KU alumni receive awards as Volunteers of the Year / LJWorld.com

Archive for Saturday, September 6, 2008

Four KU Alumni Volunteer Leaders were honored as Dick Wintermote Chapter Volunteers of the Year on Friday at a KU Alumni Association event. From left are Luke Bobo, Ballwin, Mo., president of the KU Black Alumni Chapter; Stephanie Rawe, Prairie Village, a member of the Kansas City Chapter; Scott Lundgren, Portland, Ore., president of the Portland chapter; and Larry Chaney, McPherson, president of the Santa Fe Trail Chapter.

By Sophia Maines

September 6, 2008

KU Edition 2008

From artists to inventors, Kansas University is home to all kinds of people. In the past year, the university has opened new buildings and hosted world-renowned speakers. Come inside to learn more about the university on top of Mount Oread

The Kansas University Alumni Association on Friday honored four of its members with the second annual Dick Wintermote Chapter Volunteer of the Year award.

The award, named in honor of the association's former longtime executive director, goes to volunteers who have helped to expand the alumni association's reach.

"We hope to recognize people whose groups have really picked up steam in the preceding year," said Jennifer Sanner, senior vice president of communications for the alumni association.

Nearly 100 volunteers and guests attended a reception Friday in the Naismith Room at Allen Fieldhouse.

The event was part of the annual Volunteer Leaders Weekend.

The honors went to Luke Bobo, a 1982 graduate and president of the KU Black Alumni Chapter; Larry Chaney, a 1988 graduate and president of the state's Santa Fe Trail Chapter; Scott Lundgren, a 1994 graduate and president of the Portland, Ore., Chapter; and Stephanie Rawe, a 1996 graduate and member of the Kansas City Chapter board.

Several honorees said they volunteer because they want to give back to the university that assisted them as students.

"I've been very fortunate over the years, and it was because people took interest in me when I was here and encouraged me," Bobo said. "I want to do the same for the students who are here now."

Chaney said he volunteers for a very simple reason.

"I love KU," he said.

Rawe said she wanted to continue to pay back the university for all the opportunities it afforded her.

"It's a great honor," she said of the award, "because your peers are nominating you."

Lundgren said his Portland, Ore., group started as a small bunch of alumni who got together to watch KU athletic events in local pubs. The chapter now brings together hundreds of alumni.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my four years at KU," Lundgren said, "and it's a great way to keep in touch."

KU Alumni Association volunteers assist with student recruitment, community projects and a variety of activities that showcase the many aspects of KU - from sports to the arts to academics.

"Everybody is connected to the university in a different way, and we want to sample that variety and share it with the alumni," Sanner said.