Author: Caelin Bragg

The seventh cohort of Rudd Scholars includes 15 Kansas high schools who have chosen to attend Wichita State University.

• Annaliese Jorgenson – Hillsboro High School
• Jose Urbina-Renteria – Wichita North High School
• Alexander Baird – Campus High School
• Faith Ekart – Sterling High School
• Kylee Mohr – Great Bend High School
• Richard Gwyn Jr. – Wichita Southeast High School
• Vatedis Coleman – Wichita Southeast High School
• Isabelle Christensen – Southeast of Saline High School
• Kane Huston – Paola High School
• Maimoona Mohammad – Wichita Heights High School
• Mya Scott – Conway Springs High School
• Vivian Chau – Wichita East High School
• Israel Torres Ayala – Wichita Northeast Magnet High School
• Adam Bosworth – Wichita North High School
• Shiloh Goetzinger – Hugoton High School

Each Rudd Scholar will receive a full-ride scholarship, which includes tuition, fees, on-campus housing, and considerable networking and coaching support along the way. All Rudd Scholars are from Kansas and will attend Wichita State, Emporia State, Fort Hays State or Kansas State.

The President’s Distinguished Service Awards will recognize faculty and staff for exemplary, dedicated and caring service to the Wichita State community Friday, May 3.

The reception to meet and greet the honorees is at 9 a.m. The recognition ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. in 141 Woolsey Hall, Fidelity Bank Room. Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP by April 30.

Honorees were selected by their peers from the university’s Staff Senate and Faculty Senate. RSVP on the Shocker Pride Celebration homepage.

The 2024 President’s Distinguished Award honorees:

• Faculty Senate:
  • Cheyla Clawson Chandler, associate professor and director, School of Performing Arts 
  • Mythili Menon, associate professor, Department of English   
  • Chelsea Redger-Marquardt, assistant dean, Cohen Honors College            
• University Staff Senate:
  • Jessica Pierpoint, library patent and trademark specialist, University Libraries             
  • Gabriel Fonseca, director for diversity and inclusion, Office of Diversity and Inclusion      
  • Ken Wiseman, Go Create facility manager, Go Create Maker Space           
  • James Porter, exhibition designer and production manager, Ulrich Museum of Art    
• University Staff Senate – Wayne Carlisle Award:
  • David Wright, chief data officer, Office of Academic Affairs and Research

The College Tour TV series is coming to Wichita State in the fall, and now is the time for students to apply to be part of the show. The one-hour episode of The College Tour will feature WSU and highlight student life on campus.

Applications are now open. As part of your application, you’ll submit a two-minute audition video talking a little bit about yourself and your time at Wichita State, but no prior videography skills are necessary. Just a video from your phone will work.

For questions, reach out to Trish Gandu at trish.gandu@wichita.edu. The deadline to submit applications is April 21. Learn more about The College Tour TV series.

Join Zach Gearhart, chief of staff and executive director of government relations, for updates on the Kansas legislature relevant to Wichita State. The next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 12 in 101 Morrison Hall.

The meeting is open to all faculty, staff and students and is held every other Friday in Morrison Hall following each legislative session.

Suspenders4Hope, a program developed at Wichita State University, is highlighting different departments and individuals on campus who are advocates for mental health in hopes that their stories will inspire others to continue supporting one another in the community.

The WSU School of Social Work (SSW) is being recognized for its support of the mental health of students, faculty, staff and health care professionals.

Wichita State’s Student Success: First-Year Programs (FYP) attended the Region IV Joint Regional Conference in Columbia, Missouri, from NODA – National Orientation Directors Association. At the conference, representatives from FYP received awards for their efforts and results in orientation, transition and retention of students:

• Kim Sandlin: Outstanding NODA Orientation, Transition, and Retention Professional
  Kim Sandlin, director of Student Success, received the Outstanding Orientation, Transition, and Retention Professional Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions of a professional to the field of orientation, transition and retention who has five or more years of professional experience in higher education.
• Annie Wasinger: Best Undergraduate Educational Session
  Annie Wasinger, intern for FYP, received the Best Undergraduate Educational Session award for her topic entitled, “Is It Accessible? Is it REALLY Accessible?” Annie’s presentation will be presented at the National NODA conference in Portland, Oregon, in November.
• Hafsa Sadaf: Most Creative Solution in Case Studies
  Hafsa Sadaf, senior transition mentor for FYP, received the Most Creative Solution in Case Studies Award alongside three other orientation leaders from various universities.
• Kate Potter: Best Presentation in Case Studies
  Kate Potter, transition mentor for FYP, received the Best Presentation in Case Studies Award alongside three other orientation leaders from various universities.
• Winter Welcome: Innovation in Retention Programs
  The Winter Welcome event, hosted by FYP, received the Innovation in Retention Programs Award. The award seeks to recognize innovative and effective approaches in retention.

