Category: Student Success and Persistence

Help your students secure funding for their graduate studies in areas such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, materials research, mathematics, physics, psychology (excluding clinical/counseling), social sciences and STEM education and learning research.

This is a fellowship for domestic STEM students (first-year graduate students and undergraduate seniors). The workshop will be offered from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18 at 261 Rhatigan Student Center, Olive Room.

Faculty and students can connect for undergraduate research opportunities with the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Hub (UReCA) Connect Database.

Fill out the surveys below to start getting connected:

• Faculty Connect Database survey
• Student Connect Database survey

The UReCA Hub pairs faculty and students according to their research interests and will inform both the faculty and student via email of their match, and it is their responsibility to schedule an initial meeting.

At the end of the semester, the UReCA Hub will distribute a Qualtrics survey to both faculty and students to evaluate their research experiences.

The Truman Scholarship awards students in their third year of college up to $30,000 for graduate school as well as access to extensive scholar programming, priority admission and financial support from public service graduate programs, advising and mentoring from other public service leaders, and preferred hiring with the federal government.

Students are welcome to attend a virtual open house at 1 p.m. Oct 8 hosted by the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation. The session will include a number of recent scholars discussing their application experiences, as well as an overview of the program and selection criteria. Share the Zoom link with students.

For more information, visit truman.gov.

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 trainings:

• 11-11:45 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24 virtually via Microsoft Teams
• 11-11:45 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 16 virtually via Microsoft Teams
• 11-11:45 a.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. 

Your students will learn how to capture and track their writing project resources with Zotero in the upcoming Savvy Scholar workshop from 3 to 4 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 30 online. There is no cost to attend, and with the new attendance tracking system, offering extra credit for student participation is now simpler than ever.

They’ll use Zotero to create citations and reference lists while writing their papers, share resources with their team and organize their research efficiently.

The Cohen Honors College is seeking faculty mentors to work with students selected to participate in the First-Year Research Experience (FYRE) in STEM. The mission of the FYRE in STEM program is to build a community of STEM students, faculty and professionals from various STEM backgrounds to support young STEM majors or potential majors as they form identities as members of the scientific community, thus improving the likelihood that they will persist to graduation.

To allow the FYRE in STEM program to be a success, it is looking for dedicated research mentors from across campus who can provide an appropriate short-term STEM research project in the spring 2026 semester. Faculty should apply by Oct. 20 and are also encouraged to nominate graduate students to serve as FYRE mentors. All mentors will be matched with students based on interest. Questions may be directed to Moriah Beck at moriah.beck@wichita.edu or 316-978-5476.

If you know of a first-year undergraduate student who may be interested in applying to the FYRE in STEM program, direct them to FYRE in STEM student application.

Learn more about FYRE in STEM at wichita.edu/FYRE.

The First-Year Seminars (FYS) program will host an informational session at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16 in 256 RSC, 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 to 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 & Persistence, at brett.bruner@wichita.edu.

Emails went out this week reminding faculty to provide student feedback in the Student Early Alert System (SEAS). To educate students about SEAS, below is a brief message you can post in your classes:

SEAS (the Student Early Alert System) is a tool used by faculty to identify students who, if they continue with their current academic behavior, are in danger of not doing well in their course. Faculty may go into the system at any time during the semester to flag your academic behavior for attendance, participation, assignments, quizzes and exams. An email will be sent encouraging you to seek assistance from your instructor or other university resources. When you get the email you are not in trouble. It is a nudge for you to look at your current habits and see how you can improve. This message will also include a link to “raise your hand” virtually for assistance from the Student Success team if you need it.

To learn more about the SEAS process and how it can help your students succeed visit the website at wichita.edu/SEAS.

Join the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Hub (UReCA) to learn about the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, First-Year Research Experience (FYRE) and K-IMBRE programs by listening to students currently participating in them. The event is at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8, in 262 Rhatigan Student Center, Herrman Room. RSVP by emailing undergraduateresearch@wichita.edu.

In this upcoming session at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2 in 265 Rhatigan Student Center, Lucas Room, students will learn about the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Hub (UReCA), affiliated research programs and companies, information on funding and a brief introduction to the office of research. The event is open to all undergraduate students interested in learning more about research.