{"id":56407,"date":"2020-09-22T08:19:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T13:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=56407"},"modified":"2020-09-22T08:19:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T13:19:32","slug":"fhsu-alumni-association-announces-honorees-for-homecoming-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=56407","title":{"rendered":"FHSU Alumni Association announces honorees for Homecoming 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven alumni and friends of Fort Hays State University will be honored at the Alumni Awards and Recognition Celebration on Oct. 1 during the week of Homecoming 2020. For details on how you can celebrate these award winners during FHSU Homecoming@Home week, visit www.goforthaysstate.com\/homecoming2020<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alumni Achievement Award<\/strong>, the association’s highest honor, was established in 1959 to\nrecognize graduates who have made outstanding contributions in service to their\ncommunity, state, or nation as public citizens, professionals, or through philanthropic work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s five Alumni Achievement Award recipients\nare Lynda \u201cLyn\u201d\n(Beck) Fenwick ’66, Macksville; Dr. R Douglas Hurt ’69, ’71, West Lafayette, Ind.; Charlie Riedel ’83, Overland Park; Marla (Schmidt) Staab ’73, Hays; and Dan Weller \u201993, Lenexa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Young Alumni Award<\/strong> is presented to graduates in 10- to 15-year reunion classes. The\naward recognizes alumni, early in their careers after college, who have made an impact in their professions and in their communities through outstanding professional and\neducational achievements, community service, and by earning significant honors and awards. Candidates must hold a bachelor’s\ndegree from FHSU and be under age 40 as of Jan. 1 of the year the awards are\npresented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Young Alumni Award recipient for 2020 is Aaron Bernasconi \u201810, Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nita M. Landrum Award<\/strong> recognizes a graduate or friend of\nthe university who has demonstrated a continuing commitment to advancing humanity on a universal, national,\nstate, or community level. Honorees also support spiritual, cultural, and educational initiatives and exemplify the highest standards of character\nand personal excellence. This award is reserved for alumni or friends of the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s Nita M. Landrum Award goes to Ashley Adorante ’01, Overland Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\njoin a question-and-answer session for each award winner by\nregistering on the Homecoming@Home link listed above. Registration deadline is listed below each\nrecipient\u2019s profile. Or, to view the session without registration, visit the FHSU\nAlumni Association Facebook page for a live broadcast of the session at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FHSUAlumni<\/a>. The online celebration for the recipients is set for 7 p.m. Oct. 1 on the\nFHSU Alumni Association Facebook page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Profiles of\nthe 2020<\/strong> <\/strong>Honorees:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALUMNI\nACHIEVEMENT AWARDS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynda \u201cLyn\u201d\n(Beck) Fenwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since graduating in 1966 with her B.S. in education, Lyn Fenwick\u2019s career has been diverse. She first taught sixth-grade, and while\nher husband served as an Air Force officer, she taught high school English in\nNew York and Massachusetts. They regard their opportunities to live and travel\nthroughout America, meeting people from across our nation, as a continuation of\ntheir FHSU educations. When they moved to Texas, Lyn received her law degree\nfrom Baylor University. She was a partner in law firms in Waco and Dallas, an\nadjunct professor at Baylor, and she appeared before the United States Supreme\nCourt. Like many professional couples, they adapted their careers for one\nanother. When Larry\u2019s career took them to Georgia and North Carolina, Lyn was\nlicensed but chose to begin writing and pursuing her art, starting with art\nclasses at FHSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baylor\nUniversity Press published \u201cShould the Children Pray?\u201d for which she was\nselected as Georgia Nonfiction Author of the Year, and Dutton published\n\u201cPrivate Choices, Public Consequences.\u201d In Atlanta, she served on the boards of\nthe Pastel Society and the Portrait Society.  