WSU Today: Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Featured Stories

Michael Birzer works with several students in the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Hub

From law enforcement to mentorship: WSU professor is shaping research and student success

Dr. Michael Birzer built his first career in law enforcement, rising through the ranks of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department while quietly discovering a deeper passion for research and education. That unexpected interest helped him launch a second career shaped by a relentless drive to understand and improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

“I realized I loved college, and when I started getting involved in research, everything just clicked,” said Birzer, a professor in Wichita State’s Cohen Honors College and the School of Criminal Justice.

That realization led him to pursue a doctoral degree in Oklahoma while working full-time in law enforcement, commuting several times a week to complete his studies. Eventually, Birzer made the leap into higher education, joining Wichita State in 2004.

New data literacy curriculum, developed as part of WSU professor’s NSF grant, empowers high schoolers to think like scientists

High schoolers don’t often get to see what real science is being done every day by researchers. Worst case scenario is that they are dealing with abstract numbers that don’t have any real-world parallels.

But with the help of Dr. Thomas Luhring, assistant professor of biological sciences at Wichita State, students will not only get to work with active data acquired by a real scientist, but the data will also have implications in their neighborhoods.

The opportunity comes through Galactic Polymath — a platform developed by Dr. Matt Wilkins in 2021 to help bridge the gap between scientists with classrooms — and Luhring’s NSF CAREER grant. The platform is now home to a module, free for all teachers to use in their curriculum, on data literacy, which allows students to explore and analyze real datasets to practice their skills.

Parking and Traffic

Parking at Lot 41, near Woolsey Hall, will be restricted May 29

The majority of the parking at Lot 41, the lot near Woolsey Hall, will be closed Thursday, May 29 for an event and is scheduled to reopen in the afternoon. Faculty and staff that typically park in this lot will need to park in other yellow lots during this time. 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.

News

Help welcome visitors to campus for events this week

Anyone on campus this week will notice a large influx of visitors for events this weekend.

Faculty and Staff Resources

Audiologist giving a patient a hearing exam. Free Hearing Evaluations Wichita State Faculty and Staff

Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic offering free hearing evaluations for faculty and staff

The Evelyn Hendren Cassat Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at Wichita State offers free hearing evaluations to faculty and staff. During the evaluation, a graduate student — under the direct supervision of a licensed audiologist — will test the patient’s hearing to determine if there is hearing loss and the type and severity of the loss. Hearing evaluations will last approximately one to two hours. If a patient does appear to have hearing loss, the appointment may last longer.

To schedule an appointment, call 316-978-3289. The clinic is located at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex at the intersection of 29th and Oliver streets.