University community invited to attend Innovation Awards tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 23)
The university community is invited to attend the fifth annual WSU Innovation Awards at 3 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday Jan. 23), in Shirley Beggs Ballroom. The Innovation Awards, hosted by WSU Ventures and WSU Strategic Initiatives, recognize students, faculty, staff and partners who execute programs and initiatives that greatly impact achievement of the university mission and vision. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP at Innovation Awards.
President’s Innovation Award: School of Digital Arts
Visionary: Senator Jerry Moran
Innovation Partner: Textron Aviation
Community Partner: Wichita Police Dept. & Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Dept.
Philanthropy: Woolsey Family
Ambassador: Tom Aldag, Director of R&D, National Institute for Aviation Research, WSU
Catalyst: FirePoint Innovations Center, WSU
Creative Works: Darren DeFrain, Associate Professor/Director of Writing Program, WSU
First Dollar: Rapid Setting Composite Article
Patents:
- Protective antigen complexes with increased stability and uses thereof, James Bann, associate professor of chemistry, WSU; Masaru Miyagi, Case Western Reserve University
- Rapid setting composite article, John Tomblin, Tom Aldag, Kim Reuter, WSU-NIAR; Andrea Meyer, Spirit AeroSystems; Will McCarvill, Commercial Chemistries
- Non-invasive biofeedback system, Jibo He, associate professor of psychology; Jeremy Patterson, dean, Institute of Interdisciplinary Innovation, WSU
Shocker Innovation Corps Fellows: Sue Abdinnour, professor of Business, WSU; Jason Flanders, Scene Shop Manager, School of Performing Arts, WSU; Barry Badgett, associate professor of Fine Arts, WSU; Richard Sack, Engineering Technology Lab Manager, WSU; Enksaikhan Boldsaikhan, assistant professor of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, WSU
Shocker Innovation Corps Breakout: Tammy Dorsey, CEO Prenatal Hope
SBIR Award: Waruna Seneviratne, Director, Advanced Laboratory for Aerospace Structures (ATLAS), National Institute for Aviation Research, WSU
Newsmaker: NIAR ATLAS
Trailblazer: Tyler Levesque, WSU ESports
Bright Future: Aliyah Funschelle, Abby Warkentine, additional awardees TBD
Wichita State University honors the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
Reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as we collaboratively envision ways to carry forward his work, as well as participate in an impactful, inclusive and engaging celebration of his life.
Join us at 6 p.m. today (Wednesday, Jan. 22), in the RSC Shirley Beggs Ballroom. Hear musical selections from the A.R.I.S.E. Ensemble and our featured keynote speaker, Teresa Lovelady, president and CEO of HealthCore Clinic, Inc. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion is proud to honor the 2020 Drum Major Award recipient Sheelu Surender, Director of the Office of Financial Aid.
The event is cosponsored with the African American Faculty & Staff Association, Black Student Union and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. For more information, go to wichita.edu/mlk or contact the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at 978-3034.
Plans for NetApp building on campus move forward
The Wichita City Council has approved an industrial revenue bond request by developer MWCB LLC to build NetApp's new Wichita headquarters on Wichita State University’s Innovation Campus.
This is a big step forward in a plan that will kick off new applied learning, convergent sciences and digital transformation research opportunities for our students and faculty and will drive diversification of the state and regional economy at an especially crucial time.
NetApp is a Fortune 500 global IT company with more than 600 employees locally. Its plans call for a new $50 million state-of-the-art facility to be built by MWCB.
Read more about how this partnership began and watch the request during the Wichita City Council meeting.
Chances of SBIR / STTR Success Webinar on Feb. 4
You'll spend many hours writing your SBIR or STTR proposal, so you’ll want to give yourself every chance of winning the prize. The proposal review is a critical determinant of success, so give yourself every advantage by writing to those reviewers.
