Adjustments in HR service delivery WSU
The health and safety of our employees is of the utmost importance, and we have been told that the best method to protect ourselves during this time is through social distancing. We also know that employees have a need to interact with HR during these unsettling times. In order to accommodate both of these needs, Human Resources will adjust how services will be provided to our WSU employee community.
Beginning today (Monday, March 23), Human Resources will have limited staff physically on campus, but will have full HR support available to employees through many different social distancing methods including email, telephone, Skype, and Zoom video and audio conferencing.
We will temporarily suspend in-person service at the HR office, to safeguard employees and remain diligent in our efforts to support social distancing. We are providing the following information to assist employees in navigating Human Resources until social distancing methods are no longer required.
Email Access: Please use the following emails for initial contact with Human Resource Support areas:
Totalrewards@wichita.edu (This email can be used for questions related to leave, benefits and compensation.)
employment@wichita.edu (This email can be used for assistance with posting positions, recruiting and hiring employees, completing I-9 forms.)
HR.OrganizationalDevelopment@wichita.edu (The email can be used for questions related to training, myPerformance, new employee orientation and new leader orientation.)
HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu (This email can be used for any type of general HR question. We will ensure your question / request is forwarded to the appropriate HR team member.)
Telephone Access: Employees may also call the main HR number at 316-978-3065 for assistance.
HR Business Partner Access: Below are the names of the HR Business Partners. If you do not know the Business Partner for your area, please email HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu or call 316-978-3065.
University update on employee and student employee pay status
Dear students, faculty and staff:
I'm writing to provide an update and guidance regarding WSU employee and student employee pay status.
As President Golden has noted in his previous communications to our campus community, we are in unprecedented times. Coronavirus is unlike anything we as a community, as a university, have had to deal with. You continue to hear from a variety of sources that the situation is fluid, evolving by the day – sometimes even by the hour. And while our priorities as an institution remain the health and well-being of our campus community and preserving the student experience, the evolving nature of COVID-19 requires the university to make difficult but critical decisions.
During this time of reduced on-campus presence, the university remains operational with limited facility access. By now, all of our employees have implemented, or will implement, and are adapting to a socially distanced workforce. We appreciate those efforts and understand that this new workplace environment raises a number of questions and concerns about employee and student employee work requirements and pay status.
WSU is committed to our entire workforce. To that end, we are implementing the following:
- Employees (including student employees) who are able to continue working either on campus or remotely are expected to do so at this time. All employees should work with their supervisor to develop a plan that allows them to maintain communication, productivity and efficiency to meet deliverables.
- Employees (including student employees) who are working on campus must practice social distancing. For more information on methods of social distancing, please click here.
- Student employees who continue working, either on campus or remotely, will be paid as they are normally.
- Student employees whose job responsibilities do not require them to be on campus but cannot be completed or facilitated remotely will be paid as they are normally for the next two pay periods (ending April 18, 2020). Beginning April 19, 2020, student employees for whom there is no longer any available work will not be paid.
- GTA/GRA/GAs will continue working for the remainder of their employment period as designated by their epaf, with the understanding that those that are grant funded will be subject to availability of grant funding.
- Employees (excluding student employees) will continue to be paid as they are normally as scheduled through the end of FY2020. The university will continue to evaluate all options to maintain its workforce. As the situation evolves, we will continue to communicate our plans to the campus community.
- Employees (excluding student employees) who work for WSU centers and institutes, and those who are funded by grants and/or external contracts, will be receiving communication from their director about continuity of operations and pay status.
- Beginning March 22, 2020, all employees should use the Coronavirus COVID-19 Time and Leave Reporting (see instructions attached or at this link), as requested by the State of Kansas to better track the financial impact of this pandemic.
We understand that not every question has been answered, nor every situation anticipated. We will continue to evaluate and review these decisions as the situation evolves. Please continue to monitor www.wichita.edu/covid19news for the most up-to-date information and answers to frequently asked questions. Should you have additional questions, please contact your supervisor.
We appreciate your patience, cooperation and continued flexibility as we navigate through these uncertain times.
