Fort Hays State University Homecoming 2001 Award Winners


Each year, the FHSU Alumni Association presents accomplished alumni and friends with awards in honor of their achievements and service. At Homecoming, four categories of awards are given: Young Alumni, Distinguished Service, Nita M. Landrum and Alumni Achievement. The Alumni Association considers the awards program one of its finest endeavors. The Alumni Achievement Award recognizes graduates who have made outstanding, unselfish contributions in service to community, state or nation, both as citizens in their chosen careers and through philanthropy. The Young Alumni Award recognizes 10- through 15-year graduates for professional and educational achievement, community activities, honors and awards or other accomplishments since graduation. The Distinguished Service Award recognizes friends of the university who have demonstrated a continuing concern for humanity on a universal, national, state or community level. These are individuals who support spiritual, cultural and educational objectives and who endorse and exemplify the highest standards of character. The Nita M. Landrum Award recognizes alumni or friends who have provided sustained volunteer service for the betterment of the Alumni Association, or the university, in their communities.

Alumni Achievement Award Recipients
After graduating from FHSU in 1983 with a degree in business/acounting, Jeff Crippen went to work for Koch Industries in Wichita as an accountant. In 1986, he joined a young Ryan International Airlines as assistant controller. Today, he is president of Ryan, a position he has occupied since 1999. "Mr. Crippen has helped take our company from no aircraft and only three employees to its present size of 50 aircrafts and over fifteen hundred employees," said Ronald D. Ryan, chairman of Ryan International Airlines. His job requires frequent travel, but he still involves himself and his company in the Wichita community. "Mr. Crippen," said Ryan, "has our company and its employees involved in many civic activities such as company-sponsored blood drives, Angel Tree, food bank collections, Wichita River Festival, recycling programs, employee tuition refund plan and YMCA corporate membership, in addition to many corporate donations for community projects." Eileen Doherty has been working with and for senior citizens ever since graduating from FHSU in 1974 with a bachelor's in sociology and in 1977 with a master's in counseling. She is the first and only executive director of the Colorado Gerontological Society and Senior Answers and Services. She is also a partner with her husband, Roger, in PISCES, a company that manages and administers senior agencies, as well as a board member of the Denver Commission on Aging. Jon Looney, state director of the American Association of Retired Persons in Colorado, states, "there is one name that always comes to the top of my list of great achievers. That name is Eileen Doherty. I sincerely feel that in the state of Colorado there is no single individual who has made a greater contribution to the field of aging than Eileen." Doherty has written or co-written a number of studies, research papers, evaluations, manuals and guidebooks on various aspects of caring for the elderly and has written guides to resources. For five years, she has written a monthly column on senior issues for Colorado newspapers. Dr. Patrick J. McAtee, president of Cowley County Community College and Area Vocational-Technical School in Arkansas City, Kan., has built an outstanding record of accomplishment in Kansas education since graduating from FHSU in 1965 with a bachelor's in speech and theatre and, in 1970, a master's in speech communication with a minor in educational administration. "Dr. McAtee is truly a visionary," wrote Donna J. Avery, manager of the Strother Field Airport and Industrial Park in Arkansas City and member of Cowley College's board of trustees. "His special talents include an extraordinary ability to create and then to lead others to embrace a shared vision for the future." Under McAtee's leadership, Cowley has grown from a full-time-equivalent enrollment of 800 in 1987 to more than 2,100 today. The college has won several awards for excellence, and his innovations at Cowley include a model power plant and air-frame technology program for General Electric and a manufacturing technology program for Boeing. He has also implemented a model outcomes and accountability process that is featured in a book published by the American Association of Community Colleges. After retiring in 1997 from a long and distinguished career in the teaching and research side of communications disorders, Dr. Kenneth F. Ruder returned to the front lines of the battle to improve lives. He went from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he was a professor of communication disorders and sciences and director of clinical supervision and training, to the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati, OH, where he is a Speech Pathologist III. "He works tirelessly for his patients, our program and for the profession," writes Dr. Ann W. Kummer, director of the department. "Dr. Ruder has been a key player in our efforts to be the best pediatric speech pathology program in the world." Ruder graduated from FHSU in 1962 with a bachelor's in speech pathology. He would go on to earn a master's from the University of Wisconsin in 1963 and a doctorate from the University of Florida in 1969. Ruder has published numerous articles in publications journals as well as a book entitled Developmental Language Interventions: Psycholinguistic Applications.
