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HAYS, Kan. – To kick off Homecoming weekend, a seven-figure gift was revealed at a dedication and major gift announcement at Fort Hays State University Friday morning. The transformative donation from Stephen, Tatiana, and the Tebo family will support the renovation of FHSU’s on-campus library, which will proudly carry the name Tebo Library moving forward.

The renaming of FHSU’s library not only honors the Tebo family’s extraordinary generosity, but also reflects the values they live by – grit, determination, perseverance, vision, and innovation – principles deeply woven into the spirit of Fort Hays State itself.

From humble beginnings in Hill City, Kan., Stephen had an entrepreneurial drive at the young age of eight, shining shoes at a local barbershop. By the time he was eleven years old, his passion for collecting and selling coins ignited, which led him to establish Tebo Coin shortly after enrolling at Fort Hays State. The thriving business not only financed his college education but also laid the foundation for what would become a successful career in real estate.

A 1967 graduate of Fort Hays State University, Stephen fondly remembers the library as more than a building. It offered him knowledge, connection, and opportunity.

“Supporting the library felt like a meaningful way to give back,” said Stephen. “Fort Hays State gave me the education and confidence to pursue my goals, and it continues to be a source of great pride for me. I’m grateful for the role the university played in my life, and giving back is one way I can honor that legacy while helping future students create their own.”

In a moment that captured the heart of the celebration, Stephen invited his great-grandson, Ryker Tebo, to the stage to join him in saying a few words. Standing tall on a stepstool at the podium, seven-year-old Ryker charmed the crowd as he spoke about his great-grandpa’s love for Fort Hays State University. With confidence well beyond his years, he closed by saying, “The Tebo family is proud to be doing something so special for this school and for all the students. And who knows – maybe I’ll be studying in this library someday, too!”

With the current library constructed nearly 60 years ago, the building had begun to show its age. Its spaces and infrastructure couldn’t keep up with the way today’s students learn, collaborate, and connect. The time had come to strengthen the building’s foundation, modernize the facility and its amenities, and infuse the library with natural light to create an inspiring environment for future FHSU students.

In May 2024, FHSU embarked on a comprehensive renovation to the then-named Forsyth Library, estimated at nearly $28 million. At Friday’s announcement, special recognition was given to Senator Jerry Moran. His pivotal efforts secured $19 million in federal grant funding, which helped take the renovation project from dream to reality.

“I am truly privileged to share in this celebration,” said dean of library services Ginger Williams. “The library needed new life, and what a fitting time for this new chapter in our history. The original Forsyth Library, now McCartney Hall, was named after General George A. Forsyth, an army officer stationed at Fort Hays, the nearby U.S. Army fort. The Tebo family’s gift is allowing us to honor the past while embracing the future.”

FHSU President Dr. Tisa Mason echoed the sentiment by saying, “Today, we proudly announce the renaming of our library not merely as a tribute to the Tebo family’s remarkable support and ties to Fort Hays State, but as a lasting testament to the values they embody.”

Thanks to the generous support of donors like Stephen, Tatiana, and the Tebo family, who have already stepped forward to help bring this project to life. Join them in making an impact on FHSU students for generations to come.

As the renovation takes shape and nears completion, set for February of 2026, now is the time to be a part of this incredible project:

• Make a gift (large or small) to the Tebo Library and contribute to this stunning and much-needed renovation.
• Name a space inside the Tebo Library on a first-come, first-served basis. Spaces start at $5,000 and can be named in honor of yourself, a mentor, friend, family member, or business.

Announcing a major gift to the university was a great way to kick off Homecoming at Fort Hays State. To view a full schedule of events happening throughout the weekend, visit FHSUhomecoming.com.

Learn more about the Tebo Library renovation by visiting foundation.fhsu.edu/library, fhsu.edu/library/renovation, or calling the FHSU Foundation office at 785-628-5620.

By: FHSU Foundation

The original release can be found here.

Join Fort Hays State University during Homecoming for a dedication and major gift announcement impacting the FHSU library. The event will take place on Friday, September 26, at 9 a.m. on the west lawn of FHSU’s library (502 S Campus Drive).

Attendees will hear from FHSU President Tisa Mason, Dean of Library Services Ginger Williams, and a few very special guests. Bring a friend, family member, colleague, or classmate and join in celebrating a seven-figure gift to Fort Hays State University. The public is invited to attend, and refreshments will be provided.

The library renovation project is well underway, transforming the current building into an active, inspiring library that demonstrates the University’s commitment to students’ academic success. Visit foundation.fhsu.edu/library to learn more about the exciting renovation.

