Emporia State University

Early history More information Years, Name ... background-color:#000000;color:white;box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #BB8D0A, inset -2px -2px 0 #BB8D0A; ;"}]]}"> Naming history Years Name 1863 – 1923 Kansas State Normal School 1923 – 1974 Kansas State Teachers College 1974 – 1977 Emporia Kansas State College 1977 – present Emporia State University (ESU) Close Ellen Plumb, right, and Mary J. Watson, left, the first graduating class of the Kansas State Normal School in 1867 The origins of the university date back to 1861, when Kansas became a state. The Kansas Constitution provided for a state university, [ 12 ] and from 1861 to 1863 the question of where the university would be located — Lawrence , Manhattan or Emporia — was debated. In February 1863, Manhattan was selected as the site for the state's land-grant college , authorized by the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Act –what evolved into Kansas State University . Lawrence and Emporia were therefore left as the only candidates for a state university. The fact that Amos Adams Lawrence had donated $10,000 (plus interest), as well as 40 acres (160,000 m 2 ) to the city of Lawrence had great weight with the Kansas Legislature , and Lawrence was selected by one vote over Emporia as the location of the University of Kansas . [ 12 ] On March 7, 1863, the Kansas Legislature passed the enabling act to establish the Kansas State Normal School , which would one day become Emporia State University; it did not open until February 15, 1865. [ 13 ] The first class graduated two and a half years later; it consisted of two women, Mary Jane Watson and Ellen Plumb. [ 14 ] Ellen was the sister of US Senator Preston B. Plumb . In 1876, the Kansas Legislature passed the "Miscellaneous appropriations bill of 1876". [ 15 ] As a result, Leavenworth Normal and Concordia Normal were closed so the state funding for normal schools could be directed to Emporia.

[ 16 ] Then, in the early 20th century, KSN branched out with satellited campuses in Pittsburg and Hays . The Hays campus opened June 3, 1902 as KSN's "Western Branch." It became an autonomous college in 1914 as Fort Hays Kansas State Normal School, and has since developed into Fort Hays State University . The Pittsburg branch was opened as the Manual Training Auxiliary School in 1904; it became a four-year school named Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburg in 1913. Today it is Pittsburg State University . [ 17 ] In February 1923, the name of the school was changed to the Kansas State Teachers College . In July 1974, the name was changed to Emporia Kansas State College . On April 21, 1977, the college became Emporia State University .

In June 2022, Ken Hush became the 18th president of Emporia State. Hush. He was previously President and Executive Officer at Koch Minerals and Carbon, an affiliate of Koch Industries . [ 18 ] He was selected by a search committee consisting of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other accomplished professionals representing a broad range of interests. [ 19 ] As with other universities, changes in student demand for majors and programs have not occurred uniformly across the various entities at ESU. In September 2022, the Kansas Board of Regents approved a plan by the Hush administration to downsize 7% of ESU's employees, including tenured professors for "current or future market considerations". [ 20 ] [ 21 ] Following the downsizing, in 2024 the university obtained Regents' approval for a "net decrease in tuition and fees". [ 22 ] Programmatic and other changes announced in 2024 include the following: (1) groundbreaking for a new building for Nursing and Student wellness, which is expected to open in fall 2025; (2) a "Jump Start/Concurrent Enrollment" program for high school students in nearby counties; (3) articulation agreements with 19 Kansas community colleges that will provide "seamless transfer of courses in nursing, education, criminology and the sciences"; [ 23 ] (4) an "articulation agreement in which undergraduates at ESU can shorten the time to complete their bachelor's and law degrees by taking law classes at Washburn University's Law School during their senior year"; [ 24 ] and (5) a partnership with Pittsburg State University providing "course sharing opportunities." [ 25 ] One of the faculty cut oversaw ESU's debate team, competing on behalf of the university since 1874, predating the university's football team. Despite the small size of ESU, the debate team has competed–and won–against several schools, including the Ivy Leagues.

In the 2012–2013 academic year, alumni Elijah Smith and Ryan Wash helped ESU make debate history as the first university to "unite the crowns" and win the CEDA and National Debate Tournament championships in the same year. The debate program ended in May 2023. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] The American Association of University Professors published an investigative report in May 2023 concerning the termination of thirty tenured and tenure-track faculty appointments at the university and placed it on its list of censured institutions . [ 29 ] The investigating committee found that, in carrying out the terminations, the ESU administration and the Kansas Board of Regents disregarded AAUP-recommended principles and procedural standards concerning tenure and academic freedom. It also found that the board’s reactivation in May 2022 of a temporary COVID-19-related policy allowed system institutions to abrogate existing university regulations that did comport in most essential respects with AAUP-supported standards. The temporary policy suspended existing university regulations and gave the ESU administration the authority to "suspend, dismiss, or terminate" any professor, tenured or untenured, without involving faculty governance bodies and without affording academic due process to the affected faculty members. Although the board of regents offered the policy to all system institutions, only Emporia State's administration adopted it–in September 2022, just three months before it was set to expire. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] In August 2023, Emporia State became the only Kansas public university without campus child care when it closed its Center for Early Childhood Education in the midst of a national child care crisis. In Lyon County, there are between 21-30 children per opening at a child care facility as of 2021, according to Child Care Aware of Kansas. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] [ 34 ] Enrollment dropped at ESU in September 2023, [ 35 ] most notably in the College of Education.