Category: News

The Modern and Classical Languages and Literature department would like to congratulate WSU students who won awards at the 28th Heart of America Japan-America Society’s Japanese Contest, this year held in Lawrence, Kansas. This is a yearly contest that brings together Japanese-language students from around the Midwest for a variety of different events, including Japanese poetry, reading, grammar and speeches.

This year’s winners are Tina Quach, Necia Potter and Jack Batta in first, second and third places in Japanese tanka, respectively. Litzy Solano won first prize for her English-language tanka. Elliot Terrell won first place in N5-level Kanji and Jordan Hoang won first prize for his speech.

The 2024-25 annual report for TRIO Disability Support Services (DSS) is now available to view.

Has your academic advisor been a key to your success at WSU? The Advising Network (TAN) is accepting nominations for the best academic advisors and will recognize the winners on campus during an awards ceremony in May. Nominations can be made from now until April 3.

The Capitol Graduate Research Summit took place Tuesday, March 24 in Topeka. Over 40 graduate students from various Kansas public universities presented their research and how it contributes to the economic development of the state.

Two Wichita State students were awarded at the summit: doctoral student Kaytie Brozek (educational psychology, advised by Dr. Beata Latavietz) and master’s student Elmiraalsadat Tabatabaei (biomedical engineering, advised by Dr. David Long). Kaytie’s poster was entitled “’What Do You Want to Talk About Today?’: A Case Study of Inquiry, Identity, and Developmental Advising” and Elmira’s was entitled “Electrospun Nanofiber Therapeutics for Localized Post-Surgical Breast Cancer Treatment.”

Nine WSU graduate students presented their research at the capitol this year, including:

• Adetayo S. Afolayan (chemistry)
• Saleh Ateiwi (industrial engineering)
• John Hammond (education and behavioral studies)
• Touseef Hasan (computer science)
• Md Zawad Hossain (electrical and computer engineering)
• Ana Lucia Jara Valenzuela (Spanish)
• Muhammad Faraz Shoaib (computer science)

In the heart of New York City, where the stakes mirror the pace of global finance, a team of Barton School of Business students stood shoulder to shoulder with peers from some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions and finished at the top. By earning two first-place awards at the Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.) Forum XV, Barton School students didn’t just compete. They proved the power of real-world learning on a national stage.

In a fitting moment during the Barton School’s centennial year, the team’s debut appearance at the competition marked more than a win. It established the program among the nation’s top student-managed investment funds and reflected the strength of the school’s applied learning approach.

As part of the Japan Festival, the annual haiku contest is being hosted in both English and Japanese. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that follows the 5-7-5 syllable sentence pattern. Haiku are traditionally written about nature and include a kigo, or seasonal word, a word or phrase that gives the reader a sense of time and place. The deadline for submissions is April 17.

There will be a prize worth $20 for the top winner in each category. No AI-generated submissions.

Submit an English haiku or submit a Japanese haiku.

Wichita State must meet new ADA standards requiring that all public‑facing prerecorded videos meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards and include audio descriptions when meaningful visual information isn’t explained through narration. This applies to all videos produced by Wichita State and all content creators associated with the university, including student creators for student organizations.

The first part of the plan asks creators to review their videos to determine which need audio descriptions, which can be archived and which should be removed. To help the campus community assess videos and determine remediation strategies, CTAC and the Media Resources Center are offering the following virtual open‑lab workshops, each from 2 to 3 p.m.:

• March 26
• April 2
• April 8

For more details on the plan and the timeline, as well as workshop links, visit the Video Audio Description workshop page. For other questions, email Krystal Iseminger, director of ADA and Section 504 compliance, at krystal.iseminger@wichita.edu or call 316-978-3205.

The Barton School of Business is excited to announce that two Wichita-area students are the recipients of the 2026 Professor Fran Jabara Endowed Scholarship. The winners are Adeline Lank from Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School and Gabriel Shaffer from Valley Center High School. Each will receive $36,400 spread over four years to attend WSU and major or double-major in entrepreneurship.

The Jabara Scholarship is one of the largest of its kind nationally for entrepreneurs. To qualify, students have to complete essay questions about the importance of education in entrepreneurship and ideas that they find intellectually interesting as well as score at least a 27 on their ACT, 1260 on their SAT or achieve a 3.5 high school GPA. The selection process culminated in the AGH Scholarship Competition held in late 2025 where they were interviewed by a panel of judges.

The newest cohort of Rudd Scholars includes 17 Kansas high school seniors who have chosen to attend Wichita State.

• Amiyah Beard — Newton Senior High School
• Gracin Bergmeier — Inman Junior-Senior High School
• Jayden Boggess — Washington High School (Kansas City)
• Ashley Caligiuri — Junction City Senior High School
• Adison Henderson — Central Junior-Senior High School (Burden)
• Gabriel Heredia — Pratt Senior High School
• Kinley Jones — Ellis High School
• Danielle MacKinney — South Barber High School
• Sumaita Masum — Wichita Northeast Magnet High School
• Madison McCaskill — Wichita South High School
• Sutton O’Crowley — Douglass High School
• Avery Powell — Andover High School
• Kenton Powless — Paola High School
• Vanessa Rayo Real — Dodge City High School
• Julissa Romero-Lopez — Wichita West High School
• N’Aliecia Taylor — Central Junior-Senior High School (Burden)
• Abraham Vasquez — Sumner Academy of Arts and Science

The Barton School of Business will take part in one of Wall Street’s most iconic traditions this spring as school leaders and key stakeholders travel to New York City to ring the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), marking a milestone moment during the Barton School’s centennial celebration.

The bell-ringing ceremony, globally recognized as a symbol of market close and financial achievement, will showcase the Barton School’s 100-year legacy of excellence in business education, leadership and impact — across Kansas and far beyond.