Congratulations to the 2016 WSU Alumni Award recipients
Begun in 1955, the WSU Alumni Awards program has annually honored those alumni, university faculty, staff and friends who have made distinctive contributions to Wichita State, the alumni association and to our wider world.
The 2016 honorees will receive custom glass art made by Karg Art Glass at a gala banquet and ceremony on Thursday, April 20.
Mark Finucane '76, Alumni Achievement Award.
Mark is a managing director with Alvarez & Marshall Healthcare Industry Group in Los Angeles. Before joining A&M, he spent seven years with a Big Four accounting firm as account leader and co-director of the company's Academic Medical Center practice.
Recognized by the healthcare industry for his extensive leadership, Finucane is a nationally known healthcare advisor known for his "policy creativity," whose clients include academic medical centers, major teaching hospitals and more. His ties with the WSUAA go back to 1975 when he was a student writer for the association's alumni magazine.
Jackie Williams '67, Alumni Recognition Award.
A former U.S. attorney who spent 17 years as the assistant U.S. attorney and six as the U.S. attorney for Kansas and who now serves as deputy attorney general and director of the Medicaid fraud division in the Kansas Attorney General's Office, Jackie has supported Wichita State and its alumni association through many -- and varied -- avenues.
To mention just a few, he has served as a member of the WSUAA Board of Directors and has taught in WSU's criminal justice program as a Distinguished Senior Fellow (2001-2011).
Ron Matson, University Recognition Award.
Currently serving as dean of Wichita State's Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Matson first joined the faculty at WSU as a member of the sociology department in 1970. Associate Professor Matson has published two edited books: "The Spirit of Sociology" and "One of the Guys: Masculinities in Social Context."
Matson has been recognized as an effective teacher a number of times, including being presented an Excellence in Teaching Award in 1980; the award came with $1,000. Students then described him as "articulate," "enthusiastic," "considerate," "challenging" and "insightful." Among his later teaching accolades, he was named as one of 1992's recipients of the George A. Lewis awards for creative and innovative teaching.
Dean '82 and Esther '79 Headley, Laura Cross Distinguished Service Award.
As individuals, both Dean and Esther are deserving of this distinguished service award -- taken together as a couple, few other Shockers can be credited with such long-standing, effective and broad-reaching support of Wichita State and the WSU Alumni Association.
Dean is an associate professor at Wichita State. His academic specialties are research and services marketing, and his most prominent service to Wichita State is his nationally recognized Airline Quality Rating, an annual study done in partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Esther, president and partner at The Research Partnership Inc., as well as a lecturer in the Barton School of Business, has not only succeeded in the marketing and research world, but has made time to serve her alma mater, including through a term as board chair of the WSU Alumni Association.
Mildred "Mickey" Armstrong '45, Award of Distinction.
Mickey and her late husband Pete Armstrong '42, have been university supporters and donors for decades. Through the years they have contributed to varied projects, ranging from athletics to the fine arts.
It is Mickey's special relationship with the WSU Alumni Association that is the prime reason for her nomination as an Award of Distinction recipient: she was the second person in the Alumni Association's history to serve as a paid, and thus "official," alumni secretary for the volunteer organization. Her main project back in the mid-to-late 1940s was gathering and maintaining alumni records.