Boyer Distinguished Service Award
The Jane S. Boyer Distinguished Service Award is given annually in the spring to the EKU Honors Scholar whose record of campus and community service best exemplifies the ideals of longtime honors program friend and benefactor Mrs. Jane S. Boyer (1941-2017). Mrs. Boyer was a tireless advocate for the causes of education and the arts. She served many years on the executive board of the Kentucky Opera and Louisville’s District 15 PTA. She was also a longtime member of the EKU Board of Regents and the EKU Foundation Board. She and her husband Charles Boyer’s gifts to the Honors Program in the early 1990s stand at the base of what has developed into a substantial endowment that continues to make enormous travel and scholarship opportunities available to Honors Program students. Just as the Boyer legacy continues to energize our program, the Honors Program encourages our students to cultivate a culture of service that reflects Mrs. Boyer’s generosity back toward our campus, community, state, region, nation and world.
2022 Recipients
Jared Christian
Julia Hickey
Kaitlyn VanWay
Lexy Dahl Walls
2021 Recipients
Breanna Bowling
Nick Koenig
Ashley Shofner
2020 Recipients
Peyton Brock
Jennifer Kaylyn Perkins
2019 Recipient
Calvin Andries
2018 Recipient
Rachel Lachut
2017 Recipient
Halle Graham
EKU Honors Sheltowee Award
The EKU Honors Program Sheltowee Award recognizes friends of Honors who have made significant contributions to the program. The name of the award comes from Daniel Boone’s Shawnee name “Sheltowee (Big Turtle)” and represents the spirit of those who are pathfinders for EKU Honors, much as Daniel Boone was as he traveled across the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. Each spring, we recognize individuals with a plaque and a “Sheltowee/Big Turtle” statuette, symbolizing the thanks and admiration of the Honors Program community.
2021 Recipients
Dr. Chris Neumann
Assistant Professor of English
Dr. Mason Smith
Senior Lecturer of English
(No 2020 Recipients)
2019 Recipients
Ms. Jennifer White
Director, Education Abroad
Dr. Gay Sweely
Professor of Art & Design
Dr. Minh Nguyen
Assistant Director, Honors Program
2018 Recipients
Ms. Tina Davis
University Registrar
Dr. Chris Taylor
Professor of History
Dr. Martin Brock
Associate Professor of Chemistry
2017 Recipients
Professor Kathy Splinter-Watkins
Associate Professor of Occupational Science/Occupational Therapy
Dr. Theresa Botts
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Ms. Amanda McCracken
Scholarships Coordinator
2016 Recipients
Dr. Ron Messerich
Professor of Philosophy
Dr. Kevin Jones
EKU Reference Librarian and Library Liaison for EKU Honors
2015 Recipients
Ms. Trenia Napier
Research Coordinator, Noel Studio
Dr. Lisa Kay
Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
Dr. Paula Kopacz
Professor of English
Dr. Helen Bennett
Professor of English (presented in 2016)
2014 Recipients
Dr. Frank Williams
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
Dr. Gene Kleppinger
Manager of EKU Online Learning, Instructor in Philosophy and Religion, and Instructor in EKU Honors
Mrs. Kenna Middleton
Director of University Housing