At\nFort Hays State University, we believe tomorrow is made by thinkers and doers\nwho turn ideas into action. We turn challenges into opportunities, and we are\nat our best when the going gets tough. This past year was no exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During\nthese pandemic-challenged months, we kept the lights on and the doors open,\nresponsibly managed our finances without furloughing or terminating employees,\nand experienced a record year for students graduating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nwork to responsibly respond to the economic concerns of the state \u2013 and\nespecially, the rural communities of our region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our\nroots are in teacher education. We embrace this important calling and continue\nto partner with school districts with creative solutions such as transition-to-teaching\nand para-pathways. Just last month, we worked with our local school district to\nhave our teaching interns become licensed emergency substitute teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nsocial unrest plagued our country, our criminal justice faculty and university\npolice department went to work providing solutions. Supported by a $1.25\nmillion grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, we established a regional\nde-escalation center to teach law enforcement officers techniques to help\nresolve potentially dangerous confrontations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nursing\nfaculty understand the challenges nurses face in rural communities and prepare\nour students to meet those needs. That is why our program places special\nemphasis on rural preceptorships and simulations \u2013 creating over 40 unique\nrural care simulations. Starting this fall, our nurse practitioners will log\n25% of clinical hours in rural communities with less than 5,000 people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are focused on the future for Kansas\nfamilies and businesses. Our Transfer & Military Center, for example, encourages\ndegree completion through programs like our Kansas Community College Guarantee\n\u2013 complete an associate of arts or science at a Kansas community college, and\nyou have fulfilled our general education requirements. We\nhave earned \u201cMilitary Friendly School\u201d honors for 15 straight years. Our\npartnership with the Kansas Army National Guard provides a pathway to a\ntuition-free degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nhave built a Kansas computing talent pipeline with seven certificate programs,\neight graduate programs, and undergraduate majors with eight different\nconcentrations. We currently are serving over 400 traditional students as well\nas many mid-career professionals looking to grow their computing skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Near\nand dear to my heart, the key to our success at FHSU is affordability. FHSU has\nthe most affordable tuition among our peers, and our online program is equally\ncost-effective. Using metrics provided by the Foundation for Research on Equal\nOpportunity, we recently reviewed our return on investment (ROI), finding a\npositive return for every FHSU category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nare seeing positive numbers in high-demand positions. Seventy-two percent of\nour nursing graduates stay in Kansas, and 90% of our APRNs work in rural or\nunderserved areas. Our social work program has grown from 100 in 2015 to more\nthan 300 today. Thanks to our new master\u2019s of social work online program,\nsocial workers wanting to advance their careers can stay in place in the rural\ncommunities they serve while pursuing this academic credential. Jobs in the\ntechnology industry are in high demand. Ninety-seven percent in technology\nfields report employment after graduation, with an average starting salary of\n$65,000 to $70,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The foundation of our success rests squarely on the shoulders of our talented faculty, who combine their love of teaching in a smaller, regional university with innovation and forward-thinking to best serve students and the people of Kansas. For example, I am very proud that Dr. Andrew Feldstein, associate provost for Teaching Innovation and Learning Technologies, was just recognized as one of Ingram Magazine\u2019s 2022 Icons of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nare always seeking ways to fill the talent pipeline in Kansas. Two key tools in\nthis endeavor are our Small Business Development Center Network (SBDC) and our\nDocking Institute of Public Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Federally\nfunded and overseen by FHSU, the SBDC is a network of 12 centers across the\nstate which work with small businesses to achieve success in today\u2019s\nmarketplace. Every dollar invested in the network generates $45 in the funding\npartner\u2019s ROI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nDocking Institute facilitates public policy among governmental and non-profit\nentities, providing the research needed for economic development. Among their\nservices are labor availability studies for economic development, economic\nimpact analyses, and housing availability for recruitment\/retention of workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nmy colleague Marion Terenzio recently wrote in an article for Inside Higher Ed,\nuniversities such as Fort Hays State must \u201cabsorb the essence and distinct\ncharacteristics of its surrounding communities \u2013 both to enrich those\ncommunities and to be enriched by them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\ncouldn\u2019t agree more. I know how conscientiously we work for the people of\nwestern Kansas in particular and the state in general. To Marion\u2019s point, our\ntruth is how our diligence is fueled by our students, colleagues, neighbors,\nand communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simply\nput, together we are better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At Fort Hays State University, we believe tomorrow is made by thinkers and doers who turn ideas into action. We turn challenges into opportunities, and… <\/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-64239","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\/64239","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=64239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64240,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64239\/revisions\/64240"}],"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=64239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}