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About KSU Facts

Founded in 1863 as the nation's first operational land-grant university, Kansas State University has grown into a comprehensive research university with more than 21,200 students, 1,250 faculty and 3,300 staff members. It spans three physical campuses: the main campus in Manhattan; K-State Salina, home to aviation and technology programs; and K-State Olathe, which serves the industry and workforce needs of Greater Kansas City.

K-State has nine colleges, Graduate School and K-State Online and offers more than 400 degrees and options, from bachelor’s to doctoral degrees. K-State Extension also serves the citizenry with a presence in every county throughout Kansas and supports research in more than 20 K-State departments. K-State has an annual budget of more than $900 million.

K-State is known for the passion and pride of its alumni. With more than 200,000 living graduates, the K-State Alumni Association ranks in the top 10 among Power Five conferences for the percentage of graduates who are members. Private giving to the university is around $200 million per year, and the value of K-State’s long-term investment pool is $1 billion. The university and foundation recently completed a major fundraising campaign that raised $1.6 billion.

The Princeton Review recognizes the university as one of the nation’s best colleges. K-State also has been designated as an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and is recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged Institution. Commonly referred to as K-State, the university is proud of its welcoming environment.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Kansas State University seeks a dynamic and experienced leader to serve as the new Vice President for Engagement and Extension. The Vice President for Engagement and Extension reports directly to the President of Kansas State University and serves as a member of the President's Cabinet. This position provides executive leadership and strategic oversight for the following functional units:

• Office of External Engagement 
• Kansas State University Extension 
• Office of Government Relations
• Office of Economic Development 

The Vice President maintains close internal working relationships with the following offices and leaders on matters central to the position's mission:

• Provost and Executive Vice President — regarding academic alignment with workforce and community needs, student success and experiential learning.
• Dean of the College of Agriculture, Director of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station — regarding K-State Extension's statewide programming, engagement priorities, and legislative needs. The Dean of Agriculture maintains a secondary reporting line to the current position.
• Vice President for Research — regarding corporate engagement, industry partnerships, technology commercialization, and business attraction activities that advance K-State's research and economic development agenda.
• Vice President for Communications and Marketing — regarding external communications strategy, stakeholder messaging, and university brand alignment.
• KSU Foundation, K-State Alumni Association, and K-State Athletics — regarding coordinated engagement with donors, alumni, and community stakeholders in support of the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan.
• Academic College Deans — to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, expand community-engaged scholarship, strengthen external partnerships, and advance the university's outreach and public impact.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

University Engagement and Extension (50%)

The Vice President serves as the primary champion and architect of K-State's engagement and extension mission, connecting the university's intellectual and operational resources with communities, industries, and citizens across Kansas and beyond. Drawing on K-State's land-grant heritage, this leader will:

• Lead and advance a comprehensive, integrated university engagement strategy that reflects K-State's commitment to reciprocal, mutually beneficial partnerships with communities, industries, organizations, and individuals across Kansas and nationally.
• Serve as a university liaison and advocate for K-State Extension's statewide engagement mission, coordinating with the Dean of the College of Agriculture to align Extension priorities with broader university engagement and government relations strategies.
• Serve as the President's principal liaison with external stakeholders — including community leaders, legislators, industry executives, civic organizations, alumni, and strategic partners — to facilitate initiatives and partnerships with significant local, state, national, and international impact.
• Partner closely with the Vice President for Research and the corporate engagement team to identify, develop, and advance strategic industry relationships that serve both the university's research enterprise and its broader economic development mission. Ensure that government relations and external engagement activities are aligned with and amplify the university's corporate engagement priorities.
• Work with the Provost and Executive Vice President to foster a culture of engaged scholarship across academic units, supporting faculty and staff in connecting research, teaching, and service to real-world community needs and co-creating knowledge with public and private partners.
• Partner with the KSU Foundation, the K-State Alumni Association, and K-State Athletics to amplify engagement opportunities, coordinate stakeholder outreach, and advance the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan.
• Represent K-State in national higher education associations, including the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, and other peer networks to advance the university's engagement mission and national profile.
• Develop and maintain systems for tracking, measuring, and communicating the university's community and stakeholder engagement outcomes and impact.

Government Relations (30%)

K-State's sustained excellence depends on strong, trust-based relationships with elected officials, policy makers, regulatory bodies, and governmental partners at the state and federal levels. The Vice President will:

