* K-State is one of three universities nationwide to be chosen to run a pilot program called Students Save, designed to foster good financial habits on campus. It is an offshoot of America Saves, sponsored by the non-profit Consumer Federation of America. December 2007
* The K-State Crops Team has again claimed the title of national champion, a feat that K-State teams have accomplished in seven of the past nine years. The team won both the Kansas City Board of Trade and Chicago Collegiate Crops contests to win the national championship. K-State placed first in plant and seed identification and grain grading and second in seed analysis at both Kansas City and Chicago. Students competing at the national contest included Clint Patry, senior in agronomy, Colwich; Mike Popelka, senior in agronomy, Munden; and Cody Duitsman, junior in agronomy, Washington. The team was coached by Gerry Posler, K-State professor of agronomy. November 2007
* Chris Sorensen, a university distinguished professor of physics who has won every major teaching honor awarded by K-State, has been named the national 2007 Outstanding Doctoral and Research Universities Professor of the Year. The honor is awarded by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Sorenson is K-State's second national winner in the competition. Dean Zollman, university distinguished professor of physics, received the award in 1996. November 2007
* David Littrell's teaching success with music students young and old earned him recognition as the 2007 Kansas Professor of the Year from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Littrell, a distinguished professor of music, and other honorees from across the United States gathered Nov. 15, 2007, in Washington, D.C., for an awards luncheon and an evening reception. K-State holds the top spot in Kansas for the Carnegie/CASE awards, and is in the top 10 nationally among all universities, public and private. November 2007
* K-State is a national leader in teaching quality. In 2007, two of K-State's university distinguished professors have won recognition for their outstanding teaching. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education named Chris Sorensen the national professor of the year for research/doctoral universities and David Littrell the Kansas professor of the year. Sorensen is a university distinguished professor of physics and Littrell is a university distinguished professor of music. K-State has had two national professors of the year. Dean Zollman, also a university distinguished professor of physics, was the national winner for research/doctoral universities in 1996. K-State holds the top spot in Kansas for the Carnegie/CASE awards, and is in the top 10 nationally among all universities, public and private. November 2007
* For the first time since the inception of the Big XII Conference, K-State’s Student Governing Association will host the Annual Big XII Student Government Conference. The 2008 conference will be Oct. 16-19 on the K-State campus and will include delegates from each of the Big XII student governments. Lydia Peele, Olathe senior in math education, and K-State student body vice president; and Amy Schultz, Manhattan junior in biology, and K-State Student Senate vice chair presented the winning bid at this year’s conference hosted by the University of Texas at Austin. Peele said the presentation included information "regarding the unmatched campus style that sets K-State apart from other universities and the strong relationship between the university's administration and student government." November 2007
* The Kansas All-Hazards Behavioral Health Program, a joint effort by K-State's School of Family Studies and Human Services, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, has earned the 2007 award for outstanding service from the Kansas Emergency Management Association for its work after the Greensburg tornado. The program consists of more than 400 people across the state who are mental health workers, clergy, businessmen and teachers, all of whom can respond after a disaster is declared by the U.S. president. Program coordinators are K-State's Briana Nelson Goff and Charlie Griffin. November 2007
* K-State professor emeritus of biology Robert J. Robel is one of 22 individuals appointed to serve on a special national Wind Turbine Guidelines Advisory Committee by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. Members will advise Kempthorne and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on measures to avoid or minimize impacts to wildlife and their habitats from land-based wind energy facilities. Robel is regarded as a world authority on the ecology and management of red deer in Scotland, where he travels frequently for research and consultation. He also is an authority on bobwhite quail, grassland birds and greater and lesser prairie chickens. November 2007
* Subbaratnam Muthukrishnan, university distinguished professor of biochemistry, and Barbara Valent, university distinguished professor of plant pathology, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. K-State now has 15 faculty members who are fellows of the association, representing the fields of biology, chemical engineering, plant pathology, biochemistry, grain sciences and industry, geography, agronomy and physics. October 2007
* Fort Riley soldiers trained by K-State instructors brought home accolades from the recent All-Army Combatives Championship in Fort Benning, Ga., including an all-Army champion in the 140-pound weight class: Pfc Matthew Bray of Virginia Beach, Va. The Fort Riley team finished second overall in competition with 35 other teams representing every major unit in the Army, according to Arthur DeGroat, director of military affairs at K-State. One Fort Riley soldier placed third in his weight class, and two others placed fourth. October 2007
