Author: Sara Ornelas

The July 2021 issue of Strategic Enrollment Management Quarterly features a case study written by Gina Crabtree, Wichita State registrar, and Dr. David Wright, chief data officer (CDO). The article — “Beyond Collaboration: A Registrar and Institutional Research Journey” — chronicles the partnership between the registrar and CDO, in conjunction with other offices, to change how the university deploys data for decision-making.

Wichita State students now have access to Shocker 360, an app that lets students log their beyond-the-classroom experiences, use to earn points, and share those experiences with potential employers. 

Through the Shocker 360 app, students can add to their knowledge base through extracurricular experiences such as attending panel discussions, working on research, applied learning and internships, social activities, and seminars. Then through those experiences, students build their competencies in six key areas that employers look for when hiring:

• Diversity, inclusion and global engagement
• Civic engagement
• Career exploration
• Research, creative and scholarly activities
• Leadership development
• Academic success, peer engagement and Shocker pride

“All the things you do behind your coursework are making you a more interesting and employable person,” said Dr. Carolyn Shaw, associate vice president for strategic enrollment management. 

COVID-19 vaccination scheduling is now open to all WSU on-campus industry partner employees and new incoming students and their immediate family members, ages 18 and up, in addition to WSU and WSU Tech employees, students, and their immediate family members.

An immediate family member includes child, stepchild, grandchild, parent, stepparent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, including any adoptive relationships, and any residing in the same household. Family members need to be residents of Sedgwick County, Kansas.

To schedule an appointment for immediate family members, the employee or student will need to sign in to myWSU and go to the home page tab. The “Schedule Your COVID Vaccine Appointment” link on the left-hand side of the home page.

Please follow these directions to save you time and to help SHS conserve our limited supply of vaccine: 

• You will receive an email confirmation with your appointment date and time. Please keep your scheduled appointment!
• If you cannot keep your appointment, please cancel in a timely fashion so the appointment time is available for others. The option to cancel your appointment is in the confirmation email. 
• Bring the completed Dispense Assist form and your WSU ID or other form of ID with you for the appointment.
• DO NOT arrive earlier than 10 minutes prior to your appointment time. 
• All individuals will be required to complete a 15 to 30 minute observation period after receiving the vaccine.

On-campus vaccination clinics will be located in WSU Student Health Services, which is located inside the YMCA on the WSU campus. Check-in for your vaccination appointment inside the Student Wellness Center.

This month’s issue of Forward Together starts off with a message from Dr. Rick Muma about how Wichita State fits into the New University model. Additional items include the following:

• Wichita State names new College of Engineering dean
• Air Force to develop F-16 digital twin with NIAR’s help
• Center for Entrepreneurship announces new reporting structure
• Sanchez earns Kansas Human Rights Commission appointment
• Wichita State freshman targets Paralympics in rowing time trials
• Shocker alum helps engineer NASA’s return to the Moon and more
• Shocker students’ innovation represented at Make48
• Wichita State named No. 1 most affordable, LGBTQ-friendly school in Kansas

Sgt. Efrain Rueda and Ofc. Matthew Feldt of the Wichita State University Police Department were awarded the Wichita State Life Saving Medal on Thursday, July 8 for their recent heroic actions and exemplifying the core values of the police department.

Rueda has been a member of WSUPD since 2016. In 2019, he was honored with the University Police Ribbon for Outstanding Actions. Feldt has served with WSUPD since 2018, and he also earned an Exceptional Duty Award earlier this year. 

“The officers and sergeants of the Wichita State University Police Department serve this community,” said Rodney Clark, WSUPD chief of police. “Through it all, they commit hundreds of acts of kindness, caring and compassionate policing every day. Their actions at times are lifesaving. I could not be more proud of them and the devotion and commitment they have to this campus and this university.”

A reception to celebrate Valerie Pittier’s retirement on July 7 has been canceled. We apologize for the inconvenience.

When the Make48 invention and maker challenge comes to Wichita State University on June 24, two of the eight Wichita teams are comprised entirely of Wichita State University students.

Team Baby Cactus consists of Juan Blasetti, junior in computer science; Jerome Teoh, a recent aerospace engineering grad; Grant Johnson, a freshman in computer engineering; and Katie Hefner, a senior in engineering technology and general business.

The second team — Veni, Vidi, Vici — is comprised of Felipe Lima de Oliveira, a junior in mechanical engineering; and Rafael Leite, a graduate student in mechanical engineering. Both Felipe and Rafael are from Brazil.

Joe Jabara doesn’t call his class Hacking 101, but his students do learn how to develop effective attacks on computer systems.

The course is actually called Applied Computing Intermediate Design Project, and this past spring its students carried out phishing attempts against a targeted group of Wichita State faculty, staff and students.

Working in teams, students created emails based on the same principles that hackers use to get recipients to open an email, click on a link and enter log in credentials. Student efforts were successful: Out of 128 targets, 40 opened a phishing email, 10 clicked on a link and four entered log in credentials.

Adding to its myriad points of pride, Wichita State University has been named the most affordable, LGBTQ-friendly college in the state. 

Student Loan Hero, a company that helps student loan borrowers make well-informed repayment decisions, took its statistics on the most affordable colleges and universities and paired it with information from Campus Pride, which developed an Index to examine LGBTQ acceptance on college campuses based on policies, administrative support, campus community involvement and other factors.