Special Section: Homecoming 2008 - Friends University

FORMER NEIGHBOR
DONATES $1 MILLION TO
FRIENDS UNIVERSITY
BY SARA ORNELAS
news in FOCUS
As a child, Phyllis Conley of Wichita grew up in the shadow
of Friends University’s Davis Administration Building. Near
her home on south Glenn Street, Conley and her friends
would play tennis on the courts when the students were on
break.
This experience on the grounds of Friends University
made a strong impression on Conley, and she has left the
University nearly $1 million as part of her estate.
Conley, who died Jan. 28, was a retired bookkeeper for
Harper Truck Company.
She worked with the Friends University Planned Giving
Office to make plans for her estate after attending a Friends
University Will Seminar in 1990. She designated Friends University
as one of five charities in her trust.
The University received the first installment of Conley’s
gift earlier this summer and is expecting to receive the
remainder later this year, said Hervey Wright III, vice president
of University Relations. Conley designated her gift for
business education scholarships, so Friends University has
established a scholarship in her honor. The Phyllis L. Conley
Endowed Business Scholarship will be awarded to selected
students majoring in business starting in 2010. The number
of students and amount awarded per year will depend on
the endowed scholarship’s earnings, Wright said.
“We are very honored Ms. Conley chose to remember
Friends University in her estate planning,” Wright said. “She
had many fond recollections of the University as a child and
now, through her gift, Phyllis Conley will be able to leave a
lasting legacy for future generations as well.”
attention friends alumni
ARE YOU A HIGH-LEVEL EXECUTIVE
We want to know about your successes in the corporate
world. Please send your contact information and a brief
description of your responsibilities to the University
Relations Office, 2100 W. University Ave., Wichita, KS
67213 or news@friends.edu. We’ll select a few alumni to
profile in a future feature story.
Nathan Williams and Ashleigh Luper received the W.O. Mendenhall
Award for Outstanding Junior Man and Woman. The Alumni Association
presents the award each year during the Friends University
Awards Ceremony. From left: Wichita Alumni Advisory Board (AAB)
President Linda Hohler, G’95, Nathan Williams, Ashleigh Luper and
Wichita AAB President-Elect Daniel Crook, M’05.
W.O. Mendenhall Outstanding
Juniors Announced
BY CYNTHIA WHITELY, SOPHOMORE
The Friends University Alumni Association has named Nathan
Williams and Ashleigh Luper as the 2008 W.O. Mendenhall
Scholarship Outstanding Junior Man and Woman recipients.
Each will receive a $500 scholarship and commemorative
plaque. Winners are chosen based on their service to college,
faith, extracurricular activities, grades and ambitions.
Williams, a religion and philosophy major from Satanta,
Kan., has participated in Friends University Concert Band and
Jazz Band, the Singing Quakers, Madrigals, Gospel Choir,
Campus Ministries, intramural basketball and softball, and
served as the Student Government Association’s freshman
class president. After graduation, Williams says his ambitions
are to “continue growing as an individual, raise a family of
character, help others grow in their faith, and spread the love
and gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Luper, of Andover, Kan., was named the women’s crosscountry
Newcomer of the Year, received a Kansas Collegiate
Athletic Conference All-Conference Honorable Mention
award, earned the Presidential Scholarship twice, was named
to the President’s Honor Roll once and Dean’s Honor Roll
twice, and was recognized as an Academic Athlete. She is
also currently active with the Sigma Delta Pi Spanish Honor
Society and volunteers for the Kansas Republican Party.
Majoring in Spanish, Luper plans to pursue a career in public
service as a translator or interpreter for a congressional office
after she graduates.
6
F r i e n d s U n i v e r s i t y focus