Category: Kudos

Veterans Upward Bound (VUB), one of the TRIO Programs hosted by Wichita State, recently won the PBS Kansas Foulston Siefkin Veterans Coming Home Distinguished Business of the Year Award. The Director of the program, Stacia Lyday, accepted the award.

Veterans Upward Bound is a grant-funded program designed to assist Veterans with entering post-secondary education. VUB provides tutoring, computer literacy workshops, financial literacy workshops, resumé workshops, mentoring, academic advising and more. All  VUB services are free.

For more information, please visit www.wichita.edu/vub or contact 316-978-6742.

Congratulations to Stephanie Cockrell, who was been named the assistant director for Student Success’ First-Year Programs. Cockrell will begin this position in January 2022 and will oversee orientation and transition programs for undergraduate, degree-bound domestic students, transition mentors and peer coaches, and other first-year retention initiatives in Student Success.

“We are excited to have Stephanie in this new role,”  Kim Sandlin, director of Student Success said. “Her passion for student success and higher education has been evident throughout her service as a success coach, and we are excited to bring her talent and experience in event planning and advising students to our new Shockers to help us reach our student success goals.”

Fifteen members of the Epsilon Tau Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) volunteered at Exploration Place Oct. 23 for their Boo’reakfast event which benefitted both children and adults.

Founded in 1919, Beta Alpha Psi is an honor organization for financial information students and professionals. There are over 300 chapters on college and university campuses with over 300,000 members initiated since Beta Alpha Psi’s formation.

Wichita State’s Counseling and Prevention Services (CAPS) hosted its first Suspenders4Hope 5K. The event, which is part of a nationwide mental health awareness campaign, involved participation from WSU, Ascension Via Christi and Kohl’s Cares. Members of CAPS say the community participation helped make the event a success. All proceeds from the event went to StopSuicideICT, a local collaborative and non-profit.

Members who wish to participate in the event next year can find more information in the recap video.

Dr. Marché Fleming-Randle, vice president and chief diversity officer at Wichita State University, has been appointed to the Wichita Citizen’s Review Board.

​The Wichita Citizen’s Review Board assists the Wichita Police Department with community outreach and advises the Police Department about community concerns. The board serves to provide assistance in policy development, education and communications related to racial and other biased-based policing. The board also will conduct reviews of post discipline findings of the Professional Standards Bureau in alleged officer misconduct matters upon the request of the chief of police. There are no more than 13 members who serve on the board, and members are appointed by the city manager.

Purpose

The City of Wichita maintains a number of citizen advisory boards and commissions. The purpose of these groups is to pay specialized attention to certain areas affecting our community and to make recommendations to better inform city council decisions. These groups range from library operations to urban planning. There are also six district advisory boards which make recommendations to city council and city staff on a number of wide ranging issues.

A combined team of staff from the WSU Alumni Association and Industry and Defense Programs took first place and raised $3,025 in the first Pull-a-Plane event Oct. 16 at the B-29 Doc Hangar, Education and Visitors Center. The event was an educational fundraiser benefiting the WSU Tech Foundation and will finance student-focused initiatives and the B-29 Doc Hangar and educational exhibits.

The Barton School’s Epsilon Tau Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi  has been recognized internationally as a Distinguished Chapter. Recognition as a Distinguished Chapter is a significant accomplishment.

Under the leadership of Barton School accounting educator Patricia O’Sullivan. The Epsilon Tau Chapter has exceeded the baseline requirements of Beta Alpha Psi and has excelled in the areas of academics, professionalism, and leadership.

Founded in 1919, Beta Alpha Psi is an honor organization for financial information students and professionals. There are more than 300 chapters on college and university campuses with over 300,000 members initiated since Beta Alpha Psi’s formation.

An Ulrich Museum of Art public art project created at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic has been honored with a Special Project-Group Award by The Arts Council. The Ulrich was named among 12 outstanding local individuals, cultural organizations and businesses that were recognized for their roles in furthering the growth and development of arts in Wichita. The award will be presented to the Ulrich staff at the 2021 Art Awards ceremony in November.

The Ulrich + Artists + You Community Billboard Project took place from July to November 2020 and consisted of 20 billboards featuring prominent pieces from the museum’s permanent collection. The billboards were placed in various locations throughout Wichita and the surrounding area, from busy intersections to typically overlooked neighborhoods. The result was a public art project that made art accessible to Wichitans at a time when the museums were closed to the public.

