Category: Kudos

Christopher Leonard, a licensed psychologist and Student Wellness Center director of counseling, has been selected to be part of the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) Advisory Board. The CCMH Advisory Board, operated out of Penn State, directs and advises CCMH initiatives based on expertise and knowledge of challenges, trends and best practices in the field of college student mental health counseling.

Leonard will serve for three years on the board and provide recommendations on current and future projects, organizational and administrative protocols, as well as collaborate with the CCMH Business Team. 

Leonard has been instrumental in applying predictive data analytics to assist CAPS in maintaining low wait times with rapid access for crisis appointments while maintaining a focus on quality treatment and applied learning.  His knowledge and expertise will have broad impacts on college students’ access to mental health servicees with this appointment, and will help Wichita State continually adapt to the changing college student’s mental health landscape.    

Three Wichita State University Shocker Ad Lab teams received state and national honors recently during the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) Communications Contest recognition ceremony in Fargo, North Dakota.

The teams won for an advertising campaign and public relations work completed and published during the spring and fall 2021 semesters. Shocker Ad Lab is a student advertising agency offered as a class in WSU’s Elliott School of Communication.

All entries were published or broadcast between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2021. NFPW is a nationwide organization of women and men pursuing careers across the communication spectrum, including print and electronic journalism, freelancing, new media, books, public relations, marketing, graphic design, photography, advertising, radio and television.

Professional communicators from across the United States — including 13 WSU students — were honored. The Shocker Ad Lab creative work was entered in the Kansas contest, conducted by the Kansas Professional Communicators (KPC) by Shocker Ad Lab faculty creative director Madeline McCullough, a member of KPC and NFPW. After winning first place in Kansas, both campaigns went on to compete at the national contest in Fargo.

During the competition, a distinguished group of professional journalists, communication specialists and educators judged nearly 2,000 entries in a variety of categories from 39 states. Only first-place winning entries at the state level are eligible to enter the national contest. WSU was honored for the following:

NFPW “Honorable Mention – Advertising Campaign” for “Off the Grid with Gridiron”

Promoting the 2021 Wichita Gridiron variety show and fundraiser — a comedy show staged annually in support of the Kansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’ scholarship fund. The campaign promoted in-person ticket sales, online ticket sales and donations in support of the scholarship fund, which benefits journalism students across Kansas.

Spring 2021 Shocker Ad Lab staff being recognized:

Anita Chokbengboun – Team co-leader, strategist and chief copywriter

David Diaz – Team co-leader and chief designer

Raquel Diaz – Video producer

Trey Greening – Copywriter

Joey Nichols – Broadcast and production coordinator

Madeline McCullough – Faculty creative director

NFPW “Honorable Mention – Public Relations Campaign” for “Valley Center Vietnam Moving Wall”

Promoting the “Valley Center Vietnam Moving Wall,” a half-size replica of the Washington, D.C. Vietnam Veterans Memorial as it toured the United States, making a stop in October, 2021 in Valley Center, Kansas. Visitors totaled 7,120.

Spring 2021 Shocker Ad Lab staff being recognized:

Melissa Tran – Team leader and copywriter

Dawsyn Long – Art director (WSU Undergraduate Admissions marketing coordinator)

Lori Froehlich – Strategy, research, military consultant recently retired from the Air Force

Jessica Oldenettel – Social media, historic research and copywriter

Spencer Hynes – Team support, research assistant

Fall 2021 Shocker Ad Lab staff being recognized:

Theresa Tran – Art director (Elliot School of communication temp)

Jeannie Qualls – Art director (Career Development multimedia coordinator)

Mariah Relph – Writer

Madeline McCullough – Faculty creative director

  

The Women of Wichita State University (WWSU ) has awarded four students a $1,000 scholarship for the 2022-2023 academic year. The scholarships will go to the following students:

• Juliana Botero Echeverri, graduate student in business
• Maria Aracely Martinez Gonzalez, undergraduate student studying real estate and sports management
• Hilda Uloma Onuoha, undergraduate student in nursing
• Meghan Wald, graduate student in special music education.

