Introduction
K-State is committed to our mission as the nation's first land grant institution, of fostering excellent teaching, research, and service that develop a highly skilled and educated citizenry necessary for the economic well-being of Kansas, the nation, and the international community. This mission includes a commitment to the discovery of knowledge, a quality education for undergraduate and graduate students, and the improvement in the quality of life and standard of living for all Kansans. Within this mission, it is our vision to be among the premier land grant institutions nationally.
As I have mentioned previously, like many major public universities in the United States, K-State has faced numerous challenges in recent years related to budget support, expectations regarding accountability, and policies that impact student access, technology innovation, and faculty recruitment. Through our strategic investments in our Targeted Excellence program and our priority setting initiatives, as well as through empowering each of our administrative units to be more entrepreneurial and collaborative, K-State has responded aggressively and effectively to the many challenges we face as we continue to serve the citizens of Kansas and indeed the world.
We are focusing upon our niche strengths -- those areas in which we are, or can become, national and/or international leaders. And we are doing this in an environment that requires our sensitivity to national challenges for higher education that currently revolve around four themes: accessibility, affordability, accountability, and the need to be more globally connected.
In the area of accessibility and affordability, we at K-State have continued to proactively set aside a significant part of our tuition receipts to provide financial support and access to students with the greatest need. We are also increasing our efforts to enhance the overall diversity of our student body and faculty in ways that will strengthen our university commitment to serving as the “people’s university” within the state of Kansas. And despite the necessity for us to raise tuition, we have been careful to not price our tuition and fees above a competitive level -- so it is no wonder that we continue to be recognized as one of our nation’s best buys and as one of the most affordable institutions in higher education anywhere in the country.
We are also making efforts to increase our measures of accountability, as reflected in our recently approved three-year performance agreement with the Kansas Board of Regents. Our performance agreement focuses on four goals, including improving efficiency, effectiveness and seamlessness; improving learner outcomes; increasing targeted participation and access; and increasing external resources. In the area of external resources, for example, we have had record years of private giving at commitment levels that exceed $90 million per year, and we will soon conclude a highly successful $500 million “Changing Lives Campaign.” And thanks to our outstanding research faculty, our total research enterprise is now over $200 million and we have been ranked in the top 4% of all universities and colleges as a “research, highest level of activity” institution by the Carnegie Foundation and we were also recently recognized by Kaplan Publishing as one of the top 25 cutting-edge universities based on key cutting-edge curricula that we offer.
In the area of global competitiveness, we are sending an ever increasing number of students to study abroad, we have developed new targeted excellence investments in regional specialties (such as East Asia), and we have recently secured record levels of international contracts involving our faculty. Currently, approximately 18 percent of our students will have some type of international experience before they graduate from K-State, and we are working to involve even greater numbers of our students in this very important opportunity.
An Entrepreneurial University
Advancing K-State on numerous fronts not only involves setting priorities and responding with a sense of urgency to the challenges we face, but it is also based on creating an entrepreneurial mindset focused on moving K-State forward toward its vision of being a premier land grant institution. Well, what does being more entrepreneurial as an institution mean? I think we would agree that, as academics, we are charged with two major responsibilities -- creating new knowledge and transferring existing knowledge.
Knowledge generation is foundational, whether reflected in basic science or through creative work. So is the ability to transfer our knowledge -- whether in the classroom, through research findings, or via performance. One could argue likewise even for taking research from discovery to application.
In the context of entrepreneurship in academe, I feel that as we create new knowledge and then transfer that knowledge, we are acting in an entrepreneurial way when we are more innovative, when we are more purposeful in action, and when we are more watchful for new opportunities as they present themselves, all while simultaneously striving to instill such attitudes in our students. So we are focused on our academic core, with a commitment to building new knowledge, while at the same time having the potential to explore ways to take creative ideas and research discovery to the next level of application as part of fulfilling our land grant mission.
