Photograph: Alumna meeting with student.

2017 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

Bob Hartsook, JD '79

Photograph: Robert 'Bob' Hartsook.Robert Hartsook has established himself as a leader in the field of fundraising and philanthropy consulting and an advocate for education of aspiring fundraising professionals. He founded Hartsook Companies, Inc., the world's largest fundraising consulting practice, in 1986. The company has helped more than 6,000 nonprofits worldwide. He has also invested personally in the field with the Hartsook Chair in Fundraising at Indiana University, Hartsook Institutes at Avila University (Missouri), and the Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at Plymouth University (United Kingdom). Indiana University gave him the Spirit of Philanthropy Award in 2004, and Avila University named him Philanthropist of the year in 2012. Hartsook has written numerous fundraising books on fundraising.


Jessie Junette Nye, JD 1912 (Posthumous)

Photograph: Jessie Junette Nye.Jessie Junette Nye, came to Washburn in 1901 and graduated from Washburn Law in 1912. She is often cited as a pioneer for women in the law in Kansas and started the Kansas Women Lawyers' Association with two other alumnae in 1919 since women were not permitted to join the Kansas Bar Association (and wouldn't be able to until 1935). Upon graduation, Nye was docket clerk for the Public Utilities Commission. Not fully welcomed into the legal profession as a woman, Nye worked several jobs before establishing her own private practice in Newton, Kansas, in 1931. She worked there until retiring in 1970. Nye had no children of her own, but she influenced many in her extended family to follow in legal studies at Washburn.


John Kemp, JD '74, H'03

Photograph: John Kemp.John Kemp is a leading advocate for improving the lives of people with disabilities. He is president and CEO of The Viscardi Center (New York), a network of nonprofits providing services to educate, employ and empower individuals with disabilities. In 2006, he received the Henry B. Betts Award, regarded as America’s highest honor for disability leadership and service. In 2014, Kemp received the Dole Leadership Prize at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. Dole, jd '52, ba '52, honorary '69, honorary '85, personally selected Kemp for the award. Kemp has served on the Medicaid Commission and U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on Persons with Disabilities.