Four Emporia State alumni will be honored with the 2017 Service Citation Award during the annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on Saturday, June 3.
Maurice Gray, Dr. Jim Hoy and Tim and Kristi Wright are the honorees. Presented by the Alumni Association annually since 1980, the Service Citation Awards honor unique service to the University.
“Individuals chosen for this award are inspired to serve by their deep concern for and loyalty to ESU,” according to Tyler Curtis, assistant vice president for university advancement and Foundation assistant vice president for outreach and engagement. “Their gifts of time and talent advance the institution, and we are grateful for the opportunity to recognize these recipients for their dedication to the Hornet Nation.”
Maurice Gray
Maurice Gray (BSE 1975—Psychology) of Kansas City, Kansas, was a Hornet football student-athlete during his time at Kansas State Teachers College, as he earned his bachelor’s in psychology in 1975. Over the years, Gray has served Emporia State in a variety of roles.
Gray is an influential figure that helped establish the Emporia Connection, which is an official alumni chapter designed to strengthen ties between African American alumni, current and prospective students and the University. The group is comprised of six decades of alumni who live throughout the United States. Gray continues to help lead the Emporia Connection as he helps organize events and serves as their historian.
He was directly involved in recognizing the late Geraldine Strader (BSE 1957—Foreign Language; MLS 1967—Library Science) on Emporia State’s campus. Due to Gray’s efforts, a plaque in the William Allen White Library honors both her time on campus and her impact on others. Strader was recognized as an advocate for diversity and inclusion and ensured that everyone had a fair voice. She was also one of the first female African Americans to live in the residence halls on the Emporia State campus.
Gray is a Hornet for Higher Ed. He continuously advocates to his legislators about the importance of higher education, the importance of accessibility to public higher education services and education as a whole.
He has helped volunteer his time at TAP luncheons, which involves serving lunches to high school staff members. Gray served as a board member in his church, served on the Emporia State Athletics Hall of Honor Board and was a member of the Emporia State Alumni Board from 2008-14. He also supports Football Legends Weekend fundraising events every year.
Dr. Jim Hoy
Dr. Jim Hoy (MA 1965—English) of Emporia began his accomplished career as an English instructor at Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State) from 1965-66 and returned from 1970 until his retirement in 2014.
Hoy’s career was not only spent in Emporia, but also throughout the world. He visited ranch cultures in several countries internationally and lectured on cowboy folklore internationally.
Hoy won many awards throughout his career for his outstanding work. Early on, he was the recipient of a Will Rogers Medallion, the Founders Award from Westerners International and the 1981 Seaton Award for nonfiction.
Since 1983, Hoy and Tim Isern have written Plains Folk, a weekly newspaper column devoted to life within the Great Plains. During that same year, he was named a Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor. He also served in several organizations, including president of the Kansas Historical Society and the American Association of Australian Literary Studies; chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress; and a member of the Kansas Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.
In 1992, Hoy and graduate student Mike Marchand (BS 1990—History; MA 1991—History; MLS 1994—Library Science) received a $16,000 grant from the Kansas State Historical Society to survey, map and document all manmade structures in the area near Middle Creek and Diamond Creek, which covers 171,520 acres in Chase, Marion and Morris counties. One significant result was the successful nomination of the Whitney Ranch near Hymer to the National Register of Historic Places.
Hoy received an American Cowboy Culture award in 1999 and was inducted into the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2004. He also became a founding member of Emporia State’s Center for Great Plains Studies.
Both Hoy and his wife Dr. Cathy Hoy (MS 1982—Curriculum and Instruction; MLS 1983—Library Science; PHD 2001—Library and Information Management) were the recipients of the Friend of the Flint Hills Award given by the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation in Manhattan for the significant time, effort and resources they've given to the conservation of the Flint Hills of Kansas. He was recently named Kansan of the Year by the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas. Past recipients of this award included Bob Dole, Robert Gates and Gordon Parks.
Tim and Kristi Wright
Tim Wright (BSB 1986—Accounting) has served on several Emporia State advisory boards. As he currently serves on the Emporia State Foundation Trustee Board, he previously served as a member of the Alumni Board and is currently the chair of the Business Alliance, which is the primary advisory group of the School of Business.
Tim Wright, who is the president of Wright CPA Group, PA in Emporia, advocates for Emporia State as a Hornet for Higher Ed. He helps Emporia State advocate not only for the University, but for the state of Kansas’ entire system of higher education. He was also the first person to become a mentor of the Emporia State School of Business’ Mentor Program. He is a frequent speaker at business classes and has shared advice with students as the speaker at various dinners. Wright CPA Group has a long history of hiring Hornet accounting graduates.
His wife, Kristi, is known as a volunteer extraordinaire as she volunteers her time at many events throughout the Emporia community.
Together, the couple have been instrumental in helping with the Emporia State international population. As international students move to Emporia and on-campus, the Wrights have welcomed them into their home and provided friendship and fellowship. Kristi was instrumental in founding a “bedding program” to collect bedding supplies from students who were leaving — to clean it — and provide it to new students arriving. This saved money for the new students and avoided the waste of perfectly good materials. The Wrights have hosted international students at their home in many different formats over the years including hosting a Labor Day luncheon for eight years in a row with all homemade food (except the butter!). The last two years Kristi served 115 for lunch. They also host reunions of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity, Tim Wright's fraternity.
Tim and Kristi Wright established the Wright CPA Group, PA Accounting Scholarship in 2013 and the Dr. John C. Rich Fund for Professional Development of Accounting Majors in 2014. The Dr. John C. Rich Fund for Professional Development of Accounting Majors provides resources to benefit accounting students with professional development and preparation for entering the accounting workforce. It helps support activities in AC 302—Professional Development and Leadership, Beta Alpha Psi, Accounting Club and other student organizations primarily intended for accounting students. They were also part of the group of ESU business alums who founded the John C. Rich Endowed Professorship.