Year: 2024

The Sunflower is an entirely student-led newspaper that covers Wichita State and the surrounding area. Its newsletter comes out every Monday, delivering some of the most important news from the previous week straight to inboxes.

To subscribe to the newsletter, visit The Sunflower website and enter an email address. Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time.

For questions or concerns, contact The Sunflower editor-in-chief at editor@thesunflower.com or visit The Sunflower’s office in the basement of Elliott Hall, room 019.

The College of Engineering is looking for volunteers for this years’ third annual Wichita State Engineering 5k Saturday, Feb. 24.

Several volunteers are needed to help outline the race route where barricades will be placed. Volunteers will need to be at the John Bardo Center lobby by 8:15 a.m. on event day and will finish by 10:15 a.m., the race starts at 9 a.m. Volunteers will be provided a free T-shirt and breakfast.

Email Jacob Mendez at jacob.mendez@wichita.edu for any questions.

The University Police Department is looking for an administrative specialist.

Applications will be accepted through Sunday, Feb. 18. To apply, go to the “Internal Employment Opportunities at WSU” link under the “Human Resources Links” tab in myWSU and follow the directions.

For questions, contact employment@wichita.edu.

The 2024 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum (URCAF) will take place Friday, April 12 in the Rhatigan Student Center.

The purpose of the important event is to enable WSU’s undergraduate student researchers to present research under the guidance of faculty mentors. Students who have conducted research in 2023-24 are encouraged to submit an abstract for a poster presentation. Winners in each category of applied sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities will receive a $250 prize, and second place finishers will receive $100. All participants will be provided lunch at the Rhatigan Student Center and will gain valuable experience exhibiting their research.

Abstract submissions are due by March 29. Early submissions are encouraged.

Information about the event can be found on the URCAF webpage. For questions, contact John Hammond at john.hammond@wichita.edu.

The Student Activities Council, Black Student Union and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion will celebrate Black History Month with a special maker’s market dedicated to showcasing Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs in the Wichita community.

Shop at the market from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20 and Wednesday, Feb. 21 on the first floor of the Rhatigan Student Center to celebrate and promote the talented vendors.

Visiting author Brian Turner will read from his new trilogy of poetry books as part of the Writing Now Reading Now series at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15 at the Ulrich Museum of Art in the Dr. Sam & Jacqui Kouri Collection Study Center.

Writer of the memoir, “My Life as a Foreign Country,” Turner has penned five collections of poetry. He’s the editor of The Kiss and co-edited The Strangest of Theatres and lives in Florida with his dog, Dene.

Writing Now Reading Now is cosponsored by the Department of English, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Watermark Books & Café and the Ulrich Museum. This event is open to everyone. A reception will be hosted starting at 5:30 p.m.

Make sure to catch the latest episode of the “Forward Together” podcast. Join Wichita State President Rick Muma when he talks with Leanne Caret, featured on Forbes Magazine’s Most Powerful Women list, about her career in the aerospace industry and women in STEM.

While recording the podcast, Caret discovered several Easter egg photos on set featuring President Muma. Vote for your favorite. The first 100 responses will be eligible for a vintage WuShock glass.

Watch the episode online or listen on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts or Apple Podcasts (iTunes).

The next episode will feature Bobby Berry, assistant dean for diversity and outreach in the College of Applied Studies. Subscribe to be notified when new episodes are available.

2023-24 seasonal influenza vaccines and updated 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccines have arrived at Student Health Services. WSU faculty, staff and students — make your appointment now, while supplies last.

Everyone 6 months and older is recommended to receive one dose of updated influenza and mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The new COVID-19 vaccine formula targets the variants that are currently circulating in the United States. Who is eligible for the Flu and COVID-19 vaccines at Student Health Services?

• Ages 18 and over
• Currently enrolled WSU students
• Current WSU employees
• Must be at least 10 days past a positive COVID test or COVID-19/influenza-like symptoms.

How to get your vaccination?

• Appointments are required. Call 316-978-4792 to schedule.
• Bring your current health insurance card to use your possible free immunization benefits. If SHS is considered out of network with your insurance, you may have out-of-pocket costs.
• Allow 15 minutes to sit and wait after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination.

How much do the vaccinations cost?

