Year-Three Strategies

Person responsible for implementation: Jill Arensdorf

Implementation team members:

Patti Griffin, Muhammad Chishty, Jeff Briggs, Grady Dixon, Dan Blankenship, Paul Adams, and Professional Advisors

Action Steps:

• Cross-training occurs for current and incoming professional advisors
• Professional advisors continue to receive online students
• Hire additional advisors needed – searches begin as soon as possible for five additional positions (3 in CHBS and 2 in WCSTM)
• Beginning in Spring 2022, all online students transition to professional advisors if they are not already served by one (assumes cross training is complete)
• Work with deans, chairs and faculty to determine the faculty mentor model
• For Fall 2022, all new incoming on campus freshmen and new online students will be assigned to a professional advisor and faculty mentor

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

FY22 budget request: $275,000

Person responsible for implementation: Andrew Feldstein & Taylor Kriley

Implementation team members: TBD

Action Steps:

• Develop game mechanics and AI-based feedback mechanisms to provide meaningful and timely formative feedback for students throughout their course experience.
  • By May 2022, all existing FHSU hosted learning platform analytics will be surfaced, refined, and made available for faculty use.
  • By May 2022, faculty will have access to AI-based feedback mechanisms to support their teaching in the areas of:
    • written assignments
    • discussions
    • group interactions 
• Develop Blackboard Learning Analytic Dashboards available for learner activity and engagement, instructional activity and presence, and learner performance and grades.
  • By 2023 Blackboard Learning Analytic Dashboards will be created and made available in the following areas:
    • Learner activity and engagement
    • Instructional activity and presence
    • Learner performance and grades

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

% Increase in NSSE HIP Measures

FY22 budget request:  $102,000

Person Responsible for Implementation: Lisa Karlin

Implementation Team Members:

Experiential Learning Committee members.

Action Steps:

• Partner with Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and academic departments to add internship tags to academic credit bearing internship courses in Workday during Fall 2021
• Develop reports and baseline data for academic credit bearing internships by April 2022

Evaluation:

• By May 2022, a tracking system will be in place to identify academic credit bearing internship opportunities, number of student enrollees, and credit hours earned in internship courses.

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks: 

% Increase in NSSE Internship & HIP Measures

FY22 Budget: Coordinator position at $39,975.00 +benefits

Person Responsible for Implementation: Andrew Feldstein & Taylor Kriley

Implementation Team Members: TBD

Action Steps:

• Grow and promote the use of online learning communities both within courses and outside of courses to increase connections among students and a sense of belonging
• Establish faculty professional development opportunities focused on student experience, belonging, growth mindset, whole-hearted and/or relational teaching
• Increase awareness of Inscribe, Yellowdig, or Campuspress blog platforms to create course-based learning communities

Milestones:

• By May 2022, increase active members of Tiger-2-Tiger with 2000 active members engaging in the online community
• By May 2022, create a comprehensive infrastructure that supports the creation of course base learning communities
• By May 2022, launch a pilot cohort of faculty to complete the student experience workshop (which includes belonging, mindset, & purpose)
• By May 2022, design, develop, facilitate, and assess at least two faculty professional development events focused on student experience, belonging, growth mindset, whole-hearted teaching, student learning communities, and/or relational teaching.” Recent examples (book talks), and Spring PDD Keynote (Peter Felten- RR Education Spring ‘22)
• By December 2021, an AI chatbot
  • Behavioral nudges
  • Interactive campaigns
• By December 2021, Integrate an FHSU-specific Blackboard chatbot experience
  • Personalization at scale
  • Student-specific messaging

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

% Increase in NSSE HIP Measures

FY22 budget request: $35,000 per year.

