University Service Citation winners are models of selflessness

Emporia State University will honor four volunteers for their extraordinary service to the university during a dinner on Tuesday, March 7, as the 26th class of University Service Citation winners.

Russ and Jeannie Jenkins, of Emporia; Lana Oleen, of Manhattan; and Kim Pember, of Emporia, are the University Service Citation award winners for 2006. The award recognizes unique and significant service to the university. Individuals chosen for the award have demonstrated a deep loyalty to ESU. Their efforts extend beyond the call of duty, and are usually performed without expectation for compensation. Since the first awards in 1980, 66 people have been recognized.

A reception at the Sauder Alumni Center will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person and must be reserved by Friday, March 3. For more information, contact the Office of University Advancement at (620) 341-5440 or sacpc@emporia.edu.

Russ and Jeannie Jenkins

While Russ and Jeannie Jenkins are well known for hosting the Football Traditions BBQ in the last two years, their contributions to Emporia State University go far beyond this outstanding event. The couple has served ESU with their time and resources for many years. The football event raised more than $16,000 in the fall of 2005, besting the 2004 mark of $12,000-plus. Russ, a member of the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame, is a lifetime member of ESU Foundation Board of Trustees and served as chairman from 1999 to 2001. He served three years on the Alumni Association Board of Directors and was chairman from 1985 to 1986. Currently he’s a member of the leadership gifts committee for the Building Blocks for Success scholarship campaign. Russ entered the life insurance business in 1974 after earning his degree in business education from ESU in 1973, and Jeannie earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics in 1975. Russ is a member of the Kansas Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Hall of Fame. He has also qualified for numerous awards from Northwestern Mutual Financial Network and is a life member of the Million Dollar Round Table. While attending ESU, Jeannie was active in the Didde Catholic Campus Center and Alpha Sigma Tau sorority. Today, she is a Head Start teacher for the Emporia school district, where she has been employed since September 1994. Russ and Jeannie are Founders Society members and Difference Makers.

Lana Oleen

Lana Oleen has been a relentless advocate of Emporia State University as a state senator, a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and president of the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC). In her eight years in the Kansas legislature, she was a close ally of ESU and higher education. At MHEC, she is credited with saving the organization by stepping in as president when her predecessor left for another position. She served on higher education committees through the National Conference of State Legislators. Since leaving the legislature, Lana has demonstrated her passion for ESU through service at the national level, participating in the Wingspread Conference on teacher preparation issues and serving on the AASCU Commission on Public University Renewal. Lana earned two degrees from ESU, a bachelor’s of science in education in 1972, and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in 1977. In 1985, she earned the prestigious Kansas Master Teacher award.

Kim Pember

Thanks to Kim Pember, the city of Emporia is taking aim at becoming the engraving capital of the world. As the general manager at Glendo Corp. in Emporia, Pember approached ESU and the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce with a plan to create a four-year bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a concentration in engraving – the first degree of its kind in the world. Kim was a working mother more than 20 years ago when she began studying at ESU, earning a bachelor of science degree in finance in 1988 and a master of business administration in 1989. That year, she earned the Outstanding MBA award. In 1998, she was recognized as an Outstanding Recent Graduate. She serves on the President’s Community Advisory Council and the School of Business Advisory Board. In 2005, she began a three-year term on the ESU Foundation Board of Trustees. In addition to all this, Kim has positioned Glendo as a world-renowned center of the engraving arts. She is credited with establishing the GRS Training Center that annually brings over 300 engraving students to Emporia from across the globe to study under the engraving world’s grandmasters. In other pockets of engraving tradition around the world, some might ask why an engraving degree wasn’t created there, but in Emporia, Kan. The answer is Kim Pember.

To Dr. Kay Schallenkamp, ESU’s president, this year’s University Service Citation winners are exemplary models of selflessness.

“Emporia State University is an immensely better place because of Lana, Kim, Russ and Jeannie,” Schallenkamp said. “Their devotion to furthering the mission of ESU is awesome. In their own unique ways – Lana with her work in public policy, Kim bringing worldwide acclaim to Emporia, and the Jenkins giving so much of their time and energy – these deserving people are an inspiration to all of us.”

Last Updated July 2, 2007>