MANHATTAN — Kansas State University is coming to your community.
As the nation’s first operational land-grant university, K-State is launching a new presidential initiative focused on the people of Kansas and their communities. Every academic year, K-State will visit nine communities throughout the state to listen and learn from the Kansans who live there. The initiative kicks off with the first community visit on Thursday, Sept. 1, in the Flint Hills region of Riley, Pottawatomie and Geary counties.
The community visits will include a day of conversations, events to highlight community partnerships and extension relationships, service projects and recruitment activities. The events for each regional community visit will be free and open to all Kansans: community members, leaders, families, current and future students and parents.
“With our leadership in all 105 Kansas counties, K-State is uniquely positioned to serve Kansans in a diversity of ways unmatched by any other university,” said K-State President Richard Linton. “Our community visit initiative gives us the opportunity to celebrate and expand upon our relationships across the state, ensuring we are continuing to find new and innovative ways to meet the needs of the people of Kansas.”
To celebrate the upcoming Flint Hills regional community visit, Manhattan Mayor Linda Morse will sign a proclamation declaring Sept. 1 as K-State & Community Partnership Day. The signing will occur at the Manhattan City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
The Flint Hills regional community visit will include a variety of events throughout the day to connect with the community and celebrate multiple partnerships in the area. Everyone is invited to three major public events on Sept. 1:
• Community open forum, 8:30-9:30 a.m., Hilton Garden Inn, Manhattan Conference Center. Linton and K-State students will host a dialogue about university and community connections and the student experience.
• Mobile food distribution service project, 4 p.m., C-1 parking lot, Chester E. Peters Recreation Complex. Through HandsOn Kansas State, community members, students, faculty and staff can participate in a service project to address food insecurity in the community.
• Calling all ‘Cats, 6-7:45 p.m., K-State Alumni Center Ballroom. Interested students and their families can hear from current students and experts to learn about the K-State experience. Registration starts at 6 p.m. and the program starts at 6:30 p.m.
View a full schedule of activities for the Flint Hills visit.
After the Flint Hills visit, the other regional community visit dates for the fall 2022 semester include:
• Tuesday, Sept. 27, Ford County/Dodge City.
• Wednesday, Nov. 2, Greater Kansas City area.
• Monday, Dec. 5, Central Kansas/Salina.
The five spring 2023 semester locations will include locations in northeast, south central, southeast, southwest and northwest Kansas. More details about each visit will be provided closer to the dates.
The community visits will help to shape K-State’s new strategic plan to become a next-generation land-grant university. These regional community visits will serve as an important first step in how K-State engages Kansans through this planning process and how the university listens to communities throughout the state about the future of K-State.