Andrew Ramirez, an attorney for Lathrop & Gage in Overland Park, has been appointed chairman of the firm’s Health Care Department.

Ramirez, a Lawrence resident, will oversee the firm’s team of health care experts in Kansas City, Overland Park, St. Louis, Springfield and Washington, D.C. At Lathrop & Gage, Ramirez has focused on issues involving health care law, government relations, complex commercial and real estate transactions.

He is a member of the American Bar Assn., American Health Lawyers Assn., Kansas Bar Assn., Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Assn. and Greater Kansas City Health Care Lawyers Assn. He also is a director of the board of the Kansas Association of Hospital Attorneys.

The appointment was announced last week by Thomas S. Stewart, managing partner of Lathrop & Gage.

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Susan Parscal has been named assistant vice president-branch manager of Capitol Federal Savings’ bank office in SuperTarget, 3201 Iowa. Parscal has been with the bank since 1984, when she started as a teller. She most recently was branch manager of the bank’s SuperTarget office in Shawnee.

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Burke Kitchen, Lawrence, has been promoted to director of the Kansas City office for Horst, Terrill & Karst Architects. Burke has been with the company for 10 years. He received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kansas University. He is a registered architect in Kansas and Missouri and is pursuing LEED certification with the U.S. Green Building Council.

Burke has joined the management team as senior project architect. He oversees office production, staffing and schedules with each project manager. Other responsibilities include technology implementation, business development and evaluation and maintenance of office standards.

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Dena Register, assistant professor of music therapy and music education at Kansas University, recently was appointed to a three-year term on the Certification Board for Music Therapists Continuing Education Committee. Before teaching at KU, she worked as a music therapist in Tallahassee, Fla., and Tampa, Fla., providing services for early-intervention programs, students with special education needs and battered women and children. Register also works with early childhood educators on incorporating music in their classrooms. Her research has been published in the Journal of Music Therapy and Music Therapy Perspectives.

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Lawrence-based Harris Construction Co. Inc. recently landed a contract to build the Nall Valley Shoppes Retail Shopping Center in Leawood. The first phase of the project will feature two buildings consisting of about 32,500 square feet. Nall Valley is developer of the project, designed by Klover Architects. Hunter Harris, vice president of project development, negotiated the deal for Harris Construction. Others involved with the project include Roger Field, senior project manager; Bruce Roberts, estimator; Eric Van Dyke, superintendent; and Susan Foster and Jamie Knippschild, project manager assistants.

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Overland Park-based Sprint Corp. has appointed retired Bank of America Corp. executive James Hance Jr. to its board of directors. Hance stepped down from the bank last month, ending an 18-year career that saw the Charlotte, N.C.-based company rise to a global financial giant, reporting earnings of more than $14 billion last year.

The St. Joseph, Mo., native joined NCNB, what would become Bank of America, in 1987, becoming the company’s chief financial officer in 1988. He held that position until last year, when he became an executive vice president during the shakeup surrounding the bank’s merger with FleetBoston Financial Corp.

The board has 12 members.

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Corrie Moore has joined the Kansas University Endowment Association as development officer for KU’s School of Business.

Moore received a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism in 1998 from KU. She previously worked in the editorial department for a small Internet company in New York. She also worked in the development department for Continuum Health Partners in New York.

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Janet Campbell, director of Kansas Public Radio, has been named to the Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ Cultural Affairs Council. Campbell also chairs the Kansas Public Broadcasting Council, a state organization comprised of the CEOs of the state’s nine public broadcasting outlets.

The mission of the Cultural Affairs Council is to enrich the quality of life and foster cultural creativity in Kansas.

The Council consists of Campbell; Melissa Gregory, director of appointments for Sebelius; Jennie Chinn, executive director of the Kansas State Historical Society; Marion Cott, executive director of the Kansas Humanities Council; David Wilson, executive director of the Kansas Arts Council; Christie Brandau, Kansas state librarian; Barry Greis, state architect; Peter Jasso, manager of the Kansas Film Commission; Scott Allegrucci, the state’s director of travel and tourism; Elias Garcia, executive director of the Kansas Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission; and Danielle Dempsey-Swopes, executive director of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission.

Honors and awards

John Gladman, of The JGladman Gallery in Lawrence, has earned the “Imaging Excellence” and “2004 Electronic Imager of the Year” designations from the Professional Photographers of America. The awards were presented at the organization’s annual convention awards ceremony Jan. 18 in New Orleans.

Gladman earned the Imaging Excellence Award by accumulating 13 loan collection images from one of any combination of entry classifications and completion of a PPA Master Degree.

Gladman earned the international title of “2004 Electronic Imager of the Year” through the annual electronic imaging competition in July. Images were judged for digital, artistic and technical proficiency. Two of Gladman’s entries were selected for PPA’s 2004 Loan Collection.

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Tampa, Fla.-based Forrester Smith Promotional Agency, a distributor of promotional products, recently recognized Cheryl Wonnell, of Lawrence, at its annual awards gala in Las Vegas. Wonnell, vice president of the Midwest Division, was honored for achieving sales excellence in her division.

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Reece & Nichols Acres Realty, Lawrence, recently received the Rising Star Award during the Reece & Nichols Alliance Inc. 2004 Awards Ceremony.

The award is given to an office that exceeds organizational business goals for the year.

Jo Barnes is owner and broker of the office, an affiliate of the alliance that has 29 member offices across in a region spanning from Ottawa to St. Joseph, Mo. and from Topeka to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

Coming events

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Minority Health Conference 2005: Connecting Kansas Communities will convene April 13.

The conference will be from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lawrence Holidome.

The conference is scheduled to include a lunch speech by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, and a keynote presentation by Dr. David Williams, a professor of the University of Michigan. Williams is an author and researcher in the areas of health trends, social determinants, and ethnic and racial disparities as they relate to the health outcomes of underserved populations.

For more information, e-mail minorityhealth@kdhe.state.ks.us.

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Peter Gotta and Deann Behring will present a social work in-service, “Ethical Frameworks: Solutions for Today’s Health Care Dilemmas,” sponsored by Heart of America Hospice.

The seminar will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community, 4851 Harvard Road. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $15. Three continuing education credits will be given for social work.

Heart of America Hospice is an approved provider for continuing education by the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board. For more information, call Teresa Brown at (785) 633-8225.