This year's Kansas Student Affairs Conference will feature three keynote speakers – all veterans in the field of student affairs.

Thursday, 10:15 AM

  • Dr. Pat Bosco, K-State Assoc. Vice President for Institutional Advancement
  • Read his bio.

Thursday, 5:15 PM

Friday, 11:00 AM

  • Dr. James Rhatigan, Wichita State University Vice President of Student Affairs, Emeritus
  • Read his bio

Dr. Pat Bosco

Dr. Pat Bosco is Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement/Dean of Student Life at Kansas State University. Areas of responsibilities include: Admissions, New Student Services, Student Financial Assistance including scholarships, Housing and Dining Services, the K-State Student Union, University Publications, Printing Services, Greek Affairs, student crises, fundraising, and student life programming. Prior to his current position he was Assistant Vice President for Institutional Advancement/Director of Enrollment Management (1986- 1987), and Assistant Vice President for Educational and Student Services (1979-1986), Assistant Dean of Students (1973-1979), and Director of Student Activities (1971-1973) at Kansas State University.

Dr. Bosco received his Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Kansas State University in 1971; a Master of Science in Educational Administration from K-State in 1973; and his Doctorate in Higher Educational Administration from the University of Nebraska in 1982.

As an undergraduate, he served as the Kansas State University Student Body President from 1970-1971. He is a member of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity, Phi Delta Kappa Educational Fraternity, Order of Omega, and an honorary member of Blue Key and Golden Key.

In May 2004, Dr. Bosco was honored by the K-State Student Governing Association with the renaming of the area between the K-State Student Union and Seaton Hall to the “ Pat J. Bosco Student Plaza” in recognition of his dedication, time, and energy to K-State and to the enrichment of student life.

Dr. Bosco was named one of Manhattan’s Most Admired People in January 2004; The Robert S. Krause AT Ω Outstanding Campus Leader Award in 2003; and the 2000 “Excellence in Dedication” Award from the Kansas City Alumni Club for his quarter century of administrative service to the university. He is also the recipient of numerous service and leadership awards including the Kansas State University “Service to Students” Award, and the “Alumni Distinguished Service” Award from his fraternity. He has served on the Board of Directors of several national, state and local community volunteer agencies. Dr. Bosco's commitment to the profession of higher education and youth is evident in his many keynotes, workshops, and conferences he presents each year.

K-State alumni named a freshman scholarship in his honor, and each spring the College of Education’s Department of Leadership Studies and Programs recognizes an undergraduate as the “Pat J. Bosco Outstanding Student Leader”.

He is an Associate Professor (adjunct) in the Department of Educational Administration and Leadership, College of Education, and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of leadership and volunteerism at K-State for the past 20 years.

Dr. Bosco is founder and director of the Center for Leadership Development, a private consulting agency that provides services to business and government institutions, community agencies, national leadership groups, and colleges and universities.

Dr. Bosco has volunteered in community youth activities for the past 30 years. His summer baseball and softball teams have won state of Kansas championships (Valentino's in 1989; McDonald's Bullets in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002), possibly the only coach in the state to have such a distinction.

His wife, Susan (Ariola), a graduate of K-State with four degrees, recently retired from the Manhattan school system as an elementary school teacher and media specialist. They have two children: Christopher, age 33, a K-State graduate, is a manager with Accenture in Atlanta, GA; and Mary Catherine, age 29, also a K-State graduate, is a senior account executive at Fleischman-Hilliard in Kansas City.

Dr. James Rhatigan

Dr. Rhatigan graduated from Coe in 1957, received a Master's degree from Syracuse University in 1959 and a Ph.D. in student personnel administration from the University of Iowa in 1965. During his years at Iowa he worked as an Assistant Dean of Men.

In 1965, Rhatigan was appointed Dean of Students at Wichita State University. He was 30 years old and the youngest dean in the nation in institutions with 10,000+ students. Five years later, he was still the youngest. Rhatigan was named Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students in 1971; and Senior Vice President in 1996.

In 1975, Rhatigan was elected president of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). NASPA is the principal professional association for vice presidents, deans and their associates in the United State with a membership today of about 11,000.

