OpenFieldFort Hays State University (FHSU) is a forward-thinking public university on the high plains of Kansas, nationally renowned for affordable higher education, paleontological research at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, and cybersecurity.
FHSU is celebrated for its award-winning FHSU Online division and on-campus institutes including the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, housing world-class Cretaceous marine fossil collections, and the Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship.
Undergraduate admissions follow Kansas Board of Regents standards (min 2.25 GPA or 21 ACT / 1060 SAT). Graduate programs require a Bachelor degree with a minimum 2.5 GPA (3.0 for last 60 credit hours), letters of recommendation, and personal statement.
Fieldwork-intensive Master utilizing the Sternberg Museum of Natural History fossil collections, focusing on Cretaceous marine reptile systematics, dinosaur biomechanics, and High Plains hydrostratigraphy.
NSA-designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense, offering applied instruction in industrial SCADA protection, cloud identity architecture, and zero-day threat analysis.
Hands-on curriculum operating on the 3,800-acre FHSU University Farm, teaching drone multispectral crop mapping, dryland soil conservation, cattle feedlot management, and grain commodity marketing.
Graduate fellowship conducting vertebrate fossil preparation, CT scan digital segmentation, and public science curation alongside Sternberg Museum research curators.
Globally recognized online and on-campus MBA accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), focusing on strategic decision-making and business analytics.
Premier undergraduate scholarship recognizing top incoming freshmen nationwide, providing renewable full tuition support for four consecutive undergraduate years.
Professor of Geosciences and Sternberg Museum Curator of Paleontology · Department of Geosciences / Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Prof. Dr. Laura Wilson is the Chief Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum, investigating bone microstructures and growth rates of Cretaceous marine fauna to reconstruct paleoclimate conditions.
View research profile ↗Chair and Professor of Informatics and Cybersecurity · Department of Informatics
Prof. Dr. Jason Zeller directs FHSU’s cybersecurity curricula, consulting rural utilities and regional healthcare networks on incident response preparedness and industrial network hardening.
View research profile ↗Associate Professor of Economics and Finance · Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship
Prof. Dr. Iryna Koval investigates price volatility transmission in agricultural commodities, community bank credit underwriting in rural economies, and rural labor retention strategies.
View research profile ↗University profile compiled from official Fort Hays State University academic bulletins and institutional directories reviewed on 2026-10-16. OpenField is an independent research guide.