PSU honors three alumni for lifetime achievement

Pittsburg State University will honor three alumni with its Meritorious Achievement Award during commencement activities on May 16-17. The PSU Alumni Association established the Meritorious Achievement Award in 1958. It is the highest award based on career achievement presented by the Alumni Association. Candidates for the award must have demonstrated substantial professional growth and advancement over an extended period of time. The candidate's activities, including participation and leadership in civic and professional organizations at the local, state, and national levels, are also considered by the awards committee in selecting the recipients.

This year’s recipients are David R. Carpenter, president and CEO of North Kansas City Hospital in North Kansas City, Mo; Billie Jo Drake, building principal for Eugene Ware Elementary School in Fort Scott, Kan.; and Jacqueline A. Vietti, president of Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan.

The PSU Office of Alumni and Constituent Relations will host a reception for the Meritorious Achievement Award winners at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 16.

David R. Carpenter
David R. Carpenter earned a BS in business from PSU in 1976, an MS in health care administration from Trinity University in 1979 and a law degree from the Washburn University School of Law in 1993.

Carpenter’s career in health care administration began at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita where he was administrative president from 1978-79. He served as assistant administrator at the Hadley Regional Medical Center in Hays from 1979 until 1983 and as president and CEO at the same hospital from 1983 until 1991. From 1994-98, Carpenter was the senior vice president/administrator for Scottsdale Healthcare-Osborn in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Carpenter joined North Kansas City Hospital in North Kansas City in 1999. NKCH is a 451-bed hospital in the Kansas City metropolitan area. NKCH has 3,000 employees and 600 physicians on its medical staff. The hospital has grown rapidly, completing $160 million in new construction, and adding 100 beds, new outpatient and additional physician services over the past nine years.

Carpenter is chairperson-elect for the Missouri Hospital Association and is president of the board of directors for the Meritas Health Corporation. He is a member of the board and past president of the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Carpenter and his wife, Michelle Walker Carpenter, live in Parkville, Mo. Michelle received an MBA from PSU in 1984 and was director of the O. Gene Bicknell Center for Entrepreneurship and an instructor in the Kelce College of Business from 1984-87.

Billie Jo Drake
Billie Jo (Franklin) Drake received a BS in elementary education from PSU in 1981 and an MS from PSU in 1985.

Drake began her career in education as a Title I remedial mathematics teacher at Winfield Scott Elementary School in Fort Scott, where she taught from 1981-82. From 1982 until 1997, Drake taught mathematics at Fort Scott Middle School. Drake’s first administrative position with the district was as principal of McKinley and LaHarpe Elementary Schools from 1997 until 2000. In 2000, Drake was named principal at Eugene Ware Elementary. At Eugene Ware, Drake is responsible for 70 members of the staff and 470 students.

Drake is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. In 1997, she was named the Dale E. Hammons Outstanding Teacher. In 2005, Drake was selected as the National Distinguished Elementary Principal for Kansas. In 2006, her school was one of just 20 Kansas schools to achieve the U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Award. That same year, Drake was one of just five principals in the U.S. selected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Terrel H. Bell Award for School Leadership.

Drake and her husband, Alan Leon Drake (BS 1969), live in Fort Scott. They have three children: Dusty, Douglas and Delisa (BGS 2003).

Jacqueline A. Vietti
Jacqueline A. Vietti earned an MS with honors in community college teaching from PSU in 1982. Previously, she earned a BS in biological sciences from Kansas State University. In 1991, Vietti earned a
Ph.D. in adult and occupational education from Kansas State University.

Vietti began her career in education in 1979 as coordinator of instructional projects at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kan. In 1981, Vietti was named associate dean of evening/summer at LCC. From 1986 until 1991, Vietti was LCC’s dean of instruction, serving as interim president of the college from 1989 until 1990. Vietti left LCC in 1991 to become dean of arts and sciences/instruction at Crowder College in Neosho, Mo. She held that position until 1995, when she was named president of Butler Community College.

At Butler Community College, Vietti oversees the second largest public community college in Kansas. She is responsible for programs that serve nearly 13,000 credit and 3,000 non-credit students annually.
Vietti serves on the boards of directors for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Accreditation Association, the National Institute for Leadership Development, the Susan B. Allen Regional Memorial Hospital and Diversity Kansas. She is a recipient of the Diversity Kansas A. Price Woodard, Jr., award; and the Kansas Region Distinguished College President, Phi Theta Kappa award.

Vietti and her husband, Raymond (BS 1970), live in El Dorado, Kan. They have five children: Dana (BS 1994), Angela (BA 1999), Michael, James and Christopher.

---Pitt State---