Category: Featured Stories

WSU remains committed to providing educational opportunities at no or low cost to senior citizens.

The recently announced change in fee structure will not impact the cost to senior citizens who audit WSU courses. The letter sent to seniors last week can be disregarded. We regret the confusion caused by that.

Individuals 60-plus years of age will continue to not pay course fees. Occasionally, as has always been the case, a course will have incidental costs for supplies needed to participate in class activities. In those cases, students will be responsible for those expenses.

WSU will be sending a letter of clarification to the seniors who received the previous letter.

Dr. Anthony Muscat has been named dean of Wichita State University’s College of Engineering, effective July 25.

Muscat is a professor and chair of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona, where he has been since 1998.

His career history includes administrative appointments as Department Chair of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and Acting Department Head of the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, both at the University of Arizona. He received a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the University of California-Davis and a master’s and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Stanford University.

Rower Gianluca Gabriele loves the moments past the finish line when he looks at his teammates and savors their cohesion and spirit.

“The thing that sets you apart is how you worked together,” he said. “There’s that gratification of, after a race, looking back and forward at everybody and knowing you raced.”

The U.S. Air Force is launching a new program with Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to make a digital replica of the F-16 Fighting Falcon in an effort to improve the sustainment and modernization of F-16s operating around the world.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit Program is a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program that provides a temporary discount on monthly broadband bills for qualifying low-income households. 

A household is eligible for the EBB if it has an income at or below 135% of the federal poverty guidelines OR any member of the household:

• Qualifies for Lifeline benefits through participation in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, Federal Public Housing Assistance or Veterans and Survivors Pension Benefit
• Participates in one of several Tribal specific programs: Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal Head Start (only households meeting the relevant income qualifying standard), Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Tribal TANF), Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations
• Experienced a substantial loss of income since February 29, 2020, due to job loss or furlough AND has a total household income in 2020 at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers
• Received a federal Pell Grant in the current award year
• Received approval for benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision, in the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year
• Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider’s existing low-income or COVID-19 program and that provider received FCC approval for its eligibility verification process

Only one monthly service discount and one device discount is allowed per household. Program rules do acknowledge there may be more than one eligible household residing at the same address.

More information about EBB and how to apply is available here.

Safety is a priority at Wichita State University. Please take a few moments to read through the information below regarding how we will keep you informed of weather-related activity.

• We strongly encourage you to sign up for the Shocker Alert System, which will send weather and class alerts to your phone and or email.
• wichita.edu will be updated with a warning message during a tornado warning or weather situation that impacts classes or activities on campus.
• You can call the Activity Line / Weather and Class Status at 316-978-6633, option 2.
• WSU’s official WSU Facebook and Twitter pages will be updated with pertinent information.
• See a list of tornado shelters for each building on campus.

For more information about the weather outlook, consult the National Weather Service forecast for Wichita.

President Rick Muma sends a thank you to the faculty and staff who’ve worked so hard this year.

President Rick Muma congratulates all Shocker students for their accomplishments this year.

A live YouTube virtual faculty and staff town hall will be held from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 13. This is an opportunity to hear and interact with President Rick Muma and Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Shirley Lefever. The event will be moderated by the presidents of the Faculty, UP and USS senates.

Faculty and staff who want to participate are encouraged to do so during the live YouTube stream. If you don’t currently have a YouTube account, click here for more information on how to create one. Creating an account will help facilitate questions in the live chat section of the Virtual Town Hall. 

.

I am humbled and appreciative of the confidence that the Kansas Board of Regents and the presidential search committee have shown in appointing me as the 15th president of this great institution. It is truly an honor.

But I didn’t come to this presidency overnight or alone. It’s only through the support of my family and the Wichita State community that I’ve grown into this job, and it’s with that same support and spirit that, together, we are primed to move the university forward together to become the premier urban-based public research university — not only in Kansas, but also the nation.

Through the individual talents of each of you and our collective determination, we can achieve our goals of making education accessible and affordable; supporting Kansas businesses with a talent pipeline that meets employers’ needs; and increasing the economic prosperity with higher education that benefits the Kansas economy. 

Our potential and growth as an institution is fueled by our audacity and ambition, and it is through our tenacity and persistence that we will succeed in accomplishing our vision to be one of the nation’s most innovative research universities, known for providing impactful student experiences and driving prosperity for the people and communities we serve.

I look forward to the many conversations that I’ll have with each of you and all of Shocker Nation during the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to share your ideas. Your support and insight mean everything to me and to the future of Wichita State University.

Go Shockers!