The WWSU was formed in fall 2018 by the combination of two groups; the Wichita State University Women’s Association, founded in 1928, and the Council of University Women founded in 1930. The purpose of the group is to serve the interests of the university, to provide student scholarships and to promote social interaction and a sense of community among its members.

Applications for the 2023-2024 academic year will be available in spring 2023.  For more information about WWSU please visit WWSU website.

Congratulations to Amy Drassen Ham, clinical professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, for being recognized in Excellence in Health Care from the Wichita Business Journal.

The series spotlights outstanding professionals in health care. Dr. Drassen Ham was selected because of her extraordinary work in higher education, research, and multiple COVID-19 pandemic response initiatives.

Congratulations to Wichita State University’s School of Nursing faculty members Mary Faraher and Jamie Harrington for receiving Wichita Business Journal’s 2022 Healthcare Hero Awards.

Health Care Heroes recognizes Wichita-area health care professionals who achieve excellence in their fields.

Kim Moore, executive director of Wichita State Workforce, Professional and Community Education, was presented a 1EdTech 2022 Leadership Award at the annual Learning Impact Conference in Nashville, Tennessee June 15.

Moore was recognized as an outstanding leader in moving forward digital credentials and badging in higher education. According to 1EdTech, her work is an inspiration to the 1 EdTech organization and to higher education in general. Her willingness to share her knowledge was cited as being valuable in moving the digital credential community forward.

With more than 7,500 members in 25 countries 1EdTech has lead the evolution and development of the Open Badges ecosystem, including open badging standards. It is committed to furthering the adoption, integration and transferability of learners’ digital credentials within and across institutions, non-traditional learning opportunities, and employment centers.

Moore is a recognized subject matter expert in the area of badging and digital credentials. She presents regularly at conferences nationwide and consults and assists other institutions of higher education in their quest to develop a badge program.

Wichita State’s Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity chapter, Rho Beta, was recently awarded the chapter of the year at Betacon 2022 event in Reno, Nevada. The WSU Chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta was selected out of more than 100 chapters because of its commitment to the fraternity’s four pillars (brotherhood, scholarship, cultural awareness, and community service) and campus and civic engagement, and leadership on the campus and in the Wichita community despite the difficulties provided by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Professor Usha Haley — W. Frank Barton School distinguished chair in International Business and director of the Center for International Business Advancement — was covered several times recently about her research on international business and strategy.

• A Radio Free Asia documentary (U.S. government) featuring Haley won the Silver Telly award. It was also seen at the US Global Media’s Press Freedom Film Festival in June. The documentary,  entitled “Caught in the Crossfires,” is available in both Mandarin and English and available here.
• In early June, Bloomberg News approached Haley for her views on whether food-distribution companies could survive internationally.
• In June, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) also approached Haley about rising gas prices.

Dr. Usha Haley — W. Frank Barton School distinguished chair in International Business and director of the Center for International Business Advancement — was covered in early June by Bloomberg News and AARP on her expertise in international strategy and international business.

Dr. Usha Haley — W. Frank Barton School distinguished chair in International Business and director of the Center for International Business Advancement —received several awards and honors in May.

• First, Haley participated during three days at the National Security Forum at Montgomery, Alabama. Haley participated in the Grand Strategy seminar, a competitive seminar open to military and government leaders. Other distinguished civilian participants attending the seminar included a senator, a federal bank reserve head and a senior businessperson. Haley was brought in for her expertise on China, India, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Russia.
• Second, Haley and her co-authors won the Tudor Rickards & Susan Moger Award for the Best Paper of 2021 in Creativity and Innovation Management, a peer-reviewed journal. The paper is entitled “Practices of creative leadership: A qualitative meta-analysis in haute cuisine.”
• Finally, Haley was honored by the Wichita Business Journal as a Women who Leads in Education honoree.