September 8, 2016
From the provost's desk: K-State 2025 — celebrating five years of progress
Dear Colleagues,
This week we began the annual fall visits to colleges and major units with visits to the College of Human Ecology, K-State Polytechnic, and the Division of Administration and Finance. This year is a little different for me — my first year without Kirk Schulz, who started this tradition when we launched the K-State visionary plan in fall 2011. General Myers is looking forward to traveling across the university to learn more about what you are doing and hearing what's on your mind. I look forward to these visits, but especially this year, because we will be talking about the progress and successes of K-State 2025 as we look back over the first five years. It is hard to believe, but we are at the end of our first five-year phase of K-State 2025. As we prepare for a new president and the coming transition, we want to take time this fall to reflect, celebrate and honor the work we have done together to advance our visionary plan, its goals and Kansas State University.
When we embarked on our K-State 2025 planning process, individuals across our campuses and within every college and unit began thinking — and dreaming — about who they wanted to be and what they wanted our university to look like by the year 2025. The universitywide strategic action plan, as well as the college and major unit plans, were built in five year stages — with short-term, intermediate term and long-term goals — and the opportunity to revisit, assess and adapt the plans at each five year benchmark. Since setting out on these ambitious goals, I find it inspiring to think about just how much progress has taken place over the span of the first five years.
Together, our shared vision has begun to take shape, and — through new facilities, programs and initiatives — we have witnessed our university begin to transform. From construction dust to the launch of new programs and initiatives within every college and unit on our four campuses, the impacts of K-State 2025 can be felt throughout our university community.
As we wrap up the first five years — and prepare to refresh our strategic action plans with a new university president in 2017 — we want to focus some time throughout this semester to recognize and celebrate the exciting progress we've made. Throughout our fall visits, deans and vice presidents will be sharing the progress of their units and we will share the university's progress. In addition, every Thursday in K-State Today, a new feature called K-State 2025 Spotlights will highlight a unique story from the past five years that contributed to our K-State 2025 momentum. You can read the first one today — a look at our Student Convocation reinstituted in fall 2013 in support of our extraordinary undergraduate educational experience. Check out the story and look back to earlier convocations in the 1960s!
I hope you'll enjoy reading these K-State 2025 Spotlights and consider contributing a story of your own at #KState2025 on Twitter. Through our Spotlights and your contributions, we will tell the story of five years of progress.
The exciting outcomes and strides we have taken together were made possible only through the effort and commitment of the many who helped move forward the diverse array of actions and initiatives that make up K-State 2025. Our hope is to share some of these stories as part of a broader one: the story of a university on the move — from an excellent institution to a truly extraordinary, Top 50, public research university.
Guided by a spirit of collaboration and a strong sense of shared vision, we will continue our journey toward 2025 and — together — write the next chapter in the story of K-State.
Thanks for all you do,
April