By: Tim Carpenter
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents during a decade of financial and academic turbulence for public universities plans to retire from the higher education leadership job in July.
Blake Flanders has been the Board of Regents’ top administrator since 2015. The Board of Regents has primary responsibility for six public universities and oversight duties with the state’s community colleges, technical colleges and Washburn University in Topeka.
“Kansas colleges and universities create life-changing opportunities for families and are engines of economic growth in our state,” Flanders said. “I know that our system is well positioned to help Kansas build a bright and prosperous future.”
Flanders was part of shaping the Board of Regents’ strategic plan to support students, improve college affordability, address deferred maintenance, promote research and focus on economic development.
During the past five years in Kansas, university on-time graduation rates climbed nearly 10 percentage points, state-funded student financial aid nearly quadrupled and the backlog of deferred building maintenance at universities was cut by $123 million.
“Throughout his tenure, Dr. Flanders has addressed our most pressing challenges with bold, data-driven solutions that are grounded in outcomes and accountability,” said Blake Benson, chairman of the state Board of Regents. “Our higher education system and our entire state have benefitted from his innovative leadership and commitment to serving Kansas.”
In the years Flanders presided as Board of Regents’ president, public higher education in Kansas grappled with national trends that included rising operational costs, the challenge of sustaining student enrollment and substantial loss of federal research funding.
In the 2026 Legislature, the Kansas higher education system remained under political pressure to tie academic programs to business workforce expectations and to comply with bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The university system in Kansas has been targeted by the Legislature for budget cuts and scrutiny of faculty tenure. In 2022, Emporia State University fired 30 tenured or tenure-track faculty under a policy approved by the Board of Regents. The Board of Regents took no action in 2024 when evidence emerged that Wichita State University President Richard Muma copied others’ work without proper attribution for portions of his doctoral dissertation.
In 2015, the Board of Regents promoted Flanders to president from his position as vice president of workforce development. Previously, he was a liaison between the Board of Regents and the Kansas Department of Commerce.
He earned a doctorate in education at Kansas State University in 2004. He was vice president of instructional services at Manhattan Area Technical College from 1998 to 2004 and on the faculty of Butler Community College from 1988 to 1998.