Kansas Board of Regents

This week Governor Mark Parkinson appointed two new members to the Kansas Board of Regents and renewed the appointment of a current member.

So what does the Kansas Board of Regents do? What educational institutions are affiliated with it? Who makes up the Board? Are all the board members appointed by the governor? Below is a short summary of Board duties as well as links to information on the Board:

The Kansas Board of Regents governs six state universities with over 79,000 full-time equivalent students. It also supervises and coordinates 19 community colleges, five technical colleges, six technical schools with over 45,227 full-time equivalent students as well as a municipal university.

The Board administers the state’s student financial aid, adult education, GED, and career and technical education programs. It authorizes private proprietary schools and out-of state institutions to operate in Kansas, and administers the Kan-ed network, a statewide network that provides broadband Internet access and distance learning capabilities for schools, hospitals, and libraries.

Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR)
http://www.kansasregents.org/
(The website for the Board of Regents)

KBOR Board Members
http://www.kansasregents.org/the_board_of_regents
(Not pictured are the new appointees, Mildred Edwards of Wichita and Tim Emert of Independence. The two departing members are Jill Docking of Wichita and Donna Shank of Liberal. Board members are appointed by the Governor for four year terms. The appointment must be approved by the Kansas Senate. More information on laws governing the Board of Regents can be found in the Kansas Statutes)

Kansas Public Higher Education Quick Facts
http://www.kansasregents.org/resources/PDF/774-KBORFactSheet_2010_FINAL.pdf
(Two page document summarizing higher education statistics and Board activities)

KBOR Policy Manual
http://www.kansasregents.org/resources/PDF/811-041510PolicyManualrevisedlinks_2_.pdf
(The Board's Policy Manual spells out the duties and actions of the Board. It also includes a short history timeline of the Board's development through the years)

KBOR News and News Releases
---View KBOR News Releases
---Governmental Related Information
---Subscribe to the Regents Newsletter

Public Institutions
http://www.kansasregents.org/interactive_map_listing
(Links to the state’s 32 public higher education institutions governed by the Kansas Board of Regents: six state universities, a municipal university, nineteen community colleges, and six technical colleges)

KAN-ED
http://www.kansasregents.org/kan_ed
(KAN-ED Network is a broadband technology-based network to which school, libraries and hospitals may connect for broadband internet access and intranet access for distance learning)

Adult Education
http://www.kansasregents.org/academic_affairs_adult_education
("The Board is responsible for administering the state’s Adult Basic Education programs. These programs serve adults, age 16 and over, who need basic skills for the workforce, community participation and family life")

Kansas GED Information
http://www.kansasregents.org/ged_introduction
(General Educational Development (or GED) tests are a group of subject tests which, when passed, certify that the taker has American or Canadian high school-level academic skills. The GED is sometimes referred to as a General Equivalency Diploma or General Education Diploma)

Workforce Development, Technical/Career Education
http://www.kansasregents.org/workforce_development
(The Workforce Development unit focuses efforts and resources to prepare workers for careers in Kansas’ highest-priority fields, like health care, advanced manufacturing/aviation, energy, and health sciences)

Private and Out-of-State Institutions
http://www.kansasregents.org/private_institutions
(The Board authorizes private and out-of-state postsecondary institutions to operate in Kansas. These institutions offer associate, bachelor, master, and professional degrees, along with certificates and diploma)

Article contact: Bill Sowers
(Check out recent additions to our collection)

Kansas Oil

The current oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico has us all concerned about oil rig safety. Did you know that in 2009 Kansas had 45,579 oil wells across the state? In 2009 these oil wells produced 39,465,527 barrels of oil. Each well in the state is regulated by the Kansas Corporation Commission. Kansas Statute 55-152 gives the Kansas Corporation Commission authority to write regulations regarding oil and gas production and conservation in Kansas.

Kansas Corporation Commission:
www.kcc.state.ks.us

Pipeline Safety Regulations for Kansas:
http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/pipeline/pipeline_safety_regs_0609.pdf

Reports of monthly oil production in Kansas:
http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/conservation/production/index.htm

Kansas gas and oil production data from the Kansas Geological Survey:
http://www.kgs.ku.edu/PRS/petroDB.html

Map of Kansas oil and gas:
http://maps.kgs.ku.edu/oilgas/

Interested in Kansas oil? Learn more:
www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/Oil/index.html

If you notice an oil spill in your area, contact the National Response Center:
http://www.nrc.uscg.mil/nrchp.html

Clean up procedures from the Kansas Corporation Commission:
http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/conservation/cleanup_brochure.htm

Notice an abandoned oil well in your area? Report it at:
http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/conservation/reported_abandoned.cgi

Before you dig on your property, make sure there aren't gas, oil or electric pipes or lines running underground:
www.kansasonecall.com/

Kansas Oil Museum in Butler County:
http://www.kansasoilmuseum.org/



Article contact: Kim Harp

KSPACe Digital Archive

Online State Government Publications

Just about every Kansas state government agency, board and commission has a website. Within most of these websites one can find documents issued for public viewing. These online documents can include (but are not limited to) newsletters, annual reports, special topic studies, timely notices, legal opinions, maps, posters, bulletins and pamphlets.

