WSU Today: Friday, Feb. 25, 2022

News

President Muma hosting town hall for College of Engineering today

All College of Engineering faculty and staff are invited to a town hall with President Rick Muma beginning at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28 via Zoom. Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Shirley Lefever will also be a featured guest.

Join town hall via Zoom

Supply chain issues causing shortage of business envelopes

Due to current supply chain issues affecting paper mills, Shocker Printing Solutions is running into problems receiving #9 reply envelopes, #10 envelopes and #10 window envelopes. This means It could be April-May before they are able to replenish their stock. This will have a major impact on how the university conducts business. Before placing an order, please call Shocker Printing at 316-978-3546 to inquire about what envelopes are currently in stock.

President Muma hosting town hall for College of Health Professionals today

All College of Health Professionals faculty and staff are invited to a town hall with President Rick Muma beginning at 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 28 via Zoom. Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Shirley Lefever will also be a featured guest.

Join town hall via Zoom

Prevent vehicle break-ins on campus

To help prevent items in your vehicles from being stolen, please hide any items left in your vehicle in the trunk or somewhere out of sight. You should also take your keys and anything of value with you and lock your vehicle.

If you see any suspicious activity or experience a break-in, call the Wichita State Police Department at 316-978-3450.

F1RST-Gen Friday: Deltha Q. Colvin

This week as TRIO celebrates, National TRIO Week, the First-Gen Coordinating Council (FGCC) is honored to feature Deltha Q. Colvin, associate vice president for the Office of Special Programs in the Division of Strategic Engagement and Planning. Colvin was a graduate of the Upward Bound program at WSU— the first TRIO program established at Wichita State — 55 years ago. She is an example of the TRIO experience, starting as a first-generation college student who dedicated her entire career to expanding educational opportunities for disadvantaged students.

Colvin has been professionally involved with the TRIO Programs at WSU for 49 years. She remains steadfast in her work and dedicates her time and energies toward providing opportunities to students engaged with the TRIO programs at WSU. She now oversees three TRIO college programs, eight pre-college programs and two of the GEAR-UP programs which all cater to the educational, financial, social, and emotional needs of first-gen students.

For more information about TRIO programs, visit WSU’s Office of Special Programs website.

Visit WSU's Office of Special Programs website

TRIO programs assist students with disabilities

TRIO is a group of federally funded outreach programs that were put in place to support disadvantaged students who want to pursue higher education. Wichita State sponsors eight TRIO programs, each of them focusing on a specific population and with a unique focus. Read about two TRIO programs below:

Student Support Services assists low-income and first-generation college students and individuals with disabilities to graduate from college. Services include assistance with securing financial aid; personal, academic, and career counseling; academic instruction; and assistance with applying to graduate and professional programs.
Disability Support Services provides academic support services and resources to low-income and first-generation undergraduate students with psychological, physical, or learning disabilities. Services include assistance with securing financial aid and scholarship opportunities; academic instruction; degree planning; and course selection.

Since 1986, the last Saturday of each February has been designated as National TRIO Day to recognize the efforts of these programs in assisting our nation’s low-income and first-generation college students.

Help WSU PD support Shocker Locker

During February, the Wichita State Police Department will pick up donations from students, faculty and staff for the Shocker Support Locker. The Shocker Support Locker helps combat food insecurity within the Wichita State community. The Locker is open to all WSU students, faculty, and staff.

The department is accepting the following items:

Canned food
Dry food
Hygiene products.

The officers are accepting the donations at their location on campus at 1845 Fairmont St. Members can also have their donations picked up by a member of the department by calling 316-978-3450.

Events

Ulrich Museum of Art hosting Spring Exhibition Party tonight

The Ulrich Museum of Art will host its spring 2022 exhibition party 5-8 P.M. this evening, Friday, Feb. 25. The party is free and open to the public. Masks will be required. This spring, the Ulrich has brought four shows to campus (three in the museum’s galleries and one at the Grace Memorial Chapel). They include the following:

Two immersive video installations by Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila, “The Annunciation” and “The Bridge.”
Highlights from the career of Wichita-based artist Ann Resnick in “Chapter & Verse.”
A sound installation in Grace Memorial Chapel titled “DECLARATION” by Lebanese American artist Annabel Daou.

