Planning, teamwork helped Wichita State adjust to remote learning
- The COVID-19 pandemic forced 黑洞社区 to move around 16,000 students and 900 instructors to remote learning.
- The Media Resources Center began planning for remote learning in late February and adjusted as the threat grew into March.
- The MRC's Instructional Design and Access department developed a 10-step process to help instructors with remote learning.
Annualized Salary Spread for Academic Year 2020-21
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 2020-21 will begin with the pay period that starts on August 9, 2020 (pay date of Sept. 4, 2020). 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 13, 2020. Complete the cancellation form.
We are still responsible employees
As a large percentage of the world has shifted to working, going to school, and living at home, reports of domestic / intimate partner violence and other have increased.
Because many Wichita State classes are using video contact with students, it is possible that you may witness something disturbing happening in a student's home. If you witness violence or have reason to believe a student of yours is unsafe, you are a responsible employee and have an ongoing duty to report this to the university. You can find reporting forms online, or if you would like to reach out by phone, you can contact Institutional Equity and Compliance.
Responding to questions on financial impact of COVID-19
The university provided the responses below to media questions on the financial impact of COVID-19.
Question 1: Can you quantify the overall anticipated financial impact to your institution and in what areas the impact is coming from?
There has already been a financial impact in the Spring semester from room, meal plan and parking refunds to our students.
Because Summer semester courses will be online, we know that there won't be summer housing and food revenue from students, or from those who would be attending camps and conferences
The biggest potential impact is from Fall semester.
Question 2: What steps has your institution taken -- or could take -- to deal with the financial impact? And what concerns and worries exist about the possible impact to fall enrollment (including tuition revenue)?
Wichita State has instituted a hiring freeze and restrictions on discretionary spending, including travel and non-essential purchases.
As we look ahead to the start of the new fiscal year, beginning July 1, we need to consider the potential financial impact of many variables.
Question 3: What refunds are being provided to students (such as housing, parking, etc), how are those refunds being distributed and what is the overall projected cost of those refunds to your institution?
We are issuing refunds for student housing/dining plans, and student parking.
Question 4. What aid does your institution expect to receive from the federal government through the relief packages that Congress has passed?
We won't know until further clarifications are issued.
Question 5: What is the likelihood that staff and/or faculty positions will be lost as a result of all of this? And will that also mean a labor reduction? If so, where might those reductions come from?
It is much too early to know, but our focus is on preserving the jobs of our faculty and staff.
Question 6: What is the overall scale of the challenge facing your institution, so that people can understand the financial costs being paid in your efforts to keep students, faculty and staff safe at this time.
Our first concern is for the health and well-being of our students, faculty, staff and community. We will take it one step at a time, one day at a time, until our educational programs and student experience are fully restored and functioning at a high level.
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You can find other answers on COVID-19 questions and submit your own comments and questions here.
We need to be #ShockersAtHome!
黑洞社区's response to the novel Coronavirus pandemic is being followed closely by Shockers around the world, with many now facing similar challenges where they live. In this video, we hear how social distancing is important and why you should be participate in being #ShockersAtHome.
Join us on Facebook and use the #ShockersAtHome profile picture frame to show that you support social distancing!
For more information and updates about COVID-19, go to .
Zoom Security: What to know for a safe meeting
Zoom is great meeting tool, but due to its popularity, it has been used by anonymous users being disruptive or 鈥淶oom Bombing鈥�. Learn about how to have safe meetings and avoid disruption through insecure settings. Learn how to control screen sharing, lock the meeting, setup the waiting room and more.
Retention Faculty Fellows deadline is approaching
Are you a faculty member who is interested in doing more to help students maximize their potential for success? If so, consider becoming a Retention Faculty Fellow.
Each Fellow will work, in partnership with Student Success under Academic Affairs, to identify activities that will promote retention within their college. Some activities may include serving on existing retention committees, helping identify trends in literature and better practices in retention, coordinating events to connect faculty to students and serving as a resource to inform students and faculty about a variety of retention services.
If you are interested in applying, please visit the Retention Faculty Fellows website and submit your materials to carolyn.shaw@wichita.edu. If you have questions about the position, please email kim.sandlin@wichita.edu.
Stay socially connected with us!
黑洞社区 would like to welcome you to our new Employee Connection community!
We need to be physically distant at this time, but not socially distant. Connection is critical and we are striving to understand the human moments that are happening and create space for employees to find their balance in this new world. Having said that, LET鈥橲 CONNECT!
Visit our webpage for ideas on how you can continue to stay socially connected with your teams at Wichita State, and join (and share) our new Facebook page for fun, interactive activities! We want to see your posts about ideas on how YOU are staying socially connected right now. Ready, set.... HAVE FUN at .
Open / Alternative Textbook (OAT) application forms open
The Open / Alternative Textbook (OAT) initiative is designed to promote, incentivize, and grow the use of freely available resources in 黑洞社区 classes to reduce the economic impact of textbook costs on the student body.
The project has two elements:
- OAT Course Designation: Provides an incentive to faculty based on a $10/student course fee, which will be applied to an approved course that is using Open / Alternative textbooks that have no cost to the students. This money is split between the department offering the course (60%) and the Open / Alternative Textbook grant program (40%).