Person Responsible for Implementation: Andrew Feldstein & Taylor Kriley

Implementation Team Members: 

Nicole Frank, Latisha Haag, Instructional Designer (TBA), Instructional Technologist (TBA)

Action Steps:

• Develop Collaborative Assignments and Projects to create learning as a community activity
• Engage faculty in performing an OSCQR course review focusing on Interaction standards
• Provide opportunities for faculty to integrate collaborative learning assignments in their courses or revise existing collaborative learning assignments using high-impact practices

Milestones:

• By May 2022, launch a pilot cohort training for faculty to perform an OSCQR course review focusing on interaction standards
• By May 2022, 50 courses will be redesigned to include collaborative assignments and projects

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

% Increase in NSSE HIP Measures

FY22 budget request: no additional resources

Person responsible for implementation: Dennis King

Implementation Team Members:

Tim Crowley, Glen McNeil, Jon Armstrong, Vanessa Flipse, Carol Solko-Olliff, Sangki Min, Ron Manry, Kelsey Stremel, Seth Kastle, Grady Dixon, Beth Walizer, Curtis Hammeke, Derek Johnson, and Stacey Smith

Action Steps:

• New Athletic Training Masters of Science: After KBOR and HLC approval, offer an on-campus Athletic Training graduate program starting in summer 2021. This Strategic Enrollment Plan provides funding for a faculty position and marketing money to support the launch of the program
• Expand the Computer Science Bachelors of Science: Over the past three years, the university’s fastest-growing program has been the undergraduate Computer Science. As growth continues, this Strategic Enrollment Plan provides funding for two new faculty positions and a professional advisor over the lifetime of the plan
• New Computer Science Masters of Science: Leveraging our undergraduate population, and meeting market demands, FHSU will begin offering an online Computer Science graduate program in the fall of 2022 pending all necessary approvals. This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds a faculty position to support the launch of the program
• New online History Bachelors of Arts: Develop the remaining course needed to offer the program online. A faculty position was funded for FY2022
• Expand the RN to BSN Program: This Strategic Enrollment Plan added a profession support staff position who will assist in recruitment and retention to one of the high-demand, high-need areas for the region 
• New Online Bachelor of Social Work:   BSW launched in the fall of 2020. An additional faculty position was funded for Fall 2021
• New Masters of Social Work Program: The online MSW was launched in Fall 2020 with an additional faculty member funded for Fall 2021
• Short Courses: This Strategic Enrollment Plan provides funding for online sections to meet the needs of students in need of starting courses during a traditional semester    
• eSports: This Strategic Enrollment Plan provides funding to assist with program management, equipment start-up, recruitment, and association membership
• Transfer and Military Center: This Strategic Enrollment Plan is a recruiting strategy, funding includes a position to provide unofficial transcript analysts and follow up for prospective transfer and military students. The plan also funds a part-time academic military program support position and military recruitment position  
• FHSU Online – Competitive Scholarships: This Strategic Enrollment Plan provides funding to assist FHSU Online in recruiting new students to FHSU
• FHSU Online – TAGGS: This Strategic Enrollment Plan is a recruiting strategy for graduate students from the armed services.  This plan covers the gap between military tuition assistance and the cost of graduate credit   
• High School Counselor Outreach: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds the Office of Admissions to expand the successful Counselor Lunch initiative to other areas
• Hispanic Recruitment: Phase one funding of this plan provides funds to develop multilingual online and paper recruitment and retention materials
• SLPA Certification Program: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds adjuncts salary and a future faculty position, pending enrollment for a national certification from the American Speech-Language Association
• Special Ed Limited Apprentice License: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds a faculty position to continue to growth in the Special Education programs
• MPS Medical Imaging: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds marketing and a faculty position to support a new master’s program
• Shooting Sports: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds a coaching transition and the development of Junior Varsity shooting team
• Clinical Psychology: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds marketing and adjunct salary for a new master's level psychologist licensure program
• MS in Counseling: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds a new faculty position to help grow enrollments and to meet faculty-to-student accreditation requirements
• Unibuddy: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds communication technology that will allow international students and staff to communicate one-on-one with prospective international students
• Regional Rate: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds expanding the in-state on-campus tuition rate to 13 states in the region and adding Admissions Counselors to support the new program
• California/Florida State Scholarship: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds transition our current Special Out of State scholarships (SOS) from states now a part of the Regional Rate and Virginia to California and Florida
• Online/On Campus Marketing Initiatives: This Strategic Enrollment Plan funds partnering with a marketing firm to plan and execute campaigns for enrollment growth

