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Media Relations
Kansas State University
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6415
media@k-state.edu
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Source: David Procter, 785-532-6868, dprocter@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/procterbio.html
http://www.k-state.edu/cecd/
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu

Monday, June 23, 2008

FOUR PROJECTS RECEIVE FUNDS FROM K-STATE CENTER FOR ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

MANHATTAN -- Projects to improve rural schools, agro-tourism, local food networks and the state's work force all are beneficiaries of spring 2008 grants from the Center for Engagement and Community Development at Kansas State University.

"These incentive grants are intended to increase collaborations between the K-State campus and communities on public issues of need around Kansas and throughout the world," said David Procter, center director.

Projects receiving grants include:

* Technology-Enhanced Collaboration -- Schools and Teachers Engaged in Professional Development. Directed by Tim Frey, assistant professor of special education, the project takes on the design, delivery and evaluation of an on-line model of professional development for K-12 schools in rural Kansas. It will be a collaborative effort between the Center for Rural Education and Small Schools, two rural school districts and K-State faculty in the College of Education and College of Human Ecology. K-State and the partner school communities will engage in a collaborative effort to develop and test a new instructional approach.

* Biscuits and Bison: Great Plains Foodways Connection. Through research and education, this project will celebrate the state's food heritage and its contributions to the American culinary tapestry. Led by Jane Marshall, an instructor and writer with the College of Human Ecology, and Deb Canter, head of the department of hotel, restaurant, institutional management and dietetics, the project will develop the framework for a statewide organization to host events, develop archives, generate publications and sponsor research by K-State students and faculty. Collaborators include Roger C. Adams, associate professor and rare book librarian at Hale Library; Karen De Bres, associate professor of geography; Gayle Doll, director of the Center on Aging; Gerad Middendorf, associate professor of sociology; and Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd Institute for Rural Development.

* Transportation Network Development: Leaping the Hurdles for Local Foods Markets in the Kansas River Valley. The project will address transportation for local food distribution. Vincent Amanor-Boadu, assistant professor of agricultural economics, designed the project to engage K-State faculty and students, the Kansas Rural Center, local producers and economic development personnel, as well as institutional buyers of local foods. Amanor-Boadu hopes to identify opportunities to increase local foods sales through efficient and effective models and processes. The project also will quantify current transportation of local foods and identify gaps and opportunities.

* Matchmaking Made Easy: Helping Jobs, Young Workers and Trainers Find Each Other. Betty Stevens, associate vice provost at K-State's Division of Continuing Education, is bringing together postsecondary educators, trainers, high school counselors, parents and employers in a pilot program to improve postsecondary choices for high school graduates and adult workers. A central goal is to identify and remove real or imagined barriers that prevent individual graduates from finding and entering a suitable educational path. Participants include the Division of Continuing Education, K-State at Salina, Highland Community College, Northeast Kansas Area Technical College and the K-State department of special education, counseling and student affairs. Local employers, high school counselors and parents also will contribute.