Author: Cheryl Miller

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.

Bill DeGrado, Toby Herfindal Presidential Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of California San Francisco, will give a public lecture, “Extreme de novo protein design,” at 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 15 in 208 Hubbard Hall. He will also give a technical lecture, “Use of integrin antagonists to disrupt pathological mechanical force-dependent processes in fibrosis and severe asthma,” at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 in 224 McKinley Hall.

DeGrado is an early pioneer in the field of protein design, and coined the term de novo protein design, meaning the design of proteins from first principles. His research has led to the discovery of Brilacidin, which is now in Phase 3 clinical trials for drug-resistant Staphylococcal aureus infections, and integrin inhibitors for treating Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

The Watkins Visiting Professorship was created in 1974 by the Watkins Foundation. The grant is now provided through the Watkins fund, a part of the Wichita State Foundation and Alumni Engagement’s endowment. For more information about the lecture series, contact Dr. David Eichhorn, associate dean for faculty development and research, at 316-978-6659.

Science-minded teenagers will take over campus this weekend, testing their knowledge and skills for various STEM related events.

The Kansas Science Olympiad state tournament participants will begin arriving Friday, April 5 and will compete in several different STEM events throughout Saturday, April 6.

Faculty, staff and students can help visitors who may not be familiar with the Wichita State campus by showing landmarks and offering directions.

The Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences sponsors the Kansas Science Olympiad program. Wichita State hosts the state competition in April each year. Area middle and high school students begin preparation as soon as their classes begin in the fall and try out for a place on their school’s team. Teams may participate in more than 20 events, which include building wheeled vehicles, bridges and rubberband-powered aircraft, solving crime scenarios, or working steadily with teammates on written exams.

For Darren DeFrain, associate professor of English and director of the writing program, research is all about finding the narrative.

Take, for example, graphic novels, a subject of DeFrain’s research for some ten years.

More than 1,000 Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students earned a spot on the fall 2023 Dean’s Honor Roll.

The students, who completed at least 12 graded credit hours with a 3.5 grade point average, were celebrated at a special event March 4. Each person was recognized individually and received a certificate for their accomplishment. They will have access to photos of their department cohort next week.

“This was a joyful occasion celebrating with our students their remarkable progress so far,” said Andrew Hippisley, dean of Fairmount College. “To make it onto the dean’s honor roll means ‘full speed ahead’ toward graduating, and graduating strongly.”

Matt Howland, assistant professor of anthropology and archaeology, is using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to model how such coastal change and damage could occur. GIS is used to record, store, analyze, visualize and interpret geographic data and has become an important technological tool for archaeologists, particularly in determining changes across landscapes.

Douglas Emlen, Montana Regents Professor of Biology at the University of Montana, will host a public lecture, “Extreme weapons: A natural history,” at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12 in 231 Hubbard Hall. He will also host a technical lecture, “The evolution of extreme weapons: Lessons from a rhinoceros beetle,” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13 in 209 Hubbard Hall

Emlen studies how animal structures evolve to extreme proportions. He focuses on weapons of sexual selection, including antlers and especially the outlandish horns of rhinoceros beetles. His research leads to an exploration of the human military arms races and the most powerful weapons on the planet. Emlen is known for making complex scientific information easy to understand and has been featured in the New York Times and National Public Radio’s Science Friday.

The Watkins Visiting Professorship was created in 1974 by the Watkins Foundation. The grant is now provided through the Watkins fund, a part of the Wichita State Foundation and Alumni Engagement’s endowment. For more information about the lecture series, contact Dr. David Eichhorn, associate dean for faculty development and research, at 316-978-6659.

Imagine a job applicant who speaks five languages with full proficiency. Almost effortlessly, they translate and transcribe even the most complex topics from one language to another. Their linguistic skills would make them an invaluable asset to any company, provided one invisible criterion:

One of these languages must be English.

For many refugees and asylees in the U.S. (a nation without an official language) lacking English proficiency is the unspoken penalty, the barrier preventing them from stabilizing themselves and their families in a new culture, new country and new world.

“Much of the world is Anglocentric,” said Mythili Menon, associate professor of English and linguistics. “We interpret the world through this monolingual point of view, through a language that has hegemony and imperialistic power over other communities.”

Gary Bender, Mona Nemer and M. Lee Pelton exemplify the merits and advantages of a liberal arts and sciences education and will be inducted into the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame at 2 p.m, Feb. 6 in Wiedemann Hall. Induction into the Fairmount College Hall of Fame is the highest recognition of outstanding alumni who have had a significant impact on the region, nation and world. The event is open to the public. 

Andrew Hippisley, dean, Fairmount College, will moderate an audience-involved panel discussion with Bender, Nemer and Pelton about their university experiences and how a liberal arts and sciences education prepared them for their careers. A reception will immediately follow the event in Miller Concert Hall Lobby, Duerksen Fine Arts Center.