Ernie Minton, Ph.D.

Ernie Minton, Ph.D.

Interim Associate Vice President for Extension and Engagement, Special Assistant to the President

As interim associate vice president for Extension and engagement and special assistant to the president at Kansas State University, Ernie Minton oversees Engaged Scholarship, Economic Development, K-State Extension, Military and Veterans Affairs, the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, McCain Auditorium, and the K-State Gardens. In this role, Minton brings deep leadership experience, a strong understanding of Extension and engagement, and trusted relationships across the university and the communities it serves, ensuring K-State’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and engagement continues to strengthen Kansas communities.

Minton brings more than four decades of experience at K-State, including 25 years as a faculty member in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, where he published extensively in the animal and veterinary science literature and served in editorial roles for the Journal of Animal Science, Domestic Animal Endocrinology and other peer-reviewed journals. His deep scholarly roots in agricultural research directly inform his administrative leadership, connecting the university’s research enterprise to its engagement mission and grounding his work in K-State’s identity as a land-grant institution.

As the Eldon Gideon Dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension from 2019 to 2025, Minton led the college to consistent top-10 rankings by Niche.com. Under his leadership, the college achieved record-breaking extramural awards and stakeholder engagement year after year. He championed the Agriculture Innovation Initiative — a $210 million infrastructure effort, the largest in K-State’s history —to advance interdisciplinary education, research and industry partnerships in grain, food, animal and agronomic sciences.

Minton’s extensive national leadership in agricultural higher education — including service as chair of the North Central Regional Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors and as chair of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ Board on Agricultural Assembly Policy board of directors — reflects his deep personal belief in the land-grant university mission. His combination of scholarly achievement, administrative excellence and commitment to community engagement makes him uniquely positioned to advance K-State’s engagement enterprise and its responsibility to serve Kansans.