Newman University recognized four impressive 2023 Alumni Award winners, multiple Beata Benefactors and the prestigious St. John Henry Newman Medal recipient at a special evening event Tuesday, April 18.
Jump to:
- St. Maria De Mattias Award
- Beata Netemeyer Service Award
- Leon A. McNeill Distinguished Alumni Award
- Spirit of Acuto Award
- Awarding of the St. John Henry Newman Medal
- Honoring Beata Benefactors of Newman University
Recognizing outstanding contributions
The evening began with a social hour followed by a greeting from Cindy Miles, Newman alumna and president of the National Alumni Association, and an opening prayer led by Chaplain Father Adam Grelinger.
“We are here tonight to celebrate four alumni who are doing amazing things in our community and to honor our very generous donors,” Miles said.
President Kathleen Jagger shared that there are “so many alumni and other friends of Newman who have served as the bedrock of this sacred institution, by being examples of living our mission and examples of generosity.
“We are grateful for their generosity of heart that allows us to support our students to transform society,” she said.
2023 Distinguished Alumni Award Winners
The annual Alumni Awards were established to honor alumni who are striving to make a difference in their communities and who live out the university’s mission of transforming society.
St. Maria De Mattias Award
The St. Maria De Mattias Award is named for the foundress of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. The award honors alumni who display a deep loyalty to Newman and its mission. The award recipient has also given meritorious and continuous support and stewardship to Newman University and Catholic life.
Christine Ostroski ’86 is the 2023 recipient of the St. Maria De Mattias Award.
When Ostroski listened to the voicemail message from Dana Beitey, alumni director at Newman, saying she won the St. Maria De Mattias Award, she was brought to tears.
“I was very humbled because I couldn’t believe that I would be even considered for this award, let alone receive it,” Ostroski said.
Ostroski’s Catholic faith has always been important to her and it was the main reason she attended Newman. After graduation, she worked in the admissions department as a counselor and eventually became director. Years later, she became the director of youth and young adult ministry at the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.
“My husband and I are the parents of a special needs child,” she explained. “He’s an adult now, but when my son was very little, my husband and I had many concerns. We had health concerns, diagnosis concerns and educational concerns, but at the back of my mind was always the fear: ‘What if he never has the ability to make his first Holy Communion?'”
Ostroski decided she wanted to help her son realize that goal, so she spoke to the bishop and plans began to fall into place. After attending a class where her son was taught to make his first Holy Communion, Ostroski created a confirmation class to keep the faith formation going for other individuals with special needs.
Now, more than 10 years later as a “professional volunteer,” she continues to help families and children with their faith formation journey.
“It’s been a rocky road sometimes, but if I can help another family to clear some little hurdle, then that’s what I have to do. It’s just that important to me to help other people come closer to God, to their Catholic faith and to live it out as much as we all can.”
Beata Netemeyer Service Award
The Beata Netemeyer Service Award is named for Sister Beata Netemeyer, ASC, who served as the provincial of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ for the former Wichita province from its formation in 1929 until 1938. She was also instrumental in establishing Sacred Heart Junior College, now Newman University, and is the namesake of the Beata Benefactors.
The award honors alumni who continue Netemeyer’s spirit of service as they minister to others, bringing about the mission of Christ.
Lovella Kelley, a 1991 nontraditional nursing graduate, is the recipient of the 2023 Beata Netemeyer Alumni Award.
At the banquet, Kelley wore one of her favorite hats — pink with folded ribbons — and was surrounded by “her biggest achievements of all.”
“I have six children and they are all here tonight,” she said in her speech. “One lives in Boston, one in Washington, D.C., another in Maryland, Wichita, Hutch and one in Lawrence.”
Kelley said she has always been a caregiver. At 10, she helped care for her grandfather after he had a stroke, and at 16 she helped raise her younger siblings after health issues ensued following the birth of her mother’s last child.
After working at Hutchinson Hospital and a local nursing home, Kelley started a home health agency and eventually became a parish health nurse.
In 2005, Kelley and her late husband, Ron, started the Hutchinson St. Vincent De Paul Society at Holy Cross Parish.
“We started something called the Walk for the Poor,” she explained. “It started very small and … has just grown and grown every year. It’s amazing how people respond to the call for need when asked.”
