We need an entire campus and community ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship. Alumni play a critical role in the university’s future. We’d like you to recommend Wichita State to college-bound students; to consider returning to campus yourself as an adult student, teaching adjunct or mentor; to work with WSU Ventures on your high-growth potential business idea. Early next year, when we open the GoCreate community makerspace in the Experiential Engineering Building, I hope you will consider becoming a member and an active user. And, as always, we welcome you to display your passion for Wichita State in every way, from a T-shirt or license plate frame to a generous contribution to the WSU Foundation. Help make it a great decade to be a Shocker.
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Teacher-Scholar Wins $500,000 Award In 2011, Esra Buyuktahtakin, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering, founded the Systems Optimization and Analytics Laboratory, which, she says, “is designed to conduct theoretical and applied FACULTY research on mathematical PROFILE optimization.” Thanks to a $500,000 Career Award from the National Science Foundation in February, she and the lab have steady research funding for the next five years. A prestigious award for new faculty members, the NSF grant supports promising early-career activities of teacherscholars. “I am happy and excited about receiving this recognition,” she says. The grant will also allow her to travel to conferences and present her research. “This NSF funded project focuses on designing mathematical models to inform public policy for controlling the spread of invasive species,” she explains. “Examples include highly flammable
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Esra Buyuktahtakin, center, with students who work in the Systems Optimization and Analytics Laboratory, appreciates the innovative climate on campus. “I believe that this transformative change is a giant step toward being a top-notch university,” she says.
buffelgrass in Arizona, aggressively growing sericea lespedeza in Kansas, and the Asian Tiger mosquito, which causes diseases that include West Nile virus and Zika virus. Invasive species cause harm to human health, the environment and the economy. Therefore, their management is of critical importance.”
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Buyuktahtakin, who is originally from Turkey, enjoys pursuing her research interests and teaching at WSU. “My goal as an instructor,” she says, “is to help my students improve their analytical skills and to motivate them to be life-long learners.” — Jessica Seibel ’08
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ON THE HILL
Darryl Carrington helped gather information for displays at this 17th Street and Oliver pause point on the Redbud Trail, a hiking and biking path that runs along a section of former rail line. The artwork and displays focus on Wichita’s history.
Coalition of Neighbors
Darryl Carrington ended up as a Wichita resident quite by accident. In the summer of 2005, he, his wife Cassandra and son Oases were passing through on their way to Charleston, S.C., after deciding to move from California. In Wichita, STUDENT it was discovered that PROFILE Cassandra needed emergency surgery. “In the process of her healing, we got involved with Fairmount United Church of Christ,” Carrington says of the church that has stood on the southwest corner of Fairmount and 16th Street for more than a century. The family soon decided not to finish that trip to Charleston, and instead took up residence in the Fairmount neighborhood, where Carrington was asked by the church to be a mentor for area youth. He subsequently began serving SPRING 2016
in the neighborhood with AmeriCorps, an organization that engages in intensive service at nonprofits, schools and public agencies across the country. In 2008, after two years with AmeriCorps – and after receiving encouragement from fellow churchgoers including organist Celia Goering ’63 – Carrington applied for several jobs at WSU. A year into his job as a plumber, he enrolled as a student and has been diligently taking a few classes each semester since then. “As a returning adult student around 50 years old,” he says, “the Educational Opportunity Center’s program was a great resource.” He plans to graduate from WSU with a bachelor’s degree in health management and community development in May 2017. When he first started working at Wichita State, he spent quite a bit of T H E
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time attending to the needs of residence hall plumbing. “Once I left the dorms, I became a service plumber,” he says of the position that sometimes required him to crawl into small, dark spaces to take care of the most menial tasks. “I lived down the street, so they would call me any time of the day or night. That was my role, to be a servant’s servant. I got to know every inch of this university.” It was, ironically enough, a dark space – though this one was not as cramped as some he experienced – that was the catalyst for another unexpected event. “I was coming out of the darkroom in McKnight, where I was fixing plumbing, and literally ran into Dr. Bardo,” Carrington reports. “He says, ‘Hi, I’m your new president.’ And I say, ‘Hi, I’m your plumber.’” 19
ON THE HILL
Ted Ayres, director of WSU’s Office of Community Engagement & Opportunity, and Darryl Carrington attend a May 2 KHF meeting at the Fairmount Park Community Center.
After taking a few steps back and letting his eyes adjust to the light, he decided to make the most of his opportunity to talk with Bardo, who arrived on campus as the university’s 13th president in July 2012. The previous year had seen around a dozen students robbed within a half-mile radius of campus, and the most recent incident involving an armed assailant occupied a prominent place in Carrington’s memory. “The Sunflower picked it up, and students gave the neighborhood two thumbs down,” he says of a survey conducted by the campus newspaper. “I live in that neighborhood. It was the worst thing to have that consensus. When I ran into him, I had that on my mind. I told him, ‘We need to build bridges.’ That’s been our connection ever since, and the relationship has been marvelous.” These days, building bridges between the university community and the neighborhood to its south is part of Carrington’s job description. No longer working as a plumber, he has been the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs’ community liaison for nearly a year. “The community sees me as a resource,” he says. “People are in my office all the time with ideas.” Although he isn’t able to say yes to every proposal, he appreciates the initiative shown by those who come to see him. 20
Carrington’s campus involvement extends beyond his role as a student and his position as community liaison. He is an elected member of the Unclassified Professional Senate – which represents the interests of unclassified professional employees on campus – and is active in the Shocker Neighborhood Coalition. That coalition is part of Wichita State’s Office of Community Engagement and Opportunity, headed by vice president and general counsel emeritus Ted Ayres and born out of the university’s Enough is Enough initiative. The Enough is Enough Task Force was formed by Bardo in December 2014 as a response to assaults and other crimes, including a fatal attack on Letitia Davis, that occurred in the neighborhood. When Carrington learned of the violent circumstances surrounding Davis’ death, he was horrified, saddened and, because of ongoing work to make the neighborhood safer, greatly disheartened. “This set us back to the Stone Age,” he says. “This is not conducive to where we want to go.” Where Carrington, Bardo, Ayres and other neighborhood stakeholders want to go is toward improved safety and a higher quality of life. Thanks to a $250,000 Community Engagement Initiative grant from the Kansas Health Foundation, the coalition is moving T H E
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forward in pursuit of these goals. A host of events, including Take Back the Night walks, a spring barbecue sponsored by the Office of International Education and a statewide summit of KHF grant recipients, has been held at Fairmount Park. Additionally, construction crews are in the process of installing tennis courts at the park, which might also become a Wi-Fi hotspot. “We’re talking about it,” says Carrington, who wants to see the park become a go-to gathering place for Fairmount’s residents. As one of those residents, Carrington tries to greet both the triumphs and the challenges of his neighborhood with optimism. “I wear rose-colored glasses,” he says. “I’m the happiest guy ever.” And he’s fully committed to the community he adopted. Although he was born in Charleston and grew up in Compton, Calif. (where his father retired as the police chief ), Carrington, along with Cassandra, Oases and daughter Mirage, who was born after the family settled in Wichita, has put down roots. “I love Charleston, but Fairmount is our home,” he says. “The university, the neighborhood, the church community – I’m interwoven in all of those. I’m very fortunate.” Carrington appreciates guidance he has received from, among others, George Platt, WSU associate professor emeritus of public administration, who has served as a mentor to him. He also enjoys learning as much neighborhood and university history as he can. No matter where he looks, he finds the connection between the two is strong. “When I’m in the choir loft and look east, I see the Sower of Seeds,” he says of a stained glass window in the Fairmount United Church of Christ’s sanctuary that is dedicated to William Henry Isley, the first dean of Fairmount College. “And I think, that’s me in Fairmount. We’ve been sowing seeds. That’s what I do.” Those seeds of civic engagement and a strong emphasis on education are showing signs of generating positive change, thanks to Carrington and others in this coalition of neighbors. — Jessica Seibel ’08 SPRING 2016
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GREEK
COLUMNS
Greek Life at WSU The Greek community at Wichita State is full of brotherhood and sisterhood, tradition and pride. From participating in Hippodrome to Shocktoberfest events and intramurals, Greeks know how to show school spirit. They always have! The Shocker’s On the Hill Greek page celebrates WSU’s Greek-letter organizations, their members and alumni members. For more info about Greek life at WSU, visit wichita.edu/thisis/GreekLife.
Greek Awards
Greek life at Wichita State posted an impressive list of achievements for the 2015-2016 academic year, says Lyston Skerritt, assistant director, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Student Involvement. He says WSU’s Greek community grew 16 percent in the past year.
Record Breaking Year for Fraternity and Sorority Life at Wichita State Wichita State University’s Student Involvement Office, Fraternity and Sorority Life is proud to announce the completion of another successful year with record numbers in cumulative GPA, recruitment, member retention, service and philanthropy dollars raised. For the first time since the creation of Student Involvement in 2012, all Wichita State fraternity and sorority chapters earned above a 2.7 GPA. The All Greek GPA for spring 2016 was 3.192 – which is the highest All Greek GPA on record. Each individual council also had its highest GPA since 2012. The Interfraternity Council’s GPA was 3.14; Panhellenic Council was 3.318; and the Multicultural Greek Council reported a 2.938 GPA. Fraternity and Sorority Life has also seen an increase in service hours comSPRING 2016
pleted and philanthropy dollars raised per individual. More than 21,600 service hours were completed, and over $171,000 was raised this past year. Just a few of the philanthropic organizations that benefited from this year’s fundraisers are St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Children’s Miracle Network, Heartspring, Envision, the American Heart Association and the Zach Mesch Foundation. During the past year, the Greek community has grown 16 percent through recruitment and intake. Also, between fall 2015 and spring 2016, more than 100 students graduated from the community. Fraternity and Sorority Life has completed 90 percent of its 2014-2017 strategic plan and is looking forward to additional assessment and growth in the coming planning period. T H E
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Wichita State’s annual Greek Awards program was Feb. 22 at the Hughes Metroplex. The ceremony honored 2015 recipients, including Craig Barton Outstanding Sophomore Award: Reece Burns, Phi Delta Theta and Amy Vuong, Delta Gamma; Dr. Sam Cohlmia Greek Man and Woman of the Year: Jonathan Dennill, Phi Delta Theta and Mariah Smith, Kappa Kappa Gamma; Panhellenic Outstanding Fraternity Award: Alpha Phi Alpha; Sigma Phi Epsilon Outstanding Sorority Award: Delta Gamma. For a complete list of award winners, visit wichita.edu/thisis/GreekLife.
MGC Informational Aug. 29 – Multicultural Greek Council Informational. Multicultural fraternities and sororities represented on campus will present information about their individual chapters for prospective members.
Panhellenic Sorority Sept. 8-12 – Panhellenic Recruitment. This is the four-day process through which college women consider sororities, and sororities choose new sisters. Prospective Greeks will meet with members of the five Panhellenic chapters at WSU to learn about Panhellenic values: Greek unity, sisterhood, scholarship, community service, leadership and character development.
Songfest 7 p.m., Oct. 29 – Songfest. This WSU Shocktoberfest event showcases members of campus organizations, including Greeks, who compete in a lip-syncing and dancing contest. Songfest will be held at Wichita’s Orpheum Theatre. 21
ON THE HILL
GLEANINGS
Modernizing Wallace Hall Wallace Hall, WSU’s aerospace engineering building that carries the name of Dwane Wallace ’33 and his wife Velma, hasn’t been significantly upgraded since built in the 1970s. That’s set to change. A $1 million gift from the Dwane and Velma Wallace Foundation will help with the modernization of the building. Grant funds will be used to update the facility with an emphasis on making it more student-friendly, functional and aesthetically appealing. “What I want to see most are improved spaces for students,” says Royce Bowden, dean of the College of Engineering. The renovation of Wallace Hall is slated to start next year. The building’s namesakes, Dwane and Velma Wallace, died in 1989 and 2012, respectively. For more about this noted aviation couple, visit TheShockerMagazine.com; search for “Eyes to the Sky.”
Quickdraw Trio Wins Shocker New Venture Competition Going up against a total of 62 teams, a trio of gamer entrepreneurs took top honors at the Shocker New Venture Competition finals on April 29. The on-campus event was sponsored by the WSU Center for Entrepreneurship. Wichita State students Nicolas Gallo, Brian Foster and Cody Harryman won the $10,000 first-place prize for their business idea: Quickdraw Studios, a video game and application company geared toward restaurants and bars. The idea was sparked when Gallo, a Textron Aviation engineer and WSU graduate student, thought the logo for 22
the Hopping Gnome Brewing Co. in Wichita had so much charisma that it needed to star in its own video game – and made the video game! In addition to the video game, Quickdraw also makes a trivia application. Both products have been purchased by the Hopping Gnome. The trio plans to use the prize money to continue growing their business.
Law Enforcement Training Center to be Built at WSU A new Law Enforcement Training Center, to be built on the site of WSU’s Innovation Campus, will feature training space and classrooms for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department, the Wichita Police Department and the WSU Criminal Justice Program. Construction is expected to begin this fall and be complete in a year. The $9.5 million facility is a collaboration between the county, the city of Wichita and Wichita State. The project will be funded by the city and Sedgwick County. Innovation Campus infrastructure funding will cover the costs of providing parking for the building, and the university will cover maintenance fees for the building for the first five years, at approximately $200,000 a year. The first floor of the training center will include rooms for tactical training and fitness, 911 backup/training, crime scene incident and quartermaster’s rooms for the WPD and Sheriff’s Department. The second floor will house classrooms for the WPD and Sheriff’s Department, and the third floor will feature classrooms and offices for WSU’s criminal justice program, which includes the Regional Community Policing Institute and the Midwest Criminal Justice Institute, 500 students and 12 faculty and staff. T H E
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WSU Diversity Council Names Members The President’s Diversity Council, set up earlier this year, has named its first members. The council is an advisory and leadership team responsible for developing, overseeing and monitoring university-wide efforts in cultivating a diverse campus climate. The group of faculty and staff meet regularly with WSU President John Bardo about current events, issues and campus updates. Members are Marché Fleming-Randle, Deanna Carrithers, Stephen Arnold, Mehmet Barut, Alex Chaparro, Jaya Escobar, Jean Griffith, Aaron Hamilton, Riccardo Harris, Moniqueka Holloway, Alex Johnson, Danielle Johnson, Frankie Kirkendoll, Krishna Krishnan, Rhonda Lewis, Gergana Morkova, Kennedy Musamali, Quang Nguyen, Douglas Parham, Alicia Sanchez, Sara Sell, Lyston Skerritt, Natasha Stephens, Johnnie Thompson, Natalie Toney, Robert Weems and Russ Widener.
Starkey Wins Top Honor Linda Starkey, chair of WSU’s School of Performing Arts, has been awarded the Region V Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Gold Medallion. It is the organization’s most prestigious award and considered one of the great honors in theater education. Each year, the festival honors those who’ve made extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing of theater and who have supported KCACTF. Region V encompasses seven states. Starkey, who has worked at WSU for 25 years, teaches voice and has served as a music director, stage director, actor and pianist for more than 100 productions. SPRING 2016
SHOCK ART Density Wave Theory in effect, is how the desert ripples through the longitude of California and throws the surface toward heaven. It explains how the beach-homes of the stars are eaten: liquefaction sinks the pillars into the underestimated Earth. It defines why the unforgiving highway juts edge upon edge for miles extended across the glaring desert nowhere — why the power of collision can be witnessed. The immense strength that presses the insuperable Earth upon itself, forces its boundaries into change like mountains or quarter mile shifts in the Mississippi, all radiates from the contained point of a single touch. — Mark H.W. Hiebert ’94
From Wichita State’s literary journal Mikrokosmos, 1994
Wichita Artists in their Studios By Sondra Langel Photography by Larry Schwarm This book displays photographs of 50 artists at work in their Wichita studios. Many of them are Shockers, either alumni or faculty — or both: Ted Adler, Jennie Becker ’90, Marc Bosworth ’92, Chris Brunner ’79, Robert Bubp, Jana Durfee ’04, Marc Durfee ’03, Connie Ernatt ’95, John Ernatt ’90, Dan Gegen ’89/91, James Gross ’74, Wade Hampton fs ’91, Brian Hinkle ’92, Rollin Karg ’63, Kevin Kelly ’01, Brenda Lichman, Todd Matson ’82, Tina Murano ’91, Steve Murillo ’70, James Ackerley Porter, Jennifer Ray, Humberto Saenz, Bob Schwan fs ’97, Larry Schwarm, Tim Stone ’12, Levente Sulyok, Janice Burdine Thacker ’69, Bruce Van Osdel ’89, Trish Van Osdel ’91 and Ernest Vincent Wood III ’06. In addition, the book’s foreword was penned by another Shocker, James W. Johnson ’75, independent curator and art historian. His foreword carries much history about artistic endeavors in Wichita, of course, but also about those at Wichita State, going all the way back to its days as Fairmount College.
Denise Irwin ’83 “Hidden Me” Artist’s Statement: “I work in earth, water, fire and air. As one of the first creative acts of humankind, these classical elements come together in the making of the ceramic form. The vessel, made of earth surrounding a void to be filled with water or sustenance, draws the viewer in to touch and interact with it. Making from earth brings me in touch with myself and is expressed in the conflicting pressures to communicate and the desire to hide. The clay is left exposed without the addition of glaze and often wrapped within a protective cloak. My art reflects my thoughts and reactions to the people and events around me in both the form and the movement of the piece.” Irwin holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from WSU. She lives in Wichita.
A gallery of both literary and visual art, Shock Art showcases works by Wichita State alumni, faculty and students. For details about contributing, please contact the editor: 316-978-3835; connie.white@wichita.edu.
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ALMANAC
Moreland & Arbuckle — guitarist Aaron Moreland, harmonicist/vocalist Dustin Arbuckle and drummer Kendall Newby — have shared stages with ZZ Top, George Thorogood, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Los Lonely Boys, and will perform Thursday, Aug. 25 on campus.
ACADEME Aug. 22 — Fall classes begin.
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION For a full listing of current association activities: www.wichita.edu/alumni.
ANTHROPOLOGY The Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology, located in Neff Hall, houses the Morgan collection of southwest pottery, among others. Museum hours are 1-5PM weekdays, except for June, July and August, when the museum is closed. Neff Hall galleries not in the museum are open during the summer 8AM-9PM weekdays. Free. (316) 978-7071; holmes.anthropology.museum. 24
ART HAPPENINGS Ulrich Museum hours are 11AM5PM, Tue.-Fri. and 1-5PM, weekends. Closed Mondays, major holidays. Free. To contact: (316) 978-3664; ulrich.wichita.edu. Thu., July 7; 7-9PM — Spencer Bohren, McKnight Art Center Plaza. This New Orleans blues guitarist will perform his deep repertoire of blues, country, gospel and original songs while sharing tales from a lifetime of wandering the world. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Art for Your Ears Thu., Aug. 25; 7-9PM — Moreland & Arbuckle, McKnight Art Center Plaza. Moreland & Arbuckle have played hundreds of shows and logged hundreds of thousands of road miles performing T H E
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in the United States, Canada and across Europe. Art for Your Ears Through Aug. 28 — do it. From the mind of artist, writer and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, do it began as a conversation with artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier, and took shape as a perpetually fluctuating exhibition of malleable ideas and conceptual art. In partnership with the Ulrich Museum of Art, this iteration of do it is reimagined through the vision of students in the WSU School of Art, Design and Creative Industries. From Fibonacci sequence studies of television channels to testing couple compatibility through fruit and vegetable shakes, do it makes use of an assortment of random and non-traditional objects to create art. Performing as curators and artists, SPRING 2016
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Ying Gao, “Playtime,” 2012, super organza, PVDF textile, micro motors, light sensors, Arduino: This work is part of CODED_COUTURE, which features garments, drawings, sketchbooks, video projections and more. Photography is by Dominique Lafond.
almost every aspect of this exhibition was created and experienced by students learning to explore the art and museum world firsthand. Thu., Sept. 15; 7-9PM — Bobby Watson, Duerksen Outdoor Amphitheater. The jazz legend will take to the stage with the WSU Jazz Band to kick off the fall celebration of the return of Joan Miró’s mosaic Personnages Oiseaux to the Ulrich Museum. Art for Your Ears Sept. 10-Dec. 4 — CODED_ COUTURE. This exhibition features the work of 10 international designers whose inventive designs are rooted in new technology. Simply stated, to code is to convert one piece of information into another form. These practitioners use coding to convert a consumer’s personal information into a custom garment. Curated by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of curatorsquared, the exhibition premiered during Fashion Week in February 2016 at New York City’s Pratt Manhattan Gallery. The exhibition includes garments, drawings, sketchbooks, video projections and interactive opportunities for visitors to engage in the design process. Clayton Staples Gallery is on the second floor of the McKnight Art Center. SPRING 2016
Shift Space, WSU’s student art gallery is at 416 S. Commerce Street, Suite 102, in downtown Wichita. For happenings and hours, call (316) 978-7706.
