Each month we will connect with alumni who are making a difference in their careers and communities and find out how Baker helped them along their way.
Richard and Shannon (Shore) Howell
Shannon (Shore) Howell, ’74
What was the first moment that made Baker feel like home?
Visiting Baker University in the fall of 1969 as a high school senior, I immediately decided that it was a fit for me. Coming from a small western-Kansas town and a high school with fewer than 100 students, I embraced the diversity of Baker’s student population and their independence. Baker offered me endless possibilities and freedom to choose my path.
What was your favorite class and why?
Hands down, journalism classes were my favorite. Newspaper journalism was always my passion. Editing the Baker Orange allowed me to meet new people through interviews, write creative feature stories, and learn how to design a publication. Those late nights in Stone Hall writing headlines for the Baker Orange also allowed me to meet Rich Howell, my lifelong love. We graduated together in 1974. Two months later we married and left on a honeymoon, which has lasted almost 50 years.
Who made the biggest impact on you while at Baker?
Associate Professor Beverly Paulson, a former reporter for the Miami Herald. She taught us from experience and held us to the highest expectations. We learned every detail of newspaper writing and were expected to follow through with every issue. She encouraged me to work for my hometown newspaper during Interterm and summers. I wrote a weekly “tell-all” column about Baker life entitled “The Farmer’s Daughter” published by The Johnson Pioneer.
What are two things you would tell current students?
Enjoy meeting new people who may be different from yourselves. Then get to know them, engage them, and build new relationships. Do not let this opportunity slip by!
How did your Baker experience shape your journey?
My time at Baker made an impact that has lasted a lifetime. In 1973, I was fortunate to be awarded an internship in Washington, D.C., working for the “Big First” congressman Keith Sebelius and his then administrative assistant Pat Roberts. That experience helped me secure my position with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City as a senior analyst. There I used my journalism skills editing several internal and external publications and coordinating the opening of new banks and closing failed banks. In more recent years my Baker education has led me to various community volunteer opportunities.
What do you love about Baker the most?
Today, I have many friends from Baker who have enriched my life. Many of them are Phi Mu sisters. Baker has provided me with lifelong opportunities. At the upcoming Alumni Weekend, we can celebrate all things Baker!
Richard Howell, ’74
What was the first moment that made Baker feel like home?
I transferred to Baker as a second-semester sophomore, and through a longtime friend, found Sigma Phi Epsilon. After this abrupt change in my life (and field of study), I was surprised to find the campus so welcoming and to have ready access to instructors and professors. This, and an immediate community of friends, made my first days at Baker very easy and pleasant.
What was your favorite class and why?
Moving away from the sciences and into journalism and speech, I trusted in Associate Professor Beverly Paulson. She worked with me and taught me how to tell a story (huge accomplishment, I assure you). Moreover, she showed me how I could use writing skills to describe and explain highly technical topics in terms all could understand. Working on the Baker Orange (print version), then headquartered in Old Stone Hall, allowed me to hone my skills, which have had lifetime benefit.
Who made the biggest impact on you while at Baker?
I met Professor of German Robert Kahle (“Herr Bear”) while living at the Sig Ep House. Bear was our housefather first and a mentor second. He spent as much time as needed to work through issues with me, either chatting over coffee or a beer. He understood the difficulties I was having in dealing with the change in my curriculum focus. He advised me on what I could do with both my old and new resources. He became a good friend, and I learned a bit of German in the process.
How did your Baker experience shape your journey?
As I said, I switched my academic focus to journalism and speech, but retained much of the sciences I had learned earlier. As I moved into the oil and allied lubricants industry, I found myself exposed to many learned publications, technical presentations, and complex product specifications. These needed to be coalesced into meaningful words and examples for the nontechnical to understand. Being able to explain project details at the corporate level proved invaluable. Learning this skill at Baker served me well over the length of my career and my life.
What do you love about Baker the most?
Baker is people—not student numbers. I am grateful to have experienced a place like Baker—I only wish I could have been there from the start. Still, Baker gave me one more gift—Shannon Shore—my wife of nearly 50 years. We married two months following graduation. I am pleased to say our son, Patrick, is a 2012 Baker graduate and a brother Sig Ep.
Describe your education or career path since graduating.
