* A K-State senior in political science has won four titles at a national forensics competition, making him only the second person in the event's 31-year history to do so. Jessy Ohl, Denison, Iowa, won the overall individual trophy at the American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament April 5-7 in Austin, Texas. He also placed first in extemporaneous speaking, informative speaking and communication analysis. As captain, Ohl led the K-State team to a fourth-place finish overall, out of 90 teams that qualified for the country's most prestigious forensics competition. It was K-State's best finish in the tournament since 1998, when the team also placed fourth. April 2008
* One current and one recently graduated engineering student from Kansas State University have received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Three K-State seniors also received honorable mentions. The fellowship awards a $30,000 stipend and a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance per year for three years of education, totaling about $120,000 over three years for students pursuing research-based master's or doctoral degrees in an engineering or science discipline. Winners are Emily A. Voigt, McPherson, senior in chemical engineering with a minor in German, and David Thompson, formerly of Burlingame, a 2006 K-State summa cum laude graduate in electrical engineering with an emphasis in biomedical engineering and minors in physics and Japanese. Thompson is currently a graduate student at the University of Michigan. In 2006 while at K-State, he received an honorable mention for the Graduate Research Fellowship he won this year. Named to receive honorable mention were seniors Amir Bahadori , Kansas City, Kan., majoring in mathematics and mechanical engineering; Amy Twite, Olathe, majoring in biochemistry, microbiology and chemistry; Lydia (Roberts) Barrigan, Pomona, senior in chemistry and biochemistry with a minor in biology. All plan to graduate from K-State in May. April 2008
* K-State students Iris Wilson, Manhattan, and Nicholas Long, Topeka, are among the 80 students nationwide who are receiving $5,000 Morris K. Udall Scholarships. The Udall is a congressional scholarship that honors the former Arizona congressman for his legacy of public service. Scholarship recipients must be seeking either a career related to the environment or be a Native American or a Native Alaskan seeking a career in health care or tribal policy K-State is now third among state universities with 20 winners since the competition began in 1996. Wilson is a junior in geography and natural resources and environmental sciences, and Long is a senior in architectural engineering. According to the Udall Foundation, this year was the most competitive yet for the Udall scholarship, with more than 500 scholarship applications reviewed. Since 1986, K-State students have won 124 nationally competitive scholarships -- the Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater and Udall -- more than any other public university in the nation. April 2008
* Three K-State students are recipients of 2008 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, while a fourth student has been recognized as an honorable mention for the award. The winners are Michelle Higgins, Manhattan; William Carlson, Overland Park; and Scott McCall, Parker Colo. Samuel Fahrenholtz, Tribune, received honorable mention honors. The three K-State students are among 321 students from across the nation to receive the Goldwater Scholarship this year, which are awarded for academic merit. The scholarships are worth up to $7,500 annually for a student's final one or two years of undergraduate studies. This year's recipients were selected from a field of 1,035 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. With three Goldwater recipients this year, K-State students have now won 63 Goldwater Scholarships. K-State remains first in the nation among state universities in Goldwater Scholarship winners. Among all universities, K-State is tied for third place with Duke. Princeton has 68 and Harvard has 67 Goldwater scholars. All three of K-State's newest Goldwater scholars plan careers in research. March 2008
* K-State's Panhellenic Council has been recognized as the top Greek sorority council, while K-State's Interfraternity Council has been recognized as the runner-up for the top Greek fraternity council award. Both recognitions came at the Mid-American Greek Council Association conference in Chicago, Feb. 21-24. K-State's Panhellenic Council was named the winner of the 2007 Sutherland Award for Division III. K-State's Interfraternity Council was named runner-up for the 2007 Jellison Award for Division IV. It is the seventh time in the last 12 years the K-State Panhellenic Council, which represents the university's 11 Greek sororities, has received the Sutherland Award, the top award for a Greek sorority council. Division III includes colleges in the U.S. with nine to 12 Greek sorority chapters. The award recognizes the K-State Panhellenic Council for excellence in academic achievement, council management, leadership and educational development, membership recruitment, philanthropy and community service, public relations, risk reduction and management, and self-governance and judicial affairs. Interfraternity Council was recognized as the runner-up for the Jellison Division IV Award. The award is the top award a Greek council can receive. Division IV consists of all colleges in the United States with 24 or more Greek chapters. The K-State Interfraternity Council, which represents the university's 25 Greek fraternities, was recognized for excellence in academic achievement, council management, membership recruitment, philanthropy and community service, public relations, and self-governance and judicial affairs. March 2008
* The Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation and Koch Industries Inc. have announced donations totaling $400,000 to Kansas State University to increase enrollment of multicultural students and help them succeed in college. The grants will support Project IMPACT to provide recruiting and mentoring programs, scholarships and a diversity faculty fellowship in the K-State department of accounting. The Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation's contribution of $220,000 will fund a College for a Day program at K-State for high school and community college students. Koch Industries will donate $180,000 for programming that focuses on student scholarships, mentoring and retention. February 2008
* K-State students Kathryn Glanville, Oskaloosa , Mark McCreary, Wichita, and Ruth Ruggles, Winfield, have each received a 2008 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, an honor worth up to $5,000 for study abroad. More than 1,100 students nationwide applied for as many as 400 scholarships. The scholarship is part of a congressionally funded program offered through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Twenty K-State students have now won Gilman scholarships since the award's inception in 2002. February 2008
