Shock the World Campaign donors raise $307.8 million for Wichita State
The results are in for the WSU Foundation’s Shock the World Campaign, a seven-year undertaking that ended earlier this year. Alumni and friends of Wichita State University contributed $307.8 million, surpassing the goal of $250 million to help position the university for a successful, innovation-focused future.
“When we began planning for this campaign, the firm helping assess the feasibility of it questioned whether it would be possible to raise even $200 million,” said Elizabeth King, WSU Foundation president and CEO. “They didn’t fully understand the loyalty, dedication and excitement our donors and supporters have for Wichita State. We knew our Shocker community was capable of so much more.”
The Shock the World Campaign met or surpassed all of the priorities identified at the start.
Faculty and Staff Virtual Town Hall on Dec. 11
A live YouTube virtual staff and faculty town hall will be held from 3-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. This is an opportunity to hear and interact with Interim President Rick Muma and Interim Provost Shirley Lefever. The event will be moderated by presidents of the UP, USS and Faculty Senates.
Faculty and staff wanting to participate are encouraged to do so during the live YouTube stream. If you don’t currently have a YouTube account, click here for more information on how to create one.
You can watch the town hall live and recorded after the event at Virtual Town Hall.
Make sure your office hours are updated
As students are now completely remote until February, please go to wichita.edu/officehours and check to make sure your office hours are correct. If they need to be adjusted, please email lisa.hansen@wichita.edu.
Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Teams? Newly listed! Two remote training sessions for next week:
Tuesday, Dec. 15: Teams Essentials: Learn about navigation, chat (and hidden features of chat), the calendar, setting up meetings, the Teams app and conversations, how to make calls in Teams ... and more.
Thursday, Dec. 17: Teams Advanced for Team Owners: Learn how to create a Team, how to manage team members and files, and delve into the inner workings of the SharePoint side of your Team, including how to restore deleted files, access previous versions of files ... and more.
Sign up for these sessions in myTraining here.
Teams at Wichita State University
PTAC to host virtual workshop on Dec. 15
Kansas Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) will host a virtual workshop regarding the basics of doing business with federal, state and local governments.
The workshop titled “Competing for Government Contracts: Basic Training,” will be
offered as a virtual program from 9-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15. The program
focuses on an overview of the way government agencies purchase goods and services.
Also provided will be information on how a company can become a contractor to agencies
at all levels of government.
The workshop will be taught by Scott Knapp. Registration is required in advance to attend the workshop,and can be accomplished here.
TIAA financial consultant available for online scheduling
TIAA virtual retirement advice and guidance meetings are available for online scheduling here.
Jeremy Kohn, the Kansas based TIAA Financial Consultant who serves the WSU community, is available for meetings and can also be reached directly at jeremy.kohn@tiaa.org if you need assistance in scheduling a meeting. Jeremy can help you confirm you are on track for retirement and provide set of specific recommendations on how to invest your TIAA funds.
The next episode of the ‘Let's Talk About It’ podcast is live
This month's episode of "Let's Talk About It" tackles the important issue of financial literacy and what that means to college students.
We've invited Sheelu Surender, Director of Financial Aid at Wichita State, and Alexus Scott, Financial Aid Adviser and Outreach Coordinator, to talk through some of this with us. Then, as always, we had to learn about this topic from the student perspective, so we sat down with WSU students Trang Bui and Kevin Dao to talk about what final literacy means to them and what role it has played in their college careers.
Thanks for tuning in and listening to our podcast. Please leave us a comment if you like what you're hearing and be sure to subscribe to be the first to hear about future episodes.
Correction: GRASP 2021 abstract submission deadline is Feb. 11
The Graduate School is currently accepting abstract submissions for the 17th annual Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) Symposium. GRASP 2021 will be held on Blackboard again this year with video presentations open for WSU Community viewing starting on April 2. Abstract submission closes Feb. 11. Abstract submission form.
UP & USS joint senate meeting set for Dec. 15
The UP and USS Senates joint meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, via Zoom. All meetings are open to the campus community. If you are interested in joining the meeting, please contact Kayla Jasso at kayla.jasso@wichita.edu for the Zoom link.
View meeting dates, agendas and minutes here.
Employees – Please review your personal information by Dec. 11
In an effort to maintain current HR data and to better serve our employees, Human Resources is asking all employees to perform a quick review of their personal information within Employee Self-Service by Friday, Dec. 11. Personal information includes:
- Mailing address
- Personal email and phone
- Emergency contact information
- Ethnicity and race
- Veteran classification
- Disability status
To access and review your personal information, please log in to myWSU.wichita.edu and access the Employee Self-Service link titled:
Address / Email / Phone / Emergency Contacts
Thank you for keeping your personal information current, and please contact Human Resources with any questions at HR.ServiceCenter@wichita.edu.
Faculty stories featured in the news
Our Wichita State faculty are remarkable. Their stories are regularly captured in the news featuring their research, engagement with students, and service to the community.
A collection of recent news stories can be found on the Faculty Advancement webpage (scroll down to see the stories). Check out what your colleagues are doing and share your latest accomplishments with Strategic Communications.
WSU's Usha Haley on Wichita's future in the new industrial order - The Chung Report
The Chung Report approaches thought leaders on the future of Wichita and Kansas. The Report is an initiative of the Bastian family of Wichita who recognized the need for a hub of information, analysis and inspiration to serve as a catalyst for unified action.
The Report approached Professor Usha Haley, W. Frank Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business, for her views on how the pandemic has affected Wichita's exports and industry. The interview is accessible here, and are her personal views.
Saturday Sale in the Shocker Store
This Saturday, Dec. 12, save on some great gifts in the Shocker Store! That day only, take 20% off kids’ merchandise, headwear and cold weather gear. Sale is in both the RSC and Braeburn Square locations.
Great prices on last minute gift ideas
Didn’t get a chance to make the Shocker Store’s Shock the Halls Sale? Don’t worry, because they still have some of those great deals available! Items are available in the RSC store and online at shockerstore.com. Choose free in-store pickup or free shipping over $75. Happy Holidays, Shockers!