Sincerely,
Werner Golling,
Vice president for Finance and Administration
Continuity of Instruction Task 6: Grading Assignments in Blackboard
To support instructors during this time of transition from in-person classes to online / remote delivery, Instructional Design and Access has created 10 set of tasks to help those who are new to online learning to be successful. Each day we will post one "Task Set" for instructors to work through.
Task Set #6: Grading Assignments in Blackboard
Task 6 walks instructors through how to grade assignments and discussion board postings in Blackboard. Please send any questions to IDA@wichita.edu.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Human Subjects Research
The continued health and wellbeing of students, faculty, staff and community are of the utmost importance. In an effort to minimize the risk of contracting or spreading Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in human participant research, the university is placing temporary restrictions on human subjects research effective immediately and until further notice.
- All research studies (both on and off campus) conducted by faculty / investigators that currently require direct person-to-person interactions must immediately pause enrollment and discontinue in-person interactions unless study procedures can be modified to use alternative methods of gathering study data (e.g., Zoom/Skype, telephone interviews, email, etc.). If this is the case, an Amendment form needs to be submitted to the IRB. Please note these changes may quickly inundate the IRB, so please be patient as the requests are reviewed. (Note: If researchers are relying on an outside IRB, please contact the WSU IRB and we will work with any exceptions to this on a case-by-case basis.)
- Studies involving no direct person-to-person interactions with participants may continue (e.g., secondary data analysis, remote or online contact, etc.).
- IRB review of new studies may be delayed.
Principal investigators will need to partner with their research staff, students and graduate student research assistants who are impacted by this pause in work to identify an appropriate plan moving forward, including any financial ramifications this may pose. You should actively work to communicate this change to your teams.
Please contact the WSU IRB at irb@wichita.edu, should you have any questions.
Wichita State COVID-19 Response Initiative: Protecting healthcare providers, Wichita Fire Department and Wichita Police Department
Dear faculty and staff colleagues,
I hope this finds you in good health and good spirits. We’ve made it through this week, and I think we can take pride in how we’ve supported students and each other.
Rob Gerlach, director of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, is leading an important outreach effort to deploy university resources to respond to community COVID-19 needs, beginning with the frontline needs of first responders, including health care workers, fire, EMS and law enforcement.
If you or your department have ideas or resources to contribute, contact Rob, rob.gerlach@wichita.edu. For this initiative to have measurable success, we need widespread involvement.
Our community partners, including the major hospitals and law enforcement agencies, have asked us to donate any personal protective equipment (PPE) we have available. PPE includes N-95 respirator masks, surgical masks, Latex gloves, surgical gowns and protective face shields.
If you, your lab or department have any PPE that can be donated, please contact Rob Gerlach as soon as possible. After we gather up the PPE, we will work on appropriately distributing it to our community partners.
Jeremy Patterson, the university’s interim executive director for Innovation and New Ventures, has also been in conversations with KU Med Wichita and other local hospitals. We are exploring ways that Wichita State can leverage our unique capabilities, including our 3D printing technologies, to help during this time of crisis.
In addition, through this initiative, we have been working closely with GoCreate makerspace to start creating fabric masks. We are still setting this operation up and will have additional information to provide soon. If you have any fabric bolts that can be contributed, that would be much appreciated. Contact Rob Gerlach with that information.
Things are changing rapidly, and we will adapt to those changes as they come. It is this mentality that enables us to be the innovation university for Kansas.
Thank you for responding to this immediate need and for your planning to help us come back even stronger!
Sincerely,
Jay Golden,
Wichita State University President
How to troubleshoot in Blackboard
Troubleshooting in Blackboard
If you are experiencing difficulties in Blackboard, you may find these simple troubleshooting techniques helpful:
Make Sure You are On the Internet. Especially if you are using Wifi, you may find that you have lost your connection.
Go to Blackboard directly: Type blackboard.wichita.edu directly into your address bar. Do not access Blackboard through the MyWSU portal.
Switch Browsers. Good browsers to try for Blackboard include Chrome and Firefox. If you are a Mac user, Safari usually works well too. Internet Explorer and Edge are not good choices when using Blackboard.
Check Your Physical Connections. It may seem surprising, but many of the problems we see in help tickets are related to someone's computer (microphone, camera, monitor, etc.) getting unplugged. Make sure everything is plugged in tightly, including cables at the back of your machine.
