Category: News

All are invited to a celebratory reception for Dr. Don Blakeslee, professor of anthropology and archaeologist, who is retiring at the end of the spring semester, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, May 5 in the 107 Devlin Hall and the Devlin Atrium. This is a come and go reception with remarks scheduled for noon.

Blakeslee joined Wichita State in 1976 as an assistant professor of anthropology. He is known for his research in the archaeology of the Great Plains. His main contributions include — aside from his research on the Middle Ceramic period and the Walnut River Basin — the discovery of the Wichita settlement of Etzanoa in Arkansas City and his research into the larger nation of Quivira. He served as department chair from 1990 to 1993 and was awarded full professorship in 1997. From 1988 to 1991 and from 2004 to 2007, he was a coordinator of general education program at WSU. He also served as president of the Professional Archaeologists of Kansas and of the Archaeological Association of South Central Kansas (AASCK), a society for amateur archaeologists.

Needing to knock out additional classes this summer? The application for summer financial aid is open now. Those interested must have a completed 2022-23 FAFSA and be enrolled for summer classes in order to apply for summer aid.

Apply online through myWSU under the “myFinances” tab at “Apply for Summer 2023 Financial Aid.”

The Department of Human Performance Studies in the College of Applied Studies was granted the maximum period of 10 year continuing accreditation to the Athletic Training Program by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE). The university was officially informed of the vote on April 10. Compliance with CAATE accreditation standards facilitates quality outcomes, continuous improvement, innovation and diversity to enhance athletic training education.

The CAATE accreditation standards have recently evolved to require all athletic training degrees to be master’s level. WSU has taken the steps to develop a Master of Science in athletic training (MSAT) in anticipation of the revised standards and guidelines.

The MSAT degree was approved during the fall 2021 semester and will launch in June 2023. It will replace the currently offered undergraduate degree in athletic training—the first year will overlap with the final year of the undergraduate program as it is phased out.

The 62 credit-hour degree plan consists of athletic training education, applied learning clinical experience, research/statistics and board certification. Students will rotate through various clinical settings including college and high school athletics, general and family medicine, physical therapy, industrial and occupational workplace, and emergency care.

The WSU Ceramics Guild will host the Wichita Public School ceramics programs for the first annual Clay Olympics on Friday, April 21 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Henrion Hall.

Eight area high schools will bring eight students each to compete in a series of events such as throwing the widest bowl or sculpting kiln guardians. Medals will be awarded to the three teams with the highest overall scores. High school student work will also be on exhibit in 105 Henrion with awards juried by members of the WSU Ceramics Guild.

A hot dog and hamburger cookout for lunch will take place at noon on the outdoor kiln pad.

The W. Frank Barton School of Business has chosen two recipients to receive the 2023 Professor Fran Jabara Scholarship in Entrepreneurship. This year’s winners are Kayla Atkinson from Andover Central High School and Caleb Lowry from Eisenhower High School.

They will each receive more than $32,500 spread over four years to attend Wichita State and major in entrepreneurship.

Wichita State has launched an online portal for our Innovation Campus partners. The portal offers a “one-stop shop” for the resources available on campus.

With the portal, you can find more information on the resources available to our partners:

• Where to find news and events at WSU
• How to access the weekly Campus Connection newsletter and where to submit posts
• What dining options are available on campus
• How to sign up for emergency communication through Shocker Alerts
• Where to park on campus
• What is happening in Shocker Athletics
• And more

For additional information, or to suggest items to include in the partnership portal, reach out to Kristin Beal at kristin.beal@wichita.edu or 316-978-6957.

The Office of Online & Adult Learning would like to congratulate seniors that are graduating in the 2023 spring and summer semesters. Any adult learner graduating with a bachelor’s degree is eligible to receive and pick up a cord for graduation.

Cords for in-person students can be picked up in Grace Wilkie Annex from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday, April 24 to Wednesday, April 26. Students should be prepared to show their Shocker ID at pick-up.

Students enrolled in a fully online program can pick up a cord from the Office of Adult Learning (OAL) at the times above or cords can be mailed to students as well. Students must be in a fully online program to receive a cord by mail. To request a cord by mail, students must fill out an online form.

For questions or those who need to pick up a cord at a different time, reach out to the OAL at 316-978-8325 or email at adultlearning@wichita.edu.

The High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster at WSU, which was initiated in 2020, provides students and faculty with the computational resources they need to succeed. Any member of the WSU community and those outside of WSU who are KBOR constituents can request access to the HPC cluster. To request account at HPC, visit the HPC website. For those who are new to HPC, they are encouraged to review the HPC Users Guide.

The HPC is also pleased to inform the campus community that WSU researchers can access the Pete Supercomputer, which is an HPC cluster at Oklahoma State University supported by OSU’s High-Performance Computing Center. It is worth noting that OSU was recently awarded a Major Research Instrumentation award by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build and develop a new supercomputer. This award was a joint effort between OSU, Arkansas State University, WSU, Kansas State University, the University of Tulsa, the University of Central Oklahoma, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and the Great Plains Network. More information about the award can be found on the NSF’s website.

The deadline to submit proposals for the 2023 Tilford Conference has been extended to Saturday, July 15.

The Kansas Board of Regents’ Michael Tilford Conference on Diversity and Multiculturalism Program Committee seeks submissions for the annual conference to be held Oct. 5 and 6 at Washburn University in Topeka.

The 2023 Tilford Conference theme is “Living into Brown: Staying the Course Toward Inclusion and Belonging.”

Notices of acceptance or decline will be sent by Aug. 1. Conference registration will be available beginning July 15.

The Department of Aerospace Engineering will celebrate the career and achievements of Dr. Scott Miller, the Emylou Keith & Betty Dutcher Endowed professor of aerospace engineering, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 28 in the John Bardo Center lobby.

Miller joined the department as an assistant professor in 1988 and served as its department chair from 2004 to 2022. He is also the director of the Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program and NASA Kansas Space Grant Consortium.

Miller will retire at the end of spring 2023. Come join the department in congratulating Miller on a successful career as an educator, scholar and leader, and wishing him a happy retired life.