Young Alumni Award Recipient
Dr. David G. Sprenkel, who earned a bachelor's in psychology from FHSU in 1986, is a clinical psychologist practicing with Prairie View Inc. in Salina. "He decided that he wanted to work with the concerns of the elderly and has not backed down from that commitment," said Dr. Tom Jackson, former chair of the Department of Psychology. "He is one of the first to apply loneliness research to the elderly and was doing that when he was at FHSU." With Prairie View, Sprenkel provides psychological services such as individual, family and marital psychotherapy, psychological and neuropsychological assessments and consultative services to adults and older adults. In keeping with the path he found at FHSU, Sprenkel specializes in services to older adults. Sprenkel volunteers with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and is a volunteer at the Ashby House where he was instrumental in the total rehabilitation of an apartment complex in Salina. He has also been a disaster relief volunteer for the American Red Cross in Sioux City, Iowa. He has also published many articles in journals and other publications.
Distinguished Service Award Recipient
Dr. Gene Fleharty came to FHSU in 1962 as an assistant professor of zoology. He retired in 1999 as an institution within the institution of the university. He has authored or co-authored dozens of scientific papers, co-written three books, written another, written a chapter in yet another and, in retirement, is working on a book about the changes in the fauna of western Kansas. He has served his community and state as a member of numerous service and civic groups and served his profession as a member of numerous professional organizations and honor societies. He is a member of the FHSU President's Club and the Endowment Association's Lyman Dwight Wooster Society. According to Dr. Jerry Choate, director of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, "Gene's influence has extended far beyond the classroom and laboratory. In fact, Gene succeeded in influencing an entire generation of citizens concerned about the well being of our planet and our community." He earned a bachelor of science in biology and mathematics in 1956 from Hastings, Neb., a master's in biology in 1958 and a Ph.D. in biology in 1963, both from the University of New Mexico.
Nita M. Landrum Award Recipients
Kerry McQueen graduated from FHSU in 1961 with a bachelor's in business. In 1965, he earned a juris doctorate from Washburn University and was then hired by Gene H. Sharp to work in the Liberal, Kan. law firm that now includes McQueen on its letterhead: Sharp, McQueen, McKinley, Dreiling and Tate, P.A. He has been president of the firm since 1981 and the managing stockholder since 1991. McQueen has served in all official positions of the Seward-Haskell County Bar Association, as an officer and Director in the Kansas Bar Association, as Director of the Kansas Association of Defense Counsel and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is also a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, for which he has served as the past state committee person of the Kansas chapter. "The American College of Trial Lawyers is an organization into which you can only be inducted by invitation of your peers from lawyers having the highest attainable ratings and skill levels established by actual courtroom performance," said Sharp. "Less than one percent of the lawyers in the United States belong to this prestigious organization." McQueen has also served as president of the FHSU Alumni Association National Board of Directors, is on the board of trustees for the Endowment Association and is active in the Southwest Kansas Alumni Club. He has been the director of the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, president of the Liberal Jaycees, director of the Rotary Club, annual drive chair of the Liberal United Way and the founding member and president of the Mid-America Museum Foundation. William C. Miller, chaplain at Hays Medical Center, has served and supported FHSU, his church and his community for more than 50 years. He has served as a trustee of the Endowment Association and chair of the Pattern Division for the Sheridan Coliseum campaign. He is a member of the President's Roundtable, the Lyman Dwight Wooster Society and a charter life member of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. He has served as chair of the United Way campaign, member and treasurer of the Hays Symphony Guild Board, the Ellis County representative and treasurer of the Northwest Kansas Area Agency on Aging, treasurer for the Salvation Army's Hays Unit, treasurer for the Ellis County Historical Society and the Ellis County Cancer Council, board member and vice president of the Community Assistance Center, chaplain for the Hospice of the Plains, board member of the Northwest Kansas Family Shelter, advisory board member of the Humane Society and the Good Samaritan Center, member of the Festival of Faith Executive Committee and was a member of the HMC Bioethics Committee for four years. Kenneth Havner '68, Hays attorney, first became acquainted with Miller in 1967 through the First United Methodist Church. "Bill Miller is the standard bearer for this award. All others who follow will be required to stand a little taller and walk a little straighter to join the ranks of those who have been named recipients. Miller received a bachelor's from Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa, a bachelor of divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. and a master's degree from Scarritt College for Christian Workers in Nashville, Tenn.

FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 600 Park Street, Hays, KS 67601-4099 | (785) 628-4430 | 1-888-351-3591 | alumni@fhsu.edu
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	After graduating from FHSU in 1983 with a degree in business/acounting, Jeff Crippen went to work for Koch Industries in Wichita as an accountant. In 1986, he joined a young Ryan International Airlines as assistant controller. Today, he is president of Ryan, a position he has occupied since 1999. "Mr. Crippen has helped take our company from no aircraft and only three employees to its present size of 50 aircrafts and over fifteen hundred employees," said Ronald D. Ryan, chairman of Ryan International Airlines. His job requires frequent travel, but he still involves himself and his company in the Wichita community. "Mr. Crippen," said Ryan, "has our company and its employees involved in many civic activities such as company-sponsored blood drives, Angel Tree, food bank collections, Wichita River Festival, recycling programs, employee tuition refund plan and YMCA corporate membership, in addition to many corporate donations for community projects."
	Eileen Doherty has been working with and for senior citizens ever since graduating from FHSU in 1974 with a bachelor's in sociology and in 1977 with a master's in counseling. She is the first and only executive director of the Colorado Gerontological Society and Senior Answers and Services. She is also a partner with her husband, Roger, in PISCES, a company that manages and administers senior agencies, as well as a board member of the Denver Commission on Aging. Jon Looney, state director of the American Association of Retired Persons in Colorado, states, "there is one name that always comes to the top of my list of great achievers. That name is Eileen Doherty. I sincerely feel that in the state of Colorado there is no single individual who has made a greater contribution to the field of aging than Eileen." Doherty has written or co-written a number of studies, research papers, evaluations, manuals and guidebooks on various aspects of caring for the elderly and has written guides to resources. For five years, she has written a monthly column on senior issues for Colorado newspapers.
	Dr. Patrick J. McAtee, president of Cowley County Community College and Area Vocational-Technical School in Arkansas City, Kan., has built an outstanding record of accomplishment in Kansas education since graduating from FHSU in 1965 with a bachelor's in speech and theatre and, in 1970, a master's in speech communication with a minor in educational administration. "Dr. McAtee is truly a visionary," wrote Donna J. Avery, manager of the Strother Field Airport and Industrial Park in Arkansas City and member of Cowley College's board of trustees. "His special talents include an extraordinary ability to create and then to lead others to embrace a shared vision for the future." Under McAtee's leadership, Cowley has grown from a full-time-equivalent enrollment of 800 in 1987 to more than 2,100 today. The college has won several awards for excellence, and his innovations at Cowley include a model power plant and air-frame technology program for General Electric and a manufacturing technology program for Boeing. He has also implemented a model outcomes and accountability process that is featured in a book published by the American Association of Community Colleges.
	After retiring in 1997 from a long and distinguished career in the teaching and research side of communications disorders, Dr. Kenneth F. Ruder returned to the front lines of the battle to improve lives. He went from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he was a professor of communication disorders and sciences and director of clinical supervision and training, to the Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati, OH, where he is a Speech Pathologist III. "He works tirelessly for his patients, our program and for the profession," writes Dr. Ann W. Kummer, director of the department. "Dr. Ruder has been a key player in our efforts to be the best pediatric speech pathology program in the world." Ruder graduated from FHSU in 1962 with a bachelor's in speech pathology. He would go on to earn a master's from the University of Wisconsin in 1963 and a doctorate from the University of Florida in 1969. Ruder has published numerous articles in publications journals as well as a book entitled Developmental Language Interventions: Psycholinguistic Applications.