Homecoming is always such a special time at Fort Hays State, but this announcement will make the weekend memorable for years to come. For a full schedule of Homecoming events, visit FHSUhomecoming.com.

For questions, contact the Fort Hays State University Foundation by email at foundation@fhsu.edu or call 785-628-5620.

The original press release can be found on FHSU News

Renovations are in full swing at Forsyth Library as we create the library of your dreams! We eagerly anticipate welcoming you into the library’s new and improved spaces in the Spring 2026 semester. Currently, the library building is closed for renovation, and we are operating out of Custer Hall. You’ll find our Welcome Desk and Media Lab on the 3rd floor. Faculty and staff offices are on floors 1-3.

What has NOT changed:

Online resources, such as access to journals articles and databases, ebooks, archives online, and Scholars Repository, will not be impacted. Library faculty remain available for research help and information literacy instruction. Although the renovation is very disruptive to our use of space, we continue to provide library services, including access to information, research help, and supporting information literacy instruction.

What has changed:

1. All materials are checked out at our Welcome Desk in Custer Hall 304. This includes books that you request through our catalog, interlibrary loan, and technology.
2. All library faculty & staff have moved to offices on the 1st – 3rd floors of Custer Hall. We will remain here until renovation is completed.
3. Partner organizations have all moved to temporary locations: the Honors College to Picken 123, the MakerSpace to Picken 102, and the Writing Center to Rarick 157.
4. Print materials from the general collection are accessible outside of work hours by library personnel only. Items can be requested for pickup by contacting the library or by placing a hold in our catalog.
5. Government documents and bound periodicals collections have moved to off-site storage for the duration of the renovation. These materials can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
6. The library building is closed. You may see library personnel entering and exiting for necessary, work-related visits. Do not enter the construction site.

Helpful links for more information:

• Renovation status page with updates on where to find people, how to access resources, etc. https://www.fhsu.edu/library/spaces/renovation-status
• Renovation blog with renovation floor plans, renderings, and information about the new spaces: https://libraryrenovation.blogs.fhsu.edu/forsythrenovation/

Thank you for your enthusiasm about this project and your patience with the library faculty and staff. Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions.

On the second level, the construction crews are preparing “the Vault” and Special Collections and University Archives Suite and Processing Area as a top priority for finishing. Between cabinetry, carpet, lighting, and paint, these areas of the library are starting to resemble the final version. Once these spaces have been finished, the artifacts and materials from the Special Collections and University Archives will be moved from the 1967 burnt orange carpeted home on the main level they’ve known for so many years into the first finished space of the renovated library, equipped with climate control to keep them in excellent condition. One of the reasons this renovation project was split into two phases was to minimize the number of moves these fragile collections would have to make. The phases allowed Special Collections and University Archives to remain in their existing space and only make one transition to their new home in the renovated library.

This big transition for Special Collections and University Archives will start to happen in the next month. Construction crews can use summer and the rest of the calendar year to transition into Phase 2 — including some substantive demo where the Welcome Desk and collections have been stored during this academic year. While there’s still plenty of work to do, the entire project is less than a year away from completion.

For the remainder of the project, Forsyth Library’s staff and services will be located in Custer Hall with the Welcome Desk located in Custer Hall 304, the Media Lab located in Custer Hall 310 and Ask A Librarian Online Research Help available from any device or by appointment.

The construction work at the Forsyth Library Renovation site has visually transformed all areas of the building. This is such an exciting stage of change because some areas are starting to feel more like a finished building! Here are some of the major highlights:

• The window on the south side of the building was installed giving a view toward Tomanek Hall and the walking plaza between the two buildings.
• Large windows on the west side of the building are now complete.
• The new west door was installed as a third entrance to the building, right across from Malloy Hall and the parking lot.
• Metal wall framing in the Phase 1 area is near completion on all levels.
• Sheetrocking has well underway on the main level.
• Sheetrocking continued on the upper level in the Honors College, Dean’s Suite, the Fenwick Reading Room, and Special Collections Vault. Some areas have even been painted!
• “Storefront” glass frames have been installed on the upper level, preparing for a glass wall or window for group study rooms, the Fenwick Reading Room, and the Special Collections Vault.
• Some cabinets and finished casework have been installed on the upper level.
• Lower-level air equipment, associated mechanical equipment, and the exterior chiller have been installed.
• The new roof installation has begun.

