Awards
A nominating committee selected
by the Washburn Alumni Association Board of Directors meets in November
of each year to slate candidates for the Distinguished Service Award,
Monroe Award and GOLD Award. Upon approval by the Board, the award recipients
will be presented their awards during Alumni Weekend.
The Board welcomes your suggestions for names of alumni who should be
considered for specific awards. Names must be submitted by October 31
of this calendar year in order to be considered for awards given at
our upcoming Alumni Weekend.

Distinguished
Service Award
This award is given to recognize outstanding alumni who have made personal
and professional contributions to society. Nominees for the award should
have demonstrated exemplary support to the Washburn Alumni Association
and the Association community, been of service to mankind, distinguished
themselves in their career, and/or brought honor to Washburn University
through their accomplishments.
View list of past recipients
2009 Recipients:

Jeanne (Olson) Bertelson, ba ’73 and jd ’77
Topeka, Kan.
Jeanne is an attorney in private practice. She has worked at the Kansas Department of Labor, Kansas Department on Aging, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts and the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office. Her community service includes the Community Youth Homes board, Czars: 400 Years of Imperial Grandeur, WU Campus Beautification Committee, Mulvane Art Museum board of directors, Mulvane Mountain/Plains Art Fair and Friends of the Mulvane Art Museum. She are her husband, Ken, donated a sculpture to the Mulvane Courtyard, and have a classroom named in their in the Mulvane Art Museum.

Ed Glotzbach, ba ’70
St. Louis, Mo.
Ed is vice chairman of Information Services Group Inc., the former president and chief executive officer of TPI, and the former executive vice president and chief information officer with SBC Communications Inc. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California and serves on boards for the Laclede Group, Global Velocity Inc., the Newberry Group and the audit committee at Edward Jones. At Washburn, he is a past chairman of the Endowment Association board of directors and was honored as an Alumni Fellow in 1998. Alpha Delta fraternity named him Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2005.
Monroe
Award
This is awarded to a woman selected by the alumni board of directors,
who has distinguished herself as a teacher, instructor, administrator,
or benefactor at the University and has given service to the community
and/or her chosen profession. The award is named after suffragist, lawyer
and publisher Lilla Day Monroe.
View
list of past recipients
2009 Recipient:

Barbara Waterman-Peters, bfa ’73
Topeka, Kan.
Barbara is an artist. Her work has been shown regionally, nationally and internationally in more than 250 exhibitions and is included in museum and corporate collections. In 2005, she painted the image used on the Christmas card by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. She holds a master of fine arts degree from Kansas State University and served as an art instructor at Washburn and KSU. Her honors include Nonoso, an assistantship from the Kansas Arts Commission, three artist residencies and a certificate of recognition for outstanding contributions to the State of Kansas. Waterman-Peters is the visual artist for the Washburn’s Andrew J. and Georgia Neese Gray Theater and is a founding member of the Collective Art Gallery.
Ritchie
Award
This is awarded to a man selected by the alumni board of directors,
who has distinguished himself as a teacher, instructor, administrator,
or benefactor at the University and has given service to the community
and/or his chosen profession. The award is named after Col. John Ritchie,
who donated the land on which Washburn is built.
View
list of past recipients
2009 Recipient:

Larry Peters, bfa ’62
Topeka, Kan.
Larry retired as gallery director of the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery and curator of collections at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. A past president of Kansas Museums Association, he serves on the board of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, Kan., and on the Foundation Board of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. Peters exhibits in a variety of venues, including a recent U. S. Arts in the Embassy Program in Athens, Greece. He received the Kansas Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Advocacy and the Kansas Museum Association’s Distinguished Service Award, and Washburn honored him in 2003 as an Alumni Fellow.
GOLD
Award
This award honors Graduates Of the Last Decade who demonstrate leadership
in career or civic endeavors and loyalty to Washburn University. The
GOLD award is one of the highest honors that Washburn University bestows
on its young alumni.
View
list of past recipients
2009 Recipient:

Beth (Hall) Martino, ba ’00
Topeka, Kan.
Beth was recently named director of communications and press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Martino served since 2007 as deputy secretary of the Kansas Department of Labor, where she was previously director of marketing and communications. She holds a master of science degree in journalism from the University of Kansas. Her community service includes the Topeka South Rotary Club board, Leadership Greater Topeka, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She was nominated for a YWCA Women of Excellence Award. As a student at Washburn, Martino was active in Nonoso, debate, Student Ambassadors and Washburn Student Association.
Ruth
Garvey Fink Award
This award recognizes individuals who have furthered the mission of
the Bradbury Thompson Center in supporting Washburn University. It was
through the vision, determination, organization and generosity of Ruth
Garvey Fink that the Center actually came into being and the family
of Bradbury Thompson provides this annual award in her honor.
View
list of past recipients
2009 Recipient:

Doris (Firestone) Joss, ba ’33
Charles Joss, bs ’35 and honorary doctorate ’80.
Presented posthumously to Topekans Doris and Charles Joss who played key roles in raising funds for the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center. Doris Joss received a Distinguished Service Award from Washburn in 1979. She was a charter member of the Washburn College Bible Committee and served on the Washburn Endowment Association board, the Alumni Association board and the Mulvane Art Museum Women’s Board. Charles Joss was a surgeon for nearly 40 years. He served on the Washburn Board of Regents, the Washburn Endowment Association board and the Stormont-Vail and Topeka Community Foundation boards.