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John Wilhm received the Bachelor of Construction Science from Kansas State University in 1970, when that program was part of what was then the College of Architecture and Design. He received the Master of Regional and Community Planning in 1972, serving as a graduate research assistant to Professor Leland Edmonds, an early and prominent member of our planning faculty. As Professor Edmonds had a significant impact on Wilhm's life, both professionally and personally, it has been Wilhm's privilege to serve as a long-time member of the Edmonds Scholarship Award Selection Committee.

After graduation, Wilhm served as a Captain in the United States Army Adjutant General Corps and then in the Peace Corps with his wife who is also a K-State alumnus. They were stationed in Venezuela where Wilhm worked in a city/regional planning office. After returning to Kansas, Wilhm worked for Bucher and Willis as a planner. At that time, he became a member of the Community Development Team, a new state and federally funded program where three planning professionals assisted rural Kansas communities in assessing their attributes and deficiencies. During the four years of Wilhm's involvement in Community Development Teams, he provided a wide range of services to more than 60 Kansas communities.

In 1977, Wilhm's career focus changed, and he became an administrative assistant to John Carlin who was then Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives. When Carlin was elected as Governor of Kansas in 1978, Wilhm was appointed as the Governor's Liaison Officer to the Ozarks Regional Commission, a Title V agency funded by the United States Department of Commerce and the State of Kansas.

Wilhm left government service in 1981 for a career in real estate development in partnership with Woods and Starr, an architecture firm in Hays, developing United States Department of Housing and Urban Development turnkey housing projects. In 1983, Wilhm joined a small development firm and for the next five years developed commercial projects in Colorado Springs, Scottsdale, and Kansas.

Throughout his career, Wilhm had sensed the need for more courses on development and related topics, so during this period he began working with Professor Ray Weisenburger to provide such instruction. In 1988, Wilhm became a real estate broker and commercial appraiser, as well as an advocate for distance learning as a highly effective method of providing instruction in these topics. Ever since, he has served as an adjunct professor to our planning faculty in such courses as planning principles and land development planning. Wilhm also worked closely with Professor Weisenburger and the planning faculty to provide a distance learning format that enables members of the State of Kansas National Guard and Reserves to earn a Master of Environmental Planning and Management. In partnership with our faculty lecturing from Manhattan, Wilhm joins the students in the Topeka facility to speak on topics in his areas of expertise, bring in guest speakers, resolve technical difficulties encountered with this new technology, and serve as an on-site resource for the students.

To expand his business interests, Wilhm and his wife have now relocated to Sarasota, Florida, but he travels regularly to Lawrence, Kansas, due to the real estate appraisal business there that he shares with his son.

John Wilhm exemplifies the energy, innovation, and dedication to quality and service that our College strives to foster in its students. We take pride in his accomplishments and delight in nominating him to receive a 2001 Kansas State University Distinguished Service Award.