Hyatt Place hotel to break ground next week at 黑洞社区
The first hotel on the Wichita State campus is beginning construction.
A 106-room Hyatt Place hotel will break ground next week on Wichita State鈥檚 Innovation
Campus, within walking distance of the new Fuzzy鈥檚 Tacos, the Shocker Store and Starbucks.
The groundbreaking is set for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, on 19th Street just west
of Oliver. The event will kick off directly after 黑洞社区鈥檚 10 a.m. weekly briefing in
the Marcus Welcome Center. The campus community is welcome to walk over from the briefing
to the groundbreaking.
Message from Provost Rick Muma
Rick Muma
August 19, 2019
Dear Colleagues.
Welcome to the fall semester! It鈥檚 been great to see everyone back on campus with new energy and excitement for the upcoming year. You know, it鈥檚 kind of lonely without you all during the summer! Hopefully you were able to get some well-deserved rest and relaxation.
I want to first thank you so much for the work you accomplished last year. Even though last year was challenging for the campus with the passing of President Bardo, we were all able to continue the momentum and move forward without missing a beat.
I also wanted to let you know, I had a really nice dinner a few weeks ago with First Lady Emerita Deborah Bardo, and she is doing well. We shared a few laughs of course, as Deborah still has her great sense of humor. We will look forward to seeing her on campus this fall when the Experiential Engineering Building is formally named the John Bardo Center.
Last year brought many successes. We made amazing progress on the 2018-2019 priorities that grew out of our strategic planning processes. As many of you saw at the Aug. 14 kick-off event, those priorities will continue and new ones will be added so that we continue to make forward movement on our strategic plan. Engaging around these priorities will be especially helpful this next year as we present our progress on our strategic plan to the next president.
A few things that I鈥檇 like to point out where we have made some exceptional progress:
- We had another year of record enrollment growth, with overall growth of 4.7%, which included first-time college students, out-of-state students, online students and working professionals
- We鈥檝e added three new degree programs, 14 certificates and 29 badges
- We鈥檝e hired four deans: Andrew Hippisley for the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dennis Livesay for the College of Engineering, Larisa Genin for the Barton School of Business, and Coleen Pugh for the Graduate School
- In partnership with my office, the deans and the VP for research, we have made some major investments in research aligned with industry needs:
- Hired a new graduate dean (as mentioned above), who鈥檚 also the AVP for research and technology transfer and an internationally recognized polymer chemist
- Key hires in engineering focused around data science
- A new director for the Regional Institute on Aging, Carryl Baldwin, who鈥檚 also a professor in human factors psychology
- Hired our first faculty, Edil Torres-Rivera, for the beginning of a LatinX studies area and located in the College of Applied Studies
- Purchased a new high-performance computer cluster to allow for a more powerful computing environment for university researchers in need of this type of computing power
One of my major priorities as provost, and I know many of you, too, has been to continue providing opportunities for women to serve in senior leadership positions in academic affairs. To this end, I鈥檓 happy to say six out of 10 of our deans are now women, and all of the AVPs in my office are women.
In this light, this past year my office has supported a group of faculty researchers and administrators (led by Jan Twomey in engineering) in their efforts to apply for a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program grant to increase the representation and advancement of women and minorities in academic science and engineering careers. The goal is to contribute to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. We received communication three weeks ago that we were approved for funding, which now helps us to begin the planning process to diversify our faculty and staff even more.
As you can see, we are making great strides at 黑洞社区. None of this could be possible without each and every one of you. I can鈥檛 wait to see what the new year brings.
I wish you all of the best for a great fall semester!
Rick
Joint senates meeting today (Tuesday, Aug. 20)
Join the USS and UP Senates at 9 a.m. today (Tuesday, Aug. 20), in 142 RSC for a joint meeting. All meetings are open to the campus community.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop now open in Braeburn Square
Fuzzy's Taco Shop is now open in Braeburn Square. They're open seven days a week to handle all your taco cravings. .
Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program calls for proposals for Partnership Development Grant
With support from NASA and the Kansas Board of Regents - the Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program
(KNEP) is preparing to award Partnership Development Grants (PDG) to Kansas investigators,
under the KNEP Research Infrastructure Development (RID) program.
These grants are intended to facilitate the development of beneficial and promising
NASA collaborations. The PDG recipient is expected to initiate, develop, and formalize
a meaningful professional relationship with a NASA researcher. Given this expectation,
it is vital investigators and students travel to a NASA center if selected for an
award.
Ideally the faculty member, student, and research host become co-participants in
a promising research effort. Indeed, the PDG award should lead to sustained collaborations,
joint publications, and, most importantly, future grant proposals.
Please see solicitation for additional information and proposal guidelines. Questions
about the solicitation can be directed to nasainkansa@wichita.edu.
.
U.S. diplomat to speak about space exploration
The Wichita Space Initiative (WSI) kicks off the second year of its Space Exploration Lecture Series with a talk from Michael Michaud. Michaud was a Foreign Service Officer for 32 years before turning full time to writing. He is author of 鈥淐ontact With Alien Civilizations,鈥� as well as a novel and 35 articles and journal papers on the implications of possible future contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.
His Foreign Service assignments include Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Director of the State Department's Office of Advanced Technology, and Counselor for Science, Technology, and Environment at the American embassies in Paris and Tokyo.
