Clarence Kelley’s Dedication and Service Inspired Endowment

A scholarship has been endowed at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to honor the memory of a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Kansas City, Mo., Chief of Police.

The Clarence Kelley Memorial Scholarship in Criminal Justice and Criminology, established in recognition of Kelley’s dedication and service, has been awarded to Sara Bell of De Soto, Kan., for the current semester. It is thought to be the only endowed university scholarship in the country named for Chief Kelley.

Bell, a senior studying Criminal Justice and Criminology, qualified for the scholarship because of her academic standing and her interest in law enforcement. She interned with the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA), where she gained experience in community relations, victim services, and criminal justice system interaction with victims. She is currently a crime analyst intern with the Lenexa, Kan., Police Department.

She will be the first in her immediate family to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, but has a family tradition of working in law enforcement. Her grandfather, Aaron W. Bell Sr., was Police Chief for Maize, Kan., a Police Officer for Andale, Kan., and a volunteer for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department for many years.

Clarence M. Kelley received a law degree from the University of Kansas City (now UMKC) in 1940. That same year, he was admitted to the Missouri Bar and entered into duty with the FBI as a special agent. Throughout a career in public service spanning nearly four decades, Kelley was a model of integrity, innovation, pride and professionalism.

John Dillingham, whose father, Jay, was Kelley’s close friend; UMKC alumnus Darrel Stephens, Executive Director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association; and Tom Mills, retired Deputy Chief of the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, were instrumental in starting the scholarship.

Professor Ken Novak of UMKC’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology is pleased that someone with Bell’s social analysis and community relations experience was selected for the award.

“This scholarship is for the education and preparation of tomorrow’s law enforcement and correctional leaders,” Novak said. “They will follow in Chief Kelley’s distinguished footsteps.”