Category: Featured Stories

Wichita State University’s College of Engineering has named the latest group of high school seniors to join the Wallace Scholar program.

The 10 Wallace Scholarship recipients will receive $28,500 each to attend Wichita State for four years. 

Wallace scholars comprise a community of more than 45 College of Engineering students, representing every class and almost every major in the college. Wallace scholars are involved in the College of Engineering, across the Wichita State campus, and in the Wichita community.

Establishment of a health care data analytics center spearheaded through a partnership of the College of Health Professions and the National Institute for Research and Digital Transformation (NIRDT) took a major step forward with a $100,000 donation from UnitedHealthcare Community Plan for Kansas.

The Kansas Center for Advancement of Healthcare (KCAH) will be a collaborative center comprised of major universities, hospitals, and other clinical research, education and health care delivery organizations in Kansas. The mission of the KCAH is to provide a systematic and state-wide approach to health data management and analytics for research and innovation from patient treatment to population-level disease prevention.

“The development of the NIRDT provides the unique technical capacity in Kansas for a center like KCAH. It wouldn’t be viable financially or technically anywhere else,” said Greg Hand, dean of the College of Health Professions. “Creation of the KCAH aligns with the Kansas Board of Regents’ Building a Future 2021 priorities and Governor Kelly’s Kansas Competitiveness Project as outlined in the Kansas Framework for Growth 2021.”

The gift from UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kansas was made after the insurance giant’s leadership met in Wichita with leadership from the WSU’s College of Health Professions and the Division of Industry and Defense Programs.

“We at UnitedHealthcare value public private partnerships and would like to continue to assist in the development of statewide capabilities though projects like this,” said Kevin Sparks, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kansas.

Update: This event has been canceled due to weather and travel complications. Thank you for your patience.

Actor, digital creator and TikTok influencer Chris Olsen will speak about his rise to fame during An Evening with Chris Olsen at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17 at the Wichita State Eugene M. Hughes Metropolitan Complex (5015 E. 29th St. North).

Advance tickets are free to WSU students, $15 for faculty/staff and $25 for general public. Purchase tickets here.

This event is intended for those 12 and older.

Leanne Caret — a Wichita State University alumna, former executive president of Boeing, and former president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) — is serving as the Sam Bloomfield Distinguished Engineer in Residence for the College of Engineering at WSU for 2023. She will provide industry knowledge, insight and guidance to students and faculty.

Caret has more than 30 years of aerospace industry experience. For five consecutive years from 2017-21, Fortune magazine included Caret in its Most Powerful Women list. She retired from Boeing in 2022 and currently serves on the United Service Organizations (USO) board of governors, the Raytheon Technologies board of directors and the John Deere board of directors.

Caroline Tallent has big goals for herself. The mechanical engineering major at Wichita State University hopes to someday become an Air Force pilot or astronaut — perhaps even work at NASA.

She’s just a sophomore, so she has plenty of time to dream and plan. But right now, her immediate goal is to put softballs into flight as a first baseman on the WSU softball team. She chose Wichita State after checking into schools with strong engineering and strong softball.

The Wichita State University College of Engineering is hosting an Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED) event, commonly known as Girl Day, for high school girls from Wichita Public Schools. The event is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 in the Shirley Beggs Ballroom on the third floor of the Rhatigan Student Center.

WSU expects 100-150 participants for the IGED event. The students will participate in hands-on STEM activities, listen to inspirational female speakers, and meet women from the engineering and computing industries, including professionals, WSU faculty, and students. There will also be an industry fair featuring companies from STEM fields. Breakfast pastries and lunch will be provided.

A consortium of four local institutions (Wichita State, WSU Tech, Newman University and Friends University) is bringing Dr. Gina Ann Garcia to Wichita for the talk “Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions,” at 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, in Newman’s DeMattias Performance Hall. Her talk includes a 30-minute question and answer session.

What exactly is a Hispanic-Serving Institution? Dr. Sara Mata, WSU executive director of Hispanic-Serving Initiatives, is a member of the Hispanic-Serving Institution Task Force at WSU, and she explains what it all means and how it can positively impact students at Wichita State and beyond.

The Barton School recently spoke with Maley Hansen, senior at Wichita North High School and future Barton School of Business student, who was named one of three 2023 Gore Scholars. She plans to double major in business administration and statistics.

More than 480 high school seniors from all over the country competed in this year’s Distinguished Scholarship Invitational to become Gore Scholars. Maley will receive a $64,000 scholarship to attend Wichita State University in August 2023. She is only the fourth North High student to receive the scholarship, which was established in 1954.

A recent PBS “News Hour” story highlights the role Wichita State University plays in the arts community of Wichita.

Among the Wichita State connections featured are Kristin Beal, a lecturer in the Masters of Arts Administration program for the WSU College of Fine Arts and special projects manager for Strategic Communications; and Mina Estrada a lecturer for the dance department. Dr. Timothy Jones, assistant professor of violin, is shown performing for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra.

For Music Theatre Wichita, assistant professor of musical theatre Richard Biever, and student Sophia Hillman are pictured during rehearsals.

The director of the National Science Foundation visited Wichita State University in January.

The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan toured Wichita State’s National Institute for Aviation Research, WSU Tech and the National Center for Aviation Training as a guest of U.S. Senator Jerry Moran.

The tours focused on demonstrating how Wichita State partners with industry to educate and train students for the workforce through applied learning.