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By USucceed, March 4, 2014 9:08 am

The UMKC 2014 Alumni Award recipients include a globally recognized innovator in modern dance, a Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist, a mayor and renowned civic leader, a husband-and-wife engineering team, and an educator/entrepreneur who survived childhood internment in WWII concentration camps.

Each year, the UMKC Alumni Association recognizes outstanding individual alumni and one family. UMKC will honor its 2014 outstanding alumni at luncheon on April 24. UMKC’s Alumni Association will highlight the recipients’ accomplishments at the luncheon as well as through other events, such as presentations and classroom visits, where they will share their experiences with students.

The annual luncheon is the university’s largest event and proceeds support student scholarships. Last year’s luncheon hosted 600 attendees and garnered $200,000 in scholarship support for students.

“Through this event, the UMKC Alumni Association honors our outstanding graduates while providing vital support to current students,” said event chair Michelle Wimes (B.A. ’88). “All proceeds from the awards luncheon go directly to support students.”

“The UMKC Alumni Association provides exceptional leadership as well as exceptional support to this campus, this community and our students, and we are very grateful for that,” said Curtis J. Crespino, vice chancellor for Advancement. “We have an extraordinary class of recipients for these awards in 2014, as we do every year. Their achievements bring credit to our university and to Kansas City.”

For a full list of the awardees, visit UMKC Today.

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By USucceed, March 4, 2014 8:52 am

David Donnelly, Ph.D., has been appointed Dean of the Henry W. Bloch School of Management at UMKC.  Donnelly succeeds Teng-Kee Tan, Ph.D., who has served as dean of the school since 2009. Donnelly was appointed acting dean in May 2013 when Teng-Kee encountered health issues.

Donnelly came to UMKC in 2004 as Chair and Professor of Accountancy at the Bloch School, after serving in the same position at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He also led the Accounting Department at Kansas State University, where he earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees. Donnelly earned his Ph.D. in International Taxation and Accounting from the University of Illinois in 1983.

“The Bloch School will continue to be a world leader in research and teaching, thanks to the talents of an exceptional team of faculty,” Donnelly said. “The school will continue to follow the twin-pillar philosophy, pioneered by Henry Bloch, of nurturing leaders in both the for-profit sector and the nonprofit-public sector; and will continue to be a significant knowledge and economic development resource for the Kansas City region and beyond.”

Donnelly plans to continue the school’s tradition of being a vital resource to Kansas City’s business community, leveraging the school’s academic leadership in entrepreneurship and innovation. He also plans to continue movement on the goals of doubling student enrollment and developing innovative programs that meet the challenges of today’s organizations, particularly in graduate and executive education.