Staff & Faculty
Staff
Carolyn Nelson
a native of Morris County, Kansas, joined the Elderhostel program at Emporia State University in December 2006, as Program Coordinator. She graduated in 1963 from White City High School and received her Bachelor’s of Science of Education with a minor in Early Education from Emporia State University in January of 1968. She taught Kindergarten, first and second grades at Herington Elementary School in Herington, Kansas until she retired in May of 2006. She has held memberships and leadership positions in professional associations and is currently the treasurer for the Council Grove Lake Association where she lives. She has three grown children with families living in Sarcoxie, MO, Overland Park, KS, and Ocean Springs, MS whom she thoroughly enjoys visiting. She raised her family on a ranch east of Burdick, Kansas, at the edge of the Flint Hills, and now enjoys being with family and friends, living at the Council Grove Lake, and traveling.
Faculty
Betty Durkee | Dr. Don Coldsmith | Dr. Tom Eddy | Dr. Jim Hoy | Mary Honeyman
Niel Johnson | Kay Kuhlmann | Dr. Christopher (Chris) Lovett | Dr. Jim Mayo
Kenneth McClintock | Dr. Ron McCoy | Dr. Gil Michel | Ron Parks
Dr. Loren E. Pennington | Dan Riggs | Ustaine Talley
Betty Durkee
Kaw Nation Historic Preservation Director, serves as Project Director for Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park, National Historic Register-listed site of the last Kanza (Kaw) village in Kansas. She has a B.A. degree in English and history from Pennsylvania State University and more than thirty years’ experience in non-profit management, development, strategic planning, and historic preservation. Her professional experience includes serving as the first Executive Director for Standing Bear Native American Memorial Park in Ponca City, Oklahoma and as Program Development Coordinator for the National Historic Landmark E.W. Marland Estate in Ponca City. She is the Kaw Nation’s representative to the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission’s Circle of Tribal Advisors and to the Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Native Cultures Subcommittee. She has told the Kaw Nation’s story in the Corps II Tent of Many Voices in Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Oklahoma City and has spoken to many groups throughout Kansas and Missouri as part of a Missouri Humanities Council-sponsored series on Lewis and Clark. Although not a tribal member, Betty has been privileged to work closely with and learn from the tribes in north central Oklahoma and to participate in tribal ceremonies.
Dr. Don Coldsmith
born in Iola, Kansas, entered the army following high school graduation and served as a combat medic in the Pacific. At the war’s end, he was assigned the primary medical care of about 40 of the upper echelon war crimes prisoners, including Premier Hideki Tojo. Returning home, he graduated from Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas in 1949. Working as a YMCA youth director, he initiated the first interracial swimming in Topeka, Kansas, in the same school district as the now-famous “Brown vs Board of Education” case, but somewhat earlier. He completed a doctorate in medicine in 1958 and served for 30 years as a physician in Family Practice in Emporia, delivering nearly 3,000 babies, and closed his office in 1988 to devote more time to his writing. He has written forty books, and nearly 1800 weekly syndicated newspaper columns over the last thirty years. There are now some six million copies of his historical Western novels in print, as well as British, German, French and Russian editions. Most relate to American Indian themes. He has received numerous honors from the Western Writers of America, including the Golden Spurs Award in 1990 for Best Paperback of the Year. In 1993 he was named Distinguished Kansan of the Year by the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas. He was inducted into the Writers’ Hall of Fame of America and also chosen as one of the most important writers of the 20th century in 2000.
Dr. Tom Eddy
native Kansan, grew up in the Flint Hills. His interests in agriculture and natural history lead him to study at Kansas State University, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Doctoral degrees, and at the University of Arizona for his Master’s degree. He teaches courses in botany and environmental biology at Emporia State University. His research has focused on Kansas Rivers and prairie plants. Tom has taught for Elderhostel from its beginnings on the Emporia State campus and is a great enthusiast for the program.
Dr. Jim Hoy
Mary Honeyman
a native Kansan, is the site administrator for Kaw Mission State Historic Site, Council Grove, Kansas, and a graduate of three Kansas universities: Kansas State University, Manhattan, MLA; Wichita State University, MME; and Washburn University of Topeka, BA. She is a registered landscape architect and certified professional in erosion and sediment control who has, for the past eight years, served as the president of Aqua-Terr, LLC, a private environmental service and consulting firm headquartered in Council Grove. Previously, Honeyman was employed by Kansas State University as the Director of Recruitment and assistant professor for the College of Architecture, Planning and Design. She served as the Education Director for Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, Wichita, Kansas. Since 1992, she has served on the Friends of Kaw Heritage Board of Directors, Voices of the Wind Pageant Committee, the Kanza Memorial Tree Project at Allegawaho Park, and was the co-organizer of the "Meet Me at the Mission: A Frontier Kansas Dining Experience" fund-raising event for the Kaw Mission Preservation and Development Project.
Niel Johnson
began his successful career as “Harry Truman” in the early 1990’s, following his retirement in 1992 as an archivist at the Truman Library, a position he held for nearly 15 years. In addition he has been involved in numerous enterprises including the publication of two books. Previously Niel taught history at Augustana College. He also worked as an historian for the U.S. Army for several years in Rock Island, Illinois.
Kay Kuhlmann
has been researching, writing, directing, and performing in historical theatre since 1989. Her work ranges from one-person presentations to large-cast outdoor plays, and she has performed at numerous presidential sites and at the National Archives. She holds an M.A. in theatre from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Born in Kansas City and raised in Wyoming and Kansas, Kay currently lives in Nevada, Missouri, where she is Director of the Helen and George Washburn Center for Women's Leadership at Cottey College.
