WSU Today: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024

Parking and Traffic

Lot 41 by Woolsey Hall to be closed Feb. 20

Lot 41, the parking lot near Woolsey Hall, will be closed Tuesday, Feb. 20 for an event at Woolsey Hall. Faculty and staff that typically park in this lot will need to park in other yellow lots in the area of the building. The YMCA lot is not available for faculty, staff or event guest parking and could result in a citation.

The purpose of lot reservations is to help accommodate large groups of guests visiting campus for events or the event itself. Lot reservations are not to be used for WSU affiliates. Remember, visitors to campus can park without an ePermit up to three times each semester.

Red reserved and ADA stalls are not subject to lot closures and proper use is permitted during this time.

Find other faculty/staff parking

News

Learn more about the new course evaluation tool: CES

Periodically, information will be posted regarding Watermark’s Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) tool to help users better understand Wichita State’s new course evaluation tool.

Today’s focus is on “How to use CES?”

While in Blackboard, instructors can access CES anytime by choosing “Tools” from the main menu and selecting “CES Course Evaluations.” It can also be directly accessed via the links provided in emails sent to the instructor.
Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys Dashboard will appear.
Widgets will appear on the dashboard. When a task is available for a course, it will display information. If not, it may state “No Project Found.”
The manage courses widget will only appear when that option is open and available to instructors.
There is a dedicated CES website that includes additional information.

For questions, contact Sandra Ranney at evaluations@ces.wichita.edu.

Ultra Course View gradebook statistics have improved

Recent updates to the Ultra Course format for Blackboard has added an exciting new feature in the gradebook. You can now see key metrics such as minimum/maximum value, range, average, median, standard deviation and variance for individual gradebook columns.

Read more about Ultra Gradebook statistics and other February Ultra updates. For questions, send the Office of Instructional Resources an email at OIR@wichita.edu

College of Engineering to host about 200 high school girls for national engineering day event

On Thursday, Feb. 22, the College of Engineering will host about 200 high school girls for the Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IGED) event, commonly known as Girl Day. The event will be from 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. in 305/306 Rhatigan Student Center, Beggs Ballroom.

Although a private event, staff and faculty are encouraged to have positive interactions with students, educators and event volunteers when in common areas. According to the College of Engineering, IGED is a national event that takes place during National Engineers Week. The purpose of IGED events is to foster a positive connection between young women and STEM.

Learn more about IGED

Presentations and Talks

Daniel Czech will discuss search for alien intelligence at Interstellar Seminar Feb. 21

Interstellar Seminar will be joined by Daniel Czech, a project engineer for UC Berkeley’s Breakthrough Listen Technosignature Survey at the MeerKAT radio telescope, remotely at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21 in 104 Jabara Hall.

SETI teams search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence by listening to the cosmos, and Dr. Czech develops software to identify potential messages from alien civilizations. He will join WSU’s Dr. Mark Schneegurt in a session on planetary protection and SETI.

Learn more about Interstellar Seminar

Gene and Yolanda Camarena entrepreneurship keynote set for Feb. 22

Yolanda and Gene Camarena — the dynamic Entrepreneurs-in-Residence duo at the Barton School of Business for the spring 2024 semester — will provide a keynote presentation as part of the James Schwartz Lecture Series, “Unlocking Success: Key Insights from Visionary Entrepreneurs on Building, Innovating, and Transforming Futures.”

Gene is the president and CEO of La Raza Pizza, Inc., and Yolanda is a dedicated leader in social justice and equity advocacy in education, bringing unparalleled expertise and insights to our academic and entrepreneurial community.

The keynote event is at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 in the Woolsey Hall Auditorium.

Doors open at 9 a.m. All are welcome and encouraged to attend this free event.

RSVP now

Ulrich Curator Jo Reinert will talk about the exhibition ‘Fully Dimensional’

Jo Reinert, Ulrich curator of modern and contemporary art, will discuss the process of curating “Fully Dimensional: Artists of the Outdoor Sculpture Collection,” at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21 in the Ulrich Museum.

