WSU Today: Feb. 1, 2019

To help enable change to WSU’s future IT environment, Gartner has been asked to evaluate four key areas:

• Assess the need for a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and recommend the best methods to deliver services related to the areas of a CISO
• Assess and provide recommendations to improve IT service outcomes on campus, including a review of IT spending and staffing needs to industry peers
• Provide recommendations on the best organizational structure, including  IT governance, to optimize WSU’s future success
• Review the IT leadership structure and propose recommendations to address any skill gaps

The review by Gartner will take about 15 weeks, and you may see their team on campus meeting with IT staff and key stakeholders. For those who will be involved in this process, you’ll hear more in the coming weeks.

If you have any questions, University Budget Director David Miller has been asked to serve as the Engagement Manager for the project, reporting to Acting President and Provost Rick Muma and VP for Finance and Administration Werner Golling.

This is the first student fee referendum since the 2012 vote that led to the highly successful expansion and renovation of Rhatigan Student Center.

Before voting begins March 4, students will have many opportunities to learn more about the current plan and voice their opinions at a series of town halls. I’m writing to explain to the community why this new initiative is so important to WSU’s future.

It would be ideal if the university could take care of these improvements with other resources, but the state doesn’t fund capital improvement projects like those we’re proposing.

We can borrow the money through bonds, as long as student fees are in place as a guaranteed source of revenue to make bond payments. The proposed $6-per-credit-hour increase is the same amount devoted to paying off the Rhatigan bonds.

As provost and acting president, I’m responsible for working with faculty and many others to provide excellent academic opportunities for our students in the best possible environment for learning. If we don’t keep improving facilities and programs, we risk being less attractive to students and faculty considering WSU as a place to learn and work.

Based on discussions with students, faculty and staff, these priorities were identified: updating of historic Henrion Hall and Wilner Auditorium; updated biology labs; health care clinical space improvements driven by accreditation requirements; centralized space for student services in a renovated Clinton Hall; engineering wind tunnel repairs; restrooms for the library’s 24-hour study space; and a long-planned new building for the Barton School of Business.

The proposed student fee will provide $20 million for the new business building, Woolsey Hall, and $18.5 million for improvements to existing buildings. Private donors have already pledged $30 million for the business building and nearly $260 million for scholarships, professorships and other WSU improvement initiatives.

I know we are asking a lot of students and their families, especially in a time when increasing fees are hard to manage financially. But spreading this across all colleges and students makes it more manageable for everyone.

Because all of the renovation projects are scheduled to be completed within three years of the start of construction, some current students will enjoy the benefits of new and renovated spaces. Those graduating sooner will be a leaving a legacy for future Shockers, as their predecessors did by approving funding for the Rhatigan Renewal.

If you have questions, email me at provost@wichita.edu. For more information, go to wichita.edu/shockthefuture.

The event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Century II Conference Center. This year’s event is expected to draw more than 1,200 students from around the Midwest, and feature speakers and entertainers including Nyle DiMarco, Janaya Khan, Pidgeon Pigonas, and Penny Tration from Ru Paul’s Drag Race Season 10. 

To make this event a success, we need your help! You can choose a volunteer opportunity that fits your schedule. Any person who signs up for three or more volunteer spots is eligible for free registration. This is the conference’s first time in Kansas, so let’s show them some great Shocker hospitality!

Two-factor authentication

As part of the university’s efforts to keep information secure, we’re beginning a rollout of Duo two-factor authentication for employees signing into our internal site to perform administrative processes and procedures.

Duo enhances security by requiring the use of a secondary device at login to verify identity, which will ensure that others cannot access your account by obtaining your password.

Information Technology Services is providing training on Duo Security on the following dates:

• Tuesday - Feb. 5 - 2-3 p.m. - 211 Hubbard Hall
• Wednesday – Feb. 6 - 2:30-3:30 p.m. – 142 RSC

Faculty and staff can enroll in these sessions through the myTraining link of the myWSU portal, under the faculty/Staff tab. The name of the training session is “Duo Security Software Demonstration.”

For more information about Duo, visit myWSU.wichita.edu and click on Duo Two Factor Security.”

Strategic Planning update

Monthly Activation Team meetings have resumed, with the first meeting of the semester held on Tuesday. Activation Teams are the foundation of the strategic planning process at Wichita State. These teams evaluate our current strategic plan and determine whether improvements or changes are needed.

Faculty, staff, students and community members are invited to join a team and help the university better fulfill its mission. To find out more and sign up, visit wichita.edu/strategicplan, click on the drop-down menu and click on Activation Teams.

Fairmount Towers site update

A quick update on the Fairmount Towers site: Its 290 existing parking spots will be retained, and there are no immediate plans for construction where the residence hall was demolished. It will be planted with grass and available for future university use.

Bike Share ICT at WSU

Today we’re happy to announce that Bike Share ICT is coming to campus this spring. This is an extension of the same bike-share program that is currently operating throughout the city, and is another way the university is enhancing the campus experience for our students, employees, partners and the community.

The program is funded from a grant through the YMCA and includes 20 bikes, which can be accessed at the Rhatigan Student Center, Heskett Center, the Experiential Engineering Building and Metropolitan Complex. The bikes are expected to arrive in February.

Annual memberships are $30, student annual memberships are $20 or riders can rent bikes for $3 an hour.

For more information about Bike Share ICT, and to sign up for a membership, visit bikeshareict.com. We hope to see many of you biking around campus soon.

11 a.m.-12:10 p.m.

                  Fake News on Social Media: Eliminating a Uniquely Noxious Market" Megan Joanna Fritts and Frank Cabrera, Kansas State University

                  "On the Contractualist Case for Eating Meat" Keith Harris, University of Missouri

1:30 – 2:40pm

                  "Self-Reflexive Cognitive Bias" Joshua Mugg, Park University and Muhammad Ali Khalidi, York University

                  "Confucian Ethics and the Challenge of Gender" Dennis Arjo, Johnson County Community College

3:15 – 4:25 pm          

                      "Epistemic Injustice in Aristotelian Ethics" Noell Birondo, Wichita State University

                  "Knowing Disability Transactionally: A Pragmatist Response to Epistemic Injustice" Sarah Woolwine, University of Central Oklahoma

4:40 pm    Keynote Address

                  "The Mnemonic Puzzle" Sarah Robins, University of Kansas

Philosophical Society Program

The event will be start on the third floor of the RSC in the Shirley Beggs Ballroom. Check-in will run from 8:30-8:50 a.m. We will have fun speakers, a breakfast including muffins and coffee, and you will be given a collectible Wu’s Big Event T-shirt.

Participants will load onto buses and be at a service site by 10 a.m. and volunteer until 1 p.m. Participants will then get back to the RSC for fun celebration activities and lunch (a Chartwells boxed lunch containing sandwich, chips, and fruit). The event will end by 2 p.m.

We hope to serve more than 750 collective volunteer hours on Feb. 9, and we need your help to make this happen!

Wu's Big Event