By Andra Bryan Stefanoni
news@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — The walls of Ed McKechnie’s office tell a story about the man who was named last week to the Kansas Board of Regents.
The walls say: father and husband, businessman, former legislator, and active alumnus of Pittsburg State University.
He’s going to need all of that experience to help Kansas higher education survive the bleak times facing colleges and universities. Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson already has made millions of dollars in cuts to higher education while trying to balance a budget wrecked by the economic downturn, and no one is sure what the coming years will bring.
On Saturday morning, McKechnie spent an hour cleaning out his briefcase of accumulated business cards, receipts and scrap papers from business trips to San Diego on Wednesday and Pennsylvania on Thursday, and he prepared to depart for another business trip to Australia on Sunday.
His calendar has just four open dates between now and the first of May.
So why take on this latest task?
“I think I can make a difference,” he said.
Now the chief commercial officer for Watco Companies Inc., based in Pittsburg, he describes himself as a “railroad guy.”
“Everything begins and ends with transportation,” he said. “We are a continental nation; there is no community that is self-sufficient. Everything has to move.”
For the past 10 years, McKechnie has led Watco’s business development, communications and government affairs divisions. He also has been active in advocating for improvements to U.S. Highway 69, something he sees as playing a key role in the economy of Southeast Kansas.
But if McKechnie understands the struggles and challenges of the businesses whose tax dollars help support higher education, he also knows what it’s like to try to find that money in Topeka. From 1991 to 2001, he served in the Kansas House of Representatives. The Democratic lawmaker was instrumental in helping Pittsburg State attain funding for the Kansas Technology Center, and he served on the search committee for a new PSU president last year.
PSU connection
McKechnie’s allegiance to PSU is strong. His mother and stepfather were employed there, and he attained a degree there after being involved in numerous student organizations.
But he’s quick to say that as a regent, he won’t focus solely on PSU.
“A high tide lifts all boats,” he said. “You don’t just put enough water out there to raise one of them. We have to make sure we are telling the story of higher education and the impact it has on Kansas.
“You can’t care about Pittsburg and not care about Hays,” he said, pointing to a map of the railroad lines Watco owns throughout the state that connect city with city, region with region.
McKechnie brings another perspective to the job, as well. He and his wife, Kristy, have two sons, Austin, 6, and Jackson, 5.
Now, a four-year degree at PSU would cost Austin about $18,368 in fees and tuition, excluding room, board and books. Using current higher education inflation rates of 7 percent, it’s estimated that the tuition and fees will cost $45,918 for a four-year degree by the time Austin turns 18.
“It bugs me that nobody cares about the cost of college in the future, that the state that I grew up in had a greater commitment to higher education then than it does today,” McKechnie said.
“You want a state that is committed to higher education. I see the difference it made for me. I see the difference it made for so many people. And I wonder: Where did we lose that connection?
“I watched regents over the past 25 years show up on campuses and tell people, ‘This is how you ought to do it,’ and I can tell you how well that was received. You’ve got to be part steward, part advocate, part adviser. The presidents and chancellors and faculty guide the institutions. The regents just need to help them be as good as they can be.”
Tough times
“The games you remember aren’t the ones you won by 100 points. The games you remember are the ones you win by one point in triple overtime. Hopefully, good people rise up and provide direction when times get tough of how you can make improvements.”
— Ed McKechnie, of Pittsburg, who was appointed last week to the Kansas Board of Regents