Wherever they have lived,\nLyn has served her community by volunteering in various ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She and her\nhusband, Larry, have chosen to retire in Kansas, living in her\nfourth-generation family home. Her most recent book, published by the University\nPress of Kansas, is \u201cPrairie Bachelor,\u201d about a Kansas homesteader and the\nPopulist Movement. Returning to Kansas has given them the opportunity to\nreconnect with FHSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry and Lyn\nbelieve in the importance of giving back to their community. Because of Lyn\u2019s\nlove of books, they contributed to the planned renovation of Forsyth Library,\ngifted their Oz Collection to FHSU, and supported the biennial College of\nEducation\u2019s Fall Young Readers\u2019 Conference by sponsoring a respected children\u2019s\nbook illustrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also\nestablished the community supported Lori Lamb Legacy Grant scholarship program\nat Macksville High School. When Lyn was asked to deliver the graduation address\nthere, she began by reminding students to thank those who help them throughout\ntheir lives. You can read her blog sharing that graduation address at https:\/\/lynfenwick.blogspot.com\/2014\/05\/school-community-then-now.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register\nfor Zoom call by Wednesday, Sept. 30. Lyn\u2019s session is scheduled for noon Thursday, Oct. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. R\nDouglas Hurt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author\nof 22 books and 21 book chapters, three digital publications, and\nmore than 100 articles related to U.S. History, American Agriculture, Rural,\nWest, Midwest, and South, Dr. R. Douglas Hart drew on his B.A. and M.A. in history from Fort Hays State and his Ph.D. in American history at Kansas State University to record a lifetime of achievements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Hurt\nbegan his career as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the History of Science and\nTechnology at the National Museum of Science and Technology at the Smithsonian\nInstitution, now known as the Museum of American History. His career then took him to several destinations\nincluding Texas Tech University, the Ohio Historical Society, the State\nHistorical Society of Missouri, Iowa State University, and currently the\nDepartment of History at Purdue University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Hurt\nserved as the head of the Department of History at Purdue University for 15\nyears. During that time, he worked to increase the department from 27 to 37\nfaculty. Proudly, he has increased the number of women faculty to more than 50\npercent and increased the number of minority faculty in the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides his\ncareer as a professor and writer, Dr. Hurt has served in several other roles, including member of several advisory boards, consultant and advisor, and as the United Way campaign chair in 2005, 2006, and 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1979,\nDr. Hurt received the Young Alumni Award from Fort Hays State University and\nhas continued to show his support to the University by presenting lectures to\nthe agricultural history class taught by Professor Brittany Howell and public\npresentations sponsored by the Department of Agriculture and Department of\nHistory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register\nfor Zoom call by Tuesday, Sept. 29. Dr. Hurt\u2019s session is scheduled for 3 p.m.\nWednesday, Sept. 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlie\nRiedel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlie Riedel celebrates his 20th anniversary as a staff\nphotographer for The Associated Press in Kansas City this October. While in this position, he has covered primarily news and sporting events in Kansas and Missouri, but he has also been involved in numerous\nnational stories including Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, the 2004 Presidential\nelection, wildfires in the western United States, and post 9\/11 activities at\nthe World Trade Center in New York. In addition to notable news events, Riedel has also\nfrequently covered major sporting events including: The Super Bowl, Kentucky\nDerby, golf tournaments, MLB playoffs, World Series and six Olympics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to\nhis current career, Riedel used his B.S. in Communications (journalism) as a\nphoto editor for The Hays Daily News, where he documented life in\nsmall-town Kansas for 17 years. While at the Hays Daily, he was named the National Press Photographers\nAssociation Region 7 Photographer of the year three times and won numerous state and regional\nphotojournalism awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riedel\u2019s\nphotos have appeared in prominent news media across the nation, including Time Magazine for his photo\ncoverage of the Deepwater Horizon spill. His photos have also appeared in multiple \u201cTop Photos of the Year\u201d\ncompilations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gives back to the community through speaking engagements on several university campuses and high\nschools and by serving as a judge at the Five State Photo Competition, numerous regional photo competitions, and a national Photo of the Year\nCompetition. Riedel also donated his collection of the Fort Hays State University\nphotographs to the university archive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register\nfor Zoom call by Sunday, Sept. 27. Charlie\u2019s session is scheduled\nfor noon Monday, Sept. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marla\n(Schmidt)<\/strong> <\/strong>Staab<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lifelong faculty member and friend of FHSU, Marla Staab earned her B.A. in 1973 and her\nM.S. in 1974 in speech-language pathology. She began her professional career in\n1977 as a part-time clinical instructor in the FHSU Speech-Language Pathology program. Staab\u2019s goal as an instructor was to help\nstudents develop their clinical skills as they worked with children with speech\nand other language difficulties. This led her to spend hours in Forsyth\nLibrary using the research tools available at the time to study a wide variety of syndromes and developmental disorders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994,\nStaab was chosen as the first full-time clinical coordinator for the Herndon\nSpeech-Language-Hearing Clinic on campus. She was responsible for\nadministration, clinical teaching, and supporting the clinical instructors in\ndeveloping supervisory skills. Along with these duties, and in conjunction with other clinical instructors,\nshe designed and compiled supervisor and student clinic handbooks that included resources for clinic\ninstructions, expectations\/guidelines for students, as well as performance\nstandards and competencies for both instructors and students. The resources she\ncreated are still used today in an online format. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staab and\nher peers developed a plan to increase public awareness of communication\ndisorders as well as the services provided at the Herndon Clinic through\nbrochures, presentations to medical communities, and contributions to building\na website. In addition, she worked closely with a colleague to complete a literature review and design the\nClinical Competency Rating Scale (CCRS), which was presented as a poster\nsession at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) National\nConference in 2006. This presentation helped bring attention to the need for stating\nstudent learning outcomes for both academic and clinical skills to a national\naudience and are now part of the national accreditation standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her professional and personal contributions did not stop at the\nuniversity level. Staab collaborated with various agencies to support and\nimprove services available to children and families in Ellis and Rush Counties.\nA few of her community contributions include service as a charter member of the Hays Area Interagency\nCoordinating Council representing the Herndon Clinic, the State of Kansas Early\nIntervention Task Force on Newborn Hearing Screening, and the Kansas Early Head Start\nOutcomes Committee. Staab has earned many achievements throughout her years of service to Fort Hays\nState and the community, but the highlight of her career came in 2006 when she\nwas designated as a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association,\nwhich is one of the highest honors the Association bestows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register\nfor Zoom call by Sunday, Sept. 27. Marla\u2019s session is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan<\/strong> <\/strong>Weller<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nmulti-instrumentalist, Dan Weller earned his B.A. in music at Fort Hays State and went on to work as a professional studio and touring musician. Weller lives in Kansas City and Nashville and has shared the stage with some of the top touring artists in\nAmerica, including Florida Georgia Line, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Kid Rock, ZZ Top,\nBack Street Boys, Nelly, and many more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weller has toured extensively in North America, Europe, and Australia, appearing in venues that range from\nsmall local clubs to sold-out shows in Madison Square Garden, Major League Baseball parks, and NFL stadiums. One Fourth of\nJuly show on the National Mall in D.C. was performed in front of an audience of nearly 500,000, the largest he has appeared before to date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has also been featured on talk\nshows, television shows, news channels, and special TV events including Ellen, Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day\nParade, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Voice, and Good Morning America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\ntouring, Weller acted as the community service liaison, connecting both Taylor Swift and Florida Georgia Line with Kansas City-based St. Jude\u2019s\nChildren\u2019s Hospital and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Weller also partnered with TOMS Shoes and Save The Children. He is an active volunteer leader with Troup 181 of the Boy Scouts of America and continues\nto mentor musicians and artists in both Kansas City and Nashville. Weller also works to pair producers, musicians, and artists to help bright upcoming talent\nconnect with professional opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register\nfor Zoom call by Monday, Sept. 28. Dan\u2019s session is scheduled for noon Tuesday, Sept. 