Theme 2

Theme 2: Build and Sustain the Next-Generation Land-Grant Workforce at K-State

We must establish a foundation that enables us to grow our next-generation land-grant workforce, inclusive of a common culture, systems and structures that value, incentivize, recognize and empower faculty and staff.

K-State is filled with dedicated faculty and staff who are passionate about the institution and committed to the success of the students and communities they serve. We will amplify and channel this passion by ensuring K-State is a fulfilling, rewarding and equitable place to work for all faculty and staff.

This means thinking differently about how we have traditionally supported our workforce in areas such as evaluations and career paths, where we must streamline and standardize our approaches to ensure all employees have equitable pathways to rewards and advancement. We must modernize how we approach rewards and recognition, from working with colleges and departments to expand how faculty contributions are acknowledged through promotion and tenure to establishing more flexible benefits and rewards that are customized to meet the unique needs of our employees.

This mindset of thinking differently when it comes to our workforce also applies to how, when and where we work. It also means shaping our workforce in different ways to support the changing and growing learner population we will serve in the coming years across all types of learners and delivery formats, to drive the research and discovery we will develop and to amplify our economic and community impact through engagement. We will explore what it means to become a 12-month university for our faculty and staff, as well as how we innovate our academics along such an operating calendar, recognizing that such a model must be flexible to meet the needs of both our workforce and students while maximizing our ability to serve our stakeholders. We are also committed to establishing workspaces where our workforce can be most effective, from standardizing and expanding our approach to hybrid and remote work to investing in the facilities and physical structures our faculty and staff need to do their jobs effectively.

Bold ideas

Establish a university employee compensation philosophy and supporting structures focused on competitiveness and performance
Rethink and broaden traditional approaches to incentivizing and rewarding faculty and staff
Expand university guidance to colleges and departments for promotion tenure criteria to fully value and recognize the breadth of faculty contributions to the university and those it serves
Establish a consistent approach and common framework for staff evaluations
Grow faculty, staff and graduate students to meet our research and enrollment targets
Establish a culture of career growth, pathways and opportunity for all employees

Key priorities

Become a leader among land-grant institutions in workforce compensation, benefits and opportunity

Identify funding to offer equitable, competitive salaries and benefits
Explore additional, flexible benefits customized to support all employees
Establish a baseline funding package and equitable work expectations for graduate students

Attract and retain high-performing, talented and engaged faculty and staff

Hire and retain faculty and staff with varying backgrounds and experiences
Realize meaningful, positive change in K-State’s overall workforce climate
Build relationships with target doctoral programs to recruit graduates to work at K-State

Elevate employee well-being at all levels of the university

Establish a university well-being philosophy
Develop structures, processes, resources and a culture that promote workforce reward and recognition for faculty and staff at all levels
Continually assess and modify university workplace policies for flexible, hybrid, virtual and onsite work

Theme 2: Build and Sustain the Next-Generation Land-Grant Workforce at K-State

Bold ideas

Key priorities

Imperative alignment