MUSIC For listings of all WSU fine arts events: www.finearts.wichita.edu.
MULTICULTURAL EVENTS To view a full list of events sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion: wichita.edu/multicultural.
MUSICAL THEATER/OPERA July 13-14, 7:30PM; July 15-16, 8PM and July 17, 7PM — Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Century II. Also July 16-17; 2PM. Music Theatre of Wichita July 27-28, 7:30PM; July 29-30, 8PM and July 31, 7PM – Jesus Christ Superstar, Century II. Also July 30-31; 2PM. Music Theatre of Wichita Aug. 10-11, 7:30PM; Aug. 12-13, 19-20, 8PM and Aug. 14, 21, 7PM – Mamma Mia!, Century II. Also Aug. 13-14, 20-21, 2PM. Music Theatre of Wichita T H E
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From WSU Old Town Wichita State’s public radio station KMUW has made the move from its 5,500-square-foot space at 3317 E. 17th Street to its new 7,000-square-foot space at 121 N. Mead. Let’s wander through their new digs. Photos by Brandon Chauncey ’00
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On Air
For 35 years, staff of Wichita State’s award-winning public radio station KMUW worked out of a warren of offices just across 17th Street from the campus proper, in a building not originally built for radio. “We called our old space ‘shabby-chic,’” reports Sarah Jane Crespo, KMUW’s engagement marketing director. “At some point, we just started calling it ‘shabby.’” Shabby no longer. Crespo and 24 other KMUW staffers are full-out enjoying their expansive new space in Old Town, and so is the station’s corps of volunteers. Although KMUW has always had an open-door policy with the public, now its new space ushers visitors in with a garage-door-size welcome, literally. Crespo sees the garage door entrance as a sign of KMUW’s traditional openness and new expansiveness. Not only is there more room for collective activities, there are nine studios, which is a jump from three, for reporters and producers. There is also space to display the original works of art that the station has collected over the years from its pledge drives, each of which has offered incentives – mugs, T-shirts, prints – that feature a particular artwork by a local artist. These days, KMUW has the space for staff and guests to gather and work in comfort – and Old Town style. — Connie Kachel White
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Top photo: KMUW’s lobby. Lower photo, far left: hallway with nine recording studios. Middle: a studio in use. At left: KMUW’s FM radio transmitter, broadcasting at 89.1 MHz. The KMUW move is part of WSU’s larger plan to establish an Old Town presence. In November 2015, the university opened its WSU Old Town office at 238 N. Mead with some 70 staff members and students working out of the Center for Community Engagement and Research.
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THE MANY IT
HENRIO
ERATIONS OF
ON HALL
If halls could talk, those in Henrion would have plenty to say – about all kinds of things. We’d hear about athletics and art, for sure. There’d be tales of student love affairs and other intrigues, countless stories of Shocker activity, old and brand new. BY CONNIE KACHEL WHITE
IN ITS ORIGINAL ITERATION,
Henrion, built in several phases, was the first permanent gym on campus. Memorial Gymnasium, dedicated to Fairmount College students who served in World War I, first welcomed cheering Shocker men’s basketball fans through its doors in 1921. The gym was later renamed for Walter S. Henrion, whose construction company made a sizable contribution to the building. A women’s gym was built in 1929, and locker rooms were added in 1937. The physical education department was housed in Henrion until the Heskett Center opened in 1983, and Henrion was host to years of PE classes that ranged from archery to clogging and “natural dance.” Henrion’s main gymnasium was also the site of the University of Wichita’s annual Military Ball, which is said to have been a “brilliant” social function, attended by “over two hundred couples” in 1932. HENRION’S SECOND ITERATION
has been as lair to studio artists, both faculty members and students, but especially potters and sculptors. While painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and other studio arts office in the McKnight Art Center, ceramics and sculpture have found a working home in and just outside (where the kilns are) Henrion. One recent Friday, which happened to be the hottest day of the year so far, Laura Nave and Garet Reynek, both second-year grad students in ceramics, plus ceramics instructor and graduate faculty member Brenda Lichman and Ted Adler, associate professor and area head of ceramics media, were hot at work in venerable, non-central air conditioned Henrion. “It’s a visually rich space,” Adler says about the rambling warren of studios, offices and work areas that seem to have taken root in the old hardwood courts of the men’s and women’s gyms, and grown, all topsy-turvy, into a most vibrant and inspiring environment. That’s not to say, though, that the potters and sculptors 30
Dances, including Scabbard and Blade’s annual Military Ball, at top, were held in Henrion’s main gym. Work at the potter’s wheel has been a core activity for decades.
who dream up and then make their art in Henrion wouldn’t welcome change and some new collaborators into their artful abode. THE THIRD ITERATION OF HENRION
will be as Wichita State’s Ideas Lab. When complete, the lab will serve as a “fine arts version of a makerspace,” explains Rodney Miller, dean of the fine arts college. Still grounded by ceramics and sculpture, and coordinated through fine arts, the Ideas Lab will bring engineers, business majors and others into T H E
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contact with artists in a creative mix that Adler, Miller, WSU President John Bardo and others believe will be a catalyst for all kinds of innovative technologies. An advanced set of kilns is one item on the Ideas Lab procurement list. The kilns would assist engineers in testing new designs in composite materials, an area of research for which Wichita State is well known. Henrion has already added a few new Ideas Lab inhabitants, a plasma cutter, for one thing. Royce Smith, associate professor of modern and contemporary art history, director of the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, and a 2015 Fulbright Scholar, says, “I’d say the phase we’re in now with the Ideas Lab is learning how to share our toys with one another, deciding what piece of equipment goes in what space – what works and where.” He adds that he’s excited about the cross-campus, cross-discipline collaborations that are developing. “Barry Badgett, our area head in sculpture, is fielding calls and questions from engineers, and Ted Adler is already sharing ideas about how WSU-made ceramics might be used in Innovation Campus properties – tiles in the new hotel, for example. That’s exciting! “It’s exciting to be part of envisioning a new approach to teaching creative industries. The Ideas Lab is unique. There’s absolutely nothing like it in our region – not at KU, not at K-State.” Working with fine arts faculty, administrators, alumni and others who have come together as members of the Ideas Lab Leadership Council, the WSU Foundation is raising funds for Henrion’s transformation into the Ideas Lab. The goal is $4 million. “The strong volunteer leadership coupled with the vision of Dean Miller and his faculty make this a fun and exciting fundraising project,” says Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the foundation. “Transforming – and saving – an iconic building like Henrion gives additional substance to our efforts.” As varied as Henrion’s functions and forms have been through the years, who knows what’s coming next! SPRING 2016
THE
FASTEST QUAD RACER IN THE LAND He slips on his camerasynched goggles, triggering the Top Gun theme song. Powering up his quad racer, he fingers the twin-toggled radio controls, and in the whisssssk of a split second the seasoned pilot – call sign BrainDrain – is whipping down the course inches above the weeds. It’s just a narrow strip of a Wichita park, more like an overcrowded, tree-strewn gulch, but it’s where Brian Morris ’00 practices almost every evening after work. The intense 38-year-old local IT professional is one of the best in the world at the arcane art and science of quad racing. “This course has everything I’ve ever been to in a (race) course,” says Morris, a Wallace Scholar who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Wichita State in 2000. “That tree right there, I fly over the top of it, I do a Split S and I go back underneath it. There’s hairpin curves. There’s slaloms. I got one, two, three, four, five, six trees in a row that I can slalom around. Everything you will ever run into in a course is right here.”
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Morris is ranked as you’re flying, keepsecond in the world by ing track of points. As the International Drone you learn what points Racing Association. He you have, you decide has logged a series of whether to push it or solid appearances over not. And don’t panic. the past two years across Keep your cool.” America and overseas. He’s obsessively He won the 3-D FPV competitive. “Life is so Championship Cup short. You’ve got to do in France last year. In everything right now. If March, he took second I can be Number One, in the World Drone Prix I’m going to be Numin Dubai, United Arab ber One right now,” he Emirates, in a contest says. “Because I know with a $1 million total tomorrow something purse. His team lost by will go snap, and that’s just 12 seconds in a field the end. You’re done and of 69 competitors. you’re over with. So put “The Dubai course everything in that you is a four-million-dollar can while you can.” course with moving Morris follows a strict lights that followed routine. After a day of the quad, and parts of building servers, intethe track moved also,” grating digital printing he says. “It was mostly presses and fixing work fly over the top with a stations at McCormick few gates, a pretty basic Armstrong in Wichita, course for sure.” (Check where he has worked Brian Morris’ hand-built racing quads — that’s one flying in the foreground — out both the Dubai since graduation, he have carbon fiber CAD-cut frames, four 32,000 RPM electrical motors, tri-bladed course and Morris’ home propellers and lightweight strap-on batteries. Ranked second in the world by drives less than a mile to course on YouTube.) his house, grabs a bite the International Drone Racing Association, Morris practices in Wichita parks. He adds, “I’m just to eat, walks across the competitive. I’ve always street and is set to fly by the public’s idea of a drone, a term that wanted to be good at something. Here’s 5:15 p.m. In the gaps between people he despises because of its militaristic something I can be the best in the world and dogs crossing the park, Morris fires connotations. Morris’ hand-built racing at. I mean, how many opportunities up flight after flight, his hands tweakquads have bare-bones carbon fiber will I have to be the best in the world at ing the controls and the props making a CAD-cut frames, four fast-revving anything? Zero to one. Well, now I’ve screaming killer bee moan in four-part 32,000 RPM electrical motors smaller got one. There’s not a single person out harmony until dark. there that I go to the field and say, ‘I just than a spool of thread, orange plastic Morris chuckles at his newfound can’t beat that guy.’ I know I have at least tri-bladed propellers and lightweight notoriety. “Until Dubai, none of them, strap-on batteries. The smallest will a chance.” I don’t think they knew. ‘He’s just almost fit in the palm of his hand. Right now, quad racing is not a screwing around,’ ” he explains. “The A tiny camera transmits the “cockpit” spectator sport, and even Morris admits (neighbor) guy comes out and he’s like, view to his Geordi La Forge-like visor, it’s “boring to watch.” That may change ‘Oh my gosh, I had no idea.’ Because I albeit a view that’s 12 feet behind where because of a multi-year broadcasting was telling him, like, ‘Yeah, I’m like top the quad is in real time when flying close in the world.’ And he was like, ‘Whatdeal between the World Organization to 80 MPH. Morris says his hand-crafted ever, whatever.’ And then he watched of Racing Drones and ESPN Sports in quads give him a big advantage, but April. Live coverage will start with the the Dubai tape, and he was like, ‘Oh other things, too, help win races. “There’s my gosh, you really are.’ And I was like National Drone Racing Championships a lot of strategy involved,” he says. “One, ‘Yeah, I was not playing around.’ ” in NYC the first weekend in August. not getting rattled by other racers. Two, His aircraft don’t look anything like His competitors may only practice 32
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every two or three pretty wild. He was days. That only makes flying through gates and Morris practice harder. turning all the time. It “This is how I got so was fun.” good,” he explains. For Morris, though, “This is the reason it hasn’t always been fun why I’m up there. times. For years, he has Because if I have even battled gastrointestinal an extra 30 minutes, problems that sap him I can come out here of energy and for a time and fly four batteries had him at death’s door. (worth). Most of the He calls those his “Dead other racers, they’re on the Couch” years, packing up everything, when just going to work they’re driving to the was exhausting. field, unpacking everyHe still feels ill, thing and so that’s not but now Morris relies an everyday thing for on members of his them.” traveling team to assist Sky-Hero, a young drone airframe and hardware manufacturing company based Having a practice while he flies for his in Brussels, Belgium, sponsors Brian Morris’ quad racing activities, which have spot across the street sponsor, Sky-Hero, a taken him across the land and around the world, most recently to Dubai, UAE. from his house adds young drone airframe hours of experience. and hardware manufac“Now I can fly wherever I want, as fast as We put together the top of the top turer headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. I want, with zero repercussions generally, performance quads. Anywhere I go my His team includes Kalyn Doerr, who quads are in the top one percent of perminus when I get stuck in a tree and I lives in Wichita and whose quad racing formance,” Morris says. have to climb the tree and have to spend name is rs2k. No one is more important His favorite engineering professor was the next four hours of my life shaking it than his girlfriend of three years, Christy Dr. Scott Miller, now chair of aerospace out of the tree. So I can get that flight Vavra, who teaches 7th grade science at engineering. “He was one of the coolest every day.” Haysville West Middle School. teachers; he had an interest in cool stuff. Like most kids, Morris was into “I do not survive without Christy. She He did the kinds of things that I liked,” computers and video games growing can build quads. She goes to the events. Morris says. The feeling was mutual. up in Goddard, Kan. Things got more She gets up one to two hours before Miller, whose research interests include intense when he got to Wichita State everyone else, drives all over, and cooks experimental aerodynamics, aircraft and developed the research and design special meals for me,” Morris says. “She design and rotor aerodynamics and who skills that help him to this day. gets to travel all over but she works. She also serves as director of the NASA in “It was the engineering degree,” says has been just awesome. She has taken Kansas program, remembers Morris as a Morris, who lacks a pilot’s license but on this support role that is just insane. good student “who sort of had a laidalways wanted to be in the cockpit. I would not be here without her. She back California feel to him. I wouldn’t “Engineering made me want to undertakes off time to help me. She takes that necessarily put him in the full-blown stand everything – How. It. Works. I pressure off.” engineering nerd stereotype, but he was understand Reynold’s numbers. I underHe is also hyper aware that in a sport certainly a hard worker. He liked to have where 15-year-olds are tearing up the stand flow. I understand drag. I understand stress. I understand moment arms. fun, too. He was one of those guys who courses, his days of leading the pack are liked to do things, not sit around and I understand all the basic functionality. numbered. “I’m riding it while the kids run calculations. He was interested in “So I have all this education from aren’t here,” Morris says. “I figure I have lots of things. He didn’t want to follow WSU that really helps me understand, a year, two years, and those kids take the standard model of doing things.” and a lot of the other guys are just, you over and I can find another role. I can be Last year, Morris let his former teacher a coach. I can manage a team. I can go know, maybe you’ve got a car tire salesman or someone like that, and he doesn’t strap on a spare pair of goggles at Chapin back to (flying) helicopters. I can Dog Park, another place he flies timed really know anything about electrons, do whatever I want. runs. “I sat down on a bench,” Miller he doesn’t know anything about carbon “But right now is my time. I can recalls. “He gave me a ride that was fiber. So he just puts together whatever. beat anybody.” SPRING 2016
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ETZA THE GREAT
ANOA SETTLEMENT Wichita State anthropology professor and archaeologist Don Blakeslee was reading a new translation of an old account of a 1601 hostile encounter between Spanish explorers and Native Americans near the site of a “great settlement.” No one knew for sure just where this was, although there were clues. As Blakeslee read, a quite definite location kept coming to mind. “I wonder,” he thought. “I wonder …” As it has played out, Blakeslee’s flash of recognition was right on point – and it pointed to a rock-lined gully, thick with walnut trees, near the Walnut River’s edge just east of Arkansas City, Kan. Evidence uncovered during a five-day archaeological field study that Blakeslee led in early June of last year to check his hunch has indeed established this as the site of that long ago clash between Spanish conquistadors and Native Americans. It was 415 years ago when Juan de Oñate, the colonial governor of the Santa Fe de Nuevo México province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, set out from New Mexico with his soldiers for the southern Plains,
BY CONNIE KACHEL WHITE
marching through may not be at all parts of modern-day accurate. He’s sitting Texas, Oklahoma and in front of a comKansas. Oñate and his puter in a secondparty – said to have floor Neff Hall work comprised a dozen room going through Franciscan priests, digital photos of some 130 Spanish artifacts found at soldiers with several various Etzanoa cannons, as well as a locations, includretinue of 130 Native ing five main sites American scouts, along the bluffs soldiers and servants – overlooking the had their sights set on Walnut River. The finding treasure, gold sites include plowed in particular. and unplowed fields, That didn’t happen. residential properties But they saw herds and the fairway of a of American bison, golf course. Superimposed over a satellite image of Arkansas City, Kan., and its surroundings is and the Spanish Among the finds a graphic of the probable extent of the protohistoric Wichita settlement of Etzanoa, perhaps the largest Native American settlement in the United States — surpassing among them are two iron balls Cohokia in what is today Illinois. Also shown are the route taken by Spanish marveled at these and a lead bullet conquistadors led by Juan de Oñate and the site of the “Battle of Etzanoa.” “most monstrous recovered near cattle.” They rocks in the gully hostile schemes in play, tensions were witnessed the vast expanse of the Blakeslee had identified. Because building on this stretch of the plains in Great Plains and noted the richness of they match the types of ammunition early summer of 1601. its soil-entangling grasses, in places so used by the Spanish in their cannon and Oñate determined to turn his men high that “they hid a horse.” And they guns of the early 17th century, they are around and return to Nuevo México. saw, straddling the banks of a river not evidence that the site really is that of the far from its confluence with a larger river, But before they could get out of the “Battle of Etzanoa.” territory, the Escanxaque turned on more than 1,000 large, round, grassBlakeslee’s years of archaeological them and a pitched battle ensued. thatched houses clustered in small digs have made him a respected expert The Spanish were outnumbered, but groupings among little fields of maize, on the Plains Indians, including the the superior firepower of their guns and beans and squash, a trio called by Caddoan Wichita, among whose ancescannon eventually forced their foes to Native Americans the “three sisters.” tors were likely to have been the Rayado. seek shelter in a rock-lined gully. The general whereabouts of a These protohistoric Wichita left signs Oñate and his men made it back to “great settlement” called Etzanoa had of how they lived at Etzanoa, and last their base in New Mexico that fall and been pointed out to Oñate by members June Blakeslee, five other archaeologists, of a native people known as Escanxaque. reported their findings to Spanish half a dozen Wichita State anthropology officials – including the estimate that The Escanxaque, from parts of presentstudents and a corps of local volunteers some 20,000 people resided at Etzanoa, day Oklahoma, were bison hunters who set out to find them. planted no crops. And they were enemies in its scatter of houses whose end “was “We had a lot of volunteers,” Blakeslee not in sight.” of the Rayado – from Etzanoa. reports. “We found a huge distribution That estimate would make Etzanoa Before Oñate’s expeditionary force, of chipped stone” – which is the tell-tale among the most populous Native Ameri- marker of stone toolmaking activity. accompanied by a contingent of can settlements in the United States, Escanxaque, caught sight of Etzanoa, Blakeslee and his team also found in perhaps second only to Cohokia, near they had encountered a group of abundance stone tools used in the today’s St. Louis, which at its peak in the hunting and processing of bison, as Rayados and detained their chief as a 13th century is thought to have had a guide and hostage, although, accounts well as tools associated with farming or population of some 40,000. In its heyclaim, “treating him well.” Upon horticulture, including a bison shoulder day, the city limits of Cohokia probably arrival, they found the settlement all blade used as a hoe. Faced with so much encompassed just over six square miles. but deserted, the inhabitants having evidence of a large, thriving settlement, Etzanoa was thought to cover some fled their approach. Blakeslee and others became ever more With so many conniving intrigues and five square miles. But that, says Blakeslee, convinced that the lower Walnut River 36
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valley was indeed the site of Etzanoa. But archaeologists are a cautious breed, and Blakeslee called for yet more investigation. “We ended up bringing in a magnetometer from the National Park Service,” he explains. Focusing on a location north of the battle site, the magnetometer produced an image that reveals circular areas dotted with black spots. “The circles here,” Blakeslee says, pointing to his computer screen, “are clusters of houses. The black dots here are storage pits. What we found matches just what the Spanish described.” The descriptions recorded by one Spaniard in particular, Baltazar Martinez, were helpful to Blakeslee. Martinez kept detailed notes about the houses at Etzanoa and even took measurements of the distances between the clusters. “From him,” Blakeslee says, “you get a very, very clear image of how everything was laid out.” Before smallpox decimated Native American populations, they built complex settlements that sometimes grew to metropolitan status. One of them, the Mississippian culture’s Cohokia, rivaled Europe’s largest cities of the time. They developed complicated societies with intricate religious rituals and beliefs. Although they didn’t use currency, they formed extensive trade relationships. The protohistoric Wichita, for example, traded with native peoples of the Southwest, as evidenced by the presence of obsidian, turquoise and Southwestern pottery at some of their settlement sites. Based on a Spanish account that tells of native people at Etzanoa (and places farther south) talking in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec and the lingua franca of Mesoamerica, Blakeslee thinks it’s possible that Etzanoa’s trade reach was significantly more far-ranging than to the relatively close Southwest. He also thinks, and so far is backed up with evidence, that Etzanoa will turn out to be the largest Native American settlement site in North America. See those two gray-shaded areas on the map on Page 36 that shows the probable extent of Etzanoa? It’s an area of 15 miles. Blakeslee: “How cool is that!” SPRING 2016
TOOLS OF THEIR TRADES Artifacts found at the site of Etzanoa, which once flourished along the Walnut River Valley on the east side of today’s Arkansas City, Kan., speak to the lives and livelihoods of the ancestors of the Native Americans called Wichita. Protohistoric Wichita settlements, including Etzanoa, are known in archaeological terms as the Great Bend aspect. Chronologically, Great Bend sites are thought to date from AD 1400 to 1700, by which time the Wichita had begun a migration to the south. The material culture of the Great Bend aspect at the Etzanoa site seems to mirror the lifestyle of a horticultural people with a strong reliance on the hunting of bison. Many of the artifacts uncovered to date by Don Blakeslee and others are indeed tools of the bison-hunting and processing trades. From the top at right are Fresno projectile points (lines 1-4), awls, or drills, (lines 5-7), scrapers (lines 8-10) and knives (lines 11-12). Fresno points, which are typical of what archaeologists term the Middle and Late Ceramic Periods, date generally from between AD 1250 and 1700, are triangular in shape and lack notches of any kind. Stone awls were used to drill holes in, among other things, the thick buffalo hides that were processed after the hunt. Flint scrapers were used chiefly for the preparation of hides for clothing and bedding. Commonly divided into two broad types, end and side scrapers, depending on which part of the flake was used to form the scraping edge, the artifacts shown here are all end scrapers. Along with projectile points and scrapers, knives are often one of the most common artifacts found at a site, as was the case at Etzanoa. The knife was an essential tool for various types of cutting purposes, including the cutting of bison hides and meat. Taken together with other artifacts collected within the known extent of the Etzanoa site, including mauls and pipes, as well as the identification of a carved-rock ritual site (See inset photo on Page 35.), these tools hint at a long and captivating — and still mostly lost — tale of hunting and warfare, agriculture and trade, religion and art. T H E
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ALUMNI NEWS
Diamond Anniversary
Shockers Each year for 60 years now, the Wichita State University Alumni Association has honored excellence through its awards program, which recognizes the achievements and distinguished service of not only deserving alumni, but also faculty, staff and friends of WSU. This year’s diamond anniversary honorees prove yet again that a great university produces great alumni.
