K-State Current - July 28, 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

SEM student success and retention update: JED Campus initiative

Dear students, faculty and staff,

In November 2019, I announced a partnership with the JED Foundation as one step in helping to create a healthier and safer university. Our participation in the JED Campus program aligns with the Strategic Enrollment Management, or SEM, plan as it supports well-being, and in turn promotes retention and student success. Likewise, the Division of Student Life strategic plan includes a call to champion holistic well-being as one of five strategic goals. Fostering a culture of student well-being is an important part of attracting students to the university and in helping them stay at the university to achieve their goals.

K-State officially launched a four-year partnership with the JED Foundation in spring 2020 by participating in the national JED Campus program. The JED Foundation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting emotional health and preventing suicide in young adults. JED partners with colleges to strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs. Our JED Campus partnership agreement currently focuses on the Manhattan campus. We look forward to applying the learnings from this initial work to all of our campuses and student populations.

Our JED Campus Team, consisting of K-State students, faculty and staff, and in consultation with our JED Campus advisor, engaged in a self-assessment of our current programs, policies and services regarding student emotional well-being. In fall 2020, the team visited with our JED Campus advisor and identified more than 70 potential action steps regarding supporting student well-being. The team has categorized the action steps in four workgroups and will be monitoring ongoing progress.

Throughout this process, our team has been using data to inform its work. In spring 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lafene Health Center conducted a survey of randomly sampled Kansas State University students regarding a variety of health topics, including mental health and utilization of on and off-campus services. Key findings in the 2020 National College Health Assessment, or NCHA survey included:

• Close to one out of three students responding (33.1%) self-reported meeting the criteria for "moderate" or "serious" psychological distress (i.e., anxiety and depression) in the past 30 days.
• When screening for suicide risk factors (presence of suicidal thoughts and attempts, frequency of suicidal thoughts, threat level of suicidal attempts, and likelihood of future suicidal attempts), one out of five students (20.8%) responding met the criteria for a higher risk of suicide.
• Students reported a marked increase in moderate to high levels of stress experienced within the last 12 months from the same survey conducted in 2018.
• From the 2018 to 2020 results, students reported an increase in every factor negatively impacting academic performance, such as depression, sleep difficulties, finances, anxiety and stress.

Additionally, in fall 2020, our JED Campus Team distributed the Healthy Minds survey to a randomly selected sample of students. From the 793 students responding:

• 39% of those responding screened from mild to major depression.
• 32% screened for anxiety.
• 12% responding shared they had experienced some form of suicidal ideation over the past year.
• 25% of students responded they often feel lonely.
• 39% of students responding said they were experiencing positive mental health.

Though a slightly lower than desired response rate for the Healthy Minds survey requires caution in generalizing results, the results do mirror national student emotional well-being data. The JED Campus Team will be further analyzing the data collected to see what differences may exist among demographic groups and identify programmatic implications.

We continue to make progress in fostering a culture of student well-being at K-State. JED Campus action steps addressed this past academic year include:

• Piloted You@KSU, an anonymous online well-being resource platform available to all K-State students, faculty and staff. The platform is intended to help students succeed in academic and career readiness, thrive in areas of personal well-being, and mattering by finding motivation and getting involved. You@K-State will be widely advertised this fall to both incoming and current students.
• Offered the Thrive program through Lafene Health Center to address student emotional well-being. Programs offered by Thrive have included resiliency training, self-care strategies and mindfulness. Last fall, Thrive Navigators, a departmental student organization, was formed to develop a peer counseling program with emphasis on resilience, suicide prevention, suicide crisis postvention, and mental health and overall well-being.
• Consolidated Counseling Services within Lafene Health Center to increase synergy, efficiency and collaboration between these two student-facing units (effective July 1). The newly named Lafene Counseling and Psychological Services, or CAPS, department, led by Dr. Kodee Walls, will be implementing a re-envisioned care model beginning this fall semester to better support our students and meet their emotional well-being needs. More information will be shared about the care model in upcoming weeks.
• Offered the Bandana Project presentation through Lafene Health Center's Thrive program. This student-focused presentation partners with a national campaign to spread suicide prevention and mental health awareness. The workshop helps students recognize and respond to signs of distress in peers, learn about campus resources, and develop helpful listening skills. More than 400 students have participated in this interactive workshop since its spring launch. A presentation request form is available.
• Collaborated with the offices of Enrollment Management and Student Success and the Division of Financial Services to make tuition insurance available. This optional coverage helps protect students' educational investment if they are unable to complete the semester due to a covered medical reason such as a mental health issue, illness, or accident.

