Kansas State University taught Kale Monk ’10, ’13 many things, but the most important was how to be a “servant leader.” 

As a freshman, he got involved with K-State CRU and traveled to Mississippi for a Hurricane Katrina relief effort. That trip forever changed his view of the world. 

“K-State was the first place I learned the importance of service,” he said. “That trip really impacted my view of a world that was bigger than myself. It can be tempting to think you are going to change the world with a service trip, but just one week of service is often not enough to put a dent in the real need of a community, and this trip was certainly a greater benefit to me than I was to the people I was serving.”

The trip started Kale on a path that eventually inspired him to change his major to psychology and family studies and human services, and also seek a master’s degree in couple and family therapy while at K-State. After earning a Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, he is now an assistant professor and state Extension specialist at the University of Missouri. As a professor, his work focuses on maintaining healthy intimate relationships. His research has been featured in prominent national and international media outlets, including The New York Post, USA Today, TIME, The Wall Street Journal and more.

In recognition of his work, Monk is being honored with the K-State Alumni Association Student Alumni Board’s 2019 Distinguished Young Alumni Award. (Watch for an article about fellow 2019 DYA Award recipient Dr. Charley Cull ’12, ’14, ’16 in the March 2019 issue of @K-State.) 

The DYA Award recognizes two K-State graduates who are younger than 35 and are using the scholarship, leadership and service experience they acquired at K-State to excel in their professions and contribute to their communities. The Alumni Association and Student Alumni Board will honor Monk and Cull when they return to campus Feb. 25-27 to give keynote presentations and visit with student groups and university classes.

“I am humbled to receive this award from my beloved alma mater,” Monk said. “Kansas State is such a unique place. K-State graduates are some of the most loyal and proud alumni I have encountered in my time in academia.”

Learning to serve

Monk said that before K-State, he did not even know that the field of family science existed.

“I am not sure I would be doing what I am doing today if it was not for Kansas State,” he said.

In addition to fostering his passion for service, K-State is also where he learned about the importance of human social relationships.

“Close relationships are considered key determinants of health and can exert a stronger effect on well-being than other well-accepted risk factors like physical activity, smoking, hypertension and environmental pollution,” he said. “In fact, those who are lonely or socially isolated have an elevated risk of premature death. Yet many government agencies and health care funders have been slow to recognize the importance of close relationships compared to other public health priorities. K-State provided me with great mentors who taught me a lot about helping relationships and still provide me with key guidance in my research and career.”

While he was at K-State, he decided to minor in leadership studies and look for ways to serve within the Staley School of Leadership Studies, starting as a student founder and program coordinator for the K-State Volunteer Center of Manhattan (now HandsOn K-State). He also was involved with the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society. Each organization he was involved in taught him something valuable that he continues to carry with him.
 

Giving back with purple pride

Although Monk is no longer on campus, he is very proud of the fact he is a K-State graduate, and he continues to share his purple pride wherever he goes.

“Although my peers at other universities are proud of their alma maters, they are often stunned by my K-State pride,” he said. “When walking through cities for work with these friends who graduated from other institutions, they constantly hear me yelling ‘Go State’ to someone in a KSU sweatshirt or witness me starting conversations with pedestrians who have Powercats on their hats. Sometimes it’s so excessive that I even embarrass my non-KSU affiliated friends who just don’t understand. Once in Chicago, for example, I spotted a K-State license plate and stopped a group of my colleagues so I could leave a note on the parked car telling the owner about the Wildcats in Illinois watch parties.”

His advice to current and future alumni is to keep promoting that K-State family spirit. 

“It is critical to build your network of professional relationships,” he said. “We don’t get anywhere alone. Reach out to other members of the K-State family — fellow alumni, faculty and staff. Because of our pride in our alma mater and the sense of service that is instilled in us, I believe you would be hard pressed to find a K-Stater who is not willing to help a fellow alum in some capacity. With that being said, it is also important that we ‘pay it forward.’ Good relationships are not without reciprocity. As engaged alumni, we need to be willing to help others and our alma mater.”

