Theme 5: Integrate Engagement Across All We Do
We must maximize the impact of our engagement, outreach and Extension services — fully leveraging and elevating engagement as the third co-equal pillar of our land-grant mission.
K-State’s mission-driven imperative for service and engagement distinguishes us from other higher education institutions in the state. This differentiator has helped catalyze the growth and impact of a litany of engagement initiatives taking place at all levels of our university. There are significant opportunities to amplify, elevate and communicate our impact through service and engagement in a more integrated and aligned way across the institution, the 105 counties and tribal areas we support and the nation and world we positively impact. We will use our many achievements in engagement as not only examples, but expectations K-State has for all faculty, staff and students in how they engage with one another and the world around us. K-State 105 offers a platform to cohesively bring these elements together with a joint focus on community engagement and utilizing this engagement to drive economic impact and prosperity for the state.
We will also lean into our core strengths and distinctions as a land-grant university. K-State is the only university with a presence in all 105 Kansas counties, with K-State Research and Extension serving as the hub and infrastructure for this statewide network. Historically, Extension has focused on pushing information out. Today, and in the future, Extension is about partnerships. We must push ourselves to reimagine how university resources and tremendous assets like Extension align with rapidly evolving community needs, with a focus on being relevant in the future based on these needs, while more deeply integrating engagement-focused elements like Extension across the fabric of the institution.