WSU Today: May 17, 2019

 

Faculty-staff message from Interim President Andy Tompkins

Andy Tompkins

Andy Tompkins

Dear colleagues,

Whether you’re working on campus this summer, or headed off for scholarly or personal pursuits, I wanted to say thank you for all you have contributed this year.

I personally have appreciated your kindness and the welcome I have received. This is a really great place, filled with energy, ideas, achievements and deep dedication to the students we educate and encourage. Also, it is obvious that we are collectively committed to the welfare and success of each student.

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This past six weeks I’ve gotten a concentrated introduction to the life and people of the university. I’ve seen many of you honored at awards ceremonies, participated in your celebration of the life of President Bardo, helped dedicate a new sculpture and shared in the joy of student performances.

Mostly I’ve walked, talked, observed and listened, to learn the rhythms and issues of the campus and city. One thing I’ve quickly learned is that the Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć community counts on WSU as a center of education, innovation, arts, culture, athletics and much more.

I believe the university is in a good place from a budget standpoint. The whole public university system had one of its best years in the Legislature in more than a decade. As a result, our request for a 1% tuition increase is the smallest in 30 years. Also, we received a small pool of money that will enable us to provide some modest raises. If fall enrollment meets or exceeds projections, we’ll have a little more breathing room than in recent years.

Yesterday the Kansas Board of Regents took the first important steps in the process of finding a new president by naming a search chair, committee members and search firm. You can learn more . The expectation is that a new president will be named by early November.

I consider it a privilege to work with you and support your efforts until the new president can begin. I’m looking forward to getting to know you in the coming months. Until then, I wish you a relaxing and enjoyable summer.

Sincerely,

Andy Tompkins signature


KBOR appoints members to Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State University Presidential Search Committee

The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) today appointed 20 members to the committee that will assist and advise the Board in the search for the next president of Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State University (WSU). The search committee includes representation from university students, faculty, staff, alumni and the Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć community. The Board named Steve Clark of Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć as chair of the search committee. Clark, a former Regent, is chairman of Clark Investment Group. He previously chaired the search committee that advised the Board in the hiring of former WSU president, Dr. John Bardo.

“The members of the search committee possess a wealth of experience and bring a variety of important perspectives to the search process,” said Regent Mark Hutton, Vice Chair of the search committee. “I’m confident the committee will identify several highly qualified finalists to recommend to the Board.”

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WSU spring commencement schedule, speakers

Commencement photo

More than 2,400 students are eligible to participate in the 121st spring commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 18, at Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State University. Ceremonies will be held in Charles Koch Arena. Undergraduate and graduate degrees will be conferred in college ceremonies.

The public should be advised that security will be in place and plan additional time for screening by metal detector to enter the arena. Doors will open at 7 a.m. and remain open throughout the day.

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Plan to attend the All-Campus Faculty / Staff Party - Shockin’ Fun Friday

Shockin

Faculty and staff, plan to attend an all-campus party, Shockin’ Fun Friday, hosted by Student Affairs from 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, May 31, in the RSC east courtyard. Join your fellow faculty and staff members for food, prizes, games and more to kick off the summer!

Prizes include a reserved “red” parking spot for a year, a TV, athletic tickets and more! Must be present to win. Please bring your WSU faculty / staff ID card. Families are welcome. This is a come-and-go event, no RSVP required.


An anniversary Grady Landrum chooses not to celebrate

Grady Landrum

This June, Grady Landrum - who has been director of Disability Services at Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State University for the past 27 years - will retire. Landrum is well known across campus as a jovial and self-effacing member of the Shocker community.

He is also known for his tremendous work at WSU, taking the Office of Disability Services from a program with no policies or procedures nearly 30 years ago and building it into an office that for years has provided a high quality of services for students, faculty and staff.

On the eve of his retirement, we revisit a story, with updates, that first ran in WSU News in 2011.

Grady Landrum story


Opportunity to develop new First Year Seminars on May 29

After piloting First Year Seminars (FYS) for three years, the faculty have approved requiring an FYS course for all first-time-in-college students as part of their general education experience starting in fall 2021. This is an exciting opportunity to add another best practice to our other student success strategies on campus. Summer presents a good time for new course development. 

For those interested in learning more about how to develop a first year seminar course, an FYS Information Session will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday May 29, in 203 RSC.

Additional sessions will be scheduled in the summer and fall. Information is also available at , or you can contact Carolyn.Shaw@wichita.edu or Kim.Sandlin@wichita.edu with questions.


Annualized Salary Spread for Academic Year 2019-20

For exempt nine / 10-month employees (faculty and UP) not currently on salary spread but interested in participating in this program, an agreement form must be signed. Salary spread payments for academic year 2019-20 will begin with the pay period that starts on Aug. 11, 2019 (pay date of Sept. 6, 2019). To exercise this option, please complete the nine / 10-month Annualized Salary Agreement form.

If you are currently on annualized salary spread, it remains in force from year-to-year unless you elect to discontinue it. To discontinue it, you must notify the Office of Human Resources in writing prior to July 3, 2019.  Complete the cancellation form.


