Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving
Wichita State University will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday from Thursday, Nov. 22 through Sunday, Nov. 25.
There are no classes tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 21) but university offices will be open. Classes will resume on Monday, Nov. 26.
The last edition of WSU Today this week is tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov. 21). The submission deadline is noon today (Tuesday, Nov. 20) if you have news for WSU Today on Wednesday, Nov. 21 or Monday, Nov. 26.
Correction regarding a new doctorate at WSU
Please note the following correction -- The Counseling, Educational Leadership, Educational and School Psychology Department launched a new track in the existing EdD program in Educational Leadership. It is not a new doctoral degree program as reported yesterday (Monday, Nov. 19). We apologize for the inaccurate information.
Please contact Jody Fiorini at jody.fiorini@wichita.edu with questions or to request additional information.
Music educator and historian to present lecture ‘Changing the Tune' today (Tuesday, Nov. 20)
Carolyn Glenn Brewer
Music educator, performer, critic and Kansas historian Carolyn Glenn Brewer will present “Changing the Tune,” at 5:30 p.m. today (Tuesday, Nov. 20), in 203 Rhatigan Student Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.
She has published numerous articles and books, most recently Changing the Tune: The Kansas City's Women's Jazz Festival, 1978-1985. This important festival was organized by women, and it featured some of the greatest jazz women of all time, as well as providing a venue for Kansas women emerging as jazz artists.
Brewer's archival and interview research takes readers backstage to explore the issues that shaped this historic festival.
Her presentation is a result of an invitation from the departments of Women's Studies, Music, and History at Wichita State.
Space is available in the Campus Safety: Active Threat Incident Planning training class on Thursday, Dec. 6
Space is available in the Campus Safety: Active Threat Incident Planning training
class from 2-3:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, in 256 Rhatigan Student Center. To register
for training, go to myTraining through myWSU.
Providing a safe and secure environment for the WSU community continues to be a top
priority. “Campus Safety-Active Threat Incident Planning” is a live training initiative
to enhance WSU's proactive approach to ensure a safe campus environment and to prepare
our faculty, staff and students in case of an incident of campus violence.
It will focus on two areas: 1) what to do in an active campus threat incident, and 2) how to identify and report behaviors of concern.
If you have questions, contact mytraining@wichita.edu.
NASA Kansas Space Grant Consortium Call for Proposals
The NASA Kansas Space Grant Consortium (KSGC) Teacher Workshop Program supports the development and implementation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) educator workshops. NASA is especially interested in helping teachers bring NASA-relevant material and content into middle-school classrooms.
KSGC affiliate proposals are competitively awarded by peer review. A total of $42,000 in NASA funds is available. Proposals are due any time prior to Jan. 31, 2019.
Affiliates must identify a $1 commitment for every NASA dollar requested (use of federal matching funds is not allowed). Matching funds can be real-dollar, in-kind, or waived / reduced indirect costs provided by the institution, industry or private sponsors.
Proposals and Selection
Proposals should comply with the following guidelines:
- The cover sheet should include the proposal title, all critical contact information, and a signature from the Principal Investigator's financial authority (showing the commitment for matching funds)
- A six-page length limit (excluding cover sheet, budget and related institutional pages)
- Use one-inch margins and a 12-point Times New Roman font
- Participants, including students and faculty, receiving direct support must be U.S. citizens
The KSGC Executive Committee reviews proposals for:
- Responsiveness to NASA interests and goals
- Proposal quality; including a specific description of the workshop's intended goals and results (be sure to identify particular metrics that will be used to demonstrate your achievements in the required final report)
- Evaluation mechanisms which demonstrate teachers use the NASA relevant materials / knowledge / experience in their classrooms
- Impact on women and underrepresented minorities (both teachers and students), especially in middle schools
- The proposed budget's clarity and appropriateness
Contact your Affiliate Representative or KSGC Director L. Scott Miller (scott.miller@wichita.edu), with any questions. Consult NASA's Education website, for additional helpful information.
Submissions & Awards
Submit proposals to L. Scott Miller, KSGC Director (scott.miller@wichita.edu), as a single PDF document of less than 1 MB size, via email any time prior to the deadline. Proposals will be reviewed and awards announced as quickly as possible, conditional on funding availability.