Thanks to the generous support from K-State alumni Charlie and Debbie Morrison, we have re-named the former Lafene Health Promotions office as the Morrison Family Center for Student Well-being. The center will serve as a data-gathering point for identifying current issues impacting student well-being, coordinate and promote Student Life well-being programs, and actively help spread the word to students about campus well-being programs outside Student Life.

Congruent with the JED Campus philosophy that we all play an important part in creating a healthy campus, the Morrison Family Center for Student Well-Being will be offering workshops this fall for faculty and staff to recognize the signs of a student with a mental health concern and appropriately refer to supportive resources. Look for more information about Project Waypoint and how to register for a workshop in an upcoming K-State Today article.

The JED Campus initiative has helped our campus identify next steps in addressing student emotional well-being concerns. Support from caring and committed K-Staters will greatly assist the university in kniting a stronger fabric of care to support our students both personally and academically. The JED Campus Team will host a half-day retreat early this fall semester and will meet throughout the academic year as we move into the second year of our partnership with the JED Foundation. I look forward to continuing to update the campus community on its work. Thank you for all you do to support our students and their well-being at K-State.

Sincerely,

Thomas Lane
Vice president for student life

EPA extends grant for radon programs at K-State Engineering Extension National Radon Program Services at Kansas State University, a part of Engineering Extension, has been awarded a $200,000-per-year, three-year grant to conduct national radon technical assistance for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The grant will continue work begun in 2009 and will provide for the ongoing sale of short- and long-term radon test kits to citizens wanting to test their home — with more than 7,000 sold in the last program year; a radon hotline that processed more than 16,000 calls during the last program year; maintenance of a website that had more than 160,000 unique visits last year; and technical assistance to other federal agencies such as HUD and EPA regional offices, state radon programs, the radon industry and private citizens.

"The specific goal of the project is to prevent future lung cancer deaths by increasing the public's knowledge of radon and the need to test and mitigate homes and schools," said Bruce Snead, director of Engineering Extension and lead on the grant. "We will also increase the number of homes, schools and other structures built with radon-reducing features; build state and tribal technical capacity in radon; and support radon policy implementation for radon risk reduction."

Assisting Snead in implementing the grant will be Brian Hanson, radon program coordinator, and Kristina Snyder, radon program assistant, both at K-State's Engineering Extension programs.

Engineering Extension's radon, pollution prevention and energy programs are independent leaders in technical assistance, training and outreach for the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, disseminating knowledge to citizens of Kansas and the nation in service of the land-grant mission.

K-State Faculty Highlights

Goins publishes research on Grammy-winning recording artist

Wayne Goins, university distinguished professor of music, published "Celebrating Delbert McClinton: Keep Doin' What You Do," in Issue 116 of the internationally distributed audiophile magazine Positive Feedback.

The article was an extensive research study on the musical career of Grammy-winning artist Delbert McClinton. More specifically, Goins chronicles McClinton's last two albums that won consecutive awards in 2017 and 2019 and led to a highly-acclaimed biography recently published by Diana Finlay Hendricks. In what represents a comprehensive series of in-depth articles, Goins offers both historical and theoretical analyses of the audio content in both vinyl and CD formats, as he releases each publication in chronological order.

Goins, who serves on the board of directors to the magazine, has published several articles as a contributing feature columnist. Goins regularly combines intense music research with in-depth details of his use of mono, stereo, and high-end digital equipment for playback of his extensive music collection in 45s, LPs and CD format.

Faculty in the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance have received Grammy awards and nominations, and Emmy awards; produced recordings on international and national CD labels, and published books and journal articles with international and national publishing houses and professional organizations; and performed and presented research in every continent, except Antarctica. The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance is a part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Visit the school's website to learn more about music, theatre and dance at K-State.

K-State Student News

Powercat Motorsports competes at Formula SAE Michigan 2021 K-State's formula race team, Powercat Motorsports, competed in Formula SAE Michigan, placing 15th out of 51 teams, and eighth in skidpad and 10th in acceleration.

Fifty-one teams took part in the three-day event July 7-10. The Formula SAE competition challenges teams of university undergraduate and graduate students to conceive, design, fabricate, develop and compete with small, Formula-style vehicles. It is an engineering education competition that requires performance demonstration of vehicles in a series of events, both off and on the track against the clock. Each segment of the competition gives teams the chance to demonstrate their creativity and engineering skills in comparison to teams from other universities around the world.

