KDWPT

GREAT BEND – It’s sure easy to work up an appetite during duck season, and no one may know this more than the staff at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center (KWEC) located at the southeast corner of Cheyenne Bottoms along K-156 Highway. To show their appreciation for the contributions duck hunters make to waterfowl conservation, KWEC staff invite all duck hunters to enjoy a free breakfast on opening day in the Low Plains Early Duck Zone, Sat., Oct. 8, 2016. A free breakfast of biscuits and gravy, coffee and juice will be served from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

“Hunters are an important constituent for the past, present, and future of Cheyenne Bottoms,” stated Curtis Wolf, KWEC site manager. “It is great to be able to celebrate this tradition.”

The free breakfast is sponsored by Great Bend Regional Hospital, with the help of the KWEC, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, and Ducks Unlimited.

After filling up on good eats, hunters can learn about Cheyenne Bottoms’ history, peruse through items in the Cheyenne Bottoms Ducks Unlimited Chapter raffle and silent auction, visit waterfowl identification and hunting information booths, and enjoy some friendly shooting competitions with the Laser Shot hunting simulation system.

Hunters can also get their waterfowl boats safety inspected for free, courtesy of KDWPT Boater Education staff.

Contact the KWEC at (877) 243-9268 for more information.

PLAINVILLE – Over 130 Rooks County Health Center employees and nearly 20 county police, fire and EMS personnel participated in the 2016 RCH Competency Fair last month.

The fair is an annual day-long event where RCH staff review and show proficiency in various department specialties. It is also designed to help refresh skills on some jobs that may occur infrequently.

Speaking about the success of the training, Pam Harmon, Director of Nursing at RCH said, “Thanks to everyone that helped make this such a huge success. Thanks to all the employees that made the sacrifice of staying after their shift to complete their assigned competency trainings as well as those who came in during the day who had to work a shift that night.  We really appreciate all of our staff who make RCH such a huge success. This type of dedication is what keeps our hospital growing and patients coming back.”

This 3rd annual competency fair included new programs reflecting the addition of the new on-site MRI unit which is expected to go live in December. The fair was expanded to include fire, law enforcement and EMS personnel who were trained on how to respond to an incident in the MRI suite, the type of equipment that must be removed when entering the MRI area and when it would be safe to proceed.

“The safety of RCH employees and community service personnel are a top priority” stated Mike Sinclair, RCH CEO said. “We were very pleased with the turnout and response and will be offering more training as the time to go live on the MRI gets closer. We are excited and grateful to be able to include the county emergency responders in our training because these are the men and women who will help safeguard our building and equipment.”

FHSU University Relations and Marketing

As part of its homecoming week activities, Fort Hays State University and the FHSU Foundation announced last Wednesday a $100 million, five-year capital campaign called “Journey,” the largest in the university’s history.

“The Journey Campaign is the largest, most aggressive campaign in school history,” said Jason Williby, president and CEO of the FHSU Foundation, announcing the campaign at a news conference this morning in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center in the university’s Sheridan Hall.

The campaign has four pillars, he said:
• $45 million for scholarships.
• $39 million for programs in the academic colleges, the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, the FHSU Alumni Association and Forsyth Library.
• $8 million for athletics.
• $8 million for student life.

“Our university is an amazing institution, filled with world class faculty and staff, students with tremendous potential, on a beautiful campus with many first-class facilities,” Williby told about 150 people gathered for the kickoff.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t improve, but to improve we need your support,” he continued. “Private dollars have never been more important to higher education than they are today. Help us continue to make Fort Hays State exceptional.”

The campaign’s goal of $100 million was announced by campaign co-chair Steve Shields, president & CEO of Action Pact Development LLC, Manhattan, Kan., Atlanta, Ga., & Milwaukee Wis., which specializes in organizational transformation, design, development and strategic planning in the senior living sector.

Fort Hays State, he said, has always had a tradition of relationships between people of the campus, between the campus and city, between faculty and staff, but it is not locked into traditions that stop growth and relevance.

“We’re now the third largest university in Kansas,” he said. “You want to know why that is? Based on that value of believing in people and connectedness to people and diversifying how we reach people and teach and educate and produce young people to lead the world.”

“We have diversified. We’re not afraid of new. We’re not afraid of failure. We’re not afraid of innovation. We’re not afraid of creating. We’re a nimble university, and we’re the only one I know of that can completely be described like that.