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” 

Adrian Rodriguez — Kansas State University’s associate vice president for student life of diversity and multicultural student affairs — shared this quote from Martin Luther King Jr. as K-State began its preparations for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Week in January.

The week provides an opportunity for the university to reflect on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and to celebrate the role that education plays in promoting diversity and inclusion, providing a place for students to develop critical thinking skills and learn about different points of view.

“May we all come together to honor each other and to continue our great work toward equity and justice,” Rodriguez said.

View photos from some of the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Week events in the gallery below.

Kansas State University is a spot that Jerilyn (Johnson) Houghton’s parents loved full well. 

“It was where they first met, where they fell in love, where they shared many fun and lasting memories, and where they spent the final chapter of their 57-year marriage,” said Houghton, herself a 1982 K-State grad. 

Houghton shared her parents’ K-State love story in response to a callout for the K-State Alumni Association’s monthly newsletter, @K-State.

In the fall of 1947, former student Kathleen “Dee” Currie was standing in the long enrollment line at Nichols Gymnasium, eager to start her freshman year at K-State, when she first met Bob Johnson ’50.

“My mother’s version and my dad’s version of how it happened don’t match exactly,” Houghton recalls. “Dee remembered him flirting with at least one other female student first. Bob recalled that once he saw Dee standing there, his only interest that day was meeting her. Nonetheless, the spark started.”

Dee and Bob shared a passion for sports — Bob enrolled at K-State and was recruited to play on the K-State basketball team, and Dee played softball and volleyball and loved horseback riding. Bob and Dee started a friendship that fall on campus that blossomed into love by the next spring.

On Feb. 6, 1949, they were married in Manhattan, Kansas. Coaches Jack Gardner and Tex Winter, along with Bob’s teammates, were in attendance.

Both Dee and Tex encouraged Bob to get his teaching degree in physical education and become a coach. Bob ended up coaching high school and college basketball in Kansas until 1980. Dee became a nurse’s aide. They raised six children.

“Through the years, Bob and Dee’s loyalty to K-State never waivered,” Houghton said of her parents. “They attended many K-State sporting events and Legends Basketball Reunions. On Feb. 4, 2006, they participated in a Legends Reunion at Bramlage Coliseum and took in a double header of K-State basketball with the men’s and women’s teams. It was to be their last Wildcat Wabash together. Later that night, Dee suffered a massive stroke and died five days later. Bob died in June 2007. K-State sweethearts forever.”

K-State love stories

We were touched by all the wonderful Wildcat love stories shared for this article. You can read all the stories that were submitted below:  

Ruddy (Yanez) Benavides ’13

I met my sweetheart, Mac Benavides ’13, during my first year at K-State. Mac was the founding member of the K-State Council of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which I joined shortly into my first semester on campus. In spring 2011, K-State’s council hosted the Kansas LULAC State Convention, and Mac and I were paired up to present a panel discussion.

That was the beginning of our on-again, off-again friendship. We kept running back into each other semester after semester, but we never seemed to understand the signs. Then, in 2013 Mac graduated and began working as a K-State admissions representative.

What are the odds that he would end up being the K-State point of contact for my hometown? I didn’t even know he was still in Manhattan when I approached New Student Services about a bilingual college-access presentation I wanted to host for Latino families in my community. And who should answer, but Mac.

We met at Bluestem Bistro — Mac came prepared with bilingual brochures and ideas about content for general college-access presentations, with a purple flare, of course. I have no idea what we talked about during that conversation, but later that week, we started dating. 

In June 2015, Mac planned a scavenger hunt that took me throughout Manhattan to revisit our favorite dates. The hunt ended at Bluestem Bistro, where it all began, and Mac asked me to spend the rest of our lives together. We were married a year later, in Allen, Texas, in a VERY purple celebration. 

We’re no longer living in Manhattan, but we will never forget that K-State was our first home as a married family.

