Category: Featured Stories

Wichita State University is guided by its mission to drive education, culture and the economy for Kansas. Every few years in March, that means driving buzzer-beaters, slam dunks, joy and heartache to add to the public good in Wichita with the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA’s main event is back in Wichita to continue a long history of Wichita State bringing this bracket-busting event to the city. Intrust Bank Arena is the site for men’s first- and second-round games on March 20 and 22. Eight teams and their fans will visit Wichita for basketball and to explore the city, especially the Old Town, downtown and Delano area located near the arena.

The Barton School of Business has announced the two recipients of the 2025 Professor Fran Jabara Endowed Scholarship. This year’s winners are Wyatt Ochs, a homeschool student from Wichita, and Jennifer C. Sanchez-Reyes from Derby High School in Derby, Kansas. They will each receive more than $32,700 spread over four years to attend WSU and major or double-major in entrepreneurship.

“The Barton School was a pioneer in offering a dedicated entrepreneurship major, and we continue to stand at the forefront of entrepreneurial education,” said Dr. Larisa Genin, dean of the Barton School of Business. “The Jabara Scholars are an integral part of this enduring legacy, poised to forge their own path in the world of innovation and business.”

Wyatt Ochs:

School: Ochs Academy (Homeschool)
GPA: 3.8
Organizations: Wichita Warriors Baseball, band leader, youth group

Jennifer C. Sanchez-Reyes

School: Derby High School
GPA: 4.15
Organizations: National Honor Society, DECA

David Miller has been named as senior vice president for Administration, Finance and Operations at Wichita State.

Miller has been in the interim role since November. In the role, which is part of the President’s Executive Team, Miller will provide leadership and support to the university community with oversight of the Budget Office, Facilities Planning, Facilities Services, Police, Financial Services, Human Resources, Information Technology Services and Information Security.  

Lynn and Sherry Nichols have given a lead gift of $1 million to Wichita State University to kick off the fundraising campaign for the new, state-of-the-art Shocker Fly Lab, an enclosed flight space to research, design and test unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that will position the university at the forefront of unmanned aerial system (UAS) education and development.

“This project is something Sherry and I were interested in supporting from the moment we heard about it,” said Lynn Nichols, retired chairman and CEO of Yingling Aviation, a full-service aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul company based in Wichita. “We have watched first-hand as the aerospace industry has grown and shifted with new technologies, and this project will ensure Wichita State students are receiving a future-focused aerospace education.”

During the past decade, Wichita State University has been a recognized leader in the development and implementation of microcredentials. Now, the university’s work has taken a significant step forward with its launch of the first 1EdTech TrustEd Microcredential. 

“We are at the forefront of innovation as it relates to microcredentials,” said Kim Moore, executive director of Workforce, Professional and Community Education at Wichita State. “I’m always looking for opportunities where we can lead.”

The College of Engineering has named the latest group of high school seniors to join the Wallace Scholar program.

• Emilia Bustamante – Lincoln Northeast High School in Nebraska; mechanical engineering
• Tyllor Childers – Wichita Northwest High School; aerospace engineering
• Hudson Coffman – Blanchard High School in Oklahoma; aerospace engineering
• Lexi Grimm – Kapaun Mount Carmel Catholic High School in Wichita; aerospace engineering
• Connor Maul – J.J. Pearce High School in Dallas; aerospace engineering
• Sean McDermott – Eisenhower High School in Goddard, Kansas; cybersecurity
• Luke Osburn – Andover High School in Kansas; aerospace engineering
• Molly Patterson – Miami Yoder Preparatory Academy in Peyton, Colorado; aerospace engineering
• Madison Sohm – Russell Junior-Senior High School in Russell, Kansas; industrial engineering
• John Vonder Bruegge – Kirkwood High School in Missouri; mechanical engineering

Each of the 10 Wallace Scholarship recipients will receive $30,500 to attend WSU 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 WSU campus and throughout the greater Wichita community.

Wichita State is expanding its impact on community mental wellness through a new partnership with OneRise, a leading advocate for behavioral health innovation. This collaboration will enhance the reach of the Suspenders4Hope program, providing critical mental health education and resources to communities across Kansas, particularly in underserved areas and among priority groups such as veterans, medical professionals, construction workers and hospitality industry employees. 