• Serve as K-State's chief governmental affairs officer, directing the university's comprehensive legislative and regulatory advocacy strategy at the Kansas Legislature, the Kansas Board of Regents, the Governor's Office, and with the United States Congress and federal agencies.
• Represent K-State's interests and legislative priorities with state and federal elected officials and their staffs, ensuring that the university speaks with one coordinated, strategic voice in all governmental interactions.
• Lead the Office of Government Relations, providing direction and mentorship to professional government relations staff and maintaining university protocols that ensure all official governmental contacts are appropriately coordinated.
• Develop, monitor, and advocate for K-State's annual state and federal budget priorities, including appropriations for Education and General operations, Public Service and Agriculture programs, research funding streams, and capital projects.
• Confers with the K-State Foundation on university, legislative and philanthropic priorities.
• Identify, monitor, and proactively respond to state and federal legislation, regulatory changes, and policy initiatives that affect K-State's operations, mission, and strategic goals — including those with implications for agricultural research, K-State Extension, higher education policy, research funding, and workforce development.
• Maintain K-State's relationships within the Kansas congressional delegation and with key federal agencies, particularly the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and other research-funding partners, in close coordination with the Vice President for Research.
• Work collaboratively with the Vice President for Research to align federal relations activities with the university's research, innovation, and corporate engagement priorities, presenting a unified K-State voice on policy and funding matters at the federal level.
• Coordinate with the Kansas Board of Regents and peer institution government relations offices to advance shared higher education policy priorities in Kansas and nationally.
• Lead and develop the K-State Advocates program and related grassroots legislative engagement efforts, mobilizing faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners as effective advocates for K-State's public policy agenda.
• Provide leadership in emergency legislative and regulatory response when critical policy developments require rapid, coordinated university action.
• Ensure full compliance with applicable lobbying regulations, conflict-of-interest policies, and university protocols governing all governmental relations activities.

Economic Development (20%)

As a cornerstone of the Kansas economy and a designated Innovation and Economic Prosperity University by APLU, K-State has a distinctive obligation to drive economic vitality throughout the state. The Vice President will:

• Lead the university's strategic economic development agenda, working in close partnership with the Vice President for Research to position K-State as a driver of business attraction, innovation, entrepreneurship, workforce development, and community prosperity throughout Kansas and the region.
• Serve as the primary external-facing university liaison for economic development partnerships with the Governor's Office, the Kansas Department of Commerce, the Kansas Legislature's economic development committees, regional economic development organizations, industry associations, and chambers of commerce — ensuring that K-State's corporate engagement capabilities, research assets, and extension resources are effectively communicated and deployed in support of Kansas economic growth.
• Coordinate the Office of Economic Development and ensure alignment of university economic development activities with the state of Kansas's economic priorities, including agriculture, food systems, manufacturing, energy, and the biosciences.
• Partner with the Vice President for Research, KSU Research Foundation (KSURF), and the corporate engagement team on business attraction, technology commercialization, and industry partnership development, serving as a government relations and external engagement bridge between K-State's research enterprise and Kansas's economic development infrastructure.
• Advance K-State's role in the APLU Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities framework, coordinating comprehensive self-assessment, strategic planning, and reporting for the university's IEP designation.
• Champion K-State's innovation infrastructure — including the Edge Collaboration District, the Agriculture Innovation Initiative facilities (the L. Eldon Gideon Agronomy Research and Innovation Complex, the Western Star Global Grain and Food Center, the BIVAP Innovation Center, and the Bilbrey Family Event Center), and related assets — as tools for economic development and partnership in coordination with the Vice President for Research.
• Develop and communicate compelling narratives about K-State's economic impact for use with legislators, state officials, media, and community partners, grounded in data and economic impact analyses.
• Lead the development of regular economic impact studies and data-driven analyses that demonstrate K-State's value to Kansas communities and businesses, the Legislature, and the public.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Qualifications

• An earned advanced degree (master's or doctoral level) from an accredited institution in public administration, political science, agricultural sciences, higher education administration, communications, business, or a closely related field.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in university engagement, government relations, economic development, or a closely related function in a higher education, government, or comparably complex organizational setting.
• Demonstrated success in developing and managing relationships with elected officials, government agencies, and legislative bodies at the state and/or federal level.
• Proven ability to lead and inspire diverse teams of professionals in a complex, decentralized university environment.
• Outstanding communication skills, including public speaking, legislative testimony, and written advocacy, with the ability to represent K-State effectively to multiple audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain productive working relationships with peer senior leaders across a complex organization with shared but distinct portfolios.
• Deep understanding of land-grant university mission, values, and the role of public universities in advancing the public good.
• Demonstrated commitment to inclusive excellence, access, and the equitable distribution of university resources and opportunities.

Preferred Qualifications

• A doctoral degree in a relevant discipline, with the potential for tenure in an appropriate academic department.
• Prior experience at a land-grant university in a senior leadership capacity in Extension, engagement, government relations, or economic development.
• Direct experience with the Kansas Legislature, Kansas Board of Regents, and/or Kansas state agencies.
• Familiarity with federal policy, sponsored funding programs, and federal agencies that support research, extension, workforce development, innovation, and community engagement relevant to land-grant universities (e.g., USDA, Department of Education, Department of Defense, NSF, NIH and other federal partners).
• Experience working at the intersection of university research enterprise functions and governmental or external affairs, with an understanding of industry partnership and technology commercialization frameworks.
• Familiarity with Cooperative Extension administration and the Smith-Lever and Hatch Act funding frameworks that underpin land-grant engagement missions.
• Experience with the APLU Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities program or comparable economic d...