Author: Caelin Bragg

This week’s Student Success and Persistence highlight comes from Dr. Mercy Umeri, assistant teaching professor and MiniMPA coordinator in Fairmount College’s Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs.

• What role do you think faculty and staff play in a student’s success and persistence?
  “As a faculty member, the core of our work is to ensure the success of students beyond the classroom. We must believe in the ability of our students to succeed. We must let our students know that they are co-producers of their knowledge and that we are the facilitators. We can empower them, even if they are still figuring out their career paths. This shift in mindset encourages students to stay engaged and committed to their studies and to know that they have what it takes to succeed. We must take time out to walk them through the difficulties they’re facing and point them to other resources that will help them succeed. As a first generation college student, I understand firsthand the importance of having faculty members who believe in you and push you to succeed.”
• What is one small thing any faculty and staff member can do to make a student’s day or let them know they’re cared for?
  “We can all do better with listening to our students more. Our students are doing their best to combine life and studies and sometimes, they may get overwhelmed. I try to come to class a little early so I can chat with my students before class. I have my office hours, but I always want my students to know that they can always talk to me, not just when they have challenges with my course. Listening to them in a ‘non-formal’ setting helps you listen to some of the challenges they face, ones they may not ordinarily share. Sometimes, after listening to them, all they need is a little nudge and encouragement to continue to stay engaged.”

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@wichita.edu.

President Rick Muma and Diane Tinker-Hurst, project manager for Industry and Defense Programs, discussed how Wichita State drives innovation and economic prosperity in an article with the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities.

They shared how WSU’s vision, mission and values help shape the university’s goal to nurture talented students in a variety of fields; fostering innovation through our initiatives of digital transformation and the development of the MRO program and Molecular Diagnostics Lab; and how the university leads the way with our Innovation Campus.

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) has approved Wichita State’s Quality Initiative Proposal for the university’s Student Success and Persistence (SSP) initiative.

WSU participates in Open Pathway, a model of accreditation from the HLC, which seeks to offer greater value to institutions and greater credibility to the public in its quality assurance. This accreditation process requires institutions to undertake a major Quality Initiative designed to suit its present concerns or aspirations. A Quality Initiative is typically designed to begin and be completed during a designated time frame, or it may be one that continues an initiative already in progress or achieve a key milestone in the work of a longer initiative. Quality Initiatives are intended to allow institutions to take risks, aim high and learn from only partial success or even failure.

SSP focuses on SEM goal three, “increase persistence rates of degree-seeking student populations” with efforts centered around the four recommendations from the National Institute for Student Success in the report commissioned by the Kansas Board of Regents. The goal is to increase retention and graduation rates for students and to narrow the equity gap between the university’s underserved and non-underserved student populations. SSP is a university-wide initiative. 

This week’s Student Success and Persistence highlight comes from Chris Megonigle.

Chris — a senior majoring in health science and minoring in public health and health care management — enrolled at Wichita State after graduating from Mulvane High School.

After struggling to find success in college in his first attempt, Chris gave it another go in his adulthood and found faculty in the Department of Public Health Sciences who supported him and were actively engaged in making sure he was able to keep up with his schoolwork and personal life without burning out. The faculty members he is most thankful for are Sarah Taylor, director of undergraduate programs and associate educator; Dr. Stephen Arnold, professor; and Dr. Suzanne Hawley, professor.

“Taylor was my point of contact when I was recovering from the signs of burnout apathy and listened and provided feedback as I returned to WSU. Dr. Arnold has been instrumental in planning the next steps of my education, inspiring me to take a path that I had not thought about previously and providing guidance and support as I begin to apply to graduate education programs post-WSU. Dr. Hawley looked beyond the academic setting and made a connection with me as a person and understood that, while there are students who have the ‘typical college experience,’ there are a great amount at WSU who do not. As I prepare to leave WSU, I could not be more grateful to those three for keeping the light on at the end of a very long and arduous tunnel.”

Taylor says that faculty and staff need to take a proactive approach to finding and helping students who are struggling in school, even if they aren’t displaying any signs of concern, and let them know that they are always available for concerns inside and outside of the classroom.

