06/16/21
K-State Current - June 16, 2021
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
Be Stoney appointed interim chief diversity and inclusion officer
Following an internal search, Be Stoney, a longtime Kansas State University College of Education faculty member with extensive diversity, equity and inclusion training experience, has been appointed interim chief diversity and inclusion officer by President Richard Myers.
Stoney will serve while a national search is conducted to permanently fill the post left vacant by the departure of Bryan Samuel.
"As an educator with a strong background in diversity training, Dr. Stoney's experience will be an asset as she fills the vital position of interim chief diversity and inclusion officer," Myers said. "She will be relied upon to help the university promote a culture of inclusion where individuals from all racial and ethnic identities, ages, nationalities, social and economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religious, political and ideological perspectives, and physical and mental abilities may thrive and engage."
Stoney also will help the university continue implementation of all diversity and inclusion plans in place, including the Action Plan for a More Inclusive K-State.
Stoney currently serves as an associate professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education, where she is a member of the graduate faculty and chair of the college's undergraduate academic reinstatement committee. In addition, she serves as K-State's faculty athletics representative and works closely with K-State Athletics and the Big 12 Conference on issues related to academic integrity, rules compliance and student-athlete welfare.
"My reason for applying for the interim chief diversity and inclusion officer position is to continue making a difference for faculty, staff and students at K-State," Stoney said. "Serving as a professional who must be a diplomat, confessor, a sounding board, innovator of ideas, consummate business person, a dedicated educator, advisor and a coach — all at the same time — has allowed me to become confident, supportive, a relationship builder and an issues-oriented problem solver. The interim CDIO position will require me to maintain relevant knowledge and exhibit tact, leadership, foresight, care and compassion for human beings, all of which match my skills and dovetail with my desire to contribute to the university. I enjoy working with people from diverse backgrounds and learning more about them personally and professionally."
As a person of color, Stoney uses a multiple-lens approach that infuses race, ethnicity, culture, equity, inclusion and diversity as integral parts of her teaching and life. She has provided diversity, equity and inclusion training for Canada Olympic Training Center Diversity Action Team and the Alliance Diversity and Executive Team for Golf Canada. Additionally, Dr. Stoney is a certified qualifying administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory. She conducts intercultural development debriefs with administrators, students and faculty, as well as inclusion training for the Manhattan-Ogden School District and other school districts in Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
In conjunction with her work as the faculty athletics representative, Stoney has facilitated workshops and conferences for teams experiencing cultural and diversity, race-related and political issues, such as whether to kneel or remain standing for the national anthem. Last summer, she helped student-athletes cope and resolve issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement and the George Floyd tragedy.
Stoney joined K-State in 1999 as a race equity coordinator and technical consultant with the College of Education's Midwest Equity Assistance Center. She was subsequently hired as an assistant professor of secondary education with the college in 2000 and was promoted to associate professor in 2005. She currently serves as coordinator of the physical education and health program for the curriculum and instruction department and teaches several undergraduate courses for the program.
Before joining K-State, Stoney was a special education teacher and department chair at the middle school level.
Stoney earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education-special education/health education and a master's degree in kinesiology from the University of Texas, El Paso and a doctorate in special education/multicultural education from the University of Texas, Austin.
Gates Capital Management Center for Financial Analysis created at Kansas State University through $3 million gift from alumni
Gates Capital Management’s managing partners Jeff Gates ‘84 and Justin Boisseau ‘96, have contributed $3 million to create the Gates Capital Management Center for Financial Analysis in the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University.
The center, housed in the Department of Finance, will catalyze new academic and program offerings focused on financial analysis. The center prepares students for demanding careers in investment banking, asset management, buy-side financial analysis and management consulting. It will provide students in the financial analyst program with dedicated study and meeting spaces in the College of Business Administration building. The center will leverage existing resources, including the von Waaden Investment Management Teaching Lab, the Gates Capital Management Speaker Series, the Gates Capital Management Stock Pitch Competition and student travel support.