“Fully Dimensional: Artists of the Outdoor Sculpture Collection” is on display this spring in the Polk/Wilson Gallery and Amsden Gallery.

Events

Attend mindfulness-based stress reduction meditations for faculty, staff

The Office of Instructional Resources (OIR) would like to invite all faculty and staff and all Innovation Campus employees to two short meditation sessions held in-person and online starting Jan. 30. Sessions will be held from 2 to 2:30 p.m. each Tuesday in the Defiance Room on the first floor of the NetApp building, across the cafeteria, and are offered free of charge by a certified workplace mindfulness facilitator.

Can’t join right at 2 p.m.? Each Tuesday there will be two meditations, one starting around 2:05 p.m. and the second starting around 2:20. Come for both or just one.

In-person sessions this spring:

Jan. 30
Feb. 6
Feb. 20
Feb. 27
March 5
March 26

Prefer to attend online? Get the link on the OIR website. The session on March 19 is online only.

Join HealthHum grant strategy meeting every Tuesday

HealthHum (Academic Center for Biomedical and Health Humanities) is meeting to discuss grant possibilities at 2 p.m. every Tuesday beginning Tuesday, Feb. 20 in 301 Lindquist Hall.

Anyone who’d like to find collaborators for health-related grant projects is welcome. Email susan.castro@wichita.edu with any questions.

Learn more about HealthHum

Attend the Promoting Equity through Assessment Workshop Feb. 29

All faculty and staff are invited to attend a workshop led by Barbara Glesner Fines, dean emerita of the UMKC Law School, focused on promoting equity through assessment. During the session, participants will explore teaching and assessment methods that respect diverse ways of knowing and communicate high expectations for student learning, sharpening objectives and improving methods of communicating with students regarding their progress toward those objectives. RSVP online to attend the Promoting Equity through Assessment Workshop from 3 to 4:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29 in 261 Rhatigan Student Center or via Zoom.

Immediately following the workshop, enjoy the Provost’s Pedagogy Happy Hour with drinks and light appetizers from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Ablah Library, introducing a new Faculty Lounge space on the second floor. RSVP for the mixer.

Join the Healthcare Research Roundtable March 22

The second annual Healthcare Research Roundtable will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 22 at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex.

This is a great opportunity for discovery, coalition-building and strategic planning with the University of Kansas and WSU Tech, industry and community partners, and all of the colleges at WSU. The scope of work includes everything from translational medicine to clinical work, the arts, humanities, applied studies and all the health-related work we do in the region. There will be short flash presentations on current research for its selected themes, followed by breakout discussions to allow members of the community to discuss ongoing and future research projects.

Sponsored by the President’s Innovation Advisory Council (PIAC) and the Academic Center for Biomedical and Health Humanities (HealthHum). Support provided by the WSU Office of the President.

Learn more, RSVP or volunteer

Foundation and Alumni Engagement

Leaving touch points for the future: King’s career at WSU

Elizabeth King arrived on campus as WSU’s youngest vice president in 1991, and she’ll take her leave from the university this year as a Shocker Forever. Working with six WSU presidents throughout her career, she has helped Wichita State attain many achievements that are now part of our institutional history.

Sight lines take shape for Wichita Biomedical Campus

A new article in the winter/spring edition of The Shocker magazine explores the sight lines the Wichita Biomedical Campus project will bring to downtown Wichita. The move downtown will centralize health education, collaboration and research from Wichita State’s College of Health Professions, WSU Tech’s healthcare programs and KU’s Wichita schools of medicine and pharmacy.

Read the article in The Shocker

The Shocker explores news Ulrich exhibit in Viewpoints video tour

Wichita State’s Ulrich Museum of Art won’t officially turn 50-years-old until Dec. 7, but the birthday celebration has already begun. First on the museum’s slate of special anniversary exhibitions, programs, events and unveilings is “Fully Dimensional: Artists of the Outdoor Sculpture Collection.”

Take the video tour