Year: 2024

Non-teaching employees, it’s time to complete your self-evaluation in myPerformance. The self-evaluation step in the performance evaluation cycle is your opportunity to provide input on your job performance and accomplishments since the beginning of the current review period that began on March 1, 2023. Go to myPerformance to access and complete your self-evaluation which is due by 11:59 p.m. Jan. 31.

Helpful hints:

• You can access your performance evaluation as many times as you need during the month of January to update and complete your self-evaluation. Access will route from you to your leader Feb. 1, 2024.
• Be sure to save and submit anytime you update or make changes to your self-evaluation. You still have access to make changes after you save and submit.
• To find in-progress or past evaluations in myPerformance, check the small box “Show completed and expired tasks” then click “Search.”

For more information (including myPerformance training, quick reference guides, and other resources) go to the myPerformance webpage (wichita.edu/myPerformance).

Wichita State University Esports clinched victory in the ECAC National Championship for Valorant, capping off a successful fall 2023 season. Key players Truman Nguyen, Tyson Nguyen, McKaleb Unruh, Caleb Allen, and Kevin Nguyen showcased exceptional skill and teamwork. This marks WSU’s second consecutive ECAC championship and affirms its dedication in a challenging season.

WSU teams also performed strongly in various other esports titles, securing notable rankings. Looking ahead, the team is gearing up for the NACE Starleague conference in late January, hosted by the National Association of Collegiate Esports. Travis Yang, Wichita State esports director, emphasized the team’s resilience and anticipates continued success in the dynamic world of collegiate esports.

Wichita State University moved to No. 2 on the national list of industry-funded engineering and research and development, according to the latest data compiled by the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

NSF’s latest data ranks U.S. universities in various categories, including R&D spending broken down by subfield and funding source.

For fiscal year 2022, Wichita State reported R&D expenditures totaling $261 million, up from $192 million in 2021. Industry-funded R&D expenditures totaled $116.3 million, up from $86 million in 2021.

All Innovation Campus partners are invited to a lunchtime panel discussion, “The Impact of Generative AI on Business and Work” from noon to 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10 on the first floor NetApp building, Defiance Room, and via Teams.

The expert panel will include speakers from around the Innovation Campus as well as USD 259 and Wichita State. Speakers will include Neal Tilley, CISCO; Jeff Bartel, AirBus; Mark Padding, Rewards Network; Chuck Passannante, Textron; Dyane Smokorowski, USD 259; and Tonya Witherspoon, Wichita State. This panel discussion is part of the Academic Resources Conference (ARC), a free, mostly-online conference hosted by WSU three times a year. Check out the ARC schedule page to see if any other sessions catch your eye.

Click on the session link to add it to your Outlook calendar or visit the January 2024 ARC webpage for direct meeting links.

Tuesday, Jan. 9:

• 9 a.m.: Getting Started with Ultra – Rachel Bastian, instructional designer and accessibility specialist
• 10 a.m.: Building Courses in Ultra – Carolyn Speer, director of the Office of Instructional Resources
• 11 a.m.: Ultra Grading and Gradebook – Carolyn Speer, Rachel Bastian
• Noon: Panel Hour: Retention Fellows Panel – Melinda DeFrain, assistant teaching professor of English; Cindi Mason, associate teaching professor and undergraduate coordinator of industrial, systems and manufacturing engineering; Carolyn Shaw, professor of political science
• 1 p.m.: Using Blackboard’s AI Tools in Ultra – Carolyn Speer
• 2 p.m.: Know your Library Resources – Nathan Filbert, assistant professor and research and instruction services librarian

Faculty and staff who have achieved the WSU Internal Control All-Star credential were recognized as the next recipient of Rick Rewards on Jan. 8. Faculty and staff who receive the credential help keep the university’s resources applied to its mission.

Rick Rewards is awarded each month by President Rick Muma to show his appreciation for the efforts of the campus community.

Join us for the eighth annual Strategic Communications marketing and communications seminar for WSU faculty and staff from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday, Jan. 25.

The opening session and all breakout sessions will be held on the third floor of the Rhatigan Student Center. Gain additional insights, tools and tips to help you improve your marketing and communication efforts. Attendees may choose to attend two of five sessions.

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.

You can also refer to timekeeping guidelines and the WSU Human Resources website for more information.

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. 

PDF files, often designed to provide a print-like experience with a document, can create accessibility and usability challenges for end users. To help individual contributors master the skills and tools, the web development and accessibility teams have prepared a comprehensive guide for making PDFs accessible, as well as a video series for those who prefer a training video.

• PDF Remediation for Accessibility 
• PDF Remediation Video Series

Join Zach Gearhart, chief of staff and executive director of government relations, for updates on the Kansas legislature relevant to Wichita State. The next meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12 in 101 Morrison Hall.

The meeting is open to all faculty, staff and students and is held every other Friday following each legislative session.