Editor's Corner

Mick O'Shea

 

Greetings from the Physics Department.  Our winter started out with a whimper and at the end of January winter arrived in all its glory with lots of snow and university closings occurred for a full day and part of a day.

 

Our campus continues to change slowly.  The demolition of Denison Hall will begin this spring semester.  The Department of English will be moved from Denison into the old Lafene building early this spring.  The name Denison will be retired and held for a possible naming of a new building in the future.  A proposal, led by the KSU Foundation, calls for a hotel and parking garage to be built in the current K-State Student Union parking lots.  Skyways connecting the garage to the Union.  A non-binding contract has been signed with the Shaner Hotel Group to investigate the feasibility of the project. 

 

The current occupation of Iraq continues to affect the university community strongly, especially with Fort Riley so close.  We all hope that the situation there will be resolved in the near future. 

 

Provost James R. Coffman, who has served as the universities chief academic officer for 16 years, will leave this post this summer.  He will return to part-time work in the College of Veterinary Medicine after a sabbatical.  Our new provost will be M. Duane Nellis who comes to us from West Virginia University, where he has been Dean of the college of Arts and Sciences since 1997.  Duane is well known at K-state from his earlier work here as Associate Dean of the college of Arts and Sciences.

 

Stephen White, who has served as interim dean since January 2002, is now officially the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  Peter Nicholls, the previous dean, resigned in January 2002 to become provost at Colorado State University.  

 

Fire left a scar on Aggieville last May.  It began in the bathroom ceiling of Aggie Station destroyed the bar and and Krystallo's which was next door.  Porter's and Varney's Book Store experienced heavy smoke damage totaling more than $1 million.

 

On December 6th K-State upset Oklahoma, 35-7 before a sold-out crowd at Arrowhead Stadium to capture the Wildcats' first Big 12 championship.  The crowd at Aggieville was loud, boisterous and well behaved as they celebrated the championship win over Oklahoma on Saturday night.  The win sent K-State to the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2nd, 2004 where after a valiant battle with Ohio State K-State were defeated 35-28.