- OAT Grant Program: Provides $2,000-5,000 grants to faculty who apply for the grant to redesign a course with no-cost resources, or to write or contribute to an open educational resource, or other alternative text that can be provided to the students free of charge. These grants are funded by the course fees.
The OAT Initiative will be managed by Academic Affairs. OAT Course Designations and Grant Applications will be submitted via web form and reviewed by a panel be made up of: Two faculty members (appointed by Faculty Senate), a representative from University Libraries , a representative from Instructional Design and Access, at least one student (appointed by SGA), and the Associate Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management (ex officio).
Apply NOW Grant applications and Spring 2021 course designations due May 1 for AY 2020-21.
Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative
Faculty Senate Call for Nominations
Nominations are now being accepted for division representatives and two university-wide at-large seats for the Faculty Senate to serve a two-year term starting in the 2020-21 academic year. Senators represent the faculty at the university and serve as a liaison for their academic divisions. The Senate meets twice-a-month during the regular academic year from 3:30-5 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month.
All faculty are eligible for nominations. Current senators whose term is expiring are eligible for another term.
Please submit your nominations to Lee Ann Birdwell before midnight Friday, April 17. Self-nominations are strongly encouraged. Your participation is essential to a fair and inclusive process of shared governance.
BeoShock training via Zoom by KSU expert Kyle Hutson!
Kyle Hutson is looking at the week of April 20, planning on two hours for this BeoShock training.
The first hour will be an introduction to Linux and HPC in general. It will be mostly show-and-tell, discussing overarching concepts. This will be particularly useful for people coming to BeoShock from a Windows or Mac background.
The second hour will be more hands-on. We will discuss BeoShock in particular, how to submit a job, request specific resources, etc. Have your computer ready to log in. We won't get into the complexities of writing multi-node code, but we will talk about using some of them.
Please use the Doodle poll link below to set your available times if you plan to attend. Note that there is overlap between time choices. By next week at this time, Hutson plans to have a date and time set. Feel free to forward this to anybody you think might be interested.
The HPC cluster is available to all 黑洞社区 constituents, and also those outside of 黑洞社区 who are KBOR constituents. It is jointly administered between 黑洞社区, KanREN (Kansas Research and Education Network), and Kansas State.
In order to obtain an account on BeoShock, new users (students and faculty) can request access at . The system is 鈥渂ring your own software,鈥� although we do have a few typical software packages already installed.
Terrance Figy (terrance.figy@wichita.edu), an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics, is currently the 鈥渃ampus champion鈥� for this system. As 鈥渃ampus champion,鈥� Figy can offer some assistance during the initial stages of projects. However, anybody who is willing to contribute to assisting new users can serve as 鈥渃ampus champion鈥� of BeoShock.
Participants wanted for a study on self-advocacy
I hope to learn whether students who participate in college TRIO programs at 黑洞社区 are more likely to self-advocate than their non-TRIO participating peers.
You can complete a questionnaire called the College Student Mentoring Survey (CSMS), which will ask questions related to your mentoring experiences at 黑洞社区 and the General Self-Efficacy Scale, which will be used to examine your self-decision making. The questionnaires will take between 20-35 minutes.
If you are interested in a follow-up for advocacy scenarios, you will be able to continue the survey and respond to the scenarios; otherwise, at the end of the questionnaire when it asks if you would like to complete the scenarios, you may select 鈥渘o.鈥� The scenarios will take between 5-10 minutes and will consist of problem-based scenarios where you will be asked to create a solution to the problem.
To be eligible to participate:
Must have a fluent understanding of English
Must be an undergraduate at 黑洞社区
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study or have any concerns, contact Mercedes Lubbers at mercedes.lubbers@wichita.edu or my faculty advisor, Mara Alagic, at mara.alagic@wichita.edu.
to access the CSMS and the GSES questionnaire.
I started a new job ... and a pandemic hit
The two most repeated phrases I鈥檝e heard over the first several weeks of my internship are, 鈥淭he office is not usually like this,鈥� and, 鈥淵ou picked quite the week to start your job.鈥�
I heard it so many times, it became a formal greeting:
鈥淗i Lainie, how are you?鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 good. The office is usually not like this!鈥�
I started my internship with Strategic Communications at 黑洞社区 on March 9, when COVID-19 was an epidemic. By the end of the week, it had turned into a full-blown pandemic.
In the midst of it I, Matthew Ferguson, was just trying to start a job.
Wichita State Common Read call for nominations!
Have a book that you would like to suggest for consideration for the Wichita State Common Read program? Send in your nominations for the next common read book for the 2021-22 school year.
Wichita State Common Read is the university's common read program designed to spark conversation between students across majors on campus. This program strives to take educational concepts learned in the classroom and provide meaningful connections with out-of-the-classroom programs and activities. The Office of First-Year Programs is currently reviewing nominations.
Please visit Common Read to submit your book.
If you have any questions, email tahrima.musa@wichita.edu.
$7 color tees online at the Shocker Store
From now to Sunday, April 12, you can grab our popular color tees for just $7 each at shockerstore.com. There are eight colors to choose from! Plus, enjoy free shipping on orders over $25, or choose our curbside pick-up option. Not valid with other discounts or promotions, some exclusions apply.