Dr. Christopher (Chris) Lovett
is a native of New Jersey and came to Kansas is 1966 to attend the College of Emporia. He decided to make Topeka his home, following a tour in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and currently resides there with his wife and his daughter. Over the years, he has authored several articles concerning American and Russian military history as well as teaching pedagogy. His current research interests include McCarthyism and internal security issues in the 1950’s and he maintains an enduring fascination with FDR, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. He earned his Ph.D. in European History from Kansas State University and has taught at Kansas State, the University of Iowa, and Fort Hays State University
Dr. Jim Mayo
a native of Stafford, Kansas, came to Emporia State University in 1981.
Prior to coming to Emporia State University, he taught courses at the
University of Alberta and the University of Calgary in Canada for 12 years.
His expertise includes range management, plant physiology, grasses and
soils, plant water relations, and plant ecology. Jim has a Bachelor's
degree in Range Management from Utah State University, a Master's in Botany-Plant
Physiology from Utah State University and his Ph.D. in the same major
from the University of Washington. He is a member of the American Institute
of Biological Sciences, the Ecological Society of America, the Kansas
Academy of Science, and the Soil and Water Conservation Society of America.
Jim has written numerous articles for professional journals and presented
many scientific papers at professional meetings and seminars. He serves
on the Board of Directors of the Land Institute and its Science Advisory
Board, Salina, KS. Putting all of the above into practice, Jim is also
a Chase County rancher and farmer and a member of the Grassroots Association
of Kansas.
Kenneth McClintock
earned his law degree from the KU School of Law in 1968 and has a private practice in Council Grove. His great-grandparents came to Morris County in 1879 and 1899. He has done considerable historical research on Council Grove and presents numerous talks on this subject. Also, he has written many articles on aspects of history in Council Grove. He and his wife Shirley are restoring their Terwilliger home built in 1861.
Dr. Ron McCoy
has authored several books and numerous articles on the history and lore of the American West. His fascination with the pageant of western history began during his childhood on the Arizona-Mexico border as the son of Tim McCoy, a real-life cowboy who became the hero of a hundred Hollywood westerns. Formerly, he served as the director of the Center for Great Plains Studies and is presently a professor of History at Emporia State University. He earned his Ph.D in American History.
Dr. Gil Michel
a native Kansan was born on St. Patrick’s Day in Rawlins County near the “Western Cattle Trail” which extended from Dodge City to Ogallala, Nebraska, and on to Wyoming and Montana. He graduated from Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa in 1966, then practiced in Ellsworth, KS. In 1976 he moved his Chiropractic practice to Newton, KS where he practiced until his retirement. His curiosity about the Chisholm Trail has been a part of his interest all of his life. His interest in the Santa Fe Trail began in 1994 when the Cottonwood River Crossing of the Santa Fe Trail Association was formed. He has been active in researching the history of the Santa Fe Trail, especially in Marion County, and has been involved with projects to develop and erect signage that marks the crossing of the Santa Fe Trail and the Chisholm Trail as well as roadside signs that mark the route of the Santa Fe Trail through Marion County. Another recent project is construction of a kiosk at the Cottonwood River Crossing with three interpretive plaques made by the National Park Service. Numerous other projects are being planned. In addition to serving as Chapter President for four years and Secretary for three years, he will be conducting bus tours of the historic sites in this area for the National Santa Fe Trail Symposium to be held in McPherson, Kansas, Fall 2005.
Ron Parks
a native Kansan, graduated from Kansas State University in 1972 and taught English at Chapman High School for 7 years. In 1981, he became curator of the Fort Hays State Historic Site. He served as executive director of the Kansas Eisenhower Centennial Commission for two years and then became curator of the Kaw Mission State Historic Site in 1990. He left to be assistant director of the Historic Sites Division for the State Historical Society, but returned as the Kaw Mission curator in July 1999. He retired as curator of the Kaw Mission June 30, 2004.
Dr. Loren E. Pennington
holds a PhD in American History from the University of Michigan. He has been a member of the ESU faculty since 1960. In 1980 the University named him a Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor. Though he retired in 1992, he is still an Adjunct Professor. In 1985 he was one of the founders of the Kansas Chautauqua, and he still plays the role of Governor Alfred M. Landon. His writings include a book, book chapters, and articles in the fields of colonial and economic history, and he is currently engaged in research for a book on the Studebaker Corporation.
Dan Riggs
is a member of the third generation to live the Dunlap area. He is now retired from approximately 40 years as a businessman in the floor covering and decorating business in Emporia, Kansas. He is currently employed by the National Park Service as a Park Ranger at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas. Dan is presently living in Cottonwood Falls, and has just been re-elected to his second term as mayor.
Ustaine Talley
grew up in Dunlap, Kansas on Benjamin “Pap” Singleton’s farm colony established in the late 1800s for Black immigrants during the Great Exodus to the West. Since she returned to Kansas ten years ago, investigation into family genealogy has led Ustaine into the fascinating history of her home in the Flint Hills. She is President of The Prairie Heritage Institute, Inc.; a non-profit organization established to preserve the Tall Grass Prairie and the social history of the people who settled it. Talley writes historical fiction based on facts she has uncovered, and gives presentations and talks on black immigration to Kansas. She currently resides in Topeka, Kansas and is completing a Master’s in Liberal Studies at Washburn University.
Last Updated April 26, 2007