Alumni Association celebrates successful graduates at first Alumni Awards Evening
Five outstanding Kansas State University alumni will be recognized by the K-State Alumni Association through three awards presented Oct. 24 at the K-State Alumni Center for the inaugural Alumni Awards Evening.
Epifanio Elizondo, Ph.D. ’88 will receive the Alumni Excellence Award. Hayes Kelman ’15 and Ryan Urban ’21 will receive the Distinguished Young Alumni Award. Richard ’91, ’95 and Nancy ’19 Becker will receive the Flinchbaugh Family Wildcat Pride Award.
The Alumni Excellence Award is an award recognizing a graduate of K-State whose career, service and achievements exemplify the spirit, values and excellence of the university. Elizondo, who is a physician’s assistant, served as a U.S. Assistant Surgeon General and retired in 2016 as a rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commission Corps. Elizondo earned a doctorate in educational leadership from K-State.
In this role, he oversaw four regional programs related to women’s health, minority health, family planning and HIV/AIDS. He also served as a PA with the U.S. Air Force and in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Elizondo served as deputy commander for the Hurricane Rita response, the Hurricane Katrina response and the USPHS response to an Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia.
The Distinguished Young Alumni program recognizes two K-State graduates who are excelling in their professions and contributing to their communities.
Kelman is the founder and CEO of Boot Hill Distillery in Dodge City, Kansas. He earned a degree in agribusiness. A fifth-generation western Kansas farmer, Kelman combined his agricultural roots with entrepreneurial vision to create a soil-to-sip distillery that uses grain grown on his own farm to craft award-winning spirits.
Urban is the marketing manager for Naturion, an agribusiness company in mitigation banking. To the best of his knowledge, he is the youngest head-of-marketing in the American mitigation banking industry. He also teaches strategic communication research and advertising campaigns at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and works at the major venues in Kansas City for touring productions.
The K-State Alumni Association presents the Flinchbaugh Family Wildcat Pride Award to a current or emeritus K-State faculty or staff member for advocacy of alumni relations, with a special emphasis on support and participation in alumni programs that engage members of the Wildcat family.
Nancy Becker, enterprise IT security analyst, and Richard Becker, director of infrastructure security architecture, have worked for the Division of Information Technology at K-State for the past 38+ years. They both began as students, progressing into their current leadership roles.
Nancy ensures that Alumni Association staff have university information as needed and sets up the appropriate access in a timely and professional manner.
Richard works hand-in-hand with Jacob Marintzer, the Alumni Association's senior network infrastructure and security administrator, to verify firewalls are properly configured to prevent potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities and ensure that the Alumni Center continues to be at the forefront of technology.
The recipients will be recognized during the event, which will include a reception at 6 p.m. and a dinner at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend this ticketed event. Tickets are now on sale for the Alumni Awards Evening for $75. They can be purchased online.