Uniting K-State's commitment to holistic corporate engagement

K-State knows the challenges facing our future cannot be solved alone. While these challenges require expertise brought together across disciplines, communities and industries, they also need partnerships grounded in shared purpose.

That’s why K-State is strengthening how it connects with corporate partners through a more holistic approach to industry engagement.

With the transition of the Corporate Engagement office to the Office of the Vice President for Research and in collaboration with the Kansas State University Foundation, K-State is bringing colleges, departments, units and researchers closer together to create stronger connections with industry. By working as One K-State, the university can better recognize opportunities, connect the right expertise and build partnerships that create lasting value for both K-State and its partners.

To help advance this work, K-State is partnering with UNITE, a consulting, training and technology company that helps universities maximize the value and impact of their corporate relationships.

The collaboration reflects K-State’s vision as a next-generation land-grant university — one that connects knowledge to action and brings together the strengths of research, education and engagement to address the needs of industry and society.

"Our research, teaching and engagement mission as a next-generation land-grant university will increasingly depend on public-private partnerships," said Hans Coetzee, vice president for research. "We need a strategy so that when industry partners engage with K-State, they engage with us as One K-State. This collaboration with UNITE will help us bring together the full breadth of K-State's expertise to solve complex challenges, create new opportunities and strengthen our role as a leader in innovation and economic growth."

The UNITE collaboration is closely aligned with the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan, which calls for deeper partnerships, greater collaboration across the institution and a renewed focus on translating discoveries into real-world outcomes.

"Our goal is not simply to secure more corporate support. It is to build a culture of holistic corporate engagement where K-State's colleges, units, researchers and partnership professionals work together to create mutually beneficial partnerships that generate greater impact than any single office could achieve alone," said Eric Holderness, vice president of development at the KSU Foundation.

That work begins by listening and learning together.

During the coming weeks, UNITE will engage stakeholders from across K-State’s corporate engagement ecosystem through interviews, internal and external surveys, discussions and data-discovery sessions.

Together, these conversations will help K-State identify its most strategic corporate relationships, establish a shared framework for engaging with industry and create a more coordinated approach to managing partnerships across the university.

The goal is a stronger foundation for shared growth — one where K-State’s expertise and partners’ needs come together to create opportunities that reach beyond any one college, unit or discipline.

UNITE will develop a framework and deliver a report in October. Additional training and consulting with internal stakeholders and relationship managers will follow in the coming months.

This is more than a new approach to corporate engagement. It is an opportunity to grow what matters: stronger connections, deeper partnerships and greater impact for K-State, Kansas and the world.

UNITE is a licensed technology and portfolio company of The Ohio State University. Learn more about UNITE on the UNITE website.

— Submitted by Office of the Vice President for Research and the Kansas State University Foundation