Amy (Smith) Beneke ’14

My husband, Bryant ’15, and I met our junior year at K-State. I was on the Classy Cats dance team, and my husband was one of the Willie the Wildcats. We both ended up going to the Kansas State Fair that year for a pep rally.

He caught my eye during the trip so when we returned to campus after the trip I found him on Facebook, added him as a friend, and then waited. A few days later I posted about having Classy Cats posters for sale and sure enough to my surprise he messaged me on Facebook about wanting to buy a poster from me.

After many Facebook messages back and forth, we agreed to meet up on campus so I could get him the poster which ended up being “the best $5 he’s ever spent.”

And the rest is history — we’ve been married 2 1/2 years and have a 7-month-old baby girl!

Janet (Wolfe) Bova ’70

My “happily ever after” story began over a century ago with my grandparents...

Mae Hildebrand 1914 and Charles Lyness 1912 met while both were students at K-State (KSAC at that time). They married in June 1915 and had five children. The youngest was Anita. 

Anita Lyness (former student) met Clayton Wolfe ’51 while they were both students at K-State. They married and had three girls — all attended K-State, as did four of their grandchildren. Clayton and Anita will soon celebrate their 71st wedding anniversary. Their oldest daughter is me. 

Frank Bova ’70 and I met while we were both students at K-State; it was at a party after a KU-K-State basketball game. (K-State won 71-68, so it was already a special night. It also just happened to be Valentine’s Day — romantic, right?) This year will be our 48th anniversary. 

We have two daughters, both also graduating from K-State. The oldest daughter is Kristen ’00, who met Kevin Dayo ’05 while they were both students at K-State. After both had graduated, they married and had two sons. They will be celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. 

So that is four generations, all meeting their sweethearts at K-State. The pressure is now on one of their sons to continue this K-State tradition.

Jeff Ellison ’90

Becky Matles ’91 and I met crossing opposite ways over the threshold of my house on Anderson across from Memorial Stadium (now the Alumni Center). Well, at least we gave each other “the look.” We met later that evening at the house party my roommates and I were having. We hit it off with some things in common, one being the love of racquetball. We made a date for the next day or so to play. 

Little did I know her knowledge of racquetball was exaggerated to say the least. That was almost our last date. Fast forward to the next year, I was trying to find a date, so I remembered her name and looked up her number in the student phone book (yes, that was a thing in the ’80s). I called her and said, “You may not remember me, but we sort of went out last year.” She did remember! 

I asked her out for the weekend, but she had to work. She said she was available for that night, though, if I wasn’t doing anything. I checked and had about $14 dollars and an open schedule.

We went to a movie then to Aggieville for a bite to eat. I was limited in funds so I just got a drink and said I wasn’t that hungry. I had about $4 left so I suggested we go to Last Chance for a pitcher of beer. I knew they were $3. So we sat and talked for quite a while and then a woman with a basket of flowers walked up and said to both of us, “Would you like to buy the pretty lady a rose?”

I knew there was only one dollar left in my pocket so I asked, “How much?” She replied, $3. I said, “Nope.” I was sure that I was making an awesome impression.

The next day I went to the flower shop and ordered a vase of flowers, and put it on my “emergency credit card” as a lame apology for not buying one the night before.

That was about 30 years ago. We have three kids and a great life together. K-State helped us become our family, and we love it like home.

Amy (Gates) Farthing ’96

We were set up for a blind date to Lance’s ’95 fraternity barn party in the fall of 1992. We ended up having a fun time that night and would soon find out we had a lot in common. We were together through the rest of our time at KSU.

Our engagement occurred at Tuttle Creek, and a candle-lighting ceremony surprised my sorority sisters the following week. We were married in 1996 with many of our K-State friends in attendance.

During our 22+ years of marriage, we have continued to be loyal Wildcat fans. We would be proud to have our high school daughters make the decision to attend KSU in the coming years.

James “Jim” Hall ’72

Teresa Thomas ’71, ’72 and I met on a blind date to the first football game at KSU Stadium in 1968. The Wildcats, under Vince Gibson’s and Lynn Dickey’s ’71 leadership, beat the Colorado State Rams, 21-0. 

