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 Each
year, the FHSU Alumni Association presents accomplished
alumni and friends with awards in honor of their achievements
and service. At Homecoming, three categories of awards
are to be given: Young Alumni,
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 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.
Summaries of the the award recipients' accomplishments
follow;
you can read the full stories in the Homecoming issue of the FHSU Magazine. |
- Alumni Achievement Award Recipients
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Charles
G. "Chuck" Comeau '78, chairman of the board, president
and creative director of DFC Holdings - Petroleum geologist
to designer and manufacturer of up-market furnishings is
not a leap that you would expect in the ordinary course
of things. But that is precisely the jump that Charles “Chuck” Comeau
made back in 1992-93.
The business he started, the Dessin Fournir Companies,
with headquarters in Plainville, has grown
to almost 120 employees in seven related businesses. It
operates in 15 cities across the United States and nine
European countries, and has a clientele with names such
as Sir Elton John, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Catherine Zeta-Jones
and Bill Clinton.
His latest project is the renovation of Hays‘ historic
downtown, for which he formed the Liberty Group to turn
the Chestnut Street District into “a unique retail
and entertainment district.”
Comeau was graduated from FHSU in 1978 with a bachelor
of science in earth science. He was executive vice president
and exploration manager for Liberty Enterprises Inc., Plainville,
until 1987, when he became president and chairman of the
board for Rooks County Savings, a position he filled until
1989, when he returned to Liberty Enterprises as its executive
VP and exploration manager. |
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Fred
P. Unruh '41, '47, retired manager of academic affairs
for the Chrysler
Corporation - Unruh retired from
Chrysler for in 1975 as manager of Academic
Affairs. He graduated from FHSU in 1941 with a
bachelor’s
degree in social science, and the next spring went to war,
serving with the U.S. Army Air Corps Weather Service at
air fields in Arizona and California as well as in Saipan,
Guam and Okinawa, where he was awarded a Bronze Star and
three Battle Stars.
After returning, he earned a master of
science degree in history and educational administration
at FHSU and taught at Minneapolis High
School, Minneapolis, Kan. and Fort Hays Kansas
State College.
In 1953 he earned a Ph.D. in European history and educational
administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia,
and then went to work as a historian for the U.S. Ordnance
Tank-Automotive Command in Detroit, Mich.
His career with Chrysler started in 1955, during which
he developed and presented corporate management training
programs, supervised and coordinated various educational
and training programs, served on advisory committees to
the University of Detroit, Wayne State University and local
community colleges and high schools.
When he retired from Chrysler, Unruh moved to Wayne State’s
Business School as associate professor of management and
director of professional development programs. He was instrumental
in gaining accreditation for the school’s MBA program
in 1976.
Unruh continues to work as a guest lecturer and consultant
and has worked with various foundations and scholarship
organizations. |
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C.
Robert Wetzel '58, president of Emmanuel School of Religion
and
president of the World Convention of Churches of Christ
- “I shall always be grateful for the opportunity
to do graduate studies there from 1956-58,” writes
C. Robert Wetzel of what was then Fort Hays Kansas State
College. Wetzel went on to earn a doctorate in philosophy
from the University of Nebraska, and is now president
of Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tenn.
In July, he took on the post of president of the World
Convention of Churches of Christ,.
Before coming to FHSU to earn an M.S. in literature and
philosophy, Wetzel had earned a bachelor of arts in ministries
from Midwest Christian College in Oklahoma City and had
taken his first pastorate in Oakley.
Wetzel’s career since includes 19 years at Milligan
College, Tennessee, serving in various capacities. At
Milligan, he developed a philosophy major and led a major
revision of the general education requirement resulting
in the Humanities Program. When he left Milligan, he
received the Fide et Amore Award for distinguished service.
He was founding principal of Springdale College (now,
after merging with Birmingham Bible Institute, Birmingham
Christian College) in Birmingham, England. He also was
a recognized lecturer at the University of Birmingham.
He returned to the United States in 1991 to join Emmanuel
School of Religion. Wetzel is a member of the Society
of Christian Philosophers, Phi Sigma Tau, Phi Kappa Phi
and Theta Phi. In addition to his academic work, he has
ministered to congregations in Oklahoma, Kansas and North
Carolina and, since 1986, has conducted regular two-week
teaching sessions in Central and Eastern Europe. |
- Young Alumni Award Recipient
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Richard
J. Baier '91, director of the Nebraska Department of
Economic
Development - It has been only a dozen years since Richard
Baier began his career in public administration as the
assistant to the city administrator for LaVista, Neb.
He graduated from FHSU in 1991 with a bachelor of arts
in political science. In August 2003, Baier was appointed
by Nebraska’s governor to direct the Nebraska Department
of Economic Development.
Baier earned a master of public administration degree
from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1994, the
same year
he took his second career step, to executive vice president
of the York Area Chamber and Development Corporation, York,
Neb. In February 1999 he became executive director of the
Development Corporation of North Platte, a position he
held until getting the governor’s call last year.
He was an intern for former Kansas U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon
Kassebaum.
