Category: News

Chances are, you’ve mixed up a Betty Crocker cake mix, added Nestle chocolate chips to a batch of cookies or sprinkled Morton salt onto your popcorn.

But can you recall the last advertisement you’ve seen for any of these products?

The ubiquity of these household items goes unquestioned by most, but not by Lisa Parcell, Betty and Oliver Elliott associate professor for the Elliott School of Communication.

The Wichita State and University of Kansas interdisciplinary team won second place at the annual CLARION Interprofessional National Case Competition. Students presented “Pandemics Past, Present, and Future: Emphasizing Trust & Equity in Emergency Preparedness and Response” with their analysis and implementation plans that reflect how to prepare and respond effectively to an arising pandemic. Team members from the Wichita State College of Health Professions are Taylor Lipford, (speech-language pathology), Kristen Geiger (physician associate) and Taygen Altenburg (health administration).

The team competed at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and the competition included 11 teams from universities across the country, with 47 students representing different healthcare professions. The team was coached by Sarah Flora, assistant educator with the Wichita State School of Nursing, and Mary Koehn, education associate professor with the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

CLARION is a national competition dedicated to improving health care through interprofessional collaboration. Student teams are given a case and charged with creating a feasible 360-degree, interprofessional plan to address a specific health care issue. Students work as part of an interdisciplinary team and present their research to a panel of interprofessional judges.

The Shocker Store is headed to WSU West for a pop-up shop from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 24.

The Shocker Store will be set up in the main lobby of WSU West so guests can shop for some great Shocker gear and enter to win some Shocker prizes.

The week-long Shocker STEM Camp from June 3 through June 7 is open to boys and girls who are entering grades two through five. Campers will explore STEM through a variety of hands-on activities including In the Game, Let’s Glow, Operation: HydroDrop and Prototyping Studio.

For more information and registration, visit Shocker STEM Camp.

Congratulations to Dr. Dean Elledge, director for the Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) program, who was named 2024 Dentist of the Year by the Kansas Dental Association. Dr. Elledge was presented with the award at the Kansas Dental Association conference in Kansas City. 

Dr. Elledge’s specialties include implantology and prosthodontics, and he is the only licensed prosthodontist in the area. The AEGD program at Wichita State is a one-year, postdoctoral education program for dentists and is the only dentistry education training in Kansas.   

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.