The WSU Alumni Association’s annual awards ceremony is set to take place Jan. 26, 2006, and this year’s event — the 50th — will see awards presented to six outstanding Shockers.
The Alumni Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed by the association, will be handed to Nicholas “Nick” J. Mork ’71, who has built Sedgwick County’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters program into a national model, noted as the largest BBBS agency per capita in terms of Big/Little matches from 1982 through the present. His ideas and insights have transformed the program, enabling more children to be mentored more effectively. To mention only one example, Mork led the formation in 2001 of Kansas BBBS — an agency with the mission of serving an entire state.
The Alumni Recognition Award goes to Joe J. Palacioz ’71/76, a former member of the association’s board of directors and a longtime supporter of the university, its sports programs and alumni activities. He’s so dedicated to Wichita State, his four children are also Shockers. Professionally, Palacioz has distinguished himself as the city manager of Hutchinson, Kan., a community he served in that leadership capacity from 1989 until his retirement this past March. Unable to remain “retired,” Palacioz is stepping in as the interim city manager for Kingman, Kan., until Nov. 15.
This year’s University Recognition Award will be given to Elizabeth King in recognition of her outstanding service as the chief advancement officer at Wichita State. King’s duties include supervisory and budgetary responsibility for the Division of University Advancement, which includes WSU’s communications and marketing area as well as the Ulrich Museum of Art. She also serves as executive director of both the WSU Foundation and the WSU Board of Trustees — and is the administrative liaison with the WSU Alumni Association. Her tenure has marked a period of unprecedented growth for the WSU Foundation, whose assets have grown from $53.8 million to $138.8 million. King, who earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College and a Master of Education and Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of North Texas, has served in her present role at Wichita State since 1991.
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The Young Alumni Award will be presented to Brian A. ’96 and Joy N. (Hovorak) Heinrichs ’00, whose support for the university and the alumni association truly goes above and beyond. Although they’ve moved away from Wichita (to Chicago, first; then to Westfield, N.J., where Brian commutes to work as vice president, municipal derivatives, at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets in NYC), the Heinrichs continue to return for special Shocker events, meetings and key athletic matches.
The Distinguished Service Award goes to William H. “Bill” Smith, the 28-year veteran director of the Rhatigan Student Center (formerly Campus Activities Center). Smith oversees a budget of $9 million, a staff of 100, a championship bowling squad and a schedule that features some 15,000 events every year.
