2011 All-University Achievements
* During 2011, the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative named 21 active Kansas State University faculty members among the top 150 researchers ever to work in Kansas throughout its 150 years of statehood. Ad Astra is a Hutchinson-based organization that promotes the scientific accomplishments of Kansans. January 2012.
* Students Justine Gruen and Rebecca Wieneke each received a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad during the spring 2012 semester. K-State has now had 30 recipients of the congressionally funded scholarship for international study abroad. Gruen used her $2,500 Gilman Scholarship to study in Turkey, while Wieneke used her $2,000 Gilman Scholarship to study in Botswana. January 2012
* The Crops Team was crowned national champion for the third year in a row. K-State teams have now won the championship in 10 of the last 13 years.The team won both the Kansas City Board of Trade and Chicago CME Group collegiate crops contests to take the title. December 2011
* A team of bioprocessing engineers with the university's Advanced Manufacturing Institute was issued a patent for a system that removes phosphorus from wastewater and addresses environmental regulations. The system was issued as a patent titled "Fluidized bed precipitator with optimized solids settling and solids handling features for use in recovering phosphorus from wastewater." The phosphorus reduction system, called Phred for short, is an easy-to-use fully automated system that removes up to 60 percent of phosphorus in wastewater from cattle feedlots. December 2011.
* K-State's personal financial planning program was named one of the best in the nation by Financial Planning, an e-newsletter. The K-State program is among those listed in the article, "Financial planning education 101: 10 Standout Schools." The university is one of only three institutions on the list offering four or more Certified Financial Planning Board-registered programs. November 2011
* Tonatiuh Melgarejo, an associate professor of human nutrition; Frank Blecha, distinguished professor of immunophysiology; and Yongming Sang and Maria Ortega, former postdoctoral fellows, isolated and characterized a natural antimicrobial peptide that helps dogs to better fight pathogens -- including different bacteria, viruses and fungi. The peptide's characteristics and production method was recently issued as a patent titled "Antimicrobial Cathelicidin Peptides." November 2011.
* The University Life Café, the first website of its kind in the nation, was honored with an Outstanding Work Award from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's Cooperative for Educational Technologies. The award recognizes outstanding technology projects that promote student success in higher education. University Life Cafe was chosen for its dedication to providing information, resources and a creative outlet for all of the university's campuses and its global community of distance students. October 2011
* The No. 1 college choice for Kansas high school graduates has set another enrollment record. This fall K-State has recorded it's best enrollment yet, according to 20th-day figures announced by the Kansas Board of Regents. A record-breaking 23,863 students are attending K-State both on and off campus, up from 23,588 last year. September 2011
* AT&T has donated $15,000 to K-State for three programs that serve multicultural or first-generation students: Developing Scholars Program, Guide to Personal Success and Healthy Decisions. The programs offer students a working relationship with a faculty member on academic, social and financial matters, helping them find success in college and after they graduate. September 2011
* K-State's intercollegiate athletics department received full certification from the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Committee on Athletics Certification. The certification followed a thorough and comprehensive self-study conducted by the university, and a final response to the NCAA that was submitted for review by the certification committee. August 2011
* Two elite publications have ranked K-State as one of the best schools in the nation: The Princeton Review's "The Best 376 Colleges" for 2012 and Forbes magazine's 2011 Best Colleges List. The Princeton Review picked K-State as one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education. It also ranks K-State No. 2 in the nation where campus and community relations are great, No. 14 in quality of life and No. 15 in campus food. Additionally, K-State was named one of the 121 colleges in the "Best in the West" section of The Princeton Review's "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region." August 2011
* Philanthropic support of K-State climbed to new heights for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, with alumni, friends and corporate partners contributing $107 million to the university through the Kansas State University Foundation. This figure set a new record in fundraising activity in the 67-year history of the foundation, surpassing the previous record of $99.5 million in fiscal year 2008. July 2011
* Sean Webeck, master's student in security studies, Manhattan, received a 2011 Boren Fellowship. The fellowships are funded by the National Security Education Program and support students interested in national security by providing up to $30,00 for two academic years. Webeck will spend a year in Amman, Jordan, studying Arabic. June 2011