* A K-State distance education program and distance education technology have received national awards from a continuing education association and an educational communications cooperative. The Association for Continuing Education awarded its 2007 Distinguished Credit Award to K-State's comparative food and agriculture systems course, AGEC 710. The class is offered through the K-State department of agricultural economics and the Division of Continuing Education. The association also honored K-State with its Creative Use of Technology Award for the ExpanSIS student information system. ExpanSIS is a multi-institutional student information system developed jointly by the Institute for Academic Alliances and the K-State office of mediated education. It was first used by the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance. The system provides a consortium of universities with access to needed student data, including course scheduling and mapping, registration, enrollment, grades, reports, contact information, and student tracking. K-State's ExpanSIS system also received the 2007 Outstanding Work Award from the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications. The cooperative is a unit of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which provides technology to e-learners for use in higher education. October 2007
* Chris Culbertson, associate professor of chemistry at K-State, has won a 2007 Masao Horiba Award for "Rapid Analysis of Individual T-Lymphocyte Cells on Microfluidic Devices." He received the award at Kyoto University in Japan, where he also presented a lecture describing his research. The award is named for the founder of Horiba Ltd., a company that manufactures, sells and markets measurement and analysis tools used in fields ranging from medical diagnostics and automotive emissions to the semiconductor industry. Established in 2004, the award promotes research activities in the field of analysis and measurement technology by researchers working at universities and public research institutes in Japan and abroad. Culbertson's project was one of three chosen from among 29 nominations. The winners were selected for the future potential of the researcher, originality of the research and the possibility of the research being developed into unique measurement instruments. The award is designed to support the commercialization of prizewinning research. October 2007
* The Nobel Peace Prize won by Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has a K-State connection. Chuck Rice, professor of agronomy, served with more than 100 other climate change experts from across the world to prepare the full report on mitigation. The Nobel Prize Committee recognized the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports are often used to establish far-reaching policies and programs on climate change, and it's critical to make sure that the reports are accurate, thorough and completely objective. Rice was a lead author on a report on global warming. Rice reported on how greenhouse gases can be reduced by techniques such as no-till farming, instead of tilling up the soil. He said K-State researchers in forestry, agriculture and geography had roles in the report, from researching to writing to reviewing. October 2007
* K-State received four of the nine Great Plains Region awards presented from the University Continuing Education Association at the annual joint Great Plains-Mid-America Conference in Evanston, Ill. The awards recognize K-State for its distance education faculty, staff and technologies. Elizabeth Stevens, associate dean of continuing education, was awarded the John L. Christopher Outstanding Leadership Award for her leadership contributions to K-State, the University Continuing Education Association and its Great Plains Region, and the field of continuing education. Ann Murray, associate professor in the School of Family Studies and Human Services, was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award. Aaron Stroot, administrative officer for continuing education credit registration, received the Outstanding Support Specialist Award for his strategic involvement in K-State management systems. The fourth award was for the ExpanSIS multi-institutional student information system, which received the Innovations and Contributions Award for technological services and functions in managing distance student information. It was was co-developed by the Institute for Academic Alliances and the K-State office of mediated education. October 2007
* The K-State Panhellenic Council is being recognized as one of the best in the nation with the National Panhellenic Conference's Biennial Award for Overall Excellence. The award, for schools with 10 or more sorority chapters, is based on excellence in several areas, including training, leadership, recruitment and adherence to national guidelines. The award will be presented at the biennial meeting of the National Panhellenic Conference, Oct. 27, in Chicago. K-State's Panhellenic Council is made up of the 11 National Panhellenic Conference sororities at the university. Sept. 2007
* The National Science Foundation has awarded K-State's Michael Herman a grant of nearly $623,000 to continue his research on soil nematodes, a nearly microscopic type of worm, in the emerging field of ecological genomics. Also called EcoGen, ecological genomics investigates the connection between genomes and a changing environment. "Most genomic research these days focuses on medically relevant questions that help us understand human biology and what goes wrong when we get sick," Herman said. "We can think about the environment in the same way. Global change is making the environment sick, and we're using genomics to understand exactly what's going wrong." Past studies of nematodes in a laboratory setting have shown that the activated genes in lab nematodes are different than those living in the natural environment. Herman hopes to pinpoint which genes are activated or deactivated based on different environmental conditions. With the results, scientists will be able to answer many questions about soil ecology, such as soil quality or potential contamination that may affect the food web. Sept. 2007
