Vanier family gives $60 million to K-State
K-State President Kirk Schulz announced via Twitter on Friday that K-State had received a $60 million donation from Jack Vanier and his family. The gift is the largest private donation in the university’s history.
“The entire K-State family joins me in thanking Jack and Donna, and their children Marty, John and Mary for this transformational gift that will benefit the students of Kansas State for generations to come,” Schulz said in a statement on the KSU Foundation homepage. “This is a historic day in our progress toward our K-State 2025 vision of moving Kansas State University into the ranks of the Top 50 public research universities in the U.S.”
The donation will be split into two parts. $40 million has been set aside for scholarships, professorships, fellowships and more that will benefit students and faculty in a number of departments and colleges throughout the university. The remaining $20 million has been set aside for Phase III of the Athletic Department’s upgrades, which will improve conditions for the entire 16-sport department.
Unidentified body found in Tuttle Creek Lake
A dead body was recovered from the Tuttle Cove area of Tuttle Creek Lake on Friday. An individual called authorities at 3:13 p.m. to report a body in the water. Riley County Police, Riley County Emergency Management and the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office responded and recovered the body from an unfrozen part of the lake, according to WIBW and the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Authorities could not confirm the identity of the woman, or whether the description matched that of Jane Peterson, a St. George, Kan. resident and K-State employee who has been missing since Jan. 19. The body has been taken to the Kansas City area for an autopsy.
Winter Storm Titan causes two fatal Kansas car accidents
Two fatal car accidents in Kansas were caused by Winter Storm Titan as it swept across much of the U.S. this weekend.
According to KSN TV, the Kansas Highway Patrol reported dozens of accidents caused by slick conditions on Saturday. The Reno County Sheriff’s office reported six people injured and one killed. Reno County is northwest of Wichita and includes the city of Hutchinson, Kan.
KCTV 5 reported that a woman died in a single-vehicle accident near Kansas City, Mo. at approximately 4 a.m. on Sunday. The names of the victims have not been released.
The damage caused by Winter Storm Titan was reported from coast to coast over the weekend. It caused flooding and mudslides in California on Friday before moving on to the Midwest, where heavy snow caused a pile up on Interstate 25 in Colorado, killing one and injuring about 30. On Sunday, the storm caused rain in the south, icy conditions in Arkansas, and wintry mix and snow in more than a dozen states from the Texas-Oklahoma panhandle to the east coast.
Recent graduate of K-State becomes White House intern
The White House Internship program announced a list of interns for the spring 2014 semester that included two Kansas natives, one of which is a K-State alumn.
Justin Prelogar, who graduated in December 2012 with degrees in political science and philosophy, was one of two people from Kansas chosen for the highly coveted internship program. Prelogar is from Leawood, Kan.
The other intern from Kansas is Cory Sagduyu of Overland Park, Kan. According to the press release, Sagduyu attended the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, Texas.