The party will feature remarks from President Rick Muma, interim Ulrich director Rodney Miller, and curator Ksenya Gurshtein. It will also feature live music and food and drink from local vendors including Hungry Bunny, the Black Fig Bakery, Komugi, Argentina’s Empanadas, Mokko Cuisine, Viola’s Pantry, and Journey East.

Watkins visiting professor to lecture about C. elegans today

Dr. Guy A. Caldwell, university distinguished research professor at the University of Alabama (UA), will present a public lecture, “Some Worm Saved My Life Tonight: Invertebrate-Driven Personalized Medicine,” at 3:30 p.m., today, March 2 at Hubbard Hall (Room 209).

Caldwell is visiting as part of the Watkins Visiting Professorship. The Watkins Visiting Professorship was created in 1974 by the Watkins Foundation. This grant is now provided through the Watkins fund, a part of the Wichita State University Foundation’s endowment.

His lab, The Worm Shack, studies C. elegans, a roundworm that lives in soil, and possesses genes that have functional counterparts in humans. Worms of this species are used as models for human disorders and illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease, kidney disease and congenital heart disease.

Emerging fiction writer Sindya Bhanoo giving reading at Ulrich today

The Writing Now/Reading Now series is back on Tuesday with a fiction reading from Sindya Bhanoo at 6 p.m. today, March 1st at the Ulrich Museum of Art. Bhanoo is Wichita State’s 2022 Visiting Emerging Fiction Writer. She will read from her debut short story collection, “Seeking Fortune Elsewhere.” There will be a reception before at 5:30 P.M. The event is free and open to the public.

Writing Now/Reading Now is co-sponsored by the WSU Department of English, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Watermark Books and Café, and the Ulrich Museum of Art.

Bhanoo’s fiction has appeared in Granta, New England Review, and Glimmer Train. She is the recipient of an O. Henry Award and scholarships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee writers conferences. A longtime newspaper reporter, she has worked for “The New York Times” and “The Washington Post,” and was most recently a Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow at the University of Michigan and a visiting faculty member at the Michener Center for Writers.

Savvy Scholar Series covers making impactful research posters

The next University Libraries Savvy Scholar Workshop “Making A Stunning Research Poster” will take place 4-5 p.m. Tuesday, March 1 at the Ablah Library (Room 217, second floor). There is no fee to register. During the workshop participants will learn to create impactful and visually effective posters for conferences, competitions and other presentations.

Register for Edible Book Festival April 1

Students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in University Libraries’ annual Edible Book Festival which will take place 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Ablah Library. Registration is free of charge. Those who register are encouraged to create edible art based on their favorite literature for a chance to win prizes.

The deadline to register is noon Thursday, March 31.

Facilities Management hosting lunch and learn with local facility managers

Do you like problem-solving? Do you want every workday to be different? The Engineering Technology Department is hosting a lunch and learn 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25 at the Engineering Building (Room 202). Free pizza will be provided to those in attendance. The event will allow attendants to speak with local facility managers including the following:

Scott Rains–Medxcel and St. Francis Hospital facilities manager

Heath Koehler–Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. senior manager and facilities services

Dane Estok–Mahaney Group facilities manager

For more information, contact Kara McCluskey at kara.mccluskey@wichita.edu.

Performances

Faculty Artist Series presents Dr. Julie Bees

The School of Music’s Faculty Artist Series welcomes celebrate American pianist Dr. Julie Bees who will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27 at Wiedemann Hall. The concert will feature works by Bach, Chopin and Schubert.

Bees is a professor of piano and director of the Konrad Wolff-Ilse Bing Chamber Music Endowment Award at Wichita State. She is also a founding member of The Orfeo Trio, a traveling piano trio that has most recently given recitals and masterclasses across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

During her career, Bees has given countless performances as a soloist and collaborative pianist. Her most recent appearances include performing as a concerto soloist with the SAR Philharmonic in Hong Kong and with the WSU Symphony Orchestra during their tour of Spain.

Kudos

Wendy Veatch presents rural entrepreneurship research at SBI

Wendy Veatch, manager of the Barton School’s Professional Edge program, was invited to present on “The Future of Rural Entrepreneurship Research” at the 2022 Small Business Institute (SBI) Annual Conference in Charleston, South Carolina Feb. 24-26. SBI encourages applied research related to small business and entrepreneurship from all disciplines, as well as workshops, pedagogical practices, best practices, and roundtables submissions.

Veatch helped create Wichita State’s Growing Rural Businesses Program as part of WSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship. The program has provided training for over 335 Kansas businesses.