Category: Student Success and Persistence

Are you looking for ways to help your students explore career options and make informed decisions about their future? Attend the upcoming PathwayU: Overview & Advisor Access training:

• 1:30-2:25 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10 virtually via Microsoft Teams. Register on myTraining via your myWSU.

PathwayU is the comprehensive career assessment tool, utilized by the Shocker Career Accelerator. It is designed to guide students to their purpose, supporting their success and persistence. In this training session, you will learn how to:

• Navigate the platform’s features, including assessments, career matches, WSU major alignment and military crosswalk
• Gain valuable insights into student interests and career aspirations
• Integrate PathwayU into your teaching or advising practices to empower students

Prior to the session, create an account at wichita.pathwayu.com and take the four career assessments.

As Student Success progresses through the rest of the semester, instructor feedback in SEAS continues to be a valuable tool for supporting students. Take a few minutes to update student progress. If a student you flagged earlier is now making progress, removing the alert helps Student Success better understand how this intervention is working.

Accessing SEAS is easy:

• Log in to myWSU
• Go to the Home or Teach/Advise tab
• Click the SEAS link

Student Success thanks everyone for their partnership to support student success. For more information about SEAS, visit the SEAS website.

Connection is essential for the college experience. ProjectConnect is a campus-wide program that helps connect students as they build their communities on campus. Becoming a campus facilitator and hosting connection groups is a great way to make an impact on student engagement. As plans begin for the spring 2026 groups, additional connection groups and facilitators are needed for the initiative.

ProjectConnect is an evidence-based facilitated program to help build social connection and community on campus. Students get to know a small group of four to six students outside of their social groups over the course of six one-hour sessions to engage in a series of thought-provoking questions and fun activities. These sessions can be offered in-person or virtually.

Trained facilitators lead groups through a step-by-step curriculum that includes question prompts and activities demonstrated to build empathy, connection and friendship. A bit about the program model:

• Each group is four to eight students
• One PCFacilitator (staff or peer)
• Six sessions approximately one hour long. The program suggests the last session could be a service project and/or a social based activity to close it out. These can be weekly or bi-weekly sessions. It’s not recommended going more than two weeks in between.
• Everything is organized and provided, including materials, activities and assessment. You are only facilitating the conversations and building connections with students.

The current population of students, including those incoming, is experiencing loneliness a significantly higher rates than previous. One of the goals is to connect students through building relationships with other students and faculty/staff that care about their wellbeing and success.

If you would like to host a connection group this spring or get involved in the program, you can register for ProjectConnect Facilitator Training coming up from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 14.

Encourage your students to attend the next Savvy Scholar workshop from 3 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28 at Ablah Library Digital Scholars Commons and learn why citations matter and help them gain confidence for using them in their research assignments. With the new attendance tracking system, offering extra credit for student participation is now simpler than ever.

Encourage your students to participate in the annual Innovation Works competition and put their classroom learning into practice Nov. 7-9. Hosted in partnership with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Innovation Works is a fast-paced, interdisciplinary hackathon where students apply critical thinking, collaboration and creativity to real-world challenges inspired by space exploration.

This year’s theme asks students to design technologies for a future moon base, developing innovative solutions that enable life and work on the lunar surface, from habitat systems and power generation to mobility and communication. During the 48-hour, in-person event, student teams will brainstorm, prototype and pitch their concepts to judges from Lockheed Martin, WSU and industry partners. It’s an incredible opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience, strengthen teamwork skills and showcase innovation in action.

Teams must include three to four current Wichita State students from any major, and cash prizes will be awarded to the top three teams, including an exclusive Lockheed Martin facility tour with a chance to meet engineers and technologists shaping the future of space exploration for the top team.

Teams must register by Nov. 1. For more information, visit wsuinnovationworks.com or contact Jared Goering, product innovation faculty, at jared.goering@wichita.edu.

Encourage your students to get extra support from TRIO Student Support Services (SSS). TRIO SSS is a project 100% funded by the Department of Education dedicated to empowering first-generation and limited income students, and students with disabilities to achieve their academic and career goals. Through personalized advising, tutoring, financial literacy education and career skill-development opportunities, SSS provides the resources and guidance for students to navigate the path to success in college.

Free services include: scholarships exclusively for SSS participants, educational trips, peer mentoring, textbooks/technology checkout, private computer lab access with free printing, academic skill-building workshops and more.

Students can apply online or learn more at wichita.edu/sss. Visit SSS in 307 Shocker Success Center or call 316-978-3715.

Help your students make informed academic decisions by learning when AI can strengthen their work — and when it can’t — at the next Savvy Scholar workshop from 3 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21. With the new attendance tracking system, offering extra credit for student participation is now simpler than ever.

AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot can streamline research tasks, but they may not always provide accurate information. The workshop will show students how to use these tools effectively while evaluating their limitations.

Help your students make informed academic decisions by learning when AI can strengthen their work — and when it can’t — at the next Savvy Scholar workshop from 3 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21. With the new attendance tracking system, offering extra credit for student participation is now simpler than ever.

AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot can streamline research tasks, but they may not always provide accurate information. The workshop will show students how to use these tools effectively while evaluating their limitations.

The Office of Financial Aid is celebrating Financial Aid Day with another open house from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15 in 203 Jardine Hall — and you’re invited. Grab a snack, meet the team and learn about the services the office offers. Plus, you can enter raffles for great prizes.

This fall, Wichita State launched a new course designed specifically for students beginning their English degree. ENGL 198: English Career Seminar is an eight-week, one-credit-hour class that introduces students to the wide range of possibilities available to English majors and equips them with tools to begin shaping their academic and career pathways.  

The course was developed through collaboration between Dr. Francis X. Connor and Katie Lanning, Department of English, and Sarah Mathews, Shocker Career Accelerator. Together, they created a class that blends academic exploration with practical, career-focused learning.  

“Students often ask, what can I do with an English degree? This course helps answer that question early in their college journey,” said Connor.