“Wichita State University has been a pioneer in community mental health through initiatives like the Suspenders4Hope program. Now, with the partnership between WSU and OneRise, we’re poised to expand this movement across Kansas and beyond,” said Dr. Jessica Provines, wellness AVP and co-founder of Suspenders4Hope. “Our mission is to bring hope to people in moments of despair by uniting all sectors–education, business, healthcare and others in this effort. This collaboration will enhance mental health services for everyone while driving innovation in how our communities address mental health challenges.”

The Suspenders4Hope program, developed at WSU, is a movement built on research and created in partnership with mental health professionals. The program offers free online training, workplace wellness resources and a community-driven approach to preventing suicide and overdose. In joining forces with OneRise, WSU aims to strengthen Kansas’ behavioral health network by training more advocates, equipping workplaces and breaking down barriers to care.

“We believe that mental well-being is crucial for a thriving community,” said OneRise president Matthew Tannehill “We are proud to partner with Wichita State University to support the Suspenders4Hope program and contribute to the positive mental health of our friends and neighbors in the region. Suspenders4Hope empowers individuals with a simple but powerful method to support mental wellness: Share, Ask, Support. It’s like the ’stop, drop and roll’ training we all learned as kids, but a lot more likely to be a skill we need to draw on at different points in our life.”

These steps foster hope, connection and action — creating a stronger, healthier Kansas one conversation at a time. Suspenders4Hope offers free online mental health training for individuals and workplaces. Whether you’re an employer looking to improve workplace culture or simply someone who wants to help a friend in need, this training provides practical skills to recognize and respond to mental health concerns in your own life and the lives of others.

Be a mental health advocate with the Share, Ask, Support method.

• Share your own experiences to normalize conversations about mental health and express concern when you notice someone struggling.
• Ask for the help you need and check in on others — talking directly about suicide can save lives.
• Support without judgement, connect to resources and stay in touch.

Visit Suspenders4Hope.com to:

• Take free online training.
• View real stories of hope.
• Explore free wellness resources including instructions on how to build your own Hope Kit.

Five undergraduate students from Wichita State were among the 26 students recognized at the 23rd annual Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE) Symposium in Kansas City, Missouri.

The WSU students who received an Award of Excellence:

• Yara Abdine, junior in biomedical engineering, gave the poster presentation, “Glycosylation unveiled: Exploring the structure and function of FSH hormone glycoforms”
• Mark White, senior in biochemistry, gave the poster presentation, “Using FRET to Assess Conjugate Binding of Anthrax Toxin’s PA and Antigen Spy0469”

The WSU students who received an Honorable Mention:

• Lauren Hughes, junior in biomedical engineering, gave the poster presentation, “What’s Linker Have to Do With It? Examining the Structure and Stability of Palladin’s Ig3-4 Linker Region”
• Breanna Leach, sophomore in biomedical engineering, gave the poster presentation, “Patterns of brain Ferritin expression in the Drosophila divalent cation transporter mutant Malvolio”
• Julie Tran, senior in chemistry, gave the poster presentation, “Structural Elucidation of the Ig3 Domain of Myopalladin by NMR”

Wichita State has released the list of all 1,242 Shockers who graduated in fall 2024.

Overall, graduates completed a total of 1,378 degrees — 908 undergraduate degrees and certificates and 470 graduate degrees and certificates — with 153 honored as cum laude, 223 honored as magna cum laude and 47 honored as summa cum laude.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently awarded a Wichita State University faculty member $150,000 to further develop a smartphone application that allows visually impaired people to read materials rich in visual content.  

Dr. Darren DeFrain, professor of English and director of Wichita State’s Writing Program, has spent five years developing the Vizling app, which merges the visual and text components of graphic novels, comic books and other image-heavy literature.  

With comic books or graphic novels, stories aren’t always told in a linear format. There are visual clues as to where the readers’ eyes should go next. With Vizling, users can drag their fingers across a device and visualize which way the story is set up. They can also touch different areas of the screen to find out what’s on the screen.