I\nbegin this column as I started the last one \u2013 focusing on the same three words\nthat capture the personality of Fort Hays State University: Care. Innovation.\nGrit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However,\nthis time I am not pleasantly reminiscing about Dr. Zeng\u2019s plank challenge.\nInstead, I am ardently focused on navigating critical health and safety\ndecisions for our beloved university \u2013 amidst a sea of constantly changing\ninformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our\nactions, and my decisions, must be guided by care. We learned a lot when our\non-campus students transitioned to remote learning this past spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One\ncritical lesson was that when professors simply took the time to reach out to\nstudents to demonstrate enhanced flexibility with issues such as deadlines, it\nmattered. The students felt cared for. The learning still occurred. Faculty\nhonored the fact that many students were dealing with challenging\ncircumstances. Staying engaged with students is caring in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along\nthe same lines, people are extending grace to others. During our Facebook Tiger\nLive Conversations (TLC) every Thursday, I tell our guests if your children (or\nin my case my dog, Gracie) make noise or in some way cause a commotion, embrace\nthe moment. Laugh. Introduce the children to, and tell stories about, other\nsimilar mishaps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nlike how Patrick Lencioni captures this: \u201cIt is time we put more emphasis on\npersonalism and less on professionalism. By this time, we have seen our\ncolleagues in their pajamas during Zoom calls as they negotiated the demands of\nbored kids, noisy pets and disheveled homes, all while trying to work from the\nchaos of their living room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At\nFort Hays State, with grace at the helm, such moments build community and help\ntear down walls between work and family life. Those moments reinforce our ethic\nof care \u2013 and that makes us individually and collectively better. We are a\ndiverse and welcoming community, dedicated to sharing ideas and serving the\ngreater good. We invest in lifelong relationships that nurture the humanity in\nall of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our\ngrit continues to show up across this university \u2013 here in Hays and across the\nworld. It is indeed the \u201coil that greases our wheel.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nlove what our athletic director, Curtis Hammeke, shared with me: \u201cWhile this\nsummer has proven to be filled with ongoing uncertainties, frustrations and\nvarious emotions surrounding the effects of COVID-19 and its impact on society,\nit has been a true reflection of the benefits of participating in collegiate\nathletics \u2013 things like overcoming adversity, dealing with change or getting\nknocked down and getting back up.\u201d He used words like resilience,\ncompetitiveness and work ethic, and compassion, respect and team unity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While\nCurtis truly captured the essence of a successful athlete, his statement also\nepitomizes the spirit of this university and our roots in Western Kansas. We\nare resilient and determined to succeed. We never give up. We are driven by the\ntriumph in a job well done. Challenges are our opportunities, and we are at our\nbest when the going gets tough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grit\nis our bonding agent between caring and innovation. Since 1986, our grit has\nenabled our innovation, and innovation has fueled our grit with our students in\nthe Technology and Engineering Education Collegiate\nAssociation (TEECA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\ntreasure how former President Edward Hammond explains why our TEECA students\nare so successful in competitions with other schools across the country. Led by\nour quality faculty in the Department of Applied Technology, our students have won\nan impressive 91 regional championships, 32 national titles and numerous\noutstanding chapter awards in 34 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr.\nHammond said that while students from other institutions have a lot of \u201cbook\nsmarts,\u201d a lot of our students grew up in Western Kansas, where they learned\nhow to fix practically anything with baling wire and duct tape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The translation: We approach problem-solving from a very practical and proven perspective. We are thinkers and doers who turn ideas into action, enhancing the quality of life for those we serve. Our bold approach inspires purposeful change and adds value to the student experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things that make our university distinctive is how we have taken a far-sighted approach to serving Kansans \u2013 a 12 percent growth in enrollment over the past seven years. We are central to the social and economic fabric of this region, and the Hispanic College Institute is one way we are connecting with our growing Latino population \u2013 a 23 percent growth in enrollment over the past five years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Central\nto all of this growth is our relentless focus on value. Just a few years ago,\nwe were recognized as one of the top 10 most affordable universities in the\nnation. And we still are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our\ninnovation has resulted in 19 consecutive years of growth. We are one of a\nselect few universities (less than 10 in the nation) to earn certification from\nthe U.S. Distance Learning Association. \nThis certification is based on a thorough 120-point criteria\nadministered by senior distance education leaders who volunteer their expertise\nto advance quality distance learning academic practices. Our online education\nis among the best in the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lessons we learned to earn our 19-consecutive years of growth are the same lessons that continue to inform our path forward in this pandemic crisis. The pandemic may have stripped us of hand shaking but not of the many ways we demonstrate care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COVID-19\nhas strengthened our well-honed spirit of innovation and the grit and courage\nto deliver the best value in education to students anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are Fort Hays State \u2013 a university community serving 53 countries, every branch in the military, every state in the nation, and every county in Kansas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I begin this column as I started the last one \u2013 focusing on the same three words that capture the personality of Fort Hays State… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12323,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Mason-Tisa-040A6662.jpg?fit=750%2C1050&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55819,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55818\/revisions\/55819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}