* Veterinarian Dr. Mike Apley's career achievements in animal health were recognized recently when he was spotlighted as one of the six most influential veterinarians in the cattle feeding industry in the past 35 years. Bovine Veterinary Magazine featured Apley and other industry leaders in an article on "VIPs of the Feedlot Industry" in the July 31 issue. August 2007
* K-State offers students an outstanding undergraduate education, according to the 2008 edition of Princeton Review's "Best 366 Colleges." The book, published by Random House and The Princeton Review, was released today. Only about 15 percent of the four-year schools in the U.S., as well as two Canadian schools, were selected for the book. The Princeton Review names K-State one of the best schools in the western U.S. in the book. In the K-State profile in the book, students said research opportunities for "ambitious undergraduates" abound and that K-State does a "great job helping students to get the experience they need while they are still taking classes." Students also said that K-State professors and administrators are accessible and that the university makes sure students know about resources available to do well, such as tutoring. In addition, students called K-State's student body highly friendly and rated its library and athletic facilities as great. August 2007
* A successful career in veterinary medicine has earned K-State's Lisa Freeman, professor of pharmacology and associate dean of research and graduate programs at the College of Veterinary Medicine, a spot in Kaplan Publishing's 2008 edition of "You Are Here: A Guide to Over 380 Colleges & Unlimited Paths to Your Future." The guide, to be released in September, names K-State as one of 25 "cutting-edge schools" in the nation because the university offers programs in many of the 50 hottest career choices today, as determined by surveys with prospective undergraduates across the country. Freeman said she was profiled in the guide to inform students about veterinary careers in biomedical sciences. "Students who are interested in being veterinarians don't always realize that the profession offers many career opportunities outside of companion animal practice, in areas such as biomedical research, food supply medicine and public health," Freeman said. "K-State is a great place for veterinary students interested in these career pathways because of strong faculty mentors and student-centered professional development programs." August 2007
* K-State is one of the "25 cutting-edge schools in the nation," according to the 2008 edition of Kaplan Publishing's guide, "You Are Here: A Guide to Over 380 Colleges & Unlimited Paths to Your Future." K-State was selected as a cutting-edge school because it offers programs in many of the "50 hottest career choices," as identified by the guide through surveys conducted with prospective undergraduates across the country. K-State was the only school in Kansas and the only school from the Big 12 Conference identified as a cutting-edge school in the guide. Other schools on the list include the University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, George Washington University, University of Tennessee, University of California-Irvine, U.S. Air Force Academy and Loyola Marymount University. August 2007
* K-State's Daniel Y.C. Fung, an international expert in microbial food safety, is receiving the inaugural Outstanding Educator in Food Safety Award from Food Safety magazine and ConAgra Foods. The new award recognizes an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to food safety education, both in and out of the classroom. Fung was selected for his outstanding service and contributions in advancing food safety during his nearly 40 years as an educator. Fung has taught more than 18,000 undergraduate and graduate students, distance learning students and professionals around the world through classroom teaching, symposia, seminars, workshops and meetings on microbial food safety. He also leads the annual International Workshop on Rapid Methods and Automation in Microbiology, which just completed its 27th session, at K-State. The popular workshop has attracted about 4,000 participants from 60 countries to Manhattan to be trained in the latest technologies in detecting microbes and controlling them for food safety and security. July 2007
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service selected Kansas State University to lead a multi-institutional benefit-cost analysis of the National Animal Identification System. The analysis will be conducted with the assistance of co-contributors Colorado State University and Michigan State University. Montana State University will provide a comprehensive assessment of the economic benefits and costs of the National Animal Identification System, including its three components, premises registration, animal identification and animal tracing.
"There are tremendous benefits associated with NAIS by registering premises, identifying animals and trace-back ability," said Bruce Knight, undersecretary for USDA's marketing and regulatory programs mission area. "The benefit-cost analysis will provide comprehensive, objective economic information for producers."
