February 10, 2022
FY 2023 strategic investment fund awards
Dear colleagues,
President Myers and I are happy to announce the strategic investment fund awards for the FY 2022 proposal cycle. The strategic investment fund is our mechanism in the budget model for investing in strategic priorities of the university. While much of the fund is currently invested in subvention for teaching, research, service and administrative services across the university, we announced last fall that a portion of the monies derived from federal COVID relief funding were being allocated to augment the available strategic investment dollars. This utilization of one-time funding allowed us to award $1.9 million to jumpstart and support innovative and collaborative ventures across the university.
In this third year of the request process, 37 proposals from across the university totaling $6.3 million were submitted by our deans and vice presidents. Following review and recommendations from the University Budget Planning Team and consideration by the Budget Core Team and President Rich Linton, the following proposals were approved.
- College of Architecture, Planning & Design — Industrial Design Program ($100,000, one-time funding). Partial funding support to hire additional faculty to support the growing industrial design program.
- College of Arts and Sciences — Launching an Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science in Digital Innovation in Media ($205,000 over three years). Partial funding support for a program director and recruiter of the multi-college collaborative degree program to provide digital skills for media which expands the university's Cyber Land-Grant Initiative.
- College of Education — Virtual STEAM Teaching Academy ($49,582, one-time funding). Pilot project to utilize the university's content experts in computer science, aerospace technology and virtual reality to train classroom teachers and encourage students to consider STEM-related careers.
- College of Health and Human Sciences and Vice President for Student Life — Advancing a Seamless Continuum of Student Mental Health Services ($194,687 over three years). A collaborative initiative to meet the mental health and well-being needs of more students by unifying university resources, services and support.
- K-State Salina — Professional Pilot Kansas City Satellite Program ($200,000, one-time funding). Partial funding to extend flight training and operations into the Kansas City market.
- K-State Salina — UAS STEM Teacher Outreach Program ($98,281, one-time funding). Program to expand drone outreach and training to middle school and high school teachers in Kansas and to establish pathway programs to support dual credit enrollments in the UAS undergraduate degree.
- Carl R. Ice College of Engineering — GE Johnson Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science Trimble Technology Lab physical space ($50,000, one-time funding). Funding support for physical space improvements for the creation of a state-of-the-art construction technology lab.
- Global Campus — Microcredential Infrastructure ($40,250 over three years). Funding support for a digital credentialing system to support the development of a comprehensive microcredential infrastructure.
- Provost: Office of Student Success — Community of Connection DEIB initiative ($146,670 over two years). A multi-unit collaborative project to create a coherent portfolio of opportunities to support underrepresented minority student success.
- Human Capital Services — Process Improvement Team ($200,000 over two years). Funding support to establish a process improvement team focused on human resource process improvements and system efficiencies in payroll and operations.
- Chief Financial Officer — Contract Lifecycle Management System ($300,000 over three years). Implementation of a universitywide system to streamline procurement and contracting processes and increase transparency.
- Chief Financial Officer — Increased Student Installment Payment Plan Functionality ($75,000 over two years). Implementation of a student installment payment plan module to enable students and families to better understand tuition and fees payments and effectively self-manage payment plans.
- Vice President for Research and Chief Financial Officer — Facilitating multi-use excellence in research reporting ($300,000 over three years). Implementation of a system to streamline sponsored projects and grants fund management and time and effort reporting processes.
We thank everyone for their creative and thoughtful proposals. We also thank the members of the University Budget Planning Team and Budget Core Team for their work during the review process. We look forward to seeing the results of these strategic investment awards and receiving the next round of proposals next fall.
Sincerely,
Chuck Taber
Provost and Executive Vice President