Category: Kudos

Recovery Connect, the Sedgwick County initiative to help residents, small businesses and nonprofits recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, has achieved its purpose and ended operations. Sedgwick County created the initiative after a public survey was conducted May 2021, and it partnered with the Public Policy and Management Center at WSU to build and execute the program.

In two years, Recovery Connect served many in the community:

• 4,972 individuals
• 2,063 small businesses
• 1,098 nonprofits
• 929 free workshops/meetings on:
  • Small business consulting
  • Child care licensing
  • Nonprofit certification
  • Grant writing

While Recovery Connect has made a difference the Public Policy and Management Center understand many Sedgwick County residents still need assistance. Those seeking assistance from Recovery Connect can contact 211.

Research conducted by Matthew Howland, assistant professor of anthropology and director of the Geospatial Archaeology Laboratory, has been featured in Newsweek.

The research found that over 4,200 archaeological sites in Georgia are at risk of destruction from severe weather, rising sea levels and climate change, significantly more sites than previous models predicted.

The study was made in collaboration with Victor Thompson of the University of Georgia.

In the last three semesters, the College of Health Professions has hosted over 1,000 high school students from over 20 high schools around the state of Kansas. The students have come to tour the Scientific Foundations Division’s state-of-the-art human simulation and human gross anatomy laboratories located in Ahlberg Hall.

During the tours, students are involved in hands-on learning experiences with synthetic cadavers, cardiopulmonary patient simulators and physiological human testing in the Human “Sim Lab.”

The college’s gross anatomy lab, the largest in south-central Kansas, offers high school students an opportunity to view and handle human cadavers and see firsthand how anatomical systems are structured throughout the body.

Also available for high school students are visits to the medical laboratory science labs and a tour of the Nursing Simulation Lab to interact with high fidelity simulated patient manikins.

The tours are designed to help students interested in health professions hone their career choices and learn how the College of Health Professions is leading change in healthcare education.

Ad Astra Kansas Foundation (AAKF) presented information on space education in Kansas at a booth in the Kansas State Capitol Rotunda Feb. 7, and Interstellar Seminar, a course at Wichita State, was featured in the presentation as the first Interstellar University course.

Interstellar Seminar is a non-majors, non-technical course, open for free to the public, which remotely brings to campus world-renown speakers on diverse topics in space science and humanities related to interstellar travel. Learn more through Wichita Space Initiative.

Cosmosphere is the home of AAKF, which brings space science education to the community through events such as their annual Galaxy Forum. One initiative is Interstellar University, a collaboration with Space Age Publishing.

The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ (NASPA) Success Coaching Knowledge Community annually recognizes a professional that has shown innovation above and beyond the role as a professional mentor or coach within the field of success coaching. Award winners must adhere to professional standards within the association and demonstrate their unique contributions to success coaching to enhance the life of their students.

Chelsea Dey is one of two coaches who will receive the national award at the NASPA 2024 Annual Conference in March. Dey began her professional career at Wichita State five years ago as the first success coach, serving students in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Currently, she serves the students in the College of Health Professions and serves as the lead success coach in Student Success. She also serves on a number of campus committees in her current role.

“Chelsea has been instrumental in building the Success Coaching program at Wichita State,” said Kim Sandlin, director of Student Success. “Faculty, staff and most importantly students have all given individual examples of the positive impact she has on student experiences, not only in CHP but also across all majors through her leadership and commitment to coaching students.”

As a renowned professor in her field, Usha Haley, Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business, was recently invited by the Financial Times to write a teaching case on supply chains, China, international trade and international business.

Financial Times cases are used widely in graduate and executive programs worldwide. Her short case on what United States-China tensions mean for technology companies is freely available and downloadable at the link below.

“Professor Usha Haley considers the supply problems faced by technology and electronics companies because of growing restrictions on US-China trade,” the case reads. “Readers are invited to read the article and linked stories and consider the questions raised at the end.”

KSN has published a feature on Wichita State’s Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, which was initially established for testing COVID-19, and its expansion of services to address gaps in clinical microbiology for rural hospitals in Kansas, offering both training and direct support to improve turnaround time and staffing challenges.

Usha Haley — W. Frank Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business — a Barton School graduate program and the World Trade Council of Wichita (WTCouncil) were highlighted in the latest issue of EFMD’s Global Focus magazine on “Internationalizing the Business School in a Changing World.” The article on “Societal Impact through Sustainable Scholarship” written by Usha, Sir Cary Cooper (Alliance Manchester Business School) and Andrew Jack (Financial Times) is available to read online on Global Focus Magazine.

With a worldwide network of 30,000 management professionals from academia, business, public service and consultancies, EFMD Global is a non-profit organization dedicated to management development and, along with AACSB and AMBA, recognized globally as one of three major accreditation bodies for business schools, business school programs and corporate universities.

Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the Wichita State University Foundation and Alumni Engagement (WSUFAE), has been approved by the Kansas State Senate for reappointment to the University of Kansas Hospital Authority (KUHA) board of directors. The board, of which 13 members are appointed by the governor, is designated by geographic districts and assists the KUHA in its oversite of operations at the University of Kansas Medical Center hospital.

King, who is retiring from her position at the WSUFAE on March 1, has been on the board since 2013 and has been renewed for a three year term.

Wichita State was featured by Inside Higher Ed for its new minor in student organization leadership, highlighting how it will support students in their co-curricular activities and credential their experience.

Wichita State introduced the minor, housed under the College of Applied Studies, last year to provide Shockers the knowledge and skills they need to be effective leaders within their organizations.