Evaluation:

Many of these action steps are well underway heading into year 3.  Others are planned to begin in year 3. Certain key milestones are:

• Fall enrollment update
• New plan development for year 4

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks:

Each Action Step has its own set of benchmarks tracked by the Strategic Plan team and ELT.  

FY22 budget: 2.3 million invested

Person responsible for implementation: Jon Armstrong

Implementation Team Members:

Vanessa Flipse; Angela Delzeit; Dennis King 

Action Steps:

• Evaluate student response by market segmentation to the net price offer
• Assess the impact of non-financial variables (academic program offering, location, etc.)
• Establish the financial aid strategy
• Evaluate the strategy through regular tracking of admit pool composition, student response to aid offers, aid offered to admitted students vs. aid committed to deposited students, etc

Evaluation: 

• Launched an enhanced scholarship program based on a matrix of ACT and high school GPA
• Grow the university on-campus freshmen and transfer class

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks:

Under development

FY22 budget:  $64,500

Person responsible for implementation: Grady Dixon and Teresa Clounch

Implementation team members:

Jessica Albin, Nuchelle Chance, Sherry Crow, Arvin Cruz, Gyebi Kwarteng, Shannon Lindsey, Amy Schaffer, Deborah Storer, Tina Wolbert

Action Steps:

1. Set quantifiable goals to reduce underrepresentation

2. Embrace retention as a recruiting tool and rename/rebrand the Tilford Group to be more visible and inviting

3. Include verbiage that unambiguously encourages underrepresented candidates to apply to all job openings

4. Provide funding (estimate of $500 per search) for faculty searches to advertise in outlets designed to reach underrepresented groups

5. Encourage faculty to promote diversity by rewarding such efforts in tenure/promotion, annual evaluation, etc.

6. Create “JEDI Fellows” to support search committees and help them ensure equity and inclusion during faculty and staff searches. Associated course releases are projected to cost ~$2500 per fellow

7. Require all applicants for faculty positions to “Describe your experiences working with students and staff from diverse backgrounds, and explain how your experiences have reflected and formed your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

1. Recommendations

2. Justifications

Anecdotal discussions of diversity are common, but data-informed goals and actions seem uncommon because of the arbitrary nature of such specific values. As part of FHSU’s goal to serve students primarily in Kansas, it makes sense for our faculty and staff composition to approximate that of our state. Our committee used U.S. Census ethnic categories and data for Kansas and extrapolated the numbers to 2025 as a target. We then worked with department chairs to establish an approximation of faculty ethnicity as of spring 2021.

The graph below shows how much FHSU faculty are underrepresented (negative numbers) or overrepresented (positive numbers) compared to the statewide percentage of each category. The most obvious shortcoming is for “Hispanic” (not necessarily Spanish-speaking, so perhaps better characterized as “Latino”) faculty. FHSU currently employs 12 (3.5%) Hispanic faculty, which is 34 fewer than we would expect if we reflected the state with 13%. The other two groups significantly underrepresented are those of multiple races (“2+”) and Black faculty. Further, among the 10 Black faculty at FHSU, only 1 is African-American.

These data help us establish clear, simple goals of dramatically increasing Hispanic faculty, Black faculty, and faculty of multiple ethnicities. We display data for faculty, but our staff demographics are even less representative of our state. If we use data from our KBOR service area rather than the entire state, our deficit of Hispanic faculty will likely be even larger. Our domestic student (including FHSU Online) data are currently much closer to the Kansas distributions than to those of our faculty. The student data show 11% Hispanic, 5% Black, 4% with multiple ethnicities, and 77% White. Ultimately, the university administration should establish more quantitative goals so that the university community understands their expectations.

