Category: News

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.

The annual budget process for colleges and departments to submit their budget requests into the university’s budgeting system is about to start. At this stage, the University Budget Office has visited with the leadership of each division regarding the upcoming process. Budget and review officers have already received, or will receive in the near future, guidance from their leadership team regarding more specific expectations for completing the process.

As in past years, budget and review officers are responsible for completing the budget request for their organizations of responsibility, unless otherwise directed by their leadership team.

The TM1 Budgeting System will open for fiscal year 2024 budget requests beginning on Monday, April 24. TM1 can be found in the “Employee Toolbox” in the Faculty/Staff tab in myWSU or accessed online.

Training for budget and review officers this year exists through multiple options:

First, a training video titled “TM1 Training Video” is posted in the Employee Toolbox in myWSU. The video is meant to help you navigate the budget system and walk you through the various forms in order for you to view and make changes to your budget. You will not need to sign up for a class to access the training video, rather the video will be available on an ongoing basis.

Second, a training video titled “TM1 Reports Video” is posted in the Employee Toolbox in myWSU. The video will explain the purpose of each report and educate you on how the reports could be used to assist you with your budgeting and on-going business decisions. The reports are available year-around and additional reports may be added throughout the year. You will not need to sign up for a class to access the training video, rather the video will be available on an ongoing basis.

Third, a TM1 Training Guide is available in the Employee Toolbox that provides instructions on the use of the budgeting system, as well as a Budget Development Guide for Budget and Review Officers that summarizes timelines, important university budgeting practices, and common budget actions and expectations of budget and review officers.

Finally, the University Budget Office will host Open Training Labs (schedule below) for in-person training and assistance. You can register for the sessions through myTraining. If you are an experienced budget or review officer, you are likely to find the video training sufficient as a reminder of how the budgeting system works. For faculty and staff new to the process, and depending on how your college or department traditionally handles the process of entering your budget requests, the Open Training Lab is likely to be beneficial. The Open Training Labs are designed to work in conjunction with the training videos, as a result your attendance will be more effective if you’ve watched the training videos prior to attending the training lab.

Open Training Lab date:

• 9 a.m.-11 a.m. April 27 – Open Lab in Jabara Hall, Room 124.  Register through myTraining.
• 3 p.m.-5 p.m. May 3 – Open Lab in Jabara Hall, Room 124.  Register through myTraining.
• 10 a.m.-12 p.m. May 10 – Open Lab in Jabara Hall, Room 124.  Register through myTraining.

Please keep in mind that one of the most significant components of the budget are changes to existing positions. As in past years, changes to filled positions have to be made through the regular HR form process. HR forms impacting fiscal year 2024 must be submitted no later than May 19.  Submissions after this date will not be incorporated into your fiscal year 2024 adopted budget.

Planned dates for the budget calendar:

• April 24 – Budget system opens for changes.
• May 19 – Final day for budget officers and review officers to complete budget requests within TM1 prior to VP review.  Last day to submit HR forms.
• May 26 – Final day for vice presidents to review requests and enter changes in TM1.

If you have difficulty logging in to the system, please contact the Budget Office at 316-978-3030 for assistance. Note, in order to access the TM1 system off-campus, you need an active VPN connection.

As always, the budget office is happy to provide guidance and help you work through any budget questions you may have.

In just its first year, the Collegiate DECA chapter at Wichita State is already making its mark nationwide. The WSU team competed in the statewide DECA competition at Tabor College in February.

Two members — Jennifer Calvo, marketing major, and Nathan Holloway, business administration major — placed in the top three in their events. As a result, they will represent Kansas at a national collegiate DECA competition from Saturday, April 15 to April 19 in Orlando.

DECA is a international association connecting marketing students to professional and business development opportunities.

To help parents sign their children up for summer camps, the Office of Strategic Communications is compiling Wichita State camp info on the 2023 Summer Camps website.

The HR Total Rewards team reminds faculty and staff that the deadline for summer 2023 tuition assistance applications is Monday, April 17. Tuition assistance applications for summer 2023 are submitted through the online application form.

Due to the volume of applications received each semester, requests to submit late applications will be automatically denied without exception.

Questions may be directed to TuitionAssistance@wichita.edu.

The Wichita Police Department will use the former Intensive English Learning Center building at 17th and Hillside for routine bomb squad training from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 13.

The campus community may see armored vehicles and an elevated police presence at the location. This is only for training purposes.

Inspired by the Walk Across Kansas Challenge, members of Wichita State’s nursing faculty are walking the 130 miles between the main campus in Wichita and the newly launched campus located in Kansas State University’s Justin Hall.

Faculty have opted to start their walk from either KSU or WSU and will log their miles between April 1 and August 1. This challenge highlights the cooperation between KSU and WSU to offer a unique option to complete your WSU Nursing degree in Manhattan.

Faculty members with an interest in retaining students should apply to become a Retention Faculty Fellow. Applications for the 2023-24 academic year are open through Friday, April 21.

Retention Faculty Fellows support Strategic Enrollment Management goal three to “Increase persistence rates of degree seeking student populations.” The Retention Faculty Fellows share best practices and create opportunities for other faculty members to be in dialogue about quality instructional design and student engagement.

Fellows should be endorsed by the dean or their representative. For questions, contact Moriah Beck, retention faculty fellow coordinator, at moriah.beck@wichita.edu.