Category: News

Each year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA honored selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR). The academic recognition honors recognize those teams that posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 NCAA APR release will not include public recognition awards, APR penalties or loss of access to post-season competition as these elements remain suspended through Spring 2023. The 2022 release will only include the public version of the APR and aggregate data for all Division I institutions.

The four-year APR scores for all of WSU’s 13 sports programs registered a 942 or above to be in good standing established by the NCAA’s standards. Eleven of 13 programs registered a score of 970 or higher. A program is in good standing if it registers a multi-year rate of 930 or above. A team must achieve a 930 four-year rate in order to be eligible for competition in NCAA post-season play.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team’s academic performance. The most recent multi-year APRs are based on scores from the 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.

The only student-athletes that figure into a team and institution’s APR are those receiving athletic financial aid. A student-athlete receiving athletic financial aid has the opportunity to earn two points each semester – an eligibility point and a retention point. Thus, a student-athlete has the opportunity to earn up to four points each academic year for his/her team and institution. An institution can be discounted the retention point if a student-athlete transfers to another 4-year institution and leaves Wichita State academically eligible or if a student-athlete transfers to a 2-year institution and leaves Wichita State with a 3.30 or higher cumulative GPA.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Wichita State University received one APR Public Recognition Awards for the 2018-19 academic year – men’s tennis. It was the second consecutive year for the men’s tennis team to win an APR recognition award. The Volleyball team previously received seven consecutive APR Public Recognition awards – 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15.

The Women’s Golf team received four consecutive APR Public Recognition awards – 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. The Men’s Cross Country team won an APR Public Recognition award in 2013-14 and women’s cross country in 2015-16. The Men’s Golf team won public recognition awards in 2010-11 and 2017-18 while the Women’s Tennis team received a Public Recognition Award in 2010-11.

Due to the summer construction at Lindquist Hall, the Shocker Learning Center (SLC) will temporarily move to Hubbard Hall for the remainder of the summer 2022 session.

For more information, please visit 115 Hubbard, or contact slc@wichita.edu.

The break in the chilled water line on the southside of the Duerksen Fine Arts Center is still affecting the air conditioning in the following buildings:

• McKnight Art Center/Ulrich Museum of Art (scheduled to be repaired June 16)
• McKinley Hall (scheduled to be repaired June 20)

For more information, contact emily.patterson@wichita.edu or eason.bryer@wichita.edu

The Heskett Center will close July 2-4. It will reopen Tuesday, July 5 at 6 a.m. For more information, contact 316-978-3082.

Wichita State University Police Chief Guy Schroeder spoke to graduates, family, friends and co-workers at the 294th Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC) class graduation June 10. Schroeder was the first WSU police chief to speak at a graduation for KLETC.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has reached maximum capacity for its Passage 2 Success program. Details provided by participants will be released soon.

For more information, contact the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at 316.978-3034 if you have questions.

Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) is proud to announce the addition of Thomas Fischer as senior advisor to the executive director.

Fischer, a 35-year U.S. Air Force employee and member of the Senior Executive Service, recently retired from his position as director of engineering and technical management and chief engineer for the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

In this position, he led a 15,000-person national engineering organization and was responsible for the USAF’s transformation to digital engineering.

“Tom’s knowledge of the value of digital transformation for various units of the Air Force and other DoD branches will be critical for the development of new programs at Wichita State,” said John Tomblin, WSU senior vice president for Industry and Defense Programs and NIAR executive director. “These programs are focused on aviation and manufacturing innovation while ensuring the safety of the warfighter and extending the life of the military fleet,”

Fischer’s academic accolades include a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Valparaiso University, a master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton; an MBA from Wright State University; and a master’s in national resource strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.

Due to a break in the chilled water line on the southeast side of the Duerksen Fine Arts Center, there will be a multi-day air conditioning outage at the following buildings:

• Morrison Hall
• Jardine Hall
• Wiedemann Hall
• Duerksen Fine Arts Center
• McKinley Hall
• McKnight Art Center/Ulrich Museum of Art

Hot temperatures are expected during the next few days at these buildings until the system is restored. The chilled water lines are expected to be operational Monday, but it may take time for the buildings to cool off once the systems are running.

For more information, contact emily.patterson@wichita.edu, or Eason.Bryer@wichita.edu.

Enrique Navarro, Fairmont College of Liberal Arts and Sciences associate professor of Spanish, has been named the new associate dean of the Graduate School, effective June 13.

Navarro holds a doctorate in Hispanic Literature, a master’s in Spanish, and has a law degree from Spain. He has served as the Latin American and Latinx Studies certificate coordinator for the LAS of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature. He has been with WSU since 2013.

The grand opening of Deloitte’s Smart Factory @ Wichita — right here on WSU’s Innovation Campus — got underway Tuesday, June 7, with a press conference and media tour of the facility.

The Smart Factory @ Wichita aims to advance the future of manufacturing and spur innovation through digital transformation.

Key takeaways about the experience center include:

• The Smart Factory @ Wichita assembles a first-of-its-kind ecosystem of more than 20 world-renowned solution providers, technology innovators and futurists to help solve the toughest challenges in manufacturing.
• Features a fully functioning manufacturing production line that combines cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, cloud and edge applications, robotics, vision solutions and more.
• Supports STEM education: Plans to manufacture and donate Smart Rover STEM education kits that aim to impact 800,000 students over four years, with initial donations in Wichita, Metro Detroit and Philadelphia in 2022.
• Completely sustainable, The Smart Factory is powered by renewable resources and is net-zero impact.
• Is anticipated to draw more than 5,000 visitors to the local area over the next 12 months, including leaders from world-renowned companies.