We were eyewitnesses to the fire in Nichols Gymnasium in December 1968 and enthusiastically chanted “Here come the ’Cats, everybody rise ’cause here come the ’Cats” in Ahearn Field House as the Wildcats reached the Sweet 16 in 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1973 under Cotton Fitzsimmons and Jack Hartman. 

We spent many evenings in the Farrell Library stacks “studying” and talking in the old University Rose Garden where Bluemont Hall now rises. We married in the summer of 1971. 

Upon the completion of our studies at KSU, we joined the Army as a family and spent 21 years in Virginia, Germany, Missouri, Nebraska, Korea and Louisiana. From 1982 through 1985, we lived in Manhattan as we were assigned to Fort Riley, and we introduced our three sons to KSU Stadium, Tuttle Creek and Vista. 

Mark Hall ’03, our middle son, graduated from K-State, and we love to dress our four grandchildren in purple. Although we have lived in Texas for the past 25 years, we are still Kansans at heart and will be Wildcats forever.

Alexa (Hodes) Hewitt ’10

I met my spouse, Matt Hewitt ’09, while we were students at K-State during the 2008-09 school year. Matt was a senior and I was a junior and we met in Student Foundation. The more we got involved in the organization, the more we ran into each other on campus and during greek-life events.

Pi Phi was having a Barbie-themed date party, and a group of us went as the Spice Girls. We had a pre-party at the Beta Barn since my sorority sister was dating a Beta (who also happened to be in Matt’s pledge class; Matt lived at the Beta Barn as well). I was dressed as Posh Spice, and as Matt was getting ready to leave the barn for another sorority date party he stopped by me and said...

“If Posh Spice needs a David Beckham later, let me know.”

Turns out, both date parties were at Tubby’s — one in the back and one in the front — and Matt ended up coming over to my date party. The rest is history! We’ve been together for 10 years, married for four, and have a 1.5-year-old son.

The Holste family

The Holste family shared their multi-generational collection of K-State love stories:   

Harlan ’79 and Ruth (Biesenthal) Holste ’81

Harlan and I first met at a Lutheran Youth Group activity organized for KSU students. It was Harlan’s senior year and I was a sophomore. Harlan graduated in the spring and went back to his home in western Kansas to farm with his family. 

As Holste men are typically not big phone conversationalists, many letters were exchanged as well as frequent trips made to Manhattan, and vice versa. After a wedding in June 1981 following my graduation and three children and nearly 38 years later, we are still farming near Atwood, Kansas, and still making frequent trips to Manhattan to visit our children and attend games. 

Our children all graduated from K-State as did their spouses. We’ve been accused of not thinking outside the box, but we are quite comfortable in our purple box. It’s like home.

Dallas ’06 and Andi (Holste) Burnum ’06

After spending a summer cycling I thought, “Heck. Why not join the KSU Cycling Club team?” I was one of maybe three girls on the team and was still very green. He never spoke a word (engineering major) and had just finished being on the U.S. National Cycling Team for three years. 

One bleak late fall day, he posted he was going to do a 100-mile ride. Anyone could come.  With nothing going on, I took that “anyone” literally and ended up being the ONLY person to show up. 

Hours later, still catching his draft and clinging onto my handlebars for dear life in the wind, we made it. I remember he had asked if I wanted to get some food. We went to crowded Old Chicago, ordering calzones at the bar. By the time the bartender turned around we had polished them off. It was quite possibly the quietest first date in all the world. (I was just hungry and didn’t think it was a date.)

Two weeks later we verbally decided to get married and 12 years later we’re still here.

Adam ’08 and Chelsie (Unruh) Holste ’08

I always joke that Adam and I met at a date party...that we attended with other dates. Adam and I met as sophomores in 2006 at the ADPi spring formal, though we weren’t there together. I had a date of my own, and Adam was stepping in as a date for one of my best friends whose boyfriend was out of town.