Funding available for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity
Students who are sophomores, juniors or seniors with a GPA of at least 2.5 and at least two semesters remaining at WSU (including the semester in which you apply), are full time and have a faculty research mentor are eligible. Preference is given to projects not otherwise funded and previous awardees are not eligible.
Go to Undergraduate Research -- or email undergraduateresearch@wichita.edu for more information. The deadline to apply is March 15, 2019.
Total Rewards requesting Open Enrollment feedback
The Total Rewards team would like to recognize the efforts of every department at WSU for a very successful Open Enrollment season. KDHE has indicated that Open Enrollment will be an active enrollment each year moving forward.
With an eye on the future, the Total Rewards team is asking that everyone who participated in Open Enrollment share their feedback on how we can improve communications and resources available next year. Please give five minutes of your time to take a brief survey on your computer or mobile device. We appreciate your time and input!
If you have feedback you would like to share on 2019 plan changes, including employee cost, plan options or carriers, you can submit this feedback directly to the Kansas Healthcare Commission at kdhe.benefits@ks.gov.
Coming soon: 56th Annual Candlelight Concert
WSU Choirs will present the 56th Annual Candlelight Concert: “The Marvel of This Night” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30; 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2; and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in Wiedemann Concert Hall. For tickets, go to Fine Arts Box Office or call 978-3233.
Get in the spirit of the season with an incredible variety of music, featuring perennial favorites “Beautiful Savior” and “Personent Hodie.” Other highlights include “Before the Marvel of This Night” by Carl Schalk, and “Night of Silence” by Daniel Kantor. The concert celebrates the 200th anniversary of the beloved Christmas carol, “Silent Night.”
The concert features WSU's Concert Chorale and Women's Glee Club, conducted by Michael Hanawalt, and A Cappella Choir and Madrigal Singers, conducted by Tom Wine.
Each choir will also perform separately and as part of a mass choir. Also featured are organist and professor Lynne Davis and pianist and professor Justine Sasanfar.
Started by Harrison Boughton and modeled after the famous St. Olaf College Christmas Festival, the Candlelight Concert is the longest-running musical tradition at Wichita State.
Invitation to SBIR/STTR Innovation Summit on Dec. 12
Learn how to access non-dilutive funding and meet one-on-one with SBIR experts from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12, in 264 Experiential Engineering Building.
This workshop begins with an overview of the SBIR program, and how it differs from the STTR program. After covering recent and pending changes in SBIR/STTR, the discussion turns to a recommended process for developing a competitive Phase I proposal to any agency.
If you think you already know the Greenwoods' four-step process, come hear their new process which now entails seven steps. Each attendee also will be eligible for a free review of their Phase I proposal.
The cost of the event, including lunch, is $25 for general admission and $5 for WSU students. This event is open to the public.
Mortar Board looking to add new individuals to honor society
The Fairmount Chapter of Mortar Board is looking to add new individuals to the organization for 2019-20. Mortar Board is Wichita State's exclusive honor society here on campus with ideals in scholarship, leadership and service.
Mortar Board provides high achieving students, in said ideals, a chance to improve on their networking skills, community service experience and a chance to interact with other high achieving students here on campus. If you believe you excel in the said ideals and are interested in the above experiences, please submit an application.
Submit your Finals Frenzy events by 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26
Finals Frenzy is a series of stress relieving events hosted across campus the week prior to finals week: Dec. 3-7. If you are interested in having your events during this week cross-promoted by Student Activities Council, please submit your Finals Frenzy events here!
Contact Randi Beggs in Student Involvement for questions at randi.beggs@wichita.edu.
Opportunity for faculty to improve Microsoft skills
Faculty can attend a special training “Excel Essentials for Faculty,” from 9 a.m.-noon Friday, Dec. 7. From 1-4 p.m. that day, faculty can also attend “Word Essentials for Faculty.”
Both workshops will offer hands-on training to help faculty take their skills to the next level, so be sure to bring a laptop or other device.
To sign up, please go to myTraining. Space is limited so sign up soon! These workshops are offered through ITS Training Services in coordination with Instructional Design and Access. Please direct any questions to IDA@wichita.edu.
Be Part of the International Student Recruitment Network!
Wichita State University is home to 1,500 international students from more than 100 countries. International students represent 10 percent of the student population at WSU.
