09/21/18
HAYS, Kan. – Six alumni of Fort Hays State University will be honored at the Alumni Awards and Recognition Banquet Friday, Sept. 28, during Homecoming celebrations.

Three honorees will receive the Alumni Achievement Award, the association’s highest honor, established in 1959 to recognize graduates who have made outstanding and unselfish contributions in service to their community, state or nation as citizens, in chosen career fields or through philanthropic work.

This year’s recipients are Coleen A. Ellis, Southlake, Texas; Neal F. Schmeidler, Springfield, Va.; and Dr. Brenda Kay (Bean) Tooley, Monmouth, Ill.

Two alumni will receive the Young Alumni Award, which is granted to graduates of 10-through 15-year reunion classes to recognize those early in their career for significant business or professional accomplishments or for service to the university and the Alumni Association. This year’s recipients are Jennifer Lapka, Kansas City, Mo.; and Matthew “Matt” Prieksat, Anchorage, Alaska.

The Nita M. Landrum Award for alumni or friends who have provided sustained volunteer service for the betterment of the Alumni Association or FHSU, especially in their home communities or at any local level, will be presented to Josh Biera, Garden City.

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Coleen A. Ellis is the co-founder, managing partner and chief evangelist officer of The Pet Loss Center, Euless, Texas. In 2004, following the death of Mico, her beloved Schnauzer mix, she founded Pet Angel Memorial Center Inc., the first stand-alone, pets-only funeral home in the United States.

In 2009, she founded Two Hearts Pet Loss Center to provide meaningful pet death care services as well as educational resources in grieving the loss of one’s pets. In 2014, she co-founded The Pet Loss Center, a nation-wide organization of pet loss operations. She has been called by such publications as Kates-Boylston's “Pet Loss Insider” as the “United States' most well-known pet funeral director" and "The Pet Loss Pioneer."

Ellis received a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing from Fort Hays State in 1987. She lives in Southlake, Texas, with her husband, Christopher Burke.

Neal F. Schmeidler is a manager in the public sector practice of Grant Thornton LLP, Alexandria, Va., the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd., one of the world’s leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. His technical expertise includes human capital planning, productivity and work measurement, management and operational analysis, work breakdown structure development and statistical analysis.

He has provided services as an internal and external consultant to private industry and defense and civilian agencies of the U.S. federal government for the past 45 years. He is a Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.

Schmeidler received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Fort Hays State in 1970 and a Master of Science degree in industrial engineering from Kansas State in 1973. He and his wife, Lorrinda, live in Springfield, Va.

Dr. Brenda Kay Tooley is the director of the Eleanor Stellyes Center for Global Studies, Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., where she is responsible for all aspects of study abroad and global studies as a core curriculum component, including short-term faculty-led courses, international exchanges, and year, semester and term programs. She is a two-time Fulbright Senior Scholar as well as a former participant and instructor at the Fulbright International Summer Institute in Bulgaria and a participant in the Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar in Brazil.

Tooley serves on the national review committee for the Fulbright Student English Teaching Assistant program. She was recently invited to join a national working group with the American Association of College Registrars and Admission Officers in developing protocols for review of international students from conflict zones and refugee students with missing or incomplete academic documentation.

She received bachelor and master’s degrees in English from FHSU in 1983 and 1984 respectively. She and her husband, Mike, live in Monmouth, Ill.

YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD

Jennifer Lapka is the founder and president of Rightfully Sewn, Kansas City, a nonprofit organization providing seamstress training to at-risk women and residencies for fashion designers, helping them develop business plans, build networks and make connections with media opportunities and potential clients. She serves as a member of the Arts Sector Industry Council and the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Mo., in addition to serving as a fashion merchandising and design advisory board member for Johnson County Community College.

Lapka has previous work experience at several of Kansas City's most venerable institutions, including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art from Fort Hays State University in 2003. Originally from Gorham, she lives in Kansas City, Mo., with her husband, Eric Pfeifer, an FHSU graduate (2000, a B.A. in communications; 2003, an M.S. in communications).

Matthew "Matt" J. Prieksat is a civilian attorney serving as the chief of commercial law for the United States Air Force’s 673rd Air Base Wing Legal Office at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. He has been a supervisory attorney with the office since August 2015, and advises more than 80 contracting professionals on over $100 million in federal contracts annually.

He served as the Air Force liaison in a Department of Justice federal bribery case that obtained convictions of federal contractors resulting in significant jail sentences, a $1 million dollar fine, and the prohibition of a company from contracting with the federal government. He is also a captain in the Alaska Air National Guard and was instrumental in developing the Alaska Code of Military Justice, directly contributing to its passage into state law.

He received bachelor’s degrees from FHSU in philosophy and political science, both in 2007. He and his wife, Erika, and two children, Khira and Noah, live in Anchorage.

NITA M. LANDRUM AWARD

Josh Biera is a lieutenant with Troop E of the Kansas Highway Patrol, with responsibility for seven southwest Kansas counties. Previously, he served as a surveillance officer for Community Corrections of Northwest Kansas and a police offer for the Norton Police Department.

He is a past member of the FHSU Alumni Association Board of Directors, serving two four-year term. He has hosted the FHSU president’s Media Tour as well as area golf tournaments, Student Recognition Programs, Senior Send Off ice cream socials and a variety of alumni programs.

Biera has been a guest speaker at FHSU's Hispanic College Institute since the institute’s inception in 2016. His service extends to a wide variety and number of Kansas area organizations and boards, including being a founding member of Real Men Real Leaders, a nonprofit Hispanic male mentoring program. Biera earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Fort Hays State in 1992. He and his wife, Jeanine, a ’93 B.B.A. marketing graduate, live in Garden City.

ABOUT THE FHSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Established in 1916, the Fort Hays State University Alumni Association serves FHSU graduates by identifying needs and providing solutions. More than 69,000 graduates live throughout the United States and in 81 countries.

Alumni award nominations are accepted each year for qualified candidates. Visit www.goforthaysstate.com/awards for more information. For information on how to participate, contact the Alumni Office at 785-628-4430, toll free at 1-888-351-3591 or by email at alumni@fhsu.edu.