The University Service Citation award
Started in 1980 by the ESU Alumni Association, the intent of the University Service Citation is to recognize unique -- that is, rare and unusual -- and significant service to Emporia State University. Individuals chosen for this award are moved to service by a deep concern for and loyalty to ESU. Their efforts extend beyond the call of duty and usually are performed without expectation for compensation.
Award nominations are made annually. A selection committee, made up of four representatives from the ESU Alumni Association Board of Directors, three faculty members, and one ESU Foundation Trustee, meets each year to select that year's recipients. The ESU Alumni Association Board of Directors makes the final selection and/or approves the selected recipients. Download a 2008 nomination form.
2007 award winners honored
The four people honored with the 2007 University Service Citation award from Emporia State University at a dinner Feb. 23 all had one remarkable trait in common.
Art and Sue Bloomer, Marshall Havenhill and Janet Schalansky – on a night where the university was thanking them for unique and significant service – each stood and thanked ESU for the opportunity to serve. Read the full story or see pictures.
Art and Sue Bloomer – Art and Sue Bloomer agreed to be co-chairs of ESU’s scholarship campaign for students, Building Blocks for Success, in 2003 – while they still lived in Virginia. Only later, in 2004, did the Bloomers decide to move to Wichita, Kan. to be near family. Their volunteering at ESU has blossomed since then, and the university will be forever grateful. Art (BS 1955, BS 1955), a retired brigadier general, has been a member of the ESU Foundation Board of Trustees since 2003. He currently serves on the executive committee as the board’s first vice chairman and chairman of the finance committee. Art and Sue have established a scholarship in support of ESU students and have encouraged their peers to follow their lead. They have hosted leadership gift gatherings, assisted in the preparation of major gift proposals, and accompanied ESU development staff on solicitation calls resulting in the creation of numerous new scholarship funds. With Sue’s support and assistance, Art also served on the ESU Presidential Search Committee. As the Foundation’s representative, Art helped the committee keep its eye on the university’s future throughout the process. Meanwhile, Sue served on the planning committee for the farewell reception honoring President Kay and Dr. Ken Schallenkamp.
Dr. Marshall Havenhill – Dr. Marshall Havenhill has been affiliated with ESU for the past 28 years, 14 of those years as the assistant director and director of Student Health Services and 23 years as the team physician for ESU athletics. Dr. Havenhill has been a fixture on the sidelines at ESU athletic events, providing excellent health care to ESU athletes and even establishing a scholarship for students. He has given far more time to ESU athletes than other college athletes might experience, visiting with them daily in the athletic training clinic and traveling with teams to away competitions. All this is in addition to operating his own private medical practice and working as a night physician in the Newman Regional Health emergency room. He has advised pre-medical students, guest-lectured in numerous classes on campus and has co-instructed classes in the athletic training education program and in the sciences. The teaching was done on a voluntary basis, and Dr. Havenhill spent hours in preparation so that the students would learn up-to-date information. He has also served on numerous ESU committees, as well as state and national committees on ESU’s behalf.
Janet Schalansky – Janet Schalansky (BA 1972, MS 1973) is a tireless supporter of Emporia State University. While serving as president of the ESU Alumni Association Board of Directors last year, she represented the association on the ESU Presidential Search Committee. Janet, formerly the secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, also serves as the chair of the association’s legislative committee. To honor their parents, Janet and her siblings established a scholarship for ESU students. She is currently serving on the search committee for the new Executive Director of University Advancement. In a nomination letter, Janet’s style is described as one of friendliness, sincerity, and common sense. She and her husband Jim are avid supporters of ESU, attending many activities and events. She once said, “I feel strongly that ESU is the best buy in Kansas for a four-year university. ‘Best buy’ means not just economically. The student experience is excellent, the quality of instruction is excellent and the student activity/leadership opportunities are great.”
The dinner on Feb. 23
Art Bloomer visits with Dr. Peggy Lane and President Michael Lane. |
President Michael Lane, Dr. DeWayne Backhus and Dr. Marshall Havenhill visit. |
Sue and Art Bloomer visit with Keith Hiesterman. |
President Michael Lane and Janet Schalansky visit. |
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At left, the crowd mingles during the 2007 University Service Citation award dinner. |
The 2006 University Service Citation award winners
The 2006 University Service Citation award winners, recognized at a March banquet, are Lana Oleen of Manhattan; Russ and Jeannie Jenkins of Emporia; and Kim Pember of Emporia.
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.
Last Updated November 15, 2007