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K-State Today Student Edition

November 3, 2015

What is a provost? Follow @KStateProvost on Twitter to learn more

Submitted by Provost and Senior Vice President April Mason

The academic year is in full swing, and the energy around campus is unmistakable: the K-State Family is hard at work. As students, life is busy and your days are full with class obligations and opportunities to grow and learn both in and out of the classroom. All the while, the university is in a phase of growth and advancement — as you can tell from the construction dust around campus and the commitment of faculty and staff to expand the programs and services they offer to our students.

Last month, after five years of planning and hard work, a comprehensive campaign to raise $1 billion for Kansas State University — for our students, for our faculty and for new physical facilities — was kicked off. Innovation and Inspiration is the name of this eight-year effort, and the launch event featured some amazing examples of both. It was perfect K-State. Purple everywhere, stories, pictures, readings and music — all captured by wonderful students and committed staff and faculty. For more about my tweets, tears and takeaways from this powerful and truly inspirational event, check out my latest letter to campus.

As we continue to build and change together, it is clear that strong communication, both across campus and beyond its borders, has never been more valuable. One of my personal goals for the current academic year is to expand my own efforts to engage the K-State community and the public with the work and progress of the university. Through the launch of a new Twitter account and some dynamic updates to the website for the Office of the Provost, I hope to build my own capacity to serve our university and you as students.

Twitter Launch:
With my new account, @KStateProvost, I plan to highlight some of the inspirational elements of K-State, including student and faculty achievements, growth of academic and university programs, and a chronicling of our journey towards becoming a Top 50 public research university. I know that many of you as students — in addition to several of our K-State faculty members, departments and programs — have a presence on Twitter and that it has become a key network for reaching out across campus and around the world. It is my goal to support these efforts and join the conversation that has extended our community into the online space. If you're on Twitter, I hope you'll consider following and engaging throughout the new semester and beyond.

Website updates:
In addition to my social media presence, the beginning of the semester also saw the launch of a number of Web updates to help make the Office of the Provost site more dynamic and user-friendly. On the site, you'll now see: a scrolling banner that will highlight, on a rotating basis, the units and programs that report to my office, a feed of recent news stories that feature K-State, a listing of my recent communications to campus — including my latest tweets, and a new section of "Provost Picks" where I will pull together highlights and hot topics based on current initiatives from my office and across campus.

Through these new media — both directly and indirectly — I hope to answer some of your questions. What the heck is a Provost? What's the role of a university and its students in the world? What's the big deal about K-State 2025? How is K-State working to grow its capacity to create value for students and expand opportunities to support and empower them? What's happening at K-State now, and where are we headed with our future?

I'm excited to have those conversations and continue the academic year with a focus on my personal goals, the goals we've built together for the future of K-State, and — most importantly — your goals and pursuits personally, academically and professionally.

Onward together!

April Mason