Several segments of the livestock industry will be a part of this analysis including small producers; commercial producers; marketing institutions; processing facilities and rendering operations. K-State and colleagues will study the benefits and costs of all components of the National Animal Identification System across species. Also, the analysis will seek to determine the overall distribution of benefits and costs among producers of various sized herds, marketing firms, processors, consumers and state and federal government agencies. July 2007
* K-State's Matthew King will be heading to the United Kingdom this fall as a Fulbright Scholar. King, Wichita, has received a Fulbright Postgraduate Award and will work on a master's in environmental change and management at Oxford University. The award, one of only 10 presented for the 2007-2008 school year, was made by the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission. A May 2007 summa cum laude graduate of K-State, King earned a bachelor's in political science, with a secondary major in natural resources and environmental sciences. A 2006 Morris K. Udall Scholarship recipient, King was named one of K-State's outstanding graduating seniors for his leadership and efforts in improving campus life, which included the K-State Proud student fundraising campaign. A K-State honors list student, he also was named to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi academic honor societies and Blue Key senior honor society. He was active in K-State student government, serving as chair of the K-State Student Senate's Governmental Relations Committee and as a College of Arts and Sciences student senator for three years. July 2007
* For the second consecutive year and the sixth time in the 10-year history of the event, the K-State Powercat Tractors Design Team finished first at the annual American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition, May 31-June 3, in Peoria, Ill. Competing against 28 teams from the United States and Canada, the K-State team also received the "Sound Quality Award" for having the quietest tractor and minimizing noise pollution. The team earned first-place points for the written design report and took second place in the four pulls of the "tractor pull" portion of the competition. The K-State Powercat Tractors Team, made up of undergraduates in biological and agricultural engineering, agricultural technology management and mechanical engineering, is the only team to place in the top three, including six firsts, continuously since 1999. The competition began in 1998. June 2007
* How do climate change and other global environmental changes affect the average Kansan? Researchers at Kansas State University are working to find out. K-State, along with the University of Kansas, recently received grants totaling $9.25 million from the National Science Foundation -- $6.75 million -- and the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation -- $2.5 million -- to study ecological change in the Kansas River Basin and establish a virtual ecological forecasting center in Kansas. Walter Dodds leads the research at K-State. May 2007
* A Kansas State University physicist has received a $3.75 million grant from the Department of Defense for research to improve attosecond sources and exploit the technology breakthrough for applications. Zenghu Chang, K-State professor of physics, said attosecond laser technology can potentially identify elements. This means a laser pulse could be beamed into a suspicious package, for example, to quickly determine if it in fact did contain dangerous chemicals. Chang is the principal investigator on the grant, which is for $1.25 million per year for three years with a possible two-year extension. Other team member institutions are Texas A&M University and the University of Ottawa. May 2007
* Frank Tracz, director of bands and professor of music at K-State, has been named a 2006 Lowell Mason Fellow by the Music Educators National Conference. Tracz is one of 10 music educators nationwide honored as a Mason Fellow at the organization's Centennial Congress and Celebration June 25 in Orlando, Fla. The award is named for Lowell Mason, who is credited with introducing music instruction to American public schools and establishing teacher training in music education. This honor and recognition is one of the highest awards the Music Educators National Conference can bestow on individuals who have made significant contributions to music education. Gary Mortenson, head of the music department, credits Tracz with moving the K-State Marching Band into an elite status among all major university groups. April 2007
* One reason why Manhattan ranks ninth on Money Magazine's top-10 list of "best places to retire young" is that it is home to K-State. Specific criteria for determining the rankings included "the presence of one or more major and/or highly competitive college in the vicinity." The list, which included Ames, Iowa, as its only other Midwestern destination (in 10th place), was compiled for Money by Bert Sperling, who operates the Web site BestPlaces.net. K-State's presence means many of the world's top leaders visit Manhattan through the university's prestigious and nationally recognized Landon Lecture Series, including recent speakers President George W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Well-known performers and theatrical productions come to Manhattan regularly through K-State's McCain Performance Series. K-State also is a member of the Big 12, one of the top athletic conferences in the nation, making Manhattan the place to catch top collegiate competition in football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, volleyball, track and more. April 2007