In the Timmons entrepreneurial model (figure 1), we see three core circles around opportunity, resources, and team, with input through communication, taking advantage of opportunities and through effective engagement of our faculty, staff and students. In the context of K-State, we have applied this model with input from strategic themes that have helped guide our priorities, budgets and faculty hirings (figure 2). And targeted excellence has allowed us, at least at the interdisciplinary level, to help define some areas where we have the potential for higher levels of national and international visibility. We have also created a new Center for Engagement and Community Development, the Commercialization Leadership Council, and strengthened our affiliation with NISTAC as part of our efforts to bridge knowledge generation with new opportunities for growth. In part this has allowed us to also take advantage of moving inventions to venture, but we also have created new departmental and university wide curricular additions such as capstone experiences, leadership studies, and the university honors program, and we have appointed committees to consider a first-year experience program and an interdisciplinary entrepreneurial studies program. These activities have allowed us, then, to recognize for what is best in our traditions, as well as to embrace new challenges and opportunities.
The recently released report from the National Governors Association entitled "Innovation America: A Compact for Post Secondary Education (2007)," states that a truly innovative post-secondary education system must do the following:
1. Foster among its graduates the critical skills and capabilities needed to enhance state economic competitiveness.
2. Produce a well qualified K-12 teacher corps that is highly skilled in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.
3. Create new knowledge by investing in research and development and by establishing policies that facilitate the translation of new ideas into innovative products, processes, and services.
In many ways K-State is well out in front regarding what the National Governors are recommending as we translate our efforts in priority setting and through being more entrepreneurial into ultimately fulfilling our land grant mission. Dr. Wefald will elaborate on the impact of priority setting in his comments but I wanted to briefly comment on the success of our targeted excellence program to date in helping to move K-State forward as an entrepreneurial and premier land grant institution. Then I want to conclude with an update on our successes relative to the broader institutional priorities as a result of our strategic efforts and being entrepreneurial.
Setting Priorities and Targeted Excellence
As I mentioned earlier, the transformation of K-State as a premier land grant institution is fundamentally based on our commitment and approach to setting priorities. Coupled with setting priorities, our efforts to focus strategically have been stimulated by the substantial investments through our Targeted Excellence program -- which made its first awards in 2004. This program was conceived to:
* Leverage the expertise of our faculty
* Make significant contributions to teaching, research, and service
* Have the potential to gain significant extramural funding, and
* Elevate the national recognition of the university.
* Based on the success of projects to date, 6 institutional focus areas have evolved. They are:
* Food safety and security
* Biosciences, genomics and bioinformatics
* Community Development and Engagement
* Human dimensions of global change and sustainability
* Security studies, and
* Technology innovation and commercialization.
Through setting priorities and through Targeted Excellence investments in the food safety and security area, for example, we now have here at K-State arguably the premier food safety and security program in the World. Coupled with this, a few years ago, as part of this focused investment effort, we funded a $2 million food safety and security grant through Targeted Excellence, which has led thus far to over $7 million in additional extramural funding directly linked back to this initiative.
Directly related to our efforts in food safety and security are our Targeted Excellence efforts in genomics. Led by Sue Brown in Biology, K-State scientists are involved in the application of genomic approaches to solve problems in insect biology that are related to human, animal, and plant health, and they are developing resources and expertise in functional genomics and bioinformatics. This effort has already generated over $1 million in additional extramural funding and more will be forthcoming. Then too, starting this fiscal year, through Targeted Excellence we are funding a new Beef Cattle Institute. This Institute, which involves faculty from 5 colleges, will conduct leading edge research and outreach that will advance knowledge and be beneficial to one of Kansas’s most important industries.
In the area of human dimensions of global change and sustainability, we have numerous Targeted Excellence funded projects that are elevating K-State’s reputation and enhancing its leadership role in this area. The Center for Sustainable Energy, for example, which was funded in this latest round of Targeted Excellence, will conduct research and outreach efforts focused on global, sustainable energy systems coupled with lower greenhouse gas emissions. This project involves 10 faculty members from three different K-State colleges and is an excellent example of the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration that we are promoting. Another important sustainable resource in Kansas that is significant economically and environmentally is water. Our Targeted Excellence efforts, through David Steward, Steve Welch, Eric Bernard, and other faculty members from four different colleges, are helping the state of Kansas better understand the complex dynamics associated with water resource management decision-making. This $300,000 investment through Targeted Excellence has generated over $1.4 million thus far in extramural funding, and has advanced our regional decision-making process significantly.
