K-State Current - February 5, 2020

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

K-State recognized for excellence in student voter engagement

Kansas State University received a silver seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for increasing student voting participation from 15.7% in 2014 to 36% in 2018 midterm elections. The seal was awarded at the ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony, which recognizes colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates.

The National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University's Institute for Democracy and Higher Education, collected the data. Read K-State's report. Student participation across the country in elections increased from 2014 to 2018. According to the study, voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19% to 40%.

"We are excited to honor Kansas State University with an ALL IN Challenge silver seal in recognition of their intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation," said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. "More institutions like K-State are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we've seen across the country."

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on campus. More than 560 campuses — enrolling more than 6.2 million students — have joined the challenge since its launch in summer 2016.

Wildcats Vote, a new nonpartisan independent student organization that grew from the 2018 voter participation drives, is preparing an ALL IN action plan for 2020. Hayley Spellman, president of Wildcats Vote and senior in political science and communication studies, said she welcomes other interested students and organizations to contribute their ideas during their weekly Monday meetings from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the K-State Student Union. Not limited to students, the ALL IN Challenge offers a framework for faculty and staff to collaborate in creating a campus climate that encourages political participation and civil discussion.

"K-State is proud to receive this national recognition for our campus community's voter participation efforts," said Thomas Lane, vice president for student life and dean of students. "Our faculty, staff, administrators and students are committed to working together to reduce apathy, increase engagement, and graduate civic-minded students prepared to solve the country's, and the world's, most pressing challenges."

Two K-State graduates to receive 2020 Distinguished Young Alumni Award

Two Kansas State University graduates — Mindy McBee, Fairway, Kansas, and Sarah Sexton-Bowser, Mayetta, Kansas — are the recipients of the K-State Alumni Association Student Alumni Board's 2020 Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

The award recognizes two K-State graduates who are younger than 35 and are using the scholarship, leadership and service experience they acquired at K-State to excel in their professions and contribute to their communities. The Alumni Association Student Alumni Board will honor McBee and Sexton-Bowser when they return to campus Feb. 24-26 to give keynote presentations and visit with student groups and university classes.

"The Alumni Association is pleased to support the Student Alumni Board in presenting this award," said Amy Button Renz, Alumni Association president and CEO. "The award simultaneously honors some of our most accomplished young graduates while creating new ties among alumni, students and faculty."

McBee is a U.S. pricing and formulation manager for Cargill. She earned a degree in agribusiness in 2012 and has been with Cargill since graduating. In her current role she leads strategic pricing for Cargill's U.S. feed business consisting of 53 manufacturing locations. Additionally, she manages the U.S. formulation team responsible for value capture activities via feed formula audits, strategic reformulations and new ingredient savings.

She also serves on the K-State Steering Committee within Cargill. This is an alumni group that directs where Cargill funds are donated on K-State's campus. McBee's role within this selective group has created ample opportunities for K-State students. Most recently, McBee helped to start the Cargill Fellows Program, which is in its second year. The fellows program funds a scholarship for each fellow and provides a Cargill coach. The fellows are given the opportunity to participate in diversity and inclusion trainings, service projects and other opportunities.

While at K-State, McBee was involved in numerous organizations including Quest Freshman Honorary, Silver Key Sophomore Honorary, Student Alumni Board, Blue Key Senior Honorary and Orientation and Enrollment. Within these organizations, she held many leadership positions, including being a Wildcat Warm-Up counselor and Student Alumni Board officer her junior year, and serving as president her senior year. McBee also was selected to sit on the student search committee for the dean of the College of Agriculture. She was the manager for the women's basketball team and a member of Phi Eta Sigma, the Residence Hall Governing Board and the K-State Proud Advisory Board.

"Mindy's dedication to her work has had a major impact on both the company, and her colleagues' well-being. She is a change agent in any position she is placed in," said her nominator, Elizabeth Patton, K-State senior in pre-law and philosophy and Blue Key member.

Sexton-Bowser is managing director for K-State's Center for Sorghum Improvement. She earned a degree from K-State in 2008 in agricultural economics.

