KU News Release

Alumni leaders earn Ellsworth Medallions for exceptional KU loyalty

Larry Borden

Drue Jennings

Joe Morris

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Alumni Association will honor three alumni for unique and significant service to KU on Friday, Sept. 22, at the Adams Alumni Center.

This year’s recipients of the Fred Ellsworth Medallion are Larry Borden of Colorado Springs, Colo., who earned a bachelor’s in business in 1962 and a graduate degree in 1967; A. Drue Jennings of Prairie Village, who earned a bachelor’s of business in 1968 and a law degree in 1972; and Joe Morris of Leawood, who earned a bachelor’s in business in 1961.

The Ellsworth Medallion began in 1975 in recognition of the Alumni Association’s longtime secretary Fred Ellsworth, who earned a bachelor’s degree from KU in 1922. Recipients are selected with the help of the chancellor’s office, Kansas Athletics and the KU Endowment. In addition to a dinner and ceremony in their honor, each recipient will be recognized during the Sept. 23 KU football game against South Florida.

Borden, vice president and chief operating officer of Winslow Motors, began his volunteer career as a chapter leader, hosting countless events for Jayhawks in Colorado, and helping to recruit students and support athletics programs. For his efforts as a local ambassador, he won the Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award in 1989, the year he began assisting KU on a national scale. He served his first term on the Alumni Association’s national Board of Directors from 1989 to 1994. In 2002, he returned to the board. During the 2004-05 year, he led the Alumni Association as national chair, guiding the organization through the transition to a new president and CEO. He has contributed to numerous programs through the years, including the Rock Chalk Ball in Kansas City.

For KU Endowment, he is a Chancellors Club member who was chair of the group’s advisory board. He and his wife, Nancy, have continued to host KU events in recent years.

Their hospitality also is evident in Lawrence, where this year the Bordens’ generosity provided an outdoor renovation at the Adams Alumni Center, including extensive landscaping and enhanced lighting, to create a more inviting space for alumni to gather when they return to the Hill. The Borden Family Plaza also complements the new gateway to the northeast entrance of campus.

Drue Jennings, senior counsel for the law firm of Shughart Thomson & Kilroy, always steps in for KU when needed. A former football letterman, he filled a gap at Kansas Athletics in 2003 as interim athletics director, helping KU to hire men’s basketball coach Bill Self and current Athletics Director Lew Perkins. Lately he has championed KU’s cause in Kansas City as a member of the Edwards Campus advisory board and chair of the Advancement Board for the KU Medical Center and the University of Kansas Hospital. His efforts with the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute are vital to reaching KU’s goal to become a national cancer center.

His long record of service to the Kansas City community helped him earn KU’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Citation, in 1999.

Jennings also is a KU Endowment trustee, budget chair and executive committee member. He was a donor to KU First and Campaign Kansas. From 1999 to 2004, he advised the Alumni Association as a member of the national Board of Directors. During the 1990s, he represented alumni on athletics board and offered guidance to the School of Law as a member of its board of governors.

Joe Morris, chair of The Capital Corp., has shown his KU loyalty in numerous ways. He is a trustee of KU Endowment, for which he is also a Chancellors Club member, Elizabeth Watkins Society member and a donor to KU First and Campaign Kansas. In 2002, he established an endowment to provide unrestricted funds, along with support for athletics and three professional schools: business, architecture and journalism. He also helped the school that gave him his start as a member of the School of Business board of advisors, and he has served on an advisory committee for advanced heart research at KU Medical Center.

For the Alumni Association, Morris remains a stalwart as 2006-07 chair-elect of the national board and a driving force behind the association’s recent improvements in bylaws and governance. In addition, he has served on the finance committee and the resources task force. He has volunteered for Jayhawks for Higher Education, traveled with Flying Jayhawks and faithfully attended the Rock Chalk Ball and Southwest Open Golf Tournament.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.