From left, Professors Stan Rolfe, Kansas University, Chris Sorensen, Kansas State University, Wayne Nafziger, Kansas State University, and David Littrell, Kansas State University, visit with each other Monday at The Oread hotel. About 50 of the state’s distinguished professors met to promote research and scholarship in Kansas.

About 50 of the state’s top university professors converged on Lawrence on Monday to discuss ways to promote research and scholarship in Kansas.

Distinguished professors from Kansas State University, Kansas University and Wichita State University met together for the first time since 2006.

In their meeting at The Oread, they discussed matters of common interests, and examined ways they could take their message to legislators and other key stakeholders in the state.

“Often it looks like we’re rivals not only on the basketball court but also in competing for state resources,” said Susan Kemper, KU distinguished professor of psychology, about Kansas’ three research institutions. “I think we can be more effective speaking collectively than individually.”

Distinguished professorships are typically awarded to the top few percent of a university faculty for outstanding achievements, primarily in their research fields. Some are designated as university distinguished professors, meaning they are funded entirely by the university, and others hold named professorships, which are paid for partially using private funds.

A few of their collective goals emerged during discussion Monday; talks ranged from promoting research and scholarship to arguing for investment in graduate education.

Some argued that the distinguished professors group should work more on tabulating its value to the state, in terms of research grants generated and other more concrete terms.

David Hartnett, a distinguished professor of biology at Kansas State, said he thought there was “a real disconnect” between politicians and the world of higher education.

He said he hoped the distinguished professors group could find a way to articulate why universities were important enough to be protected from more state budget cuts.

“It may solve a short-term problem, but it’s going to create a long-term problem,” Hartnett said, adding that universities are a key economic development and work-force driver for the state.

Also on the agenda were some ways to recruit, hire and retain more distinguished professors in Kansas.

“Not only do our young people go to other states, but our faculty go to other states too,” said Brian Spooner, a Kansas State distinguished biology professor and the school’s interim arts and sciences dean.

The group used to meet on a more regular basis, rotating among the three campuses, but had not come together recently until Kemper made the effort to bring the group back again. The group made headway on creating a brochure that could be distributed to legislators or other key officials, and Kemper said she hoped the group could meet on a more regular basis in the future.