Her current role encompasses maintaining grain sorghum as a viable crop both through enhanced yield and competitive market expansion. The efforts of Sexton-Bowser's leadership and teamwork allow K-State to have a pivotal impact on crop research, which helps K-State to be a leading research land-grant university.

In her community, she served on a committee of state agriculture leaders for former Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins. She also formulated a county Farm Bureau primary candidate forum.

As a K-State student, Sexton-Bowser served as 2004 Kansas FFA vice president and a 2006 National FFA officer candidate finalist; 2005-06 K-State Student Senate secretary; and was a 2006-07 Student Alumni Board member. Additionally, she was a member of K-State Ag Econ Quiz Bowl; Wheat State Agronomy Club; Ag Economics Club; College of Agriculture Student Senate secretary; K-State Collegiate Farm Bureau; Farm Credit Student Board; USDA White House fellow; K-State Agriculture ambassador; and served as a USDA intern for the Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyard Agency Assistant Economist.

"Sarah has a passion to serve her community. Her influence encompasses strengthening agribusiness partnerships to better address industry challenges as well as creating a lasting impact by investing in the leadership skills of local students. ... She has strong commitment to rural vitality. Sarah has worked closely with local and state boards in order to address key topics in the agriculture industry," said her nominator, Kathleen Schultze, a 2012 K-State graduate.

This year's award recipients have special ties to the K-State Alumni Association.

"This year's selections are especially significant as they were both members of the Student Alumni Board at one time," Renz said. "It is a great testament to the quality of students that are involved in that program to have two honorees as past members."

"Sarah and Mindy have accomplished so much very early in their careers," said Collin Just, assistant director of student programs and Student Alumni Board adviser. "We are thrilled to honor these amazing leaders and look forward to hosting them on campus so they will have the chance to meet with and inspire our current K-State students."

For more on the Distinguished Young Alumni program, visit k-state.com/DYA.

K-State Faculty Highlights

Yarrow recognized as Professor of the Week Linda Yarrow, instructor in the food, nutrition, dietetics and health department in the College of Health and Human Sciences, was recognized as Professor of the Week at the Jan. 29 men's home basketball game.

Yarrow also is a registered dietitian nutritionist. She began teaching courses for K-State part time in 2003 while working on her doctorate and joined K-State full time in 2009. Yarrow teaches upper-level medical nutrition therapy courses, both on campus and distance, as well as graduate nutrition courses. Yarrow is also the director of the Guatemala Education Abroad program offered by the department.

Yarrow has received numerous awards to include the 2019 Myers-Alford Teaching award, the 2019 Global Campus Excellence in Online Teaching Award, K-State Mortar Board Outstanding Faculty recognition, the SIDLIT Innovation in Teaching Award, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Innovator in Practice and Education Award.

Yarrow actively supports the teaching profession at K-State by serving on educational committees and providing teaching guidance through speaking events. She has been a speaker for Spotlight K-State, the Big 12 Teaching and Learning Conference, and the Global Campus Have A Byte series. She is a guest speaker in numerous classes and also presents to graduate teaching assistants. Yarrow is a proud mother to three children, Johnathan, Laura Beth and Katie, all who graduated with degrees from K-State.

The Professor of the Week recognition is coordinated by Faculty Senate, the president's office, K-State Athletics and the Division of Communications and Marketing. Recipients are faculty members selected by Faculty Senate caucuses. Those selected are provided tickets to a men's home basketball game of their choosing and are recognized during halftime. This is just a small token of appreciation for those who teach at K-State.

Ecologist uses scientific approach to rank world's worst problems in new book From world hunger to nuclear weapons, Kansas State University distinguished professor Walter Dodds ranks the world's worst problems facing humanity in a new book by publisher Springer.

"'The World's Worst Problems' goes through a series of justifications for why certain issues are the worst for the world and then takes a scientific and accounting view of deaths and suffering from those problems," Dodds said.

