Jewell honors civic leaders; interim president to speak
08/18/2025
William Jewell College celebrates the start of the academic year with its Opening Convocation ceremony. All community members are invited to join us on Friday, Sept. 5, at 11:45 a.m. in Gano Chapel on Jewell's Liberty campus, or watch via livestream.
In continuing a 45-year tradition, the ceremony also includes presentations of the William F. Yates Medallion for Distinguished Service to valued community members Paul DeBruce, The DeBruce Foundation founder and board chair; Linda Woodsmall-DeBruce, DeBruce Foundation board member; and Madeleine McDonough, Shook, Hardy & Bacon chair. The guest speaker will be Dr. Drew Van Horn, Jewell's new interim president.
Meet the Honorees
Founded in 1988 by Paul DeBruce, current board chair, The DeBruce Foundation is committed to helping youth and adults unlock their potential and find career pathways. The DeBruce Foundation’s career tools have been used more than 350,000 times across all 50 states with statewide adoptions in Indiana and Maryland. The foundation is supported by DeBruce companies, a private investment firm managing a diverse portfolio of private equity and other asset class investments across a broad range of industries, including biotech, energy, manufacturing, technology and real estate.
Paul DeBruce is former chair and CEO of DeBruce Grain, Inc. which comprised of grain facilities, grain trading, grain and oilseed processing facilities, wholesale fertilizer terminals, fertilizer trading, feed ingredient handling facilities and feed ingredient trading throughout the United States and Mexico with 75 locations and sales of around $6.0 billion.
He served on the Executive Committee of the board of the National Grain and Feed Association, the Customer Advisory Board of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), the Kansas City Board of Trade and as president of the Terminal Grain Elevator Merchants Association.
His civic involvement in Kansas City includes his current role on the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. He has chaired the Nelson’s Finance Committee and held board positions with the Civic Council of Kansas City, the American Royal and the Ozanam Home for Boys. He was appointed a director and designated deputy chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank for three years, served as chair of the Bank for two years and held a seat on the Bank’s Advisory Council.
Linda Woodsmall-DeBruce serves on the DeBruce Foundation Board of Directors. She holds two master’s degrees from the University of Kansas and is a retired educator in Rhode Island and Shawnee Mission (Kansas) schools. After retiring from the classroom, she worked at a teacher center where she raised funds from local businesses, conducted graduate credit courses for teachers, wrote curriculum for school districts and started an Arts in Education Program connecting school districts to local art institutions. She also received a grant for an internship with the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., to gain insight into other national arts programs.
Her dedication to philanthropic missions and generosity led to her starting a micro-lending handbag and accessory company with her daughter. They worked with women in Southeast Asia, Laos and India to help them adapt their designs to the American market. Additionally, Woodsmall-DeBruce developed marketing and sales strategies for the company and graciously contributed a portion of the profits to micro-financing groups in Southeast Asia.
A dedicated community leader, she has served on several boards, from the arts to education to philanthropy. She has held various positions, from docent to chair of different membership arms at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. She has also served on the Wildwood Outdoor Education Board. Currently, she sits on the Advocacy Board at the University of Kansas Medical Center and The DeBruce Foundation Board of Directors. In 2023, Linda and Paul were named Ingram’s Philanthropists of the Year.
Madeleine McDonough has served as chair of Shook, Hardy & Bacon law firm since 2017. Under her leadership, the firm has strategically expanded its national platform to 18 offices, allowing Shook to excel as a leader in trial and complex litigation.
She promotes cutting-edge technology and the use of artificial intelligence to advance the interests of clients and has been a leader in pioneering alternative fee arrangements. As a result of her efforts, the firm’s analyst program continues to attract professionals with high-level degrees in scientific and technical fields. Her dedication to pro bono services has also helped increase Shook’s total pro bono hours by more than 30 percent.
In her practice, McDonough advises organizations on preventative litigation approaches, policy and governance issues, emerging legal developments, creative resolution strategies, risk management, corporate responsibility and crisis management. An American Bar Foundation Fellow, she has chaired the firm’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Practice during which time Shook represented dozens of major clients, including each of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies worldwide. She has also led numerous other sub-practices, committees and enterprise-wide initiatives, including founding the firm’s cross-practice industry groups focused on Foods, Beverages & Animal Health as well as Life Sciences & Biotechnology.
She was named an Eminent Practitioner in Product Liability & Mass Tort by Chambers USA, Woman of the Year by Missouri Lawyers Weekly and the National Law Journal’s Top 50 Litigation Trailblazers & Pioneers, among many other recognitions. She has actively served the Kansas City and legal communities in board and leadership roles such as the immediate past chair of the Greater Kansas City Civic Counsel and a current member of its Executive Committee, Truman Library Institute, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, KCUR, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, University Health, BioNexus KC, Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession, Economic Club of Kansas City, and Legal Services Corporation: America’s Partner for Equal Justice.
Before her legal career, McDonough was a clinical pharmacist in a large university teaching hospital. She then graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and completed an LL.M. in Global Health Law from Georgetown University.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Drew Van Horn began his role as William Jewell College interim president in August 2025. His extensive higher education experience includes 10 years as president of Brevard College (North Carolina) and seven years at Young Harris College (Georgia). He has specialized in supporting private liberal arts institutions embarking on strategic change.
Van Horn’s vision emphasizes personalized education rooted in the liberal arts and humanities, aimed at preparing students for successful careers and civic engagement in a constantly changing world. A proven change management leader, he is known for improving student experiences, strengthening academic programs, and increasing commitment to affordability and tuition transparency. Under his leadership, both Brevard and Young Harris experienced a rise in student enrollment, developed new academic and pre-professional pathways, and expanded opportunities for experiential learning, including internships and undergraduate research. Van Horn also held roles as vice president of institutional advancement at two universities and director of the Independent College Fund of North Carolina.
His extensive civic leadership includes serving as chair of the Georgia Non-Public Higher Education Commission, chair of the Area American Heart Association, board member of the Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington, North Carolina, and the executive committee of the Appalachian College Association.
Van Horn holds a B.A. from Elon University (North Carolina) where he was named a two-time CoSIDA and GTE Academic All-American in basketball, an M.Ed. from Campbell University (North Carolina), and a Ph.D. in education from the University of South Carolina. He is a Thrivent Leadership Fellow, a member of Alpha Chi Academic Honor Society, Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Society, and the Elon University Athletic Hall of Fame. The North Carolina native also has extensive civic leadership in education and nonprofit organizations.
About the William F. Yates Medallion
The Yates Medallion, along with the Alumni Citation for Achievement, is the highest non-degree award William Jewell College bestows. The tradition began in 1980 to honor exceptional Kansas Citians for their invaluable professional contributions, civic engagement and service, and who pave the way for Jewell students on the cusp of becoming the next generation of leaders.
The medallion is named for William F. Yates, graduate of the class of 1898, long-time member of the Board of Trustees and major benefactor. He and his wife provided a generous endowment to establish the chemistry department named for J.A. Yates, their son who died shortly after graduation. Yates-Gill College Union also is named for this prominent banker as well as another loyal friend and former Trustee of the College, Dr. J. Ray Gill of Richmond, Missouri.
The piece itself is of cast bronze and bears the likeness of Jewell Hall, which was completed in 1858 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This building, perhaps more than any other on campus, reflects the sense of tradition and heritage central to the life of the College. The medallion bears the College motto, Deo Fisus Labora, “Trust in God and Work.”