Fort Hays State University officials say the Sternberg Museum of Natural History could stay open into next year.
University President Tisa Mason told the Ellis County Commission on Tuesday that new partnerships and donations from the community could keep the museum open past December.
Last week, Mason announced that the university planned to close the Sternberg on Dec. 18, citing cuts in state funding.
"When we announced the closure, many community partners indicated a willingness to help," Mason said Tuesday. "And we're very grateful and optimistic about reaching our $1 million goal of additional support from the community for fiscal year '27."
She said the plan to close the museum was "not a decision about Sternberg's value to Fort Hays or to our community or to our state.
"It is a financial reality that the university can no longer subsidize it alone," Mason said. "We've been fiscally conservative, and it still wasn't enough to carry a museum of this scale during this budget-cycle cut."
She said the university has formed a faculty-staff group to develop a plan for operating the Sternberg into next year.
"We've got a lot of work in the months ahead, but we are hoping to change the narrative if we are able to," she said.
