Category: News

The College of Applied Studies (CAS) will induct seven new members into its Hall of Fame this fall. The inductees are being recognized for their outstanding contributions to the college and their fields. A celebratory banquet will take place Sept. 26 on campus.

• Dr. Robert Lane – Distinguished Career Award
• Mary Myers – Service Award
• Korey Torgerson – Alumni Award
• Bonnie Bing Honeyman – Community Engagement Award
• Dr. Shirley Lefever – Distinguished Career Award
• Dr. Joseph Wei-Cheng Mau – Distinguished Career Award
• Aliyah Funschelle – Recent Alumni Award

Student Engagement & Belonging is reaching out to Wichita State faculty and staff who are affiliated with a fraternity or sorority organization. Whether you are an alum, current member or have served in an advisory role. Your affiliation helps build stronger connections between students and the broader campus community. It also helps celebrate and recognize the contributions of FSL members across campus.

If you are affiliated with an FSL organization, take a moment to complete the brief survey form.

Textbook ordering is open for the fall 2025 semester. Head to shockerstore.com to order and be prepared for the start of the school year. Depending on your class, options may include rentals, new books, used books, digital materials and more.

Four opt-in Advising Communities of Practice (CoP) will be launched for 2025-26 on several topics that have previously been presented at workshops and webinars by the Advising Network Team. These four advising CoPs will be opportunities for all who advise (academic advisors, specialized advisors and faculty advisors) to foster collaboration, shared learning and innovation in advising practice.

Each CoP is grounded in three essential components:

• Domain: a shared area of interest in advising that brings community members together.
• Community: a group of advisors who engage in discussions and knowledge-sharing.
• Practice: resources, experiences and tools that community members share, develop and refine together.

All CoPs will gather monthly in September, October, November, January, February, March and April as follows:

• The Advising First-Generation Students Community of Practice will provide a space for advisors to explore strategies, share resources and build community around supporting the needs and strengths of first-generation college students. This CoP will gather on the first Friday of each month from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m.
• The Advising Transfer Students Community of Practice will provide a space focused on the advising experience and success of transfer students through shared practices. This CoP will gather on the second Friday of each month from 9 to 9:45 a.m.
• The Assessment of Advising Community of Practice will provide a space dedicated to developing, implementing and refining meaningful assessment practices that improve effectiveness and student learning outcomes in advising. This CoP will gather on the third Thursday of each month from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m.
• The Career Advising Community of Practice will provide a space for advisors to exchange ideas, tools and approaches that integrate career development into advising conversations and planning. This CoP will gather on the fourth Friday of each month from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m.

Individuals interested in joining an Advising Community of Practice can indicate their interest using the form. Calendar invitations will be sent out for those interested in joining an Advising CoP.

For more information, contact Brett Bruner, assistant vice president for Student Success & Persistence, at brett.bruner@wichita.edu.

The July myShockerhealth newsletter is out now, complete with a new look.

Articles this month include:

• No more shoeless TSA checks
• Learn how to do a skin cancer check
• Job interview tips for neurodivergent applicants
• Treadmill mistakes
• Heat stroke doesn’t look good on anyone
• Employee Corner: Annual exam and laboratory screening appointments for WSU employees will be extended through Dec. 1, 2025

As the next academic year approaches, Fairmount College announces its newest chairs and directors.  

• Elliott School of Communication: Lisa Parcell is a professor and the Kansas Health Foundation Director of the Elliott School of Communication. Her main research area is media history, particularly the promotion of American food products between 1880-1960.
• Geology: Andrew Swindle is associate professor and chair of the Department of Geology. He researches the reactivity of nanoscale materials in the subsurface, which play major roles in the chemistry that happens in the soils, sediments and rocks near the Earth’s surface. 
• School of Social Work: BreAnn Gilkey is a clinical professor and the interim director of the School of Social Work. She holds professional affiliations with the State of Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board as a Licensed Master Social Worker and the Kansas Council on Social Work Education.  

