Category: News

Congratulations to Medical Laboratory Sciences (MLS) student Dorianne “Dori” Lebron Malave for being selected as the recipient of the annual endowed scholarship from Southcentral Pathology Laboratory for fall 2024. Dori was recently surprised during class with the news that she is this semester’s award recipient. Dori was nominated by faculty in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences for her dedication and outstanding academic performance in the program. Isai Chavira, who was the recipient in fall 2023, will continue to receive the scholarship in fall 2024. 

Dori says the scholarship will bring her the peace of solely focusing on academics and pursuing her Medical Laboratory Sciences degree.  

“Ever since I came into the program, everything felt right, and this award proves it to be real,” she says. “I would like to thank the faculty, my classmates and Dr. Alderson for being part of this special moment that has given me the reassurance that I’m right where I need to be.” 

The Southcentral Pathology Scholarship award was established in 2021 by Dr. Joel Alderson, president of Southcentral Pathology in Wichita, the largest group of surgical pathologists in southcentral Kansas. His goal in establishing this scholarship is to attract students to the medical laboratory sciences profession and reward students who have displayed success through academic achievement, character and personal testament.  This generous award provides full-ride scholarships to two deserving students each year in the WSU MLS program. Recipients are chosen based on merit and financial need, and each student receives an equal amount of funds. This is the largest scholarship donation to the MLS program.

Wichita State’s public affairs program has been ranked near the top third of all graduate school programs of its kind in the United States by U.S. News & World Report for the 2024-2025 academic year. The program, housed in the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs, emerged in 99th position, moving up from 118th place last year.

Additionally, the public affairs program’s specialty area of public finance and budgeting has been ranked 27th by U.S. News, tied with the University of Central Florida and the University of Michigan.

The Global Workplace MBA Initiative, a collaborative effort between the Barton School of Business and the Berlin School of Economics and Law, proudly celebrates its 20th year of partnership. Launched in 2004, this initiative is designed to offer U.S. and German MBA students immersive real-world international collaboration teams and intercultural communication experiences. Widely acclaimed, it stands as one of the most distinctive international MBA programs in the United States.

“For two decades, the Berlin Experience has created an opportunity for students to collaborate, network and build their professional skillsets,” said Wichita State President Rick Muma. “This is an invaluable experience for our students and more than 125 companies — many of which are in Wichita — who have benefited from the strategic guidance and insights offered by students in the program.”

The Sunflower is hosting a comic contest. Students are welcome to send in any comic related to Wichita State, student life, etc.

The winner will have their comic published in the newspaper’s Graduation Edition on May 2, as well as receive some Sunflower-themed goodies, like a T-shirt, tote bag and more. Submissions are due April 28 and can be sent to editor@thesunflower.com.

The College Tour TV series is coming to Wichita State in the fall, and students can start applying for a chance to be part of the show. The one-hour episode of The College Tour will feature WSU and highlight student life on campus.

Applications are now open. Faculty and staff can encourage students to apply by linking them to the application page. As part of a student’s application, they’ll submit a two-minute audition video talking a little bit about themselves and their time at Wichita State, but no prior videography skills are necessary. Just a video from their phone will work.

For questions, reach out to Trish Gandu at trish.gandu@wichita.edu. The deadline to submit applications is April 21. Learn more about The College Tour TV series.

Do you know of a student who is passionate about Wichita State and eager to spread the word about campus involvement? Student Engagement, Advocacy and Leadership (SEAL) is searching for student engagement ambassadors to showcase the value of getting involved through presentations, one-on-one chats and creative marketing.

Nominate a student today by emailing SEAL at seal@wichita.edu.

The College Tour TV series is coming to Wichita State in the fall, and now is the time for students to apply to be part of the show. The one-hour episode of The College Tour will feature WSU and highlight student life on campus.

Applications are now open. As part of your application, you’ll submit a two-minute audition video talking a little bit about yourself and your time at Wichita State, but no prior videography skills are necessary. Just a video from your phone will work.

For questions, reach out to Trish Gandu at trish.gandu@wichita.edu. The deadline to submit applications is April 21. Learn more about The College Tour TV series.

The W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University is pleased to announce that Gene Camarena is joining the Dean’s Advisory Board. He currently serves as the president and CEO of La Raza Pizza, Inc. As a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, Camarena will help advance the mission and strategic priorities of the Barton School by strengthening, enriching, and enhancing programming, impact, and the student experience.

“This spring semester, my wife and I had the privilege of serving as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence for the Barton School,” stated Camarena. “It was an enriching experience, prompting me to seek further opportunities to contribute to the school’s advancement. As a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, I am committed to making a lasting, sustainable impact on its future and shaping the trajectory of its students.”

The annual update for the CourseLeaf CIM system will take place Monday, April 15. During this time, access to the system will be closed. This includes the approve pages for proposals currently in the workflow. It is recommended that editors and approvers refrain from trying to log into CIM on Monday.

Access to CIM will be restored by Tuesday, April 16.

Next week, around April 15, summer classes will populate in Blackboard. The summer Blackboard course shells will all be in Ultra Course Format. Blackboard Classic Format will no longer be available at Wichita State as of the end of the spring 2024 term. If you are going to teach this summer, you can improve your Ultra Course Format experience by adapting your original courses in the following ways:

• Review your “tests” area and delete any old test banks that you don’t use.
• Check your “grade center” area and make sure you don’t have any hidden columns. If you do have hidden columns, unhide them.
• Do not “convert” your original course to an Ultra course. Instead, wait for the Ultra course shell, go to that shell area and copy your content from original into the Ultra course.

For other advice about how to prepare and then copy an original course to an Ultra course shell, check out the information in the “Ultra Training for Instructors” Blackboard course. If you don’t have access to that course, contact the Office of Instructional Resources at OIR@wichita.edu.