Letters to Campus

December 2015

Greetings and happy holidays from Anderson Hall!

During this time of year, I often tune my car radio to listen to both traditional and contemporary Christmas music. One of my favorites is "The 12 Days of Christmas" — the more traditional version, as well as versions by Alan Sherman and Bob and Doug McKenzie.

For your holiday enjoyment, here is the official K-State President 2015 version of "The 12 Days of Christmas":

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me the longest legislative session in Kansas history!

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two outstanding and thought-provoking Landon Lectures by Steve Forbes and Jeh Johnson.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me three new buildings, either done or started this year, including the Vanier Family Football Complex, the KSU Foundation Building, and renovations of the Seaton Complex/establishment of Regnier Hall.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me four consecutive years of raising more than $100 million in private philanthropy to support K-State.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two national fifth-place recognitions in the Princeton Review for "students love these colleges" and for "best-run colleges."

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me K-State students on six continents participating in our first-ever massive open online course, or MOOC, focused on health and wellness.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a seventh consecutive win over both KU and Iowa State in football.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me the excitement of attending eight different graduations each December to congratulate our newest K-State alumni.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me nine consecutive national championships for the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Robotics Team.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 10 outstanding presentations done by K-State graduate students at the 12th annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 11 regular meetings per year with the Kansas Board of Regents.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 12 months of working with exceptional K-State faculty, staff and students.

Thank you for making 2015 a great year. May your holiday season be filled with joy, family and, of course, purple.

Go Cats,

Kirk