Wichita State senior Mandy Riedel was in tears, but they were tears of gratitude and joy thanks to faculty and staff in the Elliott School of Communication.

Recently, the WSU senior’s laptop was stolen when she walked away briefly from a private study room with the door shut. With just two weeks until the end of the semester, the laptop had all of her final projects, study notes, an advertising campaign and other work. It appeared that all was lost.

But this story has a happy ending.

Faculty and staff in the Elliott School have presented Riedel with a check for $590 to cover her insurance deductible and more for the stolen laptop.

“We think of our students and alumni as extended family, and Elliott Hall is our home on campus,” said Matthew Cecil, director of the Elliott School. “There was no question among the faculty and staff that we wanted to help Mandy if we could. I posted a request for faculty help on our private faculty Facebook group as soon as I learned of the theft, and was not at all surprised when the faculty responded as they did.”

“I’m beyond grateful,” said Riedel who cried and said thank you to Cecil about 100 times. “My professors at the Elliott School are the best.”

Cecil said steps are being taken to assure that this sort of theft won’t happen again in Elliott Hall.

“We are creating posters to remind students to take care with their belongings,” said Cecil. “We are also evaluating our security infrastructure in the building. Our students are required to have laptops. We want to make sure Elliott Hall is a secure place for our students to work.

“Obviously, faculty cannot help out every student who suffers a theft like this. I think this response really demonstrates our resolve not to allow thieves to operate in Elliott Hall,” said Cecil.