I remember thinking he was cute and kind of quiet but also charming and a little goofy. He seemed like a nice down-to-earth guy...a gentleman and exactly what you’d expect of someone in FarmHouse. After formal, it was time for finals and summer break. Adam ended up messaging me on Facebook at the beginning of break, striking up a conversation about finals and my summer plans. We casually sent a few messages back and forth over the summer, getting to know each other a little bit along the way.

We crossed paths a couple more times, and it wasn’t long before Adam was taking me out for coffee (or in his case, hot chocolate) at Bluestem in Aggieville. We shared many walks through campus and made countless memories around Manhattan, and by May 2008 Adam was proposing on the putting greens of Colbert Hills. We married in June 2009 at the K-State Gardens, and now nearly 10 years later, we are still making memories together and have two beautiful daughters, Hadley and Henley.

Dusty ’10, ’13 and Bethany (Holste) Willard ’11, ’13           

Dusty and I met at a K-State basketball game. We were sitting on either side of a mutual friend, and he noticed me while Wabashing. A couple of days later, I got a call out of the blue from my friend, asking if I was interested in going on a date with one of his friends who saw me at the game. He assured me he was a good guy, so I said I would meet him. 

We officially met after the next home basketball game, and the rest is history! We’ve been married for seven years, and have our wonderful son, Finn. 

Bonnie (Byrne) Hoover ’85 

I came to K-State from Wichita, without any idea I would be meeting my K-State sweetheart and future husband. I pledged the Alpha Xi Delta sorority, and one year later, from Garden City, Kansas, my future sister-in-law pledged the same sorority.

At that time, a K-State fraternity (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) hosted an annual function that sounded to me like a lot of fun! As I was not dating anyone, my future sister-in-law suggested I consider going as her brother’s date.

My future sister-in-law was a good friend, so I agreed to a movie date with her brother before the party, and skipped the whole “Coke date” (a meet and greet type of date to Vista for a soft drink). I jokingly tell my sister-in-law I hold her responsible for everything that has happened since.

We married December 1985, two weeks after graduating, and just celebrated our 33rd anniversary. We have two sons who were raised in the Bill Snyder Family Stadium parking lot. They are both third generation K-State graduates, and we attend KSU games as a family. We’ve hosted many a tailgate for our son’s own fraternity brothers, and have attended several weddings of the next generation of K-State sweethearts. Wouldn’t surprise me if there weren’t more to come. K-State is located in “Manhappiness,” after all!

Roxanne (Biffinger) Hug ’93

My husband Joe ’94 and I met in Moore Hall in 1989. He was roommates with Kory, a good friend of mine. They lived on one wing and my new roommate and now great friend, Brenda, and I lived on the other. We all became fast friends along with several others on our floor.

I really liked Joe from the beginning, thought he was a great guy and even tried to set him up with one of my good friends from back home. We were so young and naive in those days, thinking we knew so much about life...the world. We spent lots of time together, getting to know one another, celebrating and consoling each other during all the ups and downs of early college life.

Fast forward to one snowy March night in 1990, when we shared our first kiss on the International Student Center bridge near our dormitory.

We kept it a secret for a while, I don’t remember how long or even why really, but we were young and falling in love. We had been such good friends with mutual good friends that it came as somewhat of a shock to everyone, maybe ourselves included, when we eventually confessed that we were dating.

It was a coming of age relationship full of mostly highs and a few lows all throughout college at K-State and for a few years after we left Manhattan before going our separate ways one last time in late 1996. Little did we know that this time, the time apart made us both realize that we were better together.

So, in March 1997 we drove to Manhattan “to get tires” (he said). Joe told me that we were going to take a pit stop and to my surprise, right on that same International Student Center bridge, Joe asked me to marry him. We were married seven months later with PURPLE (of course) as our main wedding color.

The past 21 years we’ve been living the dream along with three kids and cheering on the ’Cats every chance we get.

