Author: Caelin Bragg

The joint Faculty Senate meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 10 at the National Center for Aviation Training, 4004 N. Webb Road, and via Zoom.

The senators have been sent the meeting information. The meetings are held the second and fourth Monday of each month.

For more information or to join the meeting via Zoom, contact Lee Ann Birdwell at leeann.birdwell@wichita.edu.

Wichita State’s Staff Senate is hosting a walking tour of the university’s Innovation Campus partner NetApp beginning at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday April 11. The group will be led by Katie Dawes with NetApp.

The tour will focus on NetApp’s new building features and the work within. After the tour, participants are encouraged to stop by the Food Truck Plaza on Perimeter road.

On the day of the tour, plan to arrive 15-20 minutes early for registration on NetApp’s system. This just requires the name, phone number and email address for everyone on the tour. Everyone will also sign an NDA during registration. Though the process itself is fairly quick and easy, with a large group it can take a time to get through.

The Panhellenic Council invites students to register for primary recruitment.

Primary recruitment is the easiest way for students to find home in the Panhellenic community, and this year, it will be held from August 25 to August 28.

Questions can be directed to malaree.hood@wichita.edu or wsu.sorority.recruitment@gmail.com.

Students are invited to attend a conversation with Roz Chast, author of “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?,” the book selected for this year’s NEA Big Read: Wichita, from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, April 14 in the CAC Theater.

This event is ideal for students in health professions, social work, art, graphic design, communication, pre-med, English, human resources, psychology, sociology or in the Honors College.

Faculty and staff are welcome to attend the student conversation as well, but the Big Read: Wichita keynote featuring Chast at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 15 is open to the entire Wichita community at the WSU Hughes Metroplex, 5015 E. 29th St. N.

Chast grew up in Brooklyn, and her cartoons began appearing in the New Yorker in 1978. Since then, she has published more than one thousand cartoons in the magazine and has written and illustrated many books.

Wichita State alumna Dr. Rae Niles, former professional learning senior manager for Apple, will be the guest speaker for the upcoming Corbin Connect Speaker Series event from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, April 7 in the WSUTV studio in the Media Resources Center.

The presentation will address digital transformation as it relates to teaching and learning. In addition to working for Apple for 15 years, Niles also served as the director of curriculum and technology at USD 439. Corbin Connect is sponsored by Credit Union of America.

Seat reservations are required, and space is limited. The event is free and open to the public. Those interested can RSVP to attend in person or view the presentation via livestream through WSUTV.

As part of the College of Applied Studies, Corbin Connect connects individuals and organizations through development outreach in order to better serve communities. It strives to support innovative ideas and serves to engage stakeholders in a variety of impactful ways.

Zach Gearhart, chief of staff, hosts biweekly updates for faculty and staff on legislative issues raised related to Wichita State from the Kansas state government.

This week’s session has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, April 10 in the Morrison Hall board room.

For the second consecutive year, Wichita State has been named a Voter Friendly Campus by the Fair Election Center’s Campus Vote Project and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

WSU is among 258 campuses in 38 states to earn the designation. The initiative recognizes institutions that have planned and implemented practices that encourage students to register and vote in the 2022 elections and in coming years.

With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, Wichita State’s Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory will soon be expanding its focus to become a full microbiology laboratory.

The lab’s evolution will give students more opportunities for applied learning, boost research capabilities and help fill a gap for medical testing across the state.

The honorees for the 2023 University Faculty Awards will be recognized at 2 p.m. on May 5 at the Frank A. Boettger Auditorium in Woolsey Hall.

The awards recognize excellence in teaching, research and creative activities. RSVP on the University Faculty Awards homepage.

There 2023 University Faculty Award honorees: 

• Excellence in Teaching
  • David Long
    • Department of Biomedical Engineering.
• Leadership in the Advancement of Teaching
  • Amy Drassen Ham
    • Department of Public Health Sciences.
• Young Faculty Scholar
  • Mythili Menon
    • Department of English.
• Academy for Effective Teaching
  • John Hammond
    • Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
  • Perlekar Tamtam
    • Department of Engineering Technology.
• Excellence in Research
  • Nils Hakansson
    • Department of Biomedical Engineering.
• Excellence Award for Community Research
  • Lisa Parcell
    • Elliott School of Communication.
• Faculty Risk Taker
  • Mehmet Bayram Yildirim
    • Department of Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering.
• Young Faculty Risk Taker
  • Hongsheng He
    • School of Computing.
  • Aubrey Neihaus
    • School of Education.
• Excellence in Online Teaching
  • JaeHwan Byun
    • School of Education.

The Excellence in Creative Activity Award and the Excellence in Accessibility Award will not be presented in fall 2023. 

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

The Shocker Pride Celebration will be held at 9:30 a.m. on May 5 in the Frank A. Boettger Auditorium of Woolsey Hall. The reception to meet and greet the honorees is at 9 a.m. in the Koch Atrium.

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

The 2023 President’s Distinguished Award honorees:

Faculty Senate:

• Suzanne Hawley, Department of Public Health Sciences-College of Health Professions
• Justin Rorabaugh, School of Digital Arts-College of Fine Arts
• Carolyn Shaw, Department of Political Science-Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

University Staff Senate:

• Jennifer Anozie, Health Professions Dean’s Office-College of Health Professions
• Carley Enyart, Housing and Residence Life-Division of Student Affairs
• Sheri-Lyn King, Communication Sciences and Disorders-College of Health Professions
• Kevin Wedan, Fine Arts Dean’s Office-College of Fine Arts

University Staff Senate – Wayne Carlisle Award:

• Jana Henderson, Office of Research-Division of Academic Affairs