Category: Awards and Recognitions

Sarah Schlottman, a speech and drama teacher at Abilene High School, has been named a recipient of the prestigious Kansas Horizon Award. Sarah, a second-year teacher in the Wichita State Transition to Teaching Program (T2T), was recognized for her exceptional dedication and passion for teaching.

The Transition to Teaching program is a two-year alternative licensure program that combines graduate-level coursework (in-person, hybrid and online) with full-time, paid teaching as the teacher of record in a specific subject area. Participants will fulfill teacher licensure (KSDE) course requirements while enrolled in the T2T program with an option to complete a Master of Arts in teaching degree with an additional seven credit hours.

On Jan. 9, Dr. Randy Watson, the Kansas Commissioner of Education, called Schlottman to announce the exciting news.

“We have thousands of outstanding teachers in their second year,” Dr. Watson said. “Only 32 across the state are selected for this honor, and Sarah is one of them.”

The recognition places Sarah among the best new educators in Kansas and earns her a place in the Kansas Exemplary Educators Network (KEEN). As part of the award, Schlottman will be invited to the KEEN Conference and an honorary banquet in February, where she will be celebrated for her educational contributions.

Sarah’s commitment to her students and the Abilene community has not gone unnoticed. Known for her tireless work ethic, her dedication to providing students with a transformative experience in speech and drama, and her constant drive to inspire others, Sarah has become a true role model for her peers and students alike.

“We are incredibly proud of Sarah and the remarkable work she does each day to help her students succeed,” said Greg Brown, Abilene High School Principal. “This recognition is a testament to her dedication, and we are thrilled to see her being acknowledged on a state level.”

Sarah’s passion for teaching and her unwavering commitment to student success make her a deserving recipient of this prestigious award.

The Wichita Eagle has announced the winners of its annual Best of Wichita competition, and Wichita State was voted gold in best college/university in Wichita. This is the third year in a row where Wichita State has been named the best college/university.

We thank Shocker Nation for their participation in the voting process.

Dr. Matthew Howland, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, and colleagues Mohammad Najjar; Brady Liss, University of Vermont; Ian Jones, New York University; Thomas Levy, University of California San Diego; and UCSD grad student Anthony Tamberino, in were recently awarded the Community Engagement and Public Outreach Award by the American Society of Overseas Research for their work sharing information about the archaeology of Jordan with public and Arabic-speaking audiences.

Interested readers can explore the award-winning projects on Sketchfab and ArcGIS StoryMaps. Both projects are available in both English and Arabic.

Storytime Village celebrates Dr. Kim Wilson as its 2024 Literacy Champion. Wilson is a leader in literacy in Kansas who has been lauded for her research expertise in early literacy, self-efficacy, executive function and mentoring.

Dr. Wilson has received numerous awards and dedicates her life to improving the lives of students through her love for research and language. She is the co-founder of the nonprofit Prime Fit Youth Foundation as well as a professor in the College of Applied Studies.

KMUW, Wichita’s NPR station, has been named Large Market Radio Station of the Year by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. This is the 11th consecutive year that KMUW has received top honors.

Highlights include three categories in which KMUW swept all three places. All awards went to KMUW in the Spot News category. Rose Conlon received first place for her story on the police raid of the Marion County Record. Conlon also received second place for her look at a Wichita Mennonite protest over the war in Gaza. Rounding out the honors is Suzanne Perez with her coverage of the Wichita school board voting to close six schools.

Another category swept by KMUW was Editorial/Commentary. Tom Shine was awarded first place for his reflection on receiving a text from his daughter during a shelter-in-place scare. Fletcher Powell received second place for his movie review of “Poor Things.” And Perez was honored for her review of the novel, “Come and Get It.”

The final category swept by KMUW was for Public Service Announcement, with first place going to Kylie Cameron and Fletcher Powell for the Substance Use Resource Page, second place to Jessica Treadwell for the Documenters program and Perez for the Wichita ReadICT Challenge.