Katelyn Lee

I found my boyfriend, Kalen Rickmon, here in MHK! We are both bakery science majors and met at Bake Club. I was a sophomore and he was a freshman. I saw that a new kid was doing the dishes so I figured I would go over and help him out. However, I saw he was wearing a bright orange Broncos sweatshirt and I am a huge Chiefs fan.

What I intended to say was, “Hi, can I help you with the dishes?” It instead came out as, “I hate your sweatshirt.” We then debated over Chiefs and Broncos for the rest of club, went to my house’s ultimate frisbee game, he bought me Coldstone, and played pool at Moore for the rest of the night.

I’ve been with him for over a year now and I couldn’t imagine life without him.

Mike Mallon ’77

1975 — best year ever at K-State! That’s when I met the love of my life, Susan Sorensen ’77, in Aggieville, of all places. And, yes, she picked me up in Mr. K’s.

We’re going stronger than ever after 43 years. Thanks, K-State! Go ’Cats.




Donna (Vesper) Myers (former student)

My husband, Gary ’82, and I met in April 1981 at K-State. It was a Saturday morning at CiCo Park. My friends and I went to watch some of our friends from third floor Haymaker play a very early morning softball game. 

We did not recognize their pitcher that morning, and after the game we almost hit him in the parking lot. This was Spring Fling week, and that evening he and I were officially introduced at the dance on the Derby basketball courts.

We shall say the rest is history. We will celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary this year.

Cody Wheeler ’09

My wife, Michelle ’09,  and I met in our education classes at K-State in fall 2008. We started dating in 2009, and both graduated in December 2009. I found an opportunity to propose to her at the Bluemont Bell in May 2011.

We got married on June 9, 2012, and then expanded our K-State family in April 2016. Without K-State, there is no way we would have met each other!

A Valentine’s gift for your sweetheart

Looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your K-State sweetheart? Learn more about joint K-State Alumni Association memberships. Membership benefits include the K-Stater magazine, annual wall calendar, our nationwide Wildcat Discounts program and more!

Whether it’s an e-mail, Alumni Club event, awards ceremony or issue of the K-Stater magazine, all the K-State Alumni Association’s programs and publications are a true team effort. We have a passion for connection and communication, helping you get involved and making sure you feel connected to your alma mater, wherever you may live.

We’re excited to announce that some of these programs and publications were recently honored as part of the CASE District VI 2019 awards! CASE stands for Council for Advancement and Support of Education; the organization provides resources and networking opportunities for educational institutions involved in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and more.

You can find a list of the K-State Alumni Association’s 2019 CASE Awards below, and you can click on the links for more information about the programs. We’d also like to congratulate our friends over at the KSU Foundation and the K-State Division of Communications and Marketing, who also received a number of CASE Awards this year (view a full list). Go ’Cats!

Platinum Awards

Alumni Relations
Gold: “A Spot I Love Full Well” – K-State Alumni Center stained glass mural unveiling

Alumni Relations Programs

Regular Alumni Programs
Silver: K-State Alumni Excellence Award and Wall of Distinction
 

Design

Editorial Design
Bronze: From the Ashes layout, spring 2018 K-Stater magazine
Bronze: Coming Full Circle layout, fall 2018 K-Stater magazine

Publications
Gold: Summer 2018 K-Stater magazine

Magazines

Special Issues
Gold: K-Stater magazine, summer 2018 – research issue

Magazine Publishing Improvement
Gold: K-Stater magazine, winter 2017 (redesign)

Writing

Excellence in News Writing: General News Writing
Gold: K-Stater magazine: We want you!, fall 2017; Alumni Excellence, winter 2017; Miracle in Manhattan, winter 2017; From the ashes, spring 2018; Preparing security, spring 2018

Digital Communications

Best Uses of Social Media
Gold: Career Services Facebook live videos
Silver: E-Newsletter Willie the Wildcat cartoon ad

Innovative Uses of Technology: Alumni Relations
Gold: K-State tumbler giveaway

Publications

External Audience Tabloids and Newsletters: Digital
Gold: @K-State alumni e-newsletter – June 2018
Gold: @K-State alumni e-newsletter – August 2018

Special Events

Multi-Day Events
Bronze: K-State Fight Song 90th anniversary

Want to learn more? View a list of past CASE awards. 

