Newman receives $3.3 million, helps educate students in Southwest Kansas

In its commitment to expand educational access and workforce development in southwest Kansas, Newman University received two significant grants totaling $3.3 million to boost its efforts. The funds will significantly bolster several of Newman’s four-year degree programs: agribusiness, business, education, nursing and the soon-to-launch sonography program.

A solution to education deserts

The southwest Kansas region has historically been an education desert, meaning four-year degree-granting institutions are absent within a 100-mile expanse encompassing Garden City and Dodge City.

Newman University has partnered up to change that

In June, Newman was awarded a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rural Postsecondary and Economic Development program. Along with its own program expansion, Newman is collaborating with Dodge City Community College, Garden City Community College and Seward County Community College to educate students throughout the region.

The grant’s focus areas include strengthening student support services, technology enhancements, hiring staff positions and student internship stipends.

“These opportunities will enrich students’ education and position them for successful local employment post-graduation,” said Jessica Bird, associate vice president of outreach education and dean of Newman’s School of Education and Social Work. “Simultaneously, regional companies will benefit from an influx of homegrown, career-ready talent cultivated through this enhanced higher education-to-workforce pipeline. These partnerships are a testament to our commitment to help southwest Kansas thrive.”

Supporting agribusiness innovation

Thanks to federal funding secured by U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, Newman also received $1.2 million from congressional-directed spending to create innovative agricultural technology programs in rural Kansas communities.

Moran, who has championed job creation and supporting rural communities, said the funding allows “our students, children and grandchildren to choose to live, work and raise families” in their hometowns.

“Agriculture is going through a digital transformation where production becomes more efficient, and our programs will prepare the workforce,” said Newman President Kathleen Jagger, Ph.D., MPH.

Key pieces are a state-of-the-art Mobile Smart Agricultural Lab integrating data analytics into hands-on learning, plus the hiring of Program Director and Assistant Professor of Agribusiness David Lehman.

The new tech and lab will travel among the communities of Wichita, Garden City, Dodge City and Liberal, where Newman will establish high flex classrooms, which allow synchronous online and face-to-face learning. New agribusiness faculty and advisors will have offices in Garden City.