These are just a few examples of our successes in taking an investment of several million dollars and helping to elevate key multi-disciplinary areas.
Institutional Priorities and Successes
We in the central administration are extremely proud of the efforts at every level to set priorities in the past few years, and we have made significant progress toward achieving our institutional vision for the future. As you know from my previous comments, institutional priorities have focused on strengthening support for our productive faculty and staff; strengthening the learning environment for our students; enhancing our commitment to graduate education and research; enhancing the success of our library; enhancing the technical infrastructure; enhancing diversity; and enhancing economic development and communicating the value of K-State to the citizens of Kansas. I would like to update you briefly on some of our successes related to these priorities.
1. Strengthening support for our productive faculty and staff B we have developed:
* spouse/dependent tuition assistance program that is much used and has led to numerous positive comments from benefitting faculty and staff
* professorial performance awards that are rewarding our successful full professors and helping address an area where we have the greatest salary compression issues
* targeted salary enhancements for the most productive faculty B which have included approximately $500,000 per year the last three years
* Targeted Excellence Program
* New Faculty Institute and a revamped new faculty orientation process
* New Department Head Training Program
* more endowed professorships in various colleges
* additional faculty awards in various colleges
* new award for mentoring undergraduate students in research.
2. Strengthening the learning environment for students B we have:
* improved learner outcomes
* continued to build a strong and viable Honor and Integrity program with the leadership of David Allen
* formed a new University Honors Program under the leadership of Steve Kiefer (now with over 400 students enrolled)
* undertaken a re-vamping of our General Education curriculum to align it more closely with our approved learner outcomes
* enhanced international Study Abroad experiences and placed more emphasis, generally, on internationalization to improve educational experiences for all of our students
* established assessment plans for all degree programs and annual reporting on progress related to assessment
* implemented new award for distinguished undergraduate student in research
* worked toward implementing the First Year Experience Task Force recommendations
* established the Entrepreneurial Curriculum Task Force
* approved new MS/PhD programs in Architecture, Planning and Design and in Security Studies
* continued our annual teaching retreat, Peer Review of Teaching project, and LEA/RN Program
* initiated use of laptops for all Veterinary Medicine students, coupled with a new teaching/learning paradigm
* established the Q-Center in Mathematics and new African Studies Center (both funded through Targeted Excellence)
* have begun restructuring DCE to better serve our students and support our faculty.
3. Enhance the quality of graduate education and research B we have:
* elevated the Vice Provost for Research to a Vice Presidency
* continued the Targeted Excellence initiative to develop and foster interdisciplinary areas of competitive advantage
* established new degree and certificate programs designed to take advantage of our niche strengths, e.g. in food science, and in family financial planning
* partnered to begin development of a campus in Olathe
* dedicated the BRI building creating unprecedented opportunities for new research and training initiatives in food safety and security
* engaged in targeted recruitment to increase diverse graduate student populations
* hired a new Regents Distinguished Professor: Juergen Richt
* established a new U.S. Department of Transportation sponsored University Transportation Center
* been selected as one of five finalists for the NBAF site
* had record levels of research funding.
