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Ruth Schillinger Award

Named after a long-time Dean of Women and ESU's first Affirmative Action officer, the Ethnic/Gender Studies Program each year selects one person to receive the Ruth Schillinger Award. The award is given to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the women of Emporia State over a sustained period. Past winners of the Ruth Schillinger Award include: 

  • 1996 Ruth Schillinger, Dean of Women 
In the 60's, women faculty, under the leadership and inspiration of the Women's Council and then Dean of Women, Ruth Schillinger, addressed such concerns as equity in pay, job satisfaction, questions of promotion, maternity leave, and sex discrimination.  This council looked at the lack of women in administrative positions, and its concerns were in part responsible for the hiring of several female administrators in the 1970's. -- Elizabeth Yanik at the first Ruth Schillinger Award Reception. 
  • 1997 Helen McElree, Professor of Biology
Dr. Helen McElree was born in Waxahachie, Texas.  She obtained her bachelors degree from the College of the Ozarks with a premedical major.  After graduation, she went to work for the Public Health Laboratories in Dallas where she became interested in microbiology.  Deciding against medical school, she chose graduate study in medically-orientated microbiology.  She obtained her Master's Degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1954. She attended Kansas University for her Ph.D. which she received in 1959.  Helen McElree joined the ESU Biology Department in 1961.  She was elected as the first President of the new Faculty Senate in 1968.  She is the only ESU faculty member ever to be elected as Faculty President twice.  Her research in Microbiology has led to her feature in several articles and the reception of a number of grants.  She was honored as the 1982 Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor, and has written several commentaries for the Bulletin on Women's Rights.  She retired from the University in 1991.
  • 1998 Mary Bonner, Professor of Education, ACI
Mary Bonner began her career in Emporia in a sixth-grade classroom at Butcher Elementary School.  She took leave to study and upon returning, was placed in the Department of Administrative Curriculum and Instruction.

"She was a fine professional, a very fine teacher of reading," said VJ Bowman, former chairwoman of the department of administrative curriculum and instruction.  "She demanded a lot of her students and expected a lot from them.  We were sorry to see her leave the institution."

In 1979, Mary's alma mater honored her with an honorary doctorate for her contributions to education and her humanitarian efforts.  She was an ESU faculty senator for three years, a member of the Kansas Standardization Committee, president of Emporia's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, listed in the International Directory of Distinguished Leaders and Noteworthy Americans, and she helped establish the first chartered sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho, to welcome African-American women at ESU.  Mary and her husband oversee the Bonner and Bonner Lecture Series at ESU.  -- 02/28/2001 Bulletin.

  • 1999 Ginny Higgins, Assoc. Professor, Communication
Prof. Higgins has taught in the Department of Communication & Theatre since 1964. A "homegrown" product, she received her BSE in Speech and in English in 1962 and her MS in Speech in 1969 from Kansas State Teachers College and did post-master's work in Speech Communication at the University of Kansas. Ginny taught Speech and English and coached Debate and Forensics at Topeka High School in 1962-63. At ESU she has taught a variety of courses, including Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, Group Discussion, Gender and Communication, Classroom Communication, and Contemporary Issues in Free Speech. 

For many years Ginny advised all the students who studied to be Speech, Theatre, and Debate teachers and taught the Methods course for the department. She also is the current chair of the university's AIDS Committee. During her years at ESU she has accumulated a long record of service, and among the honors she recalls most fondly are serving as president of ESU's Faculty Senate and being the campus chair for a major endowment campaign. Ginny was the first person to receive the Outstanding College Teacher of Speech award from the Kansas Speech Communication Association twice. She is also active as a community volunteer and currently serves as Chairperson of the Lyon County Chapter of the American Red Cross. An admitted animal lover, Ginny lives in Emporia with her two cats, Newman and Woody, and her field spaniel, Qasey.  When you can't find her at the office, check any farm pond in east central Kansas. 

  • 2000 Sally Torrey, Counselor & Director of Women's Resource Center
Sally Torrey retired from Emporia State in 1996 after 17 years of service.  When she retired she was the director of the Women's Resource Center.  Sally founded the Women's Programming Board, secured a grant to establish our Sexual Assault Prevention Program, was instrumental in establishing the Single Parent Program, and was active in other ways both on and off campus to better the condition of women, including work with SOS and the Girl Scouts of the Flint Hills.

"Sally was very dedicated to women's issues and helping women succeed in all aspects of their lives." - Karla Rodgers

"Sally has had a profound influence on women at this campus--she was both role model and mentor for so many of us." - Jaque Schmidt, Counselor/Coordinator 2001 Mary Headrick, Counselor & Director of Biofeedback Lab

  • 2001 Mary Headrick
From the Emporia Gazette, Thursday, Mar 2, 2000; page 7;  Mary Headrick served in various capacities at ESU before her retirement in 1992.  During the 27 years she was at ESU, Headrick taught classes and supervised graduate students, was a counselor, and served as the University's Affirmative Action Officer.

Additionally, she began the Women's Resource Center, the Biofeedback Lab, and the Susan B. Anthony Scholarship, which is awarded to the ESU student who demonstrates a beneficial impact on the growth and education of women on the ESU campus, demonstrates a need for financial aid, and displays academic competence.

"As a counselor, she touched the lives of many students, faculty, and staff," wrote one nominator of Headrick.  "She believed in equal rights for everyone and was especially concerned with the rights of women."

Mary Headrick was a counselor in Student Affairs from 1968 until 1992, and the affirmative action officer from 1986 until 1992.  From 1975 until 1981, she lectured part-time in the counselor education department and founded the Biofeedback Lab and the Women's Resource Center in the early '70s.

  • 2002 Betsy Yanik
  • 2003 Tes Mehring
  • 2004 Karen Manners-Smith
  • 2005 Connie Schrock

 

Last Updated May 3, 2006