Aug. 15, 2002

Contact: Jennifer Jackson Sanner, University of Kansas Alumni Association, (785) 864-4760.

Edwards, Meeks, Seaver to receive KU Alumni Association's highest honor

Editor's note: Photos of the recipients are available via e-mail by contacting kunews@ku.edu.

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas Alumni Association has announced it will present its highest honor for service -- the Fred Ellsworth Medallion -- this year to three people who have worked to improve students' opportunities to expand their cultural and academic horizons regardless of race or ability level.

The 2002 Fred Ellsworth Medallion recipients are R.A. Edwards of Hutchinson; Cordell D. Meeks Jr. of Kansas City, Kan.; and Professor Emeritus James E. Seaver of Lawrence. The recipients will be honored by the university community and the Alumni Association national board of directors at a dinner Sept. 20 at the Adams Alumni Center.

The Ellsworth medallion has been given since 1975 to those who follow the example of extraordinary service to KU set by the association's longtime executive secretary, Fred Ellsworth, a 1922 KU graduate, who retired in 1963 after 39 years. Winners are chosen by representatives from the chancellor's office and the KU alumni, athletics and endowment associations.

Biographies of the winners follow:

R.A. Edwards
For years, R.A. Edwards, a 1967 and 1973 graduate of KU, has helped recruit countless students to KU as an alumni volunteer for the Office of Admissions and Scholarships. He also serves as a board member to the Natural Ties Student Organization. Natural Ties, now a national group, was founded at KU in 1988 to support friendships between KU students and people with disabilities.

Since 1980 Edwards has lent his experience as president and chief executive officer of the First National Bank of Hutchinson to the School of Business Board of Advisors.

For the Alumni Association, life member Edwards has served as a member of Jayhawks for Higher Education, which communicates the needs of higher education to the Kansas Legislature; a supporter of the Kansas Honors Program; and the alumni representative to the KU Intercollegiate Athletics Corp. board.

For the KU Endowment Association, Edwards is a trustee and a member of the executive committee. He and his wife, Terry Beach Edwards, c'67, are members of the Chancellors Club, Elizabeth Watkins Society and the Williams Educational Fund.

Cordell D. Meeks Jr.
As Kansas district judge, Cordell D. Meeks Jr., who earned a law degree at KU in 1967, has earned a reputation for fairness on the bench.

As a second-generation law school alumnus, Meeks has an enduring interest in the opportunities for minority students on campus, which led to his past role on the advisory board for minority development for the Graduate School. He also serves as a member of the community development advisory board for the Juniper Gardens Children's Project, whose mission is to improve the lives of at-risk children in urban communities. His dedication to improving the accessibility of higher education also is evident in his work on the advisory board for KU's Edwards Campus in Overland Park. For the School of Law, Meeks is a member and past president of the Law Society Board of Governors.

For the Alumni Association, life member Meeks served as national chairman from 1997 to 1998. He presided as a speaker for the Kansas Honors Program and has participated as a member of Jayhawks for Higher Education. He is former steering committee member for the Rock Chalk Ball, a Kansas City event hosted by the greater Kansas City alumni chapter to benefit the recruitment and retention of National Merit Scholars at KU.

For the KU Endowment Association, Meeks and his wife, Mary Ann Sutherland Meeks, a 1967 KU graduate, are members of the Chancellors Club. Meeks was a member of the Campaign Kansas National Council and a Greater University Fund advisory board alumni member in the early 1990s.

In 1995, Meeks received the Distinguished Service Citation, the highest honor bestowed by the university and the Alumni Association for service to humanity. In 2001, the School of Law honored him with its Distinguished Alumnus Citation.

James E. Seaver
Professor Emeritus James E. Seaver heightened the cultural awareness of several generations of KU students during his 25-year tenure as director of the western civilization program. But his contributions to the cultural landscape of the university have not been limited to the classroom.

As campus radio station KANU -- now known as Kansas Public Radio -- celebrates its 50-year anniversary, Seaver also reaches the half-century mark as volunteer host of the station's "Opera Is My Hobby" program. He also contributes countless hours to catalog KU's Archive of Recorded Sound, to which he donated more than 24,000 opera records.

Described by colleagues as a Renaissance man, Seaver also taught in the history department and served as a faculty member for the Office of Study Abroad, leading students on international art and architecture tours. A noted authority on Jewish history, Seaver is the author of "The Persecution of Jews in the Roman Empire," and during his career he received two Fulbright grants and a Carnegie Foundation grant to advance his scholarly work. The university instituted the James E. Seaver Lecture Series on Continuing Issues in Western Civilization to honor his enduring vision for the humanities and the western civilization program.

In 1985, Seaver received the Chancellors Club Teaching Professorship, which he held until his retirement. A three-time past chair of the university's Senate Executive Committee, his involvement is considered instrumental in shaping the state of university governance today.

Seaver and his wife, Virginia, are members of the Alumni Association's Endacott society for retired KU faculty and staff, and they are former members of Jayhawks for Higher Education.