Faces and names

Here’s a look back at some Trustees whose names you might recognize from a campus building or from around Kansas City.

Marjorie Powell Allen was chairperson of the Trustees from 1985-87 and is the only woman to ever hold the top leadership position. Allen was president of the Powell Family Foundation, which funded diverse projects, including the I Have A Dream program, which encouraged inner-city kids to finish their educations.

 

 

Henry Bloch served as served as chairman of the Trustees from 1978-89 and as a board member for years. Bloch recently made a $32 million gift to fund the Henry W. Bloch School of Management’s new facility.

 

 

Herman Johnson was named the first African-American Trustee in 1979. He created the first funding mechanism to benefit African-American students, the UMKC Herman Johnson African-American Scholarship Fund. The Herman and Dorothy Johnson Residence Hall is named in honor of him and his wife.

 

 

Ernest H. Newcomb worked tirelessly to bring about the Trustees and the University of Kansas City. Newcomb Hall is named in his honor. For two years, he worked without pay to develop the support needed to launch the University of Kansas City.

 

 

Miller Nichols founded the Trustees real estate program and served as chairman from 1965-67. The Miller Nichols Charitable Foundation has made significant contributions to the growth of the library, most recently for its expansion to include enhanced spaces for collaborative work and study, lecture halls and the RooBot.

 

 

Martha Jane Starr became a Trustee in 1963. That year, she established the Family Study Center Endowment, which evolved into the endowment that funds the Starr Symposium, a campus community forum for women’s and family issues. Starr also founded the UMKC Women’s Council and established the UMKC Graduate Assistance Fund.

The best and brightest

In 2001, the Trustees challenged themselves to create a program that would enhance UMKC and the community. One way to do that was to develop a special scholarship program complete with internships, mentoring and networking to provide students with meaningful relationships among Kansas City’s business and civic leaders. The support and involvement of major companies in Kansas City make the Trustees’ Scholars Program different than other full-ride scholarships. The program provides fully paid educational funding for its students and offers them the chance to have immediate involvement in Kansas City’s businesses and civic life.

59

Trustees’ Scholarship graduates since the program was founded in 2001.

70%

Percentage of Trustees’ scholars who have made the decision to live and work in the Kansas City metro area.

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