“This generous gift expands our capabilities to serve the highest achieving finance students in the financial analyst program,” said Sabuhi Sardarli, director of the center. “Gates Capital Management Center for Financial Analysis will now be able to provide significant funds for student scholarships, trips to target industry firms, workshops, internship support and other training opportunities. We are grateful for Jeff and Justin’s confidence in the center’s vision to serve our top finance students and prepare them for exciting careers.”
Jeff Gates is a managing partner of Gates Capital Management and a member of the investment committee. Prior to founding the firm in 1996, Gates was a director at Schroder & Co., specializing in high yield bonds and post-restructuring equities. He began his career as a research analyst in the high yield bond group at Kidder, Peabody & Company. Gates actively supports a variety of educational and charitable organizations. He is a member of the board of directors for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a member of the Rockefeller University Council, and has served as a Trustee of the Kansas State University Foundation. He was named Executive of the Year by the Kansas State Department of Finance and a recipient of the Golden Heart Award for Outstanding Volunteerism from God’s Love We Deliver, a service that prepares and delivers meals to the homebound sick in New York City.
Gates graduated from Kansas State University in 1984 with a degree in finance. He earned his MBA from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1988. Gates serves on the Business Advisory Council and the Finance Advisory Board for the College of Business at K-State. Gates is originally from Derby, Kansas.
Justin Boisseau is a managing partner at Gates Capital Management and a member of the investment committee. Since joining the firm in 2003, he has had an active role in the research effort, as well as the strategic and operational development of the firm. Prior to joining Gates Capital, Boisseau was a vice president in the financial entrepreneurs group of the investment banking division of Salomon Smith Barney.
Boisseau received his degree in finance and American ethnic studies from K-State in 1996 and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1999. He currently serves on the Finance Advisory Board at Kansas State University. Boisseau is originally from Andover, Kansas.
“We have been impressed with the significant progress the College of Business at Kansas State has made with its financial analyst program. The top students from this program are very competitive in the marketplace. Our company has benefitted over the years from having a few of them on our team. We are thankful to be able to support Kansas State’s efforts to provide additional resources for students that demonstrate motivation, to encourage students to look beyond immediate geographic opportunities, and to accelerate programs that help students get on the right path to attain their personal and professional potential,” said Gates and Boisseau.
“Gates Capital Management’s investment to name this center brands K-State as a leader in finance education,” said Kevin Gwinner, Edgerley Family Dean of the College of Business Administration. “Future students and employers will know that K-State is committed to excellence, backed by a transformational investment from industry-leading alumni. This gift will spur faculty innovation, foster collaboration with thought leaders in the world of finance, and most importantly create life-changing educational experiences for students.”
Gates Capital Management is an event-driven alternative asset manager advising on a family of funds for institutional and private clients globally. Gates Capital Management was founded in 1996 and is registered with the SEC as an Investment Advisor. The firm is located in New York, New York. Visit www.gatescap.com for more information.
As Kansas State University’s strategic partner for philanthropy, the KSU Foundation inspires and guides philanthropy toward university priorities to boldly advance K-State family. Visit www.ksufoundation.org for more information.
K-State Faculty Highlights
Kansas Institute for Early Childhood Education and Research hires inaugural director
Following a national search, Jennifer Francois has been named the inaugural director of the Kansas Institute for Early Childhood Education and Research.
The Kansas Institute for Early Childhood Education and Research, or KIECER, is a strategic partnership between the College of Health and Human Sciences and the Division of Student Life that launched in summer 2020. Under the institute, academics and service are combined to provide high-quality affordable childcare and education to the K-State and Manhattan communities as well as best practices and current research to all early childhood educators.
“We are excited to have Jennifer as the inaugural director of KIECER because of her vision for the institute and because of her extensive background in early childhood development, education, special education and administration,” said Bronwyn Fees, associate dean and search committee chair. “She brings a comprehensive view of the institute and all the stakeholders that are impacted by professional practice in early childhood education.
