Category: News

Spring 2021 Student Perception of Teaching Effectiveness (SPTE) results were mailed to your department on Thursday, May 27.  Please check with your office staff about receiving your results.  No electronic version is available

Insider threats are increasingly a problem in our society. Learn more about the dangers when you enroll in HLS 470D: Insider Threats.

Are these perpetrators negligent or are they acting maliciously? The Ponemon Institute conducted two studies on the cost of insider threats in 2018 and 2020; and according to their reports, the total average cost of a threat increased by 31% between 2017 and 2019, from $8.76 million to $11.45 million.

This 16-week class in fall 2021 explores the ever-growing danger of insider threats faced by both government and business entities. Students will examine real-life case scenarios and strategies used to identify, mitigate, deter, and prevent insider threats from their own and former employees ranging from espionage, embezzlement, sabotage, and active shooters.

The W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University has partnered with the WSU Alumni Association to launch the college’s first alumni council. The Barton School of Business Alumni Council consists of professionals who received their bachelor’s or master’s degrees from the business school and represents different regions, degrees and backgrounds. The diverse, global group serves as leaders to numerous companies. The council members can be found on the council’s website.

“We’re excited to partner with the Barton School in creating its alumni council,” said Courtney Marshall, president and CEO of WSU Alumni Association. “There’s a lot of pride in the program you graduate from at WSU. We hope this opportunity creates a deeper connection for our alumni to the Barton School.”

Wichita State University worked with United Way of the Plains and Wichita Public Schools to donate books to second- and third-graders at three Shocker Neighborhood schools: Mueller Aerospace and Engineering Discovery Magnet Elementary School, Jackson Elementary School, and Spaght Science and Communications Magnet Elementary School.

The partnership is part of an effort to elevate awareness about illiteracy and combat summer learning loss. The parental reading guides included with the books encourage working with children to practice and improve their skills even after the school year ends.

Financial donations made earlier this year during a five-day Coaching for Literacy campaign helped fund the summer reading initiative. Nine area high school boys and girls basketball teams joined the Wichita State University Men’s Basketball team in promoting the hashtag ‘Fight4Literacy’ and requesting donations to purchase books. International Paper provided a matching grant through the national nonprofit, Coaching for Literacy. More than $30,000 was raised, including nearly $7,000 donated by local members of Women United.

“Students who aren’t reading at grade level are falling behind. In fact, they’re four times more likely to drop out of school. Our volunteers are passionate about literacy initiatives and many of them have been part of our partnership with area schools that provide reading coaches,” said Women United 2021 Chair, Justine Milmine of INTRUST Bank. “With all the learning disruptions created by the pandemic, we wanted to package and provide book sets for these children so that they stay on track in school and continue improving their reading skills. We’ve missed being part of their success and we are really hoping to get back to our in-person coaching when the next school year starts this fall.”

Pete Najera, United Way of the Plains CEO and President, said, “We know that reading is the cornerstone of all learning and it’s critical for children in that age group to practice reading every day. We fight for every child to reach their potential and growing strong readers is an investment in the future of these children, their families, and our community.”

KSHSAA track is back at Wichita State from May 27 to May 29. To prepare for this, Parking Services will begin to block off the following parking lots:

• 5 (north of the Heskett Center)
• 3N & 3S (lots along the east side of Cessna Stadium)
• 22 (north of the Child Development Center).

These lots will be reserved and closed for the track meet and will open back up on May 30.

The Wichita State Environmental Finance Center (EFC) has released its community sustainability tool for Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska. The tool is an Excel-based planning resource that assesses the economic sustainability of investments in drinking water and wastewater systems by communities. The tool relies on data from the Bureau of Census to broadly forecast communities’ median household income in the future. Using the forecast of median household, along with a community’s average water utility rate, communities are able to determine if water utility rates will support future water infrastructure costs.

“The Community Sustainability Tool is a planning resource for community leaders, mayors, public works directors, and even citizens. When it is time to upgrade or improve water or wastewater infrastructure, this tool can help communities understand their ability to pay for these large investments over time” said Tonya Bronleewe, Director of the Environmental Finance Center.  “One of the biggest benefits of this tool is that the calculations are targeted to each community, since no two communities are the same.”

The EFC is part of the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs. Building the tool involved a team of EFC staff and Hugo Wall faculty. The team includes EFC staff members John Colclazier, Michelle Dehaven, Brian Bohnsack, Tonya Bronleewe, and Hugo Wall faculty members Dr. Ruowen Shen and Dr. Xiaoheng Wang.  The EFC received funding for this project from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The EFC also partnered with the WSU Training and Technology Team (T3) to make the tool available online.  The EFC has received additional EPA funding to develop the tool for the states of Oklahoma and Louisiana in the coming months.

Ever wonder how law enforcement gets a suspect to talk? Here is your chance to learn. Enroll in 581R: Aspects of Interview and Interrogation Techniques.

This online, four-week class provides an introduction and overview of common interview methods. Through guest speakers and article reviews, the course analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the various interview strategies. By examination and review of conventional methods, it determines which approach is most likely to produce the most factual, truthful, and detailed information within a legal and admissible format.

Courtney Price-Dukes was able to attend Wichita State – her top college choice – thanks to the Linwood Sexton scholarship. She overcame other obstacles to graduate with honors last weekend. Learn more about how you helped Courtney and all WSU students reach their full potential.

The FirePoint Innovations Center at Wichita State University has welcomed the first class of students into its Future Innovators Program, a new engineering internship opportunity aimed at introducing historically underrepresented students into the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) technical talent pipeline.

Students at three Shocker Neighborhood elementary schools received boxes of books earlier this week from members of the United Way’s Women United. The program is part of an effort to encourage summer reading.

“I thought that was me,” said a third-grader at Jackson Elementary on May 19 when Naquela Pack, director of engagement for Wichita State, visited Jackson. The little girl was referring to the cover of the book “Blended,” which features a brown-skinned woman on the cover. The Wichita girl saw herself in the character.

Contributions from Wichita State and the United Way are empowering positive changes in Shocker Neighborhood, which encompasses more than a dozen neighborhoods surrounding the university.

•  United Way-funded programs helped more than 26,000 of our neighbors within Shocker Neighborhood last year alone.
• Almost 1,000 children living within Shocker Neighborhood were enrolled in the Imagination Library and will receive a free book every month until age 5.