Rise & Shine VI. The sixth year of the Wichita State University Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Speaker Breakfast Series promises six stellar reasons to get out of bed early.
The 2002-03 series offers another year of eye-opening presentations and mouth-watering breakfast buffets at The Olive Tree Banquet Hall, 29th Street and Rock Road. Breakfasts begin at 7:30 a.m. Season subscriptions can be purchased for $80. Patron packages are $125 and include preferred seating and a special patron gift. For details about the series, call (316) 978-3834.
Lee Pelton
Fri., Sept. 27
The president of Willamette University, M. Lee Pelton ’74 began his service to the Oregon university in 1998 with a thorough grounding in university life as a student, faculty member and senior administrator at Harvard, Colgate and Dartmouth. Noted for his commitment to diversity and his efforts to enhance undergraduate intellectual life, he is a member of several university and national educational boards and committees. He has lectured and written widely on a variety of subjects, including his academic focus on 19th century British prose and poetry.
Fran Jabara
Tue., Oct. 22
Compelled by a firm belief in the role of the entrepreneur in the growth of the free-enterprise system, Fran Jabara founded one of the first academic programs in entrepreneurship in the nation at WSU in 1977. He joined the faculty in 1949, served for seven years as dean of the College of Business Administration and, after leaving Wichita State in 1989, has been instrumental in assisting other universities in starting programs of their own. A CPA, he is the founder of a merchant banking and investment company, Jabara Ventures Group, as well as the Jabara Family Foundation.
Ruth David
Mon., Nov. 18
With a focus on homeland security, Ruth David ’75 serves as president and chief executive officer of anser, an independent, not-for-profit, public service research institution that provides research and analysis support on national and international issues. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, she serves on the National Security Agency Advisory Board, the National Research Council Naval Studies Board and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Technical Advisory Group. From 1995 to 1998, she was deputy director for science and technology for the cia, where she was responsible for research, development and deployment of technologies in support of the nation’s intelligence-gathering process.
Donna Sweet
Wed., Feb. 19, 2003
Best known for her treatment of and research on AIDS, Dr. Donna Sweet ’70/72 holds multiple positions in the world of medical education and patient care. She is professor of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, the director of internal medicine education at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis campus and the director and principal investigator for the Kansas AIDS Education and Training Center. She is also a national board member of the American Academy of HIV Medicine, as well as a member of the board of regents and recent past national chair of the board of governors for the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine.
Mike Kennedy
Thu., March 27, 2003
Named the state’s outstanding play-by-play broadcaster by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters an impressive eight times, Mike Kennedy ’71 is the “Voice of the Shockers.” He began his broadcasting career at Wichita State’s KMUW-FM, announcing home football, basketball and baseball games. After graduation and stints at KKOY-FM in Chanute, Kan., and KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kan., he returned to Wichita in 1976 to work with the city’s Triple A baseball team, the Aeros. Beginning in 1980, he became the play-by-play man for the Shockers full-time — a role he’s excelled at for 22 years.
Stephen Gleissner
Tue., April 29, 2003
As chief curator at the Wichita Art Museum, Stephen Gleissner ’87/87 oversees the museum’s holdings, helps make additions to the collection and attracts outside exhibitions to the museum. Gleissner brought to the position a wide range of experience in handling works of art. While at WSU, he served as collections manager for the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum and went on to serve internships at the Southampton Art Gallery, Southampton, England, and then the Art Institute of Chicago.
