At some point today the Kansas Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on whether our Emporia State University should be allowed to implement a new policy dealing with workforce management.
While for some this action seems to be a surprise it has actually been under discussion for some time.
A 28% decline in students attending classes on the Emporia campus over the past 5 years obviously is alarming.
A workforce management proposal had been discussed by ESU leaders earlier but rejected. Obviously, Covid accelerated the downward spiral, but the problem was not new, it rather had become a trend.
When Interim President Ken Hush took over he expanded the campus leadership group to thirty with weekly meetings to address challenges like enrollment head-on.
You cannot have a university without students and you don’t add students by simply cutting costs.
The campus leadership group worked to determine what potential students were looking for and discovered the school could enhance its appeal to students by offering a new – right-sized ESU. These findings were based on over 1,000 hours of research.
This is a big task, but one Hush and his team are willing to accept. There will undoubtedly be some pain, but our school’s future may well rest in the results.
Hush himself is an excellent choice to lead being a role model ESU story coming from modest means, utilizing scholarships to finance school, and then finding impressive success in his career.
Additionally, he stayed loyal to his alma mater serving in leadership roles including being Chair of the ESU Foundation for two years. I was on his executive committee and observed firsthand what a skilled and learned leader he had become.
Fast forward a few years to where Hush invested in the Kossover Tennis Center followed by his appointment as ESU’s Interim President.
Let me close with this: When Ken was considering becoming the interim I’m sure he investigated our school’s financial status, its enrollment numbers, and faculty makeup and obviously learned even more before agreeing to become President Hush.
Kenny is not a fool. He fully evaluated ESU’s massive challenges and the opportunities and – yet – he took both jobs.
If Hush hadn’t seen a positive path forward he could have jumped ship several times.
President Hush is a Hornet through and through and the right leader at the right time for our university! It’s a great day to be a Hornet!!
I’m Steve Sauder
