Purple Praise: December 2025

Kudos and celebrations of student, faculty and staff achievements

K-State’s talented students, faculty and staff are frequently recognized for their exceptional scholarship, teaching and research or creative inquiry. Let’s celebrate their accomplishments.

Kudos highlight notable professional and student achievements from outside the university, such as awards and honors; fellowships; performances; elections to regional and national boards or committees in professional organizations; and conference presentations. Self-nominations are accepted.

Submit by Feb. 10 for the next feature.

Student success

Wildcat Table Tennis dominates fall divisional tournament

K-State’s Table Tennis Club, an affiliated student organization, won the Fall Divisional Tournament against the University of Nebraska, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University. The team swept every team match they played and placed well in the singles competition.

Team captain Zhanxian Zhu, a 1900-rated semi-professional player, took first place in the singles tournament. Ethan Collins secured a third-place finish.

The varsity roster includes Zhu, Collins, Xinru Liu, and Giorgi Khomeriki. B Team, composed of Evgenii Liakh, Zhizhong Shan, Junfan Chen and Noah Barncord, finished second overall.

K-State MIA Project Veterans Day Sunset Cemetery clean-up

The K-State Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project, a sponsored student organization, painted all the crosses and put out flags at the Gold Star Mothers' Memorial at Sunset Cemetery in Manhattan in early November. The K-State MIA Recovery and Identification Project partnered with the Manhattan VFW, American Legion and Boy Scouts and was able to scrub and clean dozens of KIA headstones from WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam at Sunset Cemetery. The headstones are now clearly legible and look brand new. Through our work, their lives are not forgotten.

Winning teams selected in Koch Risk Management Challenge

Three exceptional teams of K-State students recently competed in the Koch Risk Management Challenge finals on Nov. 14 at the Koch Inc. global headquarters in Wichita. In the culminating stage of the inaugural competition, the teams presented their final risk management proposals to a panel of judges composed of Koch Inc. leadership.

The challenge is designed to motivate students to identify, analyze and propose a solution for a significant risk affecting Kansas State University. Undergraduate students who are or have been K-State Risk Management Fellows were eligible to form the interdisciplinary teams.

The top three teams competing in the finals were judged on professionalism, critical thinking, and the feasibility, materiality and cost-benefit of their proposals. The final placements and prize winners are:

1st Place: Wildcat Risk Vanguard; team members are Jameson Rauth, Noah Amundson, Cal Goddard and Ben Rogers. The team won $7,000.

2nd Place: JMC; team members are James DeRouchey, Cambree Schmaltz and Mackenzie Malson. The team won $3,000.

3rd Place: Risky Business; team members are Kristen Wallace, Zander Seth and Cole Schlautman. The team won $1,000.

Koch Inc. partnered with the K-State Risk Management Center to host the challenge, aiming to build students' analytical, communication and real-world risk management skills. Mentors from Koch Inc. coached the teams throughout the process, providing valuable insights into industry best practices.

K-State College of Education recognizes outstanding students, future teachers

Kansas State University's College of Education is recognizing eight undergraduate and graduate students for excellence in and out of the classroom.

The Outstanding Future Teacher Award recognizes two outstanding future teachers who demonstrate excellence during their professional clinical experiences as supported and documented by their cooperating teachers, university supervisors and clinical instructors. The fall 2025 recipients are Rachel Zimmerman, elementary education, and Jackson Hayes, secondary social studies education.

The Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award recognizes students whose scholarship and leadership left an indelible mark on their college, campus and community activities. The recognized students are Allison Brummer, elementary education; Taylor Hovis, education studies; Erin Jackson, secondary English education; Samantha Seiler, elementary education and Aleah Wallace, elementary education.

The recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student in Education Award for the Master’s Program is Alexandria Puderbaugh, master’s in special education. The recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student in Education Award for the Doctoral Program is Derrick Worrels, doctoral candidate in Community College Leadership.

The Kansas State Department of Education recognizes two Teachers of Promise from each teacher preparation program in the state. The Kansas State University students receiving this honor are Erin Jackson, secondary English education, and Samantha Seiler, elementary education.

Wildcats Forever scholarship winner selected

Congrats to K-State student Liana Murphy, freshman in environmental design, for winning the $1,000 fall Wildcats Forever scholarship drawing. Read the full announcement by the K-State Alumni Association.

College of Health and Human Sciences selects fall 2025 outstanding seniors

The College of Health and Human Sciences recognizes the fall 2025 Outstanding Senior Award winners. The Outstanding Senior Award winners are nominated by faculty and staff within each of their respective programs.

Chosen students have been engaged on campus and in their communities, volunteered their time to provide for others, served in leadership roles in local and/or national organizations, have dedicated themselves to advancing knowledge through research, and/or have overcome obstacles in life while working towards their college degree.

Honored students are Brayden Wheatley, nutrition and health; Ariana Castillo, human development and family science; Kelsi Spann, integrative physiology; Ava Collins, gerontology; Damian Ilalio, athletic training and rehabilitation sciences, Manhattan; Nathan Haney, personal financial planning; Julie James, early childhood education; Madelyn Smith, kinesiology and Amanda Smith, dietetics.