BOB YOUNG ACHIEVEMENT Bob Young ’61 has hit the apex in three quite different fields: philanthropy, banking and – well, we’ll get to that ... Young has been a banker since 1961, the year he graduated from the University of Wichita with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He drafted his education and hard-work ethic into 38
career-advancing positions with, first, the FDIC and then at banks in Wichita and Denver. When in Colorado, this Kansas native fell in love with the mountains and, in 1973, along with several other investors, founded Alpine Bank in the small town of Carbondale. Today, he is the principal stockholder, chairman and CEO of Alpine Banks of Colorado. Headquartered in Glenwood Springs, Alpine Bank has just under $3 billion dollars in assets and some 40 locations throughout the state. The employee-owned bank serves more than T H E
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130,000 customers – and makes philanthropy and community involvement keys to its mission. In 2011, Young was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame. Young has been in the victory circle for so many philanthropic pursuits there’s no way to list them all. But here are two: He was named Colorado’s Outstanding Philanthropist in 1995. And he is a namesake of the Calaway Young Cancer Center in Glenwood Springs, which opened in 2012. A proud family man, Young has five children and seven grandchildren. He’s an active outdoorsman who likes golf, skiing, offshore fishing and boating. And for 40 years he’s been dialed in to – sports cars and sports car racing. In fact, he’s a 10-time – yes, 10-time! – Rocky Mountain Division National Champion. Although he no longer races in Sports Car Club of America sanctioned races, he can still be found with the hammer down taking laps at the track. SPRING 2016
ALUMNI NEWS
JIM ERICKSON DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
For his turbo-charged accomplishments as a banker, philanthropist and Shocker, J. Robert Young is the 2015 Alumni Achievement Award honoree.
JUNETTA EVERETT ALUMNI RECOGNITION Shocker connections abound in her life. In 1979, Junetta Everett ’79 was the first African American to graduate from Wichita State’s dental hygiene program – and she has stayed connected to the program and to WSU ever since. Signs of her Shocker connections are everywhere. Her husband Victor is also a WSU graduate. Today, they are the proud grandparents of three and parents of five sons. Yes, five – together, they could man a basketball team! Which brings us to another of Everett’s Shocker connections: WSU Athletics. She’s a fan of all Shocker sports, perhaps especially track and field, and says she absolutely loved getting to know the student-athletes during the year she served as president of the Shocker Athletic Scholarship Organization. Recognized for her leadership with a granite paver in Wichita State’s Plaza of Heroines, Everett has way too many university and community service credits to mention here. Suffice it to say, there is a dental hygiene scholarship named for her at WSU, and in 2004 she was honored to be the commencement speaker for the College of Health Professions. She’s also a founding member of the WSU Alumni Association’s Women United for the Shockers. Everett has excelled in her profession. After practicing for nine years as a registered dental hygienist, she made the move to the corporate world and in 1989 accepted a position at Delta Dental of Kansas. Today, she serves as vice president of professional relations. This distinguished WSU graduate and proud Shocker at heart is the recipient of the 2015 Alumni Recognition Award.
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JOYCE CAVAROZZI UNIVERSITY RECOGNITION Associate professor emeritus of performing arts Joyce Cavarozzi once explained that her job in university theater was helping introduce students to new ideas and new voices – whether that new voice came out of a 400-yearold play by Shakespeare or Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues. In her long career at WSU, Cavarozzi designed costumes for more than 150 productions, directed nearly 110, and performed on stage, TV and in several movies. She taught acting, directing and the honors program to thousands of students from the year she arrived at WSU, 1965, until her retirement in 2006. Among her honors: she received the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for educational theater and is a member of the local Mary Jane Teall Theatre Hall of Fame. Yet her real awards, she says, are her students – some of whom have gone on to careers of acclaim. For this teacher-artist’s lasting contributions to university theater, we are proud to introduce her in the role of the 2015 University Recognition Award honoree.
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Always eccentric, retired Wichita State associate professor of English Jim Erickson has mixed up a potent brew of credits as a teacher and all-round Wichita community and media personality. You may know him as Dr. Erickson, who arrived on campus in 1964 to teach his academic specialties: 18th Century English Literature, and Narrative in Literature and Film. He taught for 32 years at WSU before retiring in 1996. You may recognize him from local television or from his movie-review commentaries on KMUW, something he’s been doing since 1974 – and now he is being recognized for his decades of service, in all its forms and guises, with the 2015 Distinguished Service Award.
JOAN WAGNER YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD A Wallace scholar at WSU, Joan Wagner ’99/04 has almost always been interested in making things more efficient. Today, the industrial engineer is a systems engineer at Spirit AeroSystems The efficiency expert that she is, she also finds time for many community service projects, despite a demanding work schedule. For all of her meaningful – and most efficient – pursuits, she is the 2015 Young Alumni Award honoree.
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LOOK BACK
Fire in Her Voice
Joy is a defining quality that has a positive and lasting effect on others. We tend to remember joyful people. Annette Daniels ’84 was one of these people. I met her in 1981, when she was elected to the Senate of the Student Government Association. As I recall, she was the only African-American member. She enjoyed an unusual ability to convey a warm interest in the well being of others. She was a magnet of good will. What I did not anticipate was that one day she would be an acclaimed success across the United States, Europe and Africa as an opera star. Nor could I know that her life would end abruptly in 2004, at age 42, the victim of lung cancer. Daniels was in an ascendant trajectory in the opera world, and one can only imagine what 10 or 20 more years of performance would have meant to her legacy. Still, she enjoyed an international reputation that should not be forgotten. Daniels was a mezzo soprano – something like an alto, I am told. She liked to sing with her family’s ensemble and was also a proficient pianist. I asked her mother, Rose, if she thought her daughter wanted to be a music teacher. No, it was always voice performance. She was active in music productions at North High in Wichita, and a teacher at North recommended her to Dorothy Crum, who was then a noted voice teacher at Wichita State. Dr. Crum recognized the professional quality and range of Daniels’ voice, and in her freshman year she was cast as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, under the direction of George Gibson. He says that even at her young age (18) the germ of an outstanding voice was clear to him. Alan Held ’83, an internationally recognized opera singer who now is on the WSU faculty, recalls Daniels in that role, remembering her as an intense performer, full of musical ambition, 40
Before her death in 2004, WSU alumna Annette Daniels was in an ascendant trajectory in the opera world.
with a dedication more typically seen in graduate students. Even in her college years, Daniels’ range could comfortably reach from low G to high C, some 2½ octaves. Reviewers of her performances frequently commented about that range, and the “luscious” quality of her voice. Daniels possessed another valuable opera skill, acting. When she earned her master’s degree in voice performance from the University of Michigan, acting was her minor. She loved the stage and her acting ability enhanced her performance capabilities. As Carmen, in the Bizet opera, a role she performed numerous times, she was tossed around the stage to the degree that her body was regularly and substantially bruised. After graduation from WSU and Michigan, Daniels set out for New York with the blessing of her parents, Clarence and Rose, who were long-time staff members of WSU’s physical plant. Like that of most young professional singers, her goal was to land enough auditions to be able to make a living in opera. Daniels was blessed with enormous ambition and energy. She had a positive spirit, the ability to make connections and the talent to prepare and perform on short notice. Those elements remain keys for success for aspiring performers today. T H E
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Young artists seek apprenticeships, even if short-term, for the valuable lessons of diction, movement, voice instruction and general coaching. Daniels pursued those opportunities regularly in her early career, before she could afford an agent to promote her. A grant from Liz Koch through the Koch Cultural Trust was helpful during this stage of her development. It allowed her to travel to pursue audition and apprenticeship opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to her. During one of her auditions, officials from the Houston Grand Opera Company heard her and extended an invitation to participate in its extensive apprenticeship program. In retrospect, this was the turning point in her career. The staff introduced her to roles compatible with her singing and provided extensive coaching that added to the depth and quality of her voice. Soon she was able to hire a quality agency to promote her, and roles began to come to her. World premieres are a measure of a singer’s reputation, and Daniels was invited by Tan Dun to introduce Marco in The Adventures of Marco Polo at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York. She introduced Antigone in Xu QiaoSong’s The Death of Oedipus in Amsterdam, Holland, and the role of Betty in Monticello, an opera written by Glen Paxton, in California. Opera singers also are concert artists, and Daniels excelled in this aspect of her career, singing dozens of oratorios, participating in ensembles, and performing as a soloist. Her Carnegie Hall debut occurred in 1996. This brief article does not permit a comprehensive review of her concert activity, but it was extensive. As Daniels’ professional reputation grew, Crum once reported, “Her voice has become richer and fuller with age. She’s got fire in it.” Although the fire died much too soon, Annette Daniels will continue to hold an esteemed place in opera, as well as here at Wichita State. — James J. Rhatigan, WSU emeritus vice president for student affairs SPRING 2016
LOOK BACK
Found Stories
Bebop and Other Anamnestic Pleasures The late Pete Armstrong ’42 (died 2009) was a printing executive by profession. Back in 1996, he marked 50 years at McCormick-Armstrong Co. Inc., having overseen the operations of the venerable Wichita-based printing firm for many years as chairman and principal owner, as well as serving as chairman and director of three related companies. He had grown up with exposure to the printing industry: His father was the Armstrong of the company’s original partners. In 1997, a congratulatory banner commemorating his half-century at the company still hung among the other anamnestic clutter of his second-floor office. Although retired from full-time involvement with the daily operations of the firm, he still spent hours at work, and I was lucky enough one day to have him talk with me about his career, his days as a University of Wichita student, photography – and bebop. “Here it is,” Armstrong said that day in his office, plucking a record album from a pile of papers and publications stacked on a shelf behind his desk. “It’s the first recording ever made of Charlie Parker, recorded right here in Wichita.” The album cover features a photo of jazz great Parker. Armstrong shot it. It was 1940, with the nation steeling itself for World War II. In Wichita, Armstrong and two of his Alpha Gamma Gamma frat brothers, Bud Gould ’40 (died 2002) and Fred Higginson ’42/46 (died 1991), are digging the fact that one of their favorite bandleaders, Jay McShann, has booked a gig at the Trocadero Ballroom for his group, which includes Parker, the revolutionary alto saxophonist who by 1945 would be one of the biggest names in jazz. “In college,” Gould told me in 1997, “Pete and I were fraternity brothers. I worked at a local radio station (KFBI) – back then they hired live musicians. Fred and Pete organized a jam session with SPRING 2016
Renaissance Woman
Armstrong as WU’s 1941 “Camera King.” Turn to Page 64 to see his photo of Parker.
Jay McShann, who had a Kansas City jazz band. I arranged to use the studio at the station one weekend in November of 1940. Years later the recording came out commercially (in 1974, as Charlie Parker: First Recordings!).” Gould, a music professor who taught at WSU and Northern Arizona, said in 1990 that he was “flabbergasted when I heard Parker. I didn’t understand what he was doing, and I couldn’t believe he was doing it while he was only twenty years old.” Gould played trombone and violin in the sessions. First Recordings! won Parker a Grammy for best jazz performance by a soloist, 19 years after his death. The co-inventor of bebop (along with Dizzy Gillespie) died in NYC at age 34. Although Armstrong didn’t have Gould’s musical ear for all of the intricacies of Parker’s innovations on the alto sax, Gould noted that his friend had “always been a great lover of jazz.” And photography. The photo of Parker fired other recollections for Armstrong that day in 1997 in his office. As he put the album away, he talked about his lifelong interest in photography. He had served as a photographic officer in the U.S. Army Air Force during the war. Then in 1946, he began his career at McCormickArmstrong – as a photographer. — Connie Kachel White T H E
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A native of Kingfisher, Okla., Erna Prather Harris (1908-1995) was one of the few African American women to attend college during the Great Depression — and she chose to attend the University of Wichita. In 1936, Harris became the first black woman to earn a journalism degree from WU. As a student, she wrote for The Sunflower, the first African American to do so. She was also the first African American, the first woman and the first freshman to win a journalism prize at WU. During her senior year, while she was editor, The Sunflower received the Pacemaker Award and was named “best periodical in the country” by the Collegiate Press Association. Despite such achievements, Harris struggled to find work after graduation and decided to take matters into her own hands. “With $20 and a lot of brass,” she published the first edition of her own newspaper, The Kansas Journal. But she was forced to shutter the Journal in 1939 after it lost advertisers because of her editorial stand against the Selective Service Act. By 1941, Harris had moved to California, where she worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Tribune. She supported open immigration laws to aid Jews fleeing Hitler, and she wrote editorials opposing the wartime internment of Japanese Americans. The FBI tapped the newspaper’s phone and opened her mail, but she had her editor’s support. In 1952, she moved to Berkeley, where she ran a print shop for years. Ever an advocate for peace, she joined the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, serving as a delegate to meetings in England, the Netherlands and India. In 1964, she traveled to Moscow as part of a diplomacy mission to build peaceful relations between American and Soviet women. A woman with broad and eclectic interests — she once built a car from scratch — Harris enjoyed concerts and theater, maintained an identity with her African and Native American heritages, and never failed to stand up for her convictions. She was, indeed, a true Renaissance woman. — Jessica Seibel ’08
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SHOCKER NEWS
Scoring Successes Virginia-born Bruce Hornsby, a singer and keyboardist renowned for his live performances over the course of three decades now, played basketball as a student in the 1970s at James Blair High School in Williamsburg. Although he turned to music as his profession of choice, his love of basketball, especially college basketball, never fell away. In fact, in recent years it has grown stronger: his son Keith just finished his senior year as a starting guard for the Louisiana State University Tigers. Gregg Marshall played high school basketball with the Knights of Cave Hill Spring High School, Roanoke, Va., from which he graduated in 1981. He went on to play and then serve as an assistant coach for the Yellow Jackets at RandolphMacon College, a private liberal arts college in Ashland, Va. “Bruce considered playing at Randolph-Macon College
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Grammy Award-winning musician Bruce Hornsby, left, shares a backstage moment with friend and Wichita State Coach Gregg Marshall after Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers’ May 17 performance at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Wichita.
where I played and coached for six years,” Marshall relates. “He has been following my career – knew I had coached at Winthrop because his son had attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville before transferring to LSU.” When Marshall learned of Hornsby’s
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Wichita performance date, he called for fans to “show him a Shocker welcome!” The two men – each of whom is a recognized success in scoring of one sort or the other – got together several times during Hornsby’s Wichita visit. — Connie Kachel White
SPRING 2016
ALUMNI NEWS
From Wichita to Winnipeg Shockers cycle to Canada to raise money for Alzheimer’s disease research
Media cameras and reporters awaited Rick Stephens ’71/86 and Paul Harrison ’71 as they pedaled to the completion of their nearly 960-mile trip from Wichita to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in May. Finishing the nine-day cycling trip was satisfying, but, Stephens and Harrison say, the truly special moments of the trip came when people they encountered along the way asked why two guys in their 60s were undertaking such a challenging feat. The two cyclists – who’ve been friends since elementary school – answered the question by taking the opportunity to talk about a man who has played important roles in both of their lives. They explained, as the purple T-shirts they wore on the trip indicated, that they were on “A Ride for Herb,” a fundraising venture for the Alzheimer’s Association. By mid-June, the pair had raised more than $12,000, surpassing their original goal of $10,000. That includes the $5 from a woman in a Nebraska convenience store, another $5 from a man outside a café in Breckenridge, Min., and the $20 a man in Grand Forks, N.D., gave them when they stopped to ask for directions. The man later donated another $100 online. In 2010, Harrison’s father Herbert “Herb” P. Harrison fs ’50 was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a disease that affects more than 5 million Americans. Looking back, Harrison says, his dad, who played in the tailback position on the University of Wichita’s Raisin Bowl (Jan. 1, 1948) and Camellia Bowl (Dec. 30, 1948) football teams, had shown symptoms well before his diagnosis. He became short with the grandkids, fumbled to find words and argued about unimportant things – the route taken on the annual Harrison SPRING 2016
Paul Harrison ’71, left, and Richard Stephens ’71/86 pedal into Winnipeg, Canada, on May 23. The two Shockers cycled some 1,500 kilometers from their starting point of Wichita. They raised some $12K for Alzheimer’s research. Photo by CBC News Manitoba.