B.  Retention as a recruiting tool

We live in an increasingly global, multicultural world, and it's important to see diverse people in various positions within organizations. A campus's climate of inclusion, whether inauthentic and unwelcome or warm and receiving, is vital. Recruiting and retention are symbiotic such that a weakness in one harms the other. Our employees want to see genuine efforts to improve diversity. Potential hires want to see a history of improvement and a willingness to continue that commitment. As such, retention cannot be separated from recruitment. Creating a welcoming environment that encourages potential candidates to accept an offer and stay at FHSU requires continual effort.

As illustrated above, FHSU does not have large pools of faculty and staff from traditionally marginalized groups, and we certainly do not currently have populations sufficient to sustain multiple affinity groups (e.g., Black Faculty Association, Latino Employee Council, LGBTQ+ Faculty Alliance, etc.). Yet we do employ a core group of people who seek ways to support diversity and inclusion in our community. Our employees need help creating anchors in Hays and at FHSU so that recruited faculty and staff will build a sense of community and loyalty that will motivate them to stay.

Our committee considered several ideas to promote belonging and “anchors” for underrepresented employees. Those ideas included creation of a multicultural council similar to many larger universities.  Such a group would be an autonomous, collaborative body of FHSU faculty and staff. This group's goals would be to provide retention-based anchors to support and encourage advocacy, promote leadership, discuss issues of concern, share resources, and build community among the various categories of diverse faculty and staff of FHSU. Upon reflection, we realized that such a group (Tilford Diversity Awareness Committee) is already in existence, but it ironically lacks accessibility due to its uninformative name and colloquial references to simply “the Tilford Group.”

We recommend a name change, and possibly a mission update, for the Tilford Diversity Awareness Committee. Alternatively, a separate group could be formed with a specific goal of supporting employees from underrepresented and traditionally marginalized groups.

C. Motivational verbiage on job ads

Boilerplate descriptions of nondiscrimination have become ubiquitous on job ads. Unfortunately, most of these are very similarly phrased and commonly located near the very end of a job ad where many potential applicants never view them. For many paid job-posting services, the standard Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) statement is not even included. There is at least anecdotal evidence that upgrading such descriptions and locating them early in the job ad can send strong, positive messages to potential applicants about FHSU’s desire to improve diversity on campus. That positive impression can be the tipping point that leads to a submitted application.

We recommend that all job ads include a strong expression of intent to improve diversity in the position description. “ Underrepresented” refers to different groups for different disciplines. Currently at FHSU, some departments are at or approach 100% men or women.  Some departments are 100% white, while other departments are less than 50% white. So, there should be some flexibility in the mandatory verbiage. This is our suggestion:

“FHSU is committed to providing a diverse and inclusive environment. We strongly encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups.”

Other helpful phrases might include:

“We value and expect faculty, staff, and students to promote and support diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

“Women and members of other underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.”

Our committee members also developed a more meaningful EEO statement that is commonly placed at the end of a job ad. While this upgraded statement may not be as visible as that described above, we expect this statement to be yet another signal to potential candidates that FHSU is taking serious steps toward being more inclusive. The new statement is:

“Fort Hays State University is committed to providing an environment for individuals to pursue educational and employment opportunities free from discrimination and/or harassment.  The University prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, gender expression, veteran status, pregnancy, or marital or parental status.  Every person associated with the University is charged with conducting its programs and activities in accordance with the University commitment to equal opportunity for all.”

