Laying a Foundation
K-State's commitment to becoming a next-generation, land-grant university
By Janae McKinney
Courtesy Clark & Enersen
In late 2022, just months after assuming the university’s top post, K-State President Richard Linton announced a $210 million capital campaign to boost the agricultural infrastructure on the Manhattan campus.
For Ernie Minton, the Eldon Gideon Dean of the College of Agriculture, the announcement was validation for work that he had begun not long before.
Minton remembers a 2015 national study conducted to estimate the deferred maintenance costs affecting land-grant campuses across the U.S. The study was updated in 2020 and released in 2021, and concluded that, nationwide, the cost of deferred maintenance totaled $11.5 billion, with a total building replacement cost of $38.1 billion across the country.
As a result of the study’s findings, Minton started working with an architectural firm to create a plan for what is now known as the Agriculture Innovation Initiative, a project involving multiple buildings that is currently underway on the north end of the Manhattan campus.
The groundwork that Minton had laid was valuable in helping Linton embark on what he has called “the single largest building project in the history of our university.”
“It paid off to have engaged the architects early when President Linton arrived, as we had a solid platform and opportunity to raise funding,” Minton said.
Agriculture: ‘An undeniable pillar’
Casey Lauer, the university’s associate vice president for facilities, understands the importance of the College of Agriculture and how much it means to the university.
“Agriculture is an undeniable pillar for the reputation of K-State and one that has been placed on the backburner for a very long time,” Lauer said. “At one time, conditions dating back to the mid-50s were acceptable. Outdated facilities are incongruent with the first-class education and opportunities the university is known for.”
Lauer said the evolution of the campus footprint is evidence of the university’s growth since the mid-1950s. An example includes Weber Arena, which hosted an annual rodeo and was a key events facility for the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry.
The arena’s original position on the north edge of campus originally made sense, but as the K-State campus evolved, Weber Arena was in the middle of campus. From a safety and logistical standpoint, it’s difficult today for livestock, people, stoplights, and traffic to seamlessly interact. A new facility -- the Bilbrey Family Event Center north of campus – addresses those issues.
“The new center will have one of the taller viewpoints in the entire area and overlook the National Bio and Agri-defense Facility and Bill Snyder Family Stadium,” Lauer said. “The arena will have a site that is accessible, offers amenities, be fully functional, code compliant and air conditioned. It’s pretty cool.”
Flexible learning spaces
The Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation is being designed with flexible laboratories to be shared, rather than single use.
“We have buildings that were built for chemistry and that’s it,” Lauer said. “It’s a closed loop. The paradigm shift is an open loop with peers that can challenge each other to solve real world issues with colleagues and industry partners.”
Lauer said 30% of space in the facility will foster interdisciplinary collaboration between public, private and intercollegiate groups, which he says could be a model going forward for the college and university.
In addition to better using research spaces, plans for the Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation allows 0opportunities for visitors to see what is happening in laboratory spaces.
“Students and visitors coming into the Global Center will be able to look through glass walls into active research areas,” said Jane Schuh, K-State’s director of agricultural research. “They are going to be able to visualize what’s going on in food and feed research and look at the science as it’s unfolding.”
Dan Moser, the associate dean of academic programs, said another development for the future of agriculture facilities may include flexible learning spaces.
“It’s definitely a trend throughout education to have more interactive sorts of experiences in the classroom,” he said.
Classrooms going forward will not only have changeable set-ups with tables and chairs to move into smaller breakout groups, but also focus on modern technologies. A post-pandemic education includes in-person and remote learning experiences; the classrooms for the College of Agriculture will focus on both.
Moser said the livestock and agronomy units north of Kimball Avenue will continue to be a main priority for education. He said other colleges have similar facilities much farther away from campus, making it difficult or impossible for classes at those units.
“Our leadership is committed to our use of the land north of Kimball, which is a huge competitive advantage for student recruitment, student lab experience, undergraduate research and part-time student employment,” Moser said.
He adds: “Infrastructure is symbolic of an institution’s and state’s commitment to a program. The students want to go where the state and alumni are making investments, and where the university prioritizes the programs they are interested in.”
'Incredible moment’ for agriculture
Marty Vanier, a project donor whose family’s generosity to K-State has spanned decades, calls the Agriculture Innovation Initiative “a terrific way to launch K-State into the future”.
“While we have many talented faculty members and wonderful programs here, they've been operating in their separate sandboxes,” she said. “The Ag Innovation Initiative is a terrific way to bring everyone together, synergize their talents and experiences, and establish K-State as a leader in agriculture innovation."
Schuh called this “an incredible moment” for the College of Agriculture.
“If we are doing incredible work in the buildings we have now, imagine what we can do with cutting edge technology and facilities that reflect the level of expertise we have,” she said. “It’s a great time to be at K-State.”
During the Dec. 2023 groundbreaking for the Bilbrey Family Event Center, Linton told a standing-room-only gathering that the Agriculture Innovation Initiative represents K-State’s commitment to becoming a next-generation, land-grant university.
“With each facility that we build, renovate or demolish, we are one step closer to creating unparalleled opportunities for our faculty, staff and students to achieve their highest potential and make transformational impacts in agriculture,” he said.