By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/b><\/p>\n
(Video by Tiger Media Network)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A more than 30-year tradition at Fort Hays State University continued today when the university\u2019s president\u2019s Tour of Kansas began with a news conference in Sheridan Hall on the FHSU campus.<\/p>\n However, this year\u2019s tour features the acting president, Jeff Briggs. University President Tisa Mason is recovering from an illness that has significantly reduced her ability to speak.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I have been acting president in the past, I have never quite had the opportunity before me that this week provides,\u201d Briggs said. \u201cI can tell you, I am excited to have the opportunity to tell the Fort Hays State University story.\u201d<\/p>\n Briggs will make stops to visit with media and alumni in 12 cities during the week of Nov. 12 to Nov. 15. Schedule changes reduced the tour by a day from the original schedule.<\/p>\n The annual tour has been a tradition at Fort Hays State since 1987, when it began as a tour of western Kansas by then president Edward H. Hammond, who went on to serve 27 years in that post.<\/p>\n \u201cThis tradition began more than 30 years ago, when a new president \u2013 some of you may remember Ed Hammond \u2013 decided that the story of Fort Hays State University, who it is, why it is here, what it is doing and where it is going, was not a secret to be kept in Hays America but needed to be told everywhere he could take it,\u201d Briggs said.<\/p>\n