Fort Hays State University: A General Guide

FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY

FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY • Founded in 1902 • A 5585-acre campus, including a 3,800-acre university farm • A cozy, tree-filled academic campus and residential facilities • 4,800 on-campus students • 6,600 online students • 3,200 international students • A supportive and attentive family atmosphere • Located in Hays, Kansas—a safe, family-centered community and a particularly nice place to live • 41 programs in Arts, Sciences, Education, Business, Technology, Liberal Arts, Health and Medicine

• International on-site partner institutions located in China and Cambodia, with more added yearly • Global educational partnerships for study-abroad opportunities • 95% job placement rate • Pre-professional programs in Law, Engineering, Dental, and Medicine • A 100% acceptance rate to professional programs • Multiple national No. 1 rankings for our oncampus and online programs • Nationally recognized undergraduate and graduate research • World-renowned natural history museum •

Nationally-ranked athletics programs

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TIGER FAMILY AT FHSU.EDU

ENDLESS SKIES. LIMITLESS POTENTIAL.

ACCREDITATION

Nestled on a cozy, tree-filled campus in Hays, Kansas (on I-70, halfway between Kansas City and Denver), Fort Hays State University is a place where a Midwestern, roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic and boundless optimism meet opportunity.

The Higher Learning Commission accredits Fort Hays State University through the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP). The AQIP process allows member institutions to adopt the principles of continuous quality improvement as their guiding force while their institutional missions serve as foundations for judging success.

Fort Hays State University is a regional comprehensive university with over 14,000 oncampus, online, and international students.

Undergraduate and graduate students pursue degrees in 31 academic departments in five colleges— the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the College of Business and Entrepreneurship, the College of Education, the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, and the College of Science, Technology, and Mathematics—and through the Graduate School.

Forward thinking and world ready, FHSU takes on challenges at home and abroad with an optimistic spirit. Our reputation for innovation and entrepreneurship attracts eager partners from higher education and the private sector.

Explore FHSU through these pages, our web site (www.fhsu.edu), or via a campus visit. And if you stop by campus, take a look up at that big, blue Kansas sky. See how it seems to go on forever?

It’s like our potential—limitless.

MISSION Fort Hays State University provides educational programs of distinction accessible to Kansans, the nation, and the world through innovative people of excellence who develop engaged global citizen-leaders.

ACADEMICS

PEOPLE OF EXCELLENCE

Fort Hays State delivers quality educational experiences via three modes—on campus in Hays, in partner universities internationally and online. We also have articulation agreements with numerous schools that allow students who perform well at partner schools to seamlessly transfer to FHSU programs.

Fort Hays State University employs over 300 fulltime faculty members on campus and dozens more teaching at our international partner institutions.

Average class sizes are small, giving students more face-time with faculty mentors. FHSU faculty are true teacher-scholars—while they love to teach, our faculty annually produce hundreds of significant scholarly and creative contributions to their disciplines.

At FHSU, we focus on students and their success, all while offering the most affordable tuition in the region. Students work side by side with faculty who are not only experts in their fields, but also love (and live) to teach and mentor students. FHSU’s size lets students get involved right away, and upon graduation, their hands-on experience gives them a leg up on the competition when starting their careers or graduate school.

Fort Hays State University students—on campus, online, or on our international campuses—come from all over the U.S. and from around the globe, but no matter where they start, they share a hardworking, optimistic spirit. They know that with our support and their effort and imagination, the sky’s the limit.

HONORS COLLEGE The FHSU Honors College is a selective, highly competitive program for students with outstanding academic backgrounds. In addition to the classes they take for their majors, Honors College students take a specialized curriculum—one that challenges, nurtures and inspires them.

ROARING AND READY.

SOMETHING TO ROAR ABOUT

FHSU Tigers—the family of athletes, and fans that fuel their pursuit of championships—perform with dedication and passion. With nine intercollegiate sports for both men and women, the Tigers take on all comers in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, regarded as one of the top NCAA Division II conferences in the nation.

• 551 Individual conference championships or first-team all-conference selections

Men’s Sports Baseball

Basketball

Cross Country Football

Golf

Soccer

Track and Field Wrestling

Women’s Sports Basketball Cross Country Golf Soccer Softball Tennis Track and Field Volleyball

UNIVERSITY FARM Fort Hays State University’s working farm is nearly 4,000 acres of classroom experience. Operated by the Department of Agriculture, students get invaluable real-world training on the farm that produces marketable quantities of beef, swine, sheep, and crops.

• 263 All-Americans • 227 Academic All-Americans or national AllAcademic team members • 34 conference titles • 13 appearances in the NCAA Division II men’s national basketball tournament • 6 academic national team championships • 8 national championships

MUSEUM

CULTURE

Fort Hays State University owns a premier natural history museum, the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, located in northeast Hays. No other state university the size of FHSU has a natural history museum comparable in size and scientific importance to the Sternberg.

The Hays region celebrates its proud German and frontier heritage and history with several annual events. They include FHSU Homecoming, Oktoberfest, Herzogfest in Victoria, the Wild West Festival, the Frost Fest parade in downtown Hays and the Victorian Christmas at Historic Fort Hays.

The Sternberg Museum of Natural History advances an appreciation and understanding of Earth’s natural history and the evolutionary forces that impact it. With an emphasis on the Great Plains, our goals are accomplished through research, publications, collections, interpretive exhibits, and educational programs created by the staff, colleagues, and community.

There are many unique shopping experiences in Hays, including home décor, boutiques, antique markets, breweries, art galleries and more. Hays has two malls—Big Creek Crossing and the Centennial Mall—and The Bricks in Downtown Hays is a premiere shopping district with a variety of restaurants, unique shops and professional services.

Hays is also home to a surprising variety of places of worship. From Christianity to Islam, the religious community here spans nearly all faiths.

Hays is a particularly pleasant town. Our welcoming, optimistic spirit was borne through our pioneering experience—hard work, handshakes, smiles and friendships are a way of life in Hays.

WE’RE SMALL ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU PERSONAL ATTENTION, BUT BIG ENOUGH TO PROVIDE MORE THAN 60 ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AND PLENTY OF SCHOLARSHIPS.

ART AND PERFORMING ARTS Fort Hays State University is the center for the arts in Hays and western Kansas.

The Hays Symphony Orchestra, anchored by Department of Music and Theatre faculty, students and staff and which includes many volunteers from the community, is in its tenth decade of continuous performance.

FHSU’s musical and theatrical seasons include orchestral and band concerts, operas, and plays.

Almost every month of the academic year features major musical events in the university’s premier performance venue, the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center in Sheridan Hall.

The Encore Series brings in attractions from around the world in all areas of artistic performance—dance, theatre, music and more. The Sebelius Lecture Series on public affairs provides a view of people and issues in the national and global arenas.

The Department of Art and Design hosts numerous exhibitions during the year in the Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art in Rarick Hall. Hays is home to three seasonal Art Walks which feature FHSU student and faculty artists, as well as regional artists. During Art Walks, art lovers converge on downtown Hays to enjoy food, drink, and friendship, and art exhibits of every stripe.

THERE’S SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE AT FHSU!

Fort Hays State University 600 Park Street Hays, KS 67601-4099

785-628-3478 www.fhsu.edu