5/13/26

By FHSU University Communications

HAYS, Kan. – Now in its sixth year, FHSU’s Engaged Scholars Celebration recognized 69 awardees on Wednesday, May 6. This collaboration between Tebo Library and University Marketing and Communications recognized the scholarly activities of the university community. Throughout the year, faculty and staff share news of recent publications for recognition through Tebo Library’s social media page and to be promoted in Tiger Weekly. These accomplishments are celebrated with an annual awards ceremony.

Recognition is categorized as follows: the top downloads from the FHSU Scholars Repository, use of Open Education Resources (OERs) within courses, scholarly news, and media thought leaders. Acknowledging these scholarly activities shines a light on the amazing work of the talented faculty and staff members at FHSU.

The FHSU Scholars Repository seeks to collect and preserve the creative and scholarly works of the FHSU community and make them available to a global audience. The repository focuses on the principles of Open Access as both an ethical choice and a means to expand the reach of FHSU’s scholarship. It is designed to make that scholarship easy to find, share, cite, and use. The repository features works from across disciplines, and the awards were given to each of the five colleges. This year, honorees from the overall top 10 downloads were also recognized as the FHSU Scholars Repository surpassed 3 million downloads.

The OER Committee created Departmental Awards to recognize departments that are making significant progress in reducing students' course material costs by using OERs and other zero-cost course materials. Awards were given to university departments in three categories: Growth (an increase in use), Innovation (creative ways to integrate OERs into courses), and Impact (advocating for more zero-cost materials for use across the university). The winners for each category were Advanced Education Programs, Music and Theatre, and Applied Business Studies.

The university recognized 44 faculty and staff members for their scholarly news. These newsworthy activities highlight scholarly and creative works such as published textbooks, book chapters, peer-reviewed articles, or OERs, as well as public performances, exhibits, design, or displays.

Media Thought Leaders were recognized for their efforts in print media, TV, radio, podcasts, and more. During Wednesday’s celebration, 24 faculty and staff members were awarded this honor. These trailblazers provided an invaluable service to editors and journalists, helped to create and cement relationships with media outlets across the state, and advanced the FHSU brand nationally.

All honorees and their accomplishments can be found here: https://bit.ly/2026EngagedScholars