I am FIRST generation. Wichita State University. "My most vivid memory as a FGEN student was the lack of assistance available then; to the point it affected my graduation. Ever since, I wanted to assist students in accessing resources vital to their success. I feel honored to do this now in my professional career and support students on their personal academic journey." Carrie L. Wyatt Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Academic Data Manager / Website and Social Media Coordinator Ph.D. student in MBA program, Concentration in Marketing BS, Business Management, Minor in Art. F1RST GEN SHOCKERS.

What is a first-gen student? A first-generation college student is defined as a student whose parents/legal guardians have not completed a bachelor’s degree — a student who is the first person in their immediate family to attend a four-year college or university to attain a bachelor’s degree.

  • FORM-A-LINE: Become a subcommittee member of FGCC. The First-Generation Coordinating Council (FGCC) is looking for individuals to join in the work. Currently seeking subcommittee members for the following:
    • Marketing
    • Faculty and staff engagement
    • Data and assessment
    • Graduate school
  • FOCUS ON FIRST-GEN: This week we highlight Carrie Wyatt, who graduated with a bachelor of science in business management with a minor in art. Carrie is Wichita State’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders; academic data manager and website and social media coordinator.
  • F1RST-GEN T-Shirts are available in the RSC Shocker Store for $12.
  • If you’re interested in being featured as a first-generation profile, contact Lydia Santiago at fgshockers@wichita.edu.

Tim Fisher

In 1977, a Wichitan watched Star Wars at the Wichita Mall theater on East Harry. He returned again and again that summer to watch the lightsaber battles, Jedi Knights and X-wing starfighters.

“I’m an original Star Wars guy,” Tim Fisher said. “I was just mesmerized. It sparked that ‘What is possible? What can we do?’”

Decades later, Fisher is one of the people helping answer those questions for the United States and the entire world in space. He is chief engineer for NASA’s Gateway program, part of the agency’s quest to return to the Moon and explore Mars.

The food distribution that is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, June 26 has been canceled. We recognize the inconvenience that the cancelation of this distribution will cause and sincerely apologize for that. The food drop-offs will be paused for the rest of the summer and will start again with the school year.

Other resources that students, staff, and faculty can utilize in the meantime include the Shocker Support Locker, the ICT Community Fridge, and Wichita State’s Community Garden.

The Heskett Center will be closed July 3-5 in observance of the Independence Day holiday.

When the Make48 invention and maker challenge comes to Wichita State University on June 24, two of the eight Wichita teams are comprised entirely of Wichita State University students.

Team Baby Cactus consists of Juan Blasetti, junior in computer science; Jerome Teoh, a recent aerospace engineering grad; Grant Johnson, a freshman in computer engineering; and Katie Hefner, a senior in engineering technology and general business.

The second team — Veni, Vidi, Vici — is comprised of Felipe Lima de Oliveira, a junior in mechanical engineering; and Rafael Leite, a graduate student in mechanical engineering. Both Felipe and Rafael are from Brazil.

Joe Jabara doesn’t call his class Hacking 101, but his students do learn how to develop effective attacks on computer systems.

The course is actually called Applied Computing Intermediate Design Project, and this past spring its students carried out phishing attempts against a targeted group of Wichita State faculty, staff and students.

Working in teams, students created emails based on the same principles that hackers use to get recipients to open an email, click on a link and enter log in credentials. Student efforts were successful: Out of 128 targets, 40 opened a phishing email, 10 clicked on a link and four entered log in credentials.

Adding to its myriad points of pride, Wichita State University has been named the most affordable, LGBTQ-friendly college in the state. 

Student Loan Hero, a company that helps student loan borrowers make well-informed repayment decisions, took its statistics on the most affordable colleges and universities and paired it with information from Campus Pride, which developed an Index to examine LGBTQ acceptance on college campuses based on policies, administrative support, campus community involvement and other factors.

A widely acclaimed program for aircraft inspection, maintenance and airworthiness research is landing at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) after a 30-year history at Sandia National Laboratories.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airworthiness Assurance NDI Validation Center (AANC) is focused on aircraft safety and reliability; development of advanced design and maintenance; evaluation of new and enhanced techniques; technology transfer; and rulemaking guidance. It will move to NIAR’s Advanced Technologies Laboratory for Aerospace Systems, maintaining its name and affiliation with the FAA. The planned move supports shifts in structure at both Sandia and the FAA.

Logan Brown, a Kansas entrepreneur and Harvard Law School student, loves her home state so much that when she decided to pay it forward, she partnered with Wichita State University to help propel women in business.

Brown is the owner of Spencer Jane, a clothing company founded out of a frustration from the lack of comfortable, professional clothing available to women. Spencer Jane is named after two of her grandparents that had a family farm in Kansas. Brown began her company after she was unable to find a job interview suit that fit her needs. The Spencer Jane brand has become a go-to for professional women, and she was recently featured in Fortune Magazine as part of the “Startup Year One” series.

The university returned to pre-pandemic operations for faculty and staff on June 1. For some, that meant a return to pre-pandemic work schedules and locations including the return to in-person work for all remaining remote employees. For others, that meant a return to regular schedules or readjusting to more people on campus because their roles required them to be on campus.

While perhaps necessary, the return is not without concerns; and many of us — employees and students alike — are anxious and uncertain about the future. In recognition and support of this natural emotional reaction, the university invites all students, staff, faculty, and administration to join one of several Shocker Circles for a safe, non-judgmental place to discuss our campus return.

Beginning on July 6, the Shocker Circles Summer 2021 Reintegration series will be holding Circles on Tuesdays and Thursdays with both lunch hour and late afternoon options. Both virtual and in-person sessions have been scheduled, with discussion topics focused on employees transitioning to an in-person workplace, students and faculty returning to in-person classrooms, and special sessions for employees and students who joined Shocker Nation during 2020 and may now be coming to campus for the first time.

Participation is confidential, but pre-registration is required.