* J.K. Rowling, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Wesch. These are just some of the 22 winners of this year's Rave Awards from Wired magazine, now on newsstands and the Web. Wesch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at K-State, is being honored in the video category and is called "The Explainer" in the issue. He created a video explaining Web 2.0 that has been viewed more than 2.2 million times on YouTube, an online video-sharing community, since its release Jan. 31. Wired's Rave Awards, according to the magazine, salute the "people changing your mind." They honor innovators, instigators and inventors in a range of categories including technology, business, music, film, games, industrial design and blogs. This year's awards process looked at the most "intriguing breakthroughs in the world today" and then tracked down the "individuals who made them happen." Wired reports on how technology affects culture, the economy and politics. The winners of the Rave Awards will be honored April 27 in San Francisco. April 2007
* K-State students have claimed three of the 50 Phi Kappa Phi Study/Internship Abroad Grants awarded nationally this year. The $1,000 awards recognize and assist undergraduates seeking knowledge abroad. The recipients are Cierra Elder, Bennington; Megan Dirks, Hutchinson; and Rebecca Tokach, St. Anthony, N.D. Elder, a junior in biology and premedicine, will participate in a service learning project this summer with other K-State students in Jacunda, Brazil. Dirks, a freshman in international business marketing and French, plans to study in either Marseille, Caen or Lille through the International Student Exchange Program in 2008. Tokach, a sophomore in animal sciences and agricultural economics, will spend two weeks this summer in Costa Rica, where she will visit cattle ranches, swine and dairy operations, and a banana plantation. April 2007
* K-State's forensics team went to the National Individual Events Tournament, hosted by Minnesota State University, Mankato, and came home with a national championship in extemporaneous speaking and a seventh place finish overall. K-State's individual events forensics speech team competed against 83 schools, with 1,442 entries from nearly 500 competitors. Jessy Ohl, Denison, Iowa, a junior in political science, is the nation's top college extemporaneous speaker. He also finished fourth in Informative Speaking and 10th in the Individual Sweepstakes. April 2007
* Two K-State students were among 80 nationwide to receive Morris K. Udall Scholarships, a congressional scholarship honoring the former Arizona congressman for his legacy of public service. The scholars were selected from 434 candidates nominated by 221 colleges and universities. Brad Lutz, senior in electrical engineering and computer engineering, Andover, and Ella Todd, junior in marketing, Manhattan, will each receive a $5,000 Udall Scholarship. Sally Maddock, fifth-year senior in architecture and natural resources and environmental sciences, Lakewood, Colo., was one of 50 students recognized with an honorable mention. James Hohenbary, assistant dean for nationally competitive scholarships, said the Udall Foundation seeks future leaders across a wide spectrum of environmental fields, including policy, engineering, science, education, urban planning and renewal, business, health, justice and economics. K-State students have amassed one of the top records in the nation in Udall scholarships and are tied for third among state universities with 18 winners since the scholarship began in 1996. April 2007
* Jonathan King, Manhattan, was named a Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship winner for 2007. This year fellowships of $5,000 were awarded to 60 of the nation's top college seniors to support their graduate study. King plans to use his fellowship to attend the University of California, Berkeley. A K-State senior in chemical engineering, King plans to earn a Ph.D. studying nanotechnology and to conduct research at the university level. A 2006 Goldwater scholar, King has done extensive undergraduate research at K-State in chemical engineering. Since 1986, K-State has had 20 winners, a total matched only by Brigham Young University. Other top-ranking schools are the University of Maryland, University of Southern California, Montana State University, the University of Illinois and Purdue. April 2007
* Jenna Kennedy, Hoxie, is K-State's 30th Harry S. Truman Scholarship winner. A senior in microbiology, natural resources and environmental science, and premedicine, Kennedy has been selected to receive the national scholarship, which provides up to $30,000 for college students preparing for a career in public service. With 30 winners and one alternate since the first scholarships were awarded in 1977, K-State remains first in the nation among public universities in producing Truman scholars. Kennedy is a K-State honors list student. She has been conducting undergraduate research in the immunology lab of Stephen Chapes, professor of biology, since November 2005. She is the advisory board co-chair to K-State PROUD: Students Changing Lives campaign; president of Chimes junior honorary; and recruitment information manager for Alpha Delta Pi sorority, where she also has served as finance vice president. She is a member of the University Committee on Religion and Rotaract. She was a member of Quest, the freshman honorary, and has served as vice president of Silver Key, the sophomore honorary. She also has been a Student Governing Association intern. March 2007
* Kansas State University students have earned two Graduate Research Fellowship Awards and three honorable mentions from the National Science Foundation. Earning fellowship awards are Matthew Basel, senior in biology, chemistry and biochemistry, Manhattan, and Meg Fasulo, senior in chemistry, biochemistry and microbiology, Olathe. Receiving honorable mention honors are Meredith Schlabach, senior in mechanical engineering, Manhattan; Jeffrey Amos, senior in mathematics, Olathe; and Alyson Deines, senior in mathematics, Woodbine.
