K-State President Richard Myers says the university plans to continue efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 when students return next month for the Spring semester.
Speaking Wednesday to the Kansas Board of Regents, Myers noted the university didn’t get the desired student turnout for asymptomatic testing, which had been offered through Lafene Health Center.
“Even with incentives, there weren’t as many takers as we’d like so we’re going to take it to the student union, to residence halls to where the students are, and hopefully get more people to participate in that program so we can stop an outbreak before it starts,” he said.
The university is not planning any widespread testing upon the return of students, but will plan to test members of fraternities and sororities, which were COVID hot spots in the fall.
Myers also hinted at the university’s plans for an in person commencement in the spring, following two consecutive semesters of cancellations.
“We’re planning ahead for next spring. We think we’re going to do an outdoor (ceremony) next spring. If the pandemic is still with us, would be a safer environment. A lot of schools have done that, we just haven’t for a few years,” he said.
The spring semester begins Jan. 25.
Myers also praised two university leaders who are leaving K-State soon. The first is Vice President for Research Peter Dorhout, who is taking a similar position next month at Iowa State University.
“Under his leadership, research has continued to go up fairly dramatically both in awards and expenditures. Licensing revenue has gone up, applications for grants have gone up and we’ve had more funding from the private sector than ever before,” Myers told Regents.
The other departure is that of longtime Dean of K-State Libraries Lori Goetsch, who is retiring in May. Her legacy is cemented by work to keep the Hale Library functional during a time of budget cuts and the May 2018 fire.
“It’ll be essentially fully up and running as this spring semester starts and I think she might say that’s her proudest accomplishment of continuing to provide library services to faculty, students and staff while the library was down, almost uninterrupted and then bringing it back online as essentially a brand new library,” he said.
A search for replacements for both positions is underway.
Also approved at Wednesday’s meeting:
K-State’s request to add a well-being day to the spring 2021 academic calendar was moved from the Academic Affairs committee report to the consent agenda and approved.
Spring breaks for 2022 through 2025 will be aligned for K-12 and higher education institutions in Kansas. Regent Shelly Kiblinger says she believes school districts will largely buy in to the move.
“I’ve really heard no push back, but I’m not out and about as we normally would be. From the conference calls I’ve been on, it was fairly well received,” she said.
