KU to honor an Oberlin alumnus for outstanding volunteer service

The Kansas Alumni Association will honor Kurt W. Vollertsen, an Oberlin alumnus of the University of Kansas, for his longtime volunteer efforts on behalf of KU.

Larry J. Borden (Colorado Springs), chair of the Kansas Alumni Association National Board of Directors, will present Vollertsen with the Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award in recognition of his longtime support of the Kansas Honors Program during a 5:30 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time), 6:30 p.m. (Central Standard Time) dinner and awards program April 20 at the Goodland Elks Lodge, 1523 Arcade St. in Goodland. The Kansas Honors Program, sponsored by the Alumni Association and the KU Endowment Association, since 1971 has recognized the top 10 percent of high school seniors in each county in Kansas.

More than 60 seniors from Cheyenne, Decatur, Gove, Logan, Rawlins, Sheridan, Sherman, Thomas, and Wallace Counties and their parents will join in honoring Vollertsen, who earned his KU bachelor’s degrees in biology and pharmacy in 1977 and 1980. He works in a family-owned multistore pharmacy operation, principally at Ward Drug Store in Oberlin.

He began coordinated the local KHP immediately after his KU graduation and has continued in this role ever since. He also has helped recruit pharmacy students to KU and has hosted rural-practice seminars in his store for current KU pharmacy students. He and his wife, Rebecca, a member of KU’s Class of 1978, are annual Jayhawk Society members of the Alumni Association.

The Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award, created in 1986 by the Alumni Association, honors volunteers who serve as KU ambassadors in their home communities. The award is named for Clodfelter, who received a bachelor's degree in 1941 from KU and worked at KU for 47 years, 42 of them at the Alumni Association. Clodfelter, known to countless Jayhawks nationwide, retired in 1986 and currently lives in Lawrence.