Severe weather preparedness drill scheduled today!
This year, as we have done in the past, 黑洞社区 will participate in the annual statewide severe weather preparedness drill.
The annual drill this year is today (Tuesday, March 3). If the weather is clear that day, all of the severe weather sirens in Sedgwick County will go off at 10 a.m. When the severe weather sirens sound, proceed to your designated severe weather shelter area.
Emergency Building Coordinators in each building will ensure that all building occupants safely make their way to the designated severe weather shelter area.
Departments should use this opportunity to ensure that all faculty, staff and students know where to go to protect themselves in a severe weather event.
Plan to attend Research Workshop on Writing Proposals to be held March 10
The Office of Research is offering a Research Workshop on Writing Proposals from noon-1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, in 405 Jardine Hall. 黑洞社区 faculty and staff are invited to attend to gain tips and resources for writing clear, consistent and successful proposals for external funding.
For more information or to sign up, email proposals@wichita.edu or call 978-3285.
Share your sustainability news
As 黑洞社区 prepares to celebrate Earth Day in April, we are creating a list of sustainability initiatives on campus. Submit upcoming sustainability events, current sustainable practices, or accomplishments by faculty, staff or students related to sustainability. Use our brief submission form to share these with the Sustainability Steering Committee. Consider joining one of the Working Groups, too!
Applications are being accepted for a grant through the 黑洞社区 Institute for the Study of Economic Growth
The Institute for the Study of Economic Growth (ISEG) is housed in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at 黑洞社区. The ISEG is offering grant opportunities to support and promote research of 黑洞社区 faculty and students that is consistent with its mission and role in advancing the teaching, research and application of innovative and entrepreneurial activities in a free enterprise economy to enhance societal prosperity through economic growth.
The ISEG seeks applications for both small and large projects. Proposals with student involvement as either research assistants and/or co-authors will receive a more favorable consideration.
A link to the application can be found on the Office of Research internal funding webpage, under "Various 黑洞社区 Departmental Opportunities." Email proposals@wichita.edu to request assistance with your application.
Departmental paper ICDs 鈥� New instructions!
Effective Monday, Feb. 17, route all paper ICDs (including partial and full payments on purchase orders) to Financial Operations, Jardine Hall, Room 201, Campus Box 38.
Accounts Payable will ensure the document is routed for additional approvals, if needed. Contact accountspayable@wichita.edu with questions.
Staff Town Hall with President Jay Golden on March 5
University staff members (unclassified professionals and university support staff) are invited to a staff town hall with President Jay Golden from 1:15-2:15 p.m. Thursday, March 5, in the CAC Theater.
This is an opportunity to engage with the new president, ask questions and get a sense of his vision for the university and how it relates to the staff experience.
Staff are welcome to submit questions in advance to Julie Scott, UP Senate President, at julie.scott@wichita.edu or Matt Houston, USS Senate President, at matt.houston@wichita.edu.
The event will be live streamed at . A recording of the session will be made available online at a later date for staff who are unable to attend.
Additional benefits included with life insurance
Basic Life insurance is provided by 黑洞社区 at no cost to all benefits-eligible employees, with the exclusion of KP&F retirement plan participants. The Basic Life insurance coverage is 150% of the employee鈥檚 annual base salary. (Example: An employee with a base annual salary of $30,000 has life insurance coverage of $45,000.) KP&F retirement plan participants can elect supplemental life insurance benefits.
You may be surprised to learn that Basic Life Insurance includes additional benefits at no cost. These benefits are also included with supplemental life insurance for KP&F retirement plan participants. A few highlights are highlighted below.
- Accidental death benefit of $50,000 for work-related accidents
- Repatriation benefit of $5,000 or 10% of life insurance benefit, whichever is less. If you die more than 200 miles from your primary residence, this benefit would pay for expenses to transport your body to a mortuary near your primary residence.
- Travel assistance program that provides a full range of 24-hour medical, legal, and travel assistance services to you and your dependents when you travel more than 100 miles from home or in a foreign country
You can find more information on both the Basic Life insurance and Supplemental Life insurance as well as beneficiary forms if you need to make any updates here.
These benefits are available for both personal and business travel. You can find more information on the Travel Assistance benefit here.
Questions? Contact TotalRewards@wichita.edu.
Ulrich Museum seeks volunteers to help edit Wikipedia entries of women artists in the museum's permanent collection
Come join the Ulrich Museum of Art for a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, March 6. The event needs volunteers to help edit the entries of several female artists featured in the museum鈥檚 permanent collection. The Edit-a-Thon will be held in two sessions: one lasting from 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m.; and another session from 12:30-3 p.m.
Each session will begin with a brief tutorial on how to edit and navigate Wikipedia pages. All research materials have been collected and will be provided to volunteers to ease the workload.