College of Business Administration fall 2025 senior awards announced

Three outstanding graduating seniors are being recognized by the College of Business Administration at the fall 2025 commencement ceremony and the Senior Sendoff event.

Michaela Crow is the CBA Outstanding Graduating Senior; Sen Kee earned the Resilient Senior Award; and Max Roberts is the student commencement speaker.

Crow has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA with a major in accounting and a minor in Spanish and is currently enrolled in the Accelerated Master of Accountancy program. After completing her master’s program, she will begin her career with Varney & Associates, CPAs, LLC. Kee, a finance major, has accepted a position with Phillips 66. Max, also a finance major, has accepted a full-time position as a
Private Equity Analyst at VantEdge Partners.

Faculty and staff achievements

Veterinary Medicine faculty recognized with annual teaching awards

Three faculty members have been recognized for preclinical teaching excellence in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Pradeep Malreddy, Kristen Hill-Thimmesch and Scott Fritz were each named the respective top teachers for the first, second and third years of veterinary instruction, as voted on by their respective classes of students for their teaching efforts during the 2024-2025 school year.

Read the full announcement by the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Poll publishes in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Directors

Melissa Poll, instructor of social transformation studies and English, recently published six Canadian entries in “The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Directors.” Edited by Maria Delgado and Simon Williams, the publication profiles the broadest range of international theatre directors to date in a reference work. Poll’s subjects range from Québécois auteur Robert Lepage to the Algonquin director, playwright, deviser and dramaturge, Yvette Nolan. Through this publication, she joins a diverse array of international scholars, including her former colleagues at the University of London. For a sample entry, please see the online biography of iconic Canadian theatre director Peter Hinton-Davis, reprinted with the generous permission of Cambridge University Press.

Woods receives prestigious ARSTM Book of the Year Award

Heather Suzanne Woods, director and associate professor for the A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication, was awarded The Association for Rhetoric of Science, Technology and Medicine Book of the Year Award for her book, “Threshold: How Smart Homes Change Us Inside and Out.”

“It is an honor and privilege to be recognized by my peers,” Woods said. “I have so much respect for the people who have won the award before me and the people who reviewed the books — they’re really visionary thinkers who want to build a better future for us all.”

Threshold features an “urgent and cautionary” account of smart-home technology: how it affects the lives of everyone, even those not living with the technology. Woods explains that smart homes can strengthen work, entertainment, health and more, but can come at the cost of “attention, money and privacy.”

Six faculty and staff earn Outstanding Award from Mortar Board Honor Society

The XIX Chapter of Mortar Board Honor Society have selected six recipients of the 2025 Mortar Board Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award. Mortar Board members and their K-State peers nominate faculty and staff for exemplifying the Honor Society's three pillars service, scholarship and leadership - in the classroom and around campus.

Congratulations to these outstanding faculty and staff members:

Cassandra Jones, animal sciences and industry; Blair Kocher, management; Elisa Karkle, grain and food science; Brooke Beyer, accounting; Taylor Gnagi, pre-professional and exploratory advisory center; and Shandi Andres, human sciences.

Hardman top finisher for the Cognella Innovation in Teaching Awards for Family Science

Alisha Hardman, associate professor, was named a second-place winner of the 2025 Cognella Innovation in Teaching Awards for Family Science in partnership with the National Council for Family Relations.

This award recognized Hardman's integration of experiential and problem-based learning strategies within her courses. As a certified Project FORECAST facilitator, she is able to facilitate problem-based learning simulations, which allow learners to role play, observe and see the impact of their decisions in real-time as they simulate real-world scenarios, and provide learners with an opportunity to apply the knowledge they have learning in classes to better prepare them for the complex challenges of trauma-informed care.

Office of Research Development announces Fall Faculty Development Awards and University Small Research Grants

Eight Faculty Development Award proposals were awarded funds totaling $19,336. The fall 2025 FDA awardees are: Gary Brase, Russell Fulmer, Shay Logan, Wendy Matlock, Nancy Muturi, Will Stafford, Anan Wan and Ilia Zharkov.

Nine University Small Research Grant proposals will receive a total of $37,272 in funding. The fall 2025 USRG awardees are: Shalene Allen, Marcellus Caldas, Bizhen Hu, Jichul Jang, Tricia Jenkins, Angela Kraemer-Holland, Nadia Oweidat, Peter Weinert and Zhiwei Zhang.

Read the full announcement in Research Weekly.

Marta P. Alfonso-Durruty selected as Robert W. Sussman Award winner

Marta P. Alfonso-Durruty, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Robert W. Sussman Award for Scientific Contributions to Anthropology.

Alfonso-Durruty has made exceptional contributions to biological anthropology, particularly through her studies of skeletal biology, diet and population history. Her research integrates biological and cultural perspectives to enrich our understanding of the lives and interactions of past peoples in the Andes and Patagonia. In addition to her scholarship and teaching, Alfonso-Durruty has provided vital leadership in the field, including service as rotator Program Director for Biological Anthropology at the National Science Foundation.

Send us your kudos!

Do you have a current K-State student, staff or faculty member you'd like to highlight? Submit their information by Wednesday, Nov. 5, for consideration to include in next month's edition of Purple Praise.

Read past editions in the Purple Praise archives.