Category: News

Wichita State’s Promo Solutions is now on social media. Promos Solutions is a full-service advertising specialties store offering a wide range of promotional SWAG to promote your department, student group and outside interests, and more.

Posts will feature giveaways and discounts. Customers can follow Promo Solutions on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Nominate yourself or another student for membership in Wichita State’s Student Ambassador Society (SAS). All nominations will be accepted through March 1.

SAS is supported by the Office of Admissions and provides support and outreach to prospective students with Shocker spirit. SAS is a community of selfless, hardworking and involved students from all areas of our campus who seek to give back to our university through service to others.

The SAS nomination application is an anonymous form that allows the WSU community to recognize remarkable students.

For more information about SAS or SAS nominations, contact SAS VP of Selections at sasvpselections@wichita.edu.

Need to renew or receive your Kansas ID or Driver’s License? Schedule an appointment at the Kansas Department of Motor Vehicles website and you can begin the process of renewing or receiving a Kansas ID or license at a DMV Mobil Event Feb. 17 at the Rhatigan Student Center (RSC) Room 266. Representatives from the Kansas DMV will be available by appointment at the RSC during this time.

This opportunity is available to both international and domestic students, staff, and faculty. Members are required to have a wichita.edu email to sign up reserve a time. Appointments are limited.

Visit the Wichita State Mobile at DMV Event website for a complete list of services and items required for the event.

To successfully advance our new SEM 2025 Plan, we need engagement campus-wide. We want to grow our student body and see greater student success through improved retention and more equity for our underserved students.

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

Objective 2.4.7: Advance initiatives to smooth the process for students to transfer to WSU.

More than half of Wichita State’s new students each year bring in transfer credits with them.

Ideas for the classroom:  Share department connection opportunities in upper-division classes (clubs, honors societies, research or internship experiences) – transfer students may not have heard about these opportunities. Share with your non-traditional students that we have an Office of Adult Learning that provides a number of services to support them.

Ideas beyond the classroom: Complete articulation agreements with community college partners so classes readily transfer, promote dual advising for transfer students before they enter a WSU program and work with community college partners to align courses for equivalency.

Shout-out to: John Perry and the Barton School of Business for updating and establishing new agreements with more than 22 community colleges and building bridges with two-year institutions, including partnerships with WSU Tech.

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

To successfully advance our new SEM 2025 Plan, we need engagement campus-wide. We want to grow our student body and see greater student success through improved retention and more equity for our underserved students.

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

Strategy 2.3: Grow the diversity of our student body through recruitment and retention efforts.

Ideas for the classroom: Include multicultural course content and get a diversity attribute in the course catalog so students are aware of this content. Invite students from the cultural ambassador program to visit your class or invite students from pre-college TRIO, Upward Bound, Gear Up and other programs to visit your class/department. For more information on how to do this, contact Deltha.Colvin@wichita.edu

Ideas beyond the classroom: Provide bi-lingual materials and support services or hire diverse student assistants and ambassadors to connect with prospective and current students with a broad range of experiences.

Shout-outs to:

• The staff in the Office of Financial Aid provides extensive outreach to high schools for FAFSA completion to help local and low-income students secure funding. They also promoted the launch of the Shocker Promise and Neighborhood programs to reach more students from underrepresented backgrounds.
• Ana Lazarin, College of Engineering director of Broadening and Student Recruitment, provides extensive outreach through admissions events for low-income and first-generation student populations in western Kansas.
• The Office of Admissions creates multiple publications in Spanish, including a Parent Guide, Housing brochure (with assistance from Housing and Residence Life), a scholarship flyer and hosts Shocker Information Programs and Shocker Saturdays entirely in Spanish.
• Anna Dixon, admissions representative, has worked with the WSU-USD 259 Better Academics and Social Existence initiative and produced a dedicated newsletter for more than 230 parents and students in the program.

