Currie to stay with K-State Athletics through 2022
The K-State Athletics board of directors announced its agreement of a two-year contract extension for Director John Currie today.
The agreement will extend Currie’s current contract through June 30, 2022, according to the Little Apple Post. Though his annual salary of $775,000 will remain unchanged, Currie will receive a $100,000 retention incentive on June 30, 2017 and will be eligible for two more incentives; $275,000 in 2021 and $325,000 in 2022.
“I fully endorse the board and President Schulz’s recommendation and appreciate John making this commitment to K-State during a time of leadership transition,” Interim President Gen. Richard Myers said to the Little Apple Post. “It has been impressive to see the growth of our athletics department under his leadership, and I look forward to working with John and his staff as we continue to strengthen what is already a strong relationship between intercollegiate athletics and the university community.”
White House hosts, honors two K-State faculty
The White House welcomed two K-State faculty to be recognized for their work with second lady Jill Biden on April 13.
According to K-State Today, Debbie Mercer, dean of the College of Education, and Sandy Risberg, instructor of curriculum and instruction, have both worked with Biden for her Operation Educate the Educators: Sharing Successes and Setting Sights for the Future initiative.
Specifically, Risberg served on a panel that included one representative from each of the program’s four pioneer institutions — K-State, Old Dominion University, George Mason University and University of Southern California. According to K-State Today, Risberg used her role on the panel to explain the efforts K-State has taken to prepare future educators to serve military-connected students.
“Military-connected students are a special and unique population,” Mercer said to K-State Today. “If military-connected students are in a school system where the teachers understand, are supportive and build that type of culture with other students, it’s better for everybody involved. That’s what we want to create at Kansas State University.”
At the White House, Biden publicly thanked Mercer for participating in the initiative and for also facilitating a discussion with her and K-State pre-service teachers and faculty at Fort Riley Middle School on April 6.
“The work that you are doing — that your student teachers are doing in the classroom — is so important; thank you,” Biden said, according to K-State Today. “Not only does it make a difference in the life of each and every student, but, as you can imagine, it means so much to our service members when members of their community reach out to support military families during deployments.”
According to K-State Today, Mercer said that Biden’s comments about the College of Education are actually an honor for the university as a whole.
“This program is indicative of Kansas State University’s embracing of military-connected students, because while the College of Education is preparing teachers, the entire university has a welcoming atmosphere for veterans transitioning out of the military,” Mercer said to K-State Today. “The event was affirming, and it energized me to strategize how we can take this program to the next level.”
