K-State has made significant achievements since 1986, said President Jon Wefald during the 21st-annual State of the University Address Friday afternoon.
Wefald discussed the future of K-State and the changes that have taken place in the last 20 years. Provost Duane Nellis and Faculty Senate President Roger Adams also made presentations during the address.
PRESIDENT JON WEFALD
K-State's future lies in several of its new facilities, among other things, Wefald said.
The $54-million Biosecurity Research Institute, which opens later this month, is the most important building constructed in K-State history, Wefald said. K-State also has a Food Safety and Security Program, which includes 160 scientists from six colleges and 14 academic departments.
"We have the best Food Safety and Security Program in the world today," Wefald said. "The program is vital to the national security of the United States of America."
Wefald also said K-State has gained 40 acres of land in Olathe, Kan., on which to build a research and advanced degree campus.
Looking back, Wefald said he was given numerous tasks by the Kansas Board of Regents to accomplish when he was appointed president.
K-State's enrollment had fallen from 19,900 students in 1981 to about 13,500 in 1986, Wefald said. In his first two months, Wefald hired seven alumni as K-State's first admissions' representatives. He also hired more than 20 people from 1986 to 1988 for his new administrative team.
"It was time to stop the decline and regain our footing and move our operation forward," Wefald said. "If you look at big-time universities, we are one of the very few who practice delegation and authority."
Also, K-State's public image was suffering in 1986, Wefald said. When K-State students won Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater and Udall scholarships, Wefald said he used the achievements as part of a public relations campaign for the university. K-State ranks number one in winners of the five scholarships among public four-year colleges and universities from 1986 to 2006.
"I've learned from politicians that when you get good news, you have to repeat it over and over again," Wefald said.
Diversity at K-State also has improved in 20 years, Wefald said. Today, there are 133 blacks in faculty and administrative ranks, compared to 15 in 1986, Wefald said. Diversity with Hispanics and women in faculty and administration also has increased, he said.
"It's not bad, but we have to improve and be better," Wefald said of the increases.
In his visions for K-State, Wefald said he wants the university to become one of the top land-grant universities - excluding medical schools - in the United States.
"When you set priorities and take some risks, good things happen," he said. "We're going to continue to be a can-do university. We want to continue to get better and better."
PROVOST DUANE NELLIS
Six higher-education associations recently issued a collective list of key challenges facing higher education, Nellis said. These challenges include:
n Expanding access to low-income and minority students
n Keeping college affordable
n Improving learning by utilizing new knowledge and instructional techniques
n Preparing secondary students for higher education
n Increasing accountability for educational outcomes
n Internationalizing the student experience
n Increasing opportunities for life-long education and work-force training
n Continuing enhancements in graduate education and research
K-State administration and faculty members are responding to these changes in several ways, like academic departments establishing their own key areas for improvement, Nellis said.
"In an ever-increasingly globally competitive market, we must respond aggressively to these challenges," he said. "I must say that as we look at Kansas State University ... we're making steady progress in all of these challenges as we continue to be of service to the people of Kansas, and indeed, the citizens of the world."
ROGER ADAMS, FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT AND RARE BOOKS LIBRARIAN FOR HALE LIBRARY
K-State is not struggling as much in faculty recruitment and retention as other Regents' universities, said Adams, who is in his ninth year at K-State.
"Faculty are the heart of a successful university, and right now, that heart is beating harder than it ever has before in the history of K-State and our sister institutions," he said.
K-State lost 27 faculty members in 2005 and 31 faculty members in 2004, Adams said. There are currently 960 ranked faculty at K-State, but in 1992, there were 1,085, he said.
"Our faculty numbers are down, but the trend is slowing," Adams said. "Yet we simply cannot afford to lose more faculty every year."
Adams said faculty salaries often are blamed for the loss of faculty. Regents chairman Nelson Galle recently listed faculty salaries as the top issue of this year for the Regents, Adams said.
"The message has been very received, but salary isn't the only thing hindering us," he said. "My counterparts at the other Regents institutions all report the same frustrations. But I want to issue a challenge to everyone today - help us figure it out and let K-State take the lead to overcome the problem."
Jackie Spears, associate professor of secondary education, said Adams highlighted what K-State can do to improve faculty recruitment and retention. She said she also enjoyed Wefald and Nellis' comments on the state of the university.
"President Wefald did an extraordinary job of presenting the bigger picture," said Spears, who served as Faculty Senate president in 2004-05. "He showed what the leadership traits are to move a large university like Kansas State forward."
