Author: Caelin Bragg

Learn more about Tais Solis and her study abroad experience in Spain at the University of Deusto during the fall 2022 semester. Tais shares how she has benefited from her study abroad program.

The upcoming Shocker baseball series versus the University of Houston starts Thursday, April 6 in Eck Stadium.

Here is the schedule of games:

• 6 p.m. Thursday, April 6.
• 6 p.m. Friday, April 7.
• Noon Saturday, April 8.

Students receive admission to all Shocker Athletics home games with a Shocker ID at no additional charge, and faculty and staff receive admission to Friday baseball home games at no additional charge.

Wichita State senior Alyssa Pfeifer took an elective film class in high school as a break from academics she considered more stressful. It didn’t take long for film to become her passion. She made short films, entered competitions, and experimented with cameras and lighting on music videos.

Now at WSU’s Shocker Studios, students like Pfeifer have even more opportunities to hone their skills with a state-of-the-art, 700-square-foot editing suite for their video projects. The studio features theater lighting and seating, a 4K digital cinema compliant projector and a 200-inch screen. Students work on PCs and Mac Studios. It is equipped with DaVinci Resolve Color Panels, and keyboards are hot-keyed for Adobe Premiere Pro and/or DaVinci Resolve.

One of the methods that Wichita State students use to connect to BeoShock High Performance Computing (HPC), a powerful computing system designed to process large amounts of data or complex simulations, is by using a web browser, and Open OnDemand is the software engine that makes this possible. In April 2020, just as BeoShock HPC was getting off the ground and attracting its first users, WSU system administrators set up Open OnDemand.

During a recent talk given by the developers of Open OnDemand, Dr. Terrance Figy, associate professor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, praised them for putting together a tool that came in a the right time during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the reasons Figy worked hard on moving BeoShock HPC forward, with help from the system administrators from Kanas State University and WSU’s Information Technology Services, was to ensure students still had access to it at home, especially when the data analytics degree programs were getting started.

The Mortar Board Senior Honor Society’s philanthropy is “Reading is Leading,” and it encourages children to find joy in reading and use it as a skill. Its main event to promote it is a campus book drive.

This semester, it is having another book drive from Monday, April 3 to Thursday, April 14. The campus community can donate new or slightly used books at the Heskett Center, Shocker Hall, Shocker Dining Hall, Rhatigan Student Center, Ahlberg Hall or the Ablah Library. It is also hosting a competition for the book drive: The WSU student organization that donates the most books will receive $100 towards the group’s budget or philanthropy of choice. Officers or advisors of a WSU student organization that would like to register for the competition can contact Rachel Smith at: wsumortarboardsecretary@gmail.com. Emails should include the sender’s name, their position in the organization and the name of the organization.

Last semester, 282 books were donated by the WSU community to Minneha Elementary, and Mortar Board and Minneha are extremely grateful for the successful turn out.

Wichita State is holding a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12 and Thursday, April 13 in the Heskett Center. All donors will receive a free Peanuts T-shirt featuring Snoopy.

Encourage friends, family and the community to also make at appointment today on the American Red Cross website with the sponsor code “Wichita State” or call 1-800-733-2767.

Volunteers are needed for the spring 2023 commencement on Saturday, May 13 in Koch Arena. There are three volunteer shifts:

• From 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.
• From 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• From 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Volunteers will welcome guests and graduates at the event, and food will be provided.

Each week, Shocker Athletics provides an update on the latest results, upcoming events and notable moments in WSU sports history.

A user experience (UX) Austin research firm has discovered a secret ingredient in its recipe for success: Wichita State students.

Human Interfaces is a boutique firm that specializes in user UX research and has an impressive client list that includes Fitbit, Amazon, HP and Dell, to name a few.

The partnership between Wichita State and Human Interfaces began about a decade ago when the founder of the company, Dr. Greg Liddell, was working with Dr. Barb Chaparro, former Wichita State professor of human factors and director of the Software Usability Research Lab.

Prospective students are invited to join an informational session for Wichita State’s Master of Education in Learning and Instructional Design program at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 4 via Zoom.

Request a Zoom link for the session prior to the start by emailing Dr. JeaHwan Byun, associate professor in the School of Education, at jaehwan.byun@wichita.edu or Dr. Mara Alagic, professor in the School of Education, at mara.alagic@wichita.edu.

The Master of Education in Learning and Instructional Design program is an innovative, 100% online, 30 credit hour program designed for educators and professionals that offers a transformative and individualized learning opportunity with flexibility.