alumni news
Alumni Notes
Items were received or collected prior to May 1, 2009. Send your news by e-mail to patti@ku.edu or by clicking here and filling out the form.
1960s William L. Turner, L’60, was elected president of the board of directors of We Tell Stories, a Los Angeles-based theater company, where he has been on the board since 2003. We Tell Stories is a nonprofit multiethnic community of artists dedicated to educating and nurturing young audiences in literature and theater. We Tell Stories brings classic literature and folk tales to life in classrooms, theaters, schools, museums, festivals, special events and libraries. Their goals are to inspire creativity, enhance literacy, cultivate intercultural awareness and harmony, and spark a love of the theater and spoken word. Peter K. Curran, L’66, was selected for repeat inclusion in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Curran practices with Stevens & Brand LLP in Lawrence. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based on a peer-review survey, with more than 2.5 million lawyers confidentially evaluating other lawyers. Douglas Lancaster, L’66, is of counsel at the Overland Park law firm of Gates, Shields & Ferguson PA. John Smith, L’68, has been elected president of the Lake City, Colo., Community Arts Center. Prior to his retirement, Smith was with Enterprise Products Partners in Houston.
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1970s Thomas G. Kokoruda, L’72, was selected by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association to receive a 2009 Deans of the Trial Bar Award at the 36th Annual Bench-Bar & Boardroom Conference held in April at the Tan-Tar-A Resort. This award spotlights individuals whose superb litigation skills and professional demeanor are viewed as exemplary by their peers. Recipients of the honor must have practiced for at least 30 years or have reached age 60. Kokoruda practices with Polsinelli Shughart PC and is chair of the firm’s trial department and the health care litigation group. Robert O. Watchous, L’73, Emporia, Kan., retired in June 2003. Mary Torrence, L’74, serves as the Kansas Revisor of Statutes. Torrence is the first KU graduate and first woman to hold the position. The Office of Revisor of Statutes is the legal staff agency of the Kansas Legislature and currently has a staff of 21 attorneys. Sen. John Yoder, L’75, was elected circuit court judge in Division 2 of West Virginia’s 23rd Judicial Circuit in November 2008. Yoder is completing his second term in the state Senate, which ends in 2008. He began his legal career as a district court judge in the Ninth Judicial District in Kansas in 1976. In 1980 he was selected in a national competition as a Supreme Court Fellow to work at the U.S. Supreme Court. He continued as a special assistant to the
chief justice until 1983, when he became a federal prosecutor. Ross Hollander, L’76, has been honored as one of the country’s most outstanding labor and employment lawyers by The Best Lawyers in America 2009. Hollander is a partner and shareholder in the Wichita, Kan., firm of Joseph & Hollander PA and practices in the areas of employment law and litigation and business and commercial litigation. Norene D. Jacobs (formerly Norene J. Thomas), L’77, has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in health care law for the 18th consecutive year. Jacobs is a senior partner in the Des Moines, Iowa, office of Kutak Rock LLP. Joe McKeever, L’77, serves as general counsel of Granite Investment Group, Irvine, Calif. Granite is a real estate syndicator specializing in skilled nursing and assisted living portfolio acquisitions and operations in Texas and Illinois. Sheila Bair, L’78, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, received a 2008-09 Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Jim Flory, L’79, a former Douglas County, Kan., district attorney and retired federal prosecutor, was elected to the Douglas