2011 Big XII Facilities Conference
The Value of Facilities, Priceless
Welcome
Welcome to Kansas State University and the Big 12 Conference & Friends. We are excited and believe everyone will find something of interest that you can take back to your campus and use.
A little history of our university, K-State got its start in 1858, when Bluemont Central College was founded with an enrollment of 53 students. Five years later K-State became the first college in America to be officially designated a land-grant school. In 2010 K-State had an enrollment 23,588 and has been over 23,000 since 2004.
Today under the leadership of President Kirk Schulz we are developing the 2025 visionary plan with the goal to make K-State a top 50 public research university. President Schulz states "This is an opportunity for us to define who we are as a university, create a vision of where we hope to be in the future and identify how we are going to get there." Almost simultaneously the Department of Homeland Security announced that K-State had been selected as the site for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) a $650 million research facility that will provide a state-of-the-art research lab to protect the United States' food supply and agriculture economy. This is an enhancement for the 2025 plan.
The Kansas State University Division of Facilities is proud to be hosting our 2011 conference. Sunday morning is the golf tournament at Colbert Hills, one of the nations premier public golf courses. Sunday afternoon is registration, a tour of campus and in the evening a reception at the Holiday Inn located just south of campus. On Monday morning April 11, KSU President Dr. Kirk Schulz will officially welcome the attendees. Monday has a busy schedule of educational sessions; an Industrial Expo focusing on the latest equipment and materials for facilities' operations. Later in the evening we've arranged a guided tour of the Konza Prairie Biological Station followed by a grilled steak or chicken dinner in the station's renovated 100 year old limestone barn now used for education and events. On Tuesday we have a few more sessions and finish with our business meeting, tour of the Beach, a box lunch and adjournment. The Beach is the Beach Art Museum.
Thank you for attending the 2011 Big 12 Facilities Conference and enjoy yourself.
Ed Rice, Big 12 Facilities Host