02/27/15
Dr. Larry Gould, the former provost at Fort Hays State University who returned to the classroom in October 2013 as a professor of political science, has been named an "Icon of Education" by Ingram's, the Kansas City business magazine.

Dennis Boone, managing editor of Ingram's, said the nine honorees for 2015 share the ability to inspire in students not just a desire to learn but to live what they learn. "That may be the most important contribution that an educator makes over the course of a career," Boone said. "It's a quality we look for every year at Ingram's when we take on a nearly impossible task: winnowing to a comparative handful the rich roster of candidates for consideration as one of Missouri and Kansas' Icons of Education."

Since launching the program in 2009, Ingram's has recognized the career contributions of dozens of administrators, professors, academic researchers and teachers.

"I'm delighted with the recognition, but nobody gets selected for this career contribution without the teamwork and support of countless colleagues, students and friends at Fort Hays State and throughout the global higher education community," Gould said. "This designation is as much their honor as it is mine. In the end, it has been their work and commitment that has made FHSU the 'icon' of accessible, affordable quality education among state comprehensive universities across the nation. I'm just happy to have been a part of that remarkable journey. I'm convinced the new generation of institutional leadership will keep us on that pathway to future success."

Ingram's said that Gould was a man who seems to have spent his entire life at the right place, at the right time, embracing megatrends that defined America for half a century.

The Ingram's article stated: "From witnessing a new dawn in Scientific America after Sputnik, to the democratization of higher education, from living through the civil-rights era and Vietnam to engaging something called the Internet long before competing colleges realized its potential, Gould is the product of an unbridled intellectual curiosity about the way mankind processes current events and a deep-seated belief that, in his words, 'education is the fuel that runs the ship of the state we call American democracy.'

"His list of signature accomplishments defies description. The native of Massachusetts' Berkshires region came to Fort Hays State in 1984 as founding director of its Docking Institute of Public Affairs, taught political science for eight years, served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for seven and as provost for 16. He chaired the search committee that made recently retired Ed Hammond FHSU's president in 1987. He's served on Regents' committees and the Faculty Senate, and even chaired Hays' planning commission for 28 years. And he was among the chief architects of distance-learning initiatives that have given Fort Hays a huge footprint in China, among other places, in the early 1990s."

Dr. Mirta M. Martin, FHSU president, said the honor from Ingram's was well deserved. "Dr. Larry Gould presided over our Academic Division as provost during the years when Fort Hays State accomplished some amazing and trailblazing initiatives," she said. "Chief among them were a Virtual College that has made us a national leader in providing online education and development of partnerships with Chinese universities that have produced annual FHSU enrollments in China of more than 3,000 students. These are notable achievements, and I congratulate Larry on his recognition as an Ingram's Icon of Education."

About Ingram's
Ingram's is Kansas City's premier business publication and has been for the past 40 years. With more than 105,000 influential and affluent monthly readers and 25,000 additional readers of Ingram's Quarterly Reports and reprint sections, Ingram's has earned the respect of top executives in the Kansas City area, as well as one of the highest readership profiles of any business magazine, business journal or daily newspaper in North America.