Author: Cheryl Miller

Jeff Hayton, associate professor of history, likes to study punks: the agents that produce social friction and disrupt normative values.

“Those individuals and communities upset society,” Hayton said. “And in so doing, they speak to those societies and teach us. That disruption requires an enormous amount of energy and bravery, and that should be celebrated.”

In 2022, Hayton published his first book, “Culture from the Slums: Punk Rock in East and West Germany,” which explored the emergent punk scenes on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Intersecting cultural production with political and economic theory, Hayton explains the differences in state reactions to the rise of punk.

In the aftermath of a sexual assault, survivors have the choice to undergo a medical forensic exam, a procedure which collects evidence in a sexual assault kit. Most who opt for the medical forensic exam will have their kit collected and released to law enforcement to support investigation of the assault.

One in five, however, will have a medical forensic exam, but not report their assault at that time. Few of those who elect the non-report kit will ever convert their kits into a full report. This raises questions about why survivors choose to undergo an invasive, intensive and uncomfortable medical forensic examination following an assault, but then decide that they do not want to see their kit processed.

Assistant Professor of Psychology Rachael Goodman-Williams seeks to answer that very question.

Fairmount College students entering Wichita State under the 2024-25 undergraduate catalog will need to meet new competency requirements in order to graduate.

The nine competencies are designed to help students to have a clearer understanding of what skills they are developing by taking specific classes as liberal arts and sciences majors. They also promote the value of a liberal arts and sciences education and incorporate skills employers value in employees.

“This is beneficial for students to know how the courses they are taking in the college fit into a degree program in a liberal arts education,” Brien Bolin, senior associate dean for student success, said. “ The competencies also address nine core areas of skills that employers are seeking.”

Students will be able to meet competency requirements by using classes they are already taking to satisfy requirements for their major and the general education program.

“Our academic advisors will work closely with students to make sure they stay on track to graduate,” Patricia Phillips, director of the LAS Advising Center, said.

The competencies were created by a 14-member faculty committee representing majors across the three academic divisions within Fairmount College.

Life during the 16th century in France afforded few opportunities for women to make their voices heard. Its rigidly patriarchal culture expected them to be dutiful wives, mothers and daughters, not opinionated politicians, poets and painters, like their male counterparts.

But buried in the pages of manuscripts, annotating the margins, exists a historical record that, until recent decades, had gone undiscovered. Here, women could take part in literary production, if only privately and tangentially.

“Living in a patriarchal world, women learned to creatively negotiate a landscape that forbade them from writing,” Brigitte Roussel, associate professor of French, said.

With dozens of brightly colored origami figures decorating the shelves and sketches covering the whiteboard in the corner, Catherine Searle’s office looks more like an art studio than a space to do fundamental research in mathematics. 

Searle’s field of study has a bad rap, a fact of which she is fully aware. 

“I get it – Math can be terrifying at times,” Searle, professor of mathematics, said. “But there’s so much to discover and create, and there’s still so much to solve.”

The American Institute of Architects has recognized the Youngmeyer Ranch building as a recipient of its prestigious Small Projects Award. The low-profile, off-grid facility, located in Elk County and owned by the Youngmeyer Trust, opened in the summer of 2022 and was immediately put to use by Wichita State faculty and students for applied learning and applied research opportunities.

“Our goal was to construct a facility that would support the teaching and research of field biology,” Greg Houseman, professor of biological sciences and field station director, said. “For many of our students, these field experiences are pivotal to understanding how prairies work and discovering the best ways to manage these at-risk habitats.”

Join the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for a reception honoring Andrew Hippisley, dean, from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 25 in 142 Rhatigan Student Center, Harvest Room. Remarks will be given at 3 p.m. This is a come and go event.

Dean Hippisley began his position as the 20th dean of Fairmount College on July 2, 2018, and his last day with Wichita State will be this upcoming July 2. He is taking on a new position at the University of Texas at Arlington as vice provost for academic affairs.

As compared to white drivers, a Black driver is five times as likely to be stopped by a police officer. Black citizens report being stopped more frequently for minor violations: forgetting to use their blinker, a cracked windshield, a broken taillight. These frequent stops have real, often serious implications on the mental wellbeing of Black citizens, potentially leading to anxiety and short-term PTSD.

Known as racial profiling, this phenomenon has considerable importance to scholars across the nation, including Michael Birzer, professor of criminal justice.

Chances are, you’ve mixed up a Betty Crocker cake mix, added Nestle chocolate chips to a batch of cookies or sprinkled Morton salt onto your popcorn.

But can you recall the last advertisement you’ve seen for any of these products?

The ubiquity of these household items goes unquestioned by most, but not by Lisa Parcell, Betty and Oliver Elliott associate professor for the Elliott School of Communication.

Wichita State’s public affairs program has been ranked near the top third of all graduate school programs of its kind in the United States by U.S. News & World Report for the 2024-2025 academic year. The program, housed in the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs, emerged in 99th position, moving up from 118th place last year.

Additionally, the public affairs program’s specialty area of public finance and budgeting has been ranked 27th by U.S. News, tied with the University of Central Florida and the University of Michigan.