Get Help. If none of the troubleshooting steps above worked, it's time to get help by putting in a Blackboard help ticket.
Troubleshooting and best practices
Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs are now available!
The 2020-21 Wichita State University Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs are now live and online! Links to both catalogs can be found at http://wichita.edu/catalog.
Be sure to check out everything that’s new at WSU. Look on the Degrees and Academic Majors page to browse through all of WSU’s Undergraduate or Graduate degrees, programs and certificates. Click on any of the column headers to sort the list the way you want it, or click on the name of the program and go right to the program information.
Curious about admission? Financial aid? Advising? Commencement ceremonies? Links to all this information and more are available in the catalog.
The catalogs are accessible from your desktop, tablet and smartphone.
While we are excited to have the catalog online, we recognize that a printed catalog is still important and handy. Links to download PDFs of the full Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs are not available at this time, but we are working to get them up within the next few weeks. When the PDF links are available, they will be located at the bottom right of every page next to links creating PDFs of individual catalog pages.
Important information from Facilities Services
In response to COVID-19, Facilities Services, like all other departments, will practice social distancing to the greatest extent possible. To help ensure the health and safety of our staff, and that of those faculty, staff and students still on campus, we are utilizing staggered work schedules and working remotely where possible to reduce our on-campus presence.
We are committed to ensuring we meet the critical custodial and maintenance needs of WSU. However, we need help identifying where to focus our attention. If you have continuing or unique needs, or your department will not be using their building space, please let us know by calling ext. 3444 or 316-978-3444. You can also e-mail me at bobby.smith@wichita.edu
At the appropriate time in the future, Facilities Services will ensure all WSU buildings are clean and ready for use. As of today, we are suspending campuswide daily cleaning so we can focus on spaces that continue to have a human presence. Our focus in these spaces will be on restrooms, trash removal and cleaning / disinfection. For those staff/departments still working on campus, please let us know if you need disinfecting products and we will make every effort to provide the products you need.
During regular working hours, to ensure appropriate and timely response, it is essential that work order requests for Facilities Services assistance be made online here. For urgent situations outside of regular working hours, please contact our WSU police department at 316-978-3450, who will then contact our on-call personnel.
The following Facilities Services leadership staff will be splitting their time between on campus work and telecommuting, and will be available most any time.
Eason Bryer, Director of Facilities Maintenance Operations eason.bryer@wichita.edu
Ann Renollet, Director of Finance and Administration Operations annmarie.renollet@wichita.edu
Pablo Gonzalez, Director of Custodial Services and Event Support pablo.gonzalez@wichita.edu
Mike Strickland, Director of Environmental Health and Safety mike.strickland@wichita.edu
Bob Smith, Executive Director bobby.smith@wichita.edu
Thank you for your understanding and for partnering with Facilities Services during this challenging time.
Bob Smith
Executive Director, Facilities Services
Services reduced for Central Services, Postal Services and Shocker Printing Solutions
For the health and safety of our staff, and in order to sustain operational support to the university, Auxiliary Services will implement the following changes, effective Monday, March 23.
Central Services
The Central Services supply office will close window service and staff will monitor orders remotely. Order pick up will be available daily in Morrison Hall, room 010, between 9-11 a.m. If you have an immediate need, please text Angie Tucker at 316-518-7166. To place an order, go to www.wsucentralservices.com.
Postal Services
Postal Services will reduce staffing, but counter hours will remain the same, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Services are for university business only, no passports or retail sales, including the sale of stamps. There will be no main campus delivery, but limited satellite delivery will continue. For questions, please call 978-5677.
Shocker Printing Solutions
Shocker Printing Solutions staff will monitor orders received via our digital storefront and come in to print as needed. Printed proofs will not be available during this time, however, our staff will contact you if they feel there is a problem with your file. Pickups will be scheduled as needed. Email questions to shockerprinting@wichita.edu. To place an order, go to wsu.myprintdesk.net/dsf.
Requisitions to WSU Foundation
While the some of the Wichita State University Foundation staff is working remotely, please be advised requisitions will be processed as normal. All requisitions received by noon Tuesday will be processed by Friday.
We encourage you to send your requisitions to the Foundation Accounts Payable e-mail address at foundation.ap@wichita.edu. As always, requisitions can still be sent via mail.