D.  Provide funding to advertise in outlets designed to reach underrepresented groups

The FHSU Faculty and Unclassified Staff Handbook offers a few details regarding the search process for hiring new faculty. Specifically, it directs search committees to, “Openly publicize the vacancy by whatever means necessary to help create a strong diverse applicant pool.” There are many options available to enhance the diversity of those who see the job ad, but they typically require significant expense and there is much uncertainty regarding the efficacy of various services. For example, The Chronicle of Higher Education offers a “diversity boost” for ads, but it costs an additional $199 (an extra 46%). For ads posted with multiple services, such enhancements can quickly approach $1000. With at least some chairs already hesitant to spend department funds on job ads, it is unlikely that we will see more ads in diversity-targeted outlets unless the FHSU administration makes funds available for this purpose. We recommend that the university designate $600 for each faculty search to secure diversity enhancements to job ads. The department and/or college would still be responsible for purchasing discipline-specific ads and HR would still offer some outlets, but these funds would be meant to increase the exposure of those ads to underrepresented audiences. Ideally, HR would quantify/estimate any changes in the diversity of job pools to determine the value of this effort.

E.  Incentivize faculty to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion

Too often in academic institutions, faculty from underrepresented groups are the ones tasked with improving diversity. There are numerous things wrong with this model, and it clearly does not work. If we admit that we are lacking diversity in our faculty and staff, it is easy to understand that most hires from underrepresented groups will have little or no previous connection to FHSU. If they choose to leave, it will likely be for a more inclusive (i.e., better) institution. Without a diverse faculty and staff, we cannot expect to sustainably recruit and graduate students from the diverse communities of our state. We recommend that incentive and reward structures be altered so that all faculty are motivated to learn how to be better advocates for faculty, staff, and students from underrepresented groups.

With the important influence of AAUP, we know there are limits on what can change quickly, but we think it is vital for the university administration to set the example. Several other institutions across the country already require faculty to address their contributions to diversity in their reports for tenure, promotion, and annual evaluation. Some institutions require it to be a part of all other responsibilities (teaching, research, service). Other institutions have created a fourth pillar of faculty responsibility (e.g., Leadership, Citizenship, etc.) that includes diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. There are not yet any clear “best practices” in this area, so FHSU will have a chance to create something that fits our campus culture and fits within the “60-20-20” model. This will likely require further discussion before settling on the final version, but we offer Recommendations E and F to help start the conversation:

There are almost always going to be tasks that are prioritized by the university despite faculty having little training or experience with how to accomplish those tasks. For many years, recruiting was one of those. More recently, assessment has fallen into this category. Certainly, diversity is another good example, and there are likely others within certain programs. Rather than requiring all faculty to make contributions to all of those areas, we recommend letting faculty choose one of the three (assessment, recruiting, or diversity/inclusion) each year on their ASR so that they can make meaningful progress in their abilities and impacts in that area . This means they contribute meaningfully rather than “checking a box” for all 3+ areas. Obviously, this selection (diversity/inclusion, assessment, or recruiting) would be in addition to teaching, scholarship, and service.

F. Create “diversity advocates” to support search committees.

Search committees are an important part of FHSU’s success, but we almost always ask faculty to participate in these with little or no formal training in how to conduct a strong, equitable search. The committees are typically composed of employees from the department, and they are understandably focused on very “local” (courses, research expertise, space needs, etc.) aspects of the candidates and their potential contributions. It is not feasible to have an HR employee on every search committee, but there is a clear need for an external (i.e., outside of the department) perspective to help focus on “the big picture” for FHSU, which includes considerations of diversity and inclusion. We recommend creating “diversity advocates” who will serve on faculty/staff search committees to help ensure equity and inclusion . Faculty who choose to include diversity/inclusion as part of their annual responsibilities will be the most obvious candidates for this role. We anticipate that enough faculty will choose this to allow for diversity advocates to serve on all faculty/staff searches. Therefore, we also recommend that all faculty and staff searches include at least one diversity advocate . In the event that there are more searches than diversity advocates, we might have a small number of diversity advocates serve on 4-5 searches in a year in exchange for a one-course (3 credits) release.

G. Require applicants to submit a diversity statement

Section 2A clearly shows that FHSU has some very large disparities between the racial and ethnic composition of their employees and the populations of our state and student body. It will not be easy to remedy those disparities, but it might be simple. The “simple” part is to be deliberate about our goals. The difficulty is that smaller pools of underrepresented candidates and changing state demographics means that the deficits will likely continue to grow unless we make dramatic changes to our methods.