May 14 joint senates meeting recap

This past Tuesday, the Joint UP and USS senates meeting was held, with special guest speaker, Interim WSU President Andy Tompkins.

Tompkins highlighted key issues of interest, including:

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  • The proposed 1% tuition increase for 2020-21: This proposal went to the Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday, and we will have an answer by mid-June. .
  • An update on the presidential search: Tompkins outlined the process of selecting a new university president, the first step being the naming of a presidential search committee and search firm by the Regents, both of which were announced Thursday. .

During the meeting, Jason Post and Lauren Smith were also on hand to talk about the WSU Idea Generator, the purpose of which is to gather suggestions that could generate revenue savings or cost reduction for the university. Make your own suggestions or learn more at .

Judy Espinoza, executive director of Human Resources, spoke at length and answered questions about the Compensatory Time Utilization plan being worked on by HR. An updated plan was discussed as the university continues to work on transitioning to overtime rather than comp time. The exact date for this conversion has not been set. For more details, go to the UP website and read the May 14 meeting notes.

The next joint senates meeting will be 9-11 a.m. June 18 in RSC 266.


Parking lot update

Parking lot closures

Saturday, May 18: All of lot 16N west of Duerksen Fine Arts Center, and lots 2N, 2E, and 2K north and east of Koch Arena, will be blocked off for the WSU Spring Commencement.

Monday, May 20: All of lots 9E and 9W, green lots outside Ahlberg Hall, will be blocked for new student orientations.

Thursday-Friday, May 23-24: All of lots 9E and 9W, green lots outside Ahlberg Hall, will be blocked for new student orientations.

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Friday-Saturday, May 24-25: All of parking lots 3N and 3S between Cessna Stadium and Devlin Hall, all of lot 5 (green lot east of Corbin Education Center), and lots 2N, 2E and 2K north and east of Koch Arena, will be blocked off for the state high school track meet. Parking lots will start to be closed off Wednesday to help clear and set up the lots.

Thursday-Friday, May 30-31: All of lot 5 (Green lot east of Corbin Education Center) will be blocked off for student orientations.


In case you missed it

Here’s some of the news that was shared during Thursday’s Weekly Briefing.

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Shocker New Venture Competition / Koch Innovation Challenge

We’d like to recognize the recent winners of the Shocker New Venture Competition and Koch Innovation Challenge, who applied their classroom knowledge to solve real-world problems while gaining valuable business skills along the way.

Hosted by WSU's Center for Entrepreneurship, the Shocker New Venture Competition serves as an opportunity for college students from across the state, and from a variety of majors, to take key steps in developing and launching a new business venture.

This year’s winner is Boosted Ideas Lab, a team of four WSU students, who received $8,500 and a $1,500 membership to GoCreate for their product, Boost Hoop, which is a device to improve basketball players’ shooting skills.

The Koch Innovation Challenge is a competition emphasizing teamwork and entrepreneurship. In addition to developing a technically feasible and potentially profitable prototype, competing cross-disciplinary teams submit a basic business plan or opportunity statement to determine market size, profitability and potential for commercialization for their product.

This year’s grand champion is team Water Level Sensor Buddy, who created a tool for the visually impaired to accurately gauge water levels for a wide range of applications, such as filling up a water bottle. This fall, the team will travel to Florida to compete in a national pitch competition.

We congratulate the winners—as well as every competitor—and look forward to seeing what each of these innovators accomplish in the future.

 

NASA 2019 Space Launch Competition

A team of four WSU aerospace engineering seniors just returned from Huntsville Alabama where they successfully competed in the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Student Launch Initiative—where participants design, build and launch a rocket to complete a simulated inter-planetary mission.

The team’s 37-pound, 10-foot-tall reusable rocket carried an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle that autonomously oriented itself for takeoff and delivered a simulated navigation beacon to a designated location.

Since last August, the team has completed three challenging NASA design reviews, conducted seven launches and reached almost 300 3rd-12th grade students via educational outreach events.

Like the two previously mentioned competitions, this is another prime example of the applied learning opportunities that benefit our students, and we applaud our aerospace engineering team for their accomplishments.

 

APLU

With the success of every Shocker paramount to our vision and mission, we’re proud to announce that the university has recently been recognized by the Association of Public Land Grant Universities, or APLU, for its best practices in financial aid strategies and proactive advising.

In particular, APLU has recognized our Office of Student Money Management, which helps students with skills such as financial planning and budgeting, understanding loan repayment, tax completion and more.

They also recognized our centralized advising and “push” enrollment for traditional freshman, which provides them with first-year advisors and custom schedules.

This recognition comes through our participation in the APLU’s Powered by Publics: Scaling Student Success Initiative—a collaboration between 130 APLU universities to tackle different pieces of the student success puzzle. We’re proud to be a part of this collaboration and will continue working to develop strategies and tools to make sure even more students have all they need to succeed in college and beyond.

 

WSU Tech 

On May 9, WSU Tech held its graduation ceremony at Charles Koch Arena, awarding its first graduating class, 1,000 degrees and certificates—the largest number of awards conferred by the institution in its history. We applaud the hard work and dedication of every WSU Tech graduate, and the faculty and staff who supported them. Their success is just one of the positive outcomes that happen when two higher-learning institutions, like WSU and WSU Tech, join forces for the benefit of our city, state and region.


