Board of Regents change admission qualifications
Recently, the Board of Regents changed the admission qualification standards for six public universities, including K-State, according to K-State Today. Among the changes include three additional elective units to the curriculum and the acceptance of Speech into the English requirement. Pat Bosco, vice president of student life, said that these new standards are aimed to increase student success in college.
“Any time there is change, there might be obstacles,” Bosco said.
Bosco encourages potential students to give the admissions staff a chance to help them through the admissions process that might be confusing, especially to first generation students. This might cause some strain on the admissions staff, though, according to Bosco.
“The admissions staff is overworked and underpaid, but helpful,” Bosco said.
The new standards apply to incoming Fall 2015 students, both in-state and out-of-state. Bosco anticipates a drop in applicants at all six of the universities affected by the new requirements due to the requirement being hard to understand.
Funds available through Open Access Publishing fund
The K-State Open Access Publishing Fund was established in January of 2013 and this year, the fund has $40,000 available to publish research articles in open access journals, according to K-State Today.
The Publishing Fund is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and K-State Libraries.
“(The Publishing Fund)’s purpose is to make K-State faculty scholarly research freely available and accessible by providing financial support for publishing fee payment,” Regina Beard, interim head of scholarly communications and publishing, said via email.
Applications are available at the K-State Open Access Publishing Fund’s website. The funds are available only if the article is publishing in a completely open access journal and $3,000 will be available per article, according to K-State Today. The scholarship is available to K-State faculty and researchers.
The Publishing Fund is part of the Open Access and Alternative Textbook initiative of K-State Libraries.
K-State United Way Committee still accepting donations
As of Monday, the K-State United Way Committee has raised $55,453 for the United Way Campaign. According to Lee Ann Desper, executive director of Konza United Way, the funds raised in this campaign will go to 17 education, health and income programs.
“Together, we can accomplish more than any single person, group or organization,” Desper said via email.
Faculty members can make donations by making United Way payroll deduction pledges on their HRIS accounts and the deduction will not come out until January 2015. Donations can also be made on kansaunitedway.org.
Donors are also entered into a drawing to win prizes. Darci J. Bohnenblust won the drawing last Monday and won two football tickets. The next drawing will be on Monday, Oct. 27 with the prize being a day off with pay. Other prizes include McCain Performance Series tickets and basketball tickets.
K-State Book Network accepting applications for student, faculty awards
Two awards, one for a student and the other for a faculty member, have been made available by the K-State Book Network, according to K-State Today. Students can apply for a $150 scholarship for the spring 2015 semester by sharing their experience with “The Ghost Map.” Applications are accepted in any form, from nonfiction essay to games. The selection committee also encourages a short, two minute video entry that describes the student the novel.
Faculty members that have used “The Ghost Map” in some way in their classroom are also eligible to apply for the award. Entries are due by Dec. 15 to ksbn.edu and the recipients will be recognized in the spring semester during the 2015 book selection, according to K-State Today.