The collective members of the Strategic Planning 3.3 Group are not supportive of affirmative action, ethnicity-based job ads, quotas, etc. Research shows that such methods are effective, but we also recognize the likely negative consequences that range from department-scale pressure on the new hires to national-scale political reactions. Therefore, we recommend that all applicants for faculty and most staff positions submit a statement (150-word maximum) explaining how they will “help FHSU achieve racial, ethnic, and gender diversity that represents our students and state citizens . Written statements are not feasible for some jobs, especially those considered to be part of operations, so those can be exempt from this policy. For applicants from underrepresented groups, their status as “underrepresented” would be enough to earn a maximum score for this part of the screening and interview rubrics. It should be noted that “underrepresented” is different among some departments.

H. Incentivize search committees to “close the gaps” of FHSU’s faculty diversity

Our committee spent a lot of time discussing the value of “boosting” job applicants who are members of underrepresented groups. There is obvious value to such strategies, but it is almost always going to be a complex situation where a single administrative policy will not seem appropriate. If a minority candidate is ranked lower according to the rubric and evaluation methods employed by the committee, there is a question of whether the candidate is less-qualified or if the committee’s tools are flawed. We believe there is a way to encourage fair reflection on these issues without mandating a system that includes ethnicity, gender, etc. as part of the rubric. Accordingly, we recommend that hiring departments be offered an incentive (e.g., additional OOE funds for the year) for every hire of a person from an underrepresented group. “Underrepresented” in this case could vary by department. The motivation for this recommendation is to encourage committee members to weigh their evaluation systems against their biases and the need to hire more diverse faculty.

3. Conclusions

This document is not intended to be an exhaustive list of methods necessary to increase and maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion at FHSU. It should be seen as a series of “first steps” that can be altered as our experiences guide us to be more effective in the future. Our recommendations are focused primarily on race, ethnicity, and gender. Other factors (religion, sexuality, ability status, etc.) should not be used to discriminate, but it is not evident to this committee how to fairly consider these other traits during faculty/staff searches or during one’s career. Race, ethnicity, and gender are much more apparent during the activities conducted by employees at FHSU.

There will undoubtedly be resistance to these ideas, but we challenge opposing voices to offer ideas that might feasibly lead to comparable outcomes. “Data-driven” is a ubiquitous term among managers and decision-makers, but some problems lack previous solutions sufficient to provide meaningful data. While many universities are wonderfully diverse, we know of none starting from such a diversity deficit who have corrected course successfully. This means that FHSU stands to set an example for the rest of the country with our clear admission of shortcomings, our deliberate attempts to improve, and hopefully our dramatic positive outcomes.

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks:

Our goal is for at least 20% (projection of 8 positions) of faculty hires in 2021–2022 to be Hispanic/Latino and/or Black.

FY22 budget: $45,000 (estimated sum of action steps 4 and 6)

Person responsible for implementation: Mike Barnett

Implementation team members: Mike Barnet, Rob Manry

Action Steps:

• Grow enrollments
• Manage tuition rate increase
• Influence legislative action toward an increase in state appropriated dollars
• Increase financial support from the Fort Hays State Foundation
• Increase grants

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

FY 21 budget : FY20 budget:  $0

Person responsible for implementation: Dana Cunningham

Implementation team members: Senior Leadership Team

Angela Pool-Funai, Brett Zollinger, Curtis Hammeke, Cynthia Cline, Dana Cunningham, Daniel Blankenship, Dennis King, Grady Dixon, Jason Williby, Jeffery Briggs, Jennie Rose, Jill Arensdorf, Joseph Bain, Joseph Linn, Mark Griffin, MaryAlice Wade, Mike Barnett, Muhammad Chisty, Paul Adams, Scott Cason, Tara Garcia, Tim Crowley, Tisa Mason

Summary of Process/Outcomes: 

Architectural firm SmithGroup selected to assist with completion of the master plan.  Work has begun with numerous group meetings, presentations, and review of initial planning summaries. Work will continue into FY 2022 with the final report presented to the campus and KBOR in October and November.