Just starting life with a Baker diploma and a marriage certificate, decisions were straightforward—income and lodgings. I began with Property & Casualty Insurance. Because my grandfather had been in the oil and gas industry his entire life, I knew the terminology. Thus, I moved into specializing in oil and gas drilling risks. At the 10-year mark, I joined my father and grandfather at Jesco Lubricants Company, as it was known then, in 1983. My father died in late 1984, so I was thrust into corporate management. During one of my “long talks with myself,” I recalled the conversations I had with Bob Kahle. In part, he would say “keep your head up, point yourself forward, and be concerned with things you can control—not those things you cannot.”
Jeff and Amanda (Collins) Lowry
Jeff Lowry, ’94
What was the first moment that made Baker feel like home?
During the first night of soccer preseason of my freshman year, I went down to Mabee Gym to shoot hoops with a couple of my new teammates. We had been on campus about 24 hours. It was the first time I had met most of them, including Nate Houser, who would become one of my best friends. I was able to quickly tell that I was with a good group of guys and that we were about to have four great years together. Little did I know then, we would go on to be in each other’s weddings, attend kids’ birthday parties, and celebrate career and personal successes together.
What was your favorite class and why?
Sports Law with Dr. Lee Green. First, the topic was very interesting to me, which is always a good starting place. However, Dr. Green’s passion for the topic and the flow of the class was great. We had to do a special project, and I was paired with a great friend and fraternity brother, Rob Oyler. Rob and I knew that Dr. Green was passionate about KU basketball, so we knew we had to figure out a way to integrate KU hoops into our project. Rob just so happened to be friends with a former player from the 1988 National Championship team. This proved to be valuable as he was able to get us into Allen Field House where we videotaped a skit (that the player participated in) related to the sports law topic. Yes, we got an A!
Who made the biggest impact on you while at Baker?
Head soccer coach, Sean Holmes. Sean was more than a coach to me and the guys on our team. He built a culture that was demanding yet motivating, which allowed us to grow both on and off the field. Coach Holmes coached the game of soccer in ways I had never known and challenged me along the way. This is something I have leveraged throughout my life, with my own kids and with teams I have coached. BTW—road trips in the Baker vans created many lifelong memories that have led to great story telling when we get back together with our families.
What do you love about Baker the most?
The people! The people I met at Baker have resulted in lifelong friendships. This includes teammates, fraternity brothers, friends from other fraternities and sororities, classmates, friends who chose to live in the dorm or off campus, professors, and other coaches.
One of my proudest Baker moments was when Amanda, our kids, and I escorted our oldest son on senior night of his Baker soccer career. When we walked out on the field and turned around, I saw many former teammates in the stands cheering on the success of my son. Moments like that are because of the foundation Baker built for us as friends and teammates that last a lifetime.
Can you briefly describe your education or career path since graduating?
Throughout my career, I have to held leadership roles ranging from managing small strategic teams and large organizations across multiple states to holding multiple positions on nonprofit boards. This has led me to leading one of the premier growth strategies at IBM (Hybrid Cloud) for the U.S. National Market. I have served as president of several nonprofit boards, including Jackson County CASA, and today I serve as the Kappa Sigma Alumni Board president.
My advice to all my alumni peers is to challenge yourself to give back to those on campus today. It is one of the most rewarding experiences I have had, and I can assure you that the students who attend Baker today are eager to learn from those who have been in their position prior.
Amanda (Collins) Lowry, ’94
What was the first moment that made Baker feel like home?
I felt most at home when I found a wonderful group of friends in Tri Delta.
What was your favorite class and why?
There are so many classes I remember that I loved! Interterm classes were always a fun switch from my regular schedule. I took the History of Children’s Television with Tony Brown. He brought cereal every Friday as we watched cartoons like we used to on Saturday mornings growing up.
Who made the biggest impact on you while at Baker?
I loved the education professors. Peggy Harris specifically was my advisor and made a big impact on my time at Baker.
What are two things you would tell current students?
Take advantage of opportunities at Baker. Try something new, join a new club, join a sorority or fraternity. There are so many things to try during your four years. My second piece of advice is to travel abroad! I attended Harlaxton College while at Baker. College is the perfect time to go abroad for a semester.
How did your Baker experience shape your journey or career?
Baker is such a small school, but with a huge alumni group. Baker alumni have continued to play important roles in my life well after my time as a student. Currently, my daughter’s dance studio owner is a Baker University grad. Baker is everywhere!
What do you love about Baker the most?
I love that Baker continues to be a special place for students. My son attended Baker from 2018 to 2022. Even though his experience was different than mine, he graduated with a strong connection to the people and programs he was a part of.
And I have so many fun memories through the years of Alumni Weekend and STAG.
