Kirk Schulz to be the 13th President of K-State

Kansas State University welcomes its 13th President in summer 2009.

Kirk Schulz will succeed Jon Wefald, K-State’s 12th President for the past 23 years. Wefald will retire from K-State in July, leaving behind a legacy of leadership credited with transforming a struggling institution. Some notable accomplishments, among many, of the Wefald presidency include enrollment increasing from 16,000 in 1986 to more than 23,000 students in 2008 and K-State’s emergence as a leader among peer institutions with significant research and graduate programs. Wefald is also credited with helping turn around a struggling athletic program into a highly competitive program in the prestigious Big 12 conference.

Kirk Schulz, who most recently served as vice president for research and economic development at Mississippi State University, is an outstanding academic leader with experience at land grant universities.

Schulz’s selection concludes a search, which began with the naming in May 2008 of Nelson Galle as search committee chair, followed by the committee’s appointment in July. The search involved broad consultation with  faculty, students, staff, alumni association, the foundation, the board of regents, the Manhattan community and other Kansas constituents.

Meet Kirk Schulz

Schulz was born in Portsmouth, Va., in 1963 and grew up in Norfolk, Va., where he attended Norfolk Christian High School. He attended Old Dominion University for three years, then transferred to Virginia Tech in 1984. He graduated with B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering in 1986 and 1991, respectively. He did his doctoral work in metal oxide surface chemistry under the direction of Dr. David Cox.

He is a member of ABET, the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering and technology and a member of its Engineering Accreditation Commission. He also is an active member of AIChE – the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; and the American Society for Engineering Education. In recognition of his work in chemical engineering, he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007 and a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education in 2008. He also is active in the community, and serves as a committee member with Troop 14 in Starkville.

Kirk Schulz enters office after his inauguration on July 1, 2009.