— Tyler Pennick, director of videography for Wichita State’s Office of Strategic Communications, created a documentary about WuShock in bronze. After two years of development, the documentary was accepted into the Tallgrass Film Festival and awarded for its success.
— Wichita State University has earned a near-perfect score for its support and inclusion of LGBTQ students from Pride Index, which is a national benchmarking tool for colleges and universities to create safer, more inclusive campus communities.
— Inneke Vargas, from Houston, appreciates the interdisciplinary approach of her liberal arts degree from Wichita State University. After graduate school, she wants to work on policy changes to help eliminate health disparities. “My research broadly focuses on the effects of mental health stigma, particularly among African Americans, across the lifespan,” she wrote. “More narrowly, I am currently interested in the ways mental health care inequities disproportionately affect minority men during adolescence and very late adulthood.”
— Hyatt Place at Wichita State University, the first Hyatt Place in Wichita, is officially open, expanding the Hyatt Place brand’s footprint globally in markets that matter most to guests and World of Hyatt members.
— Carryl Baldwin, Wichita State’s Carl and Rozina Cassat Distinguished Professor of Aging, received the 2020 Woman of the Year Award, presented by the Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) Society, Human Factors and Ergonomics Women’s Organization for Mentorship and Networking.
— Alumni, donors and officials from Wichita State University gathered Thursday, Oct. 22 for a groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall, the new home for the W. Frank Barton School of Business.
— Dr. Larisa Genin’s first year at Wichita State created a number of priorities, none more important than Woolsey Hall, the Barton School’s new $60 million, 125,000-square-foot home. Ribbon-cutting for the building is Oct. 22. Genin sees Woolsey Hall as a transformative place for the Barton School with the space, amenities and appeal to attract students, enhance applied learning opportunities and strengthen connections with the business community. The building will help Wichita State add degree and certificate programs and attract top teaching and research talent.
— The Kansas Legislature in 2011 made a commitment to invest $105 million statewide over the next decade with the purpose of increasing the number of engineers available to industry. For its $35 million share of that money – granted under the University Engineering Initiative Act (UEIA) – Wichita State College of Engineering pledged to double the number of bachelor’s degrees it awarded annually. The aggressive goal was surpassed this past academic year as the college awarded 380 bachelor’s degrees.
— Wichita and southcentral Kansas' only high-volume test lab opened at Wichita State University. The Molecular Diagnostics Lab can test up to 4,500 tests per day at its full capacity.
— The Center for Educational Technologies to Assist Refugee Learners is working to improve the lives of more than 70 million forcibly displaced refugees worldwide by making education more accessible.