Category: Awards and Recognitions

Sheree Utash, vice president of workforce development and president of WSU Tech, was inducted into the 2024 Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame from the Kansas Aviation Museum.

Inductees will be celebrated at the Kansas Aviation Honor Awards Nov. 19 at the Kansas Aviation Museum.

Utash has been the president of WSU Tech since 2015 and previously served as its vice president of academic affairs. She oversaw the college’s transition to WSU Tech

Wichita State University has announce the receipt of a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for its ADVANCE project, “REACH for Excellence: WSU’s ADVANCE Adaptation Initiative for Equity in STEM Faculty.” Leading this initiative are principal investigator Jan Twomey and co-principal investigators Linnea GlenMaye, Rhonda Lewis, Moriah Beck, David Eichhorn and Tiffany Franks.

This important ADVANCE award is a direct response to the challenges highlighted in WSU’s previous institutional assessment, focusing on increasing the representation of female and underrepresented faculty. With proven strategies, REACH aims to break down barriers and create a more inclusive academic environment.

The REACH project is driven by three ambitious objectives:

1. Revolutionize recruitment and hiring practices to ensure equity.
2. Establish robust support systems for faculty success and career progression at all levels.
3. Foster a culture of equity, with clear expectations and accountability for deans and department chairs.

Although the initiative is centered on STEM faculty, all faculty members at WSU will have the opportunity to benefit from the REACH programming. This is more than a grant; it’s a commitment to shaping a diverse and equitable future for Wichita State University. More details will be shared in the fall. 

Wichita State’s Office of Instructional Resources was a winner of the Anthology’s 2024 Catalyst Award for Training and Professional Development.

The award recognizes those driving innovation and excellence within higher education, and WSU was specifically celebrated for displaying an organization-wide dedication to innovative training and development programs for their educators and staff. WSU Tech was also recognized for Leading Change.

The College of Applied Studies (CAS) announced the selection of nine distinguished individuals to be inducted into the class of 2024 CAS Hall of Fame. The inductees come from various backgrounds representing several departments within the college and are being recognized for their outstanding contributions to their field.

The class of 2024 CAS Hall of Fame inductees are:

• Stacy Chestnut, alumni and educator
• Chase Curtiss, alumni and entrepreneur
• Credit Union of America, partner
• Christine Downey-Schmidt, patron and higher education leader
• Cathy Razook-Ellsworth, alumni, educator, and staff member
• Becky Endicott, alumni and staff member
• Susan Rippe, alumni and educator
• Rex Schott, alumni and athletic trainer
• Vicki Worrell, alumni and faculty member

The college will celebrate the inductees with a banquet at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27 in the John Bardo Center lobby.

Stephanie Versch, manager of library resource acquisitions services, is the 2024 recipient of the Kansas Library Association College and University Libraries Section Support Staff Award. The award honors academic library support staff for their significant contributions and dedication.

Stephanie began her journey as a library assistant in access services and later became a digital resources acquisitions specialist in technical services. She has been the manager of library resource acquisitions services since 2023.

Shocker Printing has been awarded the prestigious Platinum Award for poster printing at the ACUP+ Annual Conference held in Rochester, New York, last month. The award-winning poster, titled “Wichita State Mural,” was designed by Annelise Muret, art director in the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing.

Selected as one of six finalists, the poster was ultimately chosen by the board of directors of the Association of College and University Printers Plus (ACUP+), a testament to the team’s exceptional talent and dedication to excellence.

You can view the award and the winning poster on display in Morrison Hall, just outside the Shocker Printing Solutions print center.

Congratulations to Annelise and the entire Shocker Printing team for the achievement.

NIAR staff Jeremy Sitz and Hunter Robertson, a senior in engineering, brought home Top Gun awards from the 2024 COExperience in Dallas last week.

Sitz placed first and Robertson took third. The Top Gun competition identifies the “Best of the Best” CATIA engineers and designers through a competition that tests their skills at developing the most accurate and correctly-structured three-dimensional model in the least amount of time.

NIAR staff have a history of bringing home honors in the competition. WSU student Dane Moorehead placed second in 2023.

Wichita State University Industry and Defense Programs (IDP) is proud to announce that Chris Snyder, IDP director of information technology and security, received the Trailblazing Chief Information Security Officer award from Cyber Defense Magazine (CDM), the industry’s leading electronic information security magazine.

Snyder leads the Information Technology team and cybersecurity program for IDP. His team supports over 1,500 employees working within 22 distinct research labs and technology centers. Prior to joining WSU, Chris spent 30 years in Air Force cyberspace operations and airspace management. His Air Force career included multiple command positions, highlighted by his selection to stand up a diverse new Cyber Operations Group, comprised of a Security Operations Center, a cyber hunt team and a cyber red team. Chris is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and holds a Chief Information Officer Certificate from National Defense University. He graduated from Embry Riddle University with a Bachelor of Science in aeronautics and later earned a Master of Business Administration from Webster University.

The 20th annual Graduate Research and Scholarly Project (GRASP) Symposium was held on April 26 in the Rhatigan Student Center.

Well over 200 students, faculty and staff members attended the event, and 120 graduate student presenters of 73 research posters represented departments and programs from across the university.

This year’s GRASP awardees are:

• First place: Preliminary Analysis of Ground Stone Artifacts from Etzanoa (14CO3)
  K.M. Carter, anthropology master’s program with advisor Dr. Crystal Dozier
• Second place: Familiarization Training Game for Extended Reality Spacesuit User Interface
  Robert Beran, Athalee Pate, Braeden McKeown, Pranjal Nawarkar, Alexis Painter, human factors psychology master’s program with advisor Dr. Maggie Schoonover
• People’s Choice: C.O.S.M.O.S. CosmoShox On-Site Martian Overlay System
  Yumi Kikuchi Coronel, Denae Sawyer, Nathan Lewis, Elaine Duff, Marianna Fronciani Farina, innovation design master’s program with advisor Kristyn Waits

Join the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries (ADCI) from noon to 2 p.m. Friday, April 26 in 210 McKnight Art Center to celebrate the accomplishments of art history students studying ADCI.

Presentations by keynote speaker Angela Tucker, coordinator of the Race Project at Johnson County Libraries, and guest speaker Carter Bryant, ADCI alum and ArtsKC program associate, will take place. Event is free and open to the public.