Francois is currently an assistant professor in K-State’s early childhood education program in the College of Health and Human Sciences. She has been with the program since 2015. Along with teaching, Francois dedicates time to her research which focuses on personnel preparation in early intervention and early childhood special education and language acquisition.
Along with her academic background, Francois has an extensive and diverse background in early childhood settings. Her previous work experience includes serving as program coordinator for an early care and education and preschool intervention program in Wichita, Kansas for nine years. In this role, Francois had oversight of early care and education programming for children with and without disabilities ages birth through age 5, as well as oversight of community-based programming serving preschool children with disabilities.
Francois is also involved in state organizations focused on early childhood education. She serves on the board of the Kansas Division for Early Childhood and the Riley County Interagency Coordinating Council and in 2020, she was selected to represent the State of Kansas as a Division for Early Childhood’s Recommended Practices Ambassador.
“I am honored to be the inaugural director of the Kansas Institute for Early Childhood Education and Research,” said Francois. “I look forward to engaging with local, state and national stakeholders to build an institute that is innovative, collaborative and leads the field in issues surrounding early childhood education and development.”
Under Francois’ direction, the KIECER will serve three areas of early childhood education: service delivery, research and outreach and engagement. Her goal will be for the KIECER to be a hub for early childhood education best practices and pedagogy.
More information on the Kansas Institute for Early Childhood Education and Research can be found on the institute’s website.
Johnson and Harmon win award for rural school project
Faculty in the College of Education won an award in Australia for their work with rural communities.
Jerry Johnson, chair of the department of educational leadership and Lydia E. Skeen endowed professor, and Hobart Harmon, senior research associate, were presented with the award May 24 at the 2021 Australian National Conference for Regional, Rural and Remote Education's virtual symposium. They were recognized in the category of projects based in or benefiting, rural, regional, and/or remote international settings.
Working with Australian colleagues, Johnson and Harmon implemented a collaborative leadership forum that brought together rural school principals and superintendents from Kansas, Pennsylvania and Queensland, Australia, to discuss challenges, successes and lessons learned from leading during the crisis.
"Dr. Harmon and I are honored to accept this award on behalf of K-State," Johnson said. "In collaboration with our partners in the U.S. and Australia, our work on this project not only created an opportunity for rural school leaders in Kansas, Pennsylvania and Queensland to share and learn from one another but also allowed us to celebrate the amazing work those leaders did serving their schools and communities during the pandemic."
The College of Education produced the documentary "International Rural School Leadership Project" about Johnson and Harmon's project.
K-State Student News
K-State Soil Judging Team places sixth at national contest with top individual
K-State's Soil Judging Team recently competed in the 2021 National Soil Judging Contest, which was conducted in a virtual format for the first time in its history. A total of 21 teams comprising 140 students competed in this year's contest. The K-State team performed well, placing sixth overall. Team member Jagger Borth placed first overall as an individual contestant.
In a traditional in-person contest, teams would travel to a host institution where they would get to describe some practice soil pits in preparation for the official contest consisting of three individual soil pits and two group pits. Due to restrictions related to COVID-19, the contest organizers pivoted to a virtual format. The virtual contest had three components for each individual and team to complete: describing a soil pedon; soil texture contest; and soil feature identification test. The soil pedons came from all over the U.S., offering diversity in soils not typically seen in a traditional contest format.
Team members include Jagger Borth, agronomy, Meade; Katie Fross, agronomy, Hays; Abigail Kortokrax, agronomy, Azle, Texas; Isaiah Euler, geology, Overland Park; Jacoby Kerr, agronomy, Manhattan; Tom Torres, agriculture education, Lamar, Colorado; Colton Vajnar, biological systems engineering, Hays; and Sydney Baughman, agriculture education, Moberly, Missouri.
The Soil Judging Team is coached by DeAnn Presley, professor of agronomy; Colby Moorberg, assistant professor of agronomy; and assistant coach Jake Ziggafoos, graduate student in agronomy.
The contest is an activity of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America.