Letters to Campus
November 2010
Dear Faculty and Staff,
Greetings from Anderson Hall! I hope this note finds you well as we pass the midpoint of the semester. I have put away my short-sleeved summer wear, and am enjoying the beauty of the Flint Hills as we move into color change season in Kansas.
As many of you know, the office of the president has provided discretionary monies in the past to several different groups on campus for one-time projects. This year, we have combined the resources from the offices of the president, provost, and administration and finance together to create the Academic Excellence Fund, which will have open proposal calls twice during the academic year. Funding for these projects comes from the President’s Excellence Fund, the Hanson Foundation, the Provost’s Excellence Fund, and monies from our general university fund. Following review of the submitted proposals, we have selected the following items for funding for the upcoming year:
Dr. Teresa Slough (Animal Sciences and Industry) Purpose: Field trip to Oklahoma City, Amount: $1,220
Dr. Steve Thien (Agronomy) Purpose: Computer/travel funds for grad student, Amount: $2,500
Dr. Florence Neymotin (Economics) Purpose: Mentoring/speakers – Women in Econ Club, Amount: $3,750
Drs. Julie Yu and Joshua Oppenheim (Music) Purpose: Transportation for K-State Chorale, Amount: $4,000
Dr. Angela Powers (Journalism and Mass Communications) Purpose: iPads for teaching/research faculty, Amount: $15,000
Dr. Jerry Frieman (Psychology) Purpose: Travel for graduate students, Amount: $4,000
Dr. Marcelo Sabates (Philosophy) Purpose: Philosophy’s Speaker Series, Amount: $4,000
Ms. Megan Miller (Graduate Student Council) Purpose: Travel grant program/Research Forum, Amount: $15,000
Dr. Brent Maner (History) Purpose: Dorothy Thompson Lecture Series, Amount: $5,000
Dr. Myra Gordon (Diversity and Dual Career Development) Purpose: MLK Jr. Lecture/Black History Month, Amount: $8,000
Dr. Carla Jones (Office of Dean of Student Life) Purpose: Black Faculty/Staff Alliance, Amount: $3,000
Mr. Joshua Jewett (Architecture, Planning & Design) Purpose: Oz Magazine, Amount: $500
Dr. Gary Mortenson (Music) Purpose: Acoustical treatments in McCain 201, Amount: $16,694
Dr. Stuart Warren (Horticulture, Forestry, and Rec Resources) Purpose: Development of mock granting program, Amount: $25,000
Ms. Suzanne Lueker (Non-traditional & Veteran Student Services) Purpose: Renovation of space for Veterans Center, Amount: $9,500
Dr. Bob Corum (Modern Languages) Purpose: Mounting of LCD projectors, Amount: $30,970
Dr. Peter Wong, Dr. Lynn Hancock (Biology) Purpose: Installation of video projector and laptop, Amount: $6,000
Dr. Charlie Griffin (Communication Studies, Theatre & Dance) Purpose: Purchase of equipment and lighting for Nichols Theatre, Amount: $19,800
Dr. Michele Janette (Women’s Studies) Purpose: Faculty travel, Amount: $12,165
Dr. Karin Westman (English) Purpose: Faculty travel/graduate student conference/ Cultural Studies Symposium Amount: $18,000
Dr. Richard Marston (Geography) Purpose: Electrical upgrades in three labs, Amount: $8,600
During my first year as your president, I restricted my international travel because of both time and expense. For this academic year, I will make a couple of strategic trips abroad to help support our teaching, research, and engagement activities. This year, I accepted an invitation to visit the Big Red 1 leadership in Basra, Iraq, in early November. The purpose of this trip is to continue to build our relationship with Fort Riley, particularly as it applies to our research and extension efforts. Accompanying me on the trip will be Virginia Moxley, dean of Human Ecology, Jeff Morris, vice president for Communications and Marketing, and Art DeGroat, director of Military Affairs. We did have other people on campus interested in going with us, but we were restricted on the number of K-State people who could be accommodated in the traveling party. While we are there, we will have a live chat with campus and will do other activities to promote Kansas State University.
As we continue to develop our marketing of Kansas State, the use of videos to promote our academic programs is one of the areas of opportunity for Kansas State. This past year, I asked our communications and marketing area to develop one new video for each home football game that would highlight one area of academic achievement representing the best of Kansas State University. These videos are shown once during each home football game, and are then posted on the K-State YouTube site, http://www.youtube.com/KState . These are very well done – and I congratulate our staff members in communications and marketing who put these together. I invite you to go the website, grab a cold beverage, and watch these short videos highlighting our academic achievements!
Good luck as we finish the semester!
Go Cats!
Kirk