WSU Alumni Association announces Alumni Awards recipients for 2017
Each year since 1955, the WSU Alumni Association has honored excellence through its awards program, which recognizes the achievements and outstanding service of not only deserving alumni, but faculty, staff and friends of WSU.
"From educators to philanthropists, we have a slate of Shockers that will truly impress," said Courtney M.Marshall, WSUAA president and CEO. "Since the WSUAA serves as the keeper of traditions, we are honored to carry on this tradition. I congratulate each of these amazing individuals who call themselves Shockers: M. Lee Pelton, Mike James, Cindy Claycomb, Kaye Monk-Morgan, Lisa Teachman, Bill and Dorothy Cohen, and Bob Gutschenritter."
The WSUAA's selection committee chose this year's class of six distinguished WSU graduates and two generous university supporters:
M. LEE PELTON '73, Alumni Achievement Award. Pelton, a Wichita native, has been the president of Emerson College in Boston since 2011. An English language and literature graduate of Wichita State, Pelton also holds a Ph.D. in English language and literature from Harvard University. A longtime university administrator, Pelton held deanships at Colgate University and Dartmouth College, and served as president for 13 years at Willamette
University in Oregon. He is a nationally and internationally known speaker and writer on the value of a liberal education and the importance of leadership development, civic engagement and diversity in higher education. He has overseen the implementation of several new initiatives at Emerson, including Emerson Launch, a program that provides opportunities for students to launch new businesses before graduation.
MIKE JAMES '71, Alumni Recognition Award. A political science graduate, James has spent much of his career in the medical industry. During his time as a WSU student, he was a basketball letterman -- playing for the Shockers from 1967-1970 -- and served as president of the Student Government Association. He also was selected as a Senior Honor Man. James, who graduated summa cum laude, is a former member of WSUAA's board of directors
and a past speaker in the WSUAA's Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series. He serves on the WSU Foundation's National Advisory Council. James has held management positions with Express Scripts, Accredo Health, Sonic Innovations, Motorola, Medtronic, Abbott Laboratories, Baxter Healthcare and Nestle.
CINDY CLAYCOMB '79/91, University Recognition Award. Claycomb is well known on campus as a business professor and administrator and as the founding director of WSU Ventures. This year, after scaling back her university duties, she campaigned for and won a seat on the Wichita City Council. At Wichita State, she maintains her role as professor and serves as the assistant to the president for strategic planning. In addition, she is an active WSUAA board member. A native of Wichita, Claycomb earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business
administration from WSU and her Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. She worked for Boeing and has also held several management positions in almost 10 years with the Pizza Hut division of PepsiCo.
KAYE MONK-MORGAN '93/96, Laura Cross Distinguished Service Award. Monk-Morgan served as director of Wichita State's TRIO Upward Bound Math Science Center for 20 years before being tapped to join the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Office as assistant dean for students. In that role, she manages academic issues between students and instructors, serves as the liaison between Fairmount College and the Office of Admissions and oversees and advises LAS student organizations, including the Fairmount College Student
Advisory Council. A two-time WSU alumnus, Monk-Morgan began her career at Wichita State in 1993 as a residence hall director in Fairmount Towers. Since that time, she has held other positions on campus including community college coordinator for the Office of Admissions and acting dean of students for the division of student affairs. She also worked in the community as the AmeriCorps director of the Neighborhood Freedom Corps.
LISA TEACHMAN '02, Young Alumni Award. Teachman is the chief meteorologist of the KSN Storm Tracker 3 Weather Center, the first woman to hold that position in the Wichita area. To prepare for her career, she completed a dual degree program in communications at Wichita State and meteorology at Mississippi State. Born and raised in the Wichita suburb of Haysville, Teachman began her broadcasting career in 1996 as a KSN meteorology intern. Before returning to Wichita earlier this year, she served on weather teams in Huntington, W.
Virginia.; Baltimore, Maryland; and Kansas City, Missouri. Teachman was a featured presenter in the WSUAA Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series in October.
DOROTHY and BILL COHEN, Award of Distinction. The Cohens are the namesakes of WSU's Honors College. As major university donors and members of the Society of 1895, they have generously supported both academics and athletics because they believe that a strong university is essential to a strong community. Dorothy Cohen spent almost two decades as a consultant for the government and public relations division of Koch Industries. Bill Cohen
is former chairman and CEO of IMA Financial Group in Wichita. Their 2015 gift to WSU endowed an Honors College enhancement scholarship, faculty fellow and leadership academy. It also provided a fund for university libraries.
BOB GUTSCHENRITTER '70/75, Shocker Tribute. Gutschenritter is a proud Shocker graduate and retired CPA and director of oil and gas services and marketing for his firm Gutschenritter and Johnson LLC CPAs, now GJ&Company LLC CPAs. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting, serving as an instructor in the department while pursuing the latter. Gutschenritter was a member of the WSUAA board of directors from 2007-2012. An endowed scholarship in accounting was established in his name in 2015.