Author: Caelin Bragg

Scott Hill, Assistant Teaching Professor in Department of Philosophy, published “Why people who believe in God fear death” in Analysis July 28.

Abstract: People who report believing in God fear death. They also experience grief when someone they love dies. Philosophers and social scientists sometimes claim that this can only be plausibly explained by the hypothesis that people who claim to believe in God do not really believe in God. I show that this is mistaken. I identify three independently plausible explanations of why people who genuinely believe in God would have these behaviours and attitudes. First, there is an evolutionary explanation of why a fear of death would be resilient even if one genuinely believes God has good things in store for us after death. Second, people often fear low-probability outcomes. It may be that religious people are afraid of hell or the cessation of existence even if they judge those outcomes to have a low probability. Third, belief in God is typically combined with views according to which death is accompanied by the permanent loss and radical transformation of important relationships.

Wichita State welcomes Jacob Eddins as the new head coach of the Shocker women’s tennis team. With a proven track record of elevating collegiate programs to national prominence, Eddins brings exceptional leadership, recruiting acumen and a passion for student-athlete development to Shocker tennis.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jacob Eddins, and his family, to Wichita State,” said Kevin Saal, director of athletics. “His impressive and successful track record across multiple programs, including Illinois, West Virginia, Auburn and Western Carolina, aligns seamlessly with our vision for dynamic growth and championship-level performance. Jacob’s energy, expertise and commitment to student-athletes will be critical elements in the future success of our program.”

“I am honored to be named the next head women’s tennis coach at Wichita State University,” Eddins said. “I want to thank Director of Athletics Kevin Saal and Senior Associate AD Brad Pittman for entrusting me with the opportunity to lead a program with such a proud and storied tradition. I’m also incredibly grateful to my wife, Michaela, and our four beautiful children – Kylie, Gavin, Jayce and Carter – for their unwavering love and support. I wouldn’t be in this position without them and can’t thank them enough.”

Mental Wellness as a Business Strategy course in the Barton School of Business, was featured in “4 Initiatives for Graduate Student Success” in Inside Higher Ed.

Michael Birzer — Professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Director of the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Hub, a unit of the Dorothy And Bill Cohen Honors College — was featured in “Man shot by Wilmington police says he sped off not realizing unmarked SUVs held officers” in Delaware Online.

All faculty and staff are invited to attend one of the upcoming Curriculum Management (CIM) virtual training sessions available this semester at the following dates and times:

• 10-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16
• 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17

The Zoom sessions will provide a demonstration of how to submit a curriculum change proposal via the online CIM course and program forms, how to search for existing proposals, how a proposal moves through the electronic workflow and how to approve proposals.

Registration is required to attend the session. To register, visit the myTraining link on the Faculty/Staff tab of myWSU, then search for “CourseLeaf Curriculum (CIM) Administrator & Faculty Remote Training.”

After registering, a link to the session will be emailed 24 hours in advance of the training. Reach out to the corby.redington@wichita.edu if a Zoom link has not been received within 24 hours of the session start time.

To log into CIM during the training session, participants will need a dual authentication (DUO) device.

Staff and faculty who are unable to attend a session can view CourseLeaf user guides on the Registrar Office’s website.

The Truman Scholarship awards students in their third year of college up to $30,000 for graduate school as well as access to extensive scholar programming, priority admission and financial support from public service graduate programs, advising and mentoring from other public service leaders, and preferred hiring with the federal government.

Want to learn more? Any interested students are welcome to attend a virtual open house at 1 p.m. Oct 8 hosted by the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation. The session will include a number of recent Scholars discussing their application experiences, as well as an overview of the program and selection criteria.

For more information, visit truman.gov.

Think group is right for you? Speak to your counselor or call 316-978-4792 to set up a consultation. Groups are at the Student Wellness Center at the Steve Clark YMCA unless otherwise specified.

Faculty and students can connect for undergraduate research opportunities with the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Hub (UReCA) Connect Database.

Fill out the surveys below to start getting connected:

• Faculty Connect Database survey
• Student Connect Database survey

The UReCA Hub pairs faculty and students according to their research interests and will inform both the faculty and student via email of their match, and it is their responsibility to schedule an initial meeting.

At the end of the semester, the UReCA Hub will distribute a Qualtrics survey to both faculty and students to evaluate their research experiences.

The Truman Scholarship awards students in their third year of college up to $30,000 for graduate school as well as access to extensive scholar programming, priority admission and financial support from public service graduate programs, advising and mentoring from other public service leaders, and preferred hiring with the federal government.

Students are welcome to attend a virtual open house at 1 p.m. Oct 8 hosted by the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation. The session will include a number of recent scholars discussing their application experiences, as well as an overview of the program and selection criteria. Share the Zoom link with students.

For more information, visit truman.gov.

Leslie Grant — Events Coordinator and Conference Registrar in Workforce, Professional and Community Education — was featured in “WSU Lifelong Learning Program” on KAKE.