Category: News

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.

Student Health Services will be closed Friday, May 28 and Monday, May 31. SHS will reopen at 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 1. If you are in need of medical assistance over the weekend, visit wichita.edu/shs for information on clinics in the community.

In response to faculty requests, six outdoor classroom spaces are available for reservation from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.

These spaces will have 25 folding chairs and a table to be arranged as you choose. Whiteboards and portable amplification are also available. Contact Becca Off at 316-978-7058.

Information and online reservations are available at www.wichita.edu/classoutside.

The Office of Military, Veterans and First-Responders recently celebrated the commissioning of two Wichita State University Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) graduates as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army.

The Spring 2021 class was the first ROTC graduating class since the program returned to campus in fall 2019, and the first ROTC commissioning on campus in over 30 years. Under the leadership of Dr. Marchè Fleming-Randle, Army ROTC chief of staff, the program has exceeded all growth expectations, with 57 current students and a projection of 70 students for the fall 2021 semester.

For questions about Wichita State ROTC contact David Gomez.