In this webinar from 11 a.m.-noon Tuesday, Feb. 4, learn about how the various federal agencies review SBIR/STTR proposals, what reviewers look for in a proposal, and how to write to “sell” your technology. The webinar will also provide formatting tips to make the reviewers’ job easier, who makes up a review team, the criteria they use to evaluate proposals, scoring and review and award timing.
Chances of SBIR/STTR Success Webinar
Introducing the Student Wellness Center at the Steve Clark YMCA
Students can now enjoy the Student Wellness Center at Wichita State University. For more information, go to Student Wellness Center.
Got YMCA questions? We've got answers
The new Student Wellness Center and Steve Clark YMCA are officially open for business at WSU. How can you sign up? Do you get a discount? What do the Wellness Center and YMCA have?
Get all those answers and a lot more.
Attention: USS and non-teaching UP employees: It’s self-evaluation time!
Emails to USS and non-teaching UP Employees will be sent as a reminder that annual myPerformance Employee Self-Evaluations are due between Jan. 16-31. This allows employees to provide input on job performance and accomplishments. Employees can access their self-evaluation through the myPerformance link found in myWSU.
For more information (including quick reference guides and other assistance) go to www.wichita.edu/myPerformance.
‘Help! my evaluation has disappeared!’ – myPerformance tips and tricks
“I need to access my evaluation again, but it has disappeared! How do I get it back?” or “How can I access past evaluations?” These are the most common questions the myPerformance Team gets this time of year.
Never fret, the solution is simple: After you have accessed an evaluation for the first time, the status automatically changes from “Not Started” to “In Progress.” Therefore, you will need to checkmark the (teeny-tiny-easy-to-miss) box that says, “Show completed and expired tasks” and then click on the Search button. Voila! You should be able to access your current and past evaluations from there.
Remember: During Employee Self-Evaluation (Jan. 16-31), only employees will have unlimited access to their 2019-20 myPerformance evaluations. Leaders / Managers will have access to their direct report evaluations again during Manager Review (Feb. 1-29).
More information, including myPerformance training, can be found at www.wichita.edu/myPerformance.
Legislative Update
WSU Government Relations has provided Legislative Update No. 2 for spring 2020.
The session began with the Governor’s State of the State Address lastg Wednesday evening broadly focusing on themes including healthcare, mental health, budget stability, funding education and the promise to veto tax legislation that jeopardizes the budget outlook for the future. Following the State of the State, a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means committees met to receive the detailed form of the budget. Below are some of the details that pertain to higher education and the budget broadly.
The session began with the Governor’s State of the State Address last Wednesday evening broadly focusing on themes including healthcare, mental health, budget stability, funding education and the promise to veto tax legislation that jeopardizes the budget outlook for the future. Following the State of the State, a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means committees met to receive the detailed form of the budget. Below are some of the details that pertain to higher education and the budget broadly.
For higher education, the Governor recommended $11.9 million for the universities. WSU’s share of that allocation is approximately $1.35 million. The universities had asked for $50 million for tuition stabilization as well as additional funding for other special projects and funding for the two-year sector. The rational for the $11.9 million is likely a combination of only wanting to fund the inflationary growth of our State General Fund budgets and maintain healthy reserves in the state general fund. The Governor also funded a $5 million need based aid scholarship that would be matched by the foundations/endowments of the universities and colleges in Kansas. The Kansas Board of Regents had previously stated that the need was high for the State to invest in base aid to higher education in order to avoid tuition increases in the future and increase access and affordability. Even with the comparatively large increase higher education received in 2019, internal reallocations were needed in higher education to balance our budgets.
The Governor has proposed a 2.5% pay increase for state employees with the exception of those employees that work in the judicial branch, legislative branch and higher education. The budgets of the judicial and legislative branches are separate from those of the executive branch (where most state employees are placed); however, higher education is part of the executive branch and excluded from the pay plan. There is only speculation about why this is. Higher education did receive a small increase to its block grant, and it’s possible that the Governor prioritized that over employee pay increases. It’s also worth noting that adding higher education to the pay plan would double the cost of pay plan so it may have been just too high of a number for a Governor whose priority after education is budget stability. There will likely be some consideration about including higher education in the pay plan during the budget process.