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YOUNG\nALUMNI AWARD  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron<\/strong> <\/strong>Bernasconi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernasconi\u2019s service as the Senior Advisor to Deputy United\nStates Trade Representative, Ambassador C.J. Mahoney, for the past two years is but one of the many accomplishments\nthat have made this young alum deserving of this honor. The pinnacle achievement\nof his career is the successful renegotiation and modernization of the North\nAmerican Free Trade Agreement, now known as the United States-Mexico-Canada\nAgreement (USMCA). On Jan. 29 of this year, Bernasconi had the honor of joining the President as he\nsigned the USMCA into law, securing economic benefits and solidifying the\nfuture of America\u2019s farmers, ranchers, workers, and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\naddition to his career endeavors, Bernasconi \u2013 who earned his B.A. in political\nscience \u2013 has volunteered as a youth leader at Sync Student\nMinistries and served as a leader, mentor, and counselor to a group of\nstudents, helping them navigate the ups and downs of teenage life in a\nsafe and shame-free environment. Bernasconi takes pride in his\nefforts to help hundreds of students find their passions, realize\ntheir potential, repair damaged relationships, overcome immense hardships,\nand unlock their potential. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also,\nserving as a Youth Education Volunteer at Nashville International Center for\nEmpowerment (NICE), Bernasconi had the opportunity to empower high school\nrefugees and immigrant students, connecting them to services that help mitigate the effects of interrupted\neducation, and overcoming cultural and language barriers to learning.\nBernasconi assisted in academic tutoring on all subjects, worked to strengthen\nstudents\u2019 literacy proficiency, and aided students in the transition to a new life in America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the other notable honors he has\nreceived came from the senior leadership at RAM Tool\nInc., where he was recognized as one of the company\u2019s top personal trainers. He also rose to\nbecome one of the top sales representatives when he worked for Techtronic Industries North America\nInc. He was even recognized by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran at a national level for outstanding service as a\nDoorkeeper to the U.S. Senate\u2019s Sergeant at Arms, accompanying the senator as his personal guest to a Joint\nSession of Congress attended by French President, Emmanuel Macron. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register\nfor Zoom call by Monday, Sept. 28. Aaron\u2019s session is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NITA M.\nLANDRUM<\/strong> <\/strong>AWARD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley<\/strong> <\/strong>Adorante<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Sigma Sigma Sigma (Alpha Gamma) alumna is an active volunteer with FHSU, the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Kan., the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, and several other community\ngroups and organizations. Her extensive record of leadership and service in so many\nareas make Ashley Adorante an obvious choice as this year\u2019s Nita M. Landrum Award winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adorante\nserves on leadership boards, steering committees, and planning committees all around\nthe Kansas City area. She stands out in so many settings because she is\nroutinely the first to identify ways to pursue better, faster, more economical\nways of conducting business. She has amassed a tremendous record of\nachievement as a planner, a leader, and an organizer of diverse events,\nlarge and small. She works tirelessly as an advocate with volunteer groups, inspiring others to attend and participate as\nwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adorante received a B.S. in 2001 in physical education\n(health and wellness) and often returns to FHSU to volunteer at alumni events and Tri Sigma\nactivities. She eagerly supports and attends FHSU sporting events and other\nalumni events around the Kansas City area wearing her Tiger Gold and, at times, suiting up as Victor E. Tiger at local events in Kansas City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she is\nnot volunteering, she is working as the Outreach Coordinator for the Masonic\nCancer Alliance at The University of Kansas Cancer Center, an organization that\nbrings together patient care, research, and support professionals throughout\nKansas and western Missouri. Adorante is specifically responsible for helping\nto develop and implement statewide cancer outreach and education programs with a focus on\npromoting community awareness of cancer prevention and early detection, sun\nsafety, and she does it all with a focus on assuring the inclusion of people in underserved communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register\nfor Zoom call by Tuesday, Sept. 29. Ashley\u2019s session is scheduled for noon\nWednesday, Sept. 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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