Basel and Fasulo receive a $30,000 stipend per year plus a $10,500 payment per year that graduate institutions accept in lieu of tuition and fees, even when tuition and fees exceed that amount. The awards are renewable for up to three years of funding. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program's purpose is to ensure the vitality of scientists and engineers in the United States and to reinforce their diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees. The fellows are expected to become experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching and innovations in science and engineering. March 2007
* A video by a Kansas State University professor that he posted on the Web has not only become immensely popular online, but it also has given him and his students something to study. Michael Wesch, assistant professor of anthropology, created a video explaining Web 2.0, the "second wave" of Web-based services allowing people to network, share and collaborate online. The video, posted Jan. 31, was the most popular video on the Internet Feb. 5, according to Technorati.com; the No. 1 featured video on YouTube Feb. 9; and has been featured in more than 5,000 blogs. More than 1 million people have viewed the video on YouTube, an online video-sharing site. It is one of the top 100 favorites of all time on YouTube, recently surpassing Beyonce's latest pop music video.
Wesch, who also serves as the guest editor of a special issue of Visual Anthropology Review, "Beyond e-Text," was writing about what can be done with new technology, such as blogs, wikis, video editing, Web feeds and social networking sites. He found himself in a strange position. He was trying to describe how digital media has gone beyond simply imitating paper, but he himself was using paper to describe this phenomenon. He decided that using video was much more relevant and so he created "Web 2.0...The Machine is Us/ing Us" to describe his path through the Internet. His creation can be seen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE February 2007
* Researchers from K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine have completed a study showing that a newly-developed vaccine is effective against a deadly viral disease that is affecting swine herds in Kansas. The disease, most widely known as porcine circovirus associated disease, was first recognized in Kansas swine herds in November 2005. The disease complex is an immunosuppressive condition associated with porcine circovirus type 2 or PCV2. The researchers began a field trial in summer 2006, testing a vaccine in commercial development. The researchers, all from the department of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, were Bob Rowland, Dick Hesse, Steve Dritz, Jerome Nietfeld and Kyle Horlen. Their study showed a 50 percent reduction in mortality of vaccinated pigs compared to non-vaccinated pigs. Mortality was 7 percent for vaccinated pigs compared to 17 percent for non-vaccinated pigs. Vaccinated pigs also experienced an increase in growth. On average, they were 20 pounds heavier than non-vaccinated pigs of the same age. February 2007
* The Association for Continuing Higher Education has awarded its 2007 Region VIII Exceptional Conference Program Award to the Crisis Response Project Workshop offered through Kansas State University's department of communications and the K-State Division of Continuing Education. The award was presented at the association's Region VIII annual conference Feb. 22-23 in Manhattan. The award-winning workshop provided a networking venue for individuals involved in developing crisis communication plans emphasizing biosecurity. The target audience included land-grant university communicators and administrators. Participants produced materials to use in their home institutions to further their work in risk and crisis communication. They also built networks that will be useful in times of crisis. February 2007
* Students from K-State's chapter of the Society for Human Resource Managers recently won the 2007 Kansas HR Games, defeating both the University of Kansas and Wichita State University. K-State defeated both schools in the first rounds of the competition and won the final round of the "Jeopardy" style competition against Wichita State. As winners of the competition, the K-State team received $1,500 from the Kansas Society for Human Resource Mangers State Council. The money will be used for transportation to the regional HR Games and student conference March 23-24 in Tempe, Ariz. February 2007
* K-State is getting ready to put leadership skills on a course for success. No books will be required to master the new K-State Challenge Course, now in the early stages of development, but sneakers and a variety of mental and physical skills will come in handy. The course, being built on a site north of K-State's Hoeflin Stone House Child Care Center, will include customized challenges to help individuals and teams further develop their leadership, communication and team-building skills, said Emily Lehning, assistant dean of student life at K-State. A challenge course, sometimes referred to as a ropes course, offers a combination of physical and mental tasks that range in difficulty. The course will be open to K-State students, faculty and staff. The general public may participate by scheduling in advance. February 2007
