Kansas State University

Mike Haddock named interim faculty director of University Press of Kansas

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

The following has been announced by the University Press of Kansas:

The University Press of Kansas board of trustees, which is composed of the provosts from each of the six Kansas Regents institutions, has appointed Mike Haddock, associate dean for research, education and engagement at K-State Libraries, to serve as the interim faculty director of the University Press of Kansas, or UPK. He will step into a leadership role held by Kevin L. Smith since January 2021. Smith, who also served as the dean of KU Libraries, recently retired from KU. Haddock will continue his role as associate dean at K-State Libraries in addition to serving as interim faculty director of University Press of Kansas.  

"I am truly excited by the opportunity to serve as interim faculty director," Haddock said. "I look forward to interacting with the high-quality University Press of Kansas staff and with the board of trustees of the Press." 

Haddock, a respected authority on Kansas botany, has authored or coauthored three award-winning books with University Press of Kansas. 

"On behalf of the Trustees, I welcome Mike's leadership of UPK," said Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, chair of the UPK board of trustees and KU's provost and executive vice chancellor. "His background as a UPK author coupled with his long-standing roles as a K-State Libraries' faculty member and administrator will serve UPK well." 

In its 76th year of publishing excellence, University Press of Kansas will continue to explore opportunities to build upon its collection of open access digital publications under Haddock's leadership. The Press specializes in works on American politics, military history and intelligence studies, American history, environmental policy and history, American studies, film studies, law and legal history, Native American studies, and books about Kansas and the Midwest. 

Visit the University Press of Kansas website to learn more.  

University Press of Kansas board of trustees

• Jill Arensdorf, provost and vice president for academic affairs, Fort Hays State University.
• Barbara Bichelmeyer, chair of the UPK Trustees, provost and executive vice chancellor, University of Kansas.
• Shirley Lefever, executive vice president and provost, Wichita State University.
• Howard Smith, provost and vice president for academic affairs, Pittsburg State University.
• Charles Taber, provost and executive vice president, Kansas State University.
• Gary Wyatt, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, Emporia State University.

Professor Michael "Mike" Haddock serves as associate dean for research, education and engagement at K-State Libraries. He was born and raised in Beloit and spent a year in Austria with AFS Intercultural Programs after graduating from high school. He attended Kansas State University where he earned a bachelor's degree in modern languages, spent a year studying at Justus Liebig Universität in Giessen, Germany, and then completed 36 credit hours as a special student in agriculture. Following graduation from K-State, he managed his family's farming operation in north-central Kansas before earning a master of library science at Emporia State University. After working as agriculture librarian at Texas A&M University, he joined K-State Libraries in 1989, serving as agriculture librarian and later as chair of the Sciences Department. 

Haddock has served as director of the United States Agricultural Information Network, chair of the executive board of the international Agriculture Network Information Center, president of the Kansas Native Plant Society, and president of the Friends of Konza Prairie. In 2005, Haddock was recipient of the inaugural Brice G. Hobrock Distinguished Faculty Award presented by the Friends of the K-State Libraries. The Kansas Native Plant Society presented Haddock with the Stephen L. Timme Excellence in Botany Award in 2013. 

In 1996, Haddock created the Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses website, kswildflower.org. The site has grown to include information and nearly 8,730 identification photos for 1,018 species of forbs, grasses, sedges, trees, and other woody plants found growing in Kansas. Haddock's first book, "Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas: A Field Guide," was named a 2006 Kansas Notable Book by the Kansas Center for the Book and was selected by the State Library of Kansas as one of the 150 Best Books on Kansas in celebration of the state's 2011 Sesquicentennial. His second book, "Kansas Wildflowers and Weeds," coauthored with Craig Freeman and Janét Bare, was named a 2016 Kansas Notable Book and received the Jan Garton Prairie Heritage Award. Haddock's third book, "Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines in Kansas," coauthored with Craig Freeman, received the Author's Award of Excellence from the Midwestern Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture in 2020. All three books are published by the University Press of Kansas.