About Us

The Center for Kansas Studies is a group of Washburn university faculty who convene regularly to promote and share their interest in Kansas. The Center is dedicated to encouraging Kansas Studies by offering courses in the Kansas Studies Program, by creating resources and providing information about Kansas resources at Washburn University and around the state, by offering programming on Kansas topics, and by providing outreach programs that focus on the past, present and future of Kansas.

To obtain the optional minor in Kansas Studies, a student must complete at least 15 hours from among the courses listed below, with at least 6 of those hours at the upper division level. The Director of the Center for Kansas Studies will serve in the role of department chair for certification that a student has successfully met the requirements for this optional minor.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Kansas Studies minors at Washburn University, upon graduation, are expected to have:

•  acquired knowledge of the natural environment of Kansas and how humans have interacted with that environment;
•  acquired knowledge and appreciation of the diversity of the cultures, arts and literature of Kansas; and
•  acquired knowledge of Kansas history, economics and political processes.

Courses which could be applied toward the requirements of the minor are:

AN 225 Kansas Archaeology
AR 114 Art and Architecture of Kansas
AR 399 Documentary Photography (Small Kansas Towns)
BI 280 Special Topics (when taught as Kansas Amphibians, Turtles & Reptiles or Kansas Birds)
BU 310 Entrepreneurial Finance
EN 138 Kansas Literature
EN 190 Film Appreciation (when taught as “Kansas in the Movies”)
EN 199, 299, 399 Special Topics (when taught as Kansas Characters, Kansas Folklore or Mapping Kansas Literature)
GG 304 Kansas Geography
GL 103 Historical Geology
HI 300 Topics in History (when taught as Kansas Characters)
HI 322 Kansas History
HI 397 Internship in Historical Agencies
IS 400 Topics (when taught as Kansas Characters)
LS 590 Mapping Kansas Literature
MM 402 Kansas and the Media
PE 198K Lifetime Wellness (with Kansas emphasis)
PO 107 American State and Local Government
PO 310 Kansas Politics
PO 307 Internship in State and Local Government

Yearly Activities

The Center carries out a number of activities each year, all of which focus on the varied and often interdisciplinary study of Kansas history, environment and culture. Its Fellows come from all walks of Washburn University life,  joining together through their common bond of  a scholary or teaching interest in all kinds of things Kansas.

• The Center offers a minor in Kansas Studies, in which students construct individual programs made up a variety of different courses from different disciplines, all taking Kansas as a focal point.
• The Center sponsors an annual speakers series, Speaking of Kansas .
• The Center webpage makes available a growing assortment of Kansas materials, to be found both under the Kansas Sources and the Lists of Lists. These include both electronic texts of original Kansas literary works and bibliographies of print primary and secondary sources about Kansas. Also included is a list of links to other Kansas-related website.

• Supporting the Shawnee County Historical Society in the preservation and interpretation of the Historic Ritchie House as a sesquicentennial project.
• Continuing the development of the current KANSAS history television series, website and teaching materials project.
• Identifying materials on Kansas history and culture currently out of print, for which there is publication demand and identifying voids in available resources needed for a fuller understanding of the state's activities.
• Continuing to maintain and develop the Center's webpage.
• Encouraging the development of curriculum materials on Kansas for schools and the training teachers in new techniques for teaching Kansas history in the schools. Connected to this the Center will continue its support of Kansas State Historical Society Schoolteachers Seminars in Kansas history each summer.

Center Director  welcomes questions and suggestions.
Contact Tom Schmiedeler by phone, 785-670-1559,  or by e-mail. tom.schmiedeler@washburn.edu