TO OUR EARS

FROM THE PRESIDENTThis fall, we will celebrate our Grand Homecoming, with hundreds of alumni, students, facultyand staff enjoying 150th anniversary festivities.As you step onto campus, you will see several facility changes: the renovation of Morgan Hallto include a wonderful new Welcome Center, a new residential living and food service facilityunderway, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Forensic Science Center.This new forensic science building and associated University programs reflect the increasingcollaboration of business and education to meet rapidly changing needs of society.Several years ago, we proposed a collaboration to locate the KBI lab to campus. Three yearsago, the governor and attorney general asked if we still were interested in a partnership betweenWashburn and the KBI to meet the state’s investigative priorities. We said “Yes.”Many individuals representing state, local and University interests met over the course of ayear to design and propose funding for a new building on the Washburn campus. In exchangefor a long-term lease, Washburn will share with the KBI 12,000 square feet of lab space. This willpermit us to expand selected science programs that prepare forensic scientists and professionals.During the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions, University lobbyists John Pinegar, ba ’82, andDoug Smith worked tirelessly with our Shawnee County legislative delegation to support thebuilding of a 100,000-square-foot facility on the Washburn campus. The funding for the longtermlease was approved, and construction began in May 2014.With additional state support, we are excited to expand existing or establish new programs incrime scene investigation, digital forensics, and forensic anthropology, chemistry and biology.This fall, we will begin the search for three faculty and one staff member to support theseprograms. Equipment such as DNA sequencers, microscopes, decoding software, and gaschromatography and tire-tread analysis kits will be purchased. Curriculum will be finalized andstudents will be admitted. We expect our first graduates in 2017-2018.This has been a remarkably complex project. I wish to thank faculty and administrativeleadership for their vision: Randy Pembrook, vice president, academic affairs; Laura Stephenson,dean, College of Arts and Sciences; Pat Munzer, dean, School of Applied Studies; JohnMullican, associate professor, chairman, biology; Steve Angel, professor, chairman, chemistry;Gary Bayens, professor, associate dean, criminal justice; Cheryl Childers, associate professor,chairwoman, sociology and anthropology; Bruce Mechtly, associate professor, chairman,computer information sciences.We appreciate the efforts of Rick Anderson, vice president of administration, treasurer, andhis colleague Chris Leach, associate vice president, director, finance, for their work with theTopeka Public Building Commission to arrange the debt and select architects and contractors.Finally, we salute the leadership of the KBI. Director Kirk Thompson, bs ’01, and his teamof Mike Van Stratton, director, laboratory, and T.L. Price, bs ’93, project manager, assistantdirector, laboratory, have been outstanding partners in this successful project.3 From the President