TOPEKA, Kan. — At today’s monthly meeting of the Kansas Board of Regents, Shane Bangerter, the regent from Dodge City, read a proclamation recognizing Dr. Edward H. Hammond for “creating an environment that enriches and educates through personal attention, support and tireless promotion of the value of achievement” over his more than 27 years as president of Fort Hays State University.

After serving as the eighth president of FHSU from 1987 to 2014, Hammond’s last official day will be June 30. Although he will no longer be at the helm of the only state university in the western half of Kansas, Hammond will remain on the Hays campus, first as a consultant and later as a member of the faculty.

In the proclamation, Bangerter noted that Hammond had expanded the reach of FHSU by presiding over a successful partnership program with universities in China that resulted in FHSU being the largest non-Chinese university provider of higher education in that country.

“President Hammond was a pioneer in promoting online education with the establishment of a Virtual College that now serves more than 4,500 students, not including those in China,” Bangerter added.

The regents passed the proclamation unanimously and everyone in attendance gave President Hammond a standing ovation.

Hammond thanked the regents and expressed appreciation for their support. “I’ve been coming to these meetings for more than 27 years,” he said, “and over that time I’ve had 115 different bosses. It has amazed me through those years how the regents all have similar characteristics. They all care about higher education, and they do not let their allegiances to any one institution dictate their votes or their activities as a regent. And there is no political party affiliation when it comes to the Board of Regents. That made working for them a real pleasure and honor.”

As a result of building enrollments over the course of his presidency from 4,500 to more than 13,500 students, Bangerter explained, Hammond was able to keep the cost of tuition low at FHSU. The regents were scheduled to consider tuition proposals from the universities during the meeting this week. The average increase was about 4.5 percent. FHSU, which already has the lowest tuition by a wide margin, was proposing the lowest increase — just 2.7 percent — for the 2014-2015 academic year.