Kelley was surprised to learn that her grandson, Cody Jenkins, nominated her for the Alumni Award.
Jenkins is also a Newman nursing graduate and is constantly inspired by his grandmother.
“To this day, at 80, this woman is out of her house every day of the week volunteering for one organization or another,” he said in his nomination. “Her passion in life is to help others.”
Leon A. McNeill Distinguished Alumni Award
The Leon A. McNeill Distinguished Alumni Award honors graduates who have achieved outstanding success in their personal lives and careers. They have enriched the church spiritually, made contributions to society and demonstrated concern for others. The award is named for the first president of Sacred Heart Junior College, now Newman University.
Richard Macías, a 1980 history graduate of then Kansas Newman College, received the Leon A. McNeill Distinguished Alumni Award.
Macías and his brothers grew up in a service-minded household, and his older brother, Archie, continued a life of service when he attended Newman. When it came time for Richard Macías to pick a college, Newman was a no-brainer.
“You got to see firsthand through the ASC sisters that it was service-oriented,” Macías said. “So everything we did, whatever our particular interests … it was with the idea that you are here for a bigger or greater purpose.”
Today, Macías is a judge for the 18th Judicial District Court. He has also served as a Sedgwick County Court judge. He practiced law privately for more than 30 years, many of which he spent helping families in adoption matters.
“Everybody has a story to tell,” Macías said. “Everybody wants to be heard … and we should take the time to actually listen.”
For current students who want to make a difference in their fields, Macías shares some advice.
“Everything you do is a building block. Have that dream but enjoy the journey because that journey takes a long time to accomplish,” he said.
Macías said he owes a “debt of gratitude” to Newman University.
“I try to pay it not just monetarily, but through my actions. It’s love of God, love of neighbor, love of self. I can only hope that when all accounts are tallied, it can be said that all my debts are paid.”
Spirit of Acuto Award
The Spirit of Acuto Award is named in honor of the driving spirit of Adorers of the Blood of Christ. This award honors alumni and friends who, as a reflection of their association with Newman, have been a driving force, using their talent and training at critical junctures to move a vision to reality.
Alumna Lisa Garcia, a 2008 biology graduate, is the recipient of the 2023 Spirit of Acuto Alumni Award.
Garcia learned she was the Spirit of Acuto winner right before Christmas break, in the thick of a stressful semester’s end.
“At that time, I was kind of feeling a little disheartened, so when I got the award, I was shocked. It was a really nice pick-me-up to feel appreciated,” she said.
Being back in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center was a walk down memory lane for both Garcia and her husband, who had their wedding reception in the same room.
“There are a lot of good memories here,” she said.
Now a clinical anatomy professor at Wichita State University, Garcia takes the same “small-class” experience she got as a Newman student and uses it to get to know each and every one of her students.
Connecting with the students and giving them an educational experience they’ll remember is at the top of Garcia’s goals when it comes to teaching.
“You’ve gotta make education fun, otherwise students don’t remember it,” she said. “Tying it to a story helps them remember things a little bit more. Tying it to something they’ve experienced makes it real-world and that’s going to be what they take further with them.”
Garcia said she struggled in college just like many students do. Knowing that the journey won’t always be pretty helps her relate to her students. Yet the skills that she has gained throughout her years as a student, and then as a teacher, enable her to provide sound advice — for the classroom and beyond.
“What I tell students is that it’s okay to fail. It’s what you do after that,” Garcia explained. “Do you give up or do you keep going? Do you adjust what you’re doing? And so sometimes that’s part of that conversation is it’s okay to struggle at something — that’s human nature. You just adapt and you reflect on it. What can I do to fix that and go from here?”
Awarding the St. John Henry Newman Medal
The St. Newman Medal is the highest award the university can bestow. By conferral of the St. Newman Medal, the university seeks to recognize persons who have been instrumental in the growth and development of the university.
Either through scholarship, intellectual pursuits, community service or spiritual life, the recipient of the St. Newman Medal is given to an honoree who exemplifies the truths St. John Henry Newman espoused.
The 2023 St. Newman Medal recipient is Teresa Hall Bartels.
