Dr. Elizabeth King

Dr. Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the Wichita State University Foundation and Alumni Engagement (WSUFAE), announced today her intention to retire in six months after a national search to fill her position is conducted.

King began her tenure at Wichita State in 1991 as vice president of university advancement and executive director of both the WSU Foundation and the WSU Board of Trustees, as well as serving as the administrative liaison with the WSU Alumni Association. She was the second female vice president in Wichita State’s history at the time. In 2007, she was appointed president and CEO of the Foundation and now serves the recently merged Foundation and Alumni Engagement team in the same position.

“The time is right,” King says. “I am looking forward to spending more time with my husband Don, who retired last year. Also, for our organization, the time is right. I have the utmost confidence in the university’s direction under the exemplary leadership of President Muma and his team.”

Current WSUFAE board chair, Lynn Nicols, will lead a national search for King’s successor in collaboration with Wichita State leadership over the next several months.

“We have an incredibly strong board of directors and amazing staff,” King says. “I am so proud of how supportive each person is of our university, and I am fully convinced that our next leader will be motivated and excited to keep the momentum I’ve witnessed in my last 32 years moving forward.”

As the top leader of a team of more than 50 employees intent on advancing Wichita State’s mission by developing connections between university alumni, donors and students, King has overseen the organization’s assets growth from $53.8 million to more than $400 million. She also led the Shock the World Campaign that raised nearly $308 million on a goal of $250 million and included the majority of the funding for Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall and the Student Athlete Center.

“Elizabeth’s tenure here at Wichita State has marked a period of unprecedented growth for the WSU Foundation, now the WSUFAE,” WSU President Rick Muma says. “Through her dedication, hard work and talented leadership, we’ve been able to move our university closer to our key priorities. What’s been so very impressive to me about Elizabeth is watching how she develops, maintains and grows relationships with individual Shockers all over the world. She cares about people. She cares about higher education. And she’s simply a magician in matching the interests of alumni and donors with the needs of Wichita State.”

The recipient of many professional accolades, King was named an Executive of the Year by the Wichita Business Journal in 2020, inducted into the Wichita Women in Business Hall of Fame in 2018, listed as one of the 50 Kansans You Should Know by Ingrams Magazine in 2012, she was one of two recognized by the CASE Common Fund Institutionally Related Foundations for her executive leadership in 2009 and, in 2006, was presented the WSU Recognition Award for her accomplishments as Wichita State’s chief advancement officer.

In the wider community, she currently serves as a board member for the University of Kansas Hospital Authority – a position appointed by the governor of Kansas; and as a board member and on the executive council of The Kansas Society of Children with Challenges. She is also the past board chair of the Salvation Army and the past president of the Wichita Downtown Rotary.

King — who earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College in Illinois and a Master of Education and Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of North Texas —and her husband, Don, have two adult sons, Lance, who is married to Paula, and Brandon.

Wichita State University is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling almost 22,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

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