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

To successfully advance our new SEM 2025 Plan, we need engagement all across campus. We want to grow our student body and see greater student success through improved retention and more equity for our underserved students.

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

Strategy 2.1: Regularly assess recruitment practices to leverage our most impactful efforts and promote continuous improvement for each initiative.

Assessment Ideas: Identify the desired outcomes for specific recruitment activities and communications. These can include a number of participants or media engagements (likes or shares), positive feedback on a post-event survey or contacts collected for future outreach.  Ask for suggestions for improvements. By collecting and evaluating feedback, we can focus our energy and resources on our most productive activities. We can help each other by sharing our successful ideas with others.

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

During fall 2021, Wichita State launched its new 2025 Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan with the overarching goals of expanding enrollments to 17,000 students, increasing first to second-year retention rate to 75%, and closing the equity gap for underserved students. The success of the new plan is dependent on the contributions of everyone on campus.

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

Strategy 1.5 Offer opportunities to develop graduate teaching assistants, (GTAs), faculty and staff competencies around issues relating to first-generation students and other underrepresented populations.

Ideas for the classroom:  Ensure that all GTAs engage in professional development to improve support for underserved students and encourage first-gen faculty to connect with and share their stories with our first-gen students.

Ideas beyond the classroom:  Engage in regular professional development opportunities; identify and celebrate first-generation staff members and develop ways for students who visit the office to note this identity.

Shout-outs to: Dr. Bobby Berry, assistant dean for Diversity and Outreach and convener of the First-Gen Affinity group. Berry led a book discussion of “Eat First, Cry Later: Life Lessons of a First-Generation College Graduate, Penn State Alumna and Female CEO.”

Dr. Jason Bosch, assistant dean for Student Success and the College of Engineering, facilitates the Spirit Strong program for first-gen freshmen by offering tutoring, peer mentoring, professional development workshops and scholarships.

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

To help prevent items in your vehicles from being stolen, please hide any items left in your vehicle in the trunk or somewhere out of sight. You should also take your keys and anything of value with you and lock your vehicle.

If you see any suspicious activity or experience a break-in, call the Wichita State Police Department at 316-978-3450.

Wichita State students are invited to fill out the Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) survey now through Feb. 25. All responses will be kept confidential, and all identifying information will be removed.

In fall  2019, Wichita State began pursuing the IEP designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU).

The IEP designation program helps higher education institutions better know, measure, tell and enhance their economic and community development impact while recognizing institutions that have demonstrated a substantive, sustainable and institution-wide commitment to and strategy for regional economic engagement, growth and economic opportunity. In Kansas, both Kansas State University and the University of Kansas have received this designation, as well as 70 other universities across the country.

WSU’s APLU IEP submission will be based on our Strategic Plan Goals and documented activities through the Strategic Planning Dashboard Submissions. It aligns with what higher education institutions have been tasked with by the Kansas Board of Regents through their Building a Future strategic plan and the Department of Commerce Framework for Growth plan, as well as President Rick Muma’s goals and priorities.

At the heart of the IEP Universities program is promoting institutional change to maximize the impact of research, learning and engagement on the regional economy and society, and that’s where we need the help of Wichita State students.

The WSU IEP team wants to hear from students to get their feedback about where WSU needs to go from here, what direction the university needs to go in, what WSU needs to get done to move in that direction and what solutions does the university need to have to move forward.

For more information, please contact diane.tinker-hurst@wichita.edu.

What is a first-gen student?

A first-generation college student is defined as a student whose parent(s) or legal guardian(s) have not completed a bachelor’s degree. A student who is the first person in their immediate family to attend a four-year college/university to attain a bachelor’s degree.

• Focus on first-gen: This week we highlight Cheyla Clawson, director, School of Performing Arts, assistant professor of dance.
• Sign-up to join the First-Gen Affinity Shockers—Designed to foster a community of first-generation professionals to build a group that offered professional development and networking opportunities where common experiences could be shared and address the needs of first-gen professionals as they navigate Wichita State University.