Dr. Taylor Kriley, Emporia State University Interim President

Dr. Taylor Kriley, ESU executive vice president of enrollment management and student success and associate teaching professor, was named interim president of the university by the Kansas Board of Regents in December 2025. She assumed the role after the retirement of ESU’s 18th President Ken Hush and will serve until Dr. Matt Baker begins his role as the 19th ESU president in early March.

Dr. TK, as she is known on campus, first came to Emporia State University in 2004 as a student. She earned an undergraduate degree in communication with a minor in leadership studies as well as a graduate degree in school counseling from ESU before earning a Doctor of Education in higher education leadership from Baker University in 2018.

She began her professional career at ESU in 2011 as the director of Fraternity and Sorority Life and moved into other student success roles before becoming senior director of the Center for Student Involvement in January 2016.

In 2017, Kriley moved to Fort Hays State University to serve as senior diversity officer and director of diversity and inclusion. She advanced into other enrollment management and student success roles. Kriley served at Fort Hays State as assistant vice president for student affairs and program coordinator of the higher education student affairs master’s degree program before returning to ESU in May 2024 to be the vice president of student success.

She and her husband, Dr. Luke Kriley, DPT, also a two-time ESU alum, have two children, Wrenly and Wickam.