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K-State Today

January 23, 2013

Olathe campus receives Corporate Citizen of the Year award

Submitted by Kristi Northcutt

The Olathe Chamber of Commerce named Kansas State University Olathe as the 2012 Corporate Citizen of the Year at its 92nd annual meeting Friday at the Holiday Inn-Olathe. The award recognizes dedicated service to the Olathe Chamber of Commerce and the Olathe community.

The chamber cited the campus’ work with Olathe Northwest High School on a pilot program, the 21st Century Animal Health Program, to develop curriculum for bioscience students and allow them to engage in summer research activities and interact with K-State scientists and faculty during the school year. Also recognized was the campus' economic impact, with more than 22,000 people utilizing the facility last year for events, meetings and conferences. In the same year, the university’s K-12 outreach impacted more than 7,000 students and educators in the greater Kansas City region and five graduate degrees programs were unveiled.

The meeting also featured a panel discussion on public higher education, one of the key components to economic development in Olathe. Featured speakers were April Mason, provost and senior vice president at Kansas State, and Bernadette Gray-Little, chancellor at the University of Kansas. Moderation was done by Marlin Berry, superintendent of Olathe Public Schools and Kansas superintendent of the year.

The Olathe Chamber is in the top 1 percent of chambers nationwide with a five-star accreditation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Past winners of the Corporate Citizen of the Year award include nationally recognized companies including Garmin International, Farmers Insurance, Pepsi and Tyson Foods.

K-State Olathe CEO Dan Richardson said, "Recognition like this comes not only from the support of our community, but because of the people within our walls who work hard every day to make K-State's mark on this region, and our wide-reaching K-State family."

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