Distinguished Alumni Recognition for 2007
Kay McFarland '64
- John Dawson '06
- Clifford Hope Sr. '17
- Marie Russell '25
- Delmas Hill '29
- Richard Donnelly '38
- Jack Campbell '40
- Jerry Michaud '51
- Senator Robert J. Dole '52
- Sherman Parks '55
- Delano Lewis '63
- Kay McFarland '64
- William H. Kurtis '66
Kay McFarland graduated magna cum laude from Washburn University with dual majors in English and history-political science in 1957. She graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 1964 and was admitted to the Kansas Bar the same year. Justice McFarland is Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, a position she has held since 1995. She is the first woman to serve in that capacity. Her career has been a remarkable series of "firsts."
Following law school, McFarland was in private practice in Topeka until 1971, when she challenged the incumbent judge of the Shawnee County probate and juvenile courts and won the election. McFarland delivered the court reforms pledged in her campaign and reduced serious juvenile offenses by more than half in the two years she held that office. McFarland was the first woman elected to a judgeship in Shawnee County. In 1973, she became judge of the newly created Fifth Division of the District Court in Topeka, thereby becoming the first woman to be a district judge in the history of Kansas. Her election to this office came after her victories over opponents in both the primary and general elections. McFarland was appointed by the governor to be a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court in 1977, and she remained the only woman to hold that office until fellow Washburn Law alumnae Marla Luckert, joined her on the bench of the Kansas Supreme Court in January 2003. In 1995, upon the retirement of fellow alum Chief Justice Richard W. Holmes '53, McFarland became Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, the first woman ever to hold that position.
McFarland received the Washburn University Alumni Fellow Award for the School of Law in 2005 and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association in 2006. McFarland received the first Chief Justice Kay McFarland Award from the Women Attorneys Association of Topeka, given in honor of her professional excellence and commitment to service.
