2018 Awardees

Each year, the UMKC Alumni Association and the campus celebrate the outstanding achievements of UMKC graduates through the Alumni Awards Gala. This year's program honored the class of 2018 recipients and was held on June 15.

University-Wide Alumni Award Recipients

Kay Barnes, Alumna of the Year

Alumna of the Year

Kay Barnes (M.A. '71, M.P.A. '78)

Downtown Kansas City, Missouri's current prosperity and growth is a result of the blueprint created by former mayor, the Honorable Kay Barnes. The city's downtown residents surged from 4,000 in 2002 to 26,000 in 2017, just one piece of the transformation at the city's center. Barnes' tenacity and leadership as mayor from 1999–2007 inspired a multi-billion dollar campaign for the revitalization of downtown Kansas City — including construction of the Power & Light District and the Sprint Center. In addition to her role as a national political figure and the first (and only) female mayor of Kansas City, Barnes has been a tireless champion for women. She helped establish Central Exchange, a local organization committed to helping women achieve their greatest potential, as well as the UMKC Women's Center, providing programming and support for women on campus. In 2015, Barnes was inducted into the Starr Women's Hall of Fame. She now serves as senior academic liaison and ambassador for Park University and has been a frequent guest lecturer at UMKC's Bloch School of Management.

Carla Wilson, Spotlight Award

Spotlight Award

Carla Conway Wilson (B.S. '88)

UMKC's Director of Athletics, Carla Conway Wilson has worked to put athletics and student-athletes in the national spotlight. In 2017, Wilson was elected as the third vice president of the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association and appointed to the NCAA Division I Council. She was also chosen to serve on the Executive Committee for the Minority Opportunities Athletic Association. The first female and minority leader of athletics at UMKC — and one of only a few female athletic directors among the NCAA's 351 Division I institutions — Wilson was named Division I Administrator of the Year in 2012 by the Women Leaders in College Sports and one of the "Top 25 Women in Higher Education" in 2015 by Diverse magazine. In 2016-17, Wilson led the Roos to five Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championships, five second place finishes and two third-place finishes. UMKC student-athletes also excelled in the classroom, earning a program-record cumulative grade point average of 3.34, with 122 student-athletes earning All-WAC academic honors. Wilson is active on a number of community boards including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City Sports Lab Advisory Board, the Women's Intersport Network for Kansas City (WIN for KC) and the Chancellor's Advisory Board for the UMKC Women's Center.

Hannah Lofthus, Bill French Alumni Service Award

The Bill French Alumni Service Award

Hannah Lofthus (B.A. '07)

Hannah Lofthus is the founder and chief executive officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman School and a committed member of the UMKC and Kansas City community. Her service to her alma mater began while she was an undergraduate student and member of the UMKC Honors Program; she co-founded the service-learning program and founded a partnership with a local charter school to provide opportunities for Honors students to serve their community. This community partnership still exists today at the Kauffman School where 180 UMKC students have volunteered since the program's inception. In 2010, Lofthus founded the Kauffman School with the mission of "creating college graduates." The founding class of fifth graders entered the school in the bottom third of the state on fourth-grade math and reading state exams. Four years later, their results ranked number one in the state of Missouri. Lofthus led the Kauffman School to state recognition: It was named the 2015 Missouri Charter School of the Year and earned a 100 percent Annual Performance Rating from the state the past two years, as well as national acclaim, achieving the Platinum Rating from the Leverage Leadership Institute and RELAY Graduate School of Education. The school was also named a 2017 "School to Learn From" by Teach For America. Lofthus was inducted into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame in 2015 and received the Accelerate Institute's Ryan Award for transformational school leadership in 2016.