family fly-fishing trip to Colorado, for example. Such behavior was most uncharacteristic of the man who had spent a career successfully managing a pharmacy business and construction sites; raising seven children, alongside his wife, Billy; and giving back to their community by serving on the Andover, Kan., school board, among many other commitments and activities. “He was such a great guy, real salt-ofthe-earth kind of guy,” says Stephens, a retired school administrator who holds degrees in sociology and secondary education from Wichita State. Herb moved to a care facility in 2015 from the Harrison family’s farm and Angus cattle ranch not far from Howard, Kan. The move was made after caring for him became too difficult for his wife. Both are 89. That’s when Stephens suggested doing a bike ride in Herb’s honor. For Stephens, bike riding has become both a therapeutic outlet and a way to raise awareness for causes. He took up cycling when running became too difficult on his joints, hampered by the lingering effects of injuries he suffered in the 1970 plane crash that killed many of his fellow starters on the Shocker football team. Over the past decade, he’s undertaken other long-distance bike rides, a number of them to the site of the plane crash in Colorado for the purpose of raising T H E
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funds for the Memorial ’70 Scholarship Fund at Wichita State – a fund established to provide money for college for those directly affected by the tragedy. “When Rick said he wanted to do this for my dad, I said, ‘I need to go,’” says Harrison, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences at WSU and is a trauma surgeon with Kansas Surgical Consultants in Wichita. The pair have taken trips together over the years – a raft trip down the Yukon River, a trip to Prague to celebrate Stephens and his wife’s anniversary among them – but never a bike trip. Knowing Harrison’s bike had been hanging on a rack in his garage since the 1980s, Stephens offered some friendly advice: “I told him you might want to upgrade,” he says, smiling. Harrison’s brother, C. Reed ’71, who lives in Andover, Kan., and is a veterinarian at a clinic in Rose Hill, had planned to join them on the trip, but was injured in a bike crash prior to the May 15 trip sendoff, which took place at Jabara Airport in northeast Wichita. For Harrison, it meant a lot to do this trip with his childhood friend on behalf of his dad: “It was a physical hardship, but it is nothing compared to what my mom and dad, and other families, are going through with this disease.” — Amy Geiszler-Jones 43
ALUMNI NEWS
Shocker Liaison Having a background in sports representative duties, she serves as an isn’t a requirement for serving as accreditation team site visitor for the Wichita State’s faculty representative American Speech-Language-Hearing to Shocker athletics. And for that, Association, something she has done Julie Scherz ’69/71/89, associate for the past decade. She also sees paprofessor of communication disorders tients with Huntington’s disease once and sciences, is thankful. a month at a Wichita specialty clinic “Klutz is my middle name,” she and is overseeing two student research says. “I took downhill skiing lessons projects based at the clinic, which also when I lived in Minnesota, and I was conducts national clinical trials. so bad they never cashed my check. Before joining the WSU faculty in But I love watching sports.” 1998, Scherz was a speech pathologist What the position does require is in Minnesota and Indiana, and had the willingness to step been a clinical teach“Our Shocker up and work to ensure ing assistant and clinithat WSU’s studentcal supervisor at WSU student-athletes athletes have the right 1984-89. Over work very hard to from tools to have the best the years, she’s done represent us well.” in-service training college experience possible. It helps to have for area professionals, a deep love and sense of pride for was department graduate coordinator, Wichita State, which Scherz does – helped write curriculum, judged WSU so much so that she has repeatedly scholarship competitions and more. returned to WSU to earn three degrees While serving on the Faculty Senate, and to work over the past five decades. she was the senate’s representative to Three years ago, she took on an imthe InterCollegiate Athletic Associaportant new role when WSU President tion Board, an experience that led John Bardo appointed her as liaison to her appointment as WSU’s faculty between academics and athletics. representative to Shocker athletics. Initially, she agreed to a three-year In this position, Scherz signs off on term, because she had plans of retiring eligibility requirements of the 300 or this year. Those plans changed when so Shocker student-athletes, verifies she agreed to a three-year term as chair grade point averages, approves medical of the communication disorders and hardship requests and investigates sciences department – second largest alleged violations and grievances. Twice in the College of Health Professions – a year, she meets with faculty represenin 2015. Now, she plans to continue tatives from schools in the Missouri as both the faculty representative and Valley Conference. “I’m an outside department chair until her new retire- set of eyes looking at the process and ment date in 2018. following through on student-athlete For Scherz, being a faculty memwelfare issues,” she explains. ber means far more than teaching, Her tenure has come with many conducting research and advising ups and a few downs, Sherz reports. students. It means serving on comOn the down side, she was called to mittees and endeavors that help shape help look into two controversies; one an academic institution and contribinvolved NCAA violations of allowing ute to one’s profession. Even now baseball players to receive discounts while juggling her full-time departfor Under Armour apparel, and the ment leadership and athletics faculty other was an investigation into com44
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Julie Scherz ’69/71/89 is in her second three-year term as Wichita State’s faculty representative to Shocker athletics.
plaints from women’s basketball players against the coaching staff about their treatment. “By and large, we have a good athletics program here,” she emphasizes. She likes to focus on the positive experiences. She has gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of NCAA regulations – and of how hard the athletics staff works to ensure it runs a quality program. The best part of her role as a liaison, she says, is getting to know the student-athletes. “Most of them are really good students, doing well in the classroom and doing lots of community outreach,” she says. “I don’t think people appreciate the pressure on these kids to represent the university, and they do it with such grace.” As a WSU alumna, she’s proud to see her college teams doing well, winning conference titles and getting national recognition. She’s also proud to have a role in looking out for WSU’s studentathletes. “I feel so privileged to have gotten my education and to finish my career at this university,” she says. “I’m blessed to have a meaningful career, and I’m grateful for my education and the opportunity to give back.” — Amy Geiszler-Jones SPRING 2016
SPORTS
Three of Wichita State’s seniors, from left above, Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker and Evan Wessel lead the Shockers in setting up fierce defensive play that keeps the Arizona Wildcats well at bay for a 65-55 NCAA tournament Round of 64 win March 17 in Providence, R.I.
As Good As It Gets SPRING 2016
There’s no question the 2015-16 Wichita State Shockers wielded the talent and the experience to be one of the best teams in the country. The senior backcourt duo of Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker was as good as it gets, and the coaching staff had added the depth that was needed from last season. Nearly everyone – players, coaches, fans – was looking for the team to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. The Shockers started off the season with a No. 10 national ranking, but because of T H E
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injuries to key players, the team struggled out of the gate and finished their opening non-conference play with five losses and only one big win, against the Utah Utes. With Shocker heart and grit, they were climbing their way back into national rankings with a string of wins in Missouri Valley Conference play when losses to Illinois State (53-58 on Feb. 6) and Northern Iowa (50-53 on Feb. 13) put Wichita State in a perilous position: a team capable of a Final Four run, but on the verge of 45
SPORTS
The excitement level is high for Shocker players, from left, Evan Wessel, Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker and Anton Grady, as well as for Shocker fans, including Maggie Marshall, at center in the photo just below, as WSU makes its run in the NCAA tournament.
not making the NCAA tournament. Another loss to the UNI Panthers (52-57 OT on March 5) in the MVC tournament semifinals only compounded the danger for the 24-8 Shockers, and heightened the debate on the relative importance of using KenPom’s statistical data in choosing teams on Selection Sunday. Wichita State, according to KenPom, was always a top 20 team, despite its “bad losses” and having only the 107th hardest schedule in the nation.
The Most Dangerous Team in the Tournament The Shockers won out and were selected as an 11 seed for the tournament, but were charged with winning a South Region First Four play-in game against Vanderbilt to reach the First Round – which they did handily, dismantling the Commodores, 70-50, on March 15 in Dayton, Ohio. This was no surprise, not to Shocker fans and not when counting Wichita State’s tournament experience. The Shockers had three starters and nine players returning from last year’s Sweet Sixteen run, including VanVleet and Baker who were making their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Coach Gregg Marshall had 12 NCAA tournament appearances to his 46
credit, his fifth straight as a Shocker. With the win, the Shockers advanced to face the sixth-seeded Arizona Wildcats in a Round of 64 game on March 17 in Providence, R.I. Before the contest, Arizona Coach Sean Miller said, “We’re in for one heck of a battle. I don’t really care the seed, what we are, what they are. You come to this tournament expecting to play against some terrific teams, and we know Wichita State is that.” Miller knew what he was talking about. The Shockers took down the Wildcats, 65-55, but it wasn’t ever that close. From T H E
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the start, the Shocker defense was stifling. After VanVleet and Baker both dove on the floor for the ball on Arizona’s end of the court after only a minute of play, Miller, sensing trouble, called a timeout. “That was kind of a statement from the go that we were going to start the game playing hard,” Baker said after the game. Up next: the Miami Hurricanes. The opening 10 minutes of the March 19 Round of 32 game seemed a surreal antithesis to the Shockers’ tough starting play against the Wildcats only two days past. The Shockers entered the game SPRING 2016
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B R I E F S
Playing their last games in Shocker jerseys are seniors Ron Baker, wearing No. 31, above; Anton Grady, No. 15; Fred VanVleet, No. 23; Tom Wamukota, No. 21; Evan Wessel, No. 3.
averaging 9.7 turnovers per game, seventh fewest in the nation – and had 10 turnovers in the first half. The third-seeded Canes stormed out to a 21-point lead and went into the locker room at halftime ahead 32-19. But Wichita State never caved and battled back with a gutsy, 22-4 spurt in the second half. A steal and slam by Shaquille Morris pulled the Shockers to within a basket, and just over a minute later, Baker hit a 3 with 10:25 left to give WSU a one-point lead. It was vintage PLAY ANGRY play. At the 2:59 mark, WSU was threatening upset, down by four, 51-55. Miami, though, refused to lose, and the Shockers went down fighting, 65-57. Wichita State had been allowing 58.9 points per game to lead the nation, and they ranked fifth in field goal percentage defense (38.3). Miami shot 60 percent in the first half and 55.3 percent for the game.
The Greatest Fans in the Nation Nearly 400 intrepid Wichita State fans braved cold weather and a late-night arrival to welcome their team home to Koch Arena. They waved signs and jostled for the best position to see and cheer for the Shockers as they exited the arriving bus from the airport. Tired as they were, players and coaches made time for their fans, stopping for photos and to sign autographs. And they took to social media to thank “the greatest fans in the nation”: SPRING 2016
Shockers Net No. 26 in Top 25 — What? The Wichita State Shockers have nabbed the No. 26 ranking in CBS’s “ridiculously early” Top 25 for the 2016-17 season — a ranking spot CBS added just for WSU. CBS released its more or less for-funonly rankings the day after the NCAA tournament championship game, which was played in Houston on April 4 with Villanova defeating Duke. Here’s the blurb on the Shockers that accompanied the ranking: “This is basically a #InGreggMarshallWeTrust ranking. In other words, we’re just going to assume Wichita State will be good again because, you know, Wichita State will probably be good again.”
Shockers Garner MVC Hoops Honors
Looking ahead, the 2016-17 Shockers will take on some new home-and-home games, including contests with OSU and OU.
Baker posted, “Wow, what a blessing every one of you has been to me!” And from VanVleet: “I want to thank Shocker Nation from the bottom of my heart. What a ride!” After that last game of the season for the Shockers, Shocker fan Rick DeMoss related, “Sad day, but we know the kind of program Coach Marshall has built, and I see nothing but good in our future.” — Connie Kachel White T H E
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Wichita State was well represented with players named to Missouri Valley Conference top honors at the awards presentation during the MVC tourney in St. Louis this March. Shocker senior Fred VanVleet, center in the photo above, highlighted the MVC awards ceremony as the 2016 Larry Bird Player of the Year. He is one of only nine players in conference history to win the Larry Bird Trophy twice, having also won in 2014. He finished third in 2015 balloting. VanVleet and fellow senior Ron Baker, above at left, were both named to the MVC’s all-conference First Team, as well as to the All-Defensive Team. Baker finished third in balloting for the Larry Bird award this season. Markis McDuffie, above at right, was recognized as the league’s Freshman of the Year, and he and Anton Grady made the MVC All-Newcomer Team. — WSU Sports Information 47
SPORTS
New Roles for Kemnitz Wichita State baseball pitching coach Brent Kemnitz, who has been on the Shocker staff since 1979, has stepped down from his coaching position and taken up new assignments within the athletics department. “I came here at the age of 21 years old,” Kemnitz says. “Gene Stephenson gave me an opportunity to be the pitching coach, and I feel honored to have worked with the best college baseball coach in the history of college baseball. He gave me total freedom, and I can’t thank him enough. I’m excited for the future of Shocker baseball with Todd Butler – and that I was able to bridge the gap between head coaches. I look forward to working with the athletics program in new ways.” During Kemnitz’s 38-year tenure, Wichita State won the 1989 National Championship, made seven College World Series appearances, won 20 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season titles, 17 MVC tournament titles and
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produced 20 AllAmerica pitchers. Under Kemnitz, nine pitchers have been first round draftees: Bryan Oelkers (1982), Erik Sonberg (1983), Tyler Green (1991), Darren Dreifort (1993), Mike Drumright Brent Kemnitz stepped down from his position as pitching coach, and is taking up new duties in WSU’s athletics department. (1995), Braden Looper (1996), Ben Christensen (1999), Mike Pelfrey (2005) Wichita State,” says Darron Boatright, interim AD. “He has helped build one of and Kris Johnson (2006). the finest baseball programs in America. “Brent has been a Shocker for almost We look forward to continuing our four decades and has made an impact working relationship with Brent, who not only at Wichita State, but in the will be taking up new roles in developstate of Kansas and all across college ment and as a professional staff mentor.” baseball,” Coach Todd Butler says. Wichita State has begun a national “We are thankful for everything he search to name the next Shocker has given to the program.” pitching coach. “We are very appreciative of the 38 — WSU Sports Information years that Brent has been a coach at
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B R I E F S
To Be or Not to Be: Shocker Football
The Wichita State softball team, led by coach Kristi Bredbenner, posted the program’s first ever NCAA Regional win with a victory over the Tulsa Hurricane.
The Shockers Make School History The Wichita State softball team wrapped up a successful 2016 season this May with an NCAA tournament appearance, the third in program history. The team’s previous appearances came in 1989 and 2005. This time around, the Shockers traveled to Norman, Okla., for NCAA Regional battles with Oklahoma, Tulsa and Ole Miss. The Shockers lost to Oklahoma and Ole Miss, but beat Tulsa for the first NCAA Regional win in school history. The Shockers won the regular-season title and the MVC tournament title in the same year for the first time in head coach Kristi Bredbenner’s five-season tenure. This was the team’s second regular-season title in three years and second conference tournament championship all-time. The team finished the regular season by winning 12 of its last 13 games, with the 12-game winning streak being the second longest in school history. Each starter hit over .300 on the season, which contributed to a team batting average of .311. Wichita State finished the regular season with a record of 33-19, going 18-6 in the MVC. The team’s overall record stood at 36-21 following post-season play. Individually, Cacy Williams and SPRING 2016
Macklin Hitz were honored by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, with Williams being named to the NFCA Division I All-Midwest Region first team and Hitz to the second team. Williams finished the regular season with a batting average of .362. She collected a team-high 55 hits, while also leading the Shockers in home runs (14) and RBI (48). In three seasons, she has set the career home run record with 39 and the career RBI record with 133. She was also named to the MVC First Team and chosen as MVC Player of the Year. Hitz was also a big contributor to the Shockers’ offense, finishing the regular season with a team-high batting average of .378. She played in 50 of the team’s 52 games and collected nine doubles, 10 home runs and 44 RBI. She had 12 multiple-hit games and a hitting streak of eight games. Additionally, Paige Luellen set the Shocker record for walks in a season with 43. Joining Williams and Hitz on the All-MVC first team were Liz Broyles and Brittany Fortner. Joining Luellen on the second team were Jenni Brooks and Mackenzie Wright. Wright was also named to the All-MVC Defensive Team. — WSU Sports Information T H E
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WSU President John Bardo and other university officials embarked late last year on a comprehensive review of Wichita State athletics. The two issues out of the review making the most headlines are conference membership — and the possibility of bringing back football. As issues are researched and the review compiled, President Bardo has sparked much conversation with his public unveiling of a “sample” Shocker football helmet, shown above. Were football to be restarted, Bardo says, Wichita State could play at either the Football Bowl Subdivision (the highest level) or the Football Championship level (the second-highest).
WSU Claims MVC’s All-Sports Trophy Wichita State is the 2015-16 Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Champion, marking the fourth-straight season the Shockers have claimed the league’s All-Sports crown. In addition, the title is the 10th in the past 13 years for Wichita State, which has a league best 22 all-time. Wichita State set a record with nine team titles, and the Shockers finished in the Top 3 in 13 of the 15 sports sponsored. WSU claimed league championships in volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s golf, men’s indoor track and field, softball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis. Despite Wichita State’s championship dominance, eight different institutions won at least one league title this year. Southern Illinois claimed three team titles, and Bradley had two. Counting Wichita State this year, only five times since 1992-93 (merger of MVC men’s and women’s sports) has an institution had more than five team titles. Fueled by its three titles and four secondplace finishes, Southern Illinois finished second in the all-sports trophy race for the second-straight year. After missing the Top 5 in standings for the first time in three decades last year, Illininois State got back into the Top 3. Missouri State and UNI finished next best in the standings. — The Valley: MVC News 49
CLASS NOTES
A First at Boeing An observation often attributed to Winston Churchill – “Success is never final, failure is never fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts.” – is a favorite of Leanne M. (Guyette) Caret ’90. “Those words really resonate with me because a career truly is a journey,” she says. “There will always be ups and downs, but throughout my professional life I have found that, with the right mindset and the support of great people, you can achieve anything you want.” Caret, who began working at Boeing in 1988, certainly has achieved professional success. This February, she was named president and CEO of the aviation company’s $30 billion St. Louisbased Defense, Space & Security (BDS) business. A member of Boeing’s executive council, she is the first woman to lead BDS. “Part of what I appreciate most about my path in Boeing is the variety of jobs I’ve had, and one thing I have learned is that you’re never completely ready for the next assignment,” says Caret. “That’s a good thing. It’s only by stepping outside your comfort zone that you learn new things, and I think that makes for a better leader.” Given this philosophy, Caret no doubt will continue to be successful within the company. “Boeing turns 100 in July,” she notes. “When I look back on how the men and women of this company changed the world, I am humbled and inspired to have the responsibility of helping take the organization into its second century.” — Jessica Seibel ’08 50
Comings, goings, appointments, retirements, honors, accolades and other personal alumni news. Former students are designated by fs. Honorary alumni are noted as hn. Wichita State University Alumni Association members are identified by an asterisk (*). Membership dues support alumni publications, as well as other programs and services that support higher education at Wichita State. A. Lyle Dilley ’48, MUS ED, ’57 M MUS ED, received the 2015 Distinguished Service Award from Fort Hays State University, where he was a professor of music from 1961-1989. He lives in Hays, Kan.* Robert “Bob” G. Newby ’61, MUS ED, writes a bi-weekly column for the Morning Sun newspaper in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. A professor emeritus of sociology, anthropology and social work at Central Michigan University and a member of the Isabella County Human Rights Committee, he resides in Mt. Pleasant.* James F. Miesner ’68, M GEO, is post adjutant for American Legion Post No. 70 in Oberlin, Kan. A retired geologist, he is a Navy veteran. Jeffrey C. Sandefur ’68, M ADM, has retired from his position as senior vice president of marketing for the Armed Forces Benefit Association, which is underwritten by 5Star Life Insurance Co. Prior to joining AFBA, Sandefur served in the Air Force, spending 10 years as a pilot and 10 years at the Pentagon before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He lives in Alexandria, Va. Gary D. Wilson ’68, M ENG, is the author of Getting Right. The novel is a three-part family saga about a dying sister, her brother and a third sibling/narrator, who spins a story of all their lives through memory and imagination. Wilson, who teaches novel and short story writing at the University of Chicago, published his first novel, Sing, Ronnie Blue, in 2007. He resides in Chicago, Ill. James “Jay” D. Cooper ’70, ACCT, has been reappointed to a second four-year term on the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, whose mission is to resolve disputes between taxpayers and taxing authorities, and to help maintain public confidence in the state and local tax system. Members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. Prior to serving on the Board of Tax Appeals, Cooper, a CPA, was a partner with Kirkpatrick, Sprecker & Co. in Wichita, where he lives.* Linda K. Hughes ’70, ENG L/LIT is Addie Levy professor of literature at Texas Christian University. Hughes, who focuses on British literature, lives in Duncanville, Texas. Brent A. Langley ’70, BIO, was a guest artist this past October at Gallery 1001 in Winfield, Kan. A wildlife artist, he lives in Edwardsville, Ill. Stanley “Stan” J. Reimer ’70, M MUS ED, earlier this year displayed some of his work in the exhibition “50 Years of Photography” at Bethel College in North Newton, Kan. He is executive director of the Vernon Filley Art Museum in Pratt, Kan., where he lives.
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Tom R. Frye ’71, SPEECH ED, ’84 M COMM, in January portrayed writer Truman Capote in Tru, a one-man show by Jay Presson Allen, during performances in Sedona, Ariz., and McPherson, Kan. He lives in Wichita. Donald E. Fisk ’72, HIST, is vice president of the Fort Phil Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association, which raises awareness of the military and Native American history of the Bozeman Trail region in Montana and Wyoming. He lives in Sheridan, Wyo. Warrick M. Graves ’72, HIST, is business development officer for the National Social Security Advisors program, which educates professional advisors on ways to help clients maximize their benefits. He lives in Overland Park, Kan. Kim R. Cocklin ’73, AJ/PSYCH, ’75 M AJ, is CEO of Atmos Energy Corp., a natural gas distributor in Dallas, Texas, where he lives. Catherine L. (Oak) Erbert ’73, PSYCH, owns Integrated Services and Supplies Inc., a computer services firm. She resides in Wichita.* Rick R. Deines ’74, M CDS, received the 2015 Audiologist of the Year award from the Kansas Speech, Language and Hearing Association. An audiologist at Northwest Kansas Hearing Service, he lives in WaKeeney, Kan. Margaret “Maggi” A. (McKinney) Pritchard ’74, EL ED, is a real estate agent in Parker, Colo., where she lives. Catherine E. (Parkhurst) Edwards ’75, ART HIST, has been selected as the 2016 Outstanding Member of the Year for the Newton, Kan., area’s branch of the American Association of University Women. Edwards is co-owner of Curves for Women, a fitness club in Newton, where she lives. Marcus C. Rowland ’75, ACCT, serves on the board of directors for Mitcham Industries Inc., a geophysical equipment supplier. A founding partner and managing director of IOG Capital LP, an oil and gas investment company, he resides in Dallas, Texas.* Dennis W. Bergin ’76, MUS P, ’79 M MUS P, is an organist for the First United Presbyterian Church of Belleville, Ill. He lives in Webster Groves, Mo. Katherine “Kathi” R. (Phillips) Fischer ’76, M MUS ED, teaches band to students in grades 5-8 at St. Mark’s School in Colwich, Kan. Kirk D. Doll ’77, PE, is special teams coordinator for Florida International University’s football team. Prior to his position at the Miami, Fla., school, he spent time on the gridiron sidelines at Wichita State, East Carolina, Texas A&M, Tulsa, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Louisiana State and San Jose State. He also spent 20042006 with the NFL’s Denver Broncos. Julie A. (Schreiner) Pennock ’78, NURS, was named Clinical Nurse of the Semester by the Fort Scott Student Nursing Organization during Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College’s December pinning ceremony. An RN at Mercy Hospital Fort Scott, she lives in Nevada, Mo.