“We need to view ourselves like that, and we need to adopt that for ourselves, and by 2050 I have no doubt this will be the largest university in Kansas but most importantly it will be the most effective university in Kansas.”

That is why, he said, that he has “absolute confidence that this Journey Campaign” will meet its $100 million goal.

“We are living in unprecedented times,” said University President Mirta M. Martin, fresh off the plane from a trip to China. “With unprecedented times come unprecedented, valiant efforts to protect our future. That is why we are here today, to safeguard our values, to safeguard our future, to safeguard our university.”

We are here, she said, so that future leaders produced by Fort Hays State, like past generations, are able to live the American Dream.

Two members of that next generation also spoke: Emily Brandt, Beloit senior and president of the Student Government Association, and Vivian Agnew, Haysville senior and SGA vice president.

“Donors give students the ability to be student leaders, achieve their dreams, and do the impossible without having to worry about the costs associated with living on our own for the first time,” said Brandt.

She continued, “Donors are the reasons students succeed. They are the reason that you are sitting in front of us today and the reason that students on our campus are able to do more, be more and achieve more.”

“We thank donors for their unwavering support and kindness, for their gifts of time and encouragement,” said Agnew. “We thank them for making FHSU the destination of choice and a place that all Tigers can call home.”

Two other co-chairs, Jessica and Tyler Thompson, Kansas City, were unable to attend the kickoff.

For more information on the Journey Campaign and the FHSU Foundation, visit foundation.fhsu.edu/journey.

FHSU University Relations and Marketing

Homecoming 2015, ground was broken. Homecoming 2016, Fort Hays State University’s $3.95 million Dane G. Hansen Scholarship Hall was dedicated in a ceremony this morning.

Appropriately for a residence hall dedicated to aspiring entrepreneurs, the ribbon was cut by the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors at the close of the ceremony, just before the 16 Hansen Hall residents present conducted tours of the building.

Jason Williby, president and CEO of the FHSU Foundation, opened the ceremony with thanks to the major donor that made the scholarship residence hall possible, the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, Logan, which provided $3.5 million of the cost.

“I want to thank the trustees of the Hansen Foundation for believing in Fort Hays State University, for sharing our vision, for investing in the future of northwest Kansas,” said Williby before introducing FHSU President Mirta M. Martin.

“Thank you all for being here today to celebrate the beginning of the next stage of our journey,” said President Martin. “First and foremost, I would like to thank the Dane G. Hansen Foundation and its trustees. Without their belief this dream would not be a reality. Today marks the beginning of the next journey of Fort Hays State University.”

She described the journey as one of pride, emotion and dreams, “but these dreams will become a reality because of individuals like the trustees of the Dane G. Hansen Foundation, who invest in the future of our nation.”

“And the future of our nation are these guys right here,” she said, indicating the Hansen Hall residents in attendance. These students, she continued, will be the leaders and the entrepreneurs of the future who will “become part of the economic engine of Kansas and of the world.”

Doug Albin, a trustee of the Hansen Foundation, said he was asked to speak on two topics, why his foundation would invest in a project like this and “what outcomes we hope to see from it.”

On the first topic, he said, he believes that Hansen Hall reflects the person who created the foundation and funded it from his own entrepreneurial efforts.

“There are a lot of things that might make a person an entrepreneur,” said Albin, “but one thing that I really like about what I’ve heard about him as a person — I never met him — but one of the things I have heard said about him is he saw needs around him and he did what he needed to do to meet those needs.”

Turning to the second topic, he said, “So what we really hope to do in this building is reflective of what Mr. Hansen tried to do, and that was be an entrepreneur himself and help others do the same.”

Indicating the hall’s residents, he continued, “The unique thing here for these students is that I think your ideas will really help each other as you collaborate. I think that will get you a lot further than if you are just out and around on your own.”

The hall, which provides a nationally unique living and learning space for students with a passion for entrepreneurship, is open to qualifying students from all majors, a point made by Dr. Mark Bannister, dean of FHSU’s W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

“Our aim is to inspire students from across campus so that they can create their own careers,” he said. “We want to help them develop entrepreneurial skills by providing them with entrepreneurial experiences and associations. Hansen Hall will make a significant contribution to this process by providing a place where students who share an entrepreneurial mindset can share ideas, hopes and dreams and begin building networks.”

The 12,775-square-foot, three-story building provides individual bedrooms for 32 students and a resident assistant.

