KU News Release

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Law honored graduates at a hooding ceremony May 16. During the ceremony, seven students were recognized for distinguishing themselves in scholarship, leadership and service to the law school and community.

The recipients were

Jennifer Berry

Tim Davis

Sonja Kramer

Stephanie Lovett-Bowman

Megan McGinnis

Benjamin Miller-Coleman

Juliann Morland

— Jennifer Berry, Wichita, Janean Meigs Memorial Award
— Tim Davis, Overland Park, Samuel Mellinger Scholarship, Leadership and Service Award
— Sonja Kramer, Mustang, Okla., Class of 1949 Leadership Award
— Stephanie Lovett-Bowman, Lenexa, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement
— Benjamin Miller-Coleman, Abilene, Walter Hiersteiner Outstanding Service Award
— Megan McGinnis, Kansas City, Kan., Justice Lloyd Kagey Leadership Award
— Juliann Morland, Girard, Robert F. Bennett Award

Funds for the awards and scholarships are managed by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit foundation serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

Award recipients are listed below by hometown.

CRAWFORD COUNTY
From Girard 66743
Juliann Morland received the Robert F. Bennett Award, recognizing a graduate whose undergraduate degree is from a Kansas university or college and who has demonstrated leadership qualities through public service. Morland spent considerable time during her law school career helping others. She was a wish granter at the Kansas Make a Wish Foundation, a volunteer at the Lawrence Homeless Coalition and a participant in the law school’s Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic. She served on the Dean’s Student Advisory Board and was a member of the International Law Society, the Public Interest Law Society, the Graduate and International Programs Committee and Women in Law. She is the daughter of William and Laura Morland and a Girard High School graduate.

DICKINSON COUNTY
From Abilene 67410
Benjamin Miller-Coleman received the Walter Hiersteiner Outstanding Service Award, given to the graduate whose service to his or her fellow students demonstrates the greatest promise for contribution to the legal profession and society. Miller-Coleman was president of the Public Interest Law Society and treasurer of the Health Law Society and was a member of the Dean’s Student Advisory Board. He also devoted many hours to causes such as the Guardianship Assistance Program, Family Promise and the Jayhawk Support Service for the Elderly. He is the son of Marilyn and Gary Coleman and a graduate of Abilene High School.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Lenexa 66215 and Kansas City, Mo.
Stephanie Lovett-Bowman received the Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement, which goes to the graduating student selected by the faculty as having made the most significant contribution toward overall legal scholarship. A recipient of multiple best-paper awards, a decorated moot court participant and a Moot Court Council leader, Lovett-Bowman also found time to act as a teaching assistant in the law school’s legal research and writing program and maintain an impressive grade-point average. She also served this past year as editor-in-chief of the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy. She is the daughter of Richard Lovett and Carol Lovett and a graduate of Park Hill High School.

From Overland Park 66223
Tim Davis received the Samuel Mellinger Scholarship, Leadership and Service Award, given to the graduate who has most distinguished him or herself in the combined areas of scholarship, leadership and service. Davis won several best-paper citations and impressed his professors with his active class participation. He also was editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review this past year. Davis was a teaching assistant in the law school’s legal research and writing program, a Dean’s Fellow and a Traffic Court advocate. He is the son of Murray and Suzanne Davis and is a Blue Valley Northwest High School graduate.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Wichita 67208
Jennifer Berry received the Janean Meigs Memorial Award given to the student who has demonstrated a caring spirit in service to the students of the law school or the community at large. Berry has been actively involved in the American Constitution Society, Women in Law, International Law Society and Eleven Hundred Torches, the initiative created to honor and carry on deceased law student Jana Mackey’s legacy of activism and public service. Berry also coordinated a successful Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program during the 2010 tax season. She is the daughter of Ned and Deborah Berry and a Wichita High School East graduate.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY
From Kansas City 66104
Megan McGinnis received the Justice Lloyd Kagey Leadership Award, given to the graduate who has most distinguished him or herself through leadership in the law school. McGinnis served as a Dean’s Fellow and, in her role as a Student Ambassador, helped convince numerous prospective law students to attend KU. She was an editor on the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy who participated in the Stetson International Moot Court competition and interned in both the Criminal Prosecution Clinic and the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies. McGinnis also served this past year as president of the Black Law Students Association, which organized a successful Thanksgiving food drive and Thurgood Marshall Law Day program. She is the daughter of Joni Fellows and a graduate of the Sumner Academy of Arts and Science.

MISSOURI
From Kansas City 64151 and Lenexa, Kan.
Stephanie Lovett-Bowman. SEE JOHNSON COUNTY

OKLAHOMA
From Mustang 73179
Sonja Kramer received the Class of 1949 Leadership Award, given to the student who has contributed most significantly to the overall experience of the students in Green Hall. Kramer served as a Student Ambassador and secretary of the Native American Law Students Association. During her third year of law school, she was president of the Student Bar Association. She is the daughter of Robert and Stephanie Kramer and a graduate of Mustang High School.