Coleen Pugh named new dean of WSU Graduate School
Coleen Pugh, a professor of Polymer Science at the University of Akron (Ohio), has
been named the new dean of the Wichita State University Graduate School and associate
vice president for Research and Technology Transfer, effective July 28.
Pugh will take over from Kerry Wilks, who has been serving as interim Graduate School dean since January 1, 2019, when then Dean Dennis Livesay was named dean of WSU’s College of Engineering.
Read the full storyStudents help Kansas African American Museum improve library efficiency
The Kansas African American Museum turned to four Wichita State industrial engineering
students to help organize its 1,500-volume library. As part of their Work Systems
class, the students evaluated the museum’s library as a service-learning project and
got to work fixing the problem.
Creative designer, First-Year Seminar positions open
Creative designer position open to WSU employees only:
The Strategic Communications team is looking for a creative designer. Applications will be accepted until 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 5. To apply, go to Internal Postings and follow the directions there. For questions or assistance, contact the Talent Acquisition Team.
First Year Seminar faculty coordinator position open to WSU employees only:
The Office of Academic Affairs is looking for a First Year Seminar faculty coordinator. Applications will be accepted until 4 p.m. Friday, June 14. To apply, go to Internal Postings and follow the directions there.
For questions or assistance, contact the Talent Acquisition Team.
McCurdy Auction: WSU students are the best investment
Barton School students Riley Webb, Libby Heimerman and Zach Sherman are applying their unique skills in the world of real estate and auctioneering with one of Wichita’s premier family businesses McCurdy Auction, LLC.
Early last semester CEO Braden McCurdyand COO Megan McCurdy Niedenscommitted to be a pilot partner of WSU’s Apprent-ICT program, a program designed to help all students get career-ready via employment with local employers, regardless of their degree. They first hired Riley Webb, a marketing and entrepreneurship student. Although Riley was new to the world of real estate and auctions, Braden and Megan say that he is now thriving in his role just a few months later, and he is a critical member of the team. In addition to Riley’s Apprent-ICT position, McCurdy also brought on Libby Heimerman as an accounting and data analytics intern and Zach Sherman as a digital marketing intern. Both of them are contributing in meaningful ways to McCurdy’s mission and gaining valuable skills that will benefit their careers.
Riley, Libby and Zach’s success inspired the leadership team at McCurdy to donate $2,000 to the WSU Career Development Center in support of the Apprent-ICT program, and make these kinds of opportunities available to more students in the future.
Sara Muzzy, interim executive director of the Career Development Center, was ecstatic when she heard the news: “We were thrilled to grow our partnership with McCurdy Auction. Top-notch local employers like McCurdy serve a critical role for WSU by offering these applied learning experiences to our students. We are extremely grateful for their contribution which will help sustain the Apprent-ICT program, and we look forward to helping McCurdy and other local small businesses hire more of our students.”
Pizza Hut Museum undergoing operational changes
As the Pizza Hut Museum celebrates one year of sharing the story of the original Pizza Hut with visitors from across the nation, a few operational changes will go into effect on June 3.
Hours of operation will change to 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
978-4488 will serve as the museum’s dedicated phone number.
Questions about the museum can be directed to Tyler Gegen, public relations and outreach manager for the Office of Admissions, at tyler.gegen@wichita.edu.
Learn moreVolunteers needed for a research study
Researchers in the School of Nursing are looking for volunteers for a nutritional research study that will examine changes in iron absorption with antioxidant supplementation.
Participants will be asked to consume a meal with phytic acid, complete a dietary recall, participate in taste testing and have blood and saliva sample collection during a meal challenge. Participation is expected to last about 2.5 hours total.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Female
- Not pregnant or breastfeeding
- 18-35 years old
- More than 110 pounds
Location: WSU Human Performance Lab
If you are interested in participating in this study, email nicole.delimont@wichita.edu or call 785-249-5533.
Sign up for Administrative Processes and Procedures informational event
An information-sharing and Q&A event about administrative processes and procedures will be held 2:30-4 p.m. June 17, in 209 Hubbard Hall.
Administrative assistants, executive assistants, college business managers and others who are interested are welcome to attend.
Registers on myWSU > myTraining. Attendees are encouraged to send questions by June 11 to adminprocesses@wichita.edu.
Student wins best paper award at national conference
Alok Dand, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering, was awarded the best student paper award in the Engineering Economy Division at the IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2019 for the paper titled “Analysis of Airline and Passenger Delay Costs Using FAA Data.”
The research work was completed in collaboration with faculty advisors Mehmet Bayram Yildirim (ISME Department) and Khawaja Saeed (Barton School of Business). The paper uses U.S. domestic airline data from 2013-2017 to investigate factors that contribute to delays and examines their economic impact.