Fort Hays State University

1. William S. Picken (1902–1913)[6]
2. William A. Lewis (1913–1933)
3. Clarence E. Rarick (1933–1941)
4. Lyman D. Wooster (1941–1949)
5. Morton C. Cunningham (1949–1969)
6. John W. Gustad (1969–1975)
7. Gerald W. Tomanek (1975–1987)
8. Dr. Edward H. Hammond (1987–2014)
9. Dr. Mirta M. Martin (2014–2016)
   1. Mike Barnett (acting) (2016)
   2. Dr. Andy Tompkins (interim) (2016–2017)
10. Dr. Tisa Mason (2017–present)

In March 2014, it was announced that Dodge City Community College might become part of Fort Hays State University under a proposal that would create the first public four-year degree-granting college in southwest Kansas.[7] The college would have been known as Fort Hays State University at Dodge City had the plan been approved by the Kansas Board of Regents. Fort Hays faculty could have taught other four-year programs in Dodge City, while courses typically taken by college freshmen and sophomores would remain the same. The proposal would have also required $10 million to build a technical institute and $5 million per year in state funding.[8] The proposal required approval from the Board of Regents, followed by the state Legislature and the governor.[9]

On November 11, 2014, the community college's Board of Trustees voted 3–3 on a proposal that recommended that Fort Hays become an upper division college and technical institute in Dodge City, with the Dodge City college remaining independent. With this vote, the merger collapsed.[10]

As of 2019 the university had a total enrollment of approximately 15,100 students with 4,648 attending on-campus programs; 6,882 participating in online programs; and 3,570 in the Chinese program.

In addition to supporting the general needs of faculty, staff and students, Forsyth Library has a large collection of fiction and nonfiction material about Kansas and the American West, supported in part by the Elmer and Eartha Pugh Trust Fund. Topics include railroads, the cattle industry, cowboys, Native Americans and frontier life.

The William D. Pashchal World War II History Collection, donated by retired dentist William Paschal, contains books, declassified government documents, maps, photographs, and other materials.

The library is also the repository for the books, papers and periodicals of the Fort Hays Genealogy Society.

Gillicus arcuatus within the stomach of Xiphactinus audax, George F. Sternberg's most famous fossil find

The university's Sternberg Museum of Natural History features interactive natural science exhibitions, many traveling and temporary exhibitions, an acclaimed Discovery Room, and a Museum Store. The museum houses over 100,000 square feet (10,000 m²) of fossil dinosaurs, mosasaurs, pterosaurs, fish and various other prehistoric species that inhabited Kansas over 70–80 million years ago. The Sternberg Museum also includes more than 3.7 million specimens in collections of paleontology, geology, history, archaeology, ethnology, botany, entomology, ichthyology, herpetology, ornithology and mammalogy. One will find that all these major exhibits contain at least one creature/plant named after Sternberg.

The university's museum was renamed the Sternberg Memorial Museum after the death in 1969 of George F. Sternberg, who had developed it. The current museum was formed in 1991 when the university's museum was merged with the Museum of the High Plains.[12]

The museum is the home of the famous Cretaceous fossil Gillicus in Xiphactinus, better known as the "fish within a fish," which shows a small fossil fish inside the stomach of a larger fossil fish.

In 2010, researchers at the museum showed that plankton-eating fish flourished in the ocean at the same time as the dinosaurs, filling in a 106-million-year gap in the fossil record. One of the authors of the paper was Mike Everhart, a curator of paleontology at the museum.[13]

The Docking Institute is a public policy research institute whose mission is to enhance effective decision-making among governmental and non-profit leaders. The Institute has six focus areas:

1. Survey research, program evaluation research, public policy research, and community and economic development research
2. Strategic planning and consulting
3. Grants facilitation
4. Economic and community development consulting
5. Public administration training programs
6. Public affairs programming (conferences, speakers, forums, media events, scholarly publications, etc.)

In addition, the university hosts the Sebelius Lecture Series each year. The series is named for former United States Representative Keith Sebelius, who graduated from Fort Hays State University in 1941. Each semester, Fort Hays State University invites nationally recognized leaders to the campus to serve as keynote speakers.[15]

The Tiger has been the mascot of FHSU since 1914. Its origin is unclear, but it may have been the brainchild of W.A. Lewis, the president of the Western Branch Normal School (FHSU). Many tigers have represented FHSU over the years, but on April 3, 2000, the current mascot was unveiled. It is now the only accepted image of the FHSU Tiger. At the annual TailGreat on September 9, 2000, the mascot was officially named Victor E. Tiger. The costumed tiger character, Victor E. Tiger, appears at sporting and university events and is currently worn by Dawna Evers, a senior at the university.[16]