Image o f Wu flexing.

Happy birthday to our favorite big, bad, muscle-bound bundle of wheat, WuShock. He’s been WSU’s mascot since 1948, a friend to every Shocker fan and the No. 1 supporter of all things Wichita and Wichita State.

Wichita State will present at the 2022 University Economic Development Association’s (UEDA) annual summit conference taking place Oct. 9-12 in San Antonio.

UEDA brings together higher education institutions, private sector businesses, non-profits, government organizations and community economic development stakeholders to create local and regional economic opportunity. The following WSU members will speak at this event during the break-out session:

  • Tonya Witherspoon, associate vice president of Industry Engagement and Applied Learning
  • Megan Feeney, WSU Tech Shocker Career Accelerator director, Industry and Workforce Collaboration
  • Brian Austin, Shocker Career Accelerator Employer Releations director
  • Diane Tinker Hurst, project manager with Industry and Defense Programs

The break-out session will address how WSU and WSU Tech are working with local industry and community partners to provide applied learning opportunities for students, resulting in $27 million in student wages earned during the 2022 fiscal year.

WSU is also a finalist for an Award of Excellence from UEDA for the innovation campus in the Engaged University category. The category recognizes initiatives that demonstrate excellence in the areas of talent, innovation and place.

Nominated projects successfully engage multiple community partners to link, leverage and connect efforts in talent, innovation and place. Other category finalists are Tech Parks Arizona at the University of Arizona, The StarTUp (Towson University) and the UK Economic Development Collaborative (University of Kentucky).

Winners will be announced the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 11 at the Summit conference.

Additional information about UEDA can be found at the link below.

Illustrated map of Shocker Neighborhood.

Those who submit events or activities in the WSU Calendar now have an additional category for the university community to utilize: “Shocker Neighborhood” is a category that can be chosen if your off-campus events or initiatives take place within the Shocker Neighborhood (bounded by K-96 to the north, Central to the south, I-35 to the south, and Oliver to the east), or if your events would be of interest to residents of this community.

The university community serves and is a partner with many of the USD 259 schools in the Shocker Neighborhood, as well as neighborhood organizations and businesses. It will be mutually beneficial to capture the opportunities in Shocker Neighborhood and provide an option to search for engagement opportunities in the neighborhood community.

Wichita State President Rick Muma was the keynote speaker at the University of Texas Medical Branch’s physician assistant commencement ceremony on Aug. 20 in Galveston, Texas.

Muma earned a Bachelor of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from UTMB in 1986. It was soon after graduating that he began teaching, becoming associate faculty at UTMB in 1987.

To watch Dr. Muma’s commencement address at his alma mater, click on the button below.

Wichita State’s Office of Academic Affairs will interview four dean candidates for the College of Applied Studies. The third candidate, Dr. Christopher Jochum, Fort Hays University Department chair, will be on campus on Oct. 5 and 6.

Students, faculty and staff are invited to attend a public forum at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at 209 Hubbard Hall.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) will close Friday, Oct. 7 to attend the 2022 Michael Tilford Conference on Diversity and Multiculturalism and the 36th annual Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Conference. The office will reopen Monday, Oct. 10.

Effective Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, students utilizing Testing Services will be screened for electronic devices before entering the exam room.  

The screening will be conducted with a hand-held metal detector. Examinees who are pregnant, have surgically installed medical devices, or who need to opt out of the metal detector screening for any other legitimate reason or objection must submit an accommodation request through the Office of Disability Services at disability.services@wichita.edu. Students must submit their accommodation request at least one week before the exam.  Examinees may be required to reschedule their test if an accommodation request has not been timely submitted and approved.

Image of fire alarm on wall.

Wichita State’s Fire Safety and Sandifer Engineering will begin annual fire alarm testing during October. Testing for most facilities will be done between the hours of 11 p.m.-7 a.m. The tests should cause little to no interruption to any businesses or classes. For more information, contact Fire Safety at 316-978-5531 or 316-978-5803.

Creating a single focus on serving our adult learners, whether online or in person, the Office of Online Learning and the Office of Adult Learning are excited to announce they are merging to become the Office of Online and Adult Learning. This change will better serve our adult learners — from prospective students to current students and alumni — by merging into a single organization.

In the 10 years we have supported online learning centrally, we have consistently noted that our online program students are almost exclusively adult learners. We also know that adult learners use online classes to help make time in their already fully committed schedules for completing their degrees.

Online students sometimes like to come in person to take classes or interact with campus support units or connect to other adult students. Because of this, we are looking forward to the move to the Shocker Success Center in the to-be renovated Clinton Hall, where we will have a centrally located space where all adult students who want in-person support can come and easily connect to other student services as needed.

Dr. Anna Porcaro will continue to oversee the department and three areas of student support:

  • Enrollment and Retention, overseen by Dr. Amber Anderson, associate director of Enrollment and Retention
  • Online Program Academic Advising, overseen by Jacquelyn Johnston, associate director of Academic Advising
  • Student Engagement, overseen by Dr. Pamela O’Neal, associate director of Student Engagement.

If you have any questions about how online and adult learning can serve you or your students, please contact online@wichita.edu.

Teaching Today: Be in the know every month

The September issue of Teaching Today is now available. The September 2022 issue has information about WSU’s Preventing Suicide training, the upcoming January Academic Resources Conference and information about the Course Messages feature in Blackboard.