Category: News

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 Jaci Ignudo, digital specialist, Strategic Communications.
• The efforts of the First-Gen Coordinating Council were recently recognized American Association of Colleges and Universities News Watch
• Congratulations to the 454 December F1rst-Gen grads that walk on Saturday, Dec.12.

Facilities Services will close 12:30-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15. During this time, work orders can be submitted online and will be processed the following day. For emergency services, please contact the University Police Department at 316-978-3450.

The Student Involvement office will close 1-5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9 for a community service project. For assistance during this time, students can contact 316-978-3022 or getinvolved@wichita.edu. The office will respond as soon as they return.

Wichita State University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan (DEI) includes efforts to promote student success, increase sponsored research funding for diversity and inclusive excellence, and empower the campus community to create a culture and experience that meets its ever-changing needs.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) will close temporarily at noon Friday, Dec. 10 for staff development. The office will re-open on Monday, Dec. 13.

Holiday Shutdown at Wichita State will take place Dec. 20-Dec. 31. If your department needs a holiday greeting activated on your calling tree or call distribution number, please submit a telecommunications assistance request to the Information Technology Services (ITS) Telecommunications website.

Customers can then choose a telephone request as the requested service, then choose programming as the telephone service. Please include all details in the description.

Only requests received via this method will be processed. For more information, please contact ITS at 316-978-3535 or telecomservices@wichita.edu.

OneStop Student Services in-person operations will close temporarily Dec. 18 through Jan. 2. The OneStop Student Services call center will still take phone calls and chats all hours of the day during this time at 855-978-1787.

OneStop agents can answer most student questions and will create a ticket for questions that can’t be answered immediately. Agents will respond  to all tickets between Jan. 3-7 to all tickets.

Are you traveling during the winter break? If so, stay up to date with current travel restrictions at the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention website. While there, you can learn additional information about international travel for both U.S. citizens and non-citizen.  

Community Engagement Institute’s (CEI) Prevention Initiatives team hosted the fourth annual Kansas Prevention Collaborative Conference on Oct. 21-22, where participants from across Kansas gathered virtually. This conference is supported by Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) and the Kansas Prevention Collaborative.

Dr. Wanda Boone, founder of Together for Resilient Youth, opened the conference with a moving keynote on social determinants of health, and applying a resilience-based, equity informed lens to the prevention practice. Participants had the chance to attend six breakout sessions live during the two days and can return to the platform for the following year to watch all recorded sessions.

Jerry Moe, national director of Children’s Programs at the Betty Ford Center, gave a moving closing keynote on the unique perspective children have in the world of addiction and prevention. Moe also led a breakout session on his role as an advisor and consultant to Sesame Street on its Parental Addiction Initiative.

During the conference, 150 participants signed into the conference platform. This year’s conference had eight Gold sponsors, two Silver sponsors, five Bronze sponsors, and five exhibitors. The 2021 Kansas Prevention Collaborative Award Winners were recognized for their achievement on Oct. 21.

Visit KansasPreventionCollaborative.org/conference to view the conference brochure, 2021 sponsors, and 2021 KPC award winners.

The December issue of Teaching Today is now available. This issue details the changes to the Ultra Course Format rollout as well as changes to the university’s paid proctoring services. It also features advanced information about the January Academic Resources Conference events and reminders about the codes to use when submitting grades.

To subscribe to Teaching Today, send a request to the Office of Instructional Resources at oir@wichita.edu. Have a wonderful winter break.