Fredrick N Manasseh, Defying the Odds Award

Defying the Odds Award

Fredrick N. Manasseh (Pharm.D. '07, EMBA '12)

Fredrick N. Manasseh arrived in Wichita, Kansas, from Nairobi, Kenya, with nothing more than a suitcase of clothes and enough money to pay for two months of room and board. As an undergraduate, he worked three jobs to pay for his education and support his family in Kenya. Despite losing everything he owned in an apartment fire within three months of arriving, Manasseh graduated with honors from Butler Community College and Wichita State University. While earning his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from UMKC (and later, his EMBA), he established a student chapter for the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP). He also went on to earn a Certificate of Health Information and Management Exchange Specialist from Columbia University, a Graduate Certificate of Finance from UMKC and a Strategic Management Certificate from Harvard University. In 2011, Manasseh founded The Monica E. Manasseh Scholarship, named for his mother, at UMKC to aid minority students who encounter financial barriers to higher education. Currently, Manasseh is senior pharmacy executive at AbsoluteCARE, a Patient Centered Medical Home where he is responsible for strategy, operations and innovation worldwide. He is also principal and managing consultant at Rx Prowess LLC, and he serves as board chair and president for Riverview Health Services, an organization that connects indigent, uninsured and underinsured adults and children with health care services, education and medical supplies in Wyandotte County the Kansas City metropolitan area. He is an executive board member of Child with No Father, an organization that provides educational support and resources to orphan children raised in developing countries. Additionally, Manasseh is a practicing pharmacist, adjunct professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and serves on the board of the Community Development Financial Resources, an organization that aims to teach financial literacy and money management in communities that are financially underserved.

Legacy Family

Legacy Award

The Eisler-Ferguson Family

Within the Eisler-Ferguson family, there are more than a dozen Roos spanning three generations. William O'Neill Eisler graduated from the University of Kansas City (now UMKC) in 1958 and went on to receive his law degree. Bill practiced law for 45 years, with 20 years spent as a partner at the Whipple, Eisler & Kraft Law Firm and another 25 years in independent labor arbitration. Bill's sons, Patrick and Sean, both attended UMKC and graduated with degrees in History and Mechanical Engineering, respectively. Patrick went on to earn his M.P.A. and worked for Apria Healthcare for 20 years before moving to his current position at Netsmart Technologies. His wife, Heather R. Beaird-Eisler, received her B.B.A. from UMKC. Sean began his career at Henderson Engineers, where he is currently a vice president. Sean often promotes School of Computing and Engineering events within his company and was instrumental in securing a multi-year scholarship from Henderson Engineers for SCE students. Although they attended high school together, Sean met his wife Haley Ferguson-Eisler at UMKC, where she earned her B.B.A. Haley's parents, Marvin and Sandra Lynn Ferguson, attended the School of Law and have practiced together in North Kansas City for more than 50 years. Haley's brother, Mark, and his wife, Margaret Costanzo-Ferguson, also both attended the UMKC School of Law. Mark has his own practice and has worked in the same building as his parents for over 25 years.

School Alumni Achievement Award Recipients

Christopher D. Harris, College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Awardee

College of Arts and Sciences

Christopher D. Harris (B.L.A. '14)

For more than 20 years, Chris Harris has devoted his spare time to transforming urban land into green spaces and recreation areas. Chris Harris developed the Harris Park Midtown Sports and Activities Center in the late 1990s, which turned a vacant lot in urban Kansas City, Missouri, into a beautiful park with a playground and basketball court. Since then, Harris has built the park into not only a recreational facility, but also an educational environment that helps youth and adults cultivate basic life-skills, self-esteem, and respect for others and property. He is also working on building a state-of-the-art, nine-hole putting green as a way to bring golf to the urban area. At UMKC, he was awarded the Bernard Osher Reentry Scholarship which gave him the opportunity to advance his philanthropic initiatives and his career. Harris currently serves as a housing locator at Truman Medical Center.

