Category: Student Success and Persistence

The Shocker Teaching Community of Practice Team will be hosting its spring 2025 High DF Course Institute from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 in the Shocker Success Center and Ablah Library. The morning will provide instructors of high D/F courses with a community of practice to examine promising practices from the Student Experience Project as well as technology resources and resources from the Shocker Success Center that can be utilized with your course. With support of NISS funding, faculty who participate in this experience will receive $50.

Wichita State is focused on student success and persistence for every student from admission to completion. In spring 2022, WSU received the National Institute for Student Success report that focused on identifying and resolving institutional barriers to college completion. This report provided four recommendations that focused on key actions that all members of Wichita State (faculty, staff and administrators) should implement to fully support the success of each student. Within NISS recommendation one, WSU is focusing on the use of academic data for course retention in ongoing efforts to fully support student success and persistence. One such data source examined are high D/F courses. These are courses where a larger percentage of students are not successful and would benefit from continuous support.

Attend an informational meeting from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14 in 245 Rhatigan Student Center, CUW Room, to learn about the new Journeys feature within Navigate Student. Discover how Journeys can help students achieve their success goals by guiding them through essential milestone steps.

This informational session will assist offices, departments and units who may be interested in building a specific Journey within Navigate Student to student populations.

For more information, contact Brett Bruner, assistant vice president for Student Success & Persistence, at brett.bruner@wichita.edu.

Attend an informational meeting about Shocker Pre-Season Programs from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13 in 245 Rhatigan Student Center, CUW Room, to learn how your office, unit or department can develop a Shocker Pre-Season Program for fall 2025.

Shocker Pre-Season Programs provide an opportunity to assist incoming students transition smoothly into college life at WSU. These programs are a key part of WSU’s student success and persistence initiative as they provide intentional pathways to help students learn about, select and transition between majors. For more information or questions, contact Brett Bruner, assistant vice president for Student Success & Persistence, at brett.bruner@wichita.edu.

The First-Year Seminars (FYS) program will host an informational session at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25 in 256 Rhatigan Student Center, Edmiston Room. The session will describe the process on how to create and teach an FYS class for first-year students.

Teaching an FYS is an excellent opportunity support the academic transition of first-year students to Wichita State and support student success and persistence. For more information, contact Brett Bruner, assistant vice president for Student Success and Persistence, at brett.bruner@wichita.edu.

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member through the initiative, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@wichita.edu.

Despite the challenges of the new FAFSA form, the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships (OFA) was able to award more students more dollars than ever before. The OFA paid out $43 million to over 8,000 students last week. In addition, there has been a $2 million increase in need-based aid compared to the previous year.

2024-25 FAFSA forms are still being accepted. Students can go to Federal Student Aid to unlock every dollar at Wichita State. Students who need the OFA can go to the office for walk-ins from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout August in 203 Jardine Hall.

The Shocker Success Center — formerly Clinton Hall, located between the Rhatigan Student Center and Ablah Library — is open to the public. The Shocker Success Center brings together a number of student services that were formally spread out around Wichita State and houses them under one roof in the heart of campus.

The campus community can find multiple areas to relax or work throughout the day, and students can use the building as a study space.

Here is every service that has moved to the Shocker Success Center:

• First floor: OneStop Student Services; the Office of Student Accommodations and Testing
• Second floor: Shocker Learning Center, including the Math Lab, Physics Help Room and Writing Center; Office of Student Success; and TRIO Disability Support Services
• Third floor: TRIO Student Support Services; Hispanic-Serving Initiatives; CARE Team; Adult Learning; Tech Help Desk; and Military and Veterans Services
• Lower level: Civil Rights, Title IX & ADA Compliance; Shocker Support Locker; and Career Closet. And the Office of International Education will join the Shocker Success Center in September.

Faculty members with an interest in supporting student success and persistence should apply to become a Retention Faculty Fellow. Applications for the 2024-25 academic year are open through Monday, May 6.

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 Brett Bruner, assistant vice president for Student Success and Persistence, at brett.bruner@wichita.edu.

Wichita State’s Student Success: First-Year Programs (FYP) attended the Region IV Joint Regional Conference in Columbia, Missouri, from NODA – National Orientation Directors Association. At the conference, representatives from FYP received awards for their efforts and results in orientation, transition and retention of students:

• Kim Sandlin: Outstanding NODA Orientation, Transition, and Retention Professional
  Kim Sandlin, director of Student Success, received the Outstanding Orientation, Transition, and Retention Professional Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions of a professional to the field of orientation, transition and retention who has five or more years of professional experience in higher education.
• Annie Wasinger: Best Undergraduate Educational Session
  Annie Wasinger, intern for FYP, received the Best Undergraduate Educational Session award for her topic entitled, “Is It Accessible? Is it REALLY Accessible?” Annie’s presentation will be presented at the National NODA conference in Portland, Oregon, in November.
• Hafsa Sadaf: Most Creative Solution in Case Studies
  Hafsa Sadaf, senior transition mentor for FYP, received the Most Creative Solution in Case Studies Award alongside three other orientation leaders from various universities.
• Kate Potter: Best Presentation in Case Studies
  Kate Potter, transition mentor for FYP, received the Best Presentation in Case Studies Award alongside three other orientation leaders from various universities.
• Winter Welcome: Innovation in Retention Programs
  The Winter Welcome event, hosted by FYP, received the Innovation in Retention Programs Award. The award seeks to recognize innovative and effective approaches in retention.

“For about 23 of my 25-year career on campus, I have been involved directly or indirectly with our orientation programs and welcoming new students to Shocker Nation,” Sandlin said. “It’s something I look forward to every year. Recently, as our work in Student Success and Persistence has grown, I’ve found deeper meaning in the work we do every day. The most rewarding part is seeing the data on how our efforts in Student Success are helping Shockers succeed. I am grateful for receiving the Outstanding NODA Orientation, Transition, and Retention Professional award; however I couldn’t have earned it without the hard work that the Student Success team at Wichita State does every day for students.”

Additionally, FYP hosted six different educational sessions for attendees at the conference:

• Austin Helgerson and George Giem: “Networking in 2024: Building Meaningful Connections During Orientation and Beyond”
• Annie Wasinger: “Is it Accessible? Is it REALLY Accessible?”
• Hafsa Sadaf: “Language Diversity Matters: Improving Orientation for Non-Native English Speakers”
• Kaelyn Hannah: “The Struggle is Real: Rebuilding and Rebranding Your Orientation Leader Team”
• Juan Gurrola: “Let’s Talk About it: Equality vs. Equity”
• Trinity Madden: “Silent Expression: Decoding Body Language and Understanding Non-Verbal Communication”

“I’m super proud of the students and staff in First-Year Programs,” Sandlin said. “We intentionally challenge our returning staff every year during their training to develop and facilitate interesting conference sessions that add value and knowledge to the region and profession.”

Do you know of a faculty or staff member who promotes student success, or a student who has been helped by a faculty or staff member through the initiative, that should be highlighted in WSU Today? Email your ideas to Caelin Bragg, newsletter editor with the Office of Strategic Communications, at caelin.bragg@wichita.edu.