Announcement and congratulations from Provost Rick Muma
Wichita State University is proud to announce that 46 members of the faculty have been awarded tenure and/or promotion, or professor incentive review during the 2019-20 academic year. These faculty members include tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty who were recommended through an extensive review process and approved by President Jay Golden in April.
The awarding of tenure and/or promotion, or professor incentive review reflects the excellence in teaching, research and service that is core to the mission of Wichita State. Although we are not able to gather in person this year, I want to personally extend my congratulations to each awardee. I look forward to seeing each of you in person when we return to campus to tell you again, how proud we are of your accomplishments and contribution to WSU.
I would ask our faculty and campus community to join me in congratulating the awardees by visiting our Tenure & Promotion website at https://wsu.news/tenurepromotion.
Richard D. Muma, PhD, MPH
Provost & Professor
Convergence Sciences Town Halls to be held today and Friday
You are invited to attend upcoming town halls to talk about the president’s Convergence Sciences Initiative. You’ll hear key information about the call for proposals, and most importantly get the chance to connect with people whose expertise you need for your proposal, or who are seeking to join a research group.
The town halls will be organized around the three topics:
- Sustainability at 2 p.m. today (Thursday, April 23)
- Health Disparity at 1 p.m. Friday, April 24
- Digital Transformations at 3 p.m. Friday, April 24
A Zoom meeting link will be emailed to you after you RSVP.
Convergence Science Town Halls and Events
New look, same newsletter
WSU Today begins a new look today in response to faculty / staff input.
Effective immediately, featured stories of the day -- chosen by Strategic Communications -- will be clickable from the email you receive each weekday morning. There will also be categories to aid the reader in quickly locating stories / information of interest.
Like most changes in formatting a newsletter, some fine-tuning may be necessary, but we believe this is a significant step in the right direction.
If you have questions or comments, email joe.kleinsasser@wichita.edu.
Help shape Wichita State by taking brand survey
Help us better serve you by letting us know what you think through our new Wichita State University brand survey.
Your thoughts are important in this time of change. Help us make the right decisions to ensure everyone finds value in Wichita State and feels welcome in the Shocker community.
Your next few minutes will make an important difference! Share your thoughts on our survey at https://wsu.news/survey. A Spanish-language version of the survey is available at https://wsu.news/surveyspanish.
Direct questions for returning library materials to librarystaff@wichita.edu
University Library items may be returned through the book drop on the east side of Ablah Library or once the libraries have open hours. There are no fines for late library materials. Please e-mail librarystaff@wichita.edu for questions.
WSU School of Education alumni honored in Spring 2020 Teacher of Promise Recognition
Carly Espinosa
Every year, the faculty and staff of WSU’s Middle / Secondary Education Programs select a group of teacher candidates to honor with the Kansas Teacher of Promise Award, sponsored by the Kansas State Department of Education.
The highly competitive selection process involves consideration of several factors:
- positive and professional attitudes,
- evidence of exemplary teaching, and
- demonstrated potential to make a sustainable contribution inside and outside of the classroom for the improvement of schools, student performance, and the teaching profession.
WSU Middle / Secondary faculty are proud to recognize the following teacher candidates this year.
Teacher of Promise Winners
The Fall 2019 Teacher of Promise is Carly Espinosa, Secondary English Education.
Carly is a leader among her peers, both in her English pedagogy course work and in her teaching practicums and internships. Her curriculum design, teaching, and assessment of student learning consistently demonstrate her understanding of best practice in English language arts pedagogy—as well as her innovative spins on that practice.
She is a diligent, creative, and knowledgeable curriculum designer, and her lessons maximize student engagement and deep understanding of content. She also excels at building positive relationships with students and interacting with them throughout the class in order to enhance those relationships and informally assess understanding.
Carly has also demonstrated professional leadership by serving the College of Applied Studies as an Ambassador and by presenting her scholarship at the 2019 Kansas Association of Teachers of English Conference. Carly will be teaching English at Valley Center High School next year.