• Flu Vaccines – $25, plus administration fee
• 2023-24 COVID booster vaccine – Pfizer Comirnaty – $125, plus administration fee

Other COVID-19 vaccination locations in the Wichita Community: vaccines.gov/search

• When searching on the site, uninsured or underinsured persons should be sure to click the box for “Bridge Access Program Participant” while searching for a vaccine using this site. This program provides no-cost COVID-19 vaccines to adults without health insurance and adults whose insurance does not cover all COVID-19 vaccine costs. There are 19 pharmacies or health departments in the Wichita area that are authorized participants of this program.

Six student soloists will perform in concert with the WSU Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13 in Miller Concert Hall. The annual Concerto-Aria Concert will be led by Mark Laycock, director of orchestras.

The featured performers, selected by competitive audition, are among the finest upper division and graduate majors in the School of Music. The program will also include the world premiere of Labyrinth, a short work for chamber orchestra by retiring faculty composer Dean Roush.

Soloists Josephine Barstad, soprano; Aria Beert, violin; Luis Gomez, clarinet; Karla Lugo, cello; Grace Stringfellow, oboe; and Anne Yap I-Shyuen, piano, will perform works by Richard Strauss, Henryk Wieniawski, Edward Elgar, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Wolfgang Mozart and Oscar Navarro.

• Minnesota soprano Barstad is lauded for her “glorious and expressive” voice. Her authentic artistry has most recently been displayed in the title role of “Suor Angelica,” where she was described as “having a voice made for verismo.” Upcoming in the 2024 season she will perform La Contessa in “Le nozze di Figaro” and hold her Graduate Recital at Wichita State.
• Aria Beert, originally from Rockford, Illinois, has won numerous awards for her violin playing, including the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Scholarship competition, the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra, the American Federation of Musicians Scholarship Award, Rockford Area Music Industry Scholarship Award and Budding Artist Musician from the Kiwanis Club of Rockford.
• Luis Enrique Gomez is a graduate student at WSU completing his master’s in clarinet performance in the clarinet studio of Professor Rachelle Goter. He can currently be seen directing the WSU Shocker Sound Machine at various sporting events, as a student conductor of the WSU Symphonic Band under the direction of Dr. Timothy Shade, and playing clarinet and bass clarinet in the WSU Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and Clarinet Quartet, as well as the Wichita Wind Symphony.
• Karla Lugo was born in Pachuca Hidalgo, Mexico, where she learned to play the cello at age 12 in the humanitarian project Sinfónica Azteca. She has won awards for second place in the National Cello Competition of La Superior de Musica y Danza de Monterrey and the scholarship Creadores Escénicos 2022 of the Support System for Cultural Creation and Projects in Mexico.
• Grace Stringfellow is an orchestral, chamber and solo performer based in Wichita. She joined the Boise Philharmonic as second oboe in September 2021 and the Wichita Symphony as second oboe in September 2022 and has been principal oboe of the Dad Village Symphony Orchestra (a virtual symphony) since March of 2020. In 2020, she won the Undergraduate Concerto Competition at the University of Colorado Boulder.
• Anne Yap I-Shyuen, a native of Malaysia, is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Music in piano performance at WSU under the tutelage of Dr. Warren Kim. She earned her Bachelor of Music in piano performance and pedagogy in May 2023, having been guided by Dr. Julie Bees. Throughout this period, Anne garnered notable accolades, including the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award 2023 and the Thurlow Lieurance Outstanding 2023 Senior and 2022 Junior Awards.

Tickets are available at the Fine Arts Box Office or by calling 316-978-3233.

Celebrate love and creativity this Valentine’s Day at the new Makers & Masterpieces series from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14 at the Ulrich Museum of Art.

Learn the printmaking process using linoleum blocks to create a card for someone you love with the help of WSU’s Tornado Alley Press. Take a photo with the Robert Indiana “LOVE” sculpture. Enjoy sweet and savory snacks and hot cocoa sponsored by the Office of Diversity & Inclusion. Enjoy a special viewing of love themed artworks in the Dr. Sam & Jacqui Kouri Collection Study Center. Purchase roses and handmade ceramics from these student organizations, Arts Exploration Association and the WSU Ceramics Guild.