* K-State Olathe and its design-build partners -- DesignSense Inc., 360 Architects and Weitz Construction -- were given the Community Accessibility Award for public, private or civic entities by the city of Olathe's Persons with Disabilities Advisory Board. The award is for the accessible design of the K-State Olathe's new building, the International Animal Health and Food Safety Institute. Dan Richardson, K-State Olathe CEO, said the campus worked with the advisory board to go beyond ADA compliance in the building's design. May 2011
* Elizabeth McCullough, professor of textiles and co-director of the Institute for Environmental Research, and Ruth Douglas Miller, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, were added to the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative's list of top 150 scientists. The list -- part of the yearlong celebration of the Kansas sesquicentennial -- is comprised of researchers and innovators who have made or are making major contributions to their field, positively affecting Kansans and residents around the country. May 2011
* Emizet Kisangani, professor of political science, will spend eight months in central Africa researching post-conflict reconstruction as a Fulbright Scholar. It's Kisangani's third time as a Fulbright recipient. Kisangani, who is director of K-State's African Studies Center, is researching the impact of parliament and the banking sector on post-conflict reconstruction in the region. He plans to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. April 2011
* K-State has been named one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the U.S. and Canada in the second annual edition of the free downloadable book, "The Princeton Review's Guide to 311 Green Colleges: 2011 Edition." It's the second year in a row K-State has been named one of the nation's greenest colleges. Schools selected have demonstrated a notable commitment to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation. April 2011
* For the third time in a row and the 10th time in the last 13 years, the K-State Crops Team took first place at the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture national crops contest. This year's event was April 15 at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, Calif. The K-State team also took home four of the top five individual placings. Chad Huffman, senior, Cunningham, placed first overall; Scott Henry, junior, Goff, second overall; Jason Unruh, senior, Peabody, third overall; and Levi Larkins, junior, Belvue, fifth overall. April 2011
* K-State's Professional Development School Partnership received the 2011 Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement Award. Sponsored by the National Association of Professional Development Schools, the award is given to a university with true partnerships demonstrating excellent achievement for K-12 students, future teachers and practicing teachers and faculty members. The honor was presented at the association's recent annual conference in New Orleans, La. The partnership includes 20 schools in the Riley County, Manhattan-Ogden and Geary County school districts, with additional partnership schools in Topeka and Kansas City, Kan. The College of Education and College of Arts and Sciences have been involved with the program for 22 years. April 2011
* Sue Maes, dean of the Division of Continuing Education, received the University Professional and Continuing Education Association's most prestigious national recognition, the Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership. The Nolte Award is given only in years when a nominee demonstrates exceptional, longstanding contributions to continuing education at the regional, national and international levels. For the past 40 years, Maes has actively engaged in the field of adult and continuing education to advance areas such as rural education, community development, diversity, educational technology and interinstitutional collaborations and partnerships. April 2011
* Rachel Hoppins, sophomore in wildlife biology, Wichita, is the winner of a 2011 Morris K. Udall Scholarship. DeeAnn-Rose Turpin, junior in biological systems engineering, Leavenworth, and Mark Sowers, junior in biology, Spring Hill, both earned honorable mentions in this year's scholarship competition. The scholarship is worth $5,000 and is awarded to as many as 80 students each year. K-State students have earned 22 Udall scholarships. April 2011
* Gage Brummer, a junior in biochemistry and premedicine, Prairie Village, received a 2011 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. He is K-State's 67th Goldwater scholar. The scholarship provides up to $7,500 annually for outstanding students who plan to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering. April 2011
* Melanie Hall, Junction City, received a 2011 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. Hall, a senior in psychology and premedicine with certification in conflict resolution, is K-State's 33rd Truman scholar. The Truman Scholarship is a national competition that provides up to $30,000 for graduate study for students committed to future careers in public service. April 2011
* Richard Marston, university distinguished professor and head of the department of geography, received a 2011-2012 Jefferson Science Fellowship. Fellows work with the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Agency for International Development on foreign policy matters. Marston is among 13 individuals selected for the 2011-2012 fellowship, and is the second K-State faculty member to receive the honor. March 2011
