Category: News

When Joshua Geisler registered as a stem cell donor, he did not expect the decision would lead to a call telling him he was a match for a patient with leukemia. 

Geisler, a second-year physician associate student at Wichita State, said his education helped prepare him to step into the role. 

“I felt prepared to be a stem cell donor, based on the experience I had at Wichita State. Our professors teach us that one of the values of our program is compassionate care,” Geisler said. “I thought this was kind of a unique way to live out one of the program’s values of compassionate care. Not only can we give medicine and do different procedures, but we can give ourselves.” 

The College of Health Professions is pleased to announce Christine Faulk, M.D. as the new chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council. The college extends its sincere appreciation to Jason Ladner for his leadership and service as chair over the past year.

Faulk is a proud Wichita State alumna, earning her Bachelor of Science in biological sciences before completing her M.D. at the University of Kansas School of Medicine–Wichita (KUSM‑W). She completed her internal medicine residency with the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education and later practiced with Ascension Medical Group (formerly The Wichita Clinic).

In 2006, Faulk joined KUSM-W as a teaching hospitalist at Via Christi-St. Francis, where she held leadership roles in medical education, directed faculty development and served on several key hospital committees. From 2016-25, she served in various roles at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, including ICU staff physician and associate chief of staff for research. As the ACS for research, she worked closely with the College of Health Professions to build joint research and education efforts.

Faulk is a member of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Society of Hospital Medicine.

She has remained closely connected to Wichita State through her service on the College of Health Professions Dean’s Advisory Council (2022-current) and the Board of Directors for the Shocker Athletic Scholarship Organization. The college appreciates her continued commitment and looks forward to her leadership in this new role.

Wichita State University has selected two recipients for the Richard D. Smith Scholarship, the university’s largest scholarship award. Sallie Longwell of Valley Center, Kansas, and Caroline Love of Norfolk, Nebraska, will receive more than $80,000 over four years.

The 2026 recipients of the Smith Scholarship have been active in their schools and communities.

The Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College would like to thank the faculty who agreed to provide students with an Honors experience within their departmental course this past fall semester. The faculty who participated in the honors option agreement process are listed by academic college.

Barton School of Business:

• Dave Dahl
• Mindy McKinley

College of Education:

• Sun Young Lee
• Fuchang Liu

College of Engineering:

• Joe Jabara
• Cindi Mason
• Lindsey Ott

College of Fine Arts:

• Irving Aguirre
• Elaine Bernstorf
• Jackson Bolan

College of Health Professions:

• Allison Apaza
• Stephen Arnold
• Lisa Garcia
• Amy Drassen Ham
• Suzanne Hawley
• Samuel Smith

Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Sciences:

• Teresa Click
• Melinda DeFrain
• Michael Hall
• Scott Hill
• Clinton Jones
• Robin Moore
• Carolyn Shaw
• Sandra Sipes

If you are a faculty member interested in working with Honors students and would like to learn more about honors option agreements, email honors@wichita.edu.

The Modern and Classical Languages and Literature department would like to congratulate WSU students who won awards at the 28th Heart of America Japan-America Society’s Japanese Contest, this year held in Lawrence, Kansas. This is a yearly contest that brings together Japanese-language students from around the Midwest for a variety of different events, including Japanese poetry, reading, grammar and speeches.

This year’s winners are Tina Quach, Necia Potter and Jack Batta in first, second and third places in Japanese tanka, respectively. Litzy Solano won first prize for her English-language tanka. Elliot Terrell won first place in N5-level Kanji and Jordan Hoang won first prize for his speech.

The 2024-25 annual report for TRIO Disability Support Services (DSS) is now available to view.

Has your academic advisor been a key to your success at WSU? The Advising Network (TAN) is accepting nominations for the best academic advisors and will recognize the winners on campus during an awards ceremony in May. Nominations can be made from now until April 3.

The Capitol Graduate Research Summit took place Tuesday, March 24 in Topeka. Over 40 graduate students from various Kansas public universities presented their research and how it contributes to the economic development of the state.

Two Wichita State students were awarded at the summit: doctoral student Kaytie Brozek (educational psychology, advised by Dr. Beata Latavietz) and master’s student Elmiraalsadat Tabatabaei (biomedical engineering, advised by Dr. David Long). Kaytie’s poster was entitled “’What Do You Want to Talk About Today?’: A Case Study of Inquiry, Identity, and Developmental Advising” and Elmira’s was entitled “Electrospun Nanofiber Therapeutics for Localized Post-Surgical Breast Cancer Treatment.”

Nine WSU graduate students presented their research at the capitol this year, including:

• Adetayo S. Afolayan (chemistry)
• Saleh Ateiwi (industrial engineering)
• John Hammond (education and behavioral studies)
• Touseef Hasan (computer science)
• Md Zawad Hossain (electrical and computer engineering)
• Ana Lucia Jara Valenzuela (Spanish)
• Muhammad Faraz Shoaib (computer science)

In the heart of New York City, where the stakes mirror the pace of global finance, a team of Barton School of Business students stood shoulder to shoulder with peers from some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions and finished at the top. By earning two first-place awards at the Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.) Forum XV, Barton School students didn’t just compete. They proved the power of real-world learning on a national stage.

In a fitting moment during the Barton School’s centennial year, the team’s debut appearance at the competition marked more than a win. It established the program among the nation’s top student-managed investment funds and reflected the strength of the school’s applied learning approach.

As part of the Japan Festival, the annual haiku contest is being hosted in both English and Japanese. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that follows the 5-7-5 syllable sentence pattern. Haiku are traditionally written about nature and include a kigo, or seasonal word, a word or phrase that gives the reader a sense of time and place. The deadline for submissions is April 17.

There will be a prize worth $20 for the top winner in each category. No AI-generated submissions.

Submit an English haiku or submit a Japanese haiku.