Category: News

NASA’s International Space Apps hackathon is coming to Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) Oct. 1-2.

NASA invites coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists and technologists to come together in a global hackathon. Over two days, participants from around the world will create in-person and virtual teams to solve challenges using NASA’s open-source data.

Space Apps is for everyone, including those who have never hacked before. The competition is open to passionate problem solvers of all ages. While some of the challenges are technical, others require the use of artistic ability, business acumen, and historical imagination. In other words, you do not need to be a coder or data expert to be a part of Space Apps. In fact, the most diverse teams are often the most successful.

Teams consist of two to six participants. The hackathon will begin 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 and conclude on Sunday, Oct. 2. Upon registration, participants will receive details on the release of challenges and virtual boot camp videos, as well as the opening of chat and team formation.

The deadline to register for the Wichita event is Sunday Sept. 18.

The hackathon is hosted by the NIAR’s Advanced Technologies Lab for Aerospace Systems (ATLAS) and will take place in the ATLAS labs.

Facilities Services has updated its entire campus key policy, effective immediately. Please refer to the Wichita State Facilities Services Policies page for more information and to view the updates.

Due to the Labor Day holiday, the Rhatigan Student Center (RSC) and its departments will have altered hours Saturday, Sept. 3. The building and departments will also close Sunday, September 4, and Monday, Sept. 5.

Due to the upcoming Labor Day holiday, Wichita State Timekeeping will have an early sign-off for the week of Aug.29-Sept. 2. Because of this, timesheets and leave reports need to be submitted and fully approved by noon today, Sept. 2.

The College of Engineering is your 2022 Clash of the Colleges winner!

The final competition to determine “who rules the school” was held Friday, Aug. 26 and included students in each academic college competing against each other in relay races and team sports. This is the fourth win for the College of Engineering.

Another honor awarded was the Spirit Award, which went to the W. Frank Barton School of Business.

Congratulations to the students and deans from all of the colleges who took part in this annual tradition.

Check out WSU’s social media to see photos and videos from Clash of the Colleges.

Have questions about the government’s newly announced student debt relief plan?

For answers and information, go to the Debt Relief Announcement on the Federal Student Aid webpage.

Additional links and content are available at wichita.edu/debtrelief.

This is a reminder for all students, faculty and staff to send out surveys with Qualtrics. Wichita State has a license for Qualtrics, which became the official institutional survey software in 2012.

Qualtrics can be used for research purposes, program review, nominations, elections, applications and more.

Listed below are some of the benefits of using Qualtrics for your survey needs:

• The program reduces overall cost as the university has a site license for Qualtrics, so users do not have to pay any other third-party vendor.
• There is access to the Qualtrics Support Site to help users with survey design, methodology and survey questions.
• Members have access to on-campus survey experts to optimize their survey and response rate.
• Qualtrics ensures that users get accurate email lists of students, faculty and staff for their survey.
• Qualtrics reduces survey fatigue as it can create reduced samples that more approximately target your survey population.
• Qualtrics sends reminders, follow-ups and thank you emails to survey recipients.
• Users can view analytics of create reports, including filtered results within Qualtrics.
• Users can avoid getting marked as a spammer by sending surveys through Qualtrics rather than through their myWSU email.
• Users can create surveys with embedded video, audio and graphics.
• Users can create surveys that only show appropriate questions to each user using skip logic and survey flow.
• Users can export data directly to (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Comma Separated Value (CSV) format or Portable Document Format PDF.
  
  If you need an account, would like training, or have questions, contact Whitney Crager, Office of Planning and Analysis, at 316-978-5350 or at whitney.crager@wichita.edu.

Wichita State athletics has partnered with Opendorse to form the Wichita State Shockers Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) Marketplace, which will launch Aug. 29.
 
The NIL Marketplace will offer a streamlined access point for organizations and individuals who would like to explore NIL collaborations with WSU student-athletes, while remaining compliant with NCAA guidelines. WSU fans, brands, sponsors and donors can browse, book, pitch and pay any WSU student-athlete for NIL activities in one compliant platform, built specifically for the athletes’ needs. 

“Opendorse’s NIL Marketplace is an important pathway for our student-athletes and the Wichita State community to facilitate NIL opportunities,” WSU director of Athletics Kevin Saal said. “At Wichita State, we understand the importance of NIL and we fully support our student-athletes positively building one’s brand and earning from their NIL.”

 Every WSU student-athlete will receive an Opendorse profile, which they can customize and promote to fans on their personal social media channels. Student-athletes review opportunities, receive deals, accept compensation,and disclose NIL activities to their institution, all within the Opendorse app.

