Author: Caelin Bragg

Leanne Caret — a Wichita State University alumna, former executive president of Boeing, and former president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) — is serving as the Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Engineer in Residence for the College of Engineering at WSU for 2023. She will provide industry knowledge, insight and guidance to students and faculty.

Caret has more than 30 years of aerospace industry experience. For five consecutive years from 2017-21, Fortune magazine included Caret in its Most Powerful Women list. She retired from Boeing in 2022 and currently serves on the United Service Organizations (USO) board of governors, the Raytheon Technologies board of directors and the John Deere board of directors.

Caroline Tallent has big goals for herself. The mechanical engineering major at Wichita State University hopes to someday become an Air Force pilot or astronaut — perhaps even work at NASA.

She’s just a sophomore, so she has plenty of time to dream and plan. But right now, her immediate goal is to put softballs into flight as a first baseman on the WSU softball team. She chose Wichita State after checking into schools with strong engineering and strong softball.

The Wichita State University College of Engineering is hosting an Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED) event, commonly known as Girl Day, for high school girls from Wichita Public Schools. The event is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 in the Shirley Beggs Ballroom on the third floor of the Rhatigan Student Center.

WSU expects 100-150 participants for the IGED event. The students will participate in hands-on STEM activities, listen to inspirational female speakers, and meet women from the engineering and computing industries, including professionals, WSU faculty, and students. There will also be an industry fair featuring companies from STEM fields. Breakfast pastries and lunch will be provided.

Make sure to catch the latest episode of the “Forward Together” podcast, where President Muma speaks with Dr. Mona Nemer, chief science advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who also spoke at Wichita State’s fall 2022 commencement.

Watch it here — wsu.news/FTnemer — or listen at wsu.news/ftpodcast or on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts and Apple Podcasts (iTunes).

The next episode will focus on one of WSU’s innovation partners. Subscribe here and be notified when new episodes are available.

The Wichita State Police Department (WSUPD) is the latest winner of Rick Rewards, awarded each month by President Muma to show his appreciation for the efforts of our campus community.

Members of the WSUPD were honored for their dedication to ensure a safe environment for our students, faculty, staff and visitors.

President Rick Muma and Shirley Lefever, provost and executive vice president, are conducting multiple town halls for certain Wichita State staff and faculty.

The times and sections for Wednesday, Feb. 22 are as follows via Zoom:

• Innovation and New Ventures – 10 a.m.
• Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College – 1 p.m.
• WSU Libraries – 2 p.m.

Zach Gearhart, chief of staff, will update faculty and staff on legislative issues raised related to Wichita State from the Kansas state government.

The meeting is open to all faculty and staff every other Friday in the Morrison Hall board room. The next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 10.

Join the Graduate School as it cheers on men’s basketball when the school is college of the game during the game against SMU at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12 in Charles Koch Arena.

All students get into home sports games at no additional charge thanks to the Student Government Association by bringing their Shocker ID. For more information about tickets, parking and other game day details visit the Shocker Athletics webpage.

A consortium of four local institutions (Wichita State, WSU Tech, Newman University and Friends University) is bringing Dr. Gina Ann Garcia to Wichita for the talk “Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions,” at 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, in Newman’s DeMattias Performance Hall. Her talk includes a 30-minute question and answer session.

What exactly is a Hispanic-Serving Institution? Dr. Sara Mata, WSU executive director of Hispanic-Serving Initiatives, is a member of the Hispanic-Serving Institution Task Force at WSU, and she explains what it all means and how it can positively impact students at Wichita State and beyond.

Dr. Sara Mata has been appointed as the executive director of Hispanic-Serving Initiatives in Academic Affairs. In the role, she will develop and implement strategies to support WSU’s initiative of being a Hispanic-Serving Institution by collaborating with campus and community partners and other institutions. She will also teach courses at WSU and serve as a graduate mentor for the Intervention Services and Leadership in Education department of the College of Applied Studies.

Throughout her career in higher education, the core of Dr. Mata’s work has been to mentor and advocate for students. Dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, Dr. Mata has mentored McNair scholars, honors scholars, and Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation scholars.

Dr. Mata received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology, her master’s degree in community counseling, and her doctorate in social foundations all from Oklahoma State University.

“We are excited to have Dr. Mata as part of our Shocker family,” said Shirley Lefever, provost and executive vice president. “She is a strong advocate with a passion to help students. She will play a lead role in WSU’s initiative of being a Hispanic-Serving Institution and to promote student success and persistence efforts here at Wichita State University.”