Author: Caelin Bragg

Eighth-seeded Shocker women’s basketball recorded the biggest upset in American Athletic Conference (AAC) championship history with its 65-53 win on March 7 against top seed South Florida, who were 27-0 all-time in the AAC championship entering the quarterfinal matchup.

The Shockers (18-13) advance to the semifinals of the AAC championship for the first time in school history with the wire-to-wire upset. This was only the second appearance in the quarterfinals for WSU in its brief history as a member of the AAC.

The Shockers will face Houston at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 8 for a spot in the championship game.

The sixth cohort of Rudd Scholars includes 18 Kansas high school seniors who have chosen to attend Wichita State University.

Each Rudd Scholar will receive a full-ride scholarship, which includes tuition, fees, on-campus housing, and considerable networking and coaching support along the way.

The following are the students who were awarded the Rudd scholarships:

• Ashlyn Armstrong — Central Plains High School in Claflin, Kansas
• Natalee Delgado — Valley Center High School
• Alejandra Facio — Garden City High School
• Kylie Flaming — Inman High School
• Liberty Gilkey — Kiowa County High School
• Hayden Hartung — Hesston High School
• Jackson Haslett — Clearwater High School
• Elias Iseman — Bishop Carroll Catholic School in Wichita
• Riley Jaske — Sterling High School
• Isabella Kilman — Valley Center High School
• Zain Maknojia — Halstead High School
• Katherin Mayer — Bishop Carroll High School
• Erik Moreno — Wichita High School South
• Chinonye Otuonye — Wichita Northwest High School
• Katie Rempel — Hillsboro High School
• Ryan Richardson — Sumner Academy of Arts and Science in Kansas City, Kansas
• Jade Simeona — Goddard High School
• Ashlee Villarreal — Garden City High School

Wichita State University has selected the 2023 recipient of the Linwood Sexton Scholarship: Grecia Esparza from Wichita East High School. Esparza will receive a full-ride scholarship to attend Wichita State this fall.

Esparza is planning to study secondary education for mathematics at Wichita State. As a student at East High School, she is highly involved in a variety of activities — including the Latino Club, French Club, Students Against Prejudice, National Honors Society and AVID. She also volunteers for a summer camp, where she oversees activities and leads a group of 6- and 7-year-olds.

Lauren Hughes — senior at Owasso High School (Owasso, Oklahoma) — is the winner of the 2023 Lenora N. McGregor Endowed Scholarship at Wichita State.

The Lenora N. McGregor Endowed Scholarship awards up to $26,000 over four years to an incoming freshman student who has demonstrated academic excellence, has an academic vision for the future and who expresses an interest in advancing knowledge through individual learning. The McGregor Scholar agrees to maintain active membership in WSU’s Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College.

Hughes is the daughter of Karri Lynn Hughes and Joseph Bradshaw Hughes. She was the senior class representative of National Honors Society and captain and coach of the Varsity Mock Trial team. She also designed and built sets for her high school’s stagecraft program; tutored middle school students in English, math and science; and has been a part of the concurrent student program at Tulsa Community College since 2019.

Parking will be enforced as usual in all yellow, faculty/staff parking lots during spring break, which is from Monday, March 13 to Friday, March 17, as faculty and staff are still present on campus during this time.

Green student lots will be open parking during the break, and regular enforcement will begin again on Monday, March 20.

For students graduating in the spring, visit the Shocker Store during one of its Grad Days. CB Grad/Balfour will be available to assist with ordering graduation announcements, nursing and dental hygiene pins, custom faculty regalia and more.

Stop by between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, March 6 or 7 at the Rhatigan Student Center Shocker Store.

The College of Applied Studies invites applications for a full-time associate dean and accreditation officer.

This is a 12-month appointment that includes responsibilities to assist the dean in academic program development, administration and evaluation, including leadership for all aspects of the college’s accreditation and program approval processes.

This summer, all Data Projector Plus (DP+ or “Gray Box”) classrooms and labs will see some small updates this summer. Every room will receive a brighter, full HD projector, the obsolete VGA cables will be removed and replaced with 15-foot-long HDMI cables, and the DVD/VCR combo players will be removed along with any remaining overhead transparency projectors.

The Media Resources Center (MRC) will be maintaining a small inventory of each of these to be available per instructor request. Instructors will still need to provide their own adapter for their device if it does not have HDMI output on it, but they will no longer need to provide their own HDMI cable.

The updates should be completed and ready by the start of the fall 2023 semester. Any questions about these upcoming changes can be sent to Matt Claxton, classroom media coordinator with the MRC, at 316-978-3588.

WSU will participate in the annual statewide severe weather preparedness drill. The annual drill this year is at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 7. If the weather is clear, all severe weather sirens in Sedgwick County will go off at that time. When the severe weather sirens sound, proceed to your designated severe weather shelter area.

Emergency Building Coordinators in each building will ensure that all building occupants safely make their way to the designated severe weather shelter area.

Departments should use this opportunity to ensure that all faculty, staff and students know where to go to protect themselves in a severe weather event.

• Wednesday and Thursday:
  • Buffalo Brew Coffee Company, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Friday:
  • Buffalo Brew Coffee Company, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
  • Wheat Street Dogs, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  • Brazita Bites, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Follow Wichita State Food Truck Plaza on Facebook.