K-State awards medal of excellence to two individuals
Tuesday, December 6th, 2005
MANHATTAN — Two longtime supporters of Kansas State University are being honored with the Medal of Excellence, K-State’s highest honor.
Jack and Donna Vanier, Brookville, will each receive a medal at the Graduate School commencement ceremony at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, in McCain Auditorium.
Jack Vanier is internationally known in the livestock industry. He has held several leadership positions, including president of the Kansas Livestock Association, president of the American Hereford Association and a director of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Vanier leads CK Ranch in Brookville, which is home to one of the premier registered Horned Hereford lines in the world. Breeding stock from his ranch has been used to develop herds in Japan, France, South American, South Africa and elsewhere. He also was active in his family’s Gooch Milling Co. until it was sold to Archer Daniels Midland in 1970. He served on the Archer Daniels Midland board from 1978 to 2004.
An active philanthropist, Jack Vanier has supported many community and K-State causes. He and his wife, Donna, are honorary chairs for the university’s Changing Lives campaign. The Vanier family also has supported many K-State programs and colleges, including Kansas State University at Salina, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, the Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research, Colbert Hills Golf Course and the colleges of Human Ecology, Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.
Jack Vanier may be best known for his contributions to the K-State football program, which have resulted in the football complex being named for him and his family. Recently, the Vanier family made a significant gift to endow the head football coach’s position.
In the Salina community, Jack Vanier has supported the Stiefel Theatre, St. John’s Military School, the Salina Community Foundation and the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas.
Donna Vanier has served K-State and the Manhattan and Salina communities in a variety of ways. She has been chair of the board of St. John’s Military School and the Salina Regional Health Care Foundation, and was a founder of the Salina Community Foundation.
She also has served as treasurer of both Christ Cathedral and the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas. In support of her family’s ranching interests, she helped form and served as the third president of the American Hereford Association Auxiliary. She currently serves on the Rolling Hills Wildlife Museum board in Salina.
A trustee of the Kansas State University Foundation since 1996, she has served on the foundation’s executive committee since 1998. She recently completed a six-year term as the chair of the Board of Visitors of K-State’s Beach Museum of Art. Her contributions to the museum have been recognized with the naming of one of its galleries in her honor, the Donna Lindsey Vanier Gallery.
K-State’s athletics department also has benefited from Donna Vanier’s efforts. She has served on its Ahearn Athletic Scholarship board since 1992. In addition, she chaired, for more than 15 years, the annual Catbacker Auction, which raises a substantial amount of money to fund K-State athletic scholarships and programs.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 and is filed under Congratulations.