Take a look behind the scenes at the April update video to see the progress from February and March:

Nathan Howard, assistant professor in Applied Technology, believes in developing real-world experiences for his students, giving them a direct application of the skills and knowledge they are learning in the classroom. For both sections of his TECS 385 Construction Planning and Design class, his 44 students are getting an insider view of Procore, a project management software used in the construction industry, to see the details of the Forsyth Library renovation project and the new build of the future Bickle-Schmidt Athletic Complex. PWC, the construction firm for both projects, has given Howard viewing access to both projects to use as a real-world learning experience in his classroom. Students can visually see the progress of each building as they drive by the job sites on their way to and from campus each day, but in the classroom, they get to dive deeper into the nitty-gritty details of what it will be like when they are working on large-scale construction projects such as these.

Within the Procore software, Howard demonstrates how the various pieces of the construction planning and design process fit together. This electronic project management software provides a drill down option for the project overview, covering everything from timelines, daily logs, photographs, submittals, specification books, and more.

For example, last week, Howard’s students were learning about submittals, which provide a document trail and a detailed view of materials and their planned location to be reviewed up the approval chain to ensure that the correct material is going into the correct location. Within Procore, the software electronically routes submittals from the sub-contractor through the approval process, to be reviewed by the general contractor, project manager, architects, or engineers before getting stamped with approval to start work on that specific element in the building. Throughout the lifespan of the project, the architects will approve hundreds of submittals. Procore provides the platform to quickly route the submittals to the architects and back to the subcontractors so they can begin work by procuring the approved materials and starting the installation.

“Eventually, students will build submittals for fictional projects for this class, but this Procore access allows students to view a broad sampling of submittals from a real-life project and see what the documents look like and the variety of details they can include,” Howard explained.

Submittals can include:

• shop drawings which are detailed illustrations to show how each specific element will be fabricated or installed;
• product data with product information such as the manufacturer, description of use, size, finish, and installation instructions; or
• samples from the design team about specific colors, textures, or materials to use within each element of the construction.

Howard shared an example submittal for the carpet tile on the main level of the library with his class, which includes a shop drawing that shows the layout of where each color/pattern of carpet tiles should be installed to distinguish different areas of the open space and samples of the specific flooring tile approved vendor’s color and pattern swatches. The submittal also detailed whether the direction of the installation of each carpet tile matters to ensure the right color and pattern of the carpet is purchased and installed correctly to match the architect’s vision of defining space with different finishings. All the material selection details, like the vendor, color, style number, etc., comes from the specification book and finishing documents and get incorporated into the submittal when the subcontractors are getting ready to work on that specific portion of the building.

As the semester progresses, the students will look at other features of the Procore project management dashboard, including the photographs and daily logs that are uploaded to document work on the construction site and track the timeline progress of each step.

“In the near future, some of these students will get an internship or entry-level job as a field engineer, where part of their job description is to take photos of the work being placed, documenting the chronological progress of each installation, and proving that their crew is following each detail described on these submittals,” Howard explained. “For example, you can’t check the spacing of the steel studs or the specific placement of wood blocks between those steel studs that are later used to hang cabinets after sheetrock work and other finishings have been completed, but you can go into that portion of Procore and see the photographs associated with that submittal to prove it was done correctly,” he continued.

In addition to viewing aspects of the two current construction projects happening on FHSU’s campus, Howard has other projects in Procore to use with his students, such as a residential duplex construction project and the project plans for the Center for Applied Technology building that was completed in 2017, where the Applied Technology students are learning every day in the classrooms and laboratory spaces.

Through Procore access, Howard’s students gain invaluable real-world experience with both commercial and residential projects. Howard’s students get to examine the details of real-life submittals from large-scale projects in the classroom computer lab one day and visit the duplex job site for hands-on work, fabricating a portion of the duplex and submitting photographs and daily logs into the project management system the next day. This hands-on learning expands their understanding and skills as students prepare to enter the workforce in the construction industry.

The past few months have been filled with progress on the exterior and interior plans at the Forsyth Library renovation site. The building was closed between the fall and spring semesters, which allowed construction crews to tackle some of the bigger tasks more efficiently. Here are some of the major highlights:

• The first west window was finished
• The remaining stone was removed on the south side of the building to prepare for the south window installation
• The north windows on the upper level were installed giving a beautiful view to the quad of campus
• The north stairwell was demolished and the new steel framing was installed
• Metal wall framing continued on all levels
• Plumbing and fire suppression work continued on all levels
• Sheetrocking began on the upper level in the Honors College, Dean’s Suite, and Special Collections and University Archives areas

Aside from the physical construction progress, we worked behind-the-scenes to make progress on technology planning, made adjustments within the construction timeline as needed, and continued selecting furniture for the spaces.