Have you ever wondered how students from all over the world find out about Wichita State? What do we do to recruit international students and encourage them to attend Wichita State?
The Office of International Education invites faculty members to join a meeting about international student recruitment and retention from 3-4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, in 142 RSC. We would love to have more faculty members involved in international student recruitment and retention. This meeting would be a great opportunity to get involved and to exchange ideas.
If you can't make it to the meeting but would like to be kept in the loop about future international recruitment and retention activities, send an email to fai.tai@wichita.edu.
10 Minutes with Kaye Monk-Morgan
By Brittany Schowalter - Digital Editor, Wichita Business Journal
Kaye Monk-Morgan has spent much of the last three decades on the Wichita State University campus.
After earning her bachelor's degree from WSU in 1993, Monk-Morgan was hired full-time as the university's community college coordinator in 1995. She also earned a master's degree in public administration from WSU in 1996.
During her time at WSU, Monk-Morgan has seen a lot of change, which she talked about recently during an interview for this week's Wichita Business Journal “10 minutes with” piece. Monk-Morgan is currently assistant vice president for Academic Affairs.
You've been at WSU for a long time, but you just started a new role (assistant vice president for academic affairs) in August. How's that going? Awesome. It's wonderful. One of the things that I've experienced thus far is that it's really interesting having been in a place for a really long time where you think you know to go to another office and do different work and realize you don't know very much at all. So it's going really well.
There are a lot of changes happening on the WSU campus and a lot of expansion. What has it been like to be a part of that from the inside? It's very exciting! It's challenging because we're building things as we “fly” them. So often times it's adaptive work, so we're not quite sure if it's going to work. One of the things about innovation is that you try something new. If it works, great, do it again. If it doesn't work, you don't do that and try something different. So that part has been kind of challenging — to maintain the stamina for that kind of innovation process. But to know that you have been a part of an experience that's going to set the stage for what Wichita State's going to look like for the next 20 or 30 years is very exciting.
You were the emcee for the WBJ's inaugural Ignite ICT Women's Conference. What did you think of the event? I thought it was awesome. There aren't many places where you can go into a space where there are diverse women who come together about a shared set of values and a mission of self-empowerment, growth and development, and to help their city grow in the same sense where that's what you get to talk about and think about all day. So marinating in that spirit and having the opportunity to share and converse with folks who have those types of ideas, notions and support has been a really phenomenal experience.
There's a lot of talk lately about pushing young people to get two-year technical degrees. Does all of that talk take away from the perceived value of a traditional liberal arts four-year degree? You know, I worked for 20 years working with high school students going into college, most of whom were first generation and/or kids who were coming out of poverty. I'm a firm believer in what I call “stackable credentials” — to be able to work in a field with a job often times with some type of post-secondary training, whether that's a two-year or certificate program that provides access and revenue to help students actually obtain a four-year degree. I'm always going to be a proponent of folks getting as much education as they possibly can. But I understand that there are ways in which ... we can stair-step our way if that's necessary. There are some fields that don't require that. So to make sure that students have access to two-year degrees, I think is a great option.
What is the biggest challenge that Wichita State University faces today? To make sure we stay as relevant in 20 years as we are today. As Wichita changes, are we innovating and creating new spaces? As the demographics of our students change over the years, are we able to provide them with the same level of service that we have historically? How do we do that with changing financial models? And just how do we make sure we're supporting Wichita and the state of Kansas as we grow and try to meet the challenges coming in the future?
Black Friday Membership Special is back!
Campus Recreation's Black Friday Membership Special is back! Sign up for payroll deduction for Spring 2019 today (Tuesday, Nov. 20) through Wednesday, Nov. 21, and get the rest of 2018 free. For more information, call 978-3082 or stop by the Guest Services Desk at the Heskett Center.
Koskei earns All-American honors
Winny Koskei finished 35th at the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday morning, earning
All-American honors.
In below freezing temperatures and scattered snow showers in Madison, Wisconsin,
Winny Koskei ran 20:32.1 to place 35th in the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships at the Thomas
Zimmer Course. Koskei became the third Shocker under head coach Kirk Hunter to earn All-American honors.
Game day specials all day
The Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes is your Shocker Basketball headquarters! For each men's basketball game, they will have a different game day special, honored all day long. On Sunday, Nov. 25, you can take 15 percent off all starter menu items!