Year: 2024

Hispanic Serving Initiatives will host a panel of three Latina Kansas leaders at 12:30 p.m. Friday, May 3 in 314 Rhatigan Student Center, Venters Room.

The panel includes Judge Rachel Pickering, the first Latina to serve on the Court of Appeals; Monique Garcia, owner of Garcia Group, LLC; and Pilar Pedraza, anchor and senior political reporter for KAKE News.

The women will discuss their journeys and share perspectives on doing work in the political realm as well as supporting and representing the community. Food will be sponsored by Connie’s Mexican Restaurant. For questions and more information, contact Dr. Sara Mata at sara.mata@wichita.edu.

Are you interested in learning more about the work of an organizational ombudsperson? Curious about the standards of practice employed by ombudpersons? Considering serving as a faculty ombudsperson in the future?

Join professional ombuds trainer, Donna Louden, from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, May 10 via Zoom to learn more about being an ombudsperson. RSVP to Carolyn Shaw at carolyn.shaw@wichita.edu to receive the Zoom link. 

Staff Senate and Human Resources are excited to offer faculty and staff a professional development opportunity made possible through grants they wrote and were awarded by the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC). The grant provides a select number of seats for their leadership development path which starts with step one, When Everyone Leads.

Based on KLC’s bestselling book, “When Everyone Leads,” the six-hour course makes leadership accessible and inclusive, unleashing capacity for collective leadership in teams, organizations, coalitions and communities.

All faculty and staff are invited to go to the HR professional development website to learn more and find instructions for submitting an interest form.

Andreas Papaefstathiou, assistant professor from Kennesaw State University who specializes in the phenomenology of particle physics, and will give a talk, “Imprints of Electro-Weak Symmetry Breaking at Colliders,” 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 1 in 128 Jabara Hall.

The Physics Seminar is part of a series of talks sponsored by the Eddy and April Lucas Fund and brings speakers to campus several times each semester.

Join the Rhatigan Student Center for its live music series, Monday Melodies, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, April 29 in the Starbucks Lounge featuring live music from JMichael.

The last Monday of every month, the RSC hosts live music in the building.

Need something to do to take a break from studying for finals? Visit the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes April 29 through May 3 for De-Stress Fest specials.

All week, enjoy free billiards and $2 bowling games with free shoes. Must show a Shocker ID. Availability may vary due to group reservations and events.

The Graduate School will close at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 2 for a staff meeting. The office will reopen at 8 a.m. Friday, May 3.

Last night Wichita State Police officers were able to investigate and clear a non-credible bomb threat within a few short hours, restoring campus to normal operations.

The call indicated the presence of an explosive device at Wallace Hall and the 21st Street Starbucks. While police quickly suspected the threat was not real, immediate action was taken by our emergency response team, in coordination with local law enforcement agencies, to ensure that there was no credible danger to our community.

The WSU campus community was alerted of the reported threat through the RAVE system. All individuals were asked to evacuate and avoid these areas.

The all-clear was issued at 12:45 a.m. on Friday morning.

As operations return to normal, now is a good reminder that false threats like these are a crime and tax the time and resources of many people, including our first responders.

The safety and security of our campus community are of the utmost priority. Though there is no threat to campus, diligence is always important.

Remember, if you see something, say something by calling 978-3450 or 911.

In the event of inclement weather and/or an emergency event, the university shall take all reasonable measures to protect the health and safety of students, faculty and staff.

Should such an event occur, the university may implement a temporary adjustment to its class and/or operations, including late start and moving class instruction and non-critical operations to remote delivery, where possible. Critical campus operations will continue to operate on-campus to the fullest extent possible.

In order to facilitate the university’s decision making and communication process, and to recognize potential childcare challenges faced by university students and employees, the university will typically align with USD 259 in closing campus facilities or moving to remote learning/operations due to inclement weather or national, state or local emergencies.

See the full WSU inclement weather guidelines. In the event of a weather emergency, refer to the list of tornado shelters on campus.

Please take a moment to read how you will be informed of changes to normal on-campus operations:

• We strongly encourage you to sign up for the ShockerAlert System, which will send weather and class alerts to your phone and email.
• In the event of a change to normal on-campus operations, you will also receive a message to your WSU email account.
• The Wichita State website will be updated with a warning message during a inclement weather or emergency situation that impacts classes or activities on campus.
• WSU’s official X account and Facebook page will be updated with pertinent information.

For more information about the weather outlook at any time, consult the National Weather Service forecast for Wichita.

Swing by the Coca-Cola Marvel trailer from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 1 on the north lawn of the Rhatigan Student Center for free samples, Marvel-themed Coca-Cola cans and a photo booth.

The event is part of Student Activities Council’s De-Stress Fest and sponsored by the RSC.