Nominations for WSU Retirees Association Service Awards due April 3

It’s time to think about all that Wright State retirees do to make the university, the community, even the world, a better place.

At last spring’s Annual Retirees Luncheon we presented the inaugural Lewis K. Shupe Faculty Service Award to Professor Emeritus of Economics Rudy Fichtenbaum and the Richard A. Johnson Staff Service Award to former Senior Associate Athletics Director Paul Newman.

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 both were known across the entire campus as exemplary human beings. Service to students, to colleagues, to the institution, their profession and the community was a basic part of who they were. Without question there are many worthy recipients in our community of retirees who deserve recognition. But WSURA needs your help in identifying them.

All retirees of Wright State University, except those currently serving on the WSURA Board, are eligible to be nominated. The easiest way to nominate someone is to write a short letter or email and mail it to WSU Retirees Association, 210 Foundation Bldg., Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435. If you prefer to submit your nomination by email, we’ve created this nomination form to assist you. Once complete, save it as your nominee’s last name and email it as an attachment to wsura@wright.edu. Include as much detail as you know, and the selection committee will take it from there. The deadline for submitting nominees is Friday, April 3.

We will contact you by email for additional information if needed, so be sure to include your contact information. Our goal is to have several names in each category to research before making a final selection.

The recipients will be announced at the Annual Retirees Luncheon on May 14, 2020. When Abe Bassett first proposed the idea of awards for service, he made the point that when we honor individual members of our community it brings honor to us all. Many on the board found this assertion puzzling, but eventually we came to understand what he meant. We are not just tired, used up people who sit home watching reality shows on TV. We are collectively so much more than the clichés about retirement. We are dynamic members of many communities working hard to achieve worthy goals. Help us illuminate this truth by selecting two of our best to recognize in May.

Editor's note: Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley will be the guest speaker at the Sixth Annual WSU Retiress Luncheon on Thursday, May 14, 2020.