Category: Kudos

Usha Haley, W. Frank Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business and professor of management, completed an article for a medical journal on misapplications of statistical data and techniques to make recommendations to fix this issue. The research indicates that 80% of medical doctors do not understand the assumptions underlying the statistics that they quoted. Fortune (Education) also recently quoted Haley on her research.

The Office of Academic Affairs has announced the new members of the Emeriti Faculty. Please congratulate the following:

• Cathy L. Moore-Jansen, associate professor emerita of University Libraries
• Philip L. Hersch, professor emeritus of economics

Emeritus status is an honorary designation conferred upon retirees in recognition of their contributions and accomplishments over their years of service to the University.

Abigail Devereaux, assistant professor of economics and Institute for the Study of Economic Growth research fellow at Wichita State’s Barton School of Business, was recently named a Public Choice and Public Policy Project fellow by the American Institute for Economic Research.

“Congratulations to all 21 individuals chosen as Public Choice and Public Policy Project fellows,” said Ted Bolema, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth. “We all stand to benefit from their work. I’m especially excited to see the contributions of Abigail Devereaux. Her research and innovative thought leadership, as well as her numerous professional contributions, make her uniquely qualified for this exciting new AIER project.”

The Public Choice and Public Policy Project was established Dec. 21, 2021, and is modeled on the success of the Sound Money Project. The project creates a network of scholars that will offer regular commentary and in-depth analysis on public policy using the tools of Public Choice Economics. The innovative scholars who make up this project seek to understand the reality of government decision-making and the consequences those decisions have on the lives of everyone in society and to suggest alternatives to the romantic political notions that often dominate policy discussions.

“I am honored to be named as a fellow of the Public Choice and Public Policy Project,” said Devereaux. “Public choice is a subfield of economics that applies economic theory to the political world. Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics, won for her work in public choice. We’re just starting to introduce public choice concepts in our economics pedagogy at Wichita State. I cover it in my Principles of Microeconomics course and much more extensively in my Economies in Transition course. I look forward to advancing Public Choice Economics alongside these incredibly talented, capable and accomplished scholars.”

A member of the Barton School’s faculty since 2020, Devereaux is a frequently published scholar on the topics of Game Theory, Complexity and Computability Theory, Theory of Entangled Political Economy, Combinatorial Growth Theory and Systems Theory. She has published in the Journal of Institutional Economics, The American Economist, Review of Austrian Economics, Cosmos and Taxis and Journal of Private Enterprise.

She is also recognized as an effective classroom instructor and mentor as an assistant professor of Economics at the Barton School. Devereaux has earned several distinctions in her career and is also a founding member of the Entangled Political Economy Research Network, a research fellow at the Independent Institute and a faculty affiliate at the Ostrom Workshop. In 2021, Devereaux and her co-author Dr. Linan Peng received the Elinor Ostrom Award for their work on China’s Social Credit System.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col Larry Burks Sr., director for the Military and Veteran Center at Wichita State, received recognition for his military service and his work with the greater Wichita community at two  Martin Luther King Jr. Day (MLK) community celebrations Jan. 17.

The African Americans Renewing Interest in Spirituals Ensemble Ensemble (ARISE) recognized Burks with their Sankofa Award honoring his military service and his volunteer work and activism.

The Greater Wichita Ministerial League honored Burks with their Spirit of Unity Award recipient, which is awarded to individuals who participate in making the local community a better place while representing the vision and dreams of MLK.

Three first-year educators from Wichita State were recently recognized by the Kansas Department of Education (KSDE) for their outstanding teaching skills through the 2022 Kansas Horizon Award program.

The Kansas Horizon Award program, sponsored by KSDE, gives all school districts in the state an opportunity to nominate one elementary and one secondary teacher for the award. To be eligible for the award, teachers must have completed their first year of teaching and have performed in such a way as to distinguish themselves as outstanding.

