2009-2016

President Kirk Schulz came to K-State in 2009 from Mississippi State University, where he had served as dean of engineering and vice president for research and economic development. In 2010, he revealed K-State’s 2025 strategic plan, which aims to make K-State one of the nation’s top-50 public research universities by 2025.

Under Schulz, K-State experienced its largest enrollment in university history, broken its private fundraising record twice, created a record number of endowed chairs and professorships and established the Presidential Scholarship program, which provides full rides to top incoming students.

“The passion of our alumni, faculty, staff and students for the institution is just incredible,” Schulz said. “If you look at the number of our graduates who are in leadership positions within our state and nation in a wide range of industries, it’s just tremendous. It’s a great time to be a Wildcat, and our future is so bright. I think we’ll look back at this time and say, ‘This was a time where K-State made rapid strides and did some really exciting things.”