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Duane
Nellis. Photo by Daniel Donnert, KSU
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| From
MSU to K-State: A life-long career at land grant
universities |
| by
Brenda McDonald |
| "Of
the people, by the people and for the people,"
words from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
that also ring true for the founding of this country's
land grant universities. |
| "The
whole notion of a land grant university is for it
to be the university for the people and available
to the complete spectrum of citizens," said
(M.) Duane Nellis, '76 Geo, provost
for the nation's first land grant institution, Kansas
State University. |
| "It
was a democratization of the university experience,"
he said. "Before, universities were much more
exclusively available for the wealthy." |
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| Nellis
said land grant universities offered the opportunity for people
from all different aspects of society success in a university
environment if they worked hard to succeed. |
| The Morrill
Act of 1862 allowed states to establish land grant colleges
for its citizens. This created state-funded universities with
a focus on agriculture, the sciences and related dimensions
of applied sciences. Kansas State was the first to charter itself
under the Morrill Act. |
| "One
issue I worry about today is accessibility to higher education
for the diversity of our society as state appropriations decline
and tuitions are raised," Nellis said. "We try to
deal with keeping the spirit of the land grant mission at K-State
by providing need-based tuition waivers for those students who
are the most needy." |
| "I'm
not sure we always do a good job of communicating the importance
of land grant institutions to the health of our states,"
he said. "People should recognize the potential for economic
development that land grants provide. In Kansas, 80 percent
of the varieties of wheat that are grown here were developed
at K-State. So it's important to keep these universities healthy." |
| Nellis
has spent his entire career at land grant universities, beginning
first with his undergraduate degree at MSU and progressing through
his 17 years at K-State where he began as assistant professor
of geography, then rose to professor and head of the department
and then to senior associate dean of K-State's College of Arts
and Sciences. In 1997 he became dean of the Eberly College of
Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University and returned to
K-State in June to take on the role of provost, the institution's
chief academic officer. |
Nellis
grew up in Libby and was attracted to MSU for its science and
engineering focus.
"I discovered geography when I arrived at MSU," he
recalls. "MSU was such an exciting experience for me. I
was unleashed to learn about a broad spectrum of things. The
quality of faculty at MSU helped fuel my interest in learning.
They were student-centered and cared about the student's welfare."
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| Nellis
says he has a passion for teaching and research. This was acknowledged
in 1986 when he won the K-State University Distinguished Teaching
Award. He has also won numerous research awards. |
| "My
research fueled my teaching success," he said. "I
loved to see the light bulb go on for students when they saw
what geography was all about." |
| Nellis
says he loves the years he has spent at K-State. |
| "The
Kansas landscape truly has its own beauty." But he and
his wife Ruth, '76 ES, also an MSU alum, do get back
to northwest Montana where they have a summer home. |
| "Although
I continue to return to the state of my youth, and still care
for it deeply, Kansas has been good to me," said Nellis.
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