Category: News

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.

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.

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.

Wichita State’s Office of Academic Affairs will interview four dean candidates for the College of Applied Studies. The fourth candidate, Dr. Joan Brewer, Emporia State University The Teachers College professor and dean, will be on campus on Oct. 6 and 7.

Students faculty and staff are invited to attend a public forum at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 6 at 209 Hubbard Hall.

Combined enrollment by headcount across all Wichita State University locations for fall 2022 is 21,942, according to the annual data released today by the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR). 

For the Wichita State main campus, the numbers represent an increase of 5.1% in fall student headcount from 16,097 in 2021 to 16,921 in 2022. That’s the largest number of students choosing to enroll at Wichita State since 1989. 

At WSU Tech, student headcount increased 3.9% from 4,834 last year to 5,021 this year — WSU Tech’s highest fall semester headcount ever. 

Congratulations to University Libraries, this month’s recipient of President Muma’s Rick Rewards. University Libraries was recognized for it’s services to students.

Rick Rewards is a program by President Muma that launched in December 2021, which allows the presdient to show his appreciation for the efforts of a member, or members, of the campus community.

Josh Oeding, president and CEO of NXTUS, and founder and general partner of Tenzing Capital, is joining as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the W. Frank Barton School of Business. Oeding is an alumnus of the Barton School and will begin his term on the board in fall 2022.

“The Barton School of Business is where I got my start and it greatly affected the person I am today,” said Oeding. “It’s an honor to become a member and I’m excited to play my part in making the Barton School a premier business school in the country.”

Oeding looks to utilize his experiences in the industries of venture capital, entrepreneurship and private equity to provide insights for the Dean’s Advisory Board. As president and CEO of NXTUS, he has led the re-visioning of the organization, the launch of Accelerate Venture Partners and the launch of NXTSTAGE.

He founded Tenzing Capital with a vision to build a generational Venture Capital investment firm. He is helping to chart the course for the Wichita Startup Ecosystem and spends most of his time as with early-stage growth companies in the region. Prior to NXTUS and Tenzing, Oeding worked at Koch Industries and held various innovation and leadership roles during that time including vice president of Marketing and Strategy for EFT Analytics, a SaaS advanced analytics platform.

“Josh has truly separated himself as a forward thinker and innovator in the community,” said Margaret Dechant, chair of the Dean Advisory Board. “Having him on our board will provide a unique and lively voice to our work.”

The Dean’s Advisory Board, which consists of 50 diverse industry leaders from around the world, works to advance the mission and strategic priorities of the Barton School through strengthening, enriching, and enhancing the student experience.