Kansas State University

Feedback drives 5 planning themes for Campus Master Plan

Submitted by the Division of Facilities

Following months of stakeholder sessions and surveys that involved every K-State college and major unit, student and faculty organizations, alumni and our local communities, five themes have emerged to guide the Campus Master Plan. 

The plan will provide a blueprint for how K-State's physical campuses should develop, grow and change to support the university's goals now and in the future.

The plan prioritizes collaboration and involvement from across the university. More than 3,787 faculty, employees, staff, alumni, donors and local community members completed an interactive survey earlier this year, and master planning consultant SmithGroup also conducted 19 focus groups and 26 key stakeholder meetings. Nearly 5,000 employees, faculty and students also participated in a parking survey in May that is being incorporated into the master plan.

From that input, five themes, or planning principles, emerged: 

Enhance the K-State experience

• Become a health-promoting university, addressing holistic well-being.
• Preserve and revitalize our heritage buildings.
• Invest in student, faculty and staff support and success spaces across all campuses.
• Transform and connect open spaces to increase active and passive use.
• Revitalize the Campus Creek corridor.

Create resilient campuses

• Ensure reliable infrastructure that supports campus development.
• Expand stewardship efforts to improve fiscal, social and environmental resilience.
• Communicate the sustainability story.
• Develop and leverage facility data to guide future investment and divestment.

Transform learning environments

• Provide equitable teaching and learning spaces for all colleges.
• Increase utilization of classroom and lab spaces.
• Address deferred maintenance of aging facilities.
• Provide more interdisciplinary and collaboration spaces throughout campus.

Expand research

• Identify existing and future programmatic adjacencies to structure partnerships upon.
• Identify locations for additional research across campuses.
• Build flexible, state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary research facilities. 
• Create opportunities for industry partnerships.

Improve connectivity

• Prioritize pedestrian and micromobility connectivity within the campus core.
• Reduce vehicular movement through campus.
• Enhance and define campus gateways and edges.
• Connect K-State campus locations through program, branding and identity.
• Strengthen connections between campus and host communities.

Your opportunity to react to ideas that developed from the five planning principles is coming the week of Oct. 21, when town halls will take place across our campuses. Feedback also will be gathered online.

Manhattan 
Tuesday, Oct. 22
5:30-7 p.m.
Business Building 1088 

Olathe
Thursday, Oct. 24 
1-3 p.m.
Forum Hall

Salina
TBD: Info coming soon

You'll receive more information in the next couple of weeks via K-State Today and email about the town halls and how you can continue to help shape the future of our campuses.