KU's top-ranked public administration program receives $2.3 million gift for a doctoral program

A $2.3 million estate gift for the University will help fund a proposed doctoral program for KU's top-ranked public administration program.

The gift to the Kansas University Endowment Association is from the late Thomas Page, c'34, and the late Barbara Kester Page, c'32, c'34. Of their bequest, $1.7 million established the Thomas and Barbara Page Scholarly Activities Fund. The unrestricted fund supports the Edwin O. Stene Graduate Program in Public Administration, ranked as the number one public administration graduate program in the United States by U.S. News and World Report.

An additional $309,000 supports the Ethan Allen Scholarship, which is awarded to graduate students in public administration who are studying local government management. The Pages also contributed $309,000 in unrestricted funds for KU.

"The generosity and vision of the Pages not only benefits KU students today, but many communities in the future where our students can make their mark in public administration," said Chancellor Robert Hemenway.

John Nalbandian, chair of public administration, said the gift would assist the department in developing a doctoral program.

"We've been very successful at the master's level, and a doctoral program is the missing piece for us as a department," Nalbandian said. "The gift from the Pages enables us to move forward with our plans because it will provide the support necessary to recruit doctoral candidates."

He added that the doctoral program would train future professors of public administration and provide advanced education opportunities for people beyond academia, including public service employees and local government officials.

Martha P. Day, Thomas' sister, explained that the gift was a way for her brother to show his appreciation to KU.

"He was very grateful to KU not only for his undergraduate education, graduate studies and teaching opportunities, but also because the University provided him a new direction in his career," said the Bellingham, Wash., resident. "He loved KU. He was aware of its needs and wanted his estate to return to Kansas."

Named for a grandfather who was a pioneer in the Kansas milling industry, Thomas was born in Topeka in 1913 and grew up on a farm west of the city. From his graduation with a KU economics degree until 1941, he worked as an accountant for the National Bank of Topeka. During that time he married Barbara and was active in the Shawnee County Democratic Party. In the late 1930s, he began studying public administration with KU political science professor Edwin O. Stene, for whom the program is named.

During the early months of World War II, he served as a labor market economist with the U.S. Employment Services of Topeka. He then volunteered for the Army Air Corps combat glider pilot training program and became commissioned as an instructor training glider pilots. After the war, he enrolled in graduate school at the University of Minnesota to study public administration and was awarded his doctorate in 1949. For two years during the course of his studies and for two years after, he was an instructor in political science at KU and a research associate in KU's Bureau of Government Research. In 1951, he accepted a joint appointment in the political science department and the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana. He eventually directed that university's master degree program in public administration.

Thomas' publications include Legislative Apportionment in Kansas. He was known as an expert on personnel and civil service reform issues, serving as a consultant for the Navy's Civilian Personnel Division. He served on a variety of civil service organizations, including the Governor's Advisory Board to the Illinois Department of Personnel.

Thomas was also an avid glider pilot, a hobby he had pursued as an undergraduate at KU, where he and other students managed to fly a glider off Mount Oread. He was the faculty sponsor of the University of Illinois Glider Club, served on the board of directors of the Soaring Society of America, wrote for Soaring magazine and edited the American Soaring Handbook. In retirement he became a member of a fiction writing workshop in Urbana, writing and publishing short stories. He died in 1991.

Barbara, who earned KU degrees in history and art history, was a Lawrence native whose father, Frederick E. Kester, was a KU physics professor. After graduate school, she worked for Southwestern Bell in Kansas City, Mo., Lawrence and Topeka. She was an active alumna of Phi Beta Kappa and Kappa Kappa Gamma and served as financial advisor for both University of Illinois chapters. Barbara became well known for driving hundreds of miles with a trailer to retrieve Thomas and his high-performance sailplanes wherever they landed. She died in 2000.

The Pages' gift counts toward the $500 million goal of KU First: Invest in Excellence, the largest fund-raising campaign in KU history. KU Endowment is conducting KU First on behalf of KU through 2004 to raise funds for scholarships, fellowships, professorships, capital projects and program support. KU Endowment is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for KU.

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