FY22 budget: $125,000

Person responsible for implementation: Dana Cunningham

Implementation team members:

Facilities Planning Committee:

• Tisa Mason
• Jill Arensdorf
• Mike Barnett
• Joey Linn
• Deb Ludwig
• Jason Williby
• Jim Schreiber
• Keith Dreher
• Mark Griffin
• Teresa Clounch
• Terry Pfeifer
• Tim Crowley
• SGA President

Action Steps:

• Annually review the highest priority needs for maintenance of facilities with emphasis on deferred maintenance items and those submitted to the KBOR as a part of the five year capital plan
• Estimate costs to efficiently use EBF and other maintenance funds available to the campus
• All recommendations to be reviewed by Facilities Planning Committee
• Complete the design process required for each project as required by board policy and State rules and regulations
• Implement and manage projects

Summary of Process/Outcomes: 

EBF funding for FY 22 is expected to be approximately $3.3 million.  Limited overall revenue growth for the University will limit added commitment to facilities improvement and maintenance.  The following specific construction projects were included in the FY 21 list of planned improvements.  The status of those projects is as follows.

Campus Exterior Light Improvements                            Underway

Rarick Hall Renovation                                                   Underway

Replace Existing 900 Kw Diesel Generators                  Contracted

Stroup Hall Masonry Cleaning and Sealing                    Contracted

Albertson Hall HVAC Controls Upgrade                          Planning

Stroup Hall Chiller Replacement                                    Contracted

McCartney Hall Chiller Replacement                              Contracted

Cunningham Pool Liner Replacement                            Underway

Install electronic Access at Nine Buildings                     Contracted

Sheridan Hall Stone Replacement                                  Design

Brooks Building Metal Roof Replacement                      Contracted

University Farm Swine Unit Improvements                     Bidding

Picken Fountain Improvements                                      Underway

Custer Hall North Wing Roof Replacement                    Contracted

Brooks Building HVAC unit replacement                         Contracted

Forsyth Library Renovation                                             Pre-Planning

FY22 budget: $7.4M ($3.3M from EBF; $4.1M from institutional cash reserves)

Persons responsible for implementation: Chief Howell, Scott Cason

Implementation team members:

Critical Incident Policy Group Committee:

• Mike Barnett
• Joey Linn
• Joe Bain
• Jill Arensdorf
• Mark Griffin
• Heather Kaiser

Action Steps:

• Contract initiated with Bold Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in COOP planning.
• Estimated one time cost of $58,000 with ongoing expense estimated at $12,000
• First meeting has taken place with numerous divisions/departments represented.
• Planning to be complete late November as proposed.

FY22 budget: $58,000

Implementation team members: Melissa Hunsicker-Walburn

Action Steps:

• FHSU’s Pillar 3 proposal is currently on hold with KBOR. If we are asked to complete step three in the proposal process we will submit a 20-page proposal that will identify and include:

  • Community partners; campus partners; expectations for new jobs; approximately net importation of dollars; and the organizational structure of a cybersecurity and defense incubator.

  Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

  Baseline Year
  Benchmark year 1	KBOR Pillar 3 – Economic Prosperity Step One Proposal.
  Benchmark year 2 of FHSU plan	Finalize Economic Prosperity Steps One and Two of the Proposal.
  Benchmark year 3 of FHSU plan	Continue with Step Three in the proposal process if indicated by KBOR.
  Benchmark year 4 of FHSU plan
  Benchmark year 5 of FHSU plan

    FY22 budget: none requested

Person responsible for implementation: Co-chairs Janet Stramel and Donnette Noble

Implementation team members:

Deb Ludwig, Greg Weisenborn, Helen Robson, Jason Harper, Karen Thal, Kelsey Stremel, Kendal Carswell, Reese Barrick, Rick Edgeman, Stacey Lang, and Yaprak Dalat Ward
(Note: these are the remaining members of the year one and two team but, membership needs to be re-evaluated for year three strategies with intentional inclusion of people with special skills around evidence-based practice in programs, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts.)

