KEARNEY – The University of Nebraska at Kearney Alumni Association will honor alumni award recipients during homecoming festivities scheduled for Oct. 11-12.
The 2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards go to Myron Andersen (1972), Cathy (Juelfs) Knutsen (1976) and Sue (Feaster) Wilcoxson (1971). The Jim Rundstrom Distinguished Alumni Service Award recipient is Terry Lewis (1978), the Distinguished International Alumna Award recipient is Lina (Traslaviña) Stover, Ph.D., (2004) and the Distinguished Young Alumnus Award will go to Brandon Beebout, DVM (2010).
The 44th annual Distinguished Alumni Awards will be presented 11:30 a.m. Oct. 11 in the Gala Room at the Regional Engagement Center, 2204 University Drive. Tickets are $25 per person ($30 starting Sept. 30) and $15 for children ages 12 and younger. They can be purchased until Oct. 2 at unkalumni.org/homecoming or by calling the UNK Alumni Association at 308-698-5271.
The Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet begins at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 11 in the Gala Room at the Regional Engagement Center with a social hour. A dinner follows at 6:15 p.m. with five former student-athletes being inducted into the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame. To purchase a ticket for the Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet, visit unkalumni.org/homecoming by Oct. 2. Tickets are $35 per person ($40 starting Sept. 30) and $15 for children ages 12 and younger. Information on the inductees is available here.
On Oct. 12, the day kicks off with the annual homecoming parade in downtown Kearney at 10 a.m. Following the parade, alumni and community members are invited to attend the free Loper Alumni Tailgate at Cope Stadium, near Mantor Hall, starting at noon. The tailgate area is open until the 2 p.m. UNK football game kickoff against Pittsburg State.
Distinguished Alumni Awards
Myron Andersen
Myron Andersen worked in construction while attending and following graduation from Kearney State College before establishing Payless Building Center in Kearney in 1977. Since then, the company rebranded to Builders and has grown to include locations in Grand Island and Denver with more than 400 employees and customers from across the United States. Builders currently ranks 44th largest in its national sector. Andersen retired from Builders in 2023 and continues to serve as chairman of the board.
He has served on the board of directors for Do It Best Corp. and Our Own Hardware. Andersen has received numerous honors for his leadership in the industry, including the Golden Hammer Award and Prolumber Dealer recognition. He is a dedicated volunteer for various local committees and groups, including serving on the Kearney Public Schools Foundation Board of Directors.
Andersen is a Broken Bow native and Broken Bow High School graduate. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history with a political science minor from Kearney State College in 1972. He resides in Kearney.
Cathy Knutsen
Cathy Knutsen has spent the past 17 years with Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, where she is a senior director of federal government sales and operations. Her career in laboratory equipment sales started in 1989 with Dupont then Dade Behring. Knutsen spent her early years at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney as a medical technologist.
Knutsen is a recipient of the Siemens President’s Award and is a member of the Clinical Laboratory Management Association. She has served as co-president of the UNK Southern California Alumni Association and is an active member of numerous local boards and committees.
A Potter native and Potter High School graduate, Knutsen resides in Huntington Beach, California. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology with a minor in chemistry from Kearney State College in 1976. Knutsen also holds a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
Sue Wilcoxson
Sue Wilcoxson of Fremont, now retired, spent her career as a dedicated physical education teacher, coach and administrator at Fremont High School.
During her time at FHS, she served as the head volleyball and track coach and assistant activities director and sponsored and coached multiple teams and organizations. She coached her teams to the 1973 Class A state volleyball championship and 1985 and 1986 girls state track runner-up titles.
Wilcoxson has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2023 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Distinguished Service Award, Nebraska School Activities Association Pioneer in Nebraska Girls Sports Coach and 2023 Nebraska Coaches Association Friend of High School Sports Award for Outstanding Service to Nebraska High School Sports.
She is a Nebraska high school volleyball official and state track event director, active Fremont community volunteer and president of the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame.