The following WSU educators were recognized by KSDE for 2022:

• Kynnedy Myers: Myers graduated from WSU’s Teacher Apprentice Program (TAP) in 2020 and teaches at Ewalt Elementary School, Augusta USD 402.
• Emily Crawford: Crawford will graduate from TAP in spring 2022 and teaches at Northridge Elementary School, Newton USD 373. Crawford has been teaching in the classroom on the limited apprentice license TAP candidates receive through the program.
• Nicole Menard teaches at Buhler High School, Buhler USD 313, and is a 2020 graduate of WSU’s English Education program.

TAP is an online bachelor of arts in early childhood education and elementary education at WSU. The program prepares candidates for licensure as a Kansas teacher with a flexible program of study, specially designed for paraeducators to earn their bachelor of arts in Early Childhood Unified/elementary Education so that they can become the classroom teacher of record in a shortened time.

Inside Higher Education recently published an opinion essay by Dr. Keith Pickus, vice president for corporate and foundation relations, Wichita State University Foundation about the similarities between managing professional employees and teaching university students. Pickus, who recently returned to a full-time faculty role after serving in various campus administration roles for 19 years, penned the essay after teaching this past spring.

The Kansas Council for Economic Education (KCEE) has received a $20,000 grant from the Office of the State Bank Commissioner (OSBC). The KCEE is a nonprofit organization that is affiliated with all of Kansas’ six public universities and hosted by the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State. The KCEE will use the grant in providing its financial literacy programs for middle and high school students throughout the state of Kansas.

The KCEE strives to increase the economic and financial literacy of K-12 students by equipping their teachers to teach economics and personal finance and by providing programs and competitions that engage students through experiential learning and practical applications of knowledge. The KCEE reaches more than 100,000 students through more than 1,000 teachers statewide each year.

“The KCEE and the middle and high school students in Kansas sincerely appreciate this grant,” Jim Graham, KCEE president and chief executive officer, said.

The OSBC regulates all state-chartered banks, trust companies, mortgage businesses, supervised lenders, credit service organizations and money transmitters that do business in the State of Kansas. Its mission is to ensure the integrity of regulated providers of financial services through responsible and proactive oversight while protecting and educating consumers. The OSBC has supported the KCEE for many years as part of its mission of educating consumers so they will become financially literate.

The OSBC has awarded $103,150 in grant funds this year to six Kansas organizations to provide financial literacy education throughout the state. The recipients of OSBC Consumer Education grants are Consumer Credit Counseling Service Inc., Housing and Credit Counseling Inc., Kansas Council for Economic Education, The Pando Initiative Inc., Jobs for America’s Graduates-Kansas (JAG-K), and Mirror, Inc.

Dr. Voncella McCleary-Jones, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Health Professions, has been appointed to a two-year term on the National League for Nursing’s Academy of Nursing Education Review Panel.

McCleary-Jones was named an Academy of Nursing Education Fellow (ANEF) in 2016. ANEF is a national distinction recognizing individuals who have contributed to nursing education in sustained and significant ways.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Nov. 15-19 United Way campaign week. For the 2021 campaign, Wichita State was able to exceed its goal of $35,000 and raised more than $37,9995 in total contributions that will impact local communities. Thanks to everyone who shared the message and helped donate. Next year, we hope to raise more.

Associate professor Cathy Moore-Jansen has announced that she will retire from the University Libraries at the end of December.

Cathy Moore-Jansen joined the University Libraries in 1989, holding several positions during her 32 years in the libraries — including interim associate dean of public services. For the past 21 years, she has served as the coordinator for collection development. During her time in this role, the world of scholarly communication changed, and Cathy was instrumental in introducing the campus community to new digital formats such as online scholarly databases, ebooks, ejournals, and streaming media.

Beyond growing the University Libraries’ collections, she also has been a strong college and campus citizen, serving on numerous faculty, library, and university committees. The University Libraries deeply thanks Cathy Moore-Jansen for her many important contributions to the University Libraries and the university.