Action Steps:

1. Complete data analysis of environment scans from year 2.
2. Continue data collection of community engaged teaching research, and service.
3. Continue to identify community and campus partners to address identified gaps in community engaged teaching, research, and service.

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

FY22 budget: $10,000 ($5,000/semester) provided through Student Engagement and the Provost’s Office

Person responsible for implementation: Co-chairs Janet Stramel and Donnette Noble

Implementation team members:

Deb Ludwig, Greg Weisenborn, Helen Robson, Jason Harper, Karen Thal, Kelsey Stremel, Kendal Carswell, Reese Barrick, Rick Edgeman, Stacey Lang, and Yaprak Dalat Ward
(Note: these are the remaining members of the year one and two team but, membership needs to be re-evaluated for year three strategies with intentional inclusion of people with special skills around evidence-based practice in programs, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts.)

Action Steps:

1. Continue to develop strategies for engaging community and campus partners in addressing gaps as identified in years 1 and 2 data analysis from environmental scans.
2. Creation of new funding opportunities to support staff with community engaged activities (faculty already have access to funding through the Provost’s Office and the Experiential Learning Committee for Service-Learning Fellowships and Experiential Learning Innovation Grants).
3. Host the second annual community engaged teaching, research, and service workshop (available both virtually and on campus).
4. Begin working on the application for the Community Engaged Campus classification. The framework and application will be released in January 2022 and will be due in April 2023 for consideration in the 2024 cycle (the COVID pandemic resulted in the 2023 cycle being moved to 2024 and will then be on a two-year cycle thereafter).
5. Pursue a second elective classification through the Carnegie Foundation (Leadership for a Public Purpose) which is closely tied to the criteria for the Community Engaged Campus elective classification and is aligned with FHSU’s mission to develop “global citizen leaders”. FHSU participated in the pilot phase for this application process with Donnette Noble and Justin Greenleaf (Leadership Programs) taking the lead on this.
   • Effective leadership for public purpose transcends functional or instrumental leadership (i.e., personal career or political gain; or narrow business or organization outcomes), in pursuit of collective public goods like justice, equity, diversity, and liberty. Leadership for public purpose can be manifest in all realms of social life -- private business, public and nonprofit institutions, neighborhood and community life, professional associations, civil and government institutions, religious institutions, etc. Institutions earning the classification will demonstrate a commitment to leadership for a public purpose through their investments in leader development; development of ethical and moral judgement; and development of the critical thinking necessary to understand systemic and cultural aspects of power and privilege within which all leadership resides.
     Campuses that are committed to leadership for public purpose enhance the learning, teaching, and research mission of their institution by: developing leadership abilities in all institutional stakeholders; contributing to the public scholarly understanding of leadership as a public good, and understanding of the sociopolitical contexts, systems, and practices within which all leadership resides; and preparing students for lives of public leadership for public purpose in their careers, communities, and the broader society. 
6. Expand the work and impact of the FHSU Civic Learning and Community Engagement Advisory Board that was announced in Spring 2021. Members include Chair, Brittney Squire (Forsyth Library); Erica Berges (United Way); Aaron Cunningham (Asst Ellis Co Attorney); Brian Gribben (Forsyth Library); Jayne Inlow (Hays Med Foundation); Sandy Jacobs (Mayor of Hays); Nikki Pfannenstiel (Sunflower Electric); April Terry (FHSU Criminal Justice Dept); Janna Wilkinson (FHSU Foundation); and Doug Williams (Grow Hays).

Desired Outcome Baseline and Benchmarks

FY22 budget: $2,500 Action Step #2; $3,000 Action Step #3