“WSU has been committed to providing its student-athletes with NIL support since the beginning,” said Opendorse senior director of collegiate partnerships Tim Pederson. “Today’s launch of their NIL Marketplace is the next step in enhancing opportunities for every athlete. Any fan or brand can confidently offer compliant NIL deals to their favorite Shockers student-athletes in just seconds.” 

The Opendorse-powered marketplace is built on a decade of athlete marketing technology and experience. Opendorse has facilitated hundreds of thousands of NIL deals and endorsements with athletes at every level of sports. The marketplace is used by over 75,000 athletes to manage deals from pitch to payment, and even tax prep, every day.

The NIL company launched its initial school-specific NIL marketplaces throughout the spring 2022. Student-athletes at these institutions experienced a 193% increase in NIL opportunities in the first month after the marketplace’s launch.

In addition to the marketplace, WSU continues its partnership with Opendorse, receiving full access to the all-in-one NIL platform: 

• WSU will continue to provide its student-athletes and staff with Opendorse’s best-in-class compliance, content and education tools.
• Compliance – Upon completing a deal, athletes can automatically disclose activity details to their institution to ensure eligibility.
• Content – Athletes have on-demand access to share photos and videos from games, practice and more.
• Education – Athletes receive in-person and on-demand virtual education sessions from industry leaders at companies including Meta, Overtime, Players’ Tribune, Opendorse and more.

People who wish to enter into NIL deals with international student-athletes should contact their legal counsel prior to entering such an agreement to ensure they are compliant with federal law which restricts people on student visas from most work inside the United States. Likewise, international student-athletes on student visas may not enter into agreements without approval of the Center for Global Engagement. Our international student-athletes may be able to work internationally or a few may have work authorization.

Dean Rodney Miller will retire at the end of the fiscal year following 19 years leading the College of Fine Arts at Wichita State University.

When Miller came to Wichita State in 2004, the College of Fine Arts consisted of the School of Music, the School of Performing Arts and the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries. When Miller addressed the faculty for the first time that fall, he recognized the strong reputation of those schools while also planning a new direction.

“I said — ‘This is a wonderful College of the Fine Arts for the 20th century. We need to be a college that is relevant in the 21st century.’”

As Wichita State tied its mission to innovation and applied learning, Miller showed that the College of Fine Arts could take an important and interdisciplinary role in that future.

Wichita State’s School of Digital Arts and the Bachelor of Applied Arts in Media Arts answered Miller’s challenge. The School of Digital Arts launched in 2019, two years after the introduction of the Bachelor of Applied Arts program, and includes concentrations in acting for the digital arts, animation, audio production, filmmaking, game design and collaborative design.

The School of Digital Arts is housed at Shocker Studios, a facility that includes an animation studio, motion-capture studio, classrooms, recording studios and 2D and 3D design studios.

Enrollment in the School of Digital Arts climbed from 59 in its first semester and has skyrocketed since.

“It’s the ultimate definition of collaboration and cooperation – and applied learning,” Miller said. “The thing that I am proudest of is that the school generates close to half of our credit hours, yet close to half of the credit hours it generates are from other schools.”

“Rodney’s forward-thinking vision for the School of Digital Arts embraced digital transformation and innovation as a means to amplify the talents and creativity of students and faculty in the College of Fine Arts,” said Dr. Shirley Lefever, provost and executive vice president of Wichita State. “WSU has benefited greatly from his leadership and vision. His legacy will impact many generations to come.”

Pina Mozzani, his wife of 41 years and professor of voice, languages, articulation, distance education at Wichita State, will also retire.

A retirement celebration will be held at a date to be determined.

“The people who are in this college are a nice legacy, because the majority of them have been hired since we’ve been here,” said Miller, 70. “That’s what the college really comes down to – the people. I look back on students who have gone through and their successes, whether they’re teachers who have really established themselves in Wichita, or international stars in various field, because that’s ultimately why we’re here.”

“There’s so many things that I will miss,” Miller said. “What I will miss is seeing, on a daily basis, and working with people, on a daily basis, that I watch changing our students lives.”

Are you curious about the types of violations that Student Conduct and Community Standards (SCCS) handles throughout the academic year?  Do you want to know more detailed information about the types of Academic Integrity cases SCCS is processing trough the school year?

All of this information and more regarding Data and Analytics from Student conduct are posted on SCCS Data Analytics website. Faculty and staff who are interested in more charts and graphs regarding cases heard at the SCCS office can look at the Annual Report posted at the bottom of the page.

For more information, contact SCCS@wichita.edu.