Shocker bowling coaching staff changes: Lewis & Harris elevated, Rick Steelsmith hired

Rick Steelsmith

Rick Steelsmith

Several coaching changes have occurred as a result of head coach Gordon Vadakin announcing his retirement next month.

Current assistant coach Mark Lewis takes on the newly created Director of the Bowling Program position, while current Marketing, Development and Operations Coordinator Holly Harris has been elevated to the Women’s Head Bowling Coach. The Shockers are also pleased to announce the addition of Shocker alumni Rick Steelsmith as the men’s head bowling coach.

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Steelsmith had an illustrious collegiate career followed by a successful professional career on the Professional Bowlers Association tour. Rick started his collegiate career at Vincennes University where he was a two-time NCBCA First Team All-American along with the 1985 NJCAA National Team and Singles Champion. He obtained his degree in 1985 in Bowling Center Management from Vincennes and then came to Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State. While at Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State, he was again an NCBCA First Team All-American twice, becoming the first ever player to be a four-time First Team All-American. Steelsmith was also named the 1987 NCBCA Most Valuable Player. He was part of the 1987 national championship team as well. He received his degree in Business Management

“Gordon was my coach during my collegiate career at Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State years ago,” said Steelsmith. “He played a huge role in the successes that I’ve been fortunate enough to have since college. What an amazing honor it is for me to return in a coaching capacity to this iconic bowling program he’s built over the last 40-plus years. I can’t express how thankful I am for this opportunity and how excited I am to get to work. I am really looking forward to working with and learning from Mark and Holly, meeting all of the student-athletes and becoming a part of the Shocker Bowling team.”

The new positions for Harris and Lewis will start June 1, while Steelsmith’s first day with Shocker Bowling is June 11.


Meet a Shocker: Julisa Martinez, business grad

Julisa Martinez

As a business major at Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State, Julisa Martinez has learned the power of networking.

Julisa was one of more than 2,400 students eligible for spring 2019 graduation. Learn more about her time at Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State and what's next for the senior.

Julisa Martinez story


LaunchPrep Demo Day to feature six businesses

LaunchPrep Demo Day May 22, 2019

Witness firsthand how LaunchPrep provides tangible outcomes for the ever developing entrepreneurial ecosystem on Launch Prep Demo Day from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, in the Experiential Engineering Building.

You’ll hear pitches from six new start-ups that have been working on launching their business. Businesses will showcase their product / service in a Trade Show format beginning at 5 p.m.

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Featured entrepreneurs:

Coming Together for a Cure

Hearsay

James Wesley Furniture

M.A.D. Ad Labs

Vrume

Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć Limelight


Participants needed for website evaluation

Participants age 18+ who have experience using websites for renting apartments are needed to help evaluate the usability of a website. If you are interested, please take a few minutes to take the .

If you qualify, you will be contacted to schedule a time to participate. This study takes place on the WSU main campus and lasts about 60-90 minutes. Participants in the study will earn $25 for their time.

Questions can be directed to Traci Hart at Traci.Hart@wichita.edu or 978-3807.


Help is available to guide transfer students to WSU

Transfer Gateway

Do you know a student interested in transferring to Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State?  Visit the  to get an estimate of how their credits may transfer to Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State. While on the Gateway, compare majors, career paths, and explore job demand.  

For more information, contact Justin Petersen at 316-978-5042 or Justin.petersen@wichita.edu.


Exhibit by WSU students to be featured in Valley Center

Black Gold exhibit in Valley Center May 20, 2019

Find out how oil put Valley Center on the map in this unique exhibit created by Â鶹ĆĆ˝â°ć State’s Museum Studies Program and sponsored by the Valley Center Historical Society. A free open house: Black Gold – The Oil Boom in Valley Center – will be held from 6-10 p.m. Monday, May 20, at the Valley Center Historical Museum Learning Center at Main and Meridian.


Join us this summer at the Heskett Center

Heskett Center summer hours 2019

Intersession hours are from May 18-June 2 and July 27-Aug. 18.

Monday through Friday from 7-a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from 1-6 p.m.

 

Summer Hours are from June 3-July 26.

Monday through Friday from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from 1-6 p.m.

The Heskett Center will be closed May 25-27 and July 4.


Registration for Campus Safety: Active Threat Incident Planning is available

Active Threat Incident Planning July 31, 2019

Providing a safe and secure environment for the WSU community continues to be a top priority. The Campus Safety: Active Threat Incident Planning course in from 3-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, in 233 RSC, is a live training initiative to enhance WSU’s proactive approach to ensure a safe campus environment and to prepare our faculty, staff, and students in case of an incident of campus violence. 

Campus Safety: Active Threat Incident Planning will focus on two areas: 1) what to do in an active campus threat incident and 2) how to identify and report behaviors of concern.

This training is free and available to all WSU employees (faculty and staff). Log in to myWSU and register through myTraining.  For questions, contact myTraining@wichita.edu.