WSU Today: March 14, 2019

President John Bardo: 1948-2019

John Bardo

We've created a package of stories, photos and tributes to President John Bardo. Read about his vision for the university and community, a timeline highlighting his contributions while president and what Shocker Nation has to say about our 13th president.

Read about Dr. Bardo's impact We invite you to leave a comment or memory

Manager signatures of USS and Non-Teaching UP employees due today (Thursday, March 14)!

Managers signatures due today March 14, 2019

Manager signatures for myPerformance evaluations from March 2018 through March 2019 will be available as soon as the employee has signed and submitted his or her signature. The employee signature due date was March 7. Managers should log in to myPerformance in myWSU to submit electronic signatures by today (March 14).

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Also, planning for myPerformance evaluations from March 2019 through March 2020 was available to complete on Feb. 1, 2019. (To access the current review period’s evaluations, look for “2019-2020 Annual” in the list of evaluation titles.) This will allow managers to potentially meet with their direct reports for the current (2018-19) end-of-review as well as the next cycle’s (2019-20) planning meeting at the same time, if desired. 

Managers should add expectations for the review period including competencies and goals in myPerformance, then meet with their employees to provide copies and review planning.  Planning should be completed by Sunday, March 31.

For more information (including quick reference guides, training available, and open labs) go to www.wichita.edu/myPerformance.


Planned power outages for Innovation Campus buildings

Please be advised that Westar Energy is making some underground circuit changes that will cause two  brief 5-10 minute power outages Friday, March 15. The buildings affected will be Airbus, the Partnership 2 buildings and the Experiential Engineering Building. The outages will be just prior to 6 a.m. and just after 6 p.m.

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Throughout the workday on Friday, temporary primary power distribution to and between the utility switchgear for the three buildings will be carried by safe over-ground cables that will be stretched between Westar switchgear boxes run over the area sidewalks. Building occupants need to be aware of their presence and that they are high voltage lines, but should not fear any danger from their temporary presence.

Building occupants are advised to safely shut down their computers before leaving work on Thursday evening and again on Friday evening, and Airbus, Spirit, NIAR, College of Engineering and other leasing entity IT people should certainly be aware of these power shutdowns in order to take precautionary steps with sensitive equipment as they see fit.

These power outages are necessitated by the circuit work associated with Westar’s construction of a new substation south of the WSU Gaddis Physical Plant Complex and the permanent underground Innovation Campus circuit installations from that new substation location.

We apologize for the brief power interruptions and the over-ground temporary cabling required, but the temporary previsions allow for the 10-minute power shutdowns that would otherwise require a 5- to 8-hour shutdown in the middle of the day that would otherwise be required for this work.


Research workshop: ‘Writing Proposals’

Research Workshop April 12, 2019A research workshop, “Writing Proposals,” will be held from noon-1:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, in 405 Jardine Hall. The workshop will be presented by Fran Cook and Megan White.

This workshop will provide grant-writing tips and resources to use. Funders and their reviewers want proposals that are clear, concise and consistent. Come to this workshop to learn some hands-on approaches to improving your grant-writing skills.

Fran Cook, CRA, training manager for the WSU Office of Research, will present helpful strategies for responding to a variety of funders and funding opportunities. 


Seeking Academic Affairs Fellows

The Office of Academic Affairs is seeking several faculty or staff members with an interest in gaining administrative experience through leadership of three projects that advance WSU’s Strategic Plan. These Academic Affairs Fellows will select to work on one of the following three projects: Advancing the use of Open Educational Resources (OER’s) on campus, Developing a Record of Experiential and Applied Learning, and Exploring trends in higher education around curriculum and program development, and student success. 

Project work would begin for summer 2019, with some projects extending into AY 2019-20. The deadline to submit a letter of interest is Monday, April 1.

Advancing the use of Open Educational Resources

Developing a Record of Experiential and Applied Learning

Exploring Trends in Higher Education

If you have questions, contact Carolyn Shaw at carolyn.shaw@wichita.edu.


Birzer to be panel moderator of ͷ Public Library’s Candid Conversations

Candid Conversations March 28, 2019

Candid Conversations - The Position of Race within the Criminal Justice System: Strategies for Reform,” will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, at the Advanced Learning Library, 711 W. 2nd Street in ͷ. Michael Birzer, professor in the School of Criminal Justice at WSU, will be the panel moderator.

The discussion will focus on the intersectionality of race and the criminal justice system. The panel will consist of criminal justice executives from the courts, corrections, and police. The panel is part of the ͷ Public Library’s “Candid Conversations on Race series.

More information


Graduate School Professional Development Series – ‘The Struggle is Real: Manage Your Classroom Like a Pro’

Grad School event March 20, 2019

Effective tips for how to manage common issues that arise in the classroom will be presented by Marche Fleming-Randle, vice president for Diversity and Community Engagement from noon-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, in 142 RSC. Lunch will be available for the first 30. RSVP to jenny.stauffer@wichita.edu.

Scenarios will be enacted in real-time to illustrate best practices in pedagogy. If you teach or think you might teach, this workshop is for you.


DiverseCity Showcase kick-off information

DiverseCity Showcase April 15, 2019

Marche Fleming-Randle, vice president for Diversity and