* K-State graduates are finding jobs and getting better starting salaries, according to the latest annual post-graduation survey by K-State's career and employment services. Based on data collected from 85 percent of K-State's bachelor's degree graduates in the 2005-2006 school year, the report finds that 92 percent of surveyed graduates are employed in fields related to their studies or are continuing their education in a graduate or professional school or other educational program. Graduates in the most recent group surveyed also are finding better starting salaries than their predecessors. The survey showed that 71 percent of salary averages by major increased over last year, said Kerri Keller, director of career and employment services. February 2007
* K-State has won two honorable mentions from the Association for Continuing Higher Education for distance education programs the university offers through its Division of Continuing Education. The "Be a Wildcat Wherever You Live" 2004-2006 campaign was recognized with an honorable mention in the Crystal Marketing Award category for the 2004-2006 campaign, and the Management, Analysis and Strategic Thinking program, offered through K-State's department of agricultural economics, received an honorable mention in the distinguished non-credit program category. "Be a Wildcat Wherever You Live" is the marketing campaign for K-State's distance education and Evening College programs. K-State had a 62 percent increase in Evening College enrollment and a 15 percent increase in distance education enrollment for 2004-2005. The Management, Analysis and Strategic Thinking program helps farm managers improve the efficiency and profitability of their farm operations. Participants have included people from 62 counties in Kansas, as well as from four other states. More than 130 people have completed the program. January 2007
* K-State is placing a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. outside Ahearn Field House, the site of the civil rights leader's speech at K-State on Jan. 19, 1968. He presented "The Future of Integration" as part of the University Convocation Lecture Series. In addition, 17th Street, which runs along the field house, will be renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Drive. January 2007
* K-State has been named among the best values in U.S. colleges and universities by two recent guides, the Princeton Review and the Kiplinger 100. Both lists focus on academic and financial value. The Kiplinger 100 Best Values in Public Colleges lists the schools offering "top-notch academics at affordable prices." Its rankings focus on traditional four-year schools with broad-based curriculums and are based on data provided by more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities. The Princeton Review's 2007 America's Best Value Colleges guide includes 150 colleges and universities, both public and private. To create the list, the company reviewed financial statistics and surveyed students. January 2007
* Not many college students appear in an opera one month and present a paper at an International Conference on Nuclear Engineering the next. But that's what K-State student Sam Brinton is doing. Brinton, who graduated from high school less than a year ago, is already accomplishing amazing things. He has accumulated enough hours so far that he is officially a sophomore student, with a double major in nuclear engineering and vocal performance. In April, he travels to Nagoya, Japan, to the 15th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering April 22-26. There, he will present a paper he co-authored with nuclear engineering professor Akira Tokuhiro. Before that, on March 1, 2 and 3, Brinton sings in the chorus of the Mozart opera, "Cosi fan Tutte" presented by K-State's department of music. Both are very unusual experiences for a first year college student. And Brinton said that is why he chose K-State: he was impressed with the university's nuclear engineering and vocal music opportunities. Undergraduate research is a priority at K-State and Brinton wasted no time getting involved in a research project. He met nuclear engineering professor Akira Tokuhiro in the fall and began working with him in his lab. The professor mentored the student and together they developed the research paper Brinton will present at the international meeting. January 2007
* K-State's master of landscape architecture program ranks second, its bachelor of landscape architecture program ranks third, its bachelor of interior architecture and interior design programs rank fourth, and its bachelor of architecture program ranks 12th in a 2007 nationwide survey of leading firms across the United States. Each year, DesignIntelligence and the Design Futures Council conduct the study, in conjunction with the Almanac of Architecture and Design, to determine the top 15 colleges and universities for architecture and design in the United States. Firms were asked to indicate which accredited programs in the past five years produced graduates most prepared for real-world practice. The K-State interior architecture and interior design programs have been in the top six each of the eight years in which the study has been conducted. This is the sixth time K-State's architecture program has been ranked in the top 12. Both K-State's bachelor's and master's programs in landscape architecture have been ranked in the top eight in the three years the survey has covered those programs. Five schools in the Big 12 have ranked programs in the eight surveyed areas, but only K-State has four ranked programs January 2007