Author: Caelin Bragg

The W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University visited Valley Center High School to award senior Luke Hoy the 2025 Clay Barton Scholarship Feb. 26. The surprise included an announcement and presentation of a ceremonial check of $50,000, which is one of the largest business scholarships in Kansas.

“I was not expecting this, not at all,” Hoy said. “It’s not an everyday occurrence for people to come into your classroom and give you $50,000.”

The last candidate for dean of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences — Sarah Beth Estes, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock — will be on campus March 31-April 1.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend a public forum at 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 31 in 262 Rhatigan Student Center, Herrman Room.

Additional information regarding the candidate can be found on the Academic Affairs website.

The third candidate withdrew from the search process.

Join Zach Gearhart, chief of staff and executive director of government relations, for updates on the Kansas legislature relevant to Wichita State at 9 a.m. Friday, March 28 in 101 Morrison Hall.

The meeting is open to all faculty, staff and students. Legislative updates are held every other Friday.

As we look ahead to the second half of the semester, I want to share with you recent communication from our provost related to state and federal executive orders and actions that are impacting higher education.

You may wonder how this affects you and your classmates. Federal and state legislative, agency and administrative actions continue to unfold, and we are still learning their ultimate impact. There will likely be changes to some of our policies, programs, celebrations, awards ceremonies and events. The university is taking a systematic approach in addressing these actions to ensure compliance while focusing on the goal of supporting all students.

I know that you might have questions and concerns. My door is always open to talk, or you can reach out to members of my staff. As more information comes to light, we’ll meet individually with student groups as needed. We also have resources to support you if you’re struggling: The CARE Team is here to help.

I encourage you to participate in the upcoming virtual SGA town hall at 3:15 p.m. Thursday, April 10 via YouTube, where you can ask questions about any topic.

Above all, I want to emphasize that we are in this together as a campus community, and we remain dedicated to being here for all Shocker students. Thank you for being a part of our university.

Dr. Teri Hall, vice president of Student Affairs

Dear colleagues,

As we hit the midway point in the spring semester, I’d like to provide an update on WSU’s approach to recent executive orders and federal actions. Since my last update to campus during the spring 2025 town hall, a lot has happened that is impactful on higher education, including more federal cuts, an FAQ that provides further explanation to the Department of Education’s Feb. 14 Dear Colleague Letter, and the most recent executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, to name a few.

As a result of the recent orders and actions, DEI efforts within the higher education landscape continue to evolve. At Wichita State, and in alignment with other Kansas Board of Regents institutions, we are conducting a systematic review of our policies, procedures and programs to ensure compliance with changing federal and state requirements. Some of these efforts include:

• Reviewing the university’s strategic plan, which includes our inclusive excellence goal.
• Changes to the WSU website, programs, initiatives and events as the university works to ensure continued compliance. You may notice disclaimer language on some web pages currently under review.
• Some members of our campus research community have already experienced the loss of federal grant funding because of these orders, and we continue to review our funded projects and work with our principal investigators (PIs) and co-PIs to develop alternative plans in the event funding is lost.

While the effects of changes in our federal and state government may not be immediate for everyone, it is likely that at some point, these shifts will touch each of us in different ways.

As the need to respond to changes occurs, we will continue to make every effort to communicate, because that is an important part of our process. As part of my introduction to campus, I’m engaging in a series of faculty/staff convenings with each college, where we will discuss campus initiatives around strategic planning and how we are responding to current challenges while continuing to pursue opportunities.

If you have specific concerns about a particular policy, issue or event, please elevate it to the dean or vice president of your division so we can work through challenges together.

Lastly, though our campus must comply with state and federal requirements, we are and will remain firmly committed to the ability of all members of our campus community to thrive and succeed. Thank you for being a valuable member of our campus community and for the work you do to make WSU an incredible place to learn, work and grow.

Dr. Monica Lounsbery, provost and senior executive vice president

Do you want to hear more from your student and university leaders about what has been happening this year? Do you want to share your thoughts or concerns on your education and student experience? Attend the virtual Student Government Association (SGA) town hall featuring university administration at 3:15 p.m. Thursday, April 10 virtually via YouTube.

Here, you’ll get a chance to not only hear from the Student Government Association and the university administration, you’ll also have a chance to ask questions over the course of the town hall.

You can access the streamed town hall on YouTube. Students interested in submitting questions for consideration can email sga.president@wichita.edu before or during the town hall.

