December 2, 2025
Thanksgiving for Bold Leadership and Innovative Spirit
The extension administrative leadership team gathered in Ottawa recently for our annual retreat. As is our tradition, we opened with a simple but powerful exercise: each person shared something they were thankful for, personally and professionally.
When my turn came, the answer arrived quickly and with surprising conviction: I am profoundly thankful for the bold and innovative leadership that is reshaping Kansas State University.
That gratitude formed during the long drive from Manhattan, as I reflected on Marshall Stewart’s remarks at the November 3 Faculty Senate open forum. Like many of you, I’ve heard Dr. Stewart’s passionate description of the formation of the land-grant system. This is history that I love and am proud to have been a part of.
But this time, hearing him describe the elevation of extension -- not just on an organizational chart, but in the very consciousness of the university -- felt like a defining moment.
Many of us in extension have wondered how structural change would affect our day-to-day work, our budgets, and our teams. Change is unsettling. The unknown can feel heavy. Yet in that same moment of honest reflection, I felt something stronger: excitement. This is not change for change’s sake. This is recognition of who we have always been and an invitation to become even more.
What makes a land-grant university truly distinctive is not simply excellent research or outstanding teaching; many institutions achieve those. What sets us apart is our covenant to carry knowledge beyond the campus borders and place it directly into the hands of the people we serve.
Extension has always been the living expression of that covenant. Elevating Extension is the university saying, out loud and without apology, “This work matters. This mission matters. You matter.”
Daily life in our 105 county and district offices will likely feel familiar in many ways, and that continuity is a strength. But I believe we are being called to something higher: to work with greater intention, to forge deeper partnerships with colleagues in every college and department, and to help the entire K-State family discover the joy and impact of engaged scholarship.
Theme 5 of the Next-Gen K-State Strategic Plan -- “Integrate Engagement Across All We Do” -- is written for every single one of us. It asks a beautiful question: How will you help build the next chapter of the land-grant story?
In extension, we bring something priceless to that effort: decades of experience meeting people where they are, listening well, and translating complex ideas into practical solutions. Now, more than ever, our campus-based colleagues need partners who understand communities, who speak the language of producers, families and local leaders. We get to lead by serving alongside.
Yes, change requires courage. It asks us to stretch, to collaborate in new ways, and to trust the vision being set before us. But look at what that vision promises: a university fully alive to its founding purpose; where discovery and delivery are inseparable; where every county feels the presence and care of its land-grant university; and where faculty, staff and students see their work ripple across Kansas for generations.
So today, I am thankful -- deeply, joyfully thankful -- for leaders who refuse to let the land-grant ideal become nostalgia. I am thankful for a president, provost, executive vice president, assistant vice presidents, deans, department heads, and directors who believe in extension so fiercely that they have placed it at the heart of One K-State.
Most of all, I am thankful for the opportunity they have given all of us to step forward together and build the boldest, most impactful land-grant university in America.
Let’s lean into this moment. Let’s dream together, work together, and celebrate together as we write the next chapter -- for Kansas, for each other, and for every life we are privileged to touch.
With gratitude and wild optimism,
Bob Weaber, Professor and Head, Eastern Kansas Research and Extension Center