Frank Wewers, Bloch School of Management Alumni Achievement Awardee

Henry W. Bloch School of Management

Frank Wewers (MBA '69)

Frank Wewers founded Manning Systems, Inc., a leader in the gas detection industry. After selling Manning Systems to Honeywell, Wewers went on to found FLI-TEK Consulting, LLC, which provides strategic and tactical advice in the gas sensing and analyzer industry. In 2010, Wewers joined the UMKC Bloch Advisory Council and in 2013, a $1 million bequest established the Frank J. and Helen L. Wewers Scholarship Fund to provide financial support for Bloch School students. He presently serves on the board of the Kansas City Art Institute and the UMKC Foundation. He and his wife Helen are supporters of arts and public education, including organizations such as the University of Kansas School of Engineering, the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Kansas Families for Education, the Alliance for Epilepsy Research and Children’s Mercy.

Karthikeyan Ramasamy, School of Computing and Engineering Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Computing and Engineering

Karthikeyan Ramasamy (M.S. '93)

Karthik Ramasamy is the co-founder and chief product officer for Streamlio, a company that is focused on building the next generation of event data processing infrastructure. When time permits, he also teaches in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at University of California–Berkeley. Previously, Ramasamy was an engineering manager at Twitter where he co-created Twitter Heron, the back-end system that processes all events on Twitter in real-time. He holds 10 patents, is the author of several publications, and co-wrote “Network Routing,” now in its second printing, with a UMKC faculty member.

Conservatory of Music and Dance

Molly Wagner (B.F.A. '07)

Molly Wagner, a ballerina who just completed her sixth season with the Kansas City Ballet, has performed some of the most cherished roles in dance including the leads in “Swan Lake,” “Giselle,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Romeo and Juliet.” Last year, Wagner was asked to choreograph the company’s New Moves showcase as well as their youth program and was honored at UMKC Conservatory’s Crescendo gala. Before joining the Kansas City Ballet in 2012, Wagner danced professionally with the Missouri Contemporary Ballet, Montgomery Ballet and The Charleston Ballet. While a student at the UMKC Conservatory, Wagner was awarded First Place Regional winner by the National Society for Arts and Letters Midwest Region. She currently teaches at the Kansas City Ballet School and Crescendo Conservatory in Overland Park, Kansas, and coaches students for Youth American Grand Prix.

Joseph Peter Spalitto, School of Dentistry Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Dentistry

Joseph Peter Spalitto (B.S. '68, D.D.S. '72)

Joseph Spalitto’s dedication to his alma mater is surpassed only by his love of community service. He is president of the UMKC School of Dentistry Alumni Association, board member for the Rinehart Foundation, sponsor of the Xi Psi Phi Dental Fraternity and has been chair of the Alumni Scholarship Golf Tournament for 18 years. Outside of the university, Spalitto is ‘COMBAT’ Drug Commissioner for Jackson County, Missouri, Exalted Ruler of the local Elks lodge, volunteer for the Westside Community Action Network, and board member of the St. Joseph Table at St. Thomas More Church. Additionally, for more than 10 years, Spalitto and his wife, Liz, traveled to Guatemala to perform dental missionary work. For his contributions to the country, Spalitto was appointed as Honorary Consul of Guatemala and became a member of the U.S. State Department.

Debbie Thompson, School of Dentistry - Dental Hygiene Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Dentistry - Dental Hygiene

Debbie Thompson (B.S.D.H. '81)

Debbie Thompson has been a philanthropist for more than 35 years — from volunteering for the American Red Cross in Okinawa, Japan, to her work with Dentistry from the Heart, an organization that provides free dentistry to underserved and uninsured patients. As a former dental hygiene instructor at Missouri Southern State University (MSSU), member of the MSSU Dental Hygiene Advisory Board and founder of the Dental Careers Institute, Thompson has been instrumental in bringing dental care and education to southwest Missouri. She also established a satellite practice with her late husband, a UMKC School of Dentistry graduate, in a small community outside of Joplin, Missouri, to bring dental services to a community in need. Thompson’s devotion to education and dentistry is matched only by her passion for philanthropy. In 2015, she created the Debbie Thompson Spirit of Dental Hygiene Scholarships at MSSU, she’s also an ardent supporter of the fine arts and MSSU Athletics in Joplin.