Other recent awards

The International Block Party — a partnership between the K-State Alumni Association and the Union Programming Council (UPC) — won the 2018 Center for Student Involvement Cross-Cultural Event of the Year Award. The Cross-Cultural Event of the Year honors a specific event that was planned, promoted and executed adequately, but also aided in increased cultural competency and appreciation across campus, leaving a lasting impact for years to come.

Caps, gowns, diplomas, class rings, invitations and more — there are a lot of details to manage when you’re getting ready for graduation. 

Although commencement ceremonies at Kansas State University aren’t until May, now is a great time to help your graduate start getting ready for the big day! 

Here’s a quick checklist to go over to make sure your graduate is ready to walk across the stage and accept their K-State diploma:

1. Mark your calendar

Save the date for the spring 2019 commencement ceremonies:
Kansas State Polytechnic undergraduate – May 11
Graduate School and Veterinary Medicine – May 17
General undergraduate – May 18

2. Apply for graduation

All students must apply for graduation online, through their student KSIS account. This includes all majors, minors and/or secondary majors. The deadline to apply for graduation is May 10. Since some schools/colleges may have program-specific graduation deadlines, it’s a good idea to check with the Dean’s Office for official dates. Learn more.

3. Check out our Grad Expo

Not sure where to get a gown, class ring, graduation announcements, diploma frame or other graduation must-haves? The K-State Alumni Association’s Grad Expo has it all! Our spring 2019 event will be from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Feb. 25 and Feb. 26 at the K-State Alumni Center. We’ll also have free professional headshots from 1-3 p.m. each day, cookies, prizes and other giveaways. Learn more.

4. Celebrate your achievement

After all the hard work your student has completed to earn their degree, they deserve to celebrate! All K-State students graduating in May or August are invited to attend our Grad Bash on May 9 at the K-State Alumni Center. Graduates can enjoy free food, drinks and live music, and, of course, lots of fun prizes!

Our International Graduation Celebration honors international students graduating in May, August or December. The April 24 event includes the presentation of achievement certificates, refreshments and prizes.

5. Jumpstart your career

During the first 12 months after graduation, new alumni receive free career advising from the K-State Career Center. Learn how you can make an appointment with a career adviser.

K-State Alumni Association Career Services offers personal career consulting to Alumni Association members who have graduated more than one year ago. This membership benefit includes two complimentary hours of career consultations with our alumni career services consultant. To contact Alumni Association Career Services, call 785-532-3392 or email alumnicareerservices@k-state.com.

Although Hale Library’s doors remain closed for now, work continues behind the scenes, restoring one of Kansas State University’s most beloved buildings. 

The library has been closed since a major fire last May. The absence of this popular studying and gathering space was felt on campus during the fall semester, but library staff are encouraged by the progress that has been made.

By the end of November, the library had been totally cleaned and prepared for renovation work, with all the unsalvageable materials removed.

“Every inch of the building has been scrubbed and cleaned,” said Lori Goetsch, dean of K-State Libraries.

The library’s damaged book collection is still being cleaned, with estimated completion in May. Some of the books are being cleaned locally, while others have been shipped to Kansas City and the most damaged to Fort Worth, Texas. In all, 147,707 boxes of books are being restored.

Before the fire, the library was already planning a renovation of the first floor, but that project has now been expanded to the rest of the damaged areas in the building.

One of the new features Goetsch is most excited about is a two-story innovation lab and “maker space” that will provide students with hands-on experiences with new technology, such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence. She hopes the lab will make this technology more accessible to students than it may have been in the past.

The renovated library will offer plenty of group study and collaboration rooms, as well as expanded instruction space and seminar rooms for librarians to teach about library use and research. The size of the tutoring center for student-athletes will be increased as well.