The event is being organized by Ulrich interns Nellie Elliott and Carter Bryant, both of whom are seniors majoring in art history at 黑洞社区. They wanted to create a local project to tie into the global efforts coordinated annually by Art + Feminism, a nonprofit organization that directly addresses the inequality of gender, feminism, and the arts on Wikipedia. The Ulrich event will focus on the entries for about a dozen female artists featured in the museum鈥檚 permanent collection.
Volunteers are encouraged to bring their own laptop. Refreshments, free wi-fi, and curated research material will be provided. Space is limited, so those interested in volunteering should reserve a spot by emailing Ulrich.Intern@wichita.edu.
Joint senate meeting set for March 10
Join the USS and UP Senates at 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, in 264 John Bardo Center, for their joint meeting. All meetings are open to the campus community.
Call for graduate student abstracts for GRASP 2020
Professors, GRASP Abstract submission is open now through Friday, March 6. Please encourage your graduate students working on research or scholarly projects to submit an abstract! Abstract requirements and deadlines are listed on the GRASP website.
Call for posters for Analytics Showcase
The 黑洞社区 Analytics Showcase invites students to submit a poster for presentation at the first 黑洞社区 Analytics Showcase from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, April 17, at Hughes Metropolitan Complex. This event is a great opportunity to present your data analytics research or applied project to 黑洞社区 community, Industry and other stakeholders.
The 黑洞社区 Analytics Showcase will deepen your understanding of accomplishments in the field of analytics in terms of research advances, curricular programs, analytics software, hardware, and skill-building, and it is a great opportunity to interact with other data analytics researchers and practitioners.
The deadline for submission is Friday, March 6.
Click here to submit the poster.
Attention: USS and non-teaching UP employees - Signatures are due this week!
Employee Signatures for 2019-20 myPerformance evaluations are due this week! USS and non-teaching UP employees should log in to myPerformance (through my黑洞社区) to submit electronic signatures by Saturday, March 7.
Your evaluation will be available for the employee signature once your manager has submitted your evaluation with ratings.
For more information, including quick reference guides and other assistance, go to .
Time to register for the 2020 Gender & Sexuality Conference
Registration for the 7th Annual Gender & Sexuality in Kansas Conference, to be held in the Rhatigan Student Center on Friday, March 13, is now live. Whether you plan to drop in and out to attend conference sessions or only plan to attend the afternoon keynote address by Dr. Sarah Deer, titled, "Sovereignty of the Soul: 鈥疌onfronting Sexual Violence in Native America", we ask that you pre-register if you plan to attend.
to access the registration form.
Pre-registration will be open until noon on Tuesday, March 10.
As always, the conference is free and open to the public.
Please share this information widely with faculty, staff, students, or others you know who may be interested in attending.
Traveling to Dallas for the AAC Men鈥檚 Basketball Tournament?
Faculty, staff and alumni with high school dependents who are traveling to the AAC Men鈥檚 Basketball Tournament are invited to a special event in Dallas! Join the Office of Admissions and other future Shockers for breakfast and an informational Wichita State presentation on Saturday, March 14.
RSVP at Wichita.edu/aacbreakfast, or if you have questions, contact Tera Park at tera.park@wichita.edu.
March Savvy Scholar Workshops begin
The Savvy Scholar series continues into March, starting with workshops from noon-1 p.m. Friday, March 6, and 4-5 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, in 217 Ablah Library. RSVP for these and more workshops throughout March and April at .
Faculty session for study abroad programs on March 6
This session is for faculty who are leading study abroad programs / travel seminars for this year. We will address all of the issues that we normally go over with students who participate in other study abroad programs and provide more information for faculty. This will include student conduct, student health and counseling / mental health issues abroad. At the session, we will also go over 黑洞社区 requirements for travel / health insurance and liability forms that faculty should be requiring of their students on their programs, as well as forms that General Counsel require.
Please plan to attend at 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 6, in 213 Clinton Hall, if you are taking students or teaching for a 黑洞社区 faculty-led program in 2020 in another country.
Email ann.burger@wichita.edu for more details.
Shocker New Venture Competition applications open soon!
The Shocker New Venture Competition gives students the opportunity to win venture money as well as receive valuable feedback on their idea from industry experts. Each year this event connects students from all academic disciplines to take key steps in developing world solutions. Applications open Monday, March 16 though Wednesday, April 1. For more information about the Shocker New Venture Competition, go to .
Documentary filmmakers talk about their films
The Ad Astra Film Studies Conference - Spring 2020 - is featuring regional and local documentary filmmakers who will discuss their films on Monday, March 9.
This event is being held from 9:15 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (break from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.). Talks begin on the half hour.
The event is free and open to students, faculty, staff, and community members.
The keynote speaker is Carol Zuegner, Ph.D., holder of the Joella Cohen Endowed Chair in Journalism at Creighton University.