Carol Charismas, School of Education Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Education

Carol Charismas (B.A. '67, M.A. '70)

Carol Charismas began teaching in 1966 at the Raytown School District in Raytown, Missouri. Despite leaving the field to pursue other ventures over the course of her career, she always came back to education. At the age of 72, Charismas credits Nelson Mandela for inspiring her to return to the classroom full-time. She taught seventh-grade English classes at Paseo Academy in Kansas City, Missouri, and currently teaches third and fourth graders at Padre Pio Academy in Shawnee, Kansas. A former principal described her as one of the most dedicated teachers he has known — devoting her time to ensure that underserved students have a welcoming classroom.

Dana Tippin Cutler, School of Law Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Law

Dana Tippin Cutler (J.D. '89)

Dana Tippin Cutler has served as a member of the Missouri Bar’s Board of Governors since 2003 and was elected president in 2016-17, the first woman of color to hold the position. She served as chair of the Diversity Committee for the Missouri Bar and was instrumental in starting their Leadership Academy. Currently a partner at James W. Tippin & Associates, Cutler was recently named “2018 Woman of the Year” by Missouri Lawyers Weekly and has received numerous accolades including the Governor Mel Carnahan Award for Public Service in 2017, Mayor Sly James Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2016 and the President’s Award from the Missouri Bar in 2014, 2002 and 2001. She and her husband, Keith (J.D. ’89), star in the Daytime Emmy Award-nominated TV show “Couples Court with the Cutlers,” and she was named one of the “50 Missourians You Should Know” by Ingram’s magazine in 2017 and “Woman of the Year” by the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City in 2016.

William E. (Wes) Stricker, School of Medicine Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Medicine

William E. (Wes) Stricker (M.D. '79)

Wes Stricker founded and manages Allergy & Asthma Consultants, which has been treating patients in central Missouri for more than 35 years. Additionally, he is the sole shareholder of Ozark Allergy Laboratory and Clinical Research of the Ozarks. Stricker’s other passion is aviation. He owns Ozark Management, an aviation management company he has used to support academic and athletic departments at the University of Missouri, charitable missions for Veterans’ Airlift Command and the Special Olympics. Stricker’s strong allegiance for the U.S. Military comes from having served on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Harry S. Truman Commissioning Committee and with the Greenland Expedition Society, an organization dedicated to the discovery and recovery of a flight of WWII fighters lost on the Greenland cap. An active member of the community, Stricker serves on the board of trustees for The Juilliard School, as a board member for “The MASTERS” an emergency relief fund for families of fallen Missouri State Troopers and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Rita K. Haxton, School of Nursing and Health Studies Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Nursing and Health Studies

Rita K. Haxton (M.S. '87)

Vice President of Oncology, Inpatient Surgical Services and Women’s and Children's Health for Baylor University Medical Center, Rita Haxton has spent more than 20 years of her career in executive leadership positions focused on nursing leadership and improving patient care. Since joining Baylor Scott and White Health System in 2015, Haxton has had the opportunity to serve as a leader in the first successful uterine transplant resulting in a live birth in the U.S., as well as been involved in several innovative cancer research studies. For more than 15 years, she served as vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer at Rapid City Regional Hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota. While there, she helped raise $5 million to build a hospice house and home healthcare facility and received the Distinguished Service Award for Nursing from South Dakota University. In 2016, Haxton was a contributing author for “Nurse Burnout: Combating Stress in Nursing,” published by Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

Mark L. Hayes, School of Pharmacy Alumni Achievement Awardee

School of Pharmacy

Mark L. Hayes (B.S.P. '88)

Mark Hayes is a pharmacist and lawyer with more than 25 years’ experience in health law. Currently, he is senior vice president of federal policy and advocacy for Ascension, the nation’s largest non-profit health system as well as the largest Catholic health system. Hayes previously served on the staff of four U.S. senators and as Health Policy Director and Chief Health Council for the Republican staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Hayes was a leader in the policy development of health care provisions for several pieces of federal legislation including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare Modernization Act and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.