Northern Kentucky University’s 2018 Outstanding Alumni Awards recipients are W. Bruce Lunsford, Andrá Ward, Sen. Wil Schroder II and Dr. Jacqueline Emerine.
They will be honored at the Alumni Awards dinner on February 9, kicking off Homecoming weekend and NKU’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Tickets to the Annual Alumni Awards Celebration include a cocktail reception, plated dinner, after-party, alumni gift, valet parking and a ticket voucher for the women’s and men’s Homecoming basketball games on Saturday, February 10. The event will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, February 9 at BB&T Arena.
“I am proud to announce Bruce, Andrá, Wil and Jacqueline as our Outstanding Alumni Award winners of 2018,” said Jessica E. Johnston (’99), President of the NKU Alumni Association. “As we kick off NKU’s 50th anniversary celebration, this is the perfect time to honor their accomplishments. Each recipient has created a lasting impact upon the university and our region. I invite all of our alumni to come home and celebrate with us.”
W. Bruce Lunsford
W. Bruce Lunsford
W. Bruce Lunsford will receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award for enhancing the image of NKU through his success and accomplishments. An entrepreneur, businessman and thoroughbred owner, Lunsford founded and lead numerous companies in Louisville for nearly 40 years. These companies eventually employed more than 100,000 individuals nationwide and included Vencor, Inc., a Fortune 500 healthcare company that became Kindred; Ventas, Inc. a healthcare REIT listed on the NYSE; Atria Communities and Lunsford Capital, a private investment company.
Lunsford is a 1974 graduate of the NKU Chase College of Law. The college’s W. Bruce Lunsford Academy for Law, Business + Technology was named after him following a $1 million gift to the college. Lunsford also served on Chase’s Board of Trustees for 13 years.
Lunsford has been involved as an investor, director and adviser to many local start-ups through Lunsford Capital, and before its founding.
His political career includes service as treasurer of the Kentucky Democratic Party and Kentucky Secretary of Commerce as well as a run for the United States Senate campaign in 2008.
Andra R. Ward
Andra Ward
Andrá R. Ward will receive the Distinguished Service Award for his commitment to NKU and to the region.
Ward is President and CEO of The KhafreWard Corporation, which is focused on human resource management and talent development.
He is also NKU Board of Regents Secretary and an emeritus member of the NKU Foundation, which he served from 1997-2009.
Ward, who earned his Bachelor of Arts in Radio, Television and Film from NKU in 1986, has also served on the NKU Alumni Council and was a member of the 2007 Lincoln Awards Selection Committee.
He actively mentors NKU students and young professionals in business and industry.
Wil Schroder II
Sen. Wil Schroder II will receive the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award for his work in public service to the Commonwealth and the university. Sen. Schroder represents the 24th Senate District in the Kentucky legislature and is a public finance attorney at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
Wil Shroeder
Sen. Schroder is a public finance lawyer who focuses on bond counsel services that Dinsmore provides to state and local governments and nonprofit corporations on a variety of public finance transactions.
He was elected to the Kentucky Senate in 2014 to represent Campbell, Pendleton and Bracken counties. He is the Senate Chair of the Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary and the Senate Enrollment Committee, and he is also the Vice Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in addition to serving on a number of other Senate committees.
Sen. Schroder is also chairman of the Northern Kentucky Caucus.
Schroder is a 2008 graduate of the NKU Chase College of Law.
Jacqueline Emerine
Dr. Jacqueline Emerine will receive the Faculty/Staff Strongest Influence Award for her impact on our students’ educational and career aspirations. Dr. Emerine is an Associate Professor of Communication and the co-director of the Journalism program. She teaches Public Relations and Communication Studies, as well as Pedagogy courses in the Masters of Communication program, at NKU.
Jacqueline Emerine
Dr. Emerine earned her Bachelor of Arts and her Master of Arts in Interpersonal Communication, and her Ph.D. in Interpersonal Communication and Instructional Communication.
Her teaching tenure includes IPFW, Kent State University and Bowling Green State University before arriving at NKU in 2006. Dr. Emerine’s research interests focus on factors inside and outside the classroom that increase student learning. In addition, she examines parent child relationships and communication in multiple contexts. Dr. Emerine teaches Interpersonal Communication, Principles of Public Relations, Research Methods, Strategies of Persuasion, and Pedagogy courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Dr. Emerine was noted as having a great influence on her nominator’s decision to teach and complete a Graduate Teaching certificate.
To purchase tickets to the 2018 NKU Alumni Awards Celebration on Feb. 9, 2018, at BB&T Arena, visit the website.