Local documentary filmmakers include Jim Grawe, Sara Harmon, Rocio del Aguila Carreno, and Enrique Navarro.
For more information, contact Marti Smith at martha.smith@wichita.edu or 978-6679.
Volunteers needed for a research study
Research Topic / Purpose of the study: Biometric-based Person Identification using Face and Eye identifiers. The purpose of this research is to reduce the error rates of the existing biometric systems based on scanning face and eye regions.
Procedures: Participants will be asked to provide their face and eye region data for research study in the field of biometrics for person identification.
Time: Participation is expected to last about 1 hour. The data will be collected in two visits 2-4 weeks apart.
Inclusion / Exclusion Criteria:
- Participants must be age 18 - 65
Location: 黑洞社区 325 lab in Wallace Hall
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, contact PI Dr. Ajita Rattani at ajita.rattani@wichita.edu.
Volunteers needed for research study
Study name: Effects of Lower Extremity Blood Flow Restriction Exercise on Strength Generation and Interleukin 6 Levels in the Elderly
Research Topic/Purpose of the study: To determine whether Blood Flow Restriction therapy during moderate exercise by people 55 years of age or older results in improved functional activity and health outcomes. Such findings may provide a new approach to promoting health through moderate exercise.
Procedures: Participants will pedal an exercise bike with or without Blood Flow Restriction therapy for approximately 30-minutes, three times per week over a 12-week period. At the beginning of the study and every two weeks, blood samples will be collected and tested for proteins related to exercise and a 30-second sit-to-stand activity will be performed to assess exercise functional outcomes.
Time: Participation is expected to last about 45 minutes. Inclusion / Exclusion Criteria:
- Participants must be age 55 or older
- No known muscular disorders
- No known neurological disorders
- No known cardiopulmonary disorders
- No use of nicotine products
- Not have diabetes
- Not be in an active exercise program
Location: 黑洞社区 Heskett Center Cycling Studio
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study, contact: Dr. Nils Hakansson at nils.hakansson@wichita.edu or call 316-978-5909, Chris Deck, PT, at cdeck@providence.org, or Dr. Heidi Bell at Heidi.bell@wichita.edu.
Tuition Assistance applications for summer 2020 now being accepted
Tuition Assistance applications for summer 2020 are now being accepted through the new . The online application will be available through April 15, and will close at the end of this application period.
Effective for the Summer 2020 term, the fillable PDF form will no longer be accepted.
Due to the volume of applications received each semester, requests to submit late applications will be automatically denied. There will be no exceptions.
Full program details can be found at .
Questions may be directed to TuitionAssistance@wichita.edu.
Faculty and Staff: The SGA Elections Commission needs your help!
Do you know of a student (undergrad or graduate student) who you think might make a great candidate for the Student Government Association!? Do you have someone who is ready for a crucial leadership position to make decisions and represent the entire student body? Please encourage them to run and declare themselves as a candidate for the upcoming SGA elections!
What does SGA even do? SGA serves as the voice of students to the university and college administration, local, state and federal representatives. SGA also manages the allocation of more than $10 million dollars in student fees, and governs over all recognized student organizations, provides funding to student groups and individuals, and awards several thousands of dollars in scholarships annually.
For more information, go to , or have them reach out to sga.elections@wichita.edu.
Save on basketball merchandise
It鈥檚 almost tournament time for the Shocker basketball teams! This week at the Shocker Store, save 20% on basketball specific merchandise. Valid at Braeburn Square and RSC locations. Not valid with other discounts or promotions.
Fish and Chips at Freddy's
Fish and Chips baskets or sandwich, and the Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch Concrete are now available for a limited time only at Freddy's in the RSC!
Magician Daniel Martin to perform on March 6
Daniel Martin has quickly become one of the most in demand magicians touring the country today. His high-energy performances are a unique fusion of incredibly devious sleight of hand and hilarious sleight of mouth and have sold out crowds at theatres, universities, and event marketing events worldwide. He has been featured on various shows on Netflix, CBS, NBC the BBC, and Discovery, and he is a consultant for the hit Netflix show 鈥淢agic for Humans.鈥� Prepare to be amazed.
Don鈥檛 miss the show at 7 p.m. Friday, March 6, in the CAC Theater. Admission is free to 黑洞社区 students with Shocker ID, $3 faculty/staff; $5 general admission, and $1 for kids 12 and under. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. No advance ticket sales. Cash or check only accepted at the door. For more information about SAC-sponsored events, go to or contact us at sac@wichita.edu.
March Rewards in the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes
Members of the EAT.DRINK.PLAY. Rewards Program in the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes can enjoy $1.50 bowling lanes anytime lanes are available on Fridays in March, even during cosmic bowling.
Joining the rewards program is free and easy. Simply stop in to sign up and start getting rewarded today!