Take a look at the February update video to see the latest updates:

As you walk through the construction zone at Forsyth Library, the building is starting to come to life. The wall framing and window work that’s been completed thus far have created skeletons reminiscent of the architectural renderings. Standing in the future spaces gives a feel for the size and potential uses of each area as the wall framing partitions the large footprints of each level according to the architectural design. Catch a glimpse of the progress in this comparison video that shows the North entrance, the presentation space, the café and Writing Center, the staff offices and front lobby area, and the open study space on the lower level outside of the Institute for New Media Studies. While we’re still a year away from the project’s completion in 2026, the progress is encouraging and something that should be shared:

On Thursday, December 5^th, the first 23-foot window was installed on the west side of the building. Metal grilles secure the new pieces of glass next to the precast cement frame with geometrical precision. Some of the smaller windows on the upper level have also been installed as single solid pieces. The glass is so new and clear you can hardly tell it’s there!

Spandrel glass will be used on the upper level of the west side of the building where Special Collections and Archives will be housed. In contrast with vision glass, or glass you can see through, spandrel glass has an opaque treatment that conceals structural or mechanical building components, essentially hiding them from the outside view. It is often used on commercial buildings to have a consistent appearance from the exterior and allows for greater flexibility of planning the structure, slabs, vents, wires, and interior spaces. From the exterior of the building, the spandrel glass section will look very similar to the other large windows with the tone of the glazes matching, reflecting the warming winter sunrays. From the interior of the building, the view of the spandrel glass is obscured by the opaque treatment that will keep the climate-controlled environment ideal for the photographs, books, and other materials stored in the “vault” of the Special Collections and Archives. From the outside, you won’t be able to tell that the inside houses something so unique. From the inside, the sun’s potentially damaging rays won’t penetrate the protected space of the vault.

Skylights will be over both the north and south sets of stairs to bring light into the space from above. The quarter-turn stairs will serve as columns of light to the open floorplans below.

Heavy Equipment

A construction site is a little kid’s dream. Bright orange, yellow, and blue machines litter the construction site with the sounds of backup beeps and the roar of engines. Some of the equipment is PWC’s and their subcontractors’, while other equipment is rented for the brief period it is needed. A different piece of heavy equipment is around every corner. For those who want to nerd out a little bit, here are just a few pieces of the heavy equipment being used for this project.

A telehandler helps the crew carry heavy loads from one place to another – to various heights and across distances. They can operate in tight spaces and the telescopic boom can have multiple attachments such as forks that transport and lift materials and supplies across the construction site, buckets that clear debris, and man-lifts that reach elevated areas. It’s essentially a forklift and a crane combined to meet a variety of construction needs.

• • JLG Telehandler Access Lift
  • GEHL RS6-34 Telescopic Handler
  • JCB 509-42 Telescopic Handler
  • JLG 6008 Telescopic Boom Lift
  • JLG Skytrak 8042 Telehandler

A compact excavator, or mini excavator, is a small but powerful piece. It can dig trenches and holes and move earth all while maneuvering within small spaces on the construction site. It can help with digging trenches for utilities like pipes and cables, performing demolition work, and clearing debris. A compact excavator can also have attachments such as a bucket, grapple, auger, or concrete breakers.

• • Kubota KX040-4 Compact Excavator
  • Cratos CMX18 Mini Excavator

A skid steer loader is another compact machine that’s been working on the job site. Best known for its role in excavating, digging, and trenching, a skid steer can be equipped with a variety of attachments (like the bucket shown here) and maneuver effectively in small spaces.

• • Kubota SVL 75-3 Skid Steer Loader
  • Cratos 100 Eco Mini Skid Steer

A scissor lift raises and lowers people and materials vertically on a platform to reach elevated workspaces. Essentially, it’s a scaffold mechanized by hydraulic cylinders and crisscrossed beams that open like scissors to extend and retract the platform. It helps with ceiling work such as installing ductwork for HVAC systems.

• • Genie Electric Slab Scissor Lift

A crane moves heavy objects and materials. Some of the heavy equipment used to work on the lower level had to be lowered into the jobsite using a crane. Much of the debris from the demolition was lifted out by the crane through an opening at the top of the stairwell to remove it safely and efficiently from the building.  A crane uses a system of levers, pulleys, wire ropes, and chains to move heavy objects. The tall crane with its boom is a characteristic icon of any construction site when it is moving across the sky with a large hook on the end. It’s quite a sight to see heavy machinery dangle from the air with precision and ease.

• • Hess Crane