KMUW received several more first-place awards for features, including recognition for Suzanne Perez for her story on a Wichita teacher hurt while breaking up a fight, Celia Hack with her look at one woman who pulled her family out of homelessness, Carla Eckels for her story on the timelessness of Emmett Till’s story and finally Tom Shine for his feature: “Was Wichita State really the first college to throw a forward pass in football?”

The entire list of awards can be found at kmuw.org/awards.

Dr. Moriah Beck, Talaty Endowed Research Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and director of First Year Research Experience (FYRE) in STEM, was recognized by the Association for Women in Science for the Meridian Award, which celebrates “mid-career professionals whose diversity and inclusion efforts represent true leadership in the pursuit of workplace equity.”

Starting out as the student director of the Young Scientist Program at Washington University, Dr. Beck has continued to promote representation in STEM through her work as a professor at WSU. She currently hosts the Expanding Your Horizons workshop, a one-day conference that connects middle school girls to fields in STEM research, in partnership with local industry partners, such as Spirit Aerosystems and Airbus. She has also lead FYRE in STEM with the Cohen Honors College for six years, which aims to introduce undergraduate students to applied learning and research opportunities across campus, and she has also been instrumental as a co-principle investigator on WSU’s recent NSF ADVANCE Catalyst and Adaptation grant to help increase representation amongst faculty in primarily STEM fields.

Brian Ray, clinical professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has been named the Speech-Language Pathologist of the Year by the Kansas Speech-Language-Hearing Association. An alumnus of Wichita State, Brian graduated in 1988 with a Master of Arts in speech-language pathology.

Brian is a Board Certified Specialist in Stuttering, Cluttering and Fluency (BCS-SCF) and the only BCS-SCF specialist in Kansas. His research focuses on disorders of speech fluency. Brian’s dedication and contributions have had a profound impact on students, clients, the community and the field of speech-language pathology.

Dr. Brett Bruner, assistant vice president for Student Success & Persistence, will receive the 2024 National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Region IV-West Distinguished Service Award at the Regional Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oct. 22.

The award is presented to a NASPA member who has provided volunteer service to the association via leadership roles at the state, regional, national and international levels; has progressed from entry-level to senior-level leadership roles within NASPA volunteer leadership experiences; has been involved in multiple branches (regions, knowledge communities, divisions and groups) of the association; and has significantly impacted NASPA as an association through their volunteer service.

“Kansas English,” edited by Dr. Katie Cramer, professor of English education in the School of Education, and published in WSU’s Open Journal Systems by the Kansas Association of Teachers of English, has been named a recipient of the 2024 NCTE Affiliate Journal of Excellence Award, given by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). This is the fifth year in a row that “Kansas English” has earned this distinction.

Established in 1995, this award honors outstanding affiliate journals and their editors who demonstrate excellence in these publications. The winning affiliate journal must be a magazine-type publication — print or online — and provide members with scholarly articles on issues and topics related to English language arts teaching. The journals are judged on content, organization and scholarly exploration, appeal to many different groups within the affiliate, coverage of important issues in English language arts education and inclusion of other types of writing (e.g. poetry, affiliate news, book reviews).

The Affiliate Journal of Excellence Award winners will be announced at the 2024 NCTE Annual Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, during the Affiliate Session Nov. 24.

Kaytie Brozek from LAS Advising Center and current Educational Leadership/Educational Psychology doctoral student has received the “Best of KAAN” award at this year’s annual KAAN Conference in Lawrence, Kansas.

Her presentation, “In My Advising Era: Relating Taylor Swift Songs to Chickering’s Seven Vectors for Enhancing Academic Advising Practice,” was selected as the most outstanding session by conference attendees. This award includes a stipend for Kaytie to present her work at the upcoming NACADA Region 7 Conference in Memphis Tennessee, where she will represent as “Best of Kansas.”