* K-State has been recognized as one of the top 30 colleges or universities in the nation for military students by Military Advanced Education magazine. The magazine's first review of top colleges and universities for service members, released in late 2007, recognizes institutions that make significant contributions to military education and serve the needs of military students. K-State has provided educational opportunities specifically to the military and their families by working on post at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, on the Manhattan campus, through K-State at Salina, through 2+2 agreements with community colleges, and through distance education. In addition to providing a variety of degree and certificate programs for military members, K-State offers Servicemember Opportunity Colleges for the Army agreements for military students, which make it possible for them to complete 15 credit hours with K-State and earn the rest of an associate degree, or complete 30 credit hours and earn the rest of a bachelor's degree from anywhere in the world. K-State also offers online as well as face-to-face degree and certificate programs, including master's and Ph.D. securities programs with Fort Leavenworth. February 2008
* A $1.548 million investment from the Kansas Bioscience Authority and top-notch federal biosafety training both came to K-State's BRI -- Biosecurity Research Institute -- in spring 2008. The Kansas Bioscience Authority's board of directors dedicated $1.548 million to the BRI to add high-end video capabilities to the institute's educational infrastructure. The grant will be used to purchase and install several high-resolution cameras with pan, tilt and zoom capabilities, as well as mobile video systems for use in the research labs. High-quality audio capture, editing and reproduction technology also was purchased to allow the BRI to produce and distribute professional-level training videos, as well expand its capabilities in the distance-training arena. In addition, the BRI will be the first in the nation to host the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program's biosafety and biocontainment curriculum. The training is a recent initiative of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Division of Occupational Health and Safety at the National Institutes of Health. The Frontline Foundation organizes the program, which will provide the latest in professional education to those who handle biohazardous materials in biocontainment laboratories. February 2008
* Research and publications by faculty members in 2007 earned the department of plant pathology a top 10 ranking in The Chronicle of Higher Education's annual assessment of scholarly productivity. The department ranked eighth among all U.S. research universities. February 2008
* The Kansas Bioscience Authority has announced a $2.5 million initiative to add more horsepower to K-State's research capabilities in addressing threats to the nation's food supply. The Collaborative Biosecurity Research Initiative will bring K-State's unique biosecurity research capabilities to investigators across the nation. The program will offer researchers from academia, the federal government and non-profit groups a chance to conduct research at K-State's Biosecurity Research Institute and develop solutions to today's biosecurity problems. Under this program, the authority will fund research awards of up to $500,000 to investigators for projects conducted in partnership with Kansas researchers, and that take place at the Biosecurity Research Institute. January 2008
* K-State and Fort Riley are strengthening their commitments to assisting soldiers and their families by creating a Cooperative Extension program tailored to the needs of military personnel. A new memorandum of understanding will allow K-State Extension family and consumer science programs, affiliated with the College of Human Ecology, to give military families information on diverse family-related issues. Topics could include parenting, family communication, child and youth development, nutrition and food preparation, physical activity and health, and money management. K-State also will be contracting with the Department of Defense and Fort Riley to deliver education based on their specific needs. In a related effort, the College of Human Ecology is working to increase the clinical services it provides to Fort Riley families through K-State's Speech and Hearing Center and the Family Center. January 2008
* Juergen Richt, K-State's Regents Distinguished Professor, is one of Kansas' first Bioscience Eminent Scholars. The Kansas Bioscience Eminent Scholars Program is designed to attract distinguished bioscience researchers to Kansas research institutions, as well as their research and commercialization activities. An eminent scholar is a relatively new hire and an individual acknowledged as a scholar of distinction by national measures. The honor also comes with roughly $2 million in research funding over the next five years. Richt, an expert in emerging zoonotic diseases, is a veterinary microbiologist who has worked with multiple agents of zoonotic potential, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease, animal flu, borna virus and other emerging diseases. Zoonotic diseases, those that can be transmitted between humans and animals, are a growing concern for pubic health. He is one of two Kansas Bioscience Eminent Scholars for 2008. January 2008
* A nationwide survey rates academic programs offered in K-State's College of Architecture, Planning and Design as among the tops in the nation, as well as the interior design program offered through K-State's College of Human Ecology. According to the 2008 survey of leading design firms across the nation, conducted by the journal DesignIntelligence and the Design Futures Council in conjunction with the Almanac of Architecture and Design, K-State ranks first among bachelor of landscape architecture programs; fourth among master of interior architecture/design programs; sixth among master of landscape architecture programs; eighth among bachelor of architecture programs; eighth among bachelor of interior architecture/design programs; and13th among master of architecture programs. K-State offers programs in both interior architecture and product design, through the College of Architecture, Planning and Design, and in interior design through the College of Human Ecology; for survey purposes, the programs are combined. The annual survey is conducted to determine the top 15 colleges and universities for architecture and design in the U.S. A cross-section of firms with a disbursed geographic profile -- including firms that are leaders in their market sector and that have won major national, state, local and market-sector awards -- were surveyed. January 2008