Honored to tell their story: How journalists remember their work on 1970 WSU plane crash coverage
The annual ceremony of remembrance for those who died in the 1970 Wichita State University plane crash will be held at 9 a.m. today (Wednesday, Oct. 2) at WSU’s Memorial '70, located near the 18th Street and Hillside entrance to the university.
Mike Kennedy remembers when the paper bearing the Associated Press bulletin came over the wire in KMUW radio newsroom on that October day in 1970.
A plane carrying the Wichita State University football team had crashed. The Associated Press, Kennedy recalls, embargoed the story until reporters learned more details. Early reporting varied between all surviving and none surviving.
Two planes carried the team, but which crashed?
“There was such a sense of shock and disbelief,” he said. “I really think we were some of the first people in Wichita to know about it. We started dividing up assignments. We knew there were two planes. They sent me over to the administration building to see if it was possible to find out which plane it was.”
Pictured above: Wichita State graduate Gabe Juhnke (top, with camera) co-produced a documentary on the 1970 football plane crash for KPTS in 2009. A marker on I-70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel is close to the crash site in Colorado.
Journalists remember 1970 WSU plane crash
2020 Open Enrollment events
All benefits-eligible state employees must participate in Open Enrollment! Log in to the Member Administration Portal at https://sehp.member.hrissuite.com to make your elections.
Events this week:
Today (Wednesday, Oct. 2): Open Enrollment Open Lab 2:30-4:30 122 Jabara Hall
Employees can drop in anytime during the open enrollment lab for assistance registering and entering enrollment elections. You can RSVP at www.wichita.edu/openenrollment. Open Enrollment Labs do not include a presentation of plans or changes.
Due to the high volume of work during the open enrollment period, the HR Total Rewards Team will not be available for walk-in traffic or to make individual appointments regarding open enrollment. Please take advantage of the scheduled presentations, on-demand webinar and open lab sessions. For a full listing of Open Enrollment events visit the Open Enrollment Website. Any questions should be directed to TotalRewards@wichita.edu.
October HealthQuest upcoming events
Employees enrolled in 2019 coverage through the State Employee Health Plan can earn a premium discount worth $480 annually and HSA/HRA rewards dollars up to $500 per year for each employee and covered spouse, just by participating and logging healthy activities throughout the year! Start by registering in the HealthQuest portal.
In October, there are four events currently scheduled, worth up to 26 points total!
- Oct. 2-16, “Better Sleep, Better You” wellness challenge. Sign up in October through the HealthQuest portal. (2 points)
- Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, on-campus Biometric Screening in 265 RSC. Schedule your appointment today in the HealthQuest portal, or by calling 1-888-275-1205, option 3! (Up to 23 points). These are the final two biometric screening events of the year.
- Oct. 24, “Overcoming Procrastination” EAP webinar. Register here. (1 point)
We’ll be publishing upcoming events each month, but if you’d like to plan in advance, check out all currently scheduled HealthQuest events.
Remember the deadline to earn points towards HSA/HRA Reward Dollars is Monday, Nov. 18, and the deadline to earn points towards your 2020 Premium Discount is Tuesday, Dec. 31.
Flu shots on campus – More appointments added!
WSU HR Total Rewards team is once again hosting on-site flu shots, available to State of Kansas employees and their spouses who are currently enrolled in SEHP medical insurance. Due to demand additional appointments have been added. While walk-ins will be allowed if scheduled appointments are not full, scheduling an appointment is the only way to guarantee a flu vaccine to be reserved for you.
8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, in 264 RSC (Online scheduler close date extended to Wednesday, Oct. 2)
Click here to register and schedule an appointment online for any of the State of Kansas clinics.
If you participated in a clinic last year and completed a profile, you will be prompted to reset your password.
Note: Employees located in Kansas in a city other than Wichita can select a different on-site location by using the same registration link. However, individuals are encouraged to contact the alternate site in advance to confirm access, as not all sites are open to the public.
Click here for the Guide to creating your account and using the online scheduler.
Strategic Planning Initiative assessment tool training sessions
WSU's assessment and tracking system lets you report and track the progress of strategies that are aligned with the university's goals. Classes and open labs to help you learn to use this important new tool are scheduled throughout October. To sign up, log into myWSU and select myTraining. Find classes by searching for "Strategic Planning."
Learn more about Strategic Planning at WSU.
