Practical decisions

Giving back through her estate makes sense to law and business graduate Amber Smith

Amber Smith and her husband, Adam, with their children

Amber Smith described her Washburn University education as sensible and practical. Each step she took to obtain four degrees as an Ichabod helped grow her career. At 37 years old and married with two children, she and her husband, Adam, saw it equally as sensible and practical to look to the future and complete an estate plan.

Amber, bba '05, jd '09, mba '15, is including a gift from their trust that will create and endow the Amber R. Smith Law Scholarship Fund. Additional funds from the trust will go to the School of Business Dean's Fund for Excellence.

"I'm a planner by nature, so by virtue of being a planner, we were putting our affairs in order, especially with two young kids," Amber said. "Through that process, I started thinking, where do I want to give and what has had the most impact on me? Obviously, it's my education."

Smith grew up in Topeka and went to Seaman High School. Her parents, Donald Whitlock, bba '75, and Connie Whitlock, bsw '75, were Washburn graduates, and the University was an attractive choice since she was interested in law school. She earned a bachelor's degree in management in 2005 and was one class shy of a degree in economics. She took the necessary class the following semester and used that time to reflect on her future. The master of business administration program at Washburn and studying the business side of things very much interested her. She stayed with her decision to study law and earned a certificate in business and transactional law in the process. Upon graduating, she practiced law at the Kansas Corporation Commission, work that relies heavily on accounting, finance and economic principles.

After five years of law practice, she came back to Washburn in 2014 for her mba. Like her undergraduate and law education, Amber found the program to be very practical. She said along with learning concepts from a book, Washburn faculty brought real-world experience to the classroom and there were opportunities to connect with alumni in the industry through mentorships and externships with attorneys or internships with businesses.

She graduated in 2015 and has used her knowledge heavily at KCC and now as deputy judicial administrator at the Kansas Office of Judicial Administration. She describes her office as the administrative support arm of the Kansas Supreme Court and judicial branch in the state.

"We support a lot of different areas and programs the trial courts use and rely on," she said. "We do some specialty projects as well. For example, one of the initiatives of the Supreme Court is improving access to justice, so we look at how accessible is justice — the courtroom, the law — to the lay person."

Amber's law school scholarship will go toward students seeking a certificate in business and transactional law. Throughout her career, she's seen the importance of having a business background when practicing law.

"I'm hopeful my scholarship can bolster that path a little bit and give attorneys who are good advocates some tools to be a small practice attorney and manage their own practice, or just generally understand some of the other side of the business that a supervisor, manager or a partner may handle," she said.

Supporting the School of Law and School of Business through her legacy was important to Amber. As an endowment, Washburn will grant law scholarships in Amber's name in perpetuity upon her and Adam's passing.

"It's going to have a continuing impact on students. It's going to have a continuing impact on Topeka," she said. "I think every opportunity I have had, especially as an adult, has been influenced in part by my Washburn education, and it just made sense to direct some of that giving back there."

To make your impact on future Washburn students, contact Erin Aldridge at 785.670.4483 or PlannedGiving@wualumni.org today.