Letters to campus

May 27, 2011

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Welcome to the summer! I am getting close to officially starting my third year serving as your president, and I continue to enjoy working with all of you to build an even better Kansas State University.

As many of you know, Kansas State has a birthday coming up — we will turn 150 years old in 2013. We plan to kick off K-State's sesquicentennial celebration Feb. 14-17, 2013, (long weekend) and close our seven-month celebration at Homecoming in October 2013. We will have an exhibition of 150 years at K-State as well as many other opportunities to celebrate "Generations of Success." Students, faculty, staff, alumni and K-State friends will be invited to join in the fun. Every college/unit as well as alumni and the community have representatives on the steering committee. Stay tuned for plans as they unfold over the next year.

As part of my annual evaluation process with the Kansas Board of Regents, I am asked to submit quantifiable goals and objectives. In order to develop appropriate stretch goals for our campuses, I dialog with each of the members of the president's cabinet and collaboratively set goals for new and on-going campus initiatives. As we look ahead to the next school year, I believe it is appropriate to share some of my goals with the campus community. In order to provide some context for each of the goals, I have grouped them around key areas of emphasis.

1. Fundraising and Development

a. Increase total gift activity to $110M, to include $60M provided by the Kansas State University Foundation for donor-focused campus activities, and $28M in new pledges/gifts to build the endowment.

b. Develop and implement a principal gifts program focused on securing $3M+ major gifts to Kansas State University.

c. Launch the Kansas State University Corporate Engagement Center.

d. Secure total gifts and pledges in excess of $10M designated for the Campus Welcome Center.

2. Research and Scholarship

a. Increase new grant and contract activity to $150M during the upcoming year.

b. Develop five to seven campus-wide research themes under the K-State 2025 umbrella.

c. Formalize our undergraduate research program, including the development of guidelines on undergraduate research experiences and methodology for counting these experiences.

3. Athletics

a. Initiate master plan and fund-raising initiatives for enhancements to Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

4. Alumni

a. Increase engagement activities for alumni and students by 5 percent from 55,923 to 58,720.

b. Double the number of international alumni club events from five to 10.

c. Re-establish the Multicultural Alumni Council and target efforts to assist in reaching out to multicultural alumni and friends.

5. Government Relations

a. The Office of Governmental Relations publishes a Legislative Update in @K-State 11 months of the year; we do not publish in July. This online newsletter is sent to approximately 60,000 K-State alumni and friends. The Legislative Update has an average "open rate" of 19 percent. The goal for next year is to increase the average "open rate" from 19 percent to 27 percent.

b. There are 2,855 members of Wildcats for Higher Education. We use several strategies to attract members: targeted messages, button on the K-State Alumni home page, and personal recruitment. The goal for next year is to expand membership from 2,855 to 3,100 members.

c. Continue to work with the Kansas Delegation, the Office of the Governor, and the Kansas Legislature to secure the funding for the construction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). The request in the president's budget was for $150M for federal fiscal year 2012. The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee mark is $75M. The goal is to achieve the President's budget recommendation or at least $100M for FY 2012.

6. Communications and Marketing

a. To launch an enterprise-wide web content management system (CMS) integrating a minimum of 50 percent of university offices and departments into a consistent look and feel.

b. To create an action plan establishing the institution as a national leader in leveraging portable wireless devices to drive effectiveness in an academic environment by 2015.

c. To implement the "One K-State, One Voice" branding strategy (developed in 2011) across 85 percent of the academy, encompassing the college, department and office levels.

d. To collaborate with regents institutions on a strategy to reach 75 percent of Kansans with messages on the economic value of public universities.

7. Administration and Finance

a. Examine and evaluate Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) budget models for possible use at Kansas State University in future years.

8. Academic Affairs

a. Develop a university-wide faculty awards nomination program to nominate Kansas State University faculty for regional and national recognition, including professional society fellows.

b. Take the senior administrative team to an aspirational peer university (North Carolina State University) to examine best practices and bring back new ideas to Kansas State.

9. Student Life

a. Maintain our status as the top choice among Kansas high school graduating seniors for fall 2011.

b. Launch the Premier Scholarship program to place an increased emphasis on securing endowed scholarships to provide enhanced financial packages for incoming and continuing students.

10. Personal Development

a. Choose one particular professional development opportunity.

If anyone has any questions or comments about any of the goals I have expressed here, please do not hesitate to drop me a note.

I hope all of you have a productive summer — the students will be back for the fall semester before you know it!

Go Cats!

Kirk