People and partnerships powering progress
One K-State creates opportunities in alignment with the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan and momentum for foundational improvements.
Kansas State University is advancing a more collaborative culture through One K-State, a guiding philosophy and framework that encourages people across campuses to work together toward shared goals.
"Imagine a K-State where every college, every department, every person is aligned around a shared vision of what we can accomplish together. That's One K-State," said K-State President Richard Linton.
Anchored in the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan, One K-State reinforces the university's focus on operational excellence by emphasizing collaboration as the key to progress. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to share expertise, streamline communication and work jointly on solutions that strengthen teaching, research and engagement.
"When we recognize that our individual strengths multiply when we're united by purpose, we operate as one university," Linton said. "We solve problems faster, we dream bigger, innovate bolder and create impact that extends far beyond our campuses. That's the tomorrow we're building — one where collaboration isn't just encouraged, it's woven into the very fabric of how we do our work. Because the best version of K-State is all of us, together, achieving something none of us could accomplish apart."
In practice, One K-State is about people connecting across campuses — sharing information, aligning processes and supporting one another to make everyday work more efficient and meaningful.
Working together on time and leave improvements
Teams across the university collaborated to unify how employees request leave and report time, replacing E-Time in HRIS and other systems with a single platform launched on Oct. 26. The update streamlines communication between departments, creates consistent experiences for employees and demonstrates what shared problem-solving can achieve.
"At the heart of it, this initiative is about taking care of our people by ensuring timely, accurate pay and a smoother pay-processing experience," said Amanda McDiffett, assistant vice president of Human Resources operations strategy. "While there are many process improvements in the project, it is highly people-centered and reflects our K-State values."
McDiffett said the change directly supports operational excellence. "By streamlining operational work, we can be more focused on strategic, high-impact efforts that will truly move K-State forward," she said.
Collaboration through geospatial innovation
Powered by a cloud-native ArcGIS Enterprise platform, Geocat is K-State's next-generation hub for geospatial innovation.
"Geocat unites people, data and ideas from across the university through a shared geospatial platform that is unique among U.S. universities," said Shawn Hutchinson, professor of geography and geospatial sciences, ID3A co-director and core lab director of the Geographic Information Systems Spatial Analysis Laboratory.
As an investment in next-generation computing infrastructure, Geocat strengthens K-State's ability to use spatial data in teaching, research and engagement by helping people work together in new and more innovative ways.
Geocat creates new opportunities for collaboration in the classroom and beyond.
"It helps students be more competitive and career-ready by providing hands-on experiences with the same professional geospatial tools used by government agencies, non-profits and industry," Hutchinson said. "For outreach, Geocat opens new doors for engagement with partners across Kansas by allowing faculty and students to co-create interactive maps, dashboards and data stories that translate research findings into actionable insights for communities and decision-makers."
Developed in partnership with ROK Technologies and Amazon Web Services, Geocat's testing phase focuses on training and support to help users collaborate effectively and share discoveries across disciplines.
The project will expand research and instructional use cases while building long-term sustainability plans to keep Geocat reliable for years to come. Amazon AppStream will provide students and researchers with virtual desktops preloaded with ArcGIS Pro software, accessible from personal devices.
A university connected through people
One K-State represents an ongoing commitment to working together across colleges, campuses and communities. Through initiatives like the time and leave system and Geocat, K-State continues to build a collaborative, forward-focused culture where people and ideas move freely and every project contributes to a shared vision for the university's future.