Faculty Town Hall meetings continue today (Wednesday, Oct. 2)
All faculty are encouraged to attend the town hall meetings this week. The meetings are designed to solicit faculty feedback on revisions to general education and faculty workload. Both issues come to the faculty based on the work of two ad hoc committees that met last year. Faculty are encouraged to attend, learn about the issues, and share their opinions on the issues. The Senate will continue to debate both issues at their October meetings.
Documents for both issues are available on the senate website.
Meetings are scheduled for:
12:30-1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, in 313 RSC
2-3:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, in 262 RSC
Wednesdays in Wiedemann today (Wednesday, Oct. 2)
Wednesdays in Wiedemann with organist Lynne Davis will be held at 5:15 p.m. today (Wednesday, Oct. 2) in Wiedemann Hall. Enjoy great music performed by Davis on the Marcussen Organ. Admission is free.
WSU community needed to help shape the Riverfront Legacy Master Plan
The Riverfront Legacy Master Plan is a master planning process intended to create a vision and master plan for the east bank of the Arkansas River. This plan is driven by community input and engagement, all while taking into account previous plans, studies, and new development. We need you.
We want to hear from the WSU community from 5:30-7 p.m. today (Wednesday, Oct. 2) in 265 RSC. Come out and share your vision for our city. We will be in five different locations. Discussing. Exploring. Learning. Engaging. The future of Wichita needs you. Lean into this process and help us design the community we all dream for. Please register at Riverfront Legacy listening tour.
Accessibility Tip of the Week: Know the exceptions process
WSU policy 8.11 addresses the need for accessible content in all WSU classes. If you have the need for an exception to this policy, you must fill out an exception request form. Here's more information about the WSU policy and the exceptions process.
Shocker Dining Services moves in sustainable direction
Wichita State University's Dining Services is taking steps to become more sustainable and reduce food waste on campus. The dining hall and Chartwells are committed to promoting sustainable practices in the WSU community.
Share your faculty story for a chance to win $50 to the Shocker Store
The WSU Foundation is hosting a sweepstakes to obtain faculty stories, and we need your help to spread the word.
It’s easy. Encourage the people you know to like the @WSUFoundation Facebook page and share their story in the comment section of the pinned Faculty Story post. Those who participate will automatically be entered for a chance to win a $50 Shocker Store shopping experience. The deadline to comment is Friday, Oct. 4, and the two winners will receive $50 to the Shocker Store. Find rules and regulations here.
Fall 2019 Chemistry Colloquium Series today (Wednesday, Oct. 2)
Ho-Leung Ng, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Kansas State University, will present “Machine Learning for Drug Discovery,” at 3:30 p.m. today (Wednesday, Oct. 2) in 224 McKinley Hall. Cookies and coffee provided.
Director of Free Expression Initiatives at the Charles Koch Institute to speak at WSU
“Free Speech: Not Just For Your Ideas,” with Sarah Ruger, director of Free Expression Initiatives at the Charles Koch Institute, will be held at 7 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 3) at Marcus Welcome Center.
- What’s the best way to deal with online hate speech?
- What does the Constitution say about free speech?
- How will free speech on campus help tackle polarization in our country?
- Hors d’oeuvres and networking starts at 6 p.m., with complimentary food for all students.
Questions? Contact Rachel Janes at rjanes@standtogether.org.
‘Real-Time Control of a Powered Wheelchair using Neural Network Trained Hybrid Human-Machine Interface Technology’
Jaydip Desai
The next Mechanical Engineering Seminar will be held from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, in 128 Jabara Hall. Jaydip Desai, assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Neuro-Robotics Lab at Wichita State, will present “Real-Time Control of a Powered Wheelchair using Neural Network Trained Hybrid Human-Machine Interface Technology.”
Wheelchair provides mobility to users suffering from muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy. These patients often require human assistance in moving a manual wheelchair or fine control of their fingers to navigate a powered wheelchair-using joystick. Due to severity of the injury or disease progression, these patients sometimes lose fine control of their fingers, which restricts them to use joystick-based controller.
This research project aimed to design a human-centered artificial neural network trained myoelectric controller that identifies human intent through hand gestures, detect objects in front of powered wheelchair, and safely navigate a powered wheelchair across objects. An institutional review board application was approved to recruit participants without muscular disability between 18 to 50 years of age to evaluate the proposed controller in real-time.
Each participants’ surface electromyography signals from their forearm acquired at 200 Hz sampling frequency followed by artificial neural network training and validation prior to human subject testing.