As you return to campus after spring break, you will notice ongoing and new construction across Wichita State’s 330 acres and beyond.

Main campus:

Corbin Education Center
Corbin Education Center remains closed with repair work underway this spring to replace equipment in mechanical room damaged by a chilled water line break in 2024. The College of Applied Studies will move back into Corbin at the end of the spring 2025 semester.

University Stadium Phase 1A
Construction is underway on Phase 1A on the east side of University Stadium (formerly Cessna Stadium). The first phase of construction includes bleacher seating, a pavilion building that will house ticketing, restrooms, and concessions as well as a plaza and parking lot between the stadium and Devlin Hall.

Phase 1A completion is scheduled for May 2025 before KSHSAA Track and Field State Championship on May 30-31. Phase 1B will begin in June 2025 after KSHSAA Track and Field State Championship. Phase 1B will consist of widening the field and installing a nine-lane track.

Wilkins Stadium
Construction on the softball indoor practice facility next to Wilkins Stadium is underway. The facility is scheduled to be complete in April 2025.

Pickleball courts
Construction is underway for three pickleball courts on the lawn area between Heskett Center, Hubbard Hall and Lindquist Hall. It is anticipated that the pickleball courts will be ready for use in late April.

McKnight Art Center
Construction is underway for ventilation upgrades on the second floor of McKnight North. Work is scheduled to finish by the fall of 2025.

Duerksen Fine Arts Center
Construction is complete on adding a single occupancy restroom and lounge area in the B wing.

Brennan I, II and III demolition
Demolition of the three buildings is planned for summer 2025. Office relocations for staff are scheduled for late May/early June.

Innovation Campus:

NIAR Hub for Advanced Manufacturing Research
Construction on the NIAR HAMR building continues to progress. Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.

The 170,000-square-foot building is partly funded by an EDA grant and will house advanced manufacturing research labs and associated offices. The building will be located on Innovation Boulevard between the Partnership Building 1 and The Suites. The first floor is primarily labs with offices on the second floor.

Partnership Building 3B
P3B, located between Partnership Building 3 and The Smart Factory @Wichita, is under construction. It will house the Forensic Crime Gun Intelligence Laboratory for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Construction on Phase 1 of the Wichita Biomedical Campus is well underway and making its presence in downtown Wichita known.

Phase 1 of the biomedical campus — a joint venture of Wichita State, the University of Kansas and the WSU Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology (WSU Tech) — is a $222 million, 350,000-square-foot joint health sciences center, located at the southeast corner of Broadway and William.

Ramps connecting the two levels of the first floor have been poured, providing a glimpse of the final look of the inside of the building. Workers recently built a third storm shelter, and steel columns have been set up to the third floor. Steel installation will be the focus for the next several months, which will show the skeleton of the final building.

Once complete, the Wichita Biomedical Campus will combine WSU’s College of Health Professions programs, including the Evelyn Hendren Cassat Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, WSU Tech’s health care program and the Wichita campuses of KU School of Medicine and KU School of Pharmacy.

Construction on Phase 1 is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2026 with the first classes being held in the building in summer/fall 2027.

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the risk of measles spreading throughout Kansas remains low. However, pockets of low vaccination coverage leave some communities at higher risk for outbreaks. Learn more about measles — including vaccination information — at the KDHE website. And learn more about general health advisories and WSU Student Health resources here.

There have been no reported measles cases in Sedgwick County per county health officials who are closely monitoring the situation. Unvaccinated residents are the most at risk when traveling to areas with known outbreaks or when traveling internationally. For up-to-date local measles vaccination clinics and facts, visit the Sedgwick County website.

On March 16, the university discovered flooding in the lower level of Ablah Library. Currently, the lower level is closed as clean-up work is underway, but the rest of the library remains open.

Water did not reach the bottom shelves of the R-Z call number ranges on the lower level, which cover medicine (including nursing), engineering and technology, and quick action by library staff kept significant water out of the vaults of WSU Special Collections and University Archives, so there was no damage to materials.

The materials in the R-Z call number ranges are being packed up and moved to off-campus storage so that water can be extracted from under the shelving. All microform collections are also being moved to off-campus storage. An exact timeline for the return of these collections to campus has yet to be determined, but it is expected to be several months.

Researchers who need print materials from those subject areas are encouraged to use the library’s interlibrary loan services. All WSU digital collections (including streaming audio and video) remain active and can be accessed via the library’s discovery function. Materials from the WSU Special Collections and University Archives will be available to researchers by request.