* K-State won its third national debate championship since 1991 when the team of Beth Mendenhall and Derek Ziegler won the Cross-Examination Debate Association's national tournament, March 18-22, at Binghamton University. Mendenhall also was named the Debater of the Year at the tournament. Other honors included All-American status to Mendenhall and Heather Woods; first team Academic All-American status to Mendenhall, Woods, Caitlyn Reynolds and Ashley Denney, with second team Academic All-American status to Gloria Funcheon. March 2011
* LaVerne Bitsie-Baldwin, director of the Multicultural Engineering Program, received the 2010 Outstanding Director Award from the National Association of Multicultural Engineering Program Advocates Inc. The award recognizes her efforts to increase the K-State program's enrollment 160 percent from 2008 to 2010. The increase also was a factor in the association's Region D receiving the 2010 Outstanding Region Award. Bitsie-Baldwin is chair of the region, which includes engineering schools in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Texas. March 2011
* Christine Aikens, assistant professor of chemistry, has received the 2011 Sloan Research Fellowship for her success as a promising young scholar. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation gives the two-year, $50,000 award annually to early-career scientists and scholars as a way to recognize their achievements and potential to contribute to their field. This year, 118 researchers from 54 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada received the award. Feb. 2011
* A team of Kansas State University researchers -- led by Glenn Horton-Smith, associate professor of physics -- is part of an international project with the Double Chooz neutrino detector in France. More than 38 universities and research institutes from eight countries are working on the detector, which measures neutrinos from the nearby Chooz nuclear power plant. Other K-State researchers include David McKee, postdoctoral researcher, Pi-Jung Chang, doctoral student in physics, Taiwan, and Deepak Shrestha, doctoral student in physics, Nepal. Feb. 2011
* Vikas Berry, assistant professor of chemical engineering, has received a five-year, $400,000 award from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program. The CAREER award supports early career-faculty who effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their institutions. Berry will use the award to study a new process to produce graphene quantum dots, which are ultrasmall sheets of carbon atoms. By controlling their size and shape, Berry and his research team can control graphene's properties over a wide range to develop better switches for computers, to manipulate graphene-devices and to engineer novel particulate systems. Feb. 2011
* The School of Leadership Studies building has received a LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It's believed this is the first building at a Kansas higher education institution to be LEED certified. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized ratings system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to encourage the development of sustainable buildings. Feb. 2011
* The School of Leadership Studies building recently won Project of the Year from the Design-Build Institute of America' s Mid-America Region. The building, designed and constructed by The Opus Group, Kansas City, Mo., won first in the institutional category and was then pitted against the winners of the other categories and came out on top with Project of the Year. This award is not given out each year and is a huge honor for both Opus and K-State. Feb. 2011
* Powercat Financial Counseling, a free financial counseling and education program for students, has received the 2011 Promising Practices Award from Student Affairs Partnering with Academic Affairs Knowledge Community, which is part of NASPA, an organization for student affairs administrators in higher education. The award recognizes programs and services that contribute to collaboration or integration of student and academic affairs in a college or university setting. Feb. 2011
* K-State is strengthening its collaboration with industry through a partnership with Abaxis Inc., an animal health company coming to the Kansas City area. The company announced a strategic alliance with the university, the K-State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab and the university's business development and commercialization arm, the National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization. This alliance will provide a full-service commercial laboratory for veterinarians across the United States. K-State experts will help provide a wide array of laboratory testing and pathology analysis that needs veterinary interpretation and experience. Jan. 2011
* K-State was selected as one of 115 institutions to receive the 2010 Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation. The classification honors higher education institutions that collaborate with their larger communities and understand the benefits of a reciprocal exchange of knowledge and resources. K-State already is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as a "very high research activity" university. Jan. 2011
