Friday, March 15, is the deadline to nominate a colleague for a Wright State University Retirees Association Service Award. The Service Awards were created to honor faculty member Lewis K. Shupe and staff member Richard A. Johnson. Both men spent most of their careers at Wright State and were known across campus for their service orientation.
Any Wright State retiree may nominate a fellow retiree for one of these awards. Two separate awards will be made: one to staff and one to faculty. The awards will be presented at the Fifth Annual Retirees Luncheon on April 25, where the featured speaker will be basketball coach Scott Nagy.
There is no form to fill out. Simply write a letter detailing the service history of your nominee. We will consider service to students, faculty or staff, the university, the community, a profession, and/or humanity.
Be as specific as you can. The selection committee may contact you for more information, so be sure to let us know how best to get in touch with you. All retirees (except current WSURA board members) are eligible for nomination, no matter where they live and serve. Return your nominations to:
WSU Retirees Association
Attention: Mary Kenton
210 Foundation Bldg.
Wright State University
Dayton, OH 45435-0001
Or email: mary.kenton@wright.edu
About Lewis K. Shupe
Lew Shupe was a professor of communication who also taught art therapy courses. He was awarded the title professor emeritus when he retired in 1993. He served on the Friends of the Libraries Board and the Retirees Association Board for many years. In addition to serving a term as president, he also guided the retirees’ Oral History Project for more than a decade. Because of his diligence, much of Wright State’s early history was preserved in the many interviews that he conducted. His on-going service to the American Rose Society culminated with the Klima Medal, the Society’s highest award for service. He also earned the highest recognition as a horticulturalist, arranger and teacher. Lew died in 2016 at the age of 84. The many tributes at his memorial service in the Berry Room were touching acknowledgements of a life well lived. We miss him still.
About Richard A. Johnson
Rich Johnson began his career at Wright State in 1971 supervising Hamilton Hall. After that challenge, he left Wright State for about five years, returning as the employee benefits manager as well as the property and casualty overseer in Human Resources. In that capacity, perhaps his most unusual task was to monitor the cheerleaders to make sure they did not go more than three levels high to reduce the likelihood of falls. Anyone who had a complicated benefit question went to Rich. He had infinite patience and infinite knowledge. He knew almost every staff and faculty member and was widely known as being one of the most helpful people on campus. When he retired in 2009, the loss was palpable. He too served on the WSURA Board until his declining health forced him to return to the care of family in Iowa. He died there from complications of Parkinson’s Disease in 2017. He was 69.