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CLASS NOTES Ravi K. Bajaj ’79, BIO, an interventional cardiologist at Heartland Cardiology – the Wichita practice he co-founded – has begun a cardiology outreach clinic at the McPherson (Kan.) Hospital. He lives in Wichita. Brenda J. (Haught) Jones ’79, ART ED, ’88 M ART ED, displayed some of her art in the exhibition “Conversations and Story Lines” from Nov. 14-Jan. 9 at the Carriage Factory Gallery in Newton, Kan. She teaches ceramics and special needs art at Chatfield High School in Littleton, Colo., and lives in Evergreen, Colo. Suzanne L. Shields ’79, M MUS P, ’83 IE, is an industrial engineer at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, where she lives. John M. Dawes ’80, HC ADM, was awarded the Missouri Hospital Association’s 2015 Visionary Leadership Award. Dawes, CEO of Moberly (Mo.) Regional Medical Center, previously served as CEO of Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, Mo.* Joyce A. (Nachtigall) Heisey ’80, NURS, is director of quality control at Masonic Village, a retirement living facility in Elizabethtown, Pa., where she lives. Bret A. Plumer ’80, POL SCI, is vice president of sales and marketing at Lancer Corp., which sells beverage dispensers. He lives in Garden Ridge, Texas.* Randolph “Randy” P. Johnston ’81, M COMP SCI, was selected by Accounting Today as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People” in accounting. Founder and CEO of Network Management Group Inc. and executive vice president of K2 Enterprises, he resides in Hutchinson, Kan. Mary G. Taves ’82, POL SCI, is officer-incharge of the National Labor Relations Board’s office in Overland Park, Kan., where she assists enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and several counties in Iowa and Illinois. She lives in Kansas City, Mo. Bryan C. Ware ’82, MATH, previously senior vice president and chief actuary, is now executive vice president and chief actuary at Employers Holdings Inc., a specialty workers’ compensation insurance carrier. He resides in Reno, Nev.* For more about him and his family full of Shockers, visit theshockermagazine.com and search for “It All Adds Up.” Ray B. Wills ’82, SPEECH, portrayed former U.S. President Harry Truman in Give ’Em Hell, Harry!, a one-man show by Samuel Gallu, during performances in Sedona, Ariz., and McPherson, Kan. A veteran actor of Broadway, TV and film, Wills lives in Wichita. Jane A. Deterding ’83, FIN, serves on the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, the panel that enforces the state’s ethics and campaign finance laws. Executive vice president/general counsel at Citizens Bank of Kansas in Wichita and chair of its board of directors, she is a former WSU Alumni Association board member and active university supporter who resides in Colwich, Kan.*
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E. Katherine “Katy” (Lake) Lefler ’83, BIO, ’98 M CI, is an 8th grade physical science teacher at Riverside Middle School in Billings, Mont., where she lives.
A Gypsy Life
Kevin D. Royse ’83, AJ, ’89 M AJ, is the fire chief in Salina, Kan. Royse, who previously held the same position in Junction City, Kan., has nearly 29 years of fire service experience. Kelly L. Russell ’83, EL ED, is a mortgage loan officer at Mid American Credit Union. She lives in Derby, Kan. Martin J. Childs ’84, ACCT, ’91 M P ACCT, owner of Martin J. Childs, CPA, specializes in income tax compliance, commercial real estate and oil and gas exploration and production. He lives in Colwich, Kan.* Robert “Bob” D. Lutz ’84, GEN ST, was named 2015 Sportswriter of the Year in Kansas by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. A sports columnist for the Wichita Eagle, he lives in Wichita. For more about Lutz and his involvement with League 42, a nonprofit baseball league that teaches baseball to children who might not otherwise have access to the sport, visit theshockermagazine.com to read “League 42: Shockers Deep.” Daniel “Dan” E. Skinner ’84, GEN ST, is director of Kansas Public Radio and the AudioReader Network, a reading service for the blind and print-disabled. He previously served as executive director and general manager of WKSU’s classical music and public broadcasting network, which is affiliated with Kent State University in Ohio. He lives in Lawrence, Kan. Gary R. Whiting ’84, PA, is a physician assistant at Midwest Occupational Medicine, a clinic affiliated with the Newton (Kan.) Medical Center. He lives in Park City, Kan. Jim L. Sachs ’86, MKT, ’89 M PE, is director of ticketing for INTRUST Bank Arena. He resides in Wichita. Timothy D. Unruh ’87, EL E, ’88 M EL E, ’92 PHD EL E, is director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. He lives in Burke, Va.* Holly A. Dyer ’88, JOURN, a partner at Foulston Siefkin LLP, has been elected to the American Law Institute, a national organization that produces scholarly work to clarify, modernize and otherwise improve the law. A member of the WSUAA’s board of directors, she resides in Wichita.* K. Rene (Forslund) Hines ’88, DANCE, operates R&S Dance Studios, which offers classes in ballet/pointe, tap and jazz dancing. She lives in Independence, Kan. Stephanie R. Dawkins Davis ’89, HCA, who was a Senior Honor Woman and a member of the Student Government Association while at WSU, has been appointed as United States magistrate judge in Flint, Mich. Davis, who resides in Farmington Hills, Mich., previously served as executive assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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Stephanie Harter Gilmore ’09 spent last year chandelier-swinging across the country as Duchess Estonia Dulworth in the national tour of “Nice Work if You Can Get It.” Now, she’s on the road again as Madame de la Grande Bouche in the touring production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” The national tour began in September 2015 and runs through July 2016. “I’m a small town girl turned part-time New Yorker, full-time gypsy,” says Gilmore, who earned a master’s degree in opera performance from Wichita State. While claiming knitting as her personal sport of choice, she says she’s a big fan of WSU Shocker basketball and Royals baseball.
Beijing Shockers Members of Shocker Nation most certainly aren’t confined to a particular geographic area. They can be found most everywhere around the world. Two such globetrotting Shockers are Ziqiang “Matthew” Liu ’91, and Olivia Sullivan ’15, who represent Wichita State in Beijing, China. Liu, who has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, is Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.’s regional vice president of sales for greater China. Sullivan, who has a bachelor’s degree in political science and is a law student at Loyola University Chicago, will spend the next few months in Beijing as a summer associate at Sheppard Mullin. 51
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Powering Forward Evan Funk ’04 is powering forward in his career in banking. It’s something he’s done before, on a different playing field. This spring, Funk, a business admin grad, became the Wichita market president at Sunflower Bank, a community bank with $1.7 billion in assets based out of Salina, Kan. The bank operates in three states: Colorado, Missouri and Kansas, and has three Wichita locations. In the years since his graduation from Wichita State, Funk has made a number of moves up the ranks of retail banking, from teller to branch manager, and into credit administration. (He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Baker University.) His career tipped off at Fidelity Bank, where he netted a job his last semester at WSU. In 2011, he moved to Legacy Bank, where he helped create a credit department. He then joined Equity Bank as a commercial loan officer, before returning to Fidelity where he was on the bank’s roster as vice president-commercial relationship manager. He landed the position of senior vice president of commercial lending at Sunflower earlier this year – a move that placed him in a perfect position for further career advancement. It’s a career the 6-foot, 5-inch banker almost didn’t choose. Funk played power forward for the Bethany College Swedes for a few years before starting at Wichita State as an education major and serving as a student manager for the Shockers under Mark Turgeon. His game plan was to coach basketball. Banking, though, won out. — Connie Kachel White 52
Kim E. Grant ’89, M PUB ADM, works parttime as director of the Arvada (Colo.) Historical Society and as a consultant to nonprofit organizations. With 35 years of experience working in nonprofits, state government and local government, Grant is a resident of Denver, Colo.
Dental of Kansas. She lives in Wichita.*
J. Douglas Maxwell ’89, ACCT/BUS ADM, is CFO at Mercer Advisors Inc., a comprehensive wealth management services company in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he lives.*
Debra L. Grove Kieffer ’92, ACCT, is a services manager in the tax department at BKD LLP, a CPA and advisory firm in Wichita. She lives in El Dorado, Kan.
William “Bill” A. Schrader ’89, ACCT, is director of contract operations at KETCH, a nonprofit that offers services to those with disabilities. He lives in Andover, Kan. Julia M. (Gabel) Capps ’90, ACCT, ’05 M BUS ADM, is controller at Transitions Group, which manages several separate companies, including Furniture Options, ExecuStay Midwest, and Abode Venue. She lives in Wichita. Wendy A. Williamson ’90, M H SCI, has earned the National Academy of Sports Medicine’s corrective exercise training specialty certification, which allows her to provide corrective exercise for the musculoskeletal system. The owner and president of Williamson Wellness Center, a private fitness studio, she lives in Wichita.* Cecelia “Celia” D. (Lara) Cayless ’91, JOURN, is director of development and alumni relations at the Independent School in Wichita, where she lives. Kathy L. Collmann ’91, NURS, is a registered nurse case manager at Wesley Medical Center. She lives in Wichita.* Shalena K. (Stevens) Hatfield ’91, ACCT, is a CPA and tax manager at accounting firm Larson & Co. PA. She lives in Valley Center, Kan. Tina R. Murano ’91, ART, ’04 M CI, artist, art consultant and founder of Murano Studios in Wichita, was recently commissioned to create a work of art for a wall at Madison Avenue Central Park in Derby, Kan. She lives in Wichita. Phillip D. Barnes ’92, FLD MJR, ’09 M PA, is a physician assistant at the Clara Barton Medical Clinic in Hoisington, Kan. He resides in Hutchinson, Kan.* Christy L. Calvert ’92, MKT, ’97 M COUNS, is director of planning and evaluation at Heartspring, a nonprofit for children with special needs. She lives in Wichita. Joyce A. DiDonato ’92, MUS ED, won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album with “Joyce & Tony – Live at Wigmore Hall.” The album, which features DiDonato and accompanist Sir Antonio Pappano’s 2014-15 Wigmore Hall season-opening recital, highlights works by Haydn and Rossini. This is DiDonato’s second Grammy; she won in the same category in 2012 with “Diva, Divo.” She lives in Kansas City, Mo. Read more about her at theshockermagazine.com. Search for “A Grand Wichita Opera Debut.” Molly E. Edwards ’92, BUS ADM, is vice president of operations at insurance provider Delta
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Brian W. Hinkle ’92, M ART/P, is a professional artist who teaches painting, drawing, portraiture, figure study and enameling at the Wichita Center for the Arts and at the Tessera Fine Art Gallery. He lives in Wichita.
Gordon D. Kuntz ’92, M NURS, a colonel, has retired from the military after serving nine years in the U.S. Army and 30 years in the Kansas Army National Guard. A former commander of the Kansas National Guard Medical Detachment, he lives in Hays, Kan. Donna Shawn ’92, SP ED, received a Leadership Award from the Kansas Council for Workforce Education in recognition of her work to promote technical education. The director of technical education at Kansas City Kansas Community College, she lives in Olathe, Kan. Keenan J. Bender ’93, ECON, is a consumer lending senior manager at INTRUST Bank. He lives in Wichita. David W. Hiltner ’93, ART, is founder and executive director of the Red Lodge Clay Center, which hosts visiting artist workshops, lectures, demonstrations, gallery exhibitions and educational programming. He resides in Red Lodge, Mont. Patricia “Trish” J. (Ronan) Ranson ’93, MUS ED, teaches music at Westwood Elementary School in Stillwater, Okla. A member of the Ponca City (Okla.) Federated Music Club and a dance caller for neighboring communities’ contra dance circles, she lives in Stillwater. Dawn L. (Chambers) Stephens ’93, M PT, was a 2015 inductee into Colby (Kan.) Community College’s Alumni Hall of Fame. As a member of Colby’s basketball team from 1986-1988, she set school records in career points, assists and steals. A physical therapist at Northwest Kansas Physical Therapy, she resides in Stockton, Kan. Angela Y. (Cowan) Cato ’94, JOURN, is marketing manager at Envision Inc., a nonprofit that provides resources and advocacy for people who are blind or have low vision. She lives in Wichita. Tracy M. (Cochran) Pharis ’94, ACCT, who lives in Highlands Ranch, Colo., is an audit partner at Hein & Associates LLP in Denver. Shanna L. (Huck) Rector ’94, SEC ED, ’00 M CI, is executive director of administrative student support services for public schools in Salina, Kan. She lives in Abilene, Kan. Jeffrey S. Bishop ’95, M MUS P, is a music teacher and head of the fine arts department at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. He lives in Kansas City, Kan. Michelle S. (Roberts) Eaton ’95, PA, is an assistant teaching professor in the Masters of Medical Science physician assistant program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She
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CLASS NOTES lives in Olathe, Kan. Kristine J. (Strifler) Maugans ’95, HR MGT, is human resources manager at Leading Technology Composites, which manufactures and designs composites for aerospace and defense clients. She lives in Wichita.*
is the human resources manager at West Wichita Family Physicians PA. She resides in Andover, Kan.* Ryan W. Tandy ’97, MKT, is a group consultant at insurance provider Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. He lives in Wichita.
R. Lance Niles ’95, MKT, is president of the Stock Exchange Bank in Arkansas City, Kan., where he lives.
Jake J. Weeks ’97, EX SCI, is a financial services representative at Yoder Financial Group. He lives in Wichita.
D. Randall “Randy” Eaton ’96, PA, is a physician assistant for Olathe Medical Services Inc. He lives in Olathe, Kan.
Michael “Mike” J. Campbell ’98, M BUS ADM, is CFO at Gulf Oil LP, a terminal operator and wholesaler of refined petroleum products headquartered in Framingham, Mass.
Brian K. Johnson ’96, ACCT, ’96 M P ACCT, has achieved Certified Information Systems Auditor status from ISACA, a nonprofit that engages in the development, adoption and use of best practices for information systems. The senior vice president for technology and administration at CPA and advisory firm Allen, Gibbs & Houlik LC, he lives in Wichita.* Marcos “Marc” A. Medeiros ’96, M EL E, is director of sales at the Wichita office of MidContinent Instruments and Avionics, which serves commercial, corporate, general aviation, and military customers around the world. Shannon K. (Henricks) Monson ’96, ART HIST, teaches art at Haven (Kan.) Grade School. She lives in Cheney, Kan. Clay W. Nickel ’96, MKT, is vice president, portfolio manager and director of investment strategy at Arvest Asset Management. He lives in Olathe, Kan. Jay L. Pearson ’96, M AEROS E, is a customer care manager at aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Learjet. He lives in Wichita.* Karen R. (Hotopp) Wawrzaszek ’96, BUS ADM, is a managing director and senior advisor at Rockefeller & Co. Inc., a global wealth and investment management firm. Wawrzaszek works in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Jeffrey “Jeff” S. Andrews ’97, COMP SCI, is chief technology officer at GT Software, which offers information technology services. He resides in Alpharetta, Ga. Jill L. (Fritzemeyer) Bajaj ’97, M BUS ADM, ’15 EL ED, was honored by Wichita public schools with the 2016 Distinguished Classroom Teacher Award in the new secondary teacher category. A fifth grade math teacher at Robinson Middle School, she lives in Wichita. Jack C. Boucher ’97, M BUS ADM, controller at Central Air Conditioning Co., lives in Wichita. Mary E. Singleton ’97, M NURS, is senior director of rehabilitation services at Envision Inc., a nonprofit that provides resources and advocacy for people who are blind or low vision. She lives in Wichita. Stephanie M. (Baker) Stover ’97, MKT, is a brand manager at Greteman Group, an aviation marketing, advertising and public relations firm in Wichita, where she lives. Sally A. (Hamilton) Sullivan ’97, HR MGT,
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Definitely Someday
Rosanne L. (Leiszler) Rutkowski ’98, M PUB H, has joined Kansas Healthcare Collaborative as program director to provide leadership and execution of the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative and Practice Transformation Network in Kansas. She is responsible for planning and implementing KHC’s work with primary and specialty practices to help prepare them for the change from fee for service-based payment to one that is performance-based. She resides in Berryton, Kan. David H. Shonka ’98, HSOP, is a Textron Aviation regional sales director. He lives in Wichita.* Fe C. (Jacobs) Vorderlandwehr ’98, COMM, is executive director of the Central and Western Kansas office of the Alzheimer’s Association. She lives in Wichita. Anne L. (Anderton) Warren ’98, SOC, ’00 M PUB ADM, human resources director at Speedy Group Holdings, which provides short-term loans and financial services, lives in Wichita. Bonnie K. Welty ’98, M PE, is principal at Lakewood Middle School in Salina, Kan. She has been an educator for 27 years, most recently serving as principal at Trailridge Middle School in Shawnee Mission, Kan. She has also served as associate principal, health/physical education teacher and coach. Greg A. Drumright ’99, SOC, is an attorney and partner at Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace & Bauer LLP. He lives in Wichita.* Jeremy J. Pauly ’99, NURS, is emergency room director for Wesley Healthcare’s EmergencyCare Network. He lives in Clearwater, Kan. Erika J. (Kitzel) Saffer ’99, M PT, is director of the physical, occupational and speech therapy department at Lincoln Community Hospital in Hugo, Colo. She lives in Arriba, Colo. Barbara A. Stewart ’99, M ENG CR, has written What We Knew, a suspenseful novel for young adult readers. She lives in Delhi, N.Y. Angela A. Tumwa ’99, ACCT, ’99 M P ACCT, is a senior manager at public accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP. She resides in Portsmouth, Va. Wendy K. (Hook) Veatch ’99, HSOP, is vice president of business development at Equity Bank. Previously the director of outreach programming for WSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship, she lives in Wichita.
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Shannon Watson ’04, a political and organizational specialist who has been active in Minnesota politics for years, runs an unusual business: Definitely Someday, a greater Minneapolis-St.Paul area firm that helps people interested in political office plan for a future campaign. “There are a lot of organizations that teach cadidates how to fundraise and how to doorknock,” Watson says, “but I couldn’t find anybody focusing on the personal preparation — the stuff you can’t ‘fix’ while you’re campaigning — so I started Definitely Someday.” Definitely Someday began operations in June 2015.
Shockers Got Talent It’s been said that it takes one to know one. In the case of Roy Moye III ’15, a structural design engineer at Spirit AeroSystems, and Justin Hall ’14, director of music ministry at Holy Savior Catholic Church, it could be said that it takes a talented Shocker to judge a talented Shocker. Moye and Hall, both former contestants in the annual Shockers Got Talent competition held during Homecoming — Moye won and Hall placed third in 2014 — served as judges for this year’s contest. Had the judges been scored, the two would have garnered perfect 10s for their advice. BTW, Moye showed off his Shocker talent at Wichita State Day at the K on May 28. He sang the National Anthem at the KC Royals vs. Chicago White Sox game, a game Kansas City won, 8-7, in a true Shocker of a finish. 53
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American Prizes Daniel “Dan” E. Whisler ’09 enjoys conducting high school musicians. It’s something he has enjoyed since he was a high school student himself, in fact. “I first took conducting lessons when I was still in high school,” he says. “I lived in Satanta, a small town in the southwest corner of Kansas, and when the band teacher was absent, I was able to conduct the high school and junior high bands.” Now the director of orchestras at the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) in Louisville, Ky., he and his students have been recognized for their outstanding performances. Whisler was awarded the first place American Prize in Conducting: High School Orchestra Division 2015, while YPAS’s Philharmonia won the third place American Prize in Orchestral Performance 2015. The American Prize is a series of national competitions that recognize and reward the very best in the performing arts in the United States. Whisler appreciates the effort his students put forth in pursuit of being the best. “I like working with those students in my orchestra, music theory, and conducting classes, because they are absolutely music nerds, just like me,” he says. “They also can play pretty well and take their craft seriously, so it’s artistically rewarding to challenge the students in what is essentially a collegiate-level environment.” As for his own experiences at the collegiate level, Whisler couldn’t be more pleased. “Virtually every one of the music staff made a difference,” he says. “Their influence stays with me to this day. Wichita State is a special place.” — Jessica Seibel ’08 54
Weylin T. Watson ’99, ENTRE, is an associate at Gilmore & Bell PC, a public finance law firm. He lives in Overland Park, Kan.
