ESU names four Distinguished Alumni at Homecoming

Emporia State University's 2007 Distinguished Alumni are (left to right): Herb B. Kuhn, Springfield, Va.; Donna Clopton, Amarillo, Texas; Dr. Karen Kelly, Prairie Village, Kan.; and Victor Spinski, Newark, Del.

Four alumni of Emporia State University were honored over the Homecoming weekend as the 2007 class of Distinguished Alumni, and they’re in special company – just 200 alumni have been honored as such since the award’s inception in 1960.

This year’s four recipients are Donna Clopton, Amarillo, Texas; Dr. Karen Kelly, Prairie Village, Kan.; Herb B. Kuhn, Springfield, Va.; and Victor Spinski, Newark, Del. The Distinguished Alumni award is the highest honor bestowed on alumni of ESU.

All four had fond memories of their time at ESU.

“One of my favorite memories is working on the newspaper,” said Clopton. “I loved being in the heat of all the excitement, being able to write stories and see them in print.”

“I think the friendliness and camaraderie of the students (made ESU) such a positive experience,” said Kelly.

Kuhn agreed. “It was a cultural feel. It was a sense of family and the sense of belonging that you had in a place like this.”

Said Spinski, “I fell in love with education. This school had such nice diversity. The science was good, the arts were good.”

Biographies

Donna L. Clopton

BSE 1961, Elementary Education

Amarillo, Texas

Donna L. (Choice) Clopton recently retired from Gene Howe Elementary School in Canyon, Texas, where she served as principal for 22 years. She was recognized as CISD Administrator of the Year by the Canyon Educational Secretaries Association in 1996. She was named a member of “Who’s Who in American Education,” and District 16 TEPSAN of the Year. She holds a master’s degree in special education from Baylor University, and has taught courses ranging from the preschool to university level. Clopton served the National Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association, and the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSAN), where she chaired the organizational affairs committee and served on the state’s committee, and was president of District 16. She served the Panhandle School Leaders Association as president, and the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented as second vice-president and state executive board member, and was a member of other professional organizations.

Dr. Karen Kelly

BS 1978, Biology

Prairie Village, Kan.

Dr. Karen Kelly, an internationally known lung cancer expert, became the deputy director of the University of Kansas Cancer Center in October 2006, where she also serves as professor and one of three Frank B. Tyler Chairs of cancer research. Kelly earned her doctor of medicine degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, and had previously served as director of the clinical thoracic oncology program and professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. Kelly has focused her career on the prevention, screening, early detection and treatment of lung cancer, designing groundbreaking clinical trials that have earned her wide acclaim and defined “state of the art” in lung cancer treatment.  She is a leader in the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, the Southwest Oncology Group, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 

Herb B. Kuhn

BSB 1979, Business Administration

Springfield, Va.

Herb Kuhn is the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicine and Medicaid Services at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., where he is involved in all facets of management. He is a key liaison to Congress, providing testimony before Congressional committees. A former ESU Alumni Association board member, Kuhn has spent his career advocating quality health care. In his previous position as director for the Centers for Medicare Management at the department, he developed and directed regulations and reimbursement policies for the Medicare program. Kuhn has also served Premier, Inc., the largest insurance company in the world, as corporate vice president, representing the alliance and member hospitals before Congress. Before joining Premier, he was vice president for federal relations in the American Hospital Association’s D.C. office, and worked in the office of Rep. Bob Whittaker (R-Kan.).

Victor Spinski

BSE 1963, Art

Newark, Del.

Victor Spinski, a professor of art at the University of Delaware since 1968, is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics, an organization whose selective membership is limited to those who have distinguished themselves in the art world. Members are invited, nominated or elected. Spinski’s work is on display in 28 permanent collections in the United States, including the most prestigious ceramics collection in the country, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, N.Y. His work has been published in nearly 50 national and international periodicals, books, textbooks, and exhibition catalogs including Who’s Who in American Art, The New Yorker, & The New York Times. Spinski has also exhibited his work in nearly 150 venues, including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and in New York, the Ferrin Gallery, the Nancy Margolis Gallery, and Sotheby’s. Spinski, who earned a master’s of fine arts degree in ceramics from Indiana University, holds the patent on a decoration technique called Ceramic Photo Emulsion. 

 

Last Updated February 1, 2008>