The Student Governing Association held their first meeting of the semester on Thursday in the new Wildcat Chamber. The senate meeting began with an address from Kansas State University president Richard Myers.
Myers spoke on topics including the cost of education and the 2025 Vision.
The 2025 Vision refers to K-State’s goal to be named a top 50 public research university by the year 2025. Myers said that “astounding progress” has been made, including the implementation of a 2.5 percent pay raise for all faculty, but he also said the plan will be revised.
“We’re going to make some tweaks and changes,” Myers said. “We’ll go back for another round of comments on where we think we are, but we’re not going to make any U-turns, 90-degree rights or anything in there. This is going to be tweaking the plan. All plans need to be refreshed.”
Myers also touched briefly on the cost of education with a focus on the value that an education at K-State provides.
“We have a great value across the board,” Myers said. “We talk cost, cost, cost all the time, but it’s time to start talking about value.”
The meeting was the student senate’s first use of the Wildcat Chamber in the Student Union. Heather Reed, assisstant vice president, senior associate dean and director of Student Life, marked the occasion by reading a poem titled “Ode to Wildcat Chambers.”
“This is a rather auspicious occasion as we move from the Big 12 Room to the brand new Wildcat Chamber, and I felt that we should do something to honor that,” Reed said.
The senate commended student body president Jack Ayres, senior in chemical engineering, in honor of his selection to the 2017 National Student Congress and his participation in the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship.
Computer science majors Alice Lam, junior, and Fernanda De La Torre, senior, received commendations for winning first-place honors at Kansas City Startup Weekend 2017. The two led Team Zoobot in the 48-hour event for developers, designers and the entrepreneurially-minded.
Two students received commendations for scholarships. Chad Olney, senior in civil engineering, won a Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation Scholarship for Service. Michael Brown, sophomore in mechanical engineering, received a one-time scholarship of $12,000 for being named a 2017 Praxair Engineers of Tomorrow Scholarship winner.
Nathan McClain, sophomore in computer science and physics, also received commendations for being one of 10 students in the United States to be named as a 2017 Cargill Global Scholar. Cargill Inc. selects 60 scholars from around the world for their potential to make advancements in food, farming and financial risk management.
K-State’s Fountain Wars team and the Helwig Farms Quarter-Scale Tractor teams also received commendations for their performances in recent competitions.
The senate also approved Stephen Kucera, graduate student in accounting, to the position of student support director.
