Forty-one K-State faculty members awarded sabbatical leave
Kansas State University has awarded sabbatical leave to a distinguished group of 41 faculty members for the 2026-2027 academic year.
Awarded strictly based on meritorious achievement, receiving a sabbatical is a significant honor that recognizes exceptional accomplishment and the potential for meaningful, far-reaching contributions.
Sabbatical leave enables faculty to pursue advanced study, conduct research, engage in scholarly and creative activities, or secure appropriate industrial or professional experience that requires depth and focus not possible while carrying a full regular semester workload. Upon returning, faculty members are expected to share the new knowledge, strengthened expertise and innovative perspectives gained with students, colleagues and the broader K-State community.
By supporting focused research and scholarship, sabbatical leave fuels innovations, partnerships and insights that directly benefit Kansans. Faculty frequently describe the sabbatical experience as transformative, as it allows them to advance work that enhances teaching, elevates scholarship and deepens community engagement. The knowledge and creative endeavors cultivated during sabbatical ultimately expand outreach, strengthen educational opportunities and enrich the university's service to communities throughout Kansas.
Faculty members awarded sabbatical leave include:
- Cheryl Boyer, horticulture and natural resources
- Hulya Dogan, grain and food science
- Nathan Hendricks, agricultural economics
- Jessica Canfield, landscape architecture and regional & community planning
- Hyungchan Kim, interior architecture and industrial design
- Susmita Rishi, landscape architecture and regional & community planning
- Lance Bachmeier, economics
- Vorrapan Chandee, mathematics
- Maria Teresa DePaoli, modern languages
- Slawomir Dobrzanski, music, theatre, and dance
- Andie Faber, modern languages
- Tendai Gadzikwa, chemistry
- Loren Greenman, physics
- Hrant Hakobyan, mathematics
- Daniel Higgins, chemistry
- Kristen Kremer, sociology, anthropology, and social work
- Abigail Langston, geography and geospatial sciences
- Cameron Leader-Picone, English
- Zongzhu Lin, mathematics
- Shay Allen Logan, philosophy
- Valerie Padilla-Caroll, social transformation
- Matthew Sanderson, sociology, anthropology, and social work
- Kathrin Schrick, biology
- Michael Veeman, biology
- Anan Wan, media and communications
- Ruth Welti, biology
- Michael Wesch, sociology, anthropology, and social work
- Cen Wu, statistics
- Li Yang, modern languages
- Michael Krush, marketing
- Edward Nowlin, marketing
- Shuang Zhu, finance
- Craig McGill, special education, counseling and student affairs
- Deepak Subramony, curriculum and instruction
- Susan Mary Yelich Biniecki, educational leadership
- Jeongdae Im, civil engineering
- Douglas McGregor, mechanical and nuclear engineering
- Won Min Park, chemical engineering
- Eugene Vasserman, computer science
- Meng Zhang, industrial and manufacturing systems engineering
- Michelle Toews, human development and family science
— Submitted by Office of the Provost