“As faculty, we should want our students to feel comfortable coming to us to ask questions about class, or let us know if they are struggling outside of class, so that we can best help them through the variety of services available to them at WSU.”

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@wichita.edu.

This week’s Student Success and Persistence highlight comes from Sarah Taylor, director of undergraduate programs and associate educator for the Department of Public Health Sciences in the College of Health Professions.

• What is one small thing any faculty or staff member can do to make a student’s day or let them know they’re cared for?
  “As faculty, we have more ‘face-to-face’ time with students than most anyone else on campus. It’s important that we use our role to help and encourage students. I believe a really easy way faculty can do this is by showing students they care about them. This can be done in a variety of ways, through Blackboard announcements, individualized feedback in Blackboard on assignments, an email to a student who hasn’t been attending class or turning in work, and by acknowledging the student’s struggle when responding to an email.”
• How do you promote student success through your campus duties?
  “Through the past academic year, the Retention Faculty Fellows hosted monthly Teaching Matters events for faculty to gather and discuss ways to increase student retention. Some great ideas came out of these events, including giving students a way to connect in class to learn about campus activities outside of class. We discussed providing a few minutes during class for students to give announcements about upcoming activities they are planning to attend as an invitation to others to come with them. One student on our panel during this discussion said this was how he had become more involved on campus because he knew at least one person who was going to attend and that made him feel more comfortable. It’s important for students to find their community on campus as those who feel connected to faculty and other students are more likely to persist.”

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@wichita.edu.

This week’s Student Success and Persistence highlight comes from Aisha Waite, department chair for the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences in the College of Health Professions.

• What role do you think faculty and staff play in a student’s success and persistence?
  “Faculty and staff are a big part of the support system that helps students succeed. We need to notice the progress made by each student, even if it is a little bit, and be excited for them. It’s about cheering for them in those moments when you know they have given their all and reassuring them that you believed in them from the get-go. I have found students want to work harder when they know you believe in them and know that you are willing to work just as hard for them. It is our responsibility to teach and guide students who will become our future. If we don’t show the excitement and passion for our fields, no one will.”
• What is one small thing any faculty or staff member can do to make a student’s day or let them know they’re cared for?
  “Listen: I truly believe that students end up answering their own questions if they feel they can talk to someone who is sincerely listening to them. As a listener, you have a responsibility to respect the conversation that is occurring, which makes the student trust you and feel like there is genuine care for them. A sense of ‘I am where I need to be at’ builds support and confidence.
  Make them laugh or smile: Throughout the semester, I feel it is essential to make students laugh or smile, which makes them see you as a human. It makes your class memorable and fun, and when you have fun, you want to learn more.”

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@wichita.edu.

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Timesheets and leave reports are currently not available. The Payroll Office is diligently working on the position budget load for fiscal 2024.

Once completed, Payroll will send out further communication. It hopes to have timesheets and leave reports open by Monday, June 19 and will follow up with an email letting faculty and staff know when they are open and ready for entry.

Walking through campus with Wichita State University First Gentleman Rick Case is like taking a stroll with an anthropomorphized version of the Farmer’s Almanac.

Case — who’s fluent in the care and feeding of flora — points out irises, lilies, hydrangeas, wisteria, ivies and chrysanthemums that thrive both at the President’s Residence on campus and at their private home in Wichita.

Ever the teacher, Case shares growing tips and offers advice about how to maintain the various blooms and nurture new seedlings. And ever the gardener, he stoops down every few yards to pull weeds, pick up bits of trash from the meticulously manicured pathways and steppingstones, or get a closer look at the progress of a particular plant.

The black granite memorial in Piatt Park describes the tragedy of January 1965 and lists the names of those who died in the predominately Black neighborhood.

For Dr. Kevin Harrison, director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Cohen Honors College, the story of that day is one that deserves more discussion and examination to understand.

Harrison grew up in the Wichita neighborhood around 20th and Piatt Street, less than a mile from campus. The memorial park marks the site where a U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 refueling tanker crashed, shortly after takeoff on the morning Jan. 19, 1965. The crash and resulting explosion and fires caused the deaths of 30 people, numerous injuries and the destruction of 10 homes. According to news reports, around 31,000 gallons of jet fuel covered the area with flames and smoke.