Building our future: Advancing through strategic investment and operational excellence
A letter from President Richard Linton.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Dear K-State community,
Everything we do at K-State serves a fundamental purpose: creating positive societal impact here in Kansas and across the world. That work happens in our research and discovery, engagement and through our teaching and learning as we prepare graduates for the next generation workforce.
K-State is welcoming more than 3,000 students into its ranks of alumni at this spring's commencement ceremonies.
I am excited as we celebrate the class of 2025 with our commencement ceremonies held last week in Salina and, in just a few days, in Manhattan. Families and friends will watch K-State graduates cross the stage and celebrate their resilience, dedication and achievement with pride and excitement.
Graduates: know the entire K-State family is proud of you.
You embody the very purpose of our university, and we cannot wait to see what you do as you continue your journey.
However, our tasks extend beyond getting our students in their caps and gowns. As we wrap up another academic year, I’m eager to share our exciting developments in our ongoing work strengthening K-State’s operations and impact. Our progress reflects a shared commitment in excellence and our determination to fulfill our vision as the next-generation land-grant university in ever more effective ways.
We are committed to excellence by collaboratively focusing our research, scholarship and teaching across our Next-Gen K-State Opportunity Agenda in Community Health and Well-Being, Global Food Security and Biosecurity, Enabling Technologies and Sustainability, transforming our community and our state. Through legislative partnerships, industry collaborations and community engagement, we’re building an ecosystem that drives innovation and prosperity in these areas across our campus and throughout Kansas. When K-State thrives, Kansas thrives.
Legislative investment in our vision
As you may have read from Dr. Marshall Stewart’s recent update, we had several key funding victories from this legislative session:
- $128 million (of $130 million total) for a new Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory – This investment recognizes our critical role in supporting Kansas’s $12.9 billion livestock industry and our commitment to excellence in biosecurity, where many of our graduates will earn jobs and grow as leaders.
- $3.9 million for faculty and staff salaries – This needed investment will help K-State remain competitive by retaining the talented people who make K-State exceptional, creating social and economic impact for our state.
- $2 million recurring funding for the College of Veterinary Medicine – This addresses our faculty-to-student ratios, supports operations and provides scholarships for students planning to practice in rural Kansas, helping more Kansas students become veterinarians.
- We’ve also secured additional support through the Kansas Board of Regents, including funding through the Campus Restoration Act for facility maintenance and improvement, which improves campus health, well-being and sustainability for the future of our university community of students, faculty and staff.
These investments reflect the state’s confidence in our direction and impact, which will benefit our university for years.
Improving how we work
Many of you have contributed to our Campus Master Plan, which after 14 months, is nearly complete. Unlike previous efforts, this plan integrates all three campuses into a single vision for our physical spaces.
We’ve made real headway on deferred maintenance, eliminating $128 million through targeted renovations and demolitions since 2023, and over the next two years, more than $100 million in additional investments will occur across our campuses.
You might have noticed improvements in our classrooms through the Flip This Classroom initiative. Nearly half of the targeted rooms have already transformed into modern learning spaces.
K-State recognized 30 professors who earned tenure at a ceremony earlier in the spring semester.
We can’t make use of these excellent new facilities without wonderful people. By funding critical initiatives and systems through the One K-State Fund, we can invest directly in areas that will increase our operational excellence. Our Compensation Study and Career Architecture Development initiative engaged hundreds of university stakeholders to ensure we develop competitive systems that recognize your contributions. The Building Next-Gen Leadership series has connected with over 1,300 employees, and more sessions are coming this fall for our university community.
On the systems front, the One K-State Fund supports simplifying our operations with a new staff Performance Management process and a single time and leave system launching this fall. These changes may seem small, but they free up valuable time for the work that matters.
Another initiative taking shape is the work focused on improving digital accessibility across K-State. As Provost Jesse Perez Mendez and Dr. Thomas Lane recently shared, the accessibility task force is establishing five working groups to update policies, secure content remediation tools and develop training programs before our April 2026 deadline. This isn’t just about compliance — it’s about living our values and supporting all within our community so they can thrive. Thank you to all who participated in the recent town hall and engaged with this critical work.
And, when it comes to the health and well-being of our community, campus safety is a top priority. We’ve enhanced the K-State Alerts system, and we will soon launch a new safety mobile app to replace Rave Guardian. We’re enhancing our ability to monitor activity on our campuses through technology and implementing a unified badge reader system that started with Bluemont Hall. The new badge system will continue to be expanded across several other key buildings this summer.
Moving forward together
I’m proud of what we’re accomplishing together. From advocating for legislative investment to transforming our physical spaces, from improving our systems to enhancing safety, we’re building a stronger and more sustainable K-State for today and for years to come.
I appreciate your dedication to our university and its mission. I’m confident that working together as One K-State, we’ll continue making remarkable progress.
As always, Go ‘Cats!
Richard Linton
Kansas State University President