Fri, 04/30/2021
LAWRENCE — Three University of Kansas School of Law alumni will receive the law school’s highest alumni honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, this year. The award celebrates graduates for their professional achievements, contributions to the legal field and service to their communities and the university.
Rosemary O’Leary, Judge Robert Nugent III and the late Reginald Robinson will receive the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Rosemary “Rosie” O’Leary, L’81, the Edwin O. Stene Distinguished Professor in KU's School of Public Affairs & Administration, has distinguished herself through exemplary service and a lifetime of award-winning research and teaching. After working as an attorney, O'Leary earned a doctorate in public administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. O’Leary spent the last three decades researching the intersection of public administration and law. She has written 12 books and over 135 scholarly articles. She has received 11 national research awards, two international research awards, three best book awards and 10 teaching awards. She worked on the NASA Return to Flight Task Group and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Award. At the age of 65, she taught research methods to Filipino professors on remote campuses through Peace Corps Response. O’Leary has received Fulbright Scholar awards to Malaysia and the Philippines, an Ian Axford Fellowship to New Zealand and an appointment as an honorary professor at Hong Kong University. In 2019, the European-based International Research Society for Public Management established the annual Rosemary O’Leary Prize for excellence in scholarship on women and public administration.