Aaron D. Bushell ’03, MKT, ’07 M BUS ADM, is vice president of commercial lending at Equity Bank in Wichita, where he lives.
Bradley “Brad” J. Anderson ’00, GEN ST/ COMM, is a risk management and employee benefits strategist at IMA Financial Group Inc. He lives in Andover, Kan.*
Kelly A. Kendall ’03, BUS ADM, is an accounting assistant at Fugate Enterprises, which provides real estate, management, accounting, and administrative services to Pizza Hut and Taco Bell franchise restaurants. She lives in Wichita.*
Shari D. (Stephens) Burckhardt ’00, JOURN, has written “Into the West: The Orphan Train,” the first novella installment for a forthcoming book titled Into the West. The book is being written as a serial collection comprised of several novellas. Writing under the pen name Stephen Burckhardt, she lives in Düsseldorf, Germany. Michael Tran ’00, FIN, ’02 COMP SCI, is a senior underwriter at insurance provider Delta Dental of Kansas. He resides in Wichita. Mark “Marcus” A. Wilkerson ’00, COMM, is director of sales for television stations FOX31 Denver and Colorado’s Own Channel 2. He previously served as director of sales for Wichita’s CBS, CW and Univision affiliates. Christina R. Denslow ’01, PSYCH, is office manager at EMPAC Inc., which offers employee assistance services. She lives in Wichita. Kathryn “Katie” S. Banks-Todd ’02, MUS P, owns KBT Studio of the Performing Arts in El Dorado, Kan., which offers a variety of dance, voice and acting classes for youth and adults. She lives in El Dorado.
Christina M. (Woods) Long ’03, JOURN, is owner and principal consultant at CML Collective LLC, which offers graphic design and communication services. She lives in Wichita.* Kevin J. Mohr ’03, ENTRE, is a financial advisor at ClearPlan Financial Inc. He lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Kristalyn L. (Shinn) Newingham ’03, ACCT, is a certified public accountant at Dunning & Associates in Wichita, where she lives. Rena D. Rodriguez ’03, ENG L/LIT, is director of the Carson Center for Global Education at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan. Marcus B. Townsell ’03, EL E, is an electrical designer at LK Architecture in Wichita. Joshua B. Wigdahl ’03, ENG L/LIT, ’15 M PA, is a physician assistant at Tanglewood Family Medicine in Derby, Kan. He lives in Wichita. Jennifer L. (Brackhahn) Krier ’04, HR MGT, is vice president of human resources at Wesley Healthcare. She lives in Wichita.
Kristina “Kristy” L. (Nunn) Bansemer ’02, M SP ADM, is communications director for the city of Derby, Kan. She lives in Derby.
Brock A. Stuhlsatz ’04, SP ADM, is assistant vice president of lending at Verus Bank. He lives in Derby, Kan.
Angela “Angie” L. Elliott ’02, M SP ADM, is vice president of business services at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce. She lives in Wichita.
Jeffrey “Jeff” L. Walenta ’04, M BUS ADM, is a hospitality and commercial real estate investment advisor at Landmark Commercial Real Estate Inc. He lives in Wichita.
Liane D. Shishnia ’02, M MUS, teaches piano in Kowloon, Hong Kong, where she lives.
Quentin D. Breese ’05, M EAS, is superintendent of schools in Concordia, Kan. He joined the school district in 2011 as the Concordia Junior/Senior High School principal. Prior to that, he spent 10 years as director of bands at Southeast of Saline High School in Gypsum, Kan. He resides in Concordia.
Nicholas A. Stone ’02, I BUS, is a principal at Cyprium Partners, a private investment firm that provides non-control capital to profitable, founder and entrepreneur-owned middle-market companies. He resides in Oak Park, Ill.* Sheree R. (Lowe) Utash ’02, M LIB ST, is president of Wichita Area Technical College. Previously the school’s vice president of academic affairs, she lives in Wichita. Jamilla L. Walcott ’02, M BUS ADM, is director of marketing and product management at YKK AP America Inc., which manufactures entrances, storefronts, window walls, sunshades, windows and sliding doors for office buildings, residential high-rises, schools, stadiums and shopping centers. She lives in Atlanta, Ga. Amanda L. (Schultz) Weinhold ’02, FIN, has been honored as one of three non-uniformed employees of the quarter at Ellsworth Correctional Facility, where she is a mentoring coordinator. She lives in Ellsworth, Kan.* Michael “Mike” E. Welty ’02, M EAS, is the principal at Clearwater (Kan.) Elementary School West. He lives in Wichita.
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Shelly R. Jennings ’05, EL ED, is a second grade teacher at Maize (Kan.) South Elementary School. A 2016 Kansas Teacher of the Year finalist, she lives in Wichita. Peter J. Ninemire ’05, SOC WK, ’06 M SOC WK, is owner and director of Counseling Inc. @ The Caring Center of Wichita, which offers a variety of personalized counseling services. He resides in Wichita. Sarah M. (Parkin) Nuessen ’05, PSYCH, ’07 M PA, is a physician assistant at the Anderson County Hospital Family Care Center in Garnett, Kan. She lives in New Strawn, Kan. Lynn J. Rottinghaus ’05, ACCT, ’07 M ACCT, is a manager for the assurance team at Allen, Gibbs & Houlik LC, a CPA and advisory firm in Wichita, where he lives.* Jaleen D. (Randle) Sims ’05, CHEM, is an OB/ GYN resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss.
SPRING 2016
M A R G I N A L I A
CLASS NOTES Edward “Ed” G. Williamson ’05, BUS ADM, is a senior business process analyst at Textron Aviation. He lives in Wichita.* Stacie M. (Longwell) Williamson ’05, MKT, is director of development at Heartspring, a nonprofit that provides services for children with special needs. She resides in Maize, Kan.
Monica M. Salmeron ’08, COMM, ’10 M COMM, is a brand specialist at Jajo, a branding, advertising and marketing agency in Wichita, where she lives. Danielle R. Schweiger ’08, COMM, is director of advancement at Wichita Area Technical College. She lives in Wichita.
Yonas Abraham ’06, EL E, along with his family, runs the Eritrean & Ethiopian Café, which offers authentic food from his native Africa. He lives in Tulsa, Okla.
John D. Calvin ’09, ANTHRO, is a software developer at Fiduciary Benchmarks Insights LLC, which offers services to professionals in the retirement industry. He lives in Portland, Ore.
Casey “Case” C. Bell ’06, HIST, ’06 PSYCH, ’08 SOC, is Academic Resource Center director and Title IX/ADA coordinator at Newman University in Wichita. He lives in Kechi, Kan.
Aimee L. (Brock) Dierbeck ’09, COMM, is a senior copywriter and content strategist at Zizzo Group, an integrated marketing firm in Milwaukee, Wis., where she lives.
David C. Case ’06, ART, is a self-employed web designer and photographer. He lives in Overland Park, Kan.
John L. Hageman ’09, FIN, is chief financial officer at Montana Federal Credit Union in Great Falls, Mont.
Erika L. Chance ’06, M BUS ADM, a senior brand strategist at marketing and advertising agency Sullivan Higdon & Sink, serves on the board for Fowler State Bank in Meade County, Kan. She lives in Kansas City, Mo.
Shawn B. Katzenmeier ’09, MKT, is a product syndication manager at Wichita-based CybertronPC, which builds and sells custom servers, laptops, notebooks and workstations. He lives in Wichita.
John W. Gray ’06, MUS ED, was chosen as December 2015 teacher of the month for Independence, Kan., public schools. A music instructor at Eisenhower Elementary School, he lives in Independence.
McKena L. (Frenzl) Kissack ’09, DH, is a dental hygienist at Boynton Family Dental Arts. She lives in Andover, Kan.
Austin K. Parker ’06, MUS, is an associate attorney at Fisher, Patterson, Sayler & Smith’s Topeka, Kan., office. In addition to his practice, which focuses on civil litigation defense, he is attorney for the Regional Economic Area Partnership of South Central Kansas, the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the National Aviation Grant Consortium and the cities of Andale, Augusta, Clearwater and Viola. Heather L. (Barrall) Van Kampen ’06, ACCT, is an accountant at Larson & Company PA, an accounting firm in Wichita, where she lives. Michelle L. (Ortiz) Arbuckle ’07, ACCT, ’09 M BUS ADM, is a credit analyst at the Coleman Co., which manufactures outdoor equipment. She lives in Wichita.* Adam R. Clements ’07, COMM, is a broker for Builders Inc., a property management company. He resides in Eastborough, Kan.* Jade R. Piros de Carvalho ’07, PHIL, who leads sales and marketing strategy for IdeaTek, which offers fiber-optic network services to communities across Kansas, is serving as mayor of Hutchinson, Kan., where she lives.
Hallie N. Linnebur ’09, ART, is co-founder of Linnebur & Miller, which offers wearable art, interactive performance art and art installation. She lives in Wichita. Meghan S. (Hayes) Miller ’09, ART, is cofounder of Linnebur & Miller, which offers wearable art, interactive performance art and art installation. She lives in Towanda, Kan. Marla R. (Bristow) Webber ’09, HIST, is an executive assistant at Wichita Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that helps build and repair homes for those in need. She lives in Wichita. Omotolu “Tolu” O. Aje ’10, NURS, ’13 M NURS, is an occupational medicine nurse practitioner at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea, Minn. Alex C. Brooks ’10, EX SCI, ’13 DPT, is a physical therapist at St. Luke Hospital in Marion, Kan. He lives in McPherson, Kan. Benjamin “Ben” E. Hershberger ’10, EL ED, ’10 LANG, is a Spanish teacher at Hesston (Kan.) High School. He lives in Hesston. Bryan J. Kissack ’10, AEROS E, ’12 M AEROS E, is a stress engineer at Spirit AeroSystems. He lives in Andover, Kan.
Seth S. Biby ’08, EL ED, works in the structures department at BNSF Railway. He lives in Winfield, Kan.
Jill D. (Heisler) Marzolf ’10, HIST, ’14 M ED PSYCH, is a practicum school psychologist for Wichita public schools. She lives in Wichita.
Kelci J. (Boxberger) Burkey ’08, BIO, ’14 M PA, is a physician assistant at Clara Barton Medical Clinic in Great Bend, Kan. She lives in Hoisington, Kan.
Andrea L. (Wolf ) McLin ’10, M PA, is a physician assistant in the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano, Texas.
Daniela (Lujano) Rivas ’08, FIN, ’12 M PUB ADM, is city clerk in Park City, Kan. Rivas, who previously served as finance officer and city treasurer in Winfield, Kan., lives in Wichita.
SPRING 2016
Secrets in the Smoke
Dustin B. Redger ’10, M BUS ADM, ’12 ACCT, is a senior associate in the audit department at BKD LLP, a Wichita CPA and advisory firm. Joshua A. Rosales ’10, MATH ED, teaches
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Rachel (Gorman) Burcham ’15 made her debut as a playwright this past March when her “Campfire Stories” was performed at the Studio C Artists performance space along Theatre Row in Hollywood, Calif. The play follows four women through four pivotal chapters of their friendship, revealing secrets that keep them both together and apart. A recent transplant to the Los Angeles area, Burcham graduated from WSU with a bachelor’s degree in musical theatre. In 2014, she was among the WSU students who reached the semifinal round of the Region 5 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival acting competition. Going on to the final round was her future husband J. Bailey Burcham, who directed his wife’s “Campfire Stories.” The couple lives in North Hollywood.
Smooth Moves Adam Ferri ’12 proved he has some smooth moves back in September when he tied for first place in the 2015 Dancing With the Celebrities of Greater Greensburg competition, a benefit for local charities. Ferri is a Wichita State entrepreneurship and HR management graduate and the president of the Ferri Land Co., which is based in Murrysville, Pa. He lives, works – and dances — in the greater Pittsburgh, Pa., area.
55
CLASS NOTES math at North High School in Wichita, where he lives. Sarah D. (Gerstenkorn) Rosales ’10, HIST/ ENG ED, teaches social studies at Mead Middle School. She lives in Wichita. Emily S. (Deaver) Strom ’10, MUS P, a jazz pianist, singer and songwriter, has released her first album, “Waltz in the Dark.” She lives in Wichita. For more about Deaver and her time as Miss Kansas, visit theshockermagazine.com and search for “A Jazzy Choice For The Crown.” Jordan P. Walker ’10, COMM, is a digital director at Greteman Group, an aviation advertising and marketing agency. She lives in Wichita. Jaci M. (Pottberg) Blake ’11, SOC WK, is a cosmetologist at You and Your Surroundings, a full service beauty salon. She lives in Salina, Kan. Kelsey J. (Bjornstad) Brin ’11, MED TECH, is a laboratory technologist at Rooks County Health Center. She lives in Plainville, Kan. Lauren Clay ’11, M ART, is an adjunct ceramics instructor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.
Kate Garnes and Her Disarming Charm Kate Garnes ’12 doesn’t need to conjure a spell to succeed in her chosen career fields. The WSU music education graduate works at Timber Creek High School in Avalon, Fla., as a choreographer, creating dance routines for more than 100 vocal music students – and she’s a character performer at Walt Disney World, a gig she’s had for almost six years now. A most versatile performer, Garnes has played a diverse range of roles at all four of Disney’s theme parks in Orlando, Fla. She’s performed in the “Festival of the Lion King” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, for example, and in “Dream Along With Mickey!” at the Magic Kingdom Park. Most recently, you can spot her at the “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Studios within Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. You can’t miss her and her natural Shocker Expelliarmus! — Connie Kachel White 56
Armand T. Fruge ’11, ENG L/LIT, has written the children’s book The Dream Collector. The story for K-5 readers encourages children to think beyond the moment and pursue their dreams, despite obstacles that appear along the way. Fruge lives in Wichita. Emily A. Graf ’11, M PUB ADM, received the 2015 Early Career Excellence Award from the Topeka-based Kansas Association of City/ County Management. She is the city manager for Kingman, Kan. Robby K. Gray ’11, HIST/GOVT ED, is officer and farm manager in the farm management division at First National Bank of Hutchinson. He resides in Hutchinson, Kan. Lance C. Kasitz ’11, CJ, is an insurance agent at the Kansas General Office of New York Life Insurance Co. He lives in Wichita. Timothy “Tim” J. Kelley ’11, MKT, is a commercial lines insurance producer at Brown and Brown Insurance. He lives in Tulsa, Okla. Candice L. (Bliss) McNinch ’11, EL ED, teaches kindergarten at Ness City (Kan.) Elementary School. Alfredo Ortiz-Aleman ’11, FIN, is a Small Business Association lending associate at INTRUST Bank. He lives in Wichita. Paige L. Riddle ’11, M BUS ADM, is a product manager for Viega GmbH & Co. KG, which manufactures and distributes plumbing, heating and pipe joining systems. She lives in Wichita. Roger F. Strunk ’11, ART GD, is a senior graphic designer at Jajo, a branding, advertising and marketing agency. He lives in Wichita. Matthew L. Sullard ’11, POL SCI, is an assistant city attorney for the city of Wichita, where he lives.* Eric S. Carbrey ’12, ART, spent a week in
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Jakarta, Indonesia, last fall to teach abstract art to a class of seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students at an international school. An artist, he resides in Westchester, Ill. Austin D. Colbert ’12, JOURN, is a reporter and photographer at the Pilot & Today in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Suzanne “Suzy” K. Finn ’12, M BUS ADM, is director of community advancement and executive director of Young Professionals of Wichita for the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce. She lives in Wichita.* Kate E. Gangel ’12, COMM, is an account coordinator at Squid Ink Creative, a full-service advertising, marketing and creative agency. She lives in Wichita. Alfredo E. Gimenez ’12, AEROS E, is a flight test engineer at Gulfstream Aerospace. He lives in the Savannah, Ga., area. Steven “Steve” W. Griffin ’12, HS MGT/CD, is administrator at Solomon Valley Manor, a retirement living facility in Stockton, Kan. Rachel L. Groene ’12, MKT, is manager of business services at Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce. She lives in Wichita. Nicole (Dragastin) Gugle ’12, ACCT, is a CPA and senior accountant at McFarren, Magnifico & Harmon CPAs PA. She lives in Andale, Kan. Megan B. Jenish ’12, DH, is a registered dental hygienist at Moxley Wagle Periodontics. She lives in Wichita.* Jennifer M. (Reynolds) LaBarge ’12, SOC WK, is a licensed marriage and family therapist at Wichita Therapy and Wellness Center. She lives in Wichita. Tara L. Nolen ’12, HS MGT/CD, a tobacco control coordinator for the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians, lives in Garden Plain, Kan. Samantha F. (Small) Sweley ’12, M HIST, is an attorney and partner at Heilman & Sweley LLC in Council Grove, Kan., where she lives. Matthew “Matt” D. Vermillion ’12, EX SCI, ’15 DPT, is a physical therapist at St. Luke Hospital in Marion, Kan. James P. Winkel ’12, AEROS E, is a structural dynamic test engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He lives in Eastlake, Ohio. Eric D. Boutz ’13, HIST/GOVT ED, is a special education history teacher at South High School in Wichita, where he lives. Victoria “Tori” J. Deatherage ’13, MKT, is director of marketing at Kansas Surgical Arts in Wichita, where she lives. Sarah M. Diller ’13, M MUS P, teaches voice and piano lessons at Piano Power in Chicago, Ill. A soprano, she has performed with the Ohio Light Opera, the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Co. and the Wichita Salon Series. Priya Fernandes ’13, BIO, is a senior chemist at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in McPherson, Kan. She lives in Wichita.
SPRING 2016
M A R G I N A L I A
CLASS NOTES Heather D. Gonzalez ’13, ACCT, is a senior associate on the tax team at Allen, Gibbs & Houlik LC, a Wichita-headquartered CPA and advisory firm. She lives in Wichita.
Wichita.
Angela K. Loganbill ’13, MUS ED, is director of vocal music at Andale (Kan.) High School and at St. Mark’s School in Colwich, Kan.
Kody P. Truesdell ’14, PSYCH, is an imagery analyst at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he studies geospatial data to help provide personnel key information. He resides in Hope Mills, N.C.
Abby L. (Brown) Nelson ’13, COMM, is director of marketing at Greenwood County Hospital in Eureka, Kan. Taylour R.B. Tedder ’13, M PUB ADM, is the assistant city manager in Leavenworth, Kan. He previously served as development manager for the city of Derby, Kan. Kyle E. Williams ’13, COMM, is an account executive for Cox Business, which provides voice, data and video services for small and regional businesses. He lives in Wichita. Abbey E. Wolfert ’13, MKT, is a brand and creative specialist at High Touch Technologies, which provides software and hardware services, web site development and IT systems management to small and mid-size companies and organizations. She lives in Wichita. Bethany A. (Johnson) Belew ’14, NURS, is a registered nurse at Via Christi Health in Wichita, where she lives. Alice N. (Christian) Boutz ’14, M SOC WK, is a social worker at St. Francis Community Services in Wichita, where she lives. John “Jack” H. Brand III ’14, M COMM, is director of communications at Prairie View Inc., a mental health center in Newton, Kan. He lives in Wichita. Zachary “Zack” C. Daniel ’14, M PUB ADM, is city clerk/assistant to the city manager in Edwardsville, Kan. Olivia R. Franz ’14, EL ED, has been recognized with Wichita public schools’ 2016 Distinguished Classroom Teacher Award in the new elementary teacher category. A fourth grade teacher at Lawrence Elementary School, she lives in Wichita.
Ian T. Smith ’14, AEROS E, is a structural engineer at Boeing. He resides in Oklahoma City, Okla.*
Nicole R. Burger ’15, SPAN/SPAN ED, is a Spanish teacher at Clearwater (Kan.) High School. She lives in Derby, Kan.* Kevin A. Coccetella ’15, BUS ADM, is a solution specialist at imageQUEST, a Xerox company. He lives in Andover, Kan. Jean Carlos Garcia Gonzalez ’15, M IE, is an engineer at CNH Industrial, which designs, produces and sells agricultural and construction equipment, trucks, commercial vehicles, buses and specialty vehicles. He lives in Wichita.* Anthony W. Hildreth ’15, GEO, is a survey assistant at Professional Engineering Consultants PA. He lives in Wichita. Bethany A. Hopson ’15, ART ED, is an art teacher at Garden Plain (Kan.) High School. Amber J. LaRiviere ’15, ACCT, is a tax specialist and co-owner at Capstone Accounting and Business Solutions LLC, in Kingman, Kan. She resides in Andale, Kan.* Taylor A. Mosley ’15, ACCT, is a staff accountant at Porter, Carswell, & Raya Chtd. CPAs, an accounting firm in Valley Center, Kan.* Carlos F. Palomino ’15, ART GD, is a graphic designer at Vornado Air LLC, which manufactures air circulation products. He lives in Wichita. Blake E. Peniston ’15, PSYCH, works for the Valley Center (Kan.) Recreation Commission. He lives in Wichita.* Lisa-Marie (Armitage) Pulley ’15, STRAT COMM, is a project manager at advertising agency Armstrong Chamberlin. She lives in Derby, Kan.*
Kelsy L. Gossett ’14, ART, received recognition for a photo series done as part of her studies for a master of fine arts in photography degree at WSU. Her series, “Wake Up,” was highlighted in Feature Shoot, an online database that showcases the work of international emerging and established photographers. She lives in Wichita.
