- Commencement 2000
- Distinguished teaching award
winners named
- Commencement simulcast planned
- Schedule of events
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- The University of Kansas and the KU Alumni Association will
confer the Distinguished Service Citation on three people who
have made significant contributions to humanity.
This year's recipients are Russell W. Meyer Jr., Wichita; Dorothy
Wohlgemuth Lynch, Olathe; and Otto O. Schnellbacher Sr., Topeka.
This is the university's highest honor, awarded every year since
1941. With this year's honorees, 330 people have received the
award.
Last year's honorees were A. Drue Jennings, chairman and CEO
of Kansas City Power & Light Co.; Father Vincent E. Krische
of the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center; Martha Dodge Nichols,
vice president of Nichols Industries and arts patron; and Chester
B. Vanatta, retired Arthur Young & Co. executive and KU School
of Business faculty member.
Among those honored in 1941 were 1908 graduate Alf M. Landon,
1902 graduate J.C. Nichols, 1899 graduate Solon E. Summerfield,
and William Allen White. Other recipients include Lucile Bluford,
Wendell E. Green, William D. Grant, John T. Stewart III,
Paul R. Ehrlich, Eugene B. Hibbs, Kenneth J. Wagnon, Philip
F. Anschutz and Ada Sue Hinshaw.
Honorary alumni citees in the 1990s include Charles G. Koch,
former Chancellor Gene A. Budig, and Francis H. Heller.
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- Russell W. Meyer Jr.'s leadership has enhanced both
the aviation industry and the nation's Welfare-to-Work initiative.
He was the first individual in the general aviation industry
to receive the National Aeronautic Association's Robert J. Collier
Trophy, for the safety record of the Cessna Citation fleet of
business jets in 1986. As chairman of the board of the General
Aviation Manufacturers association in 1994, an office he had
also held in 1974 and in 1982, Meyer led the aviation industry's
successful effort to gain passage of the General Aviation Revitalization
Act.
He has served on three presidential commissions. Meyer and Cessna
have supported Welfare-to-Work through the 21st Street Training
Program, a comprehensive academic, personal and on-site vocational
skills program for Wichita's inner-city residents, with jobs
guaranteed to those who complete the program.
Meyer is a 1996 inductee of the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame
and in 1998 was named "Kansan of the Year."
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- The university and the Salina community have benefited tremendously
from Dorothy Wohlgemuth Lynch's tireless involvement in
numerous committees and organizations.
For the Salina community, she has been a YWCA trustee, a United
Way Board member and campaign chairman, and chairman of the Salina
Airport Authority Board.
She has provided guidance and wisdom to many charitable organizations,
and has helped shape the community as a board member for local
businesses, as a Salina Community Theatre board member and president,
and as a board member for the Salina Fox Historical Theatre Foundation.
For KU, Lynch has coordinated alumni-athletic meetings and dinners,
participated in the Campaign Kansas National Council and served
as a Greater University Fund Advisory Board member.
She presided over the Memorial Union Corporation Board in 1985
and chaired the Alumni Association in 1993-94. She also is an
Endowment Association Trustee.
In 1998, Lynch was appointed to the KU Hospital Authority Board
by Gov. Bill Graves.
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- A KU standout as class president and co-captain of both the
football and basketball teams, Otto O. Schnellbacher Sr.
has continued to be a standout throughout his life, serving KU
and the Topeka community.
Schnellbacher was an all-pro football player in 1950 and 1951
and earned a spot on the All-Time New York Giants Defense Team.
He then became a standout in the insurance industry in a 40-year
career during which he presided over state and national organizations
of agents and underwriters.
In Topeka he has been an advocate for youth, helping to build
schools and recreations programs; and an advocate for the underprivileged,
helping start agencies to provide housing and financial assistance.
In 1983, he took a leadership role in a project to benefit the
Catholic community and the university by helping the St. Lawrence
Catholic Campus Center erect a new building for its ministries.
Schnellbacher also has served KU as a Greater University Fund
Advisory Board member and an Alumni Association National Board
member.
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