Author: Sara Ornelas

Valerie Hubener worked in several labs across campus until she found a field of study that was perfect for her in user experience (UX) design.

Valerie is one of more than 1,300 students eligible for fall 2022 graduation. Learn more about her time at Wichita State and what’s next for the grad.

Aida Amir is a Wichita State legacy student who came to campus from Malaysia to study engineering.

Aida is one of more than 1,300 students eligible for fall 2022 graduation. Learn more about her time at Wichita State and what is next for this grad.

The next monthly rpk GROUP Steering Committee meeting will be live-streamed at 9 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 on the Kansas Board of Regents YouTube channel.

The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) and rpk GROUP are collaborating on a project to ensure the six KBOR bachelors-granting institutions are offering academic programs that align with Kansas’ goals for the state’s higher education enterprise, meet student expectations for programs centered on student success and increasing their employability, and efficiently deliver faculty and staff resources across each institution, division, and department.

Danette Baker, program director for the Theatre Department in the College of Fine Arts, passed away on Nov. 12. Services will be held Wednesday, Nov. 16 at Holy Savior Catholic Church, 3000 E. 13th Street North in Wichita. A rosary ceremony will begin at 10 a.m., and the funeral mass will begin at 11 a.m. Afterward, there will be a funeral procession to Ascension Cemetary, 7200 E. 45th Street North in Bel Aire.

Danette was a frequent director and member of the acting company for Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in McCall, Idaho, a national conference focusing on new play development. She is a Society of American Fight Directors Certified Teacher and founder of the Wichita Unrehearsed Shakespeare Society.

Danette acted in theatres across the country, appearing with the Aegean Theatre Company, American Globe Theatre, and the Director’s Company in New York, Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod, and Cleveland Playhouse in Ohio. In Wichita, Danette appeared with Cabaret Oldtown, Chamber Music in the Barn, Prairie Pines Festivals, Wichita Center for the Arts, Guild Hall Players, Signature Theatre, Wichita Shakespeare Company, and Wichita Community Theatre.

Danette was an eight-time recipient of the Mary Jane Teall Theatre award for Outstanding Acting, a recipient of the 2012 Ruth McCormick Outstanding Theatre Educator Award, twice recognized as the Outstanding Female Performer in the Society of American Fight Directors Advanced Actor Combatant Workshop, received Certificates of Commendation from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region V for her direction of A Hedda Gabler, and her fight choreography for “Twelfth Night.”

Neutrinos are on the short list of the biggest mysteries in fundamental physics, and Wichita State University researchers are taking a lead role in investigating them.

“The unsolved question right now is ‘Why do they have mass? How do they have mass?’” said Jonathan Folkerts, Wichita State graduate student. “When neutrinos were first thought of, we figured they had to be massless, but they do some things that mean they have to have mass.”

In late September, Folkerts, Jarred Novak and Trent English presented papers on the design of their neutrino detector prototype at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris, representing the NASA-funded Solar Neutrino Orbiting Laboratory Detector Development Project.

First-gen students are a vital component in making Wichita State University great. More than 45% of Shockers identify as the first in their families to attend a college or university. We celebrate and support these brave students every day, and particularly during First-Gen Month in November.

Watch the video to meet some of our outstanding first-gen Shockers, and click the button below to learn more about the events happening this month at Wichita State.

In recognition of its strong commitment to economic engagement, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has designated Wichita State University as an Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) University. The national designation acknowledges public research universities working with public and private sector partners in their states and regions to support economic development through a variety of activities, including innovation and entrepreneurship, technology transfer, talent and workforce development, and community development.

“On behalf of Shocker Nation, we are honored that the APLU has confirmed Wichita State as a driver for innovation and economic development in Kansas,” said Dr. Rick Muma, president of Wichita State. “Since 2013, our mission is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good, as well as many of our research initiatives and programs directly support the needs of the people and businesses in our state. This designation recognizes those efforts and affirms what we’ve known all along as Kansas’ premier urban public research university.”

Harriet Hamilton expected to live in London by now, her college tennis career finished and her career in business beginning.

When the COVID-19 pandemic put global supply chains in the spotlight, Hamilton paid attention as the production and movement of items fluctuated. She watched the business world change and decided to study the new landscape, aided by an extra year of eligibility granted to all student-athletes by the NCAA due to the pandemic.

“The world was facing a global crisis and supply chains were affected so much,” she said. “Six months before starting my graduate degree, I really started researching. Of course, at this time, we were in an intense, COVID pandemic phase.”

What does a 1970s Houston choir teacher have to do with the $300 million health science center proposed for downtown Wichita?

Quite a bit, as it turns out.

Wichita State University President Rick Muma was in eighth grade, sitting in choir class in the Houston public schools, when his teacher announced he would be leaving to become a physician assistant — a relatively new career at that time.

Muma went on to become a PA himself. He eventually earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston — located at the Texas Medical Center, which serves as a kind of a model for the proposed center he’s championing here.

The Wichita Arts Council has announced that Andrea Banke, Wichita State associate professor of music, has been chosen to receive the Burton Pell Award. The award is given annually to an outstanding musician from the Wichita area. Banke will be honored at the 52nd annual Art Awards dinner on Nov. 3 at Wichita Art Museum.