Friend of the College Award

2023 Recipients:

Prairie Band Casino & Resort

Prairie Band Casino & Resort opened in January of 1998 and is owned and operated by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. Prairie Band Casino & Resort was the first full-service casino in Kansas and is located on tribal land only 15 minutes north of Topeka.

The casino offers a spacious gaming room that includes over 1,200 slot machines, and 25 table games, along with a 400-seat bingo hall. There are four dining options, a lobby bar, a luxury hotel and an on-site convenience store and RV park. The 12,000-square-foot Great Lakes Ballroom plays host to weddings, conferences, concerts and other live performances, and the award-winning Firekeeper Golf Course is only steps away.

Prairie Band Casino has recently opened its new hotel expansion which features 74 new guest rooms, a full-service spa, Topgolf Swing Suite bays, indoor and outdoor pools, an arcade, meeting spaces, and a fitness room. With the newly added amenities, Prairie Band Casino & Resort promises guests more ways to play.

Prairie Band Casino & Resort and the K-State Hospitality Management department have partnered together for many years. They value the education and preparation that the department provides to students. The emphasis on service expectations is greater than what students might receive at other universities. This has further strengthened the relationship that has been built together to match quality candidates with employment opportunities.

We have had many students intern with us over the years and hope to continue that partnership.

Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Service

The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Service, KDADS, mission is to foster an environment that promotes security, dignity, and independence for all Kansans.

On July 1, 2012, the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services came into being as a result of former Governor Sam Brownback’s executive reorganization order that merged the former Department on Aging with the Disability and Behavioral Health Services Division, formerly administered by the Department for Social and Rehabilitation Services, and elements of the Health Occupations Credentialing Division, formerly administered by the Department of Health and the Environment.

The agency administers services to older adults; administers behavioral health, addiction and prevention programs; manages the four state hospitals and institutions; administers the state’s home- and community-based services waiver programs under KanCare, the state’s Medicaid program; and directs health occupations credentialing.

KDADS is the second largest agency in state government, both in terms of budget and total number of employees.

The goals of KDADS is to continue to deliver quality Older Americans Act services; to keep older adults and persons with disabilities at home and independent as long as possible; to keep them safe by ensuring that those who provide their care are qualified and tested; to support an integrated and coordinated Medicaid system to help those the agency serves; and to provide Kansans who need behavioral health services with appropriate care so they can live productive and fulfilling lives.