K-State Current - June 5, 2019

K-State Current is a weekly news update for the Kansas Board of Regents to apprise the Regents on a few of the many successes and achievements made by K-State faculty, staff and students.

K-State News

College of Veterinary Medicine team earns AAVMC's 2019 Communications Excellence Award

The communications program at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine — consisting of Joe Montgomery, director of communications, and Audrey Hambright, public information officer — has been recognized with the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges' 2019 Communications Excellence Award.

K-State's program was praised by judges for comprehensive program excellence that advanced the college's strategic plan.

"Communications excellence is fundamental to institutional advancement," said Andrew T. Maccabe, the association's chief executive officer. "We congratulate our colleagues at Kansas State University for earning this distinction, and appreciate the role their work is playing in advancing the overall interests of academic veterinary medicine."

Following the completion of a new strategic plan at the college, the communications team consolidated two magazines into one new College of Veterinary Medicine-themed magazine called Wildcat Veterinarian. The new magazine was created to advance understanding and support for key initiatives and priorities in the strategic plan, which include building awareness for their outstanding food animal programs, as well as their responsive and collaborative research and service programs.

"We really appreciate the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges for its support of this award and its support of the communicators who have some unique challenges in promoting veterinary medical education and the veterinary profession," Montgomery said. "We had a third member on our team, Shelby Mettlen, who left our college this spring. Shelby played a significant role in designing and contributing content to the inaugural issue of Wildcat Veterinarian. This award is truly the result of a team effort made possible by the outstanding accomplishments and achievements of our college's faculty, students, staff and alumni, who gave so much great content for our publications and communications."

Judges also recognized their portfolio of communication strategies and tactics, including media relations with the veterinary and scientific trade press, broad-based and creative use of social media, strong collaboration with Hill's Pet Nutrition in coordinating the announcement of the largest gift in the history of the college, and providing support for the Kansas State University Diagnostic Laboratory.

The judging team consisted of communication professionals representing member organizations of the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions in Washington, D.C. Judges scored nominations from five competing schools using an empirical process that assessed criteria such as quality and scope of the program, leadership and innovation in program development, strategic orientation and other factors.

The award includes a $1,000 honorarium, a commemorative, and public recognition. It will be formally presented during the annual meeting of the Association of Veterinary Advancement Professionals, at 8 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, at the Courtyard Washington/Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges board of directors established the Communications Excellence Award in 2013 to recognize the important role of communications in advancing academic veterinary medicine and the profession, inspire higher level of performance and foster collaboration among member institutions.

The association is a nonprofit membership organization working to protect and improve the health and welfare of animals, people and the environment around the world by advancing academic veterinary medicine. Members include 49 accredited veterinary medical colleges in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Johnson Cancer Research Center provides $345,042 for research and education

Cancer research at Kansas State University has gotten a large boost from donations made to the university's Johnson Cancer Research Center.

"Cancer research is expensive, but it is the necessary first step in saving lives," said Stephen Keith Chapes, Johnson Cancer Research Center interim director and professor of biology. "And unlike cancer treatment providers who can charge fees to cover their costs, researchers are constantly seeking funds to support their work."

Private donations to the cancer research center allow it to provide faculty and students hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in competitive awards to support innovative cancer research, laboratory equipment purchases, mentoring of student researchers and more. Information about all the awards is accessible on the center's award programs webpage, cancer.k-state.edu/awards/.

In fiscal year 2019, the Johnson Cancer Research Center awarded $345,042. In addition to $50,000 to establish a Center of Excellence for Pancreatic Cancer Research and $114,943 to support graduate students, the center provided $78,709 for studies into such things as cell cycle regulation, premature aging of fat tissue and subsequent increased cancer risk in obese children, development of an exosome-based cancer imaging agent, and selective isolation of tumor cells circulating in the body.

"We are grateful to our many allies helping us conquer cancer, and pleased to redistribute their gifts to our most promising research programs and students," Chapes said. "Those dollars are making a big difference, often being leveraged into large extramural grants."

"With excellent basic research in stem cell technology, virology, immunology and nanotechnology, as well as many opportunities for students through paid and mentored research experiences, K-State is making its mark in cancer research and as an outstanding public research university," said Richard Myers, Kansas State University president.