Fidel Serrano ’15, ART GD, is a marketing specialist at Via Christi Health in Wichita, where he lives.
Lynette G. Murphy ’14, M COMM, director of major gifts at Via Christi Philanthropy in Wichita, has received the Certified Fund Raising Executives credential. She lives in Wichita.*
Regina R. Taylor ’15, M PA, is a physician assistant at Citizens Medical Center in Colby, Kan., where she lives.
Hannah S. (Hamilton) Richardson ’14, MGT, is a program cost analyst at aerospace systems contractor L-3 Communications in Greenville, Texas. Spencer A. Shirk ’14, EX SCI, has been honored by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association with the Class 5A Assistant Coach of the Year Award. An assistant wrestling coach at Andover (Kan.) High School, he lives in
SPRING 2016
Jazzbo
Jacob B. Skipworth ’15, M MUS P, played Baron Grog in Wichita Grand Opera’s production of Jacques Offenbach’s operetta The Grand Duchess last October. He lives in Chicago, Ill.
Darryl L. Templeton Jr. ’15, COMM, is a communications assistant for insurance provider Delta Dental of Kansas. He lives in Wichita.* Julie A. (Schmeidler) Ummel ’15, ACCT, is an accountant at Koch Ag and Energy Solutions in Wichita, where she lives. Robert L. Van Gooswilligen ’15, MCH E, is a mechanical design engineer at Professional Engineering Consultants PA. He lives in Derby, Kan.*
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Bill “Jazzbo” Hargrave is the focus of the short film “Jazzbo — The One Man Band” by Evan H. Senn ’10. Senn and Kyle Pugh make up the Wichita-based filmmaking collective Brigade Visual Support. Their work in cinematography, photography, and stills and video editing takes them across the Midwest. In the case of Jazzbo, they filmed in Kansas City, just outside the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where Hargrave was performing. The film, which Senn calls “a vignette on music, laughter and success,” was showcased in the Timothy Gurver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers during last fall’s Tallgrass Film Festival.
Mangrove Savvy Malcolm S. Johnson ’12 grew up in Alexandria, Va., and studied sociology and environmental issues at Wichita State, going on to earn a master’s degree in ocean and coastal resource management from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Calif. He is now a Coastal Resource Management volunteer with the Peace Corps and works in the Philippines. Located in the “coral triangle,” the Philippines boasts one of the world’s most bio-diverse marine regions. That’s pretty exciting to Johnson, who says one of the best aspects of being a CRM volunteer is the chance to do assessments of all kinds of coastal resources, including corals, sea grass and mangroves. 57
IN MEMORIAM
The Importance of – Bananas? University of Kansas professor emeritus of history Charles L. Stansifer ’53/54 was noted for his lectures on the subject of bananas and his extensive collection of banana-related objects. What? Stansifer, you see, was a specialist in the history of Central America, and his humorous lectures on bananas caught, and kept, the interest of his students. He joined KU’s history faculty as an assistant professor in 1963, after completing a doctorate in Latin American history at Tulane University in 1959 and a brief teaching stint at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette. Before retiring from KU in 2004, he directed the Study Abroad in Costa Rica program (a KU and Universidad de Costa Rica collaboration) in 1966 and 1974, served as director of the Center of Latin American Studies, 1975-89, was chair of the history department from 1993-96 and was on the graduate committees for more than 200 MA and PhD students of Latin American history and Latin American studies. His own scholarly work was wide-ranging within his specialty and included analyzing the effects of civil war in Nicaragua on the country’s cultural life and social development. He made frequent trips to Nicaragua both before and after the 1979 revolution, the first in 1965, his last in 2001. In 1999, he was recognized with the Provost’s Faculty International Leadership Award. Stansifer, who held a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a master’s degree in history from WSU, died Feb. 4, 2016, in Lawrence, Kan. — Connie Kachel White 58
Kenneth “Ken” W. Anderson ’75, electrical engineering graduate who worked for KG&E prior to his 27 years at Wichita-based Vulcan Chemicals, from which he retired as principal electrical engineer; veteran of the Kansas Air National Guard who was called to active U.S. Air Force duty in Korea in 1968 in the wake of the USS Pueblo incident; Shocker sports fan proud to have had his three daughters and first granddaughter graduate from his alma mater, Dec. 12, 2015, Valley Center, Kan. Leon M. Barnes ’51, geologist who worked in the oil and gas industry for Cities Service Co. for 32 years, retiring in 1983; World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army as a surveyor in the Philippines and occupied Japan, April 4, 2016, Oklahoma City. Clyde E. Bevis ’51, Wichita Police Department deputy chief whose 24 years of service included working as a patrolman, as supervisor of the WPD laboratory and records sections and as commander of the internal affairs and inspection section; former investigator for the Federal Public Defender in Wichita; former police science instructor at WSU, who taught at the university part-time for 17 years; retired U.S. Marine Corps Reserve lieutenant colonel and veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who was in the 17th wave landing on Iwo Jima in February 1945, was involved in the occupation of Japan in Sasebo and, during the Korean War, returned to active duty and was assigned to the Armored Amphibious Battalion in Camp Lejeune, N.C., Jan. 30, 2016, Wichita. Louis E. Biggs ’67, business administration graduate who went on to a 48-year career in banking, 13 years with the Kaw Valley Bank in Topeka, Kan., and 35 years as a bank examiner with the FDIC, Feb. 13, 2016, Lenexa, Kan. Donna L. Bicknell ’80, artist and retired art teacher who established the art department at Haysville (Kan.) Junior High School during her nine-year tenure there before going on to teach art at Campus High School, also in Haysville, Feb. 12, 2016, Haysville. Daniel “Dan” L. Blick ’68, graphic design graduate who owned BBCo (Blick Benest Co. Inc.), a Wichita-based marketing design firm; six-year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve; and an avid supporter of the Wichita State Shockers men’s basketball team, Jan. 17, 2016, Wichita. Wilma L. (Ludiker) Blide ’70, homemaker, retired Wichita public schools home economics and English teacher, and enthusiastic Shocker sports fan, Nov. 10, 2015, Wichita. Patricia L. Bockelman ’59/66, mathematics graduate who taught for 35 years at Shawnee Mission (Kan.) North High School, Feb. 3, 2016, Fairway, Kan. Barbara J. (Demoret) Breitenbach ’61/71, elementary education graduate who taught in Wichita public schools for four years, former travel agent at NBW Travel in Wichita, and retired civil service employee with the U.S. Air Force at Boeing, also in Wichita, Jan. 13, 2016, Wichita.
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David E. Brewer ’69, psychology graduate who worked at KPTS Channel 8 in Wichita for more than 50 years, primarily as broadcast manager; “I Make a Difference Award” winner whose volunteer service included reading and performing folk music at Wichita’s Oaklawn Elementary School for 12 years, Dec. 12, 2015, Wichita. Larry L. Brown ’55, retired social worker whose career included serving as district director of the Kansas Children’s Service League’s Wichita office and as executive director at Sunbeam Family Services Inc. in Oklahoma City, Dec. 22, 2015, Wichita. Lester “Les” H. Brown ’40, retired owner of Insurance Professionals Inc. in Wichita; World War II veteran who served for three and a half years; Dec. 20, 2015, Wichita. Charlotte L. (Noe) Browning ’54, active in Pi Kappa Psi sorority at the University of Wichita, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, economics; former WSU Alumni Association volunteer and board member; retired buyer whose career spanned positions at Higbee’s in Cleveland, Ohio; Embry’s in Lexington, Ky.; and Selber Brothers and Dillard’s, both in Shreveport, La.; homemaker and lifelong learner who, at the age of 63, earned a master’s degree in consumer affairs from Louisiana Tech University, Jan. 13, 2016, Tucson, Ariz. Dennis D. Brunner ’68, retired Wichita North High School educator and coach who taught drafting and photography, and coached five All-State players during his 15-year tenure as basketball coach before serving as athletic director prior to his retirement in 1994, Nov. 6, 2015, Wichita. Betty Jo (McConnell) Burgess ’68/79, homemaker and retired science teacher who taught for 18 years at Mulvane (Kan.) Junior High School, Dec. 22, 2015, Derby, Kan. Deneice (Rugh) Burk ’80, homemaker and gerontology graduate who worked in social services at Lakewood Heights Nursing Home in Wichita, Nov. 13, 2015, Hutchinson, Kan. Patrick “Pat” J. Cain Sr. ’86, psychology graduate and Shocker football letterman who wore jersey No. 69 and played for coaches Willie Jeffries and Ron Chismar before playing pro ball as center for the NFL’s Detroit Lions in 1987; social worker and therapist who began his career at the Cleo Wallace Center, a psychiatric facility for adolescents in Colorado, and went on to earn a master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver in 1998 and to work as a licensed clinical social worker at Adams County Social Services; Realtor at the family real estate business Bodin Realty International in Boulder, Colo., March 14, 2016, Superior, Colo. For a Shocker football reunion in 2014, Cain shared these gridiron memories: “Prince McJunkins to Don Dreher to beat KU, of course! Or anytime Prince had the ball in his hands was amazing.” Wichita State defeated the Jayhawks, 13-10, in 1982. For more about Shocker football history, visit theshockermagazine.com; search
SPRING 2016
IN MEMORIAM for “Endzone to Endzone.”
Dec. 15, 2015, Wichita.
William “Bill” R. Calhoun ’50, retired businessman, accountant and owner of Cal’s Inc., a retail women’s clothing store in Wichita, who, after closing the business in 1991, returned to WSU, where he began taking courses in English, political science, art history, creative writing and theater – and found himself in 1998 at the age of 71 performing on the stage for the first time as Arlin, a character in the award-winning play The Great Frozen Man, Jan. 26, 2016, Wichita.
Lyle A. Davis ’51, WWII veteran who served in the U.S. Navy, economics graduate and retired insurance agent whose career included serving as senior account agent for Allstate Insurance Co. in Wichita, Oct. 5, 2015, Redding, Calif. As a young man, Davis worked as a printer at the Emporia Gazette in Emporia, Kan., the newspaper that William Allen White purchased in 1895 and for which he wrote editorials until his death in 1944. Davis served as a pallbearer for White at his funeral in Emporia.
Earl F. Callison Jr. ’59, retired CEO and owner of the Walt Keeler Co. Inc., a Wichita-based concrete industry business; Korean War veteran who served in the U.S. Navy; active community volunteer with service to the Wichita Crime Commission, Wichita Wagonmasters, the Metropolitan YMCA and a number of other organizations, Dec. 18, 2015, Wichita.
V. Joann (Boone) Doornbos ’84/86, homemaker and child psychology graduate, Feb. 17, 2016, Wichita.
Gary D. Carson ’64/67, award-winning painter whose work was shown in many Wichita galleries, including his own Carson Gallery and Studio, as well as in galleries throughout Kansas and the Southwest; former visual manager at J.C. Penney, Nov. 8, 2015, Wichita. Christopher P. Christian ’71, business owner, attorney, former WSU basketball player and WSUAA board member, Feb. 11, 2016, Wichita. David M. Comeaux ’59/64, art and ceramics graduate who was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a Wichita Police Department employee before joining the FBI and serving for 21 years as special agent and supervisor, retiring in 1986 as senior resident agent in charge of the FBI office in Casper, Wyo., Feb. 16, 2013, Casper. Richard “Dick” J. Corbitt ’74, Vietnam War veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force; journalism graduate whose first position was as a sports writer for the Wichita Eagle and Beacon; retired marketing director whose career included work as manager of marketing communications at Metal Building Components Inc. in Houston, as advertising manager at Star Manufacturing Co. in Oklahoma City and as public relations coordinator at Associated Advertising Agency in Wichita, Feb. 3, 2016, Wichita. Mary C. (Harlow) Curry Cohoon ’52, homemaker and retired speech/language pathologist who served as director of the Wichita-based Institute of Logopedics’ field center in Topeka, Kan., before establishing her own private practice and later serving on the faculty of Kickapoo Nation Schools as a speech therapist, Dec. 18, 2015, Topeka. M. Joan (Wharton) Danneberg ’71/76, awardwinning artist who was a prolific painter and sculptor, and founding member of Gallery XII, a co-op owned gallery in downtown Wichita; former Wichita public schools art teacher; former commercial artist who illustrated jewelry and fashion in newspaper advertisements in Kansas City, Dec. 4, 2015, Lenexa, Kan. Thomas A. Darland ’95, aerospace engineering graduate and Cessna Aircraft design engineer,
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Anthony R. Dosien ’88, business marketing graduate and former commodity trader at Koch Industries Inc., Wichita, Dec. 14, 2014, Augusta, Mo. Charles M. Ekrut ’73/83, retired Wichita public schools teacher, Dec. 2, 2015, Wichita. Roy L. Elliott ’62, retired Wichita public schools instrumental music teacher and director emeritus of the Midian Shrine Million Dollar Band, March 26, 2006, Wichita. Lance A. Emerson ’95, business marketing graduate who was a pharmaceutical sales representative with Rhone-Poulene Rorer in Olathe, Kan., before joining Invisalign, a dental brace company, Jan. 13, 2016, Overland Park, Kan. Richard “Dick” E. Endsley ’50, Korean War veteran who served in the U.S. Army, 19511953; business administration graduate who began his career in sales at A.Y. McDonald before taking a position at Crane Supply (later Hajoca Corp.), from which he retired in 1993, Dec. 28, 2015, Wichita. Richard “Dick” D. Erb ’81, psychology graduate who worked at Boeing in Wichita and then as an instrument buyer at Hawker-Beechcraft, also in Wichita, Feb. 2, 2016, Mulvane, Kan. James “Jim” R. Fritz ’76, farmer, administration of justice graduate and retired probation officer with the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office in Wichita, Jan. 20, 2016, Douglass, Kan. Melinda K. (Huhn) Gaskill ’79, elementary education graduate who worked as a program manager at the San Jacinto Girl Scout Council for 32 years, Dec. 29, 2015, Houston. M. Jean “Jeanie” Goertz ’77/82, educator and consultant in gifted education who held master’s degrees in education and in educational psychology from WSU, a specialist degree in interdisciplinary education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and a doctorate in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff; who taught courses in creativity, language arts and early childhood education at Northern Arizona, was a member of the educational psychology faculty at the University of Texas Pan Am, and, most recently, of the education faculty at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond; author and co-author of numerous book chapters and journal articles,
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Family Woman Dorothy “Dot” M. (Neises) O’Neill ’49 was an active woman on campus during her years at the University of Wichita. The English language and literature major was involved in Delta Omega, Student Council and the spirit group Wheaties, to list just three of the organizations she either was a member of or led. In 1948, she was crowned Homecoming Queen. In 1949, she set off on a job hunting expedition. “Chicago has proved to be a mighty exciting place for me,” she wrote the WU Alumni Association. “I landed a good position in the publicity department of the American Osteopathic Association. I write news releases, feature articles, and general publicity. The job keeps me plenty busy, and I am enjoying it tremendously.” She added, “This place is crawling with moviestars. I interviewed Ann Blyth on the Welcome Travelers show and sat next to Celeste Holm in The College Inn nightclub at the Sherman Hotel one night. I also saw Robert Mitchum at the Mayfair Room. All of the good nightclubs have terrific floorshows, and I am enjoying it no end.” In 1950, she returned to Kansas to marry John O’Neill. The couple made their home in Wichita, where she was a columnist for the Wichita Eagle and, later, a real estate agent who retired from Plaza Del Sol. Of all her accomplishments, her family meant the most. “My honors,” she noted in 1978, “are nine healthy, intelligent, goodlooking children.” O’Neill died Nov. 22, 2015, in Wichita. — Connie Kachel White 59
IN MEMORIAM
The Right Path Janet M. Montgomery ’72/75, a pioneer and leader in the field of music in special education, was always proud of her education at Wichita State University. After graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in instrumental music, she was among the first to complete Wichita State’s music in special education program. Created in 1969, it was one of the first Master of Music Education degree programs of its kind in the country. Montgomery was so appreciative of WSU’s setting her on such an enriching career path that she wished any contributions in her memory to be sent to her alma mater: Wichita State University Foundation, The Dr. Janet Montgomery Fund for Music Education, 1845 Fairmount Street, Wichita, KS 67260-0002. Early in her career, she taught in Wichita public schools and then at Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, where she worked to develop an undergrad program in music education with a special education emphasis, while also a PhD student at the University of WisconsinMadison. She earned a doctorate in curriculum and instruction in 1983, and continued on as a writer, editor, clinician, presenter, collaborator, historian and teacher at Ithaca College in New York, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Maryland at College Park. Janet Montgomery, who was inducted into the Colorado Music Educators Association’s Hall of Fame in 2007, died March 19, 2016, in Greenbelt, Md. — Connie Kachel White 60
April 7, 2016, Marion, Ohio.
High School in Wichita, Jan. 2, 2016, Wichita.
Jerry K. Good ’62, U.S. Air Force veteran, mechanical engineering graduate and retired Boeing design engineer, Nov. 11, 2015, Wichita.
Lois M. (Burrell) Hollabaugh ’48, former managing editor of the Sunflower and English language and literature graduate who was a homemaker and a newspaper reporter for the Salina Journal and the Wichita Eagle, Nov. 15, 2015, Wichita.
Evelyn M. (Swaim) Hamilton ’69, homemaker and elementary education graduate, Nov. 11, 2015, Wichita. Gary G. Hammer ’55/57, chemistry graduate who went on to earn a doctorate in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, former chemist at Dow Chemical Co. in Williamsburg, Va., and retired chemistry professor at Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Va., Feb. 8, 2016, Williamsburg. Floyd B. Hannon Jr. ’75/77, WWII veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps; administration of justice graduate who had a long career with the Wichita Police Department, retiring as chief of police in 1976 and moving to Cherokee Village, Ark., where he served as police commissioner and as commissioner for the Suburban Improvement District, Dec. 30, 2015, Topeka, Kan. Wesley D. Harms ’61, business administration graduate and retired VA Hospital personnel officer, Feb. 1, 2016, Wichita. Breeden P. Harner ’75/77, retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel with 20 years of service at 15 different stations as engineer, navigator, pilot and squadron commander, and including reconnaissance over Korea, tours in Guam and Vietnam; accounting and business administration graduate who had a second career as a computer consultant, Feb. 17, 2016, Wichita. James “Jim” V. Harris ’71, retired Baxter Springs, Kan., public schools superintendent who held a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from WSU, former superintendent of schools in Sedan, Kan., former teacher and coach, and avid golfer, March 4, 2016, Loma Linda, Mo. Helen M. (Carter) Stauffer Haywood ’73, homemaker and retired teacher who taught at Enterprise Elementary School in Wichita for 15 years, Dec. 1, 2015, Forsyth, Mo. Stephen W. Henning ’70, retired teacher and counselor whose career in education included teaching industrial arts at Rosedale High School in Kansas City and serving as a high school counselor at Inman (Kan.) High School, Jan. 11, 2016, Manhattan, Kan. Paula S. (Kraus) Hilbert ’92, homemaker and nursing graduate, Feb. 10, 2016, Wichita. M. Virginia (Neifing) Hirning ’42, retired Wichita public schools journalism, social studies, Latin and English teacher, Jan. 30, 2016, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. James M. Hocutt ’87/91, English language and literature graduate who went on to earn a master’s degree in counseling; musician who played bass in several local bands in Wichita, Jan. 14, 2016, Wichita. Robert E. Hoffman ’64, retired Boeing industrial engineer and secondary education graduate who taught technology education at Southeast
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Kyle B. Hunt ’12, aerospace engineer who held a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Wichita State and whose career included working for Cessna Aircraft Co. and then as a stress engineer manager at The Spaceship Co., which is based in Mojave, Calif., Feb. 16, 2016, Tehachapi, Calif. Gayle G. (McGilbray) Jackson ’71, homemaker, secondary education graduate and English teacher at Wichita’s East High School, Jan. 6, 2016, Bel Aire, Kan. Gilbert C. Jackson ’71, former Coleman Grocery Store businessman and retired Derby, Kan., public schools teacher whose career in education spanned 15 years of teaching geography, citizenship and English to middle school students and six years of teaching special education, Dec. 14, 2015, Wichita. Leslie G. Jacobson ’13, strategic communications graduate and leasing agent for Three Fountains Apartments and Townhomes in Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 9, 2016, Kansas City, Kan. Thomas J. Jenkins ’55, WWII combat veteran and geology graduate who retired from Boeing, Wichita, Dec. 31, 2015, Palm Bay, Fla. Rodney D. Jessup Sr. ’49, WWII veteran who served in the U.S. Navy, economics graduate and retired petroleum accountant at Aylward Drilling Co., Jan. 7, 2016, Wichita. Coy L. Johnson ’81, retired general manager and vice president at Pearson Excavating, Dec. 11, 2015, Goddard, Kan. Jane E. (Williams) Johnson ’69, homemaker, art education graduate and substitute teacher, Feb. 14, 2016, Wichita. Betty A. (Brush) Jones ’48, homemaker, economics graduate, former church secretary and Fuller Brush saleswoman, Nov. 10, 2015, Kingwood, Texas. Thelma Y. (Pace) Jones ’76, homemaker and Wichita public schools elementary school teacher who taught many second grade students how to read and write during her 39 years in the classroom, Jan. 12, 2016, Wichita. Robert L. Kallail ’56, U.S. Army veteran and business administration graduate who worked at Standard Beverage Co. and, later, for Harper Trucks in Wichita and whose own business ventures included co-owning The Famous, a private club; helping start up Taco Kids, a fast food chain, and the For Pete’s Sake Restaurant; and operating five Pizza Huts in Sacramento, Calif., Nov. 13, 2015, Wichita. Shirley R. (Lochmann) King ’81, homemaker, church organist and cat-sitter who formerly worked at the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning (now the Riordan Clinic) and for several ophthalmologists in Wichita,
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IN MEMORIAM Dec. 10, 2015, Wichita.