4. Enhance our Library's status B we have:
* continued significant base budget enhancements
* eliminated the libraries' long-term debt and interest obligations associated with the building
* enhanced service to both students and faculty B including 24 hour access
* increased collections and ease of use
* restructured the library staffing and administrative structure to provide better service to the university community
* installed new reference-linking software to improve access to resources
* and enhanced our regional consortium alliances, e.g. Greater Western Library Alliance
5. Enhance technical infrastructure B in addressing this priority, we have:
* begun to restructure ITS with a commitment to better serve our stakeholders
* maintained our commitment to enhanced security of information and personal data
* strengthened our award-winning mediated instruction
* continued to grow our distance education
* established greater collaborations (e.g. Great Plains Idea, Access Us, Big 12 Nuclear Engineering)
* implemented new Wildcat ID
* operationalized electronic theses/dissertations
* added podcasting capability
* added electronic grade submission
* developed more high-tech classrooms, enhanced K-State Online and improved wireless connectivity (recent new tech classrooms: Leasure 13, Bluemont 122, Waters 348, Dickens 207 and Humanities Commons in Willard 217)
* implementing new iSIS: student information system, which is a huge undertaking that impacts the entire university
* received significant “down payment” on deferred maintenance
6. Enhance diversity across the spectrum B major progress has been seen by engaging in
* greater outreach to minority and first generation students (Developing Scholars Program, Bridges, Pilots and Besitos)
* maintaining our commitment to internationalization, bringing more foreign students here and sending more students from our campus to study abroad B clearly in our ever increasing connected world we need to promote understanding of other cultures through such efforts
* consciously focusing on recruiting and retaining minority faculty and students
* promoting the careers of women faculty and students in science and engineering through such efforts as the NSF Advance Program and the Women in Engineering and Science Program
* designating assistant deans for diversity in the colleges
* embracing the multicultural competencies identified by the Tilford Group and initiating a new multicultural curriculum grants program
* focused growth of the American Ethnic Studies, Women's Studies, and Leadership Programs. In fact, the American Ethnic Studies Program is poised to have its own stand-alone major
* the curriculum transformation project for Expository Writing I: teach writing skills and address multicultural issues simultaneously
* the World Bank project in Afghanistan: Engineering, Business, Arts and Sciences, and others are involved
* establishment of recruitment offices (e.g., Beijing)
* continued support for the International Educator Award (4 years old)and the Enhancing Diversity Award (5 years old)
* And, enhancing our focus as a university on the importance of greater domestic and international diversity on campus to meet the changing demographics of Kansas and the nation.
7. Enhance economic development and communicate K-State's value to the state and its citizens by:
* partnering with the community to develop and house a new NISTAC facility B including development of incubator space in our research park for K-State affiliated companies Bthe new building opened in January 2007.
* collaborating with government and industry in the biosciences, including becoming a key player in the Kansas City area animal health corridor
* operationalizing new Center for Engagement and Community Development under the leadership of David Procter (and assisting the Greensburg recovery in significant ways -- -7 colleges have contributed toward this recovery effort)
* continuing the Commercialization Leadership Council which I chair and which provides links among our campus, the KSU Foundation, the KSU Research Foundation, our community and the state of Kansas as it relates to commercialization
* adding new research centers (e.g. Biobased Polymers by Design, Center for Sustainable Energy)
* continuing enhancement for transferring patented technology from KSURF
* acting as a catalyst in the creation of an integrated bioenergy system (SIBC in Holcomb, Kansas).
Summary Comments
So I think you can see, through our entrepreneurial mindset, through priority setting and our strategically focused Targeted Excellence investments, K-State is making substantial progress toward becoming a premier land grant institution. Through these strategic efforts, we are increasing our research dollars, creating greater recognition of our faculty and students, enhancing our undergraduate and graduate programs in ways that are elevating our stature nationally and internationally, and creating excitement among our alumni and corporate partners that is leading to record levels of giving to the university. Such synergies contribute to continued improvement in our ranking as one of the nation’s top land grant institutions and help strengthen Kansas State University as a university that is student centered, entrepreneurial, and forward-looking in better serving the citizens of Kansas, the nation, and the world.
This is a time of great change in higher education, nationally, but K-State is clearly showing itself to be a dynamic institution that is actively embracing new ideas through focused, strategic efforts. It is through the commitment of all of our faculty, staff, students, and administrators that K-State is recognized as the diamond on the prairie. It is in this environment that it is truly exciting to serve as your provost and senior vice president.