In 1987, Rhatigan was named the outstanding student affairs administrator in the United States by his peers.

Rhatigan has written chapters in several books and just finished re-writing a chapter on "The History and Philosophy of Student Affairs" which is a standard reading in our field. He has co-written or edited three books and contributed dozens of professional journal articles on a variety of topics in thirteen different refereed journals. Rhatigan is the most frequent published author in the NASPA Journal.

Dr. Rhatigan has served as a consultant/evaluator for the North Central Association for nearly 25 years, the longest period of service for anyone in Student Affairs, and for more than twenty years on the Board of the Freshman Year Experience.

Known as an advocate for students during his career, this explains why in 1996 the student union at Wichita State was named the Rhatigan Student Center.

Rhatigan takes great pride in the many people who worked on my staff over the years. They went on to be the chief student affairs administrators at the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, the University of Connecticut, the University of Virginia, the University of Arkansas and others. Two are full professors in the Big Twelve and two went on to college presidencies.

Rhatigan co-founded the Institute on Aging at Wichita State which one day he hopes will be a research center on this growing issue in our country.

Retired from full-time work in 2002, Rhatigan works for the Wichita State University Foundation as a consultant.

Tim Weiser

In his six years as Athletics Director at Kansas State, Tim Weiser has guided Wildcat athletics to an unprecedented level of success that has seen it emerge as one of the Big 12 Conference’s premier programs.

And while he is quick to deflect praise for Kansas State’s accomplishments toward student-athletes, coaches, staff, university administrators and the program’s loyal fans, few can argue that Weiser’s visionary leadership has spearheaded a complete transformation of the athletics department that has K-State poised to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

Guided by a philosophy of providing the best possible experience for Kansas State’s student-athletes, Weiser, who in 2006 agreed to a 10-year rollover contract extension, has been able to focus the efforts of an entire department and as a result usher in the most successful era in athletics ever at K-State.

Since his arrival in July of 2001, Weiser, 49, has employed a combination of strong management principles and sound financial planning to yield consistent growth in the areas of revenues, donor and corporate support and facility enhancement.

This focus on fund-raising and fiscal responsibility has enabled Kansas State to undertake an aggressive yet fiscally responsible approach to facility improvements that have yielded across-the-board upgrades for nearly all of K-State’s 16 intercollegiate athletics programs.

In the last three years alone, K-State has completed nearly $7 million in upgrades to the Vanier Football Complex and Bill Snyder Family Stadium, begun construction on premium loge seating in Bramlage Coliseum, constructed new team facilities for the track & field and rowing programs, and installed new playing surfaces in just about all of its competitive and practice venues, including FieldTurf in the Indoor Football Complex, Brandeberry Indoor Complex and Tointon Family Stadium.

During his first year at Kansas State, construction was completed on Frank Myers Field at Tointon Family Stadium, bringing the Wildcats’ baseball facility to a stature as one of the best in the Big 12 Conference.

Kansas State’s annual athletics operating budget has also taken quantum leaps forward under Weiser’s direction, growing from $27 million in fiscal year 2001 to one projected at over $38 million for the upcoming academic year. Additionally, Weiser’s forward-thinking philosophies have established a multi-million dollar reserve fund – the first of its kind in school history – with K-State finishing in the black in each year of his tenure.

On the field, the Wildcats continue to enjoy unprecedented success, and the 2006-07 academic year was no different. For the first time in school history, K-State’s football (Texas Bowl), men’s basketball (NIT), women’s basketball (WNIT) and baseball (Big 12 Tournament) teams all made postseason appearances in the same academic year. This on-the-field success comes on the heels of K-State sending no fewer than 10 of its 16 teams on to postseason play in each of the previous three years. Individually, K-State has produced 38 All-Americans in just the last four years.

In 2003-04, Weiser’s third year at the helm, Kansas State became the first Big 12 institution to win conference championships in three top-tier sports (football, volleyball, women’s basketball) in the same year. And, if one considers that K-State also had at least one first-team academic All-American on each of those championship teams, a clear picture of what K-State athletics have become during Weiser’s tenure begins to emerge.