Category: News

Due to an ongoing increased demand for its services, Shocker Printing Solutions will no longer have the available resources to take in-person orders or accommodate same-day service for non-university or personal orders.

Please submit all future orders via the Shocker Printing Solutions storefront or by email at shockerprinting@wichita.edu and email Shocker Printing Solutions for any additional questions. It apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause in the short term.

Course Evaluations are being conducted for both SPTEs and the Course Evaluations and Surveys (CES) pilot. Since CES is a pilot, not all courses will be available for administration. It’s suggested that you elect to use one or the other evaluation tool for a single course. If you are unsure which evaluation tool to use, check with your department.

The results from the CES pilot cannot be submitted for any official review process. including T&P, FAR, post-tenure review or department policies, so here are the steps needed for if you do or do not need official reviews:

If you need course evaluations for any official review:

• Submit the SPTE request form by Wednesday, Feb. 22.
• When you receive an email from evaluations@CES.wichita.edu, you will need to opt-out the courses you don’t want in the CES Pilot. This way your students will not receive two course evaluations for the same course. These emails are distributed according to the part-of-term your course(s) is assigned.

If you do not need course evaluations for any official review:

• Do not submit the SPTE request form.
• When you receive an email from evaluations@CES.wichita.edu, you will need to only opt-out the courses you do not want evaluated through the CES pilot.

All instructors who are in the pilot group will receive emails from evaluations@CES.wichita.edu.  Steps to opt-out by deleting courses in CES and additional information can be found on the Watermark Tools homepage under the section menu.

Kathy Downes, dean of WSU Libraries, will retire at the end of the year. Downes has served as dean since 2017 and has worked for over 40 years at Wichita State.

During her time with WSU Libraries, she spearheaded many facility expansions, including coordinating the west addition project from 1985 to 1989 and helping with the 2019 expansion of the 24-hour study room.

She also co-led the systems migration from NOTIS to Voyager and initiated an ongoing project to prepare for the next generation of cloud-based library services. Many other transformations and enhancements of Ablah Library’s learning spaces, collections and services were also led by her.

“Dean Downes is leaving a lasting impact and legacy at WSU and will be missed,” said Shirley Lefever, provost and executive vice president. “The WSU community wishes her well on her well-deserved retirement.”

The W. Frank Barton School of Business has named Stephanie Cockrell as its new director of graduate programs. In the role, Cockrell will work to define and execute strategies to increase enrollment and retention as well as deliver robust experiences for graduate students. This includes study-abroad programs as well as experiential education and applied leadership opportunities.

Cockrell will also lead all recruiting marketing and communication activities for graduate degree programs. Her first day in her new position was Jan. 23.

Prior to her role with the Barton School, Cockrell served as the assistant director for First-Year Programs at WSU’s Office of Student Success. During her time, she received her Master’s of Business Administration from the Barton School with a concentration in marketing.

Over the past decade, the Office of Student Money Management (OSMM) has served prospective and current students by providing information and services about making good financial decisions and preparing a financial plan for college.

As financial wellness programs have grown in high schools and services in financial aid have become more focused around financial wellness, OSMM announced that student money management services are now available through the Office of Financial Aid.

Students can schedule an appointment with a financial aid counselor to talk about budgeting and financial wellness while learning how financial aid opportunities may help. Additionally, students have access to an online resource, CashCourse, which helps them develop these skills on demand.

The University Budget Office webpage has a new look. Check out the changes and find some new resources and information as the office starts to get ready for the next fiscal year’s budget process.

The deadline to apply for Open/Alternative Textbook (OAT) course designations is Wednesday, Feb. 15. The OAT program is designed to expand the use of freely available resources in classes to help address the rising cost of textbooks and the impact of that expense on students.

Courses with an OAT designation are visible to students in the course schedule to help them choose classes with low or no textbook costs. The course fee associated with OAT course designations is no longer required.

KMUW is marking its third anniversary of the weekly local news program, The Range. The first episode debuted on Jan. 17, 2020. Since then — and through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — a new episode has premiered every Friday on the radio, the website and a handful of podcast platforms.

Hosted by Tom Shine, KMUW’s director of news and public affairs, The Range is a program about where we live and the people who live there. The subjects and topics covered are vast. In the past month alone, they’ve heard from local business owners, a dance artist, a third-generation Black doctor, an international student, the founder of Rainbows United, Santa Claus, and a Jewish congregation.

The Range can be heard at 6:50 and 8:50 a.m., 12:50 and 4:50 p.m. every Friday on KMUW, on-demand at KMUW.org, on the KMUW app, or on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.

The Jan. 23 Faculty Senate meeting provided updated information on the academic portfolio and workload review from rpk Group that was commissioned by the Kansas Board of Regents last spring.

Faculty, staff or administration still wanting to provide feedback on the final report (academic portfolio review section — pages 5-11) can do so by completing this online form or speaking with your dean. Feedback will be accepted until 5 p.m. Feb. 17. *

You can view the data here. Scroll down and click on “KBOR rpk WSU data as of December 1, 2022 (1/23/23).”

The final report can be seen on the WSU Faculty Senate website.

KBOR will discuss taking action on the recommendations made in the academic portfolio review section of the final written report at its March 22 meeting. 

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please reach out to your division chair or dean.

* This feedback is limited to the academic portfolio review section because the board will not take action on the teaching workload section of the final written report (pages 12-16). The teaching workload section is for campus review only.

The Community Engagement Institute AmeriCorps programs have a dedicated group of members serving throughout Kansas, tackling the nation’s most pressing challenges.

A total of 21 AmeriCorps state members and 32 AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) members served in 2022, and a total of 189 members have served since 2019. AmeriCorps extends a thank you to all its members and supervisors for their dedication

Additionally, anyone interested in serving can apply to a number of open positions. To view or apply for these opportunities, go to my.AmeriCorps.gov and search “WSU.”