Please reach out to foundation.ap@wichita.edu for any further questions.
Impact of the coronavirus on the full-service restaurant industry in Kansas
One of the most vulnerable sectors impacted in the United States by the novel coronavirus is food services and drinking establishments, which accounted for 7.3% of all jobs and $1.6 billion in total wages within Kansas in 2018, according to research completed by Wichita State University's Center for Economic Development and Business Research.
Visit WSU from home!
Are you or do you know someone who is interested in learning more about Wichita State University? You can now visit WSU from home!
Our Office of Admissions is partnering with the Office of Financial Aid to offer a virtual campus visit on Zoom every weekday beginning today (Monday, March 23). During this interactive virtual experience, participants will hear from staff about admissions, financial aid and scholarships, and what you can expect during your Shocker experience. Register at wichita.edu/visit.
University Libraries provides plentiful online resources
Find all of your academic needs in one place! Wichita State University Libraries will continue to provide plentiful resources online. See http://libraries.wichita.edu/covid19 for more details.
Registrar’s Office updates spring, summer and fall calendars
The Office of the Registrar has updated the spring 2020 calendar, and added the summer and fall 2020 calendars at www.wichita.edu/schedule.
Share your sustainability news
As WSU prepares to celebrate Earth Day in April, we are creating a list of sustainability initiatives on campus. Submit upcoming sustainability events, current sustainable practices, or accomplishments by faculty, staff or students related to sustainability. Use our brief submission form to share these with the Sustainability Steering Committee. Consider joining one of the Working Groups, too!
Student Success: First-Year Programs is seeking Orientation Faculty Fellows for 2020-21
Student Success: First-Year Programs invites faculty to apply to become an Orientation Faculty Fellow. If you are interested in officially welcoming the newest members to Shocker Nation, we are interested in considering you for a Faculty Fellow position. Faculty should have a student-centered educational philosophy, demonstrated success in teaching new students and support out-of-class educational experiences. Letters of interest are due to kim.sandlin@wichita.edu by Friday, April 3.
Orientation Faculty Fellows will work closely with the undergraduate Transition Mentors (TMs) and the Orientation staff to provide a welcoming atmosphere while communicating expectations within the college classroom.
The time commitment for Faculty Fellows includes one 45-minute session during each Freshman Orientation program for students and their guests (Faculty Fellows and TMs with Success Coaches if desired), and one 40-minute session during each Transfer Orientation and Transfer/Returning Adult Orientation program for students and their guests (with the advising center from your college). We will schedule a meeting in advance of the programs to go over content and address questions. Orientation dates are listed on the Orientation website here.
You are also encouraged to attend lunch during freshman programs and asked to attend the college receptions during the transfer/returning adult programs.
Please note, we will have two Orientation programs scheduled in January 2021 for new students starting at WSU in the spring semester. We do expect participation from the Faculty Fellows during those programs as well. January dates will be shared when available.
Faculty Fellows may also be asked by International Education to assist with the International Orientation program annually scheduled the week prior to the fall and spring semesters. Look for communication from International Education when it becomes available.
Those interested in being considered for an Orientation Faculty Fellow position should possess the following characteristics:
- Student-centered educational philosophy
- Experience and demonstrated excellence in teaching first-year students
- Genuine interest in mentoring new students
- Support of the out-of-class educational experience
We will select two Faculty Fellows from each academic college. Each Fellow will receive a $1750 stipend for serving in this role, as well as lunches at programs throughout the summer. If interested, please submit a letter of interest indicating why you would like to serve as an Orientation Faculty Fellow and how you meet the characteristics above to Kim Sandlin at kim.sandlin@wichita.edu, by 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 3.
Call for Service-Learning Faculty Scholars for 2020-21
The Service-Learning Faculty Scholars program has been designed to empower committed service-learning faculty to cultivate and support interest in service-learning in their fellow faculty members and through their classes and college. Our goal is to infuse the campus and community with a spirit of service-based academic engagement that ties the classroom experience to applied learning and experiential knowledge. The goal of the Faculty Scholars program is to involve faculty in the advancement of the service-learning pedagogy among fellow faculty. For a full list of program responsibilities, faculty support, and application information, go to Service-Learning Scholars. wichita.edu/servicelearningscholars
Questions can be directed to the Service-Learning Faculty Fellows team: Dr. Rhonda K. Lewis at rhonda.lewis@wichita.edu, or Dr. Chelsea Redger-Marquardt at chelsea.redger@wichita.edu. All application materials are due on Friday, April 17, by midnight to Dr. Lewis.