“For about 23 of my 25-year career on campus, I have been involved directly or indirectly with our orientation programs and welcoming new students to Shocker Nation,” Sandlin said. “It’s something I look forward to every year. Recently, as our work in Student Success and Persistence has grown, I’ve found deeper meaning in the work we do every day. The most rewarding part is seeing the data on how our efforts in Student Success are helping Shockers succeed. I am grateful for receiving the Outstanding NODA Orientation, Transition, and Retention Professional award; however I couldn’t have earned it without the hard work that the Student Success team at Wichita State does every day for students.”

Additionally, FYP hosted six different educational sessions for attendees at the conference:

• Austin Helgerson and George Giem: “Networking in 2024: Building Meaningful Connections During Orientation and Beyond”
• Annie Wasinger: “Is it Accessible? Is it REALLY Accessible?”
• Hafsa Sadaf: “Language Diversity Matters: Improving Orientation for Non-Native English Speakers”
• Kaelyn Hannah: “The Struggle is Real: Rebuilding and Rebranding Your Orientation Leader Team”
• Juan Gurrola: “Let’s Talk About it: Equality vs. Equity”
• Trinity Madden: “Silent Expression: Decoding Body Language and Understanding Non-Verbal Communication”

“I’m super proud of the students and staff in First-Year Programs,” Sandlin said. “We intentionally challenge our returning staff every year during their training to develop and facilitate interesting conference sessions that add value and knowledge to the region and profession.”

Hiring today looks very different than it did 20 years ago. Applicant Tracking Systems, AI keyword matching and LinkedIn Recruiter mean that it’s the rare recruiter who’s just sitting there looking through paper resumes.

So why are so many job-seekers still applying for jobs like it’s 1999? Join Jeremy Schifeling, who served in leadership roles at LinkedIn and Khan Academy (OpenAI’s first education partner for ChatGPT), for a deep dive into the most advanced LinkedIn and ChatGPT techniques from 11 a.m. to noon Thursday, April 18 virtually via Teams.

This workshop is co-hosted by Shocker Career Accelerator and the Graduate School. Faculty, staff, students and alums are invited to attend.

Quiet Time meets at 2 p.m. every Tuesday for two short meditations: The first meditation starts a little after 2 p.m., and the second starts around 2:15 p.m. Come for either or both.

These mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) meditations are offered by a certified workplace mindfulness facilitator from the Office of Instructional Resources (OIR) and are offered both via Teams and in-person in 204 Ablah Library, faculty lounge.

If you can’t make it in “real time,” you can participate in Quiet Time meditations from the podcast: Quiet Time at Wichita State, which you can subscribe to on Apple, Amazon or Spotify.

You can also add the Teams invitation link to your calendar.

Shockers viewing the April 8 solar eclipse can do so at a variety of hotspots on campus. Check out the selfie spots tag on the digital campus map for great locations on campus to watch the eclipse from, including:

• The south side of Jabara Hall, where starting at 1 p.m., Dr. Jason Ferguson — professor and director of physics at WSU — will have a special solar telescope set up for Shockers to get an up close look of the eclipse.
• The third floor balcony of the Rhatigan Student Center
• The Promise Bridge south of Woolsey Hall
• The Wichita State sign at 21st and Oliver
• The west lawn of Morrison Hall
• The Shocker Hall courtyard
• The Braeburn Square eating areas (and grab a lunch)
• The seating area north of the RSC
• The west entrance of Ablah Library

The eclipse begins at about 12:30 p.m., and the best viewing, when the eclipse is at its maximum, is around 1:45 p.m.

And don’t forget to follow guidelines on how to have a safe viewing experience.

To help employees plan their time-off and work schedules throughout the year, Wichita State has shared the winter closedown schedule, which has been approved this year to commence at the end of the day on Friday, Dec. 20 and end starting the morning of Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. The closedown is 10 days, two of which are paid holidays. In addition, employees may use Presidential Administrative Days to remain in pay status for the four days between Christmas and New Years Day — thanks to President Rick Muma. Classes will not be in session during this period.

Unclassified professional and university support staff who would normally be scheduled to work these days may use accumulated vacation leave or their 2025 discretionary day* during the winter closedown. Non-exempt employees may also use accumulated compensatory time off during the winter closedown.

If your role requires you to work during the winter closedown it must be approved in advance by your immediate supervisor.

Winter closedown schedule:

• Monday, Dec. 23, 2024
• Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024
• Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024 (Paid holiday)
• Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024 (Presidential Administrative Day)
• Friday, Dec. 27, 2024 (Presidential Administrative Day)
• Monday, Dec. 30, 2024 (Presidential Administrative Day)
• Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024 (Presidential Administrative Day)
• Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 (Paid holiday)
• Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025
• Friday, Jan. 3, 2025

An employee must be in pay status the entire workday before and the entire workday after state holidays to receive holiday pay. The official state holidays are Christmas Day, Dec. 25, and New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2025.

Employees required to work during the winter closedown will be allowed to use their four Presidential Administrative Days anytime from Monday, Dec. 23 through Jan. 31, 2025. WSU appreciates your dedication and service to the university.

*The discretionary day for 2024 must be used on or before Friday, Dec. 20 prior to the beginning of the winter closedown. The discretionary day for 2025 will be available starting Sunday, Dec. 22 and may be used during the 2024 winter closedown.