Results showed that the Bayesian Regularization artificial neural network architecture was the most accurate at 98.70% across all subjects and hidden layers compared with Levenberg Marquardt at 97.91% and Scaled Conjugate Gradient at 96.66%. Each participant was successfully able to control a powered wheelchair using the neural network trained hybrid human-machine technology with an average of 2.87 obstacles touched.
Admissions welcomes your input for two Black and Yellow Days in October
On Friday, Oct. 11, the Office of Admissions will host the first of two Black and Yellow Days this fall. Each semester, we invite high school juniors, seniors and college transfer students to this all-day event on campus where they have the chance to participate in sessions hosted by each academic college, tour campus and explore the hands-on learning opportunities available at WSU.
The event is $15 per student and $5 per guest and includes lunch in Shocker Hall Dining. This fall, students can choose to attend Friday, Oct. 11, or Friday, Oct. 25.
If you know any students who should attend this event, they can register at wichita.edu/visit and click on "Admissions Events." For questions, contact Sarah Brill at 978-3638 or Sarah.Brill@wichita.edu.
We need your help! Sign up to observe at DSI
The Distinguished Scholarship Invitational (DSI) is quickly approaching, and will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23. Three $64,000 Harry Gore Memorial Scholarships are awarded through the DSI process to high school seniors to attend Wichita State in fall 2020, and we need your help in selecting the next Gore Scholars!
Observers are WSU faculty, staff, and community members who are present in each room to score the student participants in two activities --- an interview and a consensus-building activity. There are two shifts observers can choose from – 7:30-10:30 a.m., and 2:30-5:30 p.m. Of course, you can always volunteer for both!
If you are interested in serving as an observer, go to wichita.edu/dsiobserver for more information.
Questions? Contact Mandy Harmon, associate director of admissions, at mandy.harmon@wichita.edu.
WSU Weekly Briefing to feature College of Engineering dean Dennis Livesay
The WSU Weekly Briefing will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, in the Marcus Welcome Center. The featured speaker will be Dennis Livesay, dean of the College of Engineering.
Andy McFayden, executive director, Strategic Communications, WSU Tech, will give the overall university update.
The briefing will be livestreamed and available later that day at WSU Weekly Briefing. There will be time for questions following the briefing.
This week, learn how to avoid plagiarism and compare citation management software
University Libraries will hold two Savvy Researcher workshops today (Wednesday, Oct. 2) and Friday, Oct. 4.
The first workshop, “Avoiding Plagiarism," will be from 4-5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, in 217 Ablah Library. Learn to identify unintentional plagiarism and identify strategies to avoid plagiarism. Co-taught with the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards.
The second workshop, “Comparing Citation Management Software," will be from noon-1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4 in 217 Ablah Library. Save time and get better results in your research using techniques like proximity searching, setting filters and limits, and using thesauri and wildcards.
For more information, call Angie Paul at 978-5084.
University Libraries Workshops
Graduate Student Council hosts Pizza Night on Thursday, Oct. 3
Join the Graduate Student Council at Shocker Sports Grill and Lanes from 3-5 p.m. Thursday Oct. 3, for an evening of pizza, board games, and fellowship!
Connect with fellow graduate students while learning more about the Graduate Student Council and how you can get involved. There will be free pizza, appetizers and fountain drinks, as well as the chance to win some cool prizes!
For more information, contact gsc.eventcoordinator@wichita.edu.
Admissions to host Future Shocker Baby Crawl on Saturday, Oct. 5
Do you have Shocker Nation's fastest baby? Bring your family and join the fun at this year's Future Shocker Baby Crawl at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, in the Marcus Welcome Center, hosted by the Office of Admissions!
Bring your keys, bells, whistles, or anything else that will get baby to cross that finish line. Pre-registration is preferred, but families are welcome to register at the event as well.
Sign up for an upcoming Preventing Suicide Training by CAPS
Join Counseling and Prevention Services for our Preventing Suicide Training on Thursday, Oct. 17, in the RSC. Each training lasts an hour and helps provide tools to provide assistance for someone in need.
Please sign up thought myTrainings for staff or faculty. Students and community members, sign up at Wichita.edu/SuicidePrevention.
Volunteers needed for Fall Commencement
The 2019 Fall Commencement ceremony will be held Sunday, Dec. 15. The Commencement Office is looking for individuals who are available to work from approximately noon to 5:30 p.m. that day. If you are interested in assisting, please visit the commencement website and sign up. If you have questions about assisting with commencement please contact the commencement office at commencement@wichita.edu.
