Four people who have demonstrated outstanding dedication and service to Kansas University will be honored with awards from the KU Alumni Association on Sept. 10.

“We are very thrilled to celebrate them, the tradition of KU service and the achievements of our graduates,” said Jennifer Sanner, a KU Alumni Association senior vice president.

Two alumni — Anderson W. Chandler, chairman, president and director of Fidelity State Bank, and Benjamin D. Hall, a professor emeritus of biology and genome sciences at the University of Washington — will be awarded the Distinguished Service Citation, the highest honor bestowed by the alumni association.

The award reflects achievements “for the betterment of society and on behalf of humanity.”

Sanner praised Chandler’s work with the Boy Scouts of America on the state, local and national levels. He has served on the Jayhawk Area Council of Boy Scouts of America since the 1950s and has served on the national board of directors since 1993.

His philanthropic work has included service to the Topeka YMCA, Topeka schools, United Way, Washburn University and the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

Hall, who served on the faculty at Washington from 1963 until his retirement in 2007, developed life-saving vaccines for cervical cancer, insulin used by diabetic patients and diagnostic agents used to determine the safety of blood banks.

A research building on the University of Washington’s campus is named in his honor.

For the first time, the Distinguished Service Citation will be awarded along with the Fred Ellsworth Medallion in one ceremony called the Hilltop Honors event.

Gretchen Budig, the wife of former KU Chancellor Gene Budig, and Monte Johnson, a former KU athletics director, will each receive the Ellsworth Medallion for their “unique and significant service to the university.”

A Johnson served as KU’s athletics director from 1982 to 1987, after an 11-year banking career with Bank IV in Wichita.

A former member of the men’s basketball team, he worked in several capacities at the athletics department beginning in 1961, and served as an alumni representative on the KU Athletics Corporation Board from 1978 to 1982.

Budig represented KU to thousands of students, alumni, donors and legislators during KU’s major fund drive, Campaign Kansas, from 1988 to 1992.

Since leaving KU, the Budigs have provided more than $1 million for scholarships and professorships across the university.