Help for Hale

Although the library’s projected reopening date is subject to change, based on construction schedules and the insurance company, Goetsch said the goal is to open the first floor in fall 2019, with the full library opening in late 2020. There will be a public open house for those who would like to view the new library.

In the meantime, other organizations across campus have reached out and offered their buildings as additional study spaces to students. Goetsch said the K-State Student Union was quite busy this fall, with various colleges and the K-State Alumni Center also opening their doors to students looking for a place to study or meet with classmates.

Since the fire, Goetsch said she has been touched by the outpouring of support from students, faculty, alumni and community members. Many have been contributing to the KSU Foundation’s Help for Hale financial campaign.

“We got a tremendous response from that call to arms,” Goetsch said. “It was very heartwarming. It’s that ‘K-State family’ — it has real meaning for people here.”

Learn more about how you can support the library through the Help for Hale campaign, and stay up-to-date on the renovation progress through the K-State Libraries blog. 

Wildcats showed off their K-State pride and painted Houston purple at the fourth annual Wabash CannonBall Houston gala. 

Approximately 175 K-State alumni and friends attended the gala, which is hosted by the K-State Alumni Association and raises scholarship funds for Houston-area students to attend K-State. 

The event has raised approximately $230,000 over the past four years. So far 16 $5,000 scholarships have been awarded, and another four $5,000 scholarships for the 2019-20 school year also will be presented.

“This scholarship has meant so much to me and my family,” said Katelyn Gehrt, a 2016 scholarship recipient who spoke at the event. “It has alleviated much of the financial burden that out-of-state tuition can be, which has allowed me to fully experience college life at K-State — the best university there is. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for myself and the future Wildcats who will benefit from this scholarship.”

Thank you to all our generous Wabash CannonBall Houston sponsors, who helped make this event possible! VIEW A FULL LIST of the 2019 sponsors, and also be sure to check out all of our UPCOMING WABASH CANNONBALL EVENTS for 2019!

View photos from this fun evening of purple pride:

Kansas State University’s Innovation and Inspiration Campaign has surpassed the $1.3 billion milestone. 

“The Innovation and Inspiration Campaign’s continued success is rooted in the generosity of the K-State family and its belief in the future of Kansas State University,” K-State President Richard Myers ’65 said. “We are thankful to the many alumni and friends who have invested in K-State faculty, students and programs. Your support is key to the university’s success, now and in the future.”

Funds raised through the campaign will be used to support students, faculty, facility enhancements and program support and will advance the university toward becoming a top 50 public research university by 2025. Three signature drivers have helped to build momentum during the campaign’s extension period, which will continue through June 30, 2020:

— The land-grant mission of providing an accessible and affordable education to the people of Kansas and beyond.

— Centers of excellence and interdisciplinary programs — areas where K-State has a competitive advantage and the potential to change the world.

— Substantially increasing the endowment for the future of K-State through estate-planning gifts.

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A family honor

Parents often wonder if they are making a difference through the years of homework, laundry, family shuttle services and teachable moments. For Dr. John ’82, ’84 and Susan Bolton, their three children provided an answer when they accessed K-State Family Scholarship match funds to name a scholarship in John and Susan’s honor, which will benefit students in Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“K-State was very good to me and provided me with an education that has allowed me to have a career in the field of my choice,” John said. “Once our youngest graduated from K-State, I began to wonder what I had done to give back to ‘that spot that I love full well.’ I realized that my K-State legacy is my children. This scholarship is just a more tangible example of that.”

The Boltons’ children and their spouses, Jennifer and Ben, Amanda and James, and Tom, had planned to create a scholarship in John and Susan’s honor using the match programs offered by their employers. When they learned about the K-State Family Scholarship match program, the siblings and their spouses realized they could create a unique gift for their parents while maximizing their support for K-State veterinary students.

“Our parents instilled in us a significant appreciation for education, which has been the foundation of our ability to make a difference in the lives of others,” said Jennifer and Ben. “We are grateful to the matching gift programs from both our employers and the K-State Family Scholarship program for the impact it has on K-State students.”

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