Students must complete an application that evidences their passion for entrepreneurship. They may have participated in entrepreneurial classes or activities in high school or college or been part of a startup business or worked in a family business.

Students selected to live there will be required to complete coursework for a 12-hour certificate in entrepreneurship. Students who are accepted pay a lower housing cost than available in other campus housing.

The students participate in weekly entrepreneurship activities, including presentations by entrepreneurs, tours of startup and innovative businesses, visits to business accelerators and events such as Kansas Startup and the Faulkner Entrepreneurship Challenge.

The first group of residents include students majoring in finance, management, graphic art, computer networking, entrepreneurship, construction management and fine arts majors. They range from freshmen to graduate students.

Bannister said that institutions around the country have undertaken similar housing initiatives, but the difference is that they charge students a premium for the privilege.

“At Fort Hays State, we and the Hansen Foundation have taken a different path,” he said. “Our focus is on developing our students, so we have created a scholarship and learning opportunity for these students. The price for admission is not additional dollars, but a demonstration of commitment to their entrepreneurial aspirations through success in their coursework and in completing the certificate program.”

Hansen Hall is the first of its kind among Kansas Board of Regents institutions. It also includes a community room, study areas and collaboration rooms equipped with the latest teaching and learning technologies and spaces designed to stimulate teamwork.

A conceptual feature is the expectation that the overall environment will serve as an incubator for student-based start-up businesses with the intent of benefiting the region, Kansas and America.

“We and our friends and supporters have built one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurship programs in the entire country,” said Henry Schwaller, director of the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship.

“Our focus in entrepreneurship, as in so much else here at Fort Hays State, is on hands-on learning,” he continued. “The Hansen Scholarship Hall extends that focus into their living environment. Students from across many disciplines and departments can associate with each other and foster ideas and creativity toward the common goal of becoming entrepreneurs in their various fields.”

One of the hall’s residents closed out the program. “Living in a community that supports your passion and determination is one of the biggest motivators one can have,” said Gracie Defore, a Wellington junior majoring in tourism and hospitality management. She is taking a minor in leadership studies and earning a certificate in entrepreneurship.

She described the first residents of Hansen Hall as representatives of various majors, groups, organizations and interests from all across campus. But they all share a couple of traits: They are active in the life of campus and community, and they are leaders.

“The students who live in this hall are all very involved individuals. Almost everyone in this hall is a student leader of one kind or another, whether it be in residential life, holding an on-campus or off-campus position, or being involved in sports,” she said.

She also addressed the impact of having a place like Hansen Hall.

“The sense of community that is present in this building is one that cannot be matched by a larger living facility on campus,” she said. “Having such a tight-knit group of the most elite students on campus fosters the creativity needed to build the next generation of ideas in this world.”

By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
FHSU University Relations and Marketing

Arris Johnson stopped in his tracks, looked up at the large murals above him and smiled.

“Seeing those brings back a lot of memories,” said Johnson, a Fort Hays State University graduate and retired professor from his alma mater.

That’s what homecomings are for, recalling memories for alumni ranging from graduates from the era of the 94-year-old Johnson, who began his career at FHSU when he enrolled there in 1939, to those who received their diploma just last spring.

That’s why the FHSU Alumni Association, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, chose Homecoming 2016 as its venue to unveil the fourth in a six-part series of historical murals in the Memorial Union.

The murals, the work of FHSU’s Joel Dugan, assistant professor of painting in the Department of Art and Design, are appropriately named “The Journey.”

“The last one hundred years have been a journey,” FHSU President Mirta M. Martin said at Friday morning’s ceremony. “That journey is going to take us into the next hundred years.”

The first three murals, unveiled this past summer, represent places, Dugan explained. “These next three are about the people,” he said.

The latest mural is an image depicting students forging their legacy by hand carving the seal of the university atop a hill on the west end of campus. The last two murals will be revealed next summer.

Friday, people stood around long after the mural unveiling to reminisce.

“What a great opportunity for each of us to come here and share in those memories and history,” said Mitch Hall, a cattle rancher from Harper who graduated in 2005 and now serves as president of the alumni board.

“Each one of us has some unique opportunities and experiences over the last century we have shared,” Hall said. “Throughout our history, this institution has continued to bring good people together to find ways to make good things happen. Now, we’re going to continue that. That’s why we’re all here; we have a deep-seated love for this university.”