He earned his rating as a Certified Economic Developer
(CEcD) from the International Economic Development Council
in 2002, graduated from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute
of Management in 2000 and from the Economic Development
Institute at the University of Oklahoma in 1997.
Baier is active in his community and
in several statewide business and professional organizations. Baier
himself attributes a great deal of the credit for
his success to date to FHSU and the people here. |
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Dustin
D. Smith '94, creative director and head of art for DDB
Worldwide Communications
Group Inc.-San Francisco, Calif. - Dustin D. Smith’s
career in advertising since graduating from FHSU in 1994
with a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design can almost
be told by the awards he’s won for his advertising
work in every medium, and it would still be an incomplete
listing.
Along the way, he has worked up from his first job through
creative director and vice president of Leo Burnett USA,
to his current position as creative director and head of
art for DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc. – San
Francisco, Calif.
Smith has won awards from what are widely regarded at the
three top award shows in the advertising business, the
Cannes International Advertising Festival, the One Show
and the Communication Arts Advertising Annual. His wins
include a Bronze Lion and four short lists at Cannes; his
work has been published in Communication Arts and has been
a finalist in the One Show several times. He has been a
finalist for the national Kelly Award for print excellence,
which sifts thousands of entries for the 10 finalists.
The Addy Award, which begins at the local level and progresses
through district, regional and national competitions, has
awarded Smith two Gold Awards and one Silver. He has made
the Addy national four years running, including this year.
Awards for his work also include honors from the London
International Ad Awards, the New York Festivals, the Chicago
International Film and TV Awards and the OBIE Awards.
Equally impressive is the list of clients for whom he has
worked: Chicago Botanic Garden, Kraft, Kellogg’s,
Altoids, Hallmark, McDonald’s, Pillsbury, Crayola,
Nintendo, Polaroid and Proctor and Gamble, to name a few. |
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Gerard
J. Wellbrock '90, sports director for Eagle Radio and "voice
of the Tigers" - In his position as Eagle Radio’s
sports director, Gerard Wellbrock is – in addition
to providing play-by-play announcing for Tiger athletics – responsible
for overseeing sports programming on five radio stations.
He also broadcasts the sports news for KBSH-TV; prepares
the FHSU coach’s show, “Tiger’s Den,” and
teaches the sports broadcasting class at Fort Hays State.
His broadcasting career actually began with KFHS Radio
and TV while he was earning his bachelor of arts in communications
from FHSU, which he received in 1990.
After graduating FHSU, he worked for two years as an
on-air announcer at KKAN/KQMA Radio, Phillipsburg, before
joining Eagle Radio in 1992 as assistant sports and news
director. In 2002 he became sports director and “voice
of the Tigers.”
He has won nearly every top honor in the state for sportscasting
and play-by-play. The list of awards and honors includes:
three Oscar Stauffer Awards from the Kansas State High
School Activities Association as Sportscaster of the
Year (1996, 1997 and 2000); the Kansas Interscholastic
Athletic Administrators Association Sportscaster of the
Year in 1999; and a first-place award for complete sportscast
in 1999 from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.
Wellbrock's extremely full work schedule does not keep
him from volunteering extensively in the community. He
has served as a class host at FHSU’s Homecoming
and as emcee of the Hays High School Athletic Banquet.
Every year he mentors area high school students in shadow
programs, serves as a guest book reader at the Hays Public
Library and at area grade schools and helps local Cub
Scout troops to reach achievement goals. He is also an
annual supporter of numerous charitable organizations. |
- Nita M. Landrum
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Eli
Boucher '43, longtime volunteer and FHSU advocate - After
graduating from FHSU in 1943 with a bachelor of arts
with majors in both math and science, Eli Boucher embarked
on a career in education that spanned 39 years. After
that came four years in computer sales.
“
After that venture in the business world, I then retired
from anything that paid in July 1986,” said Boucher. “That
was also the beginning of my volunteer work.”
And the volunteer work has been extensive. Much of it
has been in the free, AARP Tax-Aide Program, which he
helped initiate in the Hays area and in surrounding counties
in 1987. That expanded to all of western Kansas in 1991
and the program now has more than 60 volunteers serving
about 4,000 people each year.
Boucher taught four tax schools each year, four days
in Hays, three days each in Great Bend, Dodge City and
Colby, and he also does about 240 returns each year.
Boucher’s career in education included eight years
as a teacher and 31 as an administrator. Two of it was
earning a master of arts in public school administration
from the University of Kansas, during which he also taught
two classes of college math each semester.
Boucher, who earned a pilot’s license and taught
primary ground school before graduating from FHSU, also
taught physics. In January 1944 he was called to active
duty in the U.S. Army Air Corps and served two and a
half years.
His volunteer work did not just begin
in 1986. During his education career he served as president
of the Hays
area’s Kansas State Teachers Association and was
president of the FHSU Alumni Association from 1969-70.
Boucher has been a member of the Half-Century Club since
1992, serving on its Board of Directors and serving a
term as vice president and two terms as president. He
is still active in the Half-Century Club. He is also
still an active member of the Lewis Field Club, a group
he also has twice served as president. He also is active
in numerous community organizations. |
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2003
Recipients |
2002
Recipients | 2001
Recipients | 2000
Recipients | 1999
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