Author: Caelin Bragg

President Rick Muma stopped by the Shocker Success Center and Ablah Library May 7 to visit with students preparing for finals for this month’s Rick Rewards. President Muma chatted with the students studying and handed out snacks and meal vouchers to help them finish the semester strong.

Rick Rewards is awarded each month by President Muma to show his appreciation for the efforts of the campus community.

More than 2,400 students are eligible to participate in Wichita State University’s 128th spring commencement ceremony on Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16 in Charles Koch Arena. There will be four ceremonies to celebrate the graduates:

Friday, May 15: Graduate ceremony

• All graduate degrees will be awarded at 7 p.m. Friday, May 15. The featured speaker will be Aishah Alhomsi, president of Wichita State’s Graduate Student Association.

Saturday, May 16: Undergraduate ceremonies

• 9 a.m. — Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Fine Arts and the Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College. The featured speaker will be Sarah Kephart, a leader in inclusive arts education and an accessibility advocate.
• 1 p.m. — The College of Applied Studies and the College of Health Professions with featured speaker Marc Farha, co-CEO of CAA ICON.
• 5 p.m. — The W. Frank Barton School of Business and the College of Engineering with featured speaker Richard Dinkel, executive vice president CFO of Koch Inc.

Dr. Kandatege Wimalasena, professor of biochemistry, passed away April 30.

Wimalasena served Wichita State for over 35 years where he primarily researched the toxins that can cause Parkinson’s disease. He was recognized as a WSU Bender of Twigs in 2014.

A visitation will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 6, followed by funeral services from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., at Reflection Pointe Funeral & Cremation Services, 3201 S. Webb Rd.

President Rick Muma talks with Shocker Design Experience mentors Yuridia Abrego, Alexander Kimble and James Wright — current students who have completed the course and now help guide others through the experience. The program helps students develop critical thinking, teamwork, problem-solving and project management skills through hands-on learning.

Dr. Natalie Delacruz — RDH, FADHA, associate professor and assistant director of the BSDH Degree Completion Program in the Department of Dental Hygiene — was appointed as vice president of the Kansas Dental Hygienists’ Association and was recognized as an American Dental Hygienists’ Association Fellow.

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on results.

• Results will only be available at the end of the completed semester. It does not matter when your course took place during the semester. Holding results until the end of the semester complies with KBOR policy and allows for accurate norming.
• Results will become available the Friday after grades are due to the Registrar’s Office.
• The electronic results can be found through the Instructor Dashboard under Project Results.
• There are restrictions on results. If the response rate is 0% or if the number of respondents is lower than four, then there will be no results. This restriction includes both statistics and comments.
• Results will include the mean, standard deviation and median for the course. Reports will also show these statistics by university and division benchmarks. This benchmark data will be from the same semester as the evaluation and will not include any other data.
• The report option called “Results Home” incorporates all the report options under one roof. It also provides a quick glance at the results without creating a report. 
• Also included is a table of the “Mean of Means” by course and instructor questions. 
• There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.

Stop by the Food Truck Plaza on campus to enjoy cuisines from local food truck vendors.

Tuesday:

• OurFolk Coffee: 7-9:30 a.m., 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
• Desi Fusion: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Wednesday:

• Desi Fusion: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Thursday:

• Carne Asada Jalisco: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
• Desi Fusion: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Schedule is subject to change. Visit the Food Truck Plaza website for the most up-to-date information.

Stop by the Food Truck Plaza on campus to enjoy cuisines from local food truck vendors.

Wednesday:

• Desi Fusion: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Thursday:

• Carne Asada Jalisco: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
• Desi Fusion: 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Schedule is subject to change. Visit the Food Truck Plaza website for the most up-to-date information.

Shocker softball completed its series sweep of Memphis on the final day of the team’s regular season with a 10-5 win May 2 at Wilkins Stadium and secured a share of the American Conference regular season title.

Wichita State (35-16, 21-6) will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s American Conference Championship after South Florida completed a sweep of North Texas. The Bulls will be the top seed after owning the tiebreaker. Wichita State will receive a double bye into the semifinals where the team waits to see its opponent. The Shockers will take the field at 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 8 on ESPN+.

The regular season championship is Shocker softball’s third as a member of the American and first since 2023.

Wichita State University has selected Wichita Northwest High School senior Dulce Torres Gonzalez as the 2026 recipient of the $34,000 Mark and Stacy Parkinson Scholarship.

The Parkinson Scholarship supports high-achieving incoming freshmen at Wichita State who are the first in their families to pursue higher education and come from immigrant or refugee backgrounds. The renewable scholarship provides significant financial assistance and access to mentoring, leadership development and student success programming. Established by Kansans Mark and Stacy Parkinson, the fund reflects their commitment to expanding educational opportunities and strengthening communities through higher education.