Ulrich Director Leslie Brothers, who created the concept for the unique project, said it was a way to transcend the challenges imposed by COVID-19.

“We are thankful for the nomination and thrilled to receive the award,” Brothers said. “The billboard project was a way to stay connected to our patrons while reaching out to all our communities. We anticipated that many might not know of the Ulrich as an educational resource with an amazing collection open to everyone, so, for six months, we placed billboards in neighborhoods all over the city to send a message that they matter.”

In selecting works, the Ulrich focused on three categories: pieces by established and highly respected Wichita or Kansas artists whose works are in the museum’s collection, including Patrick Duegaw, Terry Evans, Ann Resnick and Larry Schwarm; works by artists in the collection with strong Wichita or Kansas ties such as Kevin Mullins and Gordon Parks; and works by a culturally- and racially-diverse array of both American and international artists from the collection, including Benny Andrews, Alice Aycock, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Romare Bearden, Gajin Fujita, Robert Indiana, Zhang Huan, Louise Nevelson, Alan Rath, Faith Ringgold, Hank Willis Thomas, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Matika Wilbur and JeongMee Yoon.

Along with placing the billboards around Wichita, the project also partnered with the popular museum app Smartify to give visitors in-depth information about the billboards at the location and curated Spotify playlists to listen to while driving to the billboards. The project also featured an online programming series, called Ulrich Virtual, which provided free Zoom talks by many of the billboard artists that viewers could watch from the comfort of their own homes. Those talks are now available on the Ulrich Museum’s YouTube channel.

The shutdown has been lifted and the billboards are no longer up, but their popularity remains. Given their effectiveness in reaching new audiences and generating excitement about art, the museum isn’t ruling out the possibility of creating another billboard project sometime in the near future.

“It’s something we’ll definitely consider,” Brothers said. “It would have to be something slightly different, a new angle, but now we know it’s a great way to represent the museum among our community.”

Dr. Masud Chand, professor of international business, was recently featured in WalletHub. Chand was asked to share advice credit card balance transfers.

Wichita State’s College of Applied Studies (CAS) inducted its inaugural class of 12 for its Hall of Fame Sept. 24. The inaugural class featured inductees from throughout the college’s history, including alumni, patrons and former faculty members.

The CAS Hall of Fame recognizes individuals or groups of individuals who have made a positive impact at the college at any point since its founding. This includes the full range of people and programs that have been associated with the college at various points in its history. The traits and qualities Hall of Fame members possess are reflective of the college’s core values of collaboration, discovery, diversity, integrity and leadership. The inaugural class includes the following:

• Harry F. Corbin, university president from 1949 to 1963, known for leading the fight to bring the university into the state system of higher education.
• Richard Gaskill, executive director of the Sumner Mental Health Center, in recognition of his internationally-recognized work in play therapy.
• John Hansan, former faculty and department chair, for his strong dedication to sports and role in launching the university’s Sport Management programs.
• Nick Jimenez and family for their generous support in donating the largest scholarship for Sport Management students in the College.
• Doris and Ralph Klose for their generosity in funding over 20 scholarships per year to secondary science and mathematics teacher education candidates.
• Margaret Meek, longtime educator in Wichita, for her dedication and commitment to teaching, including her work teaching reading to diverse students.
• Lori Miller, former faculty, for being a driving force behind the establishment of the Sport Management programs and an internationally recognized sports management scholar.
• Jackson Powell, dean from 1950 to 1966, who advanced the college in multiple ways, including convincing Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new education center in Wichita.
• Twyla Sherman, former faculty, in recognition of her 42 years of service to WSU in science education and the impact she had on individual teachers.
• Leslie Sipple, the college’s second dean from 1929-1950, for his outstanding contribution to the Teacher Training Program and his recognition throughout the state and Midwest as a leader in education.
• Gladys Taggart, former faculty, for evolving the physical education program at WSU, as well as her multiple contributions to all areas of women’s athletics.
• Alicia Thompson, alumna and superintendent of Wichita Public Schools, for her outstanding leadership during some of the most challenging times in American education history.

The inaugural class of inductees were chosen via an open nomination process and then selections by a committee in 2020.

“I can’t imagine a more impressive group of people to be part of our first class in the CAS Hall of Fame,” said Dr. Clay Stoldt, interim dean. “The scope of their accomplishments and the impact they have had is incredible. Their legacies set the bar for all of us who are part of the college today.”

A call for nominations for the second group of CAS Hall of Fame inductees will be issued soon, and anyone may make nominations.