Powercat Motorsports is a student organization in the Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. Kevin Wanklyn, teaching associate professor and undergraduate program director in the department, is the faculty advisor.

"Being part of a group that has built a car during a pandemic is a monumental achievement," Wanklyn said. "I am proud of the team. I congratulate them on being the only Big 12 Formula team at the competition."

Vance Weber, junior in mechanical and nuclear engineering, and Powercat Motorsports incoming president and chassis lead, was proud of the team for competing in both FSAE competitions this year with respectable finishes.

Powercat Motorsports finished 11th out of 37 teams at the Las Vegas competition where individual event highlights included fifth in acceleration, sixth in skidpad and sixth in autocross.

Weber said the competition at Michigan International Speedway was much tougher than the Las Vegas event, adding, "We finished 15th overall out of 51 registered teams. Individual event highlights included eighth in skidpad and 10th in acceleration. The team has now finished the main event, Endurance, in back-to-back years, which is another measure of the progress our team is making."

Future goals for the team are to find even more speed by building a lighter, more agile and more balanced car. Recruiting new team members will be very important as well to help with manufacturing while also sharing and building on knowledge with new members. In-person meetings are expected for the 2021-2022 school year with numerous events, presentations and workshops planned. Those interested in joining the team or needing more information can email Weber at vance5w@k-state.edu.

"We want to thank the College of Engineering and the mechanical and nuclear engineering department for support throughout the year," Weber said, "as well as all of our amazing sponsors, supporters and alumni."

Other team officers involved in the competition were Mark Rowland, spring 2021 graduate in computer science, outgoing president; Cameron Korte, spring 2021 graduate in mechanical engineering, outgoing chassis lead; Adam Meng, senior in mechanical engineering, engine design lead; Gage Weber, junior in mechanical engineering, aerodynamics design lead; Devin Wright, fall 2020 graduate in mechanical engineering, outgoing chief engineer; Blaine Thiessen, fall 2020 graduate in mechanical engineering, outgoing engine lead; Jack Mravunac, spring 2021 graduate in computer engineering, outgoing electronic design lead; and Michael Charest, junior in mechanical engineering, drivetrain design lead.

Team members participating from mechanical and nuclear engineering include Payton Lee, sophomore; Wyatt Haug, sophomore; Ibrahim Al Qabani, master's student; Eric Underwood, senior; and member from electrical engineering, Julio Gutierrez, senior.

Team members who graduated in 2020 and did not have the opportunity to compete with the 2021 car were Bailey Martin, electrical engineering; Colton Maxwell, Sam Slater, James Berry and Kyler Blank, all mechanical engineering; and Mickenzie Toler, accounting.

New graduate earns prestigious Phi Kappa Phi fellowship

Recent Kansas State University graduate Lauren Ailslieger, Topeka, has earned a 2021 Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship.

Ailslieger graduated in May 2021 with a bachelor's degree in economics and international studies. She is one of 54 fellows to receive an $8,500 scholarship from the national honor society for her first year of graduate school. This fall Ailslieger will begin a master's degree program in international relations at Johns Hopkins University.

"Since the Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship only permits each chapter to nominate one student to compete nationally, we look for candidates who have made the most of their college experience both inside and outside the classroom, and Lauren certainly fit that description," said Jim Hohenbary, director of the university's Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships. "She has been outstanding academically, has engaged in leadership roles on campus and in the community, and has undertaken study abroad and immersive language study in accordance with her international career interests."

While an undergraduate at K-State, Ailslieger was a member of Blue Key Honor Society, Quest and Alpha Delta Pi sorority where she served as the chapter foundation ambassador and wellness specialist.

"K-State provided me with a number of opportunities to be successful," Ailslieger said. "From taking a wide variety of classes to fulfill a degree that captured the breadth I desired while giving me the solid foundation I needed for graduate school, to extracurricular opportunities that developed my leadership, I really feel like I was able to take advantage of all that K-State had to offer. Going into my graduate studies, I feel confident in the education and skills that K-State awarded me. This fellowship will allow me to pursue a graduate degree with less financial stress on my shoulders. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and cannot thank K-State and Mr. Hohenbary enough for helping me get where I am today."

Ailslieger has previously received the Putnam Scholarship, Critical Language Scholarship, National Security Language Initiative for Youth Scholarship, Military Officer's Association of America Scholarship Fund Board of Directors Senior Grant, Kelly and Karen Gregg Scholarship, Edward Jones Economics Scholarship and the Dr. Joan Aldous Scholarship. She is the daughter of Kristafer and Rhonda Ailslieger, Topeka.

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