MASON, MORRIS JOIN K-STATE'S ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM

 

Two new administrators are joining K-State President Kirk Schulz's leadership team.

Provost and senior vice president April Mason's first day on the job was Monday, Jan 11. She succeeds M. Duane Nellis, who left K-State in June 2009 to become president of the University of Idaho. Ruth Dyer served as interim provost.

As a dean at Colorado State University, Mason oversaw six departments and three schools with about 100 tenure track faculty, many special appointment and adjunct faculty, 4,000 undergraduates and 850 graduate students. She also was a professor in the department of food science and human nutrition. Before joining Colorado State, Mason was associate dean for extension and associate dean for discovery and engagement in the College of Consumer and Family Sciences at Purdue University, where she also taught in the cooperative extension program for 20 years.

On Feb. 1, Jeffery Morris will join K-State as the university's first vice president for communications and marketing. Morris, a K-State alum, will bring his marketing and communications experience in both the public and private sectors to develop an integrated marketing plan for K-State. Morris comes to K-State from the University of Central Missouri, where he was chief communications officer and where he developed an award-winning integrated marketing strategy.

In this new position, Morris will supervise media relations and photo services, university publications, the Educational Communications Center, printing services and new units in marketing and Web design. He also will work closely with licensing, continuing education, College of Agriculture communications, the K-State Alumni Association, Kansas State University Foundation and the K-State at Salina public relations office.

Other major administrative changes include the hiring of Fred A. Cholick, dean of K-State's College of Agriculture, by the Kansas State University Foundation to be its next president and chief executive officer. Cholick begins his new job Feb. 4.

Cholick has been dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension since 2004. He oversees eight academic departments with 220 faculty members, 2,050 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. K-State Research and Extension includes the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, which supports programs in 25 departments and five colleges, and the Cooperative Extension Service, which supports activities in four colleges, five area offices, and 250 extension agent positions jointly funded with all 105 Kansas counties.

Positions still to be filled include dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and, with Cholick's departure, dean of the College of Agriculture. Applications and nominations are being accepted for the position of chief of information officer/vice provost for information technology services. A search for a new vice president for administration and finance also will begin soon as Bruce Shubert returns to the role of associate vice president.