Letters to campus

December 2014

Happy Holidays from Anderson Hall! Once again, we have successfully made it through another semester at K-State.

I almost always get in a reflective mood during this time of the year. As a campus community we continue to make great strides forward. K-State 2025 serves as our road map, and occasionally we need to stop and reflect back on our mutual successes as a K-State family. Over the past two months, we have posted seven letters in K-State Today that detail the progress made in each of our seven K-State 2025 Themes. Have we made equal progress in all areas over the last several years? No. However, when we look at where we have come over the last three years of the K-State 2025 plan, there are some remarkable successes! If you missed these letters, here are the links to each of the K-State 2025 progress letters:

• Theme 1: Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, and Discovery.
• Theme 2: Undergraduate Educational Experience.
• Theme 3: Graduate Scholarly Experience.
• Theme 4: Extension, Outreach, and Service.
• Theme 5: Faculty and Staff.
• Theme 6: Facilities and Infrastructure.
• Theme 7: Athletics.

None of these achievements occur without a dedicated and hardworking faculty and staff!

Thank you to our grounds crews who keep our campus looking great throughout the year, whether it is 10 degrees with the wind blowing or 100 degrees with high humidity!

Thank you to our faculty members who work to go the extra mile to assist our students. Your attitude is part of what makes our K-State undergraduate experience a special one!

Thank you to our folks in facilities who work tirelessly to provide up-keep to our environment, which often times is worn out and challenging.

Thank you to our academic leadership who work hard to develop relationships with alumni and donors. You work under highly resource-constrained environments and have a seemingly endless list of things to do, all the while with a smile on your face and a positive attitude!

Thank you to all of our athletic coaches and student-athletes for the positive way you represent K-State on a national stage, both on and off the field.

Thank you to all of our staff members who make a positive difference for our students, faculty, parents, alumni, prospective students, and anyone else who walks into your space. Your dedication to K-State is exceptional!

Thank you to our faculty members who mentor graduate students and post-docs and spend countless hours writing proposals, challenging assumptions, defending new ideas, and helping these aspiring researchers reach to new heights.

Thank you to our students who bring a great attitude to the classroom and spend four or five years of your lives at K-State. May you go out into the world and do great things.

Thank you to our partners in the KSU Foundation and K-State Alumni Association. Your work to support our students, faculty and staff is critical to our success.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your university president. We are on a journey together as the K-State family; sometimes there are rocks in the road but at the end of each day we are a little further ahead.

I am looking forward to a GREAT 2015 at Kansas State University!

Happy Holidays,

Kirk