The Johnson Cancer Research Center currently has 100 affiliated faculty researchers conducting multidisciplinary cancer research in 20 departments at Kansas State University. Its programs are supported by private donations. More information about the center is at cancer.k-state.edu.

K-State Faculty Highlights

Hughey presented with leadership award

Judy Hughey, associate professor of special education, counseling and student affairs, was presented with a Distinguished Leadership Award from the Kansas School Counselor Association at the sixth annual School Counseling Camp recently in Manhattan.

Hughey served as president of the association this year, and the award recognized her service, dedication and skilled leadership through a critical transitional period. This was in addition to her teaching responsibilities and planning the School Counseling Camp, which attracts more than 350 school counselors from across the Midwest to Manhattan. She secured Elizabeth Smart as one of the keynotes.

"Judy's impact on school counseling in Kansas is second to none," said Debbie Mercer, dean of the College of Education. "She is a tireless advocate for children and the profession and is truly deserving of this leadership award."

K-State Student News

Seventh annual NSSI Benefit Auction raises $40,000

The National Strategic Selling Institute hosted its seventh annual Benefit Auction on Friday, May 10, at the K-State Alumni Center. Put on every year by students in the Advanced Selling class, this experience allows students to learn about territory management, prospecting, phone sales, and the sales process in a real-world setting.

Over the course of the spring semester, the students enrolled in the class transformed into true sales professionals, learning how to prospect, deliver value and use a customer relationship management system in the process. Together the students raised $40,000, which is given back to sales students as merit awards. An additional $10,000 was raised for Coming Together for a Cure, Wichita, which was chosen as the charity partner for the event. Founded by a recent K-State graduate, Coming Together for a Cure raises support and awareness for adult stem cell therapy to help people battling Muscular Dystrophy and other terminal diseases.

"We are grateful for the continued support from the K-State family and the hard work from the outstanding sales students," said Blake Benton, founder and director of Coming Together for a Cure. "This generous gift helps Coming Together for a Cure expand our mission of advancing adult stem cell therapy for families with Muscular Dystrophy and other incurable diseases."

Stan Weber, an alumnus of the College of Business Administration, served as emcee of the event with Michelle and Matt Canny of the Canny Team overseeing the auction portion of the evening. The highlight of the evening was the raffle ticket drawing for one of two K-State themed mopeds, which went to J.J. Brotton, Manhattan, and Alison Karr, St. George.

"The students taking the Advanced Selling class worked incredibly hard to achieve their goals. They stayed focused on their desired outcomes and learned a great deal," said Dawn Deeter, director of the National Strategic Selling Institute. "The fundamental purpose of this class is to give our students a realistic preview of what it is like to be a salesperson. Over the semester, the students realize firsthand about the ups and downs of a sales career and the effort required to be successful. It's because of experiences like this that companies continue to hire our students. I'm very proud of our class!"

The National Strategic Selling Institute is housed in the College of Business Administration, which has been named one of the top sales programs in the country for eight straight years by the Sales Education Foundation. Last fall, K-State became just the 19th university in the U.S. to offer a major in sales. Students can also earn a certificate in professional strategic selling, which is open to all majors at the university. The professional strategic selling program introduces students to the fundamentals of sales and through the innovative curriculum and sales labs allows students to develop the skills needed to be successful.

For more information on the National Strategic Selling Institute, please contact kstatesalesprogram@k-state.edu.

Team of student inventors selected for Braun award

Doctoral candidates Joydeep Mitra, computer science, and Nandini Sarkar, chemistry, have been awarded the inaugural Ann and Dave Braun Student Inventor Award for their project, CoForm: An Automated Technique for Predicting Co-Crystals.

CoForm is an app developed by the team that is expected to be widely adopted and used by both academic and industrial scientists interested in the crystalline solid state, especially in the context of pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications.

Through a fund provided by the Brauns, Lake Elmo, Minnesota, the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering selects and presents the annual award in the amount of $5,000 for promising student inventors in the college. Dave Braun is a 1967 graduate of Kansas State University with a master's degree in mechanical engineering.

The primary goal of the fund is to reward inventions that have a chance to be successful in the marketplace. Entries must be a new technology, product or process, developed by a student or student team, and be unique, useful and solve a real-world problem.

Applicants must have a tested and working prototype of an invention to be eligible for the competition. The prototype should work as designed beyond proof of concept models.

Read more about the Ann and Dave Braun Student Inventor Award.

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