November 22, 2021
Louise Benjamin, Karen Solt to be celebrated at December Thirsty Thursday
Submitted by College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences will host a special Thirsty Thursday celebration at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, in the Tointon Great Room of the K-State Alumni Center. At this event, we will honor Louise Benjamin, former associate dean of academic affairs, and Karen Solt, 2019 university support staff employee of the year. These two individuals worked together in the College of Arts and Sciences dean's office for many years and both retired in 2020. We are excited to bring them both back to thank them and celebrate their retirement.
Benjamin joined Kansas State University in 2008 as the Ross Beach chair in mass communications in the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications. She served as interim director of the Miller School in 2012 and 2013. The College of Arts and Sciences named her the associate dean of academic affairs in December 2013.
Her research interests include the history and regulation of electronic media, especially early broadcast radio. She is a former television director-producer and taught writing for electronic media, electronic media history, telecommunications law and policy, media theory, and media research methods. She is the author of numerous conference presentations, published articles, and book chapters on media law and history, as well as two books: "The NBC Advisory Council and Radio Program Development, 1926-1945" and "Freedom of the Air and the Public Interest: First Amendment Rights in Broadcasting to 1935," which won the National Communication Association's Franklyn S. Haiman Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Freedom of Expression.
She received her doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1985 and taught at Indiana University and the University of Georgia before joining the faculty at K-State.
Solt began her career with the dean's office in Eisenhower Hall in January 2009, serving as the administrative assistant for associate deans Montelone and Aistrup and then later for associate deans Benjamin and Tanona. She also provided support for all the college departments with KSIS, Curriculog and classroom scheduling. She served as secretary for the college course and curriculum committee and Beta chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. She was awarded the College of Arts and Sciences 2019 university support staff employee of the year.
Please join us as we celebrate Benjamin and Solt's retirements with appetizers, dessert and a cash bar in the Tointon Great Room of the K-State Alumni Center. If you plan to attend, please RSVP via Qualtrics by Friday, Nov. 26.