Ted Ayres
Kansas Historical Foundation
Board of Directors
Elected to board: 2018
Ted Ayres lives in Wichita. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Central Missouri State College and a juris doctorate degree from the University of Missouri.
He served as a law clerk to a judge in the Missouri Supreme Court and was a partner in a law firm in Chillicothe, Missouri. He began a career in higher education law as counsel for the University of Missouri in 1976, and then general counsel for the University of Colorado in 1984.
Ayres joined Wichita State University (WSU) as general counsel and associate to the president in 1996, then he was promoted to vice president and general counsel. He also served as director of equal opportunity at Wichita State, and as interim president at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg. He retired from Wichita State in 2018.
His community involvement includes serving on the boards of National Association of College and University Attorneys, the Downtown YMCA in Topeka, the Wichita Technology Corporation, Mizzou alumni Association, the World War II Memorial Inc., KPTS public television, and Kansas African American Museum. His many honors include the University Recognition Award by the WSU Alumni Association.
Ayres was elected to the Kansas Historical Foundation Board of Directors in 2018.
"Kansas has been good to me and my family. I appreciate the history of Kansas; am proud of and grateful for my career in public higher education in Kansas; and am continually thrilled, energized and amazed by each journey through the Flint Hills."
