Category: News

Faculty and staff can now reserve space outside for their meetings or classes. The outdoor meeting spaces include 20 adirondack chairs at five different locations on campus. To participate, complete the reservation form at least two hours in advance.

The east half of Parking Lot 5 (the lot north of Wilkins Stadium) close for an event hosted by the Student Government Association March 23. All vehicles will need to be out of the east part of the lot for this reservation.

In addition to this closure, Parking Lot 19W (next to Eck Stadium) will close for the baseball game in the afternoon March 23. All students, faculty and staff should plan ahead for these lot closures.

Our new SEM 2025 goals include expanding our enrollments to 17,000 students, increasing our first to second-year retention rate to 75%, and closing the equity gap for our underserved students.  Everyone on campus plays a direct or indirect role in the recruitment and retention of our students.  Promoting student success is at the heart of what we do.

Check out the featured strategy this week to see how it aligns with work in your area:

Strategy 3.7: Establish a consistent welcoming environment across the university that promotes a sense of community. Improve physical and virtual spaces associated with offices and departments to promote community and belonging; Embrace PROUD service standards.

Ideas for the classroom: Faculty should list their office hours as student hours to encourage visits and include an explicit invitation to contact the instructor with questions on all of their email communications. Faculty should also directly share that that they are interested in their students’ success by taking time for a few icebreakers at the start of the semester to build community within the class. This makes it easier to connect with potential study partners later.

Shout-outs to: Dean Engber and current students in the Cohen Honors College send hand-written postcards to all of the accepted incoming students who have been accepted. Similarly, the Office of Admissions sends more than 5,500 valentines to incoming freshmen and transfer students that are handwritten by volunteers from across campus.

For more information, contact Dr. Carolyn Shaw 316-978-7130 carolyn.shaw@wichita.edu.

Everyone on campus plays a direct or indirect role in the recruitment and retention of our students.  Promoting student success is at the heart of what we do. Check out the featured strategy this week to see how it aligns with work in your area:

Strategy 3.2: Prioritize outreach to students needing higher levels of service and support;  Improve efforts to coordinate support to students to address the range of support needs that students have; Deliver targeted support for students with personal, financial, and other non-academic challenges.

Ideas for the classroom: Make students aware of resources available to them through the Office of Student Success (time management, money management, note and test-taking skills); make referrals to your college success coach or the CARE team as appropriate; encourage students to get connected on campus to have a peer support network; include a supplemental student instructor (SI) for traditionally challenging classes.

Ideas beyond the classroom: Engage in targeted outreach to select student populations expressing interest in their success and directing them to valuable resources.

Shout-outs to: The staff in Counseling and Prevention Services (CAPS), our CARE team, WSU’s Financial Aid team, and all of WSU’s academic advisors and specialized advisors who excel at advancing SEM Strategy 3.2.

For more information, contact Dr. Carolyn Shaw 316-978-7130 or carolyn.shaw@wichita.edu.

Earlier this month, the boards of directors of the Wichita State University Foundation and the Wichita State University Alumni Association (WSUAA) each voted unanimously to consolidate the WSUAA’s operations in an effort to strengthen ongoing engagement with alumni, donors and friends of the university.

The vote followed a comprehensive process that began in 2020 to review and provide recommendations on structural solutions that would support ongoing financial assistance for the WSUAA.

“The members of the alumni association board feel that now is the time for the WSUAA and the foundation to combine forces so we can better serve Wichita State University and its many stakeholders,” said Cindy Hoover, chair of the WSUAA Board of Directors.

Need to make a computer purchase? Visit the ITS Procurement website. The website provides faculty and staff an easier way to view ITS standard hardware configurations and end-user software catalog and provides an easier way to make requests for hardware and software quotes and purchases.

The website also offers more information on ITS, what they do, their policies, and their services. Faculty and staff are encouraged to visit the website to submit any computer hardware and software requests.

For more information about the computer hardware policy, please view  WSU Policies and Procedure: 19.17

Applications are now open for the 10th Annual Shocker Leadership Awards. The Shocker Leadership Awards recognize the work of student-led organizations, students, faculty and staff at Wichita State University.

Official Wichita State student organizations, university-affiliated student groups and individuals may be nominated by a student, faculty member, staff member, or organization. Nominations can also be made by an individual for themselves.

For more information, visit Shocker Leadership Awards website or contact student.orgs@wichita.edu

The Foundation’s annual Scholarship Celebration, which took place Saturday, March 5, connected scholarship recipients and donors to give them a unique opportunity to learn about each other. More than 200 people attended and listened to the personal stories of two current scholarship recipients, Olga Lesnik and Braden Botkin.