Save the date for the 2020 URCAF
Save the date! The 20th annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum (URCAF) will be held on Friday, April 10, 2020, in the Rhatigan Student Center. The forum provides an excellent opportunity for undergraduate students at Wichita State to present their scholarly and creative activity to a faculty, student, and community audience, while competing for cash awards.
Let E-Launch help you build your idea
This fall, let E-Launch help you build your idea! Get your business or new product line started right by registering for E-Launch, a program which will ensure you avoid spectacular failures in execution by learning before you launch, not after. Student / faculty I-Corps teams attend free and receive seed money.
Learn about I-Corps at wichita.edu/icorps and register for E-Launch at wichita.edu/elaunch!
SGA Chief of Operations application is open
SGA is looking for someone passionate about government relations and politics to apply for the Chief of Operations position. If this sounds like a student you know, please refer them to the application at wichita.edu/sga.
This position would work closely with the 62nd cabinet, focusing on government relations at the local and state level, as well as running senate meetings.
Join Counseling and Prevention Services for National Depression Screening Day
Help keep on top of your mental health by attending National Depression Screening Day from Counseling and Prevention Services from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, on the first floor, RSC. Screens only take a couple of minutes, and can help you with a mental health check-up.
Special ticket price for Luke Bryan Farm Tour 2019
Wichita State has been offered a special rate of $25 for general admission tickets to the Luke Bryan Farm Tour 2019, on Friday, Oct. 4.This special price is available to students, faculty, staff, and campus partners with a valid WSU ID. Tickets can be purchased in Student Involvement, 216 RSC. Cash only will be accepted. All sales are final, no refunds will be given. The show will happen rain or shine.
For more information contact Student Involvement at 978-3022 or getinvovled@wichita.edu. For more information about the concert visit, lukebryan.com/farm-tour.
Luke Bryan Farm Tour 2019 will be at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, at the Flying B Ranch (20000 SW Santa Fe Lake Rd., Douglass, Kansas. Parking opens at 2 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m.
Show line-up: Cole Swindell, Peach Pickers, DJ Rock, Mitchell Tenpenny and Luke Bryan
Come paint your stress away at this year's Shocker Paint Night!
Whether you’re the next Picasso or if you’ve never touched a paint brush in your life, anyone can paint a masterpiece! (Van) Gogh have a wonderful time creating Shocker-themed pieces of art with the Student Activities Council during this stress free, step by step tutorial from 5:30-7 p.m. or 7:30-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, in 142 RSC.
Don’t brush off the chance to have a night filled with laughter, snacks and self-expression. $10 for WSU students with Shocker ID, $18 faculty/staff; $20 families and the general public.
Pre-registration is required. Register online at wichita.edu/PaintNight.
For more information about SAC-sponsored events, go to wichita.edu/sac or contact us at sac@wichita.edu.
SGA is looking for members to sit on the Student Fees Committee
The Student Fees Committee meets to discuss student fees funding that will be given out to various departments and organizations across campus. Applications will be due on Friday, Oct. 11, and can be found at wichita.edu/sga.
Pancakes and Pajamas in SSGL!
The Office of Student Success: First-Year Programs will host its mid-term pajama party from 9-11:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, in Shocker Sports Grill and Lanes. Encourage your students to put on their pajamas and join us for a pancake breakfast, bowling, billiards, and board games. For more information, contact First-Year Programs at 978-5420.
Register for the Shocktoberfest Door Decorating Competition!
Shocktoberfest is a time to celebrate Shocker Pride! Student groups from all over campus will be competing and participating in events like Wu’s Birthday Bash, Hunger Games, Dodgeball and Songfest.
Departments can join in on the fun by participating in the annual Door Decorating Competition. Winning departments will receive a catered staff party valued at up to $100.
The deadline to enter is Wednesday, Oct. 16, and all doors must be decorated by the end of business on Friday, Oct. 18.
For information about the competition and to apply, go to wichita.edu/Shocktoberfest.
RSC Unplugged features Nikki Moddelmog
Stop by the Rhatigan Student Center every Wednesday for the live music series, RSC Unplugged. Grab a cup of coffee and relax with some great music by Nikki Moddelmog from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. today (Wednesday, Oct. 2) in the RSC’s Starbucks Lounge.