K-Stater magazine 75-year timeline
By Tim Lindemuth ’77
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the K-Stater magazine. Major milestones in the publication’s development are reviewed in this timeline, as are people who edited the magazine, and a few of many historic issues.
May 27, 1950
The idea to create a magazine supplement to alternate with issues of The Kansas Industrialist newspaper produced in the journalism department is discussed at the Alumni Association’s annual meeting.
Dec. 22, 1950
Alumni receiving The Kansas Industrialist are asked to vote for a name of the magazine. They choose The K-Stater.
January 1951
Journalism professor Merrill Samuelson edits the first issue of The K-Stater at his office in Kedzie Hall. Journalism department head Ralph Lashbrook ’29 is listed as the editor, but actually served as publisher, a fact he acknowledged in the second issue. Architecture instructor Elmer Tomasch designs the 32-page magazine. The Alumni Association pays the postage to mail it, while the journalism department provides printing and staffing. Four issues are mailed annually.
October 1951
The magazine informs alumni of The Great 1951 Flood and how evacuees find shelter in Ahearn Field House, which opened eight months earlier.
October 1953
Journalism Professor Helen Pansy Hostetter ’40 becomes The K-Stater’s second editor.
October 1961
“The” is dropped from the magazine’s name.
October 1964
Upon the retirement of Hostetter, Dean Kenny becomes editor. He worked in publications and public relations for Thiokol Chemical in Brigham City, Utah. Magazine production moves from journalism to the university’s Division of Information in Calvin Hall. The first paid advertisements appear in this issue.
July 1966
University photographer David von Riesen documents the displacement of more than 450 families at Jardine Terrace apartments and the campus destruction left by the June 8 tornado.
March 1967
Business editor of the Wichita Eagle and Beacon, Dick Haines ’58, becomes the K-Stater’s fourth editor. Five issues of 24 pages are produced annually by Office of University Communications in Anderson Hall.
January 1969
The magazine reports the Friday the 13th fire that consumed Nichols Gymnasium on Dec. 13, 1968.
January 1972
The magazine expands to eight issues annually – three each semester and two in the summer.
October 1975
Temporary editor Sandra Ernst Moriarty ’70, ’75 edits the first of four magazines while Haines takes a leave of absence.
September 1978
Topeka Capital-Journal reporter Tom Carlin ’72 becomes the sixth K-Stater editor, a position jointly funded at that time by the Alumni Association and the KSU Foundation. The magazine becomes independent of the university and moves into Hollis House at the intersection of Denison and Claflin Avenues.
November 1979
Six 28-page issues are produced annually.
May 1983
The Alumni Association creates an alumni editor position and hires Beth Hartenstein Tolentino ’80, ’88, a feature writer of the Grand Island, Nebraska, Daily Independent, as seventh editor.
August 1986
The magazine expands from 28 to 32 pages and includes the first internal page of color photography depicting the new K-State president, Jon Wefald.
July 1993
Assistant director of K-State’s Office of University Relations, Tim Lindemuth ’77, becomes the eighth editor. His second issue reports The Flood of 1993 and opening of the Tuttle Creek Dam spillway.
April 1997
Utilizing new computer desktop publishing methods, four-color photography appears throughout the magazine.
October 1997
The K-Stater identifies the individual who played Sparky, the first costumed Willie the Wildcat in 1947. She is the only woman to perform the role, Adrea Simmons Andersen ’56, a Manhattan High School cheerleader.
February 2001
Four issues of 64 pages each are mailed annually.
Fall 2006
The magazine expands to 84 pages with a squared and glued perfect binding.
Fall 2012
Upon Lindemuth’s retirement, Andrew Zender ’05, development communications coordinator for the KSU Foundation, becomes the ninth editor.
Summer 2015
Former Hutchinson News reporter and three-time Kansas State Collegian editor, Tim Schrag ’12, becomes the tenth K-Stater editor.
Winter 2017
The page size increases from 8.5x11 inches to 9x11 inches.
Spring 2019
The Alumni Association launches the magazine’s new emphasis on storytelling and focus on people.
Summer 2020
The COVID-19 issue reports how the pandemic impacts faculty and students and ushers in new ways of teaching and learning.
January 2026
The K-State Alumni Association celebrates the K-Stater’s 75th anniversary.