News release prepared by:  Katie Niederee, katien@found.ksu.edu

Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010

K-STATE PROUD CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES 2010 LEADERSHIP

MANHATTAN -- The K-State Proud Campaign is back in its fourth year of students helping students.

The campaign is the first-ever all-university student campaign at Kansas State University and is guided by the leadership of the K-State Student Foundation, in addition to three co-chairs, an advisory board of K-State students and an honorary co-chair.

K-State Proud lets students take part in their own philanthropic efforts to help their fellow students, and allows students to show their pride through philanthropy. All student campaign donations establish K-State Proud Student Opportunity Awards for fellow K-State students, and this year's goal is $115,000.

Co-chairs for the 2010 campaign are: Anna Zeiger, junior in nutritional sciences, Overland Park; Reed Pankratz, junior in marketing and public relations, Hutchinson, and Robert Swift, senior in political science, Lindsborg.

K-State Proud Advisory Board members include: Kyle Reynolds, Andover; Anna Govert, Cunningham; and Katie Niederee, Great Bend.

From Greater Kansas City: Ariel Sinha, Gardner; Zac Buckmiller, Kansas City, Mo.; Diana Klote and Mitchell Loeb, both from Leawood; Ariel Anib and Christina Farmer, Olathe; Michael Ellis, Carolyn Freeman, Jake New, Jessica Rodriguez, Andrew Satterlee, Sarah Satterlee and H.B. Thompson, all from Overland Park; and Stephanie Larson and Cooper Mach, both from Shawnee.

Kelsey Moran, Hays; Wayne Stoskopf, Hoisington; Megan Barnett, Hutchinson; Dylan Works, Iola; Nick Moeder, La Crosse; Cole Galyon, Little River; Casey Dwyer, Lyons; John Grice and Katy Zapletal, Manhattan; Becky Sullivan, Paola; Kyle Merklein, Prairie View; Matt Ebert, Rossville; and Rachel King, Wichita.

From out of state: Matt Castro, Houston; and Ryan Wilkerson, Columbia, Mo.

The honorary co-chair for this year's campaign is Michael Wesch, K-State assistant professor of cultural anthropology. He has been described as an explainer and an explorer, and can now add philanthropist with his position as honorary co-chair.

"I thought K-State Proud was just a great T-shirt," Wesch said. "When I started to hear more, I was deeply moved by the stories of students stepping forward to help their fellow students in their time of greatest need. The more I looked into it, the more I realized that some of my best students were actually only sitting in my classes because K-State Proud had stepped in to help them at a critical moment. Think about what that means for a second, because it isn’t really K-State Proud that stepped in, it was the entire student body. K-State Proud is a vehicle through which the whole student body can step in and help one of their fellow students when they need it most."

Wesch graduated summa cum laude from K-State's anthropology program in 1997 and returned as a faculty member in 2004 after receiving his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia. He won the Carnegie/CASE national professor of the year for research/doctoral universities and is one of the National Geographic Society's "Emerging Explorers" for 2009. Wesch's specialty is the impact of social media and digital technology on society and culture, and his expertise is being utilized for the campaign.

For more information about the campaign, check out the Web site at http://www.k-stateproud.org

The Kansas State University Student Foundation focuses on raising awareness among current and future alumni about the importance of giving back to K-State, and cultivating philanthropy across the university.