Author: Caelin Bragg

Join the SGA Elections Commission for the 2023 presidential and vice presidential debates to learn more about each of the ticket’s platforms.

These debates will be moderated by the Elections Commission and will be held starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 28 in 233 Rhatigan Student Center and live streamed through SGA’s YouTube channel.

The Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures and the WSU Japanese Language program extend a congratulations to the winners of the Heart of America Japan-America Society’s annual Japanese Language Contest. The contest was held on March 4 at Johnson County Community College. They are proud of the hard work that all the contestants put into the contest this year to represent Wichita State.

Students competed in several categories including poetry writing in both English and Japanese, karuta card games, online grammar and culture quizzes, calligraphy, 4-panel manga creation, and a speech presentation contest.

This year’s winners from Wichita State:

• Cameron Gillespie: First in speech presentation, second in Japanese-language tanka poem.
• Alyssa Moen: First in Japanese culture quiz, second in N5 karuta card game.
• Wren Johnson: Second in speech presentation.
• Quyen Tran: Honorable mention for calligraphy.
• Lilith Tackett: Honorable mention for English-language tanka poem.

The World Trade Council of Wichita (WTCouncil) and Center for International Business Advancement (CIBA) will host the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on “How to do business in and with South Korea: Korea as investor, partner and market” starting a 6 p.m. Thursday, March 23 at the Wichita Marriott Hotel, 9100 E. Corporate Hills Dr.

South Korea has successfully transformed itself from a low-income to a high-income economy and is a global leader in innovation and technology. KOTRA, South Korea’s national trade and investment-promotion organization, facilitates trade, investment between domestic and foreign companies, and industrial-technology cooperation. Attendees will have an opportunity to meet and hear from Lee Yungsun, director general at KOTRA Chicago, and Kevin SunChang Hwang, general manager at KOTRA Chicago, as well as survey the economic, political and cultural landscape.

Community members who know of a Wichita-based company or association that would like to meet with KOTRA should reach out to Usha Haley, Barton School distinguished chair in international business and WTCouncil elected chair, through wtcouncil@wichita.edu.

Prior registration is required. Attendance for the networking hour, three course dinner and KOTRA presentation is $55 for non-members and $45 for members, and WSU students get a subsidized rate (through the WTCouncil) of $25. Attendance to just the presentation is free.

Contact Sherryl Hubble, CIBA/WTCouncil, at wtcouncil@wichita.edu for more information.

The Office of Disability Services (ODS) will host a deaf games night from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 24 in 203 Grace Wilkie Hall.

Two members of the Wichita deaf community will be leading participants in games that are deeply rooted in deaf culture. There will be light snacks provided as well as chances to win prizes.

This is an opportunity to learn about deaf culture, practice American Sign Language and have fun. The event is open to everyone.

Looking for more opportunities to volunteer or to become more involved in the community? The Office of Engagement is excited to announce a list of events for the rest of the semester:

• March 23: Engaged Series – Business
• April 1: Touch Up Shocker Neighborhood
• April 7: Common Ground Pop-Up Market
• April 16: Open Streets ICT at WSU and Shocker Neighborhood
• May 5: Common Ground Pop-Up Market
• Aug. 23-30: Good Neighbor Week
• Aug. 23: Neighborhood Walk – Redbud Trail
• Aug. 30: Brush Up! Shocker Neighborhood

For more information about specific events, check out the Office of Engagement’s Facebook page closer to the event date.

This event has been postponed due to illness until further notice.

Join the Ulrich Museum of Art for the visiting scholar talk, “Yes, no, maybe so: Connections between Japanese prints, anime and manga and the stories we tell about them” by Andrea Horbinski at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 in the Beren Gallery at the Ulrich Museum. Participants are invited to a reception starting at 5:30 p.m.

Focusing on art and society in the 19th and 20th centuries, when Japan underwent a rapid, self-imposed transition to modernity, this talk examines not only the linkages between anime/manga and printmaking, but also the limits of those connections, and how the evidence for and against them has been deployed to serve larger stories about race, modernity and culture in the Asia-Pacific and worldwide.

Join the Shockers Vote Coalition for the second Midwest Student Voting Summit. The summit will be held virtually from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 24. It will be an opportunity to come together with fellow students, staff, faculty, administrators and non-partisan campus partners to strategize on getting out the youth vote.

All WSU students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate. The conference is virtual, and attendees may join on their own or they can participate with fellow Shockers from the Shockers Vote Coalition in 240 Rhatigan Student Center. Following the conference, there will be time to debrief and talk about next steps for the Shockers Vote initiative and about ways to get involved. Lunch will be provided.

The summit is in partnership with the Campus Vote Project, All In to Vote and Students Learn Students Vote. To sign-up or learn more, email Loren Belew, civic engagement coordinator with Student Engagement, Advocacy & Leadership, at loren.belew@wichita.edu or call 316-978-7016.

Join the First-Generation Student Organization and the First-Generation Coordinating Council as they engage in small group discussions about being a first-generation student at Wichita State at 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 in 266 Rhatigan Student Center.

A first-generation college student is a student whose parents or legal guardians have not completed a bachelor’s degree. By attending the event, attendees will meet other first-generation faculty, staff and students. Attendees will be provided lunch and a T-shirt while supplies last.

Join the Department of Math and Statistics for a public lecture by Dr. Qi Zhang, professor at the University of California, Riverside.

The lecture, titled “Log gradient estimates of the heat equation on manifolds,” will take place at 3 p.m. Friday, March 24 in room 372 Jabara Hall. Refreshments will be available at 2:30 p.m. in 353 Jabara Hall.

Join the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics for Dr. Atri Dutta’s talk, “How to fly a spacecraft” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 28 in 301 Rhatigan Student Center.

The determination of the optimal trajectory of a spacecraft can be complex, especially when the spacecraft uses a low-thrust propulsion system or when it operates in a challenging dynamical environment. The talk will provide an overview of astrodynamics research being conducted at WSU’s Astronautics Laboratory to address some of those challenges. Specific examples of research conducted will include all-electric spacecraft, hurricane monitoring constellations, NuSol probe and the CubeSat being developed to validate a neutrino detector in space.