The Grand Island native and Grand Island High School graduate earned her degree in physical education from Kearney State College in 1971. She also holds a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Jim Rundstrom Distinguished Alumni Service Award
Terry Lewis
Terry Lewis of Sun Lakes, Arizona, has been a long-time volunteer for the UNK Alumni Association.
His undergraduate experiences in Kearney prompted his volunteer efforts in support of his communities and desire to be a champion for UNK. Lewis has been a dedicated UNK Alumni Association volunteer for many years, assisting with association events and hosting events in his home and the Phoenix area.
He is also a volunteer for the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and Tempe Diablos and has served as chairman for the Ambassadors. In 2012, Lewis was named an admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska.
A Broken Bow native and Broken Bow High School graduate, Lewis earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with minors in marketing and sales from Kearney State College in 1978. Following his KSC graduation, he returned to Broken Bow to work for the local lumberyard and hardware store before moving to Arizona in 1986. He and his wife Jill have owned and operated Samurai Shear Works, a haircutting shear sharpening and repair business, since 1989.
Distinguished Young Alumnus Award
Brandon Beebout
Brandon Beebout, DVM, of Kearney started his veterinary career in Denver, Colorado, as an associate veterinarian. In 2017, he returned to Kearney to work for Hilltop Pet Clinic, a long-standing pet clinic practice that was founded in 1977.
Following the retirement of the owner and veterinarian, Beebout purchased the clinic in 2020 and moved the business to a new location in 2023, opening Beebout Veterinary Medical Center, expanding the services diagnostically as well as surgically, specifically in orthopedic surgery.
Beebout is an Ainsworth native and Ainsworth High School. He graduated from UNK in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife biology with a health science emphasis. He earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and completed his clinical year through the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine and an internship in San Diego, California.
Beebout is an active member of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce and he volunteers his time with various organizations and educational opportunities in the Kearney area.
Distinguished International Alumna Award
Lina Stover
Lina Stover, Ph.D., started her career in higher education administration in recruitment and admissions at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
In 2022, she accepted the executive director position with the Heartland Workers Center, a nonprofit organization devoted to building leadership and civic engagement among immigrant and other underserved populations in Nebraska. She oversees programs including a Get Out the Vote campaign, the Health and Safety Training Institute and Family Leadership Institute. Under Stover’s leadership, the HWC has strengthened Nebraska’s workforce with 567 leaders participating in OSHA trainings, leadership development, language acquisition and literacy education.
A 2024 Leadership Omaha graduate, Stover was selected as an Omaha Jaycees TOYO Ten Outstanding Young Omahans in 2015 and she was a United States Hispanic Leadership Conference Voices of Empowerment featured speaker in 2013, among many more recognitions.
She is a native of Bogota, Colombia, and resides in Omaha. Stover graduated from UNK in 2004 with a double major in business administration and international studies. She also has a Master of Science in urban studies from UNO and a Doctor of Philosophy in sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
2024 Homecoming Alumni Events
Friday, Oct. 11
10 a.m. – Loper Gridiron Club Golf Tournament (Kearney Country Club)
11:30 a.m. – Distinguished Alumni Awards Luncheon (Regional Engagement Center, Gala Room)
2:30 p.m. – Chemistry Department’s Dr. Don Fox Lecture (Copeland Hall, Room 131)
5:30 p.m. – Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet (Regional Engagement Center, Gala Room)
6 p.m. – ROTC Alumni Social (American Legion)
6 p.m. – UNK volleyball vs. Emporia State (Health and Sports Center)
Saturday, Oct. 12
10 a.m. – Homecoming parade (Downtown Kearney)
Noon – Loper Alumni Tailgate (Cope Stadium)
2 p.m. – UNK football vs. Pittsburg State (Cope Stadium)
6 p.m. – ROTC Alumni Banquet (Younes Conference Center South)
6 p.m. – Political Science Alumni Reunion (Kearney Country Club)
7 p.m. – UNK volleyball vs. Washburn University (Health and Sports Center)