Jan. 4, 2016, Colwich, Kan.
John W. Kniseley ’66, journalism graduate, retired Walt Disney Cruise Vacations quality assurance processor, former terminal manager for Mistletoe Express Service in Fort Smith, Ark., former sales representative for Roadway Express Inc. in Huntsville, Ala., and avid Shocker sports and Denver Broncos fan, Jan. 13, 2016, Wichita.
Betty I. (Lohrengel) Moore ’61, homemaker and retired elementary school teacher who taught for 37 years, many of them at OK Elementary School in Wichita, Dec. 20, 2015, Dallas.
Mary E. (McBee) Kuhlmann fs ’44, homemaker and former medical technologist, Nov. 17, 2015, Dallas.
Mary Margaret (Williams) Orsman Kelch ’69, homemaker and retired elementary school teacher who was honored in 1989 for her then 25 years of service to education, which included being a K-6 gifted resource teacher at Minneha and South Hillside elementary schools in Wichita, Dec. 4, 2015, Derby, Kan.
Richard W. Lane ’72, accounting graduate, Dec. 28, 2015, Pacific Junction, Neb. Wade H. Lankford ’89, business management graduate and retired Boeing program manager, Dec. 4, 2015, Valley Center, Kan. Lawrence S. Lester ’65, U.S. Air Force veteran who served as a pilot during the Vietnam War, Federal Express pilot who retired in 2002, business administration graduate, March 11, 2016, Memphis, Tenn. Phyllis J. Macy-Mills ’78, homemaker, singer/ songwriter, guitarist, children’s book author and PA named Kansas Physician Assistant of the Year in 2001 whose career in health care included working for Mid-America Heart Associates and Galichia Medical Group in Wichita and at South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center in Arkansas City, Kan., and Cedar Vale Community Hospital in Cedar Vale, Kan., Nov. 14, 2015, Pratt, Kan. Monna L. Manes ’70/73, chemistry graduate who also held a master’s degree in geology from Wichita State, retired geologist, Jan. 17, 2016, Wichita. Jalyn T. McKinney ’03, psychology graduate and Department of Corrections probation officer, Jan. 19, 2016, Wichita. Bob T. Miller ’61, English education graduate who was a member of ROTC at the University of Wichita; U.S. Air Force veteran, who served as a pilot and captain from 1962 to 1968, receiving two air medals and a Vietnam service medal; New Hampshire Air National Guard veteran, who served with the 910th and 28th Air Refueling Squadron; pilot who flew 23 years for Eastern Airlines and then five years for Kiwi International Airlines before his retirement in 1997, April 5, 2016, North Hampton, N.H. Wayne E. Miller ’53, U.S. Army veteran who served as a lieutenant in the 25th Field Artillery Battalion; business administration graduate who was a regional salesman of electrical equipment, worked part-time for G&N Construction, and was co-owner, along with his wife, of a cake baking business in operation for some 40 years; avid Shocker baseball fan, Jan. 23, 2016, Wichita. Shawna K. (Harp) Mobley, homemaker, sociologist, Correctional Counseling of Kansas owner/director and WSU School of Community Affairs adjunct faculty member who garnered many professional accolades for her work in the domestic violence and criminal justice field,
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Shannon D. (Railton) Moser ’05, homemaker and business administration graduate, Dec. 12, 2015, Reeds Spring, Mo.
Donald “Don” D. Paillette ’49, U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve veteran who completed active duty, which included service with Fighter Squadron 71 stationed at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, in 1964 and retired in 1974 as commander of the Naval Reserve Manpower Center at Naval Air Station Point Mugu in California; secondary education graduate who taught history for 29 years at Ventura College, Ventura, Calif., where he also announced the Ventura College Pirate women’s basketball games for many years, Nov. 24, 2015, Ventura, Calif. Charlotte M. (Moyer) Panton ’66, homemaker and Spanish graduate who taught language arts at Fairborn, Ohio, public schools, worked in sales for the Beavercreek Daily News and in administration at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and owned and operated her own business restoring cane furniture, Jan. 29, 2016, Beavercreek, Ohio. Edward “Ed” E. Pates ’76, psychology graduate and truck driver, Jan. 18, 2016, Hedville, Ky. Earl R. Pegg ’66, psychology graduate and retired Boeing manager, Jan. 7, 2016, Wichita. Lloyd F. Phelps ’75, business administration graduate, senior account executive at SecureNet Alarm Systems Inc., Maize, Kan., and avid Shocker baseball fan who was known by WSU baseball coaches and players as “Loyal Lloyd,” Dec. 8, 2015, Wichita. Fradene R. (Goldstein) Pollack ’40, homemaker, English language and literature graduate, and volunteer and philanthropist who, along with her husband, established the Pollack Music Room at the Los Angeles campus of Junior Blind of America, a favorite charity of hers, March 15, 2016, Van Nuys, Calif. George Pratt Jr. ’83, U.S. Air Force veteran stationed in Korea, Japan, Germany and the Philippines during 27 years of military service, retiring as chief master sergeant; top salesman for a Lincoln dealership in San Antonio, Texas; elementary education graduate who retired from teaching after 14 years at Goddard, Kan., public schools, Dec. 30, 2015, Belton, Texas. Harold R. Reed ’74, administration of justice graduate and retired law enforcement officer whose career in criminal justice included 21
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Philanthropist from the Heart Not many people had the reach of influence as did Joan (Schiff) Beren ’83. For one thing, Beren and her daughters were recognized by then First Lady Laura Bush in a 2004 speech for their intergenerational example of commitment to family, faith and community. In her speech, which was presented at the United Jewish Community’s women’s philanthropy Lions of Judah International Conference in Washington, D.C., Bush mentioned Beren’s efforts as the first woman president of the Mid-Kansas Jewish Federation, noting especially her work in registering women voters. The scope of Beren’s philanthropic endeavors was wideranging. She taught at Hebrew Congregation, was an art specialist in Wichita public schools and a staunch advocate for the State of Israel. She was also a staunch supporter of Wichita State and held active involvements with, among other university entities, the WSU Board of Trustees, the Ulrich Museum of Art, and the WSU Foundation. Elizabeth King, the foundation’s president and CEO, once described Beren this way: “She is wise, discerning. She sees the big picture. She is a philanthropist from the heart.” She was also a teacher, teaching by example the value of hard work and the relevance of engaging in the community. Perhaps her besttaught lesson was the importance of family. Joan Beren died Jan. 25, 2016, in Wichita. — Cori Dodds ’04, Connie Kachel White 61
IN MEMORIAM
Educator of Merit Norma J. (Redwine) Tucker ’79 earned the Specialist in Education from WSU, after graduating from McPherson College, McPherson, Kan., with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1967 and from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in liberal studies in 1972. She continued her higher education and received a doctorate in education from the University of Kansas in 1980. Tucker began her career in education as a journalism teacher at Buhler (Kan.) High School in 1968. In 1971, she joined the faculty at McPherson College, where she taught and was director of publicity from 1971 to 1976. She then served as associate dean of English and journalism, 197679; dean of faculty, 1979-80; and, from 1980-86, as vice president of academic services. A published writer, Tucker authored a number of books, including Fledgling Eagle: Captain William Tucker and the New World Colony, as well as numerous articles, papers and poems. As a college teacher, she was noted for often sharing this piece of advice: “There is no good writing; there is only good rewriting.” Many of her students went on to pursue their own writing careers of merit, a fact that gave her great satisfaction. A proud wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Norma Tucker – who was awarded McPherson College’s prestigious alumni award, the Citation of Merit, in 1992 – died May 22, 2016 in Round Rock, Texas. — Connie Kachel White 62
years with the Wichita Police Department and then service as a parole officer for the Kansas Department of Corrections from 1989 to 2005, Feb. 23, 2016, Tucson, Ariz.
and Lake Lotawana United Methodist, and as pastor at Gypsum United Methodist and Kipp United Presbyterian, Jan. 27, 2016, Kingman, Kan.
Suzanne (Gross) Reed ’85, homemaker and poet whose first volume of poetry, “Sand Verbena,” was published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 1962; former poet in residence at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis.; Spanish graduate who went on to earn a doctorate in Spanish linguistics from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she also worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Agricultural Research Service and the Forestry Service; award winner for her writing of “Patterns in the Wild,” a conservation film that can be viewed on YouTube, Nov. 22, 2015, Wichita.
Roger K. Scholes ’70, administration graduate whose career in labor and management spanned working as personnel director at the Skelly Oil Co., refinery in El Dorado, Kan.; as supervisor of labor relations for the raw materials department of the Inland Steel Co. in Chicago; and as a sailing instructor for people with disabilities, Dec. 16, 2015, Chicago.
Mary J. (Kitchen) Roper ’68/74, homemaker, retired co-owner, along with her husband, of Pine Valley Farm just outside Wichita where they grew five varieties of Christmas trees and operated a holiday gift shop, master gardener, and art education graduate who taught art at a number of Wichita schools, including College Hill and Sunnyside public elementary schools and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School, and was named Art Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association in 1989, before taking up art education administrative duties for Wichita public schools, Feb. 18, 2016, Dallas, Texas. David F. Ross ’72, aeronautical engineering graduate, former engineering specialist and manager at Garrett Turbine Engine Co. in Phoenix, Ariz., and retired engineering director at Honeywell International Aerospace Division in Phoenix, Feb. 26, 2016, Scottsdale, Ariz. Travis K. Roth ’93, graduate of the Medical College of Wisconsin who completed his residency in Atlanta, Ga., where he worked as an ER physician, Nov. 5, 2015, Atlanta. Charles W. Sanders ’60/60, retired oil and gas producer, Nov. 26, 2015, Wichita. Harold M. Scheer fs ’42, retired dentist who after graduating in 1945 from the Washington University School of Dentistry, St. Louis, joined his father’s practice in Wichita, where, among his many career accolades, he was named Dentist of the Year in 2000 by the Kansas Dental Association; U.S. Air Force veteran who served for 21 months as a captain with the 78th Medical Group Dental Division; active community and civic volunteer and leader who was involved with the Wichita Symphony Society, the Wichita Historical Museum, Botanica, the Kansas Air Museum and the WSU Alumni Association, among many other organizations; recipient, along with his wife Ruth ’48, of the first-ever Award of Distinction (2006) presented by the WSUAA for their unflagging support of Wichita State. John A. Schmitt ’77, Kingman United Methodist Church senior pastor who, after graduating from St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Mo., served in various capacities at churches in Missouri and Kansas, including as associate pastor at Mulvane United Methodist
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Paul L. Schwartz ’62, electrical engineering graduate whose career included work as a field support manager and engineer at Western Reserves in Wichita and as a division line supervisor at KG&E in El Dorado, Kan., Jan. 8, 2016, Topeka, Kan. Margaret “Mardy” A. (Waddell) Shearer ’67, homemaker, master seamstress and quilter, elementary education graduate who taught kindergarten for many years at ManhattanOgden (Kan.) public schools, May 17, 2016, Manhattan, Kan. Howard W. Shufelberger ’50, WWII veteran who served in the U.S. Army on Okinawa and in the Philippines and retired business teacher who taught for 32 years in a number of public schools in Derby, Kan., South Haven, Kan., and Topeka, Kan., Dec. 21, 2015, Topeka. S. Kent Smith ’85, home renovator and sportsman whose employment ranged from being a ski instructor in Breckenridge, Colo., and head tennis counselor at the Cimarroncita Ranch Camp in New Mexico, to serving as a job service representative in Frisco, Colo., and an inspector for the Kansas Department of Revenue in Topeka, Kan., Jan. 4, 2016, Longmont, Colo. George T. Spencer ’68, businessman and co-owner with his wife of Wichita’s The Fabric Shop, Nov. 7, 2015, Wichita. Lynnette S. (Nickel) Spencer ’80, homemaker, nursing graduate and RN who worked at Wichita’s St. Francis Hospital Burn Center, Jan. 12, 2016, Wichita. Betty M. (Brock) Stiles ’48, homemaker and economics graduate, Dec. 22, 2015, SedroWoolley, Wash. Donna L. (Gloege) Strong, homemaker, Wichita community volunteer, and University of Colorado business accounting graduate who worked at Wichita State for 17 years before retiring, April 19, 2016, Scott City, Kan. Larry L. Stukenholtz ’81, music performance graduate who went on to earn a doctorate in musical arts from the University of Michigan and whose career included teaching, conducting and composing, Dec. 19, 2015, Fenton, Mo. Sam H. Sturm Jr. ’48, WWII veteran who served in the U.S. Navy as a member of a crash and rescue crew, political science graduate who went on to receive a law degree from Washburn University and serve as a district judge and a juvenile court judge in Harvey County before being appointed administrative judge of the
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IN MEMORIAM Kansas Ninth Judicial District by the Kansas Supreme Court in 1977 until his retirement in 1987, then serving as a special assignment judge for the Kansas Supreme Court and hearing cases across the state, Dec. 29, 2015, Newton, Kan. Lois A. (McVicker) Wittich Swartz ’80, homemaker and elementary education graduate who taught at Haysville, Kan., schools, Feb. 7, 2016, Phoenix, Ariz. David D. Tammany ’64, artist and painting graduate who earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Tulane University in 1966 and then taught in the art department at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, where he later served as interim executive director of human resources and as assistant vice president for academic personnel relations before returning to teach in the art department until his retirement in 2010, Dec. 20, 2015, Ypsilanti, Mich. Jacqueline M. (Perry) Thompson ’83, homemaker and instrumental music education graduate who taught piano for more than 50 years, April 4, 2016, Wichita. Samuel “Sam” P. Topel ’66, art educator and artist who graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago before earning a master’s degree in art from WSU, minister and missionary who served with the United Indian Missions from 1975 to 1991 in New Mexico and Arizona, with the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism in Togo, West Africa, and with Avant Ministries at Echo Ranch Bible Camp in Auke Bay, Alaska, in 2013, Dec. 31, 2015, Quincy, Ill. Thomas “Tommy” W. Tooker ’62, former executive director at the National River Academy, an institution based in Helena, Ark., that trains riverboat pilots, deckhands, tankermen, engineers and other river transportation-related workers; former director of training at Coastal Towing in Houston; former guidance counselor and director of counseling at Tyler Junior College and Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler, Texas, Jan. 13, 2016, Tyler. Dorothy L. (Green) Totten ’51, homemaker; retired teacher who began her career at schools in Wichita and Lawrence, Kan., before moving to Scottsdale, Ariz., where she taught at Hopi, Pueblo, Mohave, Cocopah and Ingleside public schools and served as principal at Cherokee Elementary School, where she was known to students as “Doc Tot,” Jan. 2, 2016, Scottsdale. Aaron “A.T.” M. Travis ’09, sport management graduate who worked at Stroot Lockers and Gander Mountain, Jan. 24, 2016, Wichita. Marvin M. Tyson ’89, retired senior industrial engineer at Beechcraft, where he worked for more than 40 years, and avid Shocker basketball fan, Jan. 31, 2016, Bel Aire, Kan. Darrel L. Unruh ’79, retired vice president of industrial services at Goodwill Industries Easter Seals of Kansas, Wichita, where he also was director of marketing and sales/contracts; former industrial engineer and maintenance mechanic at Hesston Corp., Nov. 25, 2015, Newton, Kan. James “Jim” R. Unruh ’70/71, business administration graduate who went on to earn
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a master’s degree in economics and then build a career in business management with the Hesston Corp., Hesston, Kan.; Pizza Hut Corp., Wichita; Tricon Corp., Louisville, Ky.; and YUM Brands Inc., also in Louisville, Feb. 27, 2016, Wichita. Robert E. Unruh ’56, retired public school music teacher whose career included teaching in Lehigh, Kan., and teaching and directing vocal music at Kingman High School, Kingman, Kan., piano tuner/technician and postal employee, March 31, 2016, North Newton, Kan. Mary K. (Funke) Vestring ’45, homemaker, May 12, 2016, Bel Aire, Kan. Thomas L. Wade ’74/74, secondary education graduate with two bachelor’s degrees, one in sociology, the other in social studies; veteran of the U.S. Army who was stationed in Gelnhausen, Germany; pastor who served in the ministry for 40 years at churches in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, March 9, 2016, Independence, Kan. Jimmy R. Wallis ’62, mathematics graduate, retired engineer at Boeing in Wichita who joined the aircraft company in 1965 as an associate research engineer, former reliability engineer at McDonnell Aircraft Corp. in St. Louis, Jan. 1, 2016, Haysville, Kan. David M. Weaver ’67, U.S. Navy veteran who served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal and economics graduate whose work history included serving as vice president of cash management sales at Fourth Financial Corp. in Wichita, Jan. 22, 2016, Circleville, Ohio. Donald J. Weber ’69, business administration graduate who co-owned MIT Cleaning and Restoration and was vice president of marketing at Cargill for 25 years, Nov. 22, 2015, Maize, Kan. Thomas R. Westbrook ’98, English language and literature graduate, and fuel services manager at Cessna Aircraft, Dec. 14, 2015, Wichita. James D. Whitesell ’79, accounting graduate and retired Cessna Aircraft manufacturing engineer, Jan. 7, 2016, Anthony, Kan. Kathleen K. (Knight) Wilkin ’60, homemaker and retired elementary school teacher who taught at schools in California and in Wichita until her retirement in 1974, April 16, 2016, Tuscaloosa, Ala. Donald R. Williams ’79/80, Ozark National Life district manager, May 23, 2016, Wichita. Willie S. Williams ’58, chemistry graduate who went on to earn a master’s degree from Xavier University and a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State; former assistant dean and assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Shaker Heights, Ohio; retired educator, counselor and consultant who served the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) court system, Feb. 19, 2016, Shaker Heights. Kristi F. (Camp) Wilson ’87, homemaker and health science graduate who worked as a medical technologist, April 24, 2015, Newton, Kan. Darvin “Dee” R. Wilson ’52/60, U.S. Army
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Calls to Service Raymond A.M. Jones ’66, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Wichita State, worked in many different places around the world – and served in many different roles. A linguist who completed the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps program at WSU, Jones entered active duty with the U.S. Air Force in 1967, serving in language intelligence and as a general’s aide in Latin America. Among his posts before leaving active duty in 1973 was serving as protocol officer for the USAF Southern Command in Panama City, Panama. Back in the United States, Jones lived in Washington, D.C., for a time and taught high school Spanish and American and world history before entering his primary occupation in hospital management. He was appointed assistant to the chief of staff at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Wichita, where he was involved with education programs and medical research. He later became area emergency manager for the Veterans Affairs Heartland Network, and retired as area manager for the National Disaster Medical System. From 1976-89, he served with the Air National Guard. Active in the WSU Alumni Association since 1974, he served two three-year terms on the board of directors, taking on the duties of vice president of university programs in 1979-80 and helping with all manner of activities and events, including Shocker Auction. Ray Jones died Feb. 29, 2016 in Wichita. — Connie Kachel White 63
CODA
“Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker and Bassist.” Photo by Edward Armstrong ’42, Wichita, 1940. 64
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