The Spring 2020 Teacher of Promise is Will Mercer, Secondary History / Government Education. Will is one of those quietly capable teachers; incredibly bright, self-effacing, and extremely effective in getting students to think more deeply about their perception of the past and the world we live in. Mr. Mercer’s mentor teacher commented that he already operated like a veteran in the classroom. For context, she said this in December of 2019, before Will’s full student teaching began.
Will’s lessons are both witty and deep, and watching him translate lesson plans into classroom instruction is a joy -- Will pays attention to his students and has a knack for adjusting his teaching methodology according to his students’ needs.
In light of school closings due to COVID-19, Will has been part of the team creating lessons and materials for social studies teachers to teach online or over distance with.
Will consistently creates funny, thoughtful, engaging lessons and videos, making some reasonably difficult concepts attainable. Mr. Mercer will be teaching Speech and Debate at De Soto High School next year.
Honorable Mention
TJ Blount is finishing his teacher licensure in the undergraduate Earth & Space Science (6-12) program, and is currently in his final teaching internship at Haysville Middle School. TJ is a nontraditional student with a family, who also works part-time as a youth pastor, and his teaching is top-notch with amazing work with his middle school kids at Haysville. He personally collected rock and fossil samples to share with his students and shows a passion for geology and his students’ learning.
TJ has also co-presented a session on science demonstrations at the Kansas Association of Teaching Science (KATS) annual conference in April 2019. He will be teaching 7th grade Earth Science and Chemistry at Valley Center Middle School next year.
Blake Overman is a secondary English Education major currently completing his teaching internship at Wichita Northwest High School. One of Blake’s greatest strengths is his ability to create a safe and productive learning environment for his students. He is an informed and confident advocate for all students, and he creates a classroom culture where all identities are celebrated, and where deep understanding of content and one another are the primary focus.
In addition, Blake has demonstrated leadership in the field by presenting his research at WSU’s 2019 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum, the 2019 Kansas Association of Teachers of English Conference, and at WSU’s 2020 Gender and Sexuality in Kansas Conference. His creative and scholarly work will also appear in the 2020 issue of Kansas English.
Blake will be teaching First-Year Composition as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in WSU’s Department of English next year.
Elizabeth Vest is a secondary English Education major currently completing her internship at Wichita East High School. One of Elizabeth’s many strengths is her ability to design research-based instruction that meets students where they are. She confidently builds relationships with each of her students through her skillful curriculum design, and has written about her practice for publication in English Journal, the premier practitioner journal of the National Council of Teachers of English.
Elizabeth’s scholarly and creative work has also appeared in Kansas English, as well as in presentations at WSU’s 2019 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Forum and the 2019 Kansas Association of Teachers of English Conference. She will be teaching First-Year Composition as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in WSU’s Department of English next year, while continuing her work with the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Central Kansas.
The 2020 Core IV History / Government Cohort (Bryan Becker, Peyton Cole, Melanie Deters, Baine Dikeman, Benjamin Lansford, Regan Matteson, Will Mercer, Tyler Morgan, Jennifer Morris, Kristi Neas, McKenna Paintin, Austin Sherman, Conner Thompson)
When Governor Kelly ordered schools closed on March 17, this group of teaching interns faced immediate loss of access to students, mentor teachers and administrators who did not know how to proceed, and their own concerns over graduation and certification. In the face of these challenges, the team began building a repository of lesson plans, short videos on historical topics, and instructional materials that would be shared with teachers.
These candidates spent the first weeks of social distancing creating more than 150 lessons and materials, with more coming. Word spread of the resources being provided, and Social Studies teachers from the Wichita metropolitan area, to Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, even to India, are taking the materials and using them to teach their own students in the midst of a pandemic. Even more, now the team is making lessons in response to teacher requests. When they could be obsessing over their own problems, these happy few, this band of teachers, made it a priority to help others.
Summer 2020 calendar is updated
To see the revised 2020 Summer Calendar, go to www.wichita.edu/schedule.
