June 10, 2025
Change in Reporting Structure is our Opportunity to Grow
During the June 6 Extension Update, we announced that we have begun a transition to move the budgetary authority of the state’s extension service to Marshall Stewart, Executive Vice President for External Engagement and Chief of Staff for President Richard Linton.
Previously, budgetary authority was held with the dean of the College of Agriculture. The change in budgetary authority becomes effective on July 1. Furthermore, with this announcement, K-State Extension will report to the Office of External Engagement. Assistant Vice President and Director for Extension Gregg Hadley will report directly to Dr. Stewart.
This is in alignment with the promises that we’ve made of elevating extension in Kansas, and elevating extension and engagement at the university level. Based on a needs assessment of Kansas residents, we feel we can better address the needs of the state by having extension at the university level. It allows us to pool resources in other colleges, and we need those resources to address the critical issues outlined by the state’s residents.
In Fall 2024, K-State conducted 28 focus group discussions with Kansas residents with a key goal to identify what more the university could do for them and their communities. We gathered additional feedback during President Linton’s regional community visits, which he has conducted since taking over the presidency in February, 2022.
We are acting on this feedback and implementing a strategy to best execute our mission. The combination of the university’s engagement office and extension are fundamental in K-State’s efforts to positively impact Kansans’ lives with the education and programming to help all of us thrive.
There are many examples of how this new structure will help to highlight the value of elevating extension work to the university level, but a couple I think of off-hand include housing and behavioral health. Both are areas where extension has some expertise and provides some support, but we can provide event greater service by involving some campus departments or programs.
This transition does not signal a change in job responsibilities for extension faculty and staff, but rather adding campus resources to those efforts that the Kansas Cooperative Extension service has done for its entire history.
Extension employees and units have always served Kansans’ needs. This may be most evident in agriculture, but we also do so in many other areas. We will continue to do so. This announcement is about a reporting change at the university level and not a service or focus area change.
Further, I believe that this change in organizational structure fully acknowledges the potential of extension and what extension can do in Kansas. It’s a great opportunity to be able to offer more topics out in the field through our 105 offices. I am excited to see how we will grow in the years to come.