The alumni association has come a long way since its start. But, says current executive director Debra Prideaux, the organization’s mission remains the same.

“Our main mission years ago and today is to serve and engage the Tiger alumni,” said Prideaux, a Tiger alum herself. “We’re very excited that the association has been able to maintain ties to this great university and to strengthen friendships across the world.”

While the alumni association has been recognizing its centennial all year, the celebration promised to reach a peak at the past weekend’s homecoming when hundreds of alumni came back to campus for homecoming festivities.

The alumni association as it is known today was founded in the late 1920s by Nita Landrum, whose husband had come to Hays to teach history at the Kansas State Teachers College of Hays. Her husband died eight years later, but Nita Landrum stayed in Hays to raise her two young daughters.

Nita Landrum worked in several capacities on campus and was appointed executive director of the alumni association by President William A. Lewis in 1924. The basement of her home was first used as an office for the association before it moved to campus in 1928.

Now, there are more than 63,000 graduates in the FHSU Alumni Association’s database.

Coincidentally, this year’s homecoming activities began during the same week that the Kansas Board of Regents announced that FHSU, with its all-time high enrollment of 14,658, has become the third-largest university in Kansas.

“A very influential person in my life told me to come to Fort Hays State, that it was probably the best kept secret in the state of Kansas,” said Hall, who served two terms as student body president during his undergraduate days at FHSU. “I called him last week and told him ‘I think the secret’s out.’ ”

Keeping up with this historical growth is an ongoing challenge, but a welcome one, Prideaux said.

“As that Tiger base continues to change, we also have to continue to assess the needs of the Tiger community and adapt to changing lifestyles,” she said.

Prideaux said she and her staff believe in the same philosophy as the alumni association did back in the early days.

“They made arrangements for homecoming and the annual commencement dinner. They had a quarterly publication for alumni news and celebrated class reunions. They were engaged with the alumni audience,” she said. “Now, we look forward to the next 100 years as we begin a future full of new beginnings, which will commence immediately in 2017.”

In addition to serving as the official record keeper of FHSU graduates — all throughout the United States and 75 foreign countries — the alumni association sponsors numerous events, offers a variety of scholarships, keeps alumni up to date with both written and electronic communication and sets up reunions at homecoming.

There are several new programs on the horizon, Prideaux said, including the Tiger Mentorship program that kicked off last weekend. Alumni will meet FHSU students and act as mentors for them throughout their college careers.

“In the early years, it was the importance of that connection to the university that holds today,” Prideaux said. “We have a very strong engagement with our alumni base, and we look to strengthen those relationships and the friends at homecoming.”

Seven alumni were honored with awards given out at homecoming. Among those will be the Nita M. Landrum Award for alumni or friends who have provided sustained volunteer service for the betterment of the alumni association or FHSU.

“What an honor,” said Dennis Spratt from Lawrence, a 1971 graduate and this year’s Nita M. Landrum Award winner.

Spratt sponsors numerous alumni events in Lawrence because “that’s my way of giving back,” he said. “It’s so easy to do because of the leadership we have here at Fort Hays State.”

Prideaux, the long-time leader of the alumni association, first became associated with Fort Hays State University in 1983 when she moved with her 9-year-old daughter from Salina to Hays, where Prideaux’s parents lived.

She enrolled at FHSU as a non-traditional student, and “it wasn’t long that I had opened the door to a whole new world — the Tiger family — that I didn’t know existed,” she said.

Prideaux earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fort Hays State and worked in several capacities at the university before taking over as executive director of the alumni association in 1997.

“I’ve had ties with Fort Hays State for many, many years,” Prideaux said. “Through all that experience, my daughter became a Fort Hays State Tiger at 9 years old.”

Prideaux’s daughter, Lola Baalman, earned two degrees from Fort Hays State and is now married with four children of her own. Her husband, Mitch, also is an FHSU graduate. And their children, ranging from 7 to 14 years, are familiar with their parents’ alma mater as well.

“The kids have come to camps here; they’ve walked this campus, attended Tiger athletic events,” Prideaux said of her grandchildren, who live in Hoxie. “We hope that one of, if not all, their kids will become Fort Hays State Tigers some day.”

If Prideaux has her way, her youngest grandchild will become a Tiger alum somewhere in the early 2030s.

“These are exciting times, not only for the association but for the university at large. The best is yet to come, ” Prideaux said.

“There is no place better on this earth,” she added, “than Fort Hays State University.”