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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
2010 Recipients:
Kathleen (Covert) Maag, bba ’64, Topeka, Kan.
Kathy
is general manager of the Topeka Symphony, serving since 2003. She has been active in many community organizations, including the Marian Clinic Resource Council and the Minerva Club. She is a past president of the Topeka Symphony League and a past volunteer manager of the Topeka Symphony, which honored her with the Charles Marling Award in 2002.
Her service to Washburn spans years and a variety of areas. She served 1994-97 on the Washburn Women’s Alliance and 1994-98 on the Washburn Alumni Association board of directors, with a 1996-97 term as president. She was a member of the Ichabod Club board of directors 1993-2000, was president 1998-99 and named Person of the Year in 1997. She has served since 1999 on the Alpha Phi House Corp. board and as treasurer since 2000. In 2009, she received the Sister in the Spotlight Award from Topeka Alumnae Panhellenic Council. She and her husband, Jim Maag, ba ’61 and honorary doctorate ’04 received the Ruth Garvey Fink Award in 2000 and are members of the Lincoln Society and Whiting Society.
Jim Roth, jd ’66, Wichita, Kan.
Jim is a partner in the law firm of Woodard, Hernandez, Roth & Day. He is a 25-year member of the Kansas Bar ethics committee, a past member of the Kansas Securities Commission advisory board and has served as an officer and member of the board of the Sedgwick County Drug and Alcohol Prevention Center, chairman of Walk for Mankind and raised funds for diabetes with the Air Capital Cosmopolitan Club.
Roth was named to the Washburn Board of Regents in 1992 by the late Gov. Joan Finney, was reappointed by Gov. Bill Graves in 1996 and 2000 and reappointed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in 2004 and 2008. He served four terms, 1995-97 and 2004-06, as board chairman. The Washburn School of Law honored him in 2005 with a Distinguished Service Award, and he was named an honorary member of Sagamore in 2007. As a student at Washburn, he was a member of Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity.
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:
Meredith Moore, Topeka, Kan.
Meredith retired from Washburn in 2009 after teaching 33 years in the department of communication and serving 17 years as chairperson. During her tenure, the number of faculty in the department doubled, and Washburn established a national presence in parliamentary debate. Moore received the Outstanding Teacher Award in 1983. She served on numerous university committees, including the 1986-87 task force for North Central Accreditation and the 125th anniversary committee. She was president of Faculty Senate, faculty representative to the Board of Regents, president of Phi Kappa Phi and president of Nonoso. Throughout her career, she authored papers, presented many workshops and seminars and served as consultant and volunteer for community organizations such as the YMCA, Menninger Foundation and the Nurses’ Association. She was active in professional organizations regionally and nationally, serving as president of the Kansas Speech Communication Association, editor of Kansas Speech Journal, president of the States Advisory Commission for the National Communication Association and received a Presidential Citation for service to the National Communication Association.
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:
Sheldon Cohen, Topeka, Kan.
Shel
joined the Washburn faculty in 1960 and served 1967-82 as chairman of the chemistry department. He was provost and academic vice president 1982-84 and executive director of planning 1991-99. Throughout his career, he directed innovative teaching projects such as courses for non-science majors and junior high students and televised courses on KTWU. He also published more than 60 professional articles and served Phi Lambda Upsilan national chemical society in numerous positions, including two terms as national president. Cohen was a member of numerous Washburn committees and was president of Faculty Senate and representative to General Council. Since retirement, he has continued to teach at Washburn as an adjunct and currently serves as president of the Washburn Retirees Association. In the Topeka community, he served many years on the board of Weed and Seed, College Hill Neighborhood Association and Kansas Wildflower Society. With his wife, Virginia Cohen, he established a scholarship fund to benefit Washburn’s chemistry and biology departments and is a member of the Whiting Society.
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:
Jonathan Schmucker, bs ’03, ba ’04, Alexandria, Va.
Jonathan is a special agent with the United States Secret Service, currently serving in the Washington, D.C., field office. Prior to the Secret Service, Schmucker attended American University in Washington, D.C., where he studied international relations and national security policy. He is currently a member of The Last Well, a non-profit group of mountaineers who climb local and international summits with the purpose of raising money and awareness to solve the clean water crisis in Liberia. To date, Schmucker has climbed Mt. Washington (New Hampshire), Mt. Whitney (California) and Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, Africa), and is currently training for a 2011 summit attempt of Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina. As a student at Washburn, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, Sagamore, Dance Marathon and served as president of the Washburn Student Government 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
2010 Recipient:
No receipient selected this year.