Category: Foundation and Alumni Engagement

Located in front of the Woodman Center and leading toward the Innovation Campus, the Shocker Alumni Walkway celebrates the accomplishments of Shocker Nation with lasting tributes etched into the faces of the bricks. Last week, the most recent additions to the walkway were unveiled, and families and friends of the honorees gathered to celebrate this accomplishment.

Learn more about how to leave a mark on WSU’s campus.

The annual Fairmount Society dinner welcomed many of Wichita State’s most generous donors and honored the 2023 Fairmount Founders’ Award recipient, Steve Feilmeier. With more than 150 guests in attendance, the event recognized individuals and organizations who have reached the highest giving tiers: Lifetime, Lifetime Distinction and Lifetime Achievement.

Watch the recap video of the Fairmount Society dinner.

More than half of Wichita State students apply for need-based scholarships, and thanks to the generous support of donors, WSU awarded more than $7 million in scholarship funding in the last year. To recognize the incredible commitment, each spring, the Wichita State Foundation and Alumni Engagement host an event to connect students with the donors who are helping them achieve their dreams.

This year, 160 donors joined their recipients for an evening of conversation, entertainment and heartwarming speeches.

As the WSU grows and changes, commencement continues to reflect the founding values of the university.

With a collective 84 years of work at the university under their belts, Don Nance and Pennie Myers have already built an incredible legacy at Wichita State. The couple, who spent years in what is now the office of Counseling and Prevention Services, wants to continue supporting students even when they’re gone. To do that, they’ve created a scholarship to be endowed with their planned gift of approximately $5 million.

Last month, Markis McDuffie, ’19, was named an all-star in the top professional basketball league in France.

A new series of Shocker profiles will highlight the students, alumni, supporters, faculty and staff who make Shocker Nation all that it can be.

Fresh off a recent rave-generating turn as Virginia Woolf in the Metropolitan Opera’s world premiere of Kevin Puts’ The Hours, Joyce DiDonato, ’92, is back on tour in support of her latest album project, Eden.

The multiple Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano is taking to California stages in February with a concert program that urges viewers to renew their connection to, as she puts it, the awe-inducing majesty of the natural world.

Betty and Art Wood shared a passion for music throughout their lives, and their legacy of supporting the arts continues through their gift of $1 million from their estate to support the Music Associates Endowed Fund at Wichita State.

“Private support for the Music Associates Fund at Wichita State has opened doors for meaningful experiences for our students through the years,” says Timothy Shade, director of the School of Music, director of bands, and coordinator of the graduate wind conducting program at Wichita State. “This is one of the largest donations the College of Fine Arts has ever received, and I’m overwhelmed thinking about the many ways this will benefit our students and programs.”

Foundation accounts payable: No special dates and times. Business as usual.

Foundation Year-End Gift Receipt Information for 2022 Tax Credit: Checks without a postmarked envelope will need to be delivered to the Foundation Finance Team Office by 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, as the office will close at this time. Checks with an envelope postmarked by Dec. 30 need to be at the office no later than 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.

Information for credit or debit cards to be processed in the office will need to be submitted by 4 p.m. Dec. 29.

Online bank drafts and online credit cards will be able to be processed until midnight on Dec. 30.