Years ago paper copies of these documents would have been collected by libraries and archives, processed, cataloged and made available to users within the library/archive or via services like interlibrary loan. Today more and more government documents are issued primarily, or solely, in electronic format (commonly called "born digital") and made available via the Internet.

So how can archives and libraries preserve these new electronically formatted documents for future use? Documents on the Internet come and go. A report released today might disappear off the Internet within a year. An agency might undergo new leadership or be eliminated with all the current online information deleted. The fluidity of information on the Internet can mean instant access, but it can also mean instant deletion.

Printing off electronic documents on paper would take a lot of time and cost a lot of money. With smaller library staffs and budgets this isn't feasible. In the end what works best is the creation of an electronic or digital library or archive where electronic government documents, supplied by agencies or harvested from their websites, can be collected, cataloged and made available to the public permanently.

For several years the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) and the State Library of Kansas (SLK) have been developing just such an electronic archive for online Kansas state publications called the Kansas State Publications Archival Collection (KSPACe). KSPACe currently has about 5,000 entries and is continuing to grow as KSHS and SLK staff add more documents to it. This collection, viewable by the public, is your virtual Kansas state government documents library.

Below are links to pages within the KSPACe website as well as some other Kansas electronic archives which preserve government documents, manuscripts, letters, pictures, books, articles, web pages and other resources. It is important that libraries, archives and other interested groups continue to preserve information about our state and material written by its residents. Internet library collections like KSPACe assure that we will not lose much of what 21st century Kansas and Kansans have given the world.

KSPACe
Kansas State Publications Archival Collection

Main Page

Agencies and Publication Groups

About KSPACe
(You can search KSPACe or particular collections using the basic search box in the upper left-hand corner or by clicking on "Advanced Search")

OTHER KANSAS ONLINE DIGITIZED ARCHIVES OR REPOSITORIES

Fort Hays State University
Forsyth Library Digital Collections
http://www.fhsu.edu/library/digital/

The Kansas Collection
http://www.kancoll.org/index.php
(The Kansas Collection website is managed by Susan Stafford and Dick Taylor and was created by Lynn H. Nelson, retired Professor of History at the University of Kansas)

Kansas Memory
http://www.kansasmemory.org/
(Primary sources from the Kansas Historical Society. The website includes a Kansas Memory Blog: http://www.kansasmemory.org/blog/)

Kansas State Historical Society
State Government Records
http://www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/govtrecords/staterecordspage.htm
(Territorial and state records, publications and guides. Most of the information here is not online but there are a few items which are online)

Kansas State University
Historical Photographs
http://digital.lib.ksu.edu/omeka/
(This collection provides a limited selection of historical photographs preserved in the University Archives of Kansas State University located in Hale Library)

Kansas State University
Research and Extension Publications
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/DesktopDefault.aspx
(Online publications of the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service)

Pittsburg State University
Axe Library Digital Collections
http://axedigital.pittstate.edu/

State Library of Kansas

Kansas Constitution

Kansas Governors' Executive Orders

Kansas Governors' Messages (Transcriptions)

Territorial Kansas Online
http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/~imlskto/cgi-bin/index.php
("Explore the turbulent times of 'Bleeding Kansas.' Hundreds of personal letters, diaries, photos, and maps bring to life the settling of Kansas during the fierce debate over slavery.")

University of Kansas
Digital Collections and Projects
http://kudiglib.ku.edu/digcoll/index.shtml

Wichita State University

Special Collections & University Archives

http://specialcollections.wichita.edu/collections/index.html

Images of Kansas Towns and Cities

A Collection of Digitized Kansas Maps

Wichita Photo Archives

Article contact: Bill Sowers
(Check out recent additions to our collection here)

Kansas goes smoke-free

The House Committee on Health and Human Services introduced the bill that became the statewide smoking ban. It was passed by both the House and the Senate and was signed by the Governor on March 12, 2010. On July 1, 2010, Kansas' new smoking ban will become effective. To assist law enforcement, businesses, restaurants, hotels and others in the transition, Kansas has developed a new site with tailored instructions and fact sheets about how to implement this new law.

Go to the site:
http://www.kssmokefree.org/

Go straight to the business toolkit:
http://www.kssmokefree.org/business_toolkit.html

This site was developed with assistance from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment:
www.kdhe.org

More resources on transitioning to a smoke-free state:
http://www.cleanairkansas.org/?q=main

Learn about other states with smoking bans:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States

Learn more about the basis of this law by reading the Kansas report on secondhand smoke:
http://www.kdheks.gov/tobacco/download/CleanAirReport2009.pdf

For help with smoking cessation:
http://www.kdheks.gov/tobacco/cessation.html

Article contact: Kim Harp