Using a scientific approach, Dodds, who is the Edwin G. and Lillian J. Brychta chair in biology and an expert in freshwater ecology, quantifies world problems based on actual danger and probability of deaths and human suffering. He said that by using the scientific approach, he was able to categorize problems without confirmation bias and the emotions that often come with talking about death and suffering.

"When I was young, we were getting under our desks for nuclear drills," Dodds said. "It was a huge political issue, but now kids are getting under desks for mass shooters drills even though a lot more people die from auto accidents. Action is taken on issues that people perceive are most important, but those may not actually cause the most harm to society."

In addition to ranking the problems, Dodds writes about possible solutions from a social science perspective. He includes the relative economic costs to solve each of these problems, individual behavior in the face of these problems, and how people can work together internationally to combat them.

"Part of the book is how people behave and what they perceive as being a big problem," Dodds said. "It is those problems that move toward creation of policy."

Dodds said that it is basic human nature to worry about the things that influence individuals and those around them first. This book may help people better quantify what are the actual dangers so that solutions can be found to those worst problems first.

"I hope that somehow, this book makes a difference," Dodds said. "I hope people will read it and it will give them routes to figure out how to make the world a better place."

K-State Student News

Three APDesign students receive Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship

Three graduate students from the College of Architecture, Planning & Design, or APDesign, are Kansas State University's latest recipients of the prestigious Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Scott Hazelton, Elmdale; Brennan Walter, Manhattan; and Amber Berg, Centertown, Missouri, all master's students in regional & community planning, are each receiving the fellowship, which supports graduate studies in transportation-related disciplines. Their selection marks the second year in a row that five K-State students have earned the fellowship. Two graduate students in civil engineering were previously announced as Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship winners.

The fellowships are awarded annually to 150-200 exceptional students around the country. The fellowship program advances the transportation workforce by attracting the brightest minds to the field through education, research and workforce development. The awards include a stipend, tuition support and the opportunity to attend the 2020 Transportation Research Board annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Greg Newmark, assistant professor of landscape architecture and regional & community planning, is the major professor to the newest fellowship-winning students. He said the fellowships will advance the students' studies and their research in the transportation field: Hazelton is seeking to improve the efficiency of ranching by reducing associated transportation costs; Walter is exploring how to leverage the most return on public investment in rail transit; and Berg is working to integrate equity concerns in transportation plans.

"These awards also highlight the strength of the K-State Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning in preparing students for careers in transportation," Newmark said. "I should mention that it is nice that these activities take place just down the road from President Eisenhower's childhood home in Abilene. His inspiration continues."

Hazelton received a $5,000 fellowship award and will continue his transportation research related to the beef industry.

"I am looking at ways to make beef production more efficient through the production stage transportation," Hazelton said. "This fellowship will allow me to network with professionals interested in agricultural transportation at the Transportation Research Board annual conference. This is a great honor and I am humbled to represent Kansas State University."

Walter was awarded a $5,000 fellowship for his project that explores ways that metropolitan Dallas can boost the effectiveness of its light rail investment. Dallas has spent more than $5 billion on 94 miles of light rail, but the system attracts fewer riders per mile than other similar light rail stations.

"My team and I are developing a model that explains much of the variation in land values around light rail stations," Walter said. "Alongside land-use data, this model can help identify target station areas for transit-oriented development or other measures to improve the community's transportation investment," Walter said.

Berg was awarded a $31,500 fellowship to analyze 15 pedestrian master plans and propose a framework for better incorporating equity into transportation plans.

"The fellowship will be a great opportunity to meet other transportation planners at the upcoming Transportation Research Board meeting to build my network and hopefully help connect me to post-graduation opportunities," Berg said. "I am excited to meet professionals and other students in the transportation field and share my research with them."

It's the second year in a row that three regional & community planning students have received the Eisenhower Graduate Transportation Fellowship. Previous recipients from the department include James Wood in 2013; Emma Rearick in 2016; and Rial Carver, Rachel Foss and Andrew Young in 2018. Students in the regional & community planning program have been awarded a total of $109,900 in support from the fellowship program.

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