For WSU News and WSU Today content older than July 2018, search the WSU News Archive.

WSU News Archive   Return to WSU News Home

Students walking with masks on campus

Oct. 12, 2020 -- Wichita State University is offering a new line of defense against COVID-19 with the launch of its COVID-19 Voluntary Asymptomatic Surveillance Testing Program. Voluntary surveillance testing is part of the university’s multi-pronged strategy to monitor and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

Commencement ceremony

Oct. 6, 2020 -- Students who graduated from Wichita State University this past spring and summer will finally get their chance to walk across the stage to be recognized in a formal commencement ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, in Charles Koch Arena.

Shocker Nation graphic

Oct. 1, 2020 -- Enrollment for fall 2020 at Wichita State University and WSU Tech is down, following record years of enrollment growth. Despite the decline, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of thousands of local jobs, the percentage drop in full-time equivalency (FTE) at the institutions is better than the average decline for Kansas Board of Regents institutions, which is 3.6% for state universities and 8.7% for technical colleges.

Darren Defrain

Sept. 23, 2020 - Darren Defrain is the social professor of English and director of the writing program at Wichita State. Defrain has written novels, memoirs and essays, created a graphic novel, teaches on graphic novels/storytelling and is actively working on a graphic novel app.

Peri Widener

Sept. 21, 2020 -- Saying she wants to help build a new generation of business leaders with a world view, Wichita State alumna Peri Widener has pledged $275,000 to her alma mater. A portion of the gift will launch a program to help develop students into global business leaders.

Emily Christensen

Sept. 18, 2020 - In July, Emily Christensen spent five days on Zoom participating in the National Critics Institute, a program of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn. Christensen, coordinator of external affairs for Wichita State University’s School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, wrote about food, plays, movies and dance. She, and 16 others in her group, listened to and received critiques from people such as such as Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones, who directs the program, and Helen Shaw of New York Magazine.

Blue-green algae samples taken from Marion Lake.

Sept. 16, 2020 — A team of researchers from Wichita State University is investigating blue-green algae in Marion Reservoir and its toxic, and sometimes deadly, dangers to wildlife, pets and people.

Air travel

Sept. 15, 2020 -- With holiday travel season on the horizon, a just-released annual forecast from Dean Headley, co-author of the Airline Quality Rating and associate professor emeritus at Wichita State University, offers new insights into making travel plans in these extraordinary times.

Dr. Linda Rhone and Vanessa Souriya-Mnirajd

Sept. 8, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Education has awarded two of Wichita State University’s TRIO programs — Student Support Services (SSS) and Disability Support Services (DSS) — grants totaling more than $3.9 million to help limited-income, first-generation students and students with disabilities.

Students can visit the Counseling and Preventions Services center for $10 per session.

Aug. 31, 2020 - It’s completely normal to be anxious about fall semester. Here are some tips for managing anxiety.

Screen shot from music video

Aug. 28, 2020 — Dr. Kevin Harrison, a community engagement coordinator for Wichita State, launched the Breathe project, which he says “is an attempt to use art as means of addressing social injustice and racial stereotypes.”

ATLAS is a multi-disciplinary manufacturing environment and engineering education program that launched in the spring semester of 2019.

August 26, 2020 - ATLAS is a multi-disciplinary manufacturing environment and engineering education program that launched in the spring semester of 2019.

Kaushik Sinha

Aug. 26, 2020 — Wichita State University has been named a founding member of a newly formed AI Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning (IFML), established by a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Joel Suss teaches cognitive skills training for improving police decision-making.

August 25, 2020 - Dr. Joel Suss is an assistant professor in psychology and the director of ACE at Wichita State University. For the past five years, the ACE lab has focused its study on law enforcement.

COVID virus graphic

Aug. 14, 2020 -- Thursday the Sedgwick County Commission took a giant step forward against the spread of COVID-19 by partnering with Wichita State University’s new Molecular Diagnostic Lab (MDL) to increase lab testing capacity for nasopharyngeal swab testing and saliva testing.