Bartels has a selfless, service-integrated story at Newman.
She attended Sacred Heart College for two years. Later, she received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Newman in 2010. The next year, she joined the Board of Trustees and has served as chair of the Advancement Committee, a member of the Enrollment Management Committee, Board of Trustees vice-chair, Board of Trustees chair and finally, interim university president after the retirement of Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D.
Bartels was instrumental in the search for the university’s 12th president, Jagger, and continues to serve as a supportive presence for Jagger to this day.
“Teresa has been a mentor to me since I first started here,” Jagger said. “She lives her faith. She is a searcher of truth. She is a person who appreciates an inclusive approach to excellence. She is a true leader and wonderful recipient of this medal named after St. John Henry Newman.”
Bartels described receiving the award as a profoundly humbling experience.
“Especially when I consider all the amazing people who’ve received the Newman medal previously — people that I look up to and that I really consider to be the role models that demonstrate the values of Newman University,” she said.
Beyond Newman, Bartels served in leadership roles with United Way at local, national and international levels. She and her husband owned and operated two of the top Manpower Staffing franchises in America for nearly two decades. She has run her own consulting firm for the past 25 years and served five years as president of Gateway for Cancer Research in Chicago. She continues leading today — coaching CEOs to become more effective through an organization called Vistage.
“What makes Teresa a good leader is that she never walks around trying to say something profound,” said JT Klaus, chair of the Newman Board of Trustees. “Instead, what she does is listens to people. … “She has a spirit of giving that really lives our mission and I love that about her.”
Jagger added, “She really illustrates that people can use the power of their own strengths to invest in the organizations that they value. And Newman is certainly an organization that she values.”
Honoring the Beata Benefactors of Newman University
Beata Benefactors are honored and recognized for their first-time support of the university throughout the year.
Bob Beumer, vice president of institutional advancement, greeted attendees and expressed thanks to all those in attendance.
“Tonight we are honoring fiscal year 2022 donors who will be inducted into one of Newman University’s giving societies,” Beumer explained.
Societal induction for Beata Benefactors
Sacred Heart Society
Individuals, businesses and foundations that give $25,000 or more annually in cash gifts are inducted into the Sacred Heart Society.
Jo Ann Tematt, 1956 graduate, was inducted into the Sacred Heart Society for her generous first-time contribution.
Monsignor McNeill Society
Those inducted into the Monsignor McNeill Society were first-time donors who gave annual gifts of $10,000 to $24,999.
The Twentieth Century Club was inducted into the Monsignor McNeill Society.
De Mattias Society
Two organizational donors were inducted into the De Mattias Society, reserved for donors of annual gifts of $1,000 to $9,999 in a year: the Wichita Chapter of KCPAs and West Wichita Family Physicians.
The following individuals and couples were also inducted into the De Mattias Society for their generous first-time contributions:
- Christopher ‘07 and Amelia ’07 Baalmann
- Joann Baptiste ’71
- Jeremiah Beyale ’14
- Rose Ann ‘68 and Gerald Burkhart
- Blake Cripps
- Ron and DeLonna Coleman
- Paul Enegren
- Bobby ’05 ’07 and Lily English
- Michael and April Gerber
- Wendy and Carl Glick
- Adam ‘94 and April Gomez
- Victor Hands
- Father Michael Hermes
- Matthew Jagger
- Veronica ’83 and Douglas Janvrin
- Jeff ‘88 and Joan ‘88 Lipp
- Gregory Lohkamp ‘81
- John Roden
- Jared Scott
- Todd and Mercedes Shoemaker
- Gregory L. Smith ’72
- Joyce ’61 and Kenneth Tse
Closing remarks
Newman University would like to congratulate and thank all honorees for living out the spirit and mission of Newman in their work, service, family and faith.
It is because of our alumni, donors and supporters that the university can continue to instill the values of St. Newman and the ASC sisters in the students we serve daily.
God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
St. John Henry Newman
Giving societies and loyal sponsors
Newman University recognizes that all gifts from alumni and friends are a blessing to the university. Whether this generosity supports the educational programs, co-curricular activities for students, scholarships, endowment, or the maintenance of the equipment and physical plant, it represents an investment in the future of Newman University.