Graphic design faculty candidate Derek Hamm to give public Zoom presentation today
Please join the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries at 3:30 p.m. today (Thursday,
April 23), for a public Zoom presentation by Derek Hamm, a candidate for a faculty
position in the graphic design program. The presentation will be followed by a short
question-and-answer period.
The meeting ID for Hamm’s Zoom presentation is 941 2994 7625, and the password is 087687.
Candidates Joshua Smith and Guido Alvarez delivered presentations earlier this week. Irma Puškarević will give her public presentation at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, April 24). Join with the meeting ID 951 6076 9633 and password 037116.
Join us for Lavender Graduation on May 7
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Spectrum: LGBTQ & Allies are excited to host this year's Lavender Graduation at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 7.
Lavender Graduation is an annual ceremony conducted on many campuses to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) students, and to acknowledge their achievements and contributions to their institutions. Due to ongoing concerns of COVID-19, we will adjust the format of this program to be a virtual celebration at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 7 via Zoom. To rsvp and learn more, go to Wichita.edu/lavender.
Book Club by Graduate Student Council: Every Tuesday at noon
The Graduate Student Council will host a virtual Book Club on Tuesdays. The current chosen book is "100 Semesters" by William Chance. A free e-copy of the book is available, so please email Ashruta at gsc.treasurer@wichita.edu to join them in their next session on Zoom at noon Tuesday, April 28), to get access to your copy! For more details, follow the Facebook post.
Troubleshoot problems with images in Blackboard tests
If you are delivering tests in Blackboard, you need to know that image uploads are not always showing up correctly for students. If you are using images in tests, please read through this short training to ensure your images have been added in a way students can see when they take the test.
Would you like a Blackboard expert to look over your test and review your test settings to ensure they reflect your goals? Email a request for a review to Instructional Design and Access at IDA@wichita.edu.
Some good news
Here’s some good news snippets, that cover both personal and work topics, from the Admissions Team!
One of our Admissions Officers, Sandy Bartlett, received the best phone call possible recently. Her son, Jeremy, who was deployed to Afghanistan in November, has safely returned to the US.
The Admissions Office admitted 92 students in the past week and received 153 official transcripts.
Several Admissions team members are becoming better cooks during this time, However, family members have yet to report if the quality of meals has improved.
University Libraries is helping with State Library Card signup
Get a State Library of Kansas card easy! Email us at librarystaff@wichita.edu with your full name (including middle initial), email address and date-of-birth.
See all the online resources available at http://kslib.info.
TIAA virtual counseling is available
TIAA Financial Consultants are available to help participants in the Kansas Board of Regents retirement plan with virtual meetings to confirm they are on track for retirement, discuss market volatility, and consider recommendations on how to invest their funds.
These virtual meetings are private and secure, with only the employee and the Financial Consultant joining the virtual meeting. Through a computer or tablet, participants are able to see the Financial Consultant as they talk, and the consultant can share information on their screen to create an experience very similar to a traditional face-to- face meeting. Please click the link below to schedule an appointment.
- TIAA Virtual Counseling
- Or call TIAA at 800-732-8353 to set an appointment.
Please email Jeremy Kohn, TIAA Financial Consultant at jeremy.kohn@tiaa.org if you have problems setting an appointment and need assistance.
GRASP 2020 to be held on Blackboard -- Call for judges
In the spirit of continuing their support of graduate student research even while not on campus, the Graduate School will hold the annual Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects Symposium online this year; Blackboard will host virtual posters and written explanations from graduate students across campus. All WSU faculty, staff, and students will be able to self-enroll in the Blackboard Organization to view projects on May 1. Want more information about GRASP? Visit our website at wichita.edu/grasp.
Additionally, the Graduate School is seeking faculty and staff volunteers to judge the poster session remotely from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, May 1. If you have access to a tablet, computer or smart device, this would be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the diverse research and scholarly projects in which graduate students across campus have been engaged. Volunteer sign-up will close at the end of the day on Thursday, April 23. Click here to sign up.