Service-Learning Faculty Resources
Tuition Assistance applications for summer 2020 now being accepted
Tuition Assistance applications for summer 2020 are being accepted through the new Online Application Form through Wednesday, April 15.
Effective for the summer 2020 term, the fillable PDF form will no longer be accepted.
Because of the volume of applications received each semester, requests to submit late applications will be automatically denied. There will be no exceptions.
Full program details can be found at www.wichita.edu/tuitionassistance.
Questions may be directed to TuitionAssistance@wichita.edu.
Career Development virtual Q&A
Have questions about your resume? Can't find something in Handshake? Not sure what services we offer? Questions about your major?
All these questions and more can be answered in this weekly Q&A Zoom session hosted by the Career Development Center.
Two Zoom sessions are scheduled this week:
1-2 p.m. Tuesday, March 24
9-10 a.m. Thursday, March 26
Check out our events page to find all sessions.
Select menu and to-go orders only at the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes will be making the following changes effective today (Monday, March 23):
- All food and beverage orders will be made to-go.
- Due to the large decline in the number of visitors, we will be limiting our menu to starters and sides.
- The center will be closed for play (bowling, billiards and darts) until further notice. The only exception is that bowling team members may still use the lanes for individual training and practice.
We genuinely care about the health and safety of our guests and employees. As such, this is our attempt to be responsible with promoting social distancing during these difficult times.
Student Health Services is offering monthly deals on over-the-counter medicine
March is the time to get on top of your allergies and begin a daily preventative medicine! For more information about the effects of allergies, click here.
Attend the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Virtual Outreach Fair
Are you a college student or recent graduate looking to gain valuable experience in your STEM field?
The Career Development Center found this event is for you!
The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) is hosting a virtual outreach fair to highlight the variety of paid internships and fellowships available within our Research Participants Program, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday, March 25.
Rock your PI job application with The Professor is In
The Career Development Center encourages students to join THE expert on getting a PI job, Dr. Karen Kelsky, for Academic Job Applications 101. Items that will be discussed:
- cover letter dos and don'ts
- crafting an effective CV
- writing the all-important research, teaching, and diversity statements
- the job application essentials that will get you on the short list
And they will be raffling off copies of The Professor is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD into a Job! AND a 1:1 job application consultation session with Karen.
Participants wanted for a study on self-advocacy
I hope to learn whether students who participate in college TRIO programs at WSU are more likely to self-advocate than their non-TRIO participating peers.
You can complete a questionnaire called the College Student Mentoring Survey (CSMS), which will ask questions related to your mentoring experiences at WSU and the General Self-Efficacy Scale, which will be used to examine your self-decision making. The questionnaires will take between 20-35 minutes.
If you are interested in a follow-up for advocacy scenarios, you will be able to continue the survey and respond to the scenarios; otherwise, at the end of the questionnaire when it asks if you would like to complete the scenarios, you may select “no.” The scenarios will take between 5-10 minutes and will consist of problem-based scenarios where you will be asked to create a solution to the problem.
To be eligible to participate:
- Must have a fluent understanding of English
- Must be an undergraduate at WSU
Contact: If you are interested in participating in this study or have any concerns, contact Mercedes Lubbers at mercedes.lubbers@wichita.edu or my Faculty Advisor, Mara Alagic at mara.alagic@wichita.edu. You may click this link to access the CSMS and the GSES questionnaire.
2nd Annual Cops for Shocks Food Drive now to March 31
The WSUPD challenges departments all across campus as we did last year to help stock the Shocker Support Locker.
Donations are accepted at the Police Department lobby from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. We will be glad to pick up and deliver for you, or give your donation to any WSUPD officer until March 31.
Donate shelf stable pantry items, baby food and diapers, hygiene products and bottled water.
Avoid canned green beans, corn, high sugar foods and food past the expiration date.