The 2025 issue of Kansas English, the award-winning peer-reviewed journal of the Kansas Association of Teachers of English (KATE), is now available on WSU’s Open Journal Systems. Katie Cramer, professor of English education, has served as editor-in-chief of Kansas English since 2017 and collaborates with Susan Matveyeva, journal manager of University Libraries, to publish the journal each year.

This year’s issue of Kansas English was published July 25 and features the work of several WSU-affiliated faculty, graduates and students in addition to scholarly and creative work from authors across the state and region:

• Caleb K. Thornton, WSU alum and KATE president, published “Presidential Perspectives.”
• Reagan Murnan, assistant professor of special education and program coordinator of the M.Ed. in special education alternative certification programs, co-authored with Sandra Bequette a practitioner piece entitled “Sound Foundations: Strengthening Reading Development through Phonological Awareness and Phonics Integration.”
• Lael Ewy, WSU lecturer in English, published a reflective essay “Dualities of Dual Enrollment: Navigating the Literal and Liminal Spaces of a Community College Outreach Program.”
• WSU students Kaitlyn Chain, Avery Gathright, Alice Huelskamp and Sophia Loerke published a reflective essay entitled “All American Boys Has Staying Power a Decade Later: Here’s Why.”
• 2025 WSU graduate Jayden Mitchell published a poem called “Something More.”
• Nathan G. Whitman, WSU alum and faculty and KATE past-president, published “2025 KATE Conference Preview and Invitation.”
• Katie Cramer published a YA book review (“Resilience in the Face of Traumatic Brain Injury in Jacqueline Woodson’s Before the Ever After”), a teaching tip (“Reading Response Framework for Student-Led Discussion in an English Methods Course”) and the editor’s letter (“Let’s Affirm and Celebrate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”).
• In addition, the 2025 editorial review board includes several WSU faculty and alumni: Robin Folkerts, Krystal Iseminger, Sally Kimball, Victoria Opalewski, Blake Overman, Nancy Sturm, Keely Tolbert, Nathan Whitman and Kim Wilson. Reagan Murnan will join the board in 2026.

Those interested in submitting their work to Kansas English can review the call for general submissions as well as the call for column submissions.

It has been a busy summer at WSU South, and Shocker Studios is nearly done with its expansion and will move its entrance Friday, Aug. 1.

The new entrance and parking area for Shocker Studios is located on the west end of the facility. The new address for Shocker Studios is 3803 E. Harry St., Suite 121. The location features new classrooms, lecture hall, student study area and offices. Stay tuned for more information about an open house this fall.

Dr. Mia Ocean, associate professor in the School of Social Work, was recently elected chair of the Wichita/Sedgwick County Access Advisory Board. The board collaborates with city and county officials to implement the Americans with Disabilities Act and address community barriers to accessibility.

Ocean spoke during the Wichita City Council meeting to honor the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“It is our sincere hope that disabled people may fully participate in the great opportunities that Wichita offers and that the city may also benefit from the contributions of people with disabilities,” Ocean said at the meeting. “Thank you again for honoring the anniversary of what has truly been life-changing legislation, and we look forward to collaborating in the coming year.”

The College of Health Professions (CHP) recently hosted its fourth annual Kansas High School Health Science Teacher’s Workshop, providing valuable teaching strategies and professional development for high school educators across the state.

This year’s workshop featured presentations from Dr. Stephen Lewia, assistant professor in the Department of Physician Associate; Dr. Douglas Parham, chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders; and Lisa Garcia, associate educator in the Scientific Foundations Division. Topics included interpreting EKGs, screening for speech and hearing disorders, and encouraging critical thinking in the classroom. A student panel, led by Mandy Konecny, director of the CHP Advising Center, offered valuable insights into the student experience at Wichita State and the variety of pathways into healthcare careers. Participants also toured the college’s cutting-edge laboratories, including the Gross Anatomy, Human Simulation and School of Nursing simulation labs.

The teachers received valuable resources and information to bring back to their classrooms, with the goal of inspiring high school students to pursue careers in healthcare. In addition to hands-on learning, the workshop provided a unique opportunity for health science teachers to network with WSU faculty and fellow health science educators from across Kansas. A special thank you to Ascension Via Christi for their generous support of the event and providing gifts for attendees.