Author: Emily Mullins

Allen Galliart and Doug English have never met in person, but they share a common passion: helping chemistry students succeed. It’s this goal that brought the two together to start the Pooled Chemistry Scholarship at Wichita State.

Together, they created the Pooled Chemistry Scholarship, with the goal to find other alumni and faculty to contribute and get the scholarship to the endowed level, where it will provide student funding every year in perpetuity.

Shocker family,

Wichita State University has a long history of individuals committed to making it a place where students and our entire community can learn and grow. This year, the WSU Foundation is hosting the first annual Founders’ Day of Giving to honor the legacy that was begun in September of 1895, which we continue to build today.

This giving day will be held Sept. 14, and is a chance for all of us to come together with students, alumni and friends of the university to celebrate our past and invest in our future. You can easily support this day, whether through donating personally or advocating for a program, college or organization important to you.

As a member of the Wichita State community, I know you care deeply for this university and the students we serve. Together, we will continue to make a difference in their lives and the greater Wichita community.

Learn more about Founders’ Day of Giving and help us invest in the future of Wichita State.

With Shocker Pride,

Rick Muma

To honor LaWanda Holt-Fields’ tireless work at Wichita State, a memorial for the McNair Scholars Program has been created in her name. The program provides research training and scholarly experiences to prepare 28 students for graduate studies leading to a Ph.D. As the director of WSU’s McNair Scholars Program, LaWanda touched many lives at Wichita State, and this memorial fund will help continue her legacy.

If you would like to contribute, the fund is available at the WSU Foundation website.

This year, we’re celebrating Wichita State’s commitment to our students with our first annual Founders’ Day of Giving on September 14. Save the date to join thousands of Shocker alumni, students, employees, parents, and friends to celebrate our history and invest in our future this Founders’ Day.

Giving during this 24-hour event will take your generosity even further with the help of matching gifts, and we want you to be involved. Sign up to become an ambassador and help raise funds to support the college, department, program, student organization, or team you love.

With 155,000 employees around the world working to nourish communities in a safe, responsible and sustainable way, Cargill knows a few things about helping the world thrive, but their commitment to that mission goes beyond daily business operations.

Cargill Protein—North America has designated $250,000 for the Shocker Success Center at Wichita State; an endeavor that will help all students at the university thrive by providing better access to important resources.

Robert Gates has spent almost 27 years of his life working in intelligence for the government, but he wants to honor his childhood in Wichita and the values he learned with a planned gift to Wichita State University in his parents’ names.

“Great universities are a sparkplug for a community,” Gates said.

Born in the classrooms of Wichita East High School, Credit Union of America began when a group of teachers pooled funds to create a loan for a fellow educator in need.

While the name has changed since then, the company remains committed to its educational roots, recently pledging a gift of $250,000 to support WSU’s College of Applied Studies.

When Nighat Ara was 16 years old, she boarded a plane in Pakistan to fly 7,000 miles around the world to Wichita State University. What began as a lonely journey turned into an unforgettable community — one that included her future husband.

To recognize their experience, Ara and her husband, Mosaddaq Turabi, have created an endowed scholarship for students following in their footsteps, with a nod to the electrical engineering program that brought them together.

The WSU Foundation has an average of 12,000 individual donors each year, and together they show just how quickly small gifts make a large impact.

People support WSU for many reasons, whether it’s their own passion for education or a desire to continue the legacy of the university. Regardless of why they give, their participation led to more than $2.9 million in gifts of $1,000 or less in just one fiscal year. This generosity has a huge impact on the students of WSU.

“I don’t think of what I do as philanthropy,” said one donor. “I just look at things that support the world I want to live in and support those things.”

Scholarship recipients carry a special mission to help those who come after them, and social work graduate Ivan Castillo is doing just that.

“Having someone invested in my education and success when they don’t even know me personally was so impactful,” said Ivan Castillo social work graduate. “These are people who give and say, ‘I may not know who you are, but I know your mission and I can support it.’ I want to walk alongside people in the same way.”