KU News Release

Four KU students earn scholarships from School of Business

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Business awarded Jack P. DeBoer Scholarships to four students in recognition of outstanding academic achievements.

The scholarship was provided by the J.A. Vickers Sr. and Robert F. Vickers Sr. Lectureship Fund and was awarded in honor of DeBoer, who delivered the 2009 Vickers Lecture on March 24 at the Lied Center. DeBoer, chairman of Consolidated Holdings Inc., asked that funds typically used as compensation for delivering the lecture be used to support four scholarships for deserving undergraduate and graduate students studying management, marketing or entrepreneurship.

Candidates were nominated by business faculty, and the four recipients were selected by the deans of the School of Business. Undergraduate students Emma Brooke and Lisa Houltberg and graduate students Brian Metzger and Richard Smith each received $2,000 to be used for the 2009-10 school year.

Brooke is a junior from Lawrence double majoring in marketing and Spanish. She spent the spring of 2008 studying in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and will be a marketing intern for Hallmark Cards this summer. Brooke is the treasurer of KU’s Tae Kwon Do Club and is a third-degree black belt. She is the daughter of James and Magdalene Brooke and a graduate of Lawrence Free State High School.

“This scholarship money will ease the burden of the cost of my undergraduate education and allow me to approach graduation in a financially stable manner,” Brooke said. “It could give me some leeway if the economic recession makes finding a job hard or could help fund a trip to Latin America to work on my Spanish. It will be an incredible honor to put a scholarship from Jack DeBoer on my resume.”

Houltberg is a junior from Salina studying business management with a concentration in entrepreneurship. She will study abroad this summer in Italy through the CIMBA program. Houltberg will use the money to finance her senior year. Houltberg’s first passion is dance, and she has taken lessons in tap, jazz and ballet for 10 years. She hopes to own a dance studio someday. Houltberg is the daughter of Bill Houltberg and Eileen Thibault and a graduate of Sacred Heart Jr.-Sr. High School in Salina.

“I have been dancing since I was in second grade and wish to share my passion for dancing with children as well as adults,” said Houltberg. “This scholarship will help me obtain that goal by helping me finance my senior year, which includes tuition and books.”

Metzger is a first-year student in the full-time master’s of business administration program. Metzger, originally from Scott City, graduated from Fort Hays State University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Upon graduating he completed a highly specialized 10-month training program before working as a commercial producer for a large, niche-focused insurer. Metzger works as a graduate research assistant to the director of business relations at the KU Center for Research. He is the son of David and Karen Metzger.

“This scholarship will provide needed assistance in securing startup capital to start my own business upon graduating from KU,” Metzger said. “It was an honor I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Smith is a first-year master’s of business administration student from Wichita concentrating in finance and strategic management. Smith is a graduate assistant in the School of Business, helping design a business plan for a new management curriculum. Before coming to KU, Smith worked for six years as a television news reporter and still does some freelance television work in his spare time. His goal is to go into business consulting or strategic planning upon completion of the master’s program. He is son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Smith and earned a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University in 2002. Smith is a graduate of Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School in Wichita.

“I’ll be using some of the money to help fund my participation in the study abroad program in Italy this summer, where, as part of the course, I'll be on a team working on a real consulting project for an Italian company,” Smith said.

The Vickers Lecture Series was established in 1969 by the Vickers family of Wichita to honor one of the pioneers of the oil industry in Kansas, J. A. Vickers. His son, Robert F. Vickers Sr., administered the Vickers Trust from 1961 to 1995. The series was renamed in 1995, after Robert Vickers’ death, to honor both father and son.

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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.