Michaud led successful negotiations for science and technology cooperation agreements with the Soviet Union and Poland, and played a major role in the negotiation of a new space cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union. He was one of the initiators of U.S.-Soviet anti-satellite arms control negotiations and served on the U.S. delegation.
Michaud鈥檚 talk, 鈥淓xtraterrestrial Intelligence: Grand Thought Experiment or Possible Future Discovery?鈥�, will discuss issues related the impact of a future discovery of extraterrestrial intelligent life. It will take place at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, in 100 Lindquist Hall. As always, WSI talks are free and open to the public. Visit our website for more information at .
Come and learn about the history of U.S. and Hispanic traders in Kansas
Sierra Cordoba, a Colombian-American writer and researcher, will present on U.S. and Hispanic traders on the Santa Fe Trail in the 19th Century at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in 313 RSC. This talk is part of the Latin American and LatinX Studies series, organized by the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures.
Purchase Requisition Training using Banner 9 scheduled for Aug. 28
黑洞社区 purchasing procedures are reviewed as attendees learn to navigate the Banner 9 Requisition form. Purchase Requisition training is required for 黑洞社区 staff responsible for entering requisitions into Banner. Current requestors are welcome to attend as a refresher session.
Training is scheduled from 1-5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28. Register for the session through myTraining located in my黑洞社区.
New look for library software
The University Libraries has made changes to the SmartSearch and Interlibrary Loan platforms this August. Try out the new look and functionality! We welcome your feedback.
SmartSearch now has a cleaner interface, and can be accessed as before through the
University Libraries鈥� homepage. To access any saved items you may have you may log
in to the old . We recommend you export your items into a citation manager (such as EndNote or Zotero)
to preserve them long term.
The new shows you all of your requests on a single page, links to articles, and details about
the status of your requests and item due dates. Note that your request history in
ILLiad cannot be imported into the new system, but you will be able to login to ILLiad
to access it until Thursday, Oct. 1.
We hope that these changes enhance your library experience and streamline how you
manage your requests!
If you have questions, contact Ginger Williams at ginger.williams@wichita.edu.
Join the Graduate School to kick off the 2019-20 Professional Development Series with Leading in the 21st century
We don鈥檛 shop the way we used to. We don鈥檛 read the way we used to. And we definitely
don鈥檛 work the way we used to. Our new realities, consequences of technology and culture-based
changes in the workplace, require new leadership models.
All are welcome to join us from 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in 266 Rhatigan Student
Center as we kick off the 2019-20 Graduate School professional development series
with Leading in the 21st Century.
Presenters Tonya Witherspoon, associate vice president of Industry and Engagement of Workforce Applied Learning, and John Jones, director of the Media Resources Center, will explore concepts such as virtual and distributed teams, communications methods, greater availability of data analytics, and much more!
Click here for more information about the Professional Development Series.
鈥榃elcome New Shocks鈥� an exhibit by First-Year Programs
Hundreds of new Shockers took their first steps on campus this summer participating
in New Student Orientation. This photo collection captures the many new students as they embrace their first moments as Shockers. The
images in this collection were taken by Transition Mentors and staff of First-Year
Programs. Stop by and get a glimpse of 黑洞社区's newest Shockers!
Welcome New Shocks will be on display in the Cadman Art Gallery, first floor, Rhatigan
Student Center, now through Friday, Aug. 30. To see the complete list of exhibits,
visit , and follow us on Instagram.
鈥楢 Lifetime Afloat鈥� by Anh Nguyen
Anh Nguyen is a senior Business Administration major in the Barton School of Business. Her exhibit will be on display now through Friday, Aug. 30, in the Cadman Art Gallery, RSC first floor. To see the complete list of exhibits visit Cadman Art Gallery - wichita.edu/CadmanGallery - and follow us on Instagram.
From the artist: 鈥淭his exhibit consists of photographs taken at the Floating market in Song Trang Vietnam. This particular market is a famous attraction in Vietnam and draws in thousands of tourists yearly. There have been countless photographs taken here, with the purpose of promoting tourism or cultural bragging. However, this exhibit focuses on the real people making a living at the market, in the time of the year where there isn't a single tourist in sight. This exhibit aims to 'unromanticize' the idea of the 'exotic' destination, by putting the spotlight on those who struggle to stay afloat.鈥�
Get your fall 2019 Student Involvement Calendar
Check out the fall 2019 Student Involvement Calendar. Packed full of great events
that you will not want to miss, be sure to get your copy today!
This semester calendar is available as a download from our website and in print format.
If you would like a print version please visit one of our Welcome Tables, stop by
Student Involvement in 216 RSC, or email us at getinvolved@wichita.edu to request a copy through campus mail.
Sign up for the annual Pumpkin Run
Welcome home Shockers! It鈥檚 the fall semester, which means the Pumpkin Run is happening soon. This annual fun 5K winds through the beautiful Wichita State Campus. The Little Pumpkin Run is perfect your little pumpkins 1-12 years of age.
Be sure to visit Runners Village for pumpkin decorating, massage and more family activities. All participants receive a commemorative T-shirt. Cross the finish line and receive a medal.
Get a head start and take advantage of the early bird pricing today! For more information and to sign up go to .
Who鈥檚 got game?
Enjoy video games, basketball, board games, pizza and raffle prizes from 8-11 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in the Heskett Center.
This event is sponsored by The Fuse, College of Applied Studies, E-Sports, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and the Department of Sport Management.