Kansas State University

Global Campus closes 2017 with numerous award wins

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

Kansas State University Global Campus staff and programs were recognized for outstanding work by a quartet of educational organizations to finish 2017 on a high note.

Global Campus received a total of 10 awards in the last quarter of 2017 from various regional and national associations, including five from the University and Professional Continuing Education Association and three from the Association for Continuing Higher Education.

Global Campus is dedicated to regularly nominating the faculty and staff who choose to teach online at K-State for continuing and/or online education awards.

"The faculty and staff that partner with Global Campus to offer K-State courses and degrees online do outstanding work," said Melinda Sinn, chair of the Global Campus awards committee. "Our committee works diligently to identify outstanding programs and nominate the best of the best, showcasing the hard work of those that partner with Global Campus."

The Association for Continuing Higher Education presented Global Campus with three awards at its national conference in late October.

• The Rural Grocery Summit was named the Distinguished Noncredit Program Award winner. Held annually in America's heartland, the summit aims to bring together rural grocery stakeholders from across the country to discuss the gradual disappearance of rural grocery stores across America and how best to sustain what's left of this critical piece of community infrastructure, as well as foster opportunities for growth.

• The Integrated Language Skills program, a noncredit partnership between Global Campus and the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy, won the Outstanding Services to Underserved Populations Award from the Association for Continuing Higher Education. The program secured a grant from COMEXUS, a binational organization functioning as a partnership between Mexico and the United States to support students, researchers and teachers, and was implemented in 2016. Its aim was for English teachers living in Mexico to gain additional proficiency speaking and writing English.

• Ashley Nietfeld, communications and marketing specialist for Global Campus, was also honored by the Association for Continuing Higher Education, winning the organization's Rising Star Award for her work on a variety of projects, most notably her lead role in implementing a new customer relationship management system, Talisma, while directing the messaging efforts the system utilizes to communicate with prospective students.

At the annual University and Professional Continuing Education Association Central Region conference, Global Campus was well represented at the awards and recognitions reception, winning five awards.

• Nietfeld won the Continuing Education Support Specialist Award.

• The K-State Leadership Seminar won the Mature Noncredit Program Award. The seminar, held each spring on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan was first offered in 1997, and its mission is to enhance the leadership skills and capacities of the K-State community and communities throughout Kansas.

• The personal financial planning program, which with the addition of a bachelor's degree this year, now offers a degree program at every academic level, won the organization's Mature Credit Program Award. K-State's programs in personal financial planning are well-known in the industry and its online doctorate was the first known doctorate to be offered largely in an online format, in addition to being one of only five doctoral programs in the nation registered with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards.

• UFM Community Learning Center won the University and Professional Continuing Education Association Central Region Engagement Award and was recognized for its creative educational programs serving K-State, as well as the Manhattan community and other communities across Kansas.

• Kayla Savage, recent graduate of K-State's online master's in community development, won the organization's Outstanding Continuing Education Credit Student Award. Savage graduated in May 2017 while managing a full-time job, numerous volunteer responsibilities and family life during her time as a student.

In addition to the awards from Association for Continuing Higher Education and University and Professional Continuing Education Association, Global Campus also received recognition for its work in developing and marketing new summer school programs. The North American Association of Summer Sessions recognized K-State's new Jump Start for Business Transfer Students program with its Administrative Award, which aims to recognize schools that offer creative and innovative programs. The Jump Start program, which just completed its first offering in summer 2017, is designed to acclimate students transferring into the College of Business Administration to life at K-State while giving a leg up on required business coursework over a three-week period ahead of the student's first fall semester on campus.

The final award win of 2017 for Global Campus was particularly meaningful, as dean emeritus of Global Campus, Sue Maes, received the Outstanding Service Award from the Midwestern Higher Education Compact in November at the organization's annual conference. Maes won the award because of her exemplary leadership and commitment to the principles of the compact, which exists to provide greater higher education opportunities and services in the Midwestern region. Maes retired as dean of Global Campus in September.