Category: Featured Stories

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. 

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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!

In 2019, Trevor Cumpston — then just a high school senior at Aurora High School in Aurora, Nebraska — was awarded the prestigious Clay Barton Scholarship at Wichita State. Now in his second semester as a sophomore, Trevor says he’s enjoying the connections with his professors that the scholarship affords.

The Kansas Board of Regents has announced a meeting of the board at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 6, in the Rhatigan Student Center’s Shirley Beggs Ballroom (third floor).

The board plans to hold a public vote to name the next president of Wichita State University. Media are invited to attend the meeting, where the president-elect will make an acceptance speech before moving to RSC Room 319 (McKay Room) to take questions from the media.

The announcement will also be streamed live at wsu.news/president-elect.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed public health into the forefront and Wichita State University graduates such as Tara Nolen are leading the effort.

“Working in public health – people don’t really know what we do,” Nolen said. “It shone a light on what public health is and activated us all. What I’m doing impacts patients and everybody every day.”

As of today, Strategic Communications has switched to the updated format of Shocker Blast. You might not notice much difference, but read below to learn more about some upgraded features.

Improvements to the updated format: 

• Those who submit items to the newsletters will now have more control over the content-creation process, including being able to add links, bullet points and notes to the Strategic Communications staff. See above to watch a short video on how to submit.
• Each submission to the newsletter will now live on its own web page, so you can share your own submission with whomever you want.
• Each headline in the daily newsletter email will be clickable, taking you to that item in the web version of the newsletter.
• For us here in Strategic Communications, these changes will allow us to greatly streamline the newsletter process and decrease errors.

What else do you need to know?

• There is now a new link to submit to newsletters: news.wichita.edu. Click “Submit a News Item” to begin. We suggest you bookmark this link for future use. If you forget and submit to the old link instead, don’t worry; Strategic Communications will still receive your submission.
• You do not need to do anything for previously submitted items. Those are being transferred to the new system.
• Once we launch, you can view the old newsletters at wichita.edu/wsutodayarchive and wichita.edu/shockerblastarchive. The existing links (wichita.edu/wsutoday and wichita.edu/shockerblast) will then be redirected to the new newsletters.

For more information about how to use the new form submission link, or to submit feedback or questions, email sara.ornelas@wichita.edu or lainie.mazzullo@wichita.edu.

As of today, Strategic Communications has switched to the updated format of WSU Today. You might not notice much difference, but read below to learn more about some upgraded features.

Improvements to the updated format: 

• Those who submit items to the newsletters will now have more control over the content-creation process, including being able to add links, bullet points and notes to the Strategic Communications staff. See above to watch a short video on how to submit.
• Each submission to the newsletter will now live on its own web page, so you can share your own submission with whomever you want.
• Each headline in the daily newsletter email will be clickable, taking you to that item in the web version of the newsletter.
• For us here in Strategic Communications, these changes will allow us to greatly streamline the newsletter process and decrease errors.

What else do you need to know?

• There is now a new link to submit to newsletters: news.wichita.edu. Click “Submit a News Item” to begin. We suggest you bookmark this link for future use. If you forget and submit to the old link instead, don’t worry; Strategic Communications will still receive your submission.
• You do not need to do anything for previously submitted items. Those are being transferred to the new system.
• Once we launch, you can view the old newsletters at wichita.edu/wsutodayarchive and wichita.edu/shockerblastarchive. The existing links (wichita.edu/wsutoday and wichita.edu/shockerblast) will then be redirected to the new newsletters.

For more information about how to use the new form submission link, or to submit feedback or questions, email sara.ornelas@wichita.edu or lainie.mazzullo@wichita.edu.

For the 10th year straight, Wichita State University has been named as the top transfer destination for Kansas community college students.

About 900 Kansas community college students transferred to Wichita State, and one in every four students who choose to transfer from a Kansas community college to a four-year school chose Wichita State in 2019, the most recent data available.

Learning the signs of digital distress can help you recognize when students or friends might be struggling.

• Change in tone: If someone you know suddenly changes their general tone or expresses hopelessness, it may be a sign of distress, especially if they starting talking about death or disappearing.
• Change in frequency: If someone suddenly changes the amount they post or talk — either notable increase or decrease — it may be important to reach out.
• Change in amount appearing on camera: Not appearing in a Zoom class or an online hangout isn’t always indicative of distress, but someone changing the amount they appear could be.
• Distressing environment: If it appears from video calls or online classes that someone’s environment is chaotic or distressing, consider reaching out or connecting them to resources.
• No show: Someone not showing up for class or online hangouts without letting others know could be a sign of distress.
• Unresponsive: Not replying to the group chat isn’t necessarily a sign of distress, but a sudden change or going completely unresponsive could be a sign of distress.
• Disengaged: While on a video call, someone appearing disengaged could be a sign of distress, especially if that’s a sudden change.