While it has been a generally mild winter here in Manhattan so far we did have one cold snap with an accompanying ice storm that closed campus for a day during finals week.  For the first time in many years a whole day of final exams had to be rescheduled.  KSU students, faculty and staff appeared to have handled this abrupt schedule change really well. 

The quality of an education at KSU continues to be very high.  K-State has been named among the best values in U.S. colleges and universities by two recent guides, the Princeton Review and the Kiplinger 100. * Both lists focus on academic and financial value.  K-State ranks No. 1 among public colleges and universities in the number of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater and Udall scholars since 1986 and is the only public university in the top 10 among all U.S. schools, both public and private.  Also, according to the new basic classifications of America's colleges and universities by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, K-State ranks within the top 4 percent of research universities in the nation.

Campus continues to change with all sorts of new structures going up.  Murray and Sons Construction Company Inc., Topeka, is building K-State's new parking garage located south of the K-State Student Union.  The garage will have 1,384 parking stalls.  K-State's Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art threw a party on October 21 to welcome visitors to its new wing and new exhibitions.  A student referendum approved the expansion of the Chester E. Peters Recreation Complex at K-State.  It must now pass the Kansas Legislature in the spring.  The proposal recently earned the support of the state Board of Regents.