Before Dr. Ed Hammond became the Democratic candidate for District 111th of the Kansas House, he was the president of Fort Hays State for nearly 28 years, a position he held the longest in the university’s history. When he retired in 2021, he had spent 55 years in higher education, including 7 years post-presidency, teaching in an FHSU classroom.

From 1987 through 2014, under Ed’s leadership, the university grew from 5,000 to 15,000 students. Along with enrollment, the campus grew, also. He oversaw the construction of two new academic and several student residential buildings, an indoor athletic training facility and a new home for the University Foundation and Alumni Association. He also expanded the university’s athletic lineup by adding men’s and women’s soccer and softball teams.

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Early in the ’90s, Ed anticipated where the internet was headed and began transforming the university’s distance learning program, started by mail in 1911, into a pioneer in online education. As a result, FHSU’s Virtual College, now FHSU Online, was created in 1997.

He found a new home for the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, a world class research museum, and through a program of renovation and expansion, he initiated the rebuilding and refurbishing of several historic campus buildings and the Memorial Union.

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Ed put Fort Hays State on the map in Kansas and across the United States when he established relationships with community and technical colleges in Western Kansas and led a campaign to build two wind turbines, which generate nearly 97 percent of the campus power.

After a year of keeping a promise to his wife, Mary, that he would slow down, maybe play golf and ski a bit more, he decided to run for office. In 2022, his love of education and his commitment to public service led him to run for the Kansas House.

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