In regards to other priorities of the Governor, she has pledged to fund a new highway plan while reducing reliance on transferring funds away from the highway fund. In the past, transfers from the highway fund were necessary to balance the state general fund. The Governor has proposed reducing the transfer by $73.1 million in FY21 which still leaves $158.7 million being transferred from the Kansas Department of Transportation to the State General Fund. For the highway plan itself, the budget report gave no details regarding what would be funded, but there is an assumption that the current $1.5 billion that funds highways (both construction and maintenance) will be sufficient if the transfers are completely ended.
As expected, the Governor both mentioned in her speech and planned for in her budget the expansion of Medicaid. The federal insurance program for low income Kansans has been a point of contention the last several sessions ever since the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was passed into law in 2010. A bipartisan group of legislators proposed a compromise version of the plan that has some Republican components (fees for Hospitals to help fund the expansion, automatic withdrawal of the expansion if federal matching funds go away and transition to workforce) as well as Democratic components (expand to the 138% of the federal poverty line, don’t pay for plan with a cigarette tax and no work requirements). The plan is estimated to cost approximately $35 million. There is a House bill currently sitting in the Senate that will likely be the vehicle for expansion meaning that once the Senate debates and votes on the bill, all the House can do is hold an up or down vote which should move it along faster. However, legislative leadership has indicated they want to hold a vote on the constitutional amendment to ban abortion prior to expanding Medicaid which will put moderate legislators, particularly democrats, in a difficult position.
Other items of interest in the Governor’s budget include reamortization of KPERS. This would essentially refinance the public employee retirement fund making the payments smaller in the short-term but creating longer payment schedules in the future. The Governor believes that the portion of the State Budget that will be dedicated to KPERS will essentially make it the payment too large to fund by 2035. By reamortizing and stretching the payments out over 25 years, the Governor believes both KPERS and the budget will be stabilized. This plan was introduced by former Governor Brownback and by Governor Kelly last year and both times the plan was soundly rejected by the legislature and would require the approval of the KPERS governing body unless the legislature takes action. With high ending balances in the budget and an opposition party controlling the legislature, it’s unclear how the legislature will respond to this proposal.
The Governor also plans to use the high ending balances to pay off debt that was accumulated in the previous administration. The total proposed amount to retire is $602.5 million. Last legislative session, the appropriations committees established plans to pay this debt off early over a number of years. The Governor is proposing paying it all off at once creating savings in interests payments but reducing the ending balances. The legislature will likely consider some of these but not approve all of them.
The Governor also had a tax plan that focused primarily on reducing the sales tax on food by creating a food sales tax rebate. The Governor’s plan also provides for payments to the Local Ad Valorem Tax Refund fund (LAVTR). This plan would transfer a portion of the ending balance in the State General Fund to the LAVTR for the purpose of reducing the local property taxes that homeowners have to pay. This plan stands in contrast to the Republican plan that was passed last year and vetoed by the Governor that focuses on individual and corporate income taxes.
Barton School's Usha Haley evaluates the US-China Phase One Trade Deal for Fortune magazine
Phase One of the China-US Agreement has just concluded. As the dust settles, experts are weighing in on the results for the global economy and for Kansas. Fortune magazine recently ran an interview with W. Frank Barton Distinguished Professor in International Business Usha Haley on her views as a leading expert on China and trade.
Mark your calendar for Feb 14: Interdisciplinary program award presentations
Join us to hear presentations from the interdisciplinary program award competition semifinalists from 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, in 256 RSC.
The semifinalists are:
Roy Myose, Jeff Pulaski, Jeff Jarman - Minor in Science, Technology and Society
Mythili Menon, Rachel Showstack, Doug Parham, Jeff Hershfield - BA in Applied Linguistics
Raina Rutti, Gary Brooking, Gery Markova, Kara McCluskey - Minor in Sustainability Management
Bill Hendry and Kiley Hicks - BS in Pre-Genetic Counseling
Interdisciplinary Program Competition
The Lecture Series in the Mathematical Sciences presents Mark Walsh, Maynooth University, Ireland
Please join us for a public lecture by Mark Walsh, titled "H-spaces, Loop spaces and Curvature" at 3:30 p.m. today (Wednesday, Jan. 22), in 127 Jabara Hall.
Refreshments will be served before the lecture at 3 p.m. in 353 Jabara Hall.
View an abstract and a list of upcoming lectures here.
Higher Education in Student Affairs Graduate Weekend
On March 13-14, Student Affairs and Educational Psychology will host a graduate weekend for current and prospective students to learn about and interview for graduate assistant positions within Student Affairs / Student Services.
As we prepare for this weekend, we would like to gauge which departments may have assistantships open for FY21, and would like to participate in this weekend. If your department plans to have open positions and would like to participate in this weekend, please fill out the following form by Jan. 31, 2020. For questions about the weekend, email HESA.gradweekend@wichita.edu.
For more information about assistantships available in Student Affairs / Student Services, click on assistantships.
Click here for more information about the graduate weekend
WSU students win innovation award at Consumer Electronics Show
Prenatal Hope VivO2, a noninvasive fetal oxygen detection device created by Wichita State student Tammy Dorsey, continues to attract significant attention in significant technology places.
VivO2 earned a 2020 Innovation Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. ClearObject.com named VivO2 one of its top three things to see at the show, a six-day gathering of industry professionals from around the world.
Founder and CEO Tammy Dorsey and co-founder and CTO James Balman are Wichita State Master of Innovation Design students. Both attended CES, which attracted around 170,000 attendees.
WSU Weekly Briefing to feature homecoming
The WSU Weekly Briefing will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, in 233 Rhatigan Student Center. The featured speaker will be Alyssa Ward, assistant director for alumni events, WSU Alumni Association, talking about WSU Homecoming Feb. 10-16.
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.
Submit your applications for Senior Honor awards
Applications are being sought for Wichita State’s 2020 Senior Honor awards. This is considered one of the most prestigious honors a student can receive at WSU. Up to 10 students are chosen for this honor each year. Application deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14. To review the eligibility requirements and application process, go to www.wichita.edu/seniorhonor.
Impacted by the layoffs in the aviation industry in Wichita?
In the news lately we’ve been hearing about the impact across Wichita of the market uncertainty and layoffs that are affecting local aviation businesses, suppliers and their employees. Human Resources developed a website with information and resources which might be helpful for employees who may be directly impacted by this uncertainty.
Go to www.wichita.edu/CommunityResources for information and resources available to you.
All call for WSU Graduate Student of the Year judges
The WSU Graduate Student of the Year scholarship competition is a competitive and prestigious opportunity for graduate students who have proven exemplary leadership, involvement, and service both to the WSU and Wichita communities. Applications and nominations are now open for students who wish to participate. We are calling for judges to serve throughout the selection process. The dates and details for each round are below. We are looking for two different sets of judges, so upon indicating interest, please include which round you would be most interested in serving.
Round 1: Application Review – Completed by Thursday, Feb. 20
- This process would be going through the qualified applicants and meeting to decide on which students move onto the next round.
Round 2: Interviews/Presentations – Friday, Feb. 28
- Our judges panel will sit through a series of interviews which include a presentation of those selected to move on from the application round. Deliberation and decision on the final court of 5 students will follow the interviews.
Please send which round you would like to serve, or any questions to Kennedy Rogers at kennedy.rogers@wichita.edu or 978-7402.
Annual organ series workshop to feature Hentus van Rooyen
Please join us for our annual Rie Bloomfield Organ Series Organ Workshop from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25, in Wiedemann Hall. Our guest performer and teacher is Hentus van Rooyen, professor of organ at Bethany College in Lindsborg. He will play a variety of pieces on the great Marcussen organ and then invite organ and piano students alike to try out the instrument! Admission is free. Refreshments will be served.
LaunchPrep applications now open!
LaunchPrep provides your early stage startup with access to a select group of Wichita’s most successful entrepreneurs. These mentors, along with round table topics brought to you by industry leaders, creates a winning combination for all participants.
Go to wichita.edu/launchprep for more information.
You are invited to the 17th annual POWER Conference
You are invited to the 17th annual POWER Conference at Wichita State University. We are excited to invite people from all disciplines to attend this event. Register for the POWER Conference here.
This year’s theme centers on the 12 Grand Challenges of Social Work – a national initiative that serves as a call to action for social workers and other helping professionals to harness our science and knowledge base, collaborate with people from all fields and disciplines, and to work together to tackle some of our toughest social problems. Our world faces serious, interrelated, and large-scale challenges, and it takes all of us working together to craft solutions.
The Grand Challenges include these areas of focus:
- Ensure healthy development for all youth
- Close the health gap
- Stop family violence
- Advance long and productive lives
- Eradicate social isolation
- End homelessness
- Create social responses to a changing environment
- Harness technology for social good
- Promote smart decarceration
- Reduce extreme economic inequality
- Build financial capability for all
- Achieve equal opportunity and justice
Attendees have the opportunity to engage in up to six hours of pre-conference sessions, focused on safety, eating disorders / diagnosis and ethics, as well as the full main conference day.
POWER gives us the opportunity to connect together, grow together, and change the world together – this conference can help us be inspired by the innovation of others, rejuvenated as practitioners, invigorated by new knowledge, and challenged with fresh perspectives.
The Ulrich Museum of Art invites you to the Spring Exhibition Opening Party
The Ulrich Museum of Art invites you to join us from 5-8 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 23) for an exploration of the newest suite of exhibitions on display this spring:
Zoe Beloff: Emotions Go to Work
Lee Adler: A Mad Man Amid the Machines
A.P. Vague: Digital Palimpsests
Solving for X=Representation: Slaying the Gerrymander
Ulrich receptions are a conversation, a gathering of artists and art enthusiasts intertwined with music, fine fare and possibility. This event is free and open to the public.
You can help prevent suicide
Learn how you can support your community with the #WSUWeSupportU Preventing Suicide Training. Each training lasts an hour-and-a-half, and gives you the tools you need to assist someone in need through the Share, Ask, Support method.
To sign up, visit the myTrainings tab on your myWSU, or go to wichita.edu/SuicidePrevention.
Barton School accounting student making a difference
Colby Woods
WSU student Colby Woods was recently recognized by the Kansas Society of CPAs. At the Society’s annual meeting, Colby received an award for being a student who makes a difference in advancing the profession. Colby contributed significant time and effort to the Accounting Career Kickstart program. She helped organize the first business summer camp event held on the WSU campus during the summer of 2019 and worked hard during the event to make it successful. Colby was the only Kansas student to receive this recognition in 2019.
She is currently a graduate student enrolled in the Masters of Accountancy program at WSU. She previously earned an undergraduate degree in accounting at WSU. Congratulations, Colby.
RSC Unplugged features Adam Capps
Stop by the Rhatigan Student Center every Wednesday for the live music series, RSC Unplugged. RSC Unplugged for today (Wednesday, Jan. 22) features Adam Capps from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the RSC’s Starbucks Lounge. Grab a cup of coffee and relax with some great music!
Save on school / art supplies and backpacks
Now through Saturday, Jan. 25, you can save on all you need for back-to-school at the Shocker Store! Backpacks are 15% off and school / art supplies are 10% off, in the RSC location only. Welcome back, Shockers!
Welcomefest deals at the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes
Take advantage of some great Welcomefest deals in the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes from now to Friday, Jan. 31. Enjoy $2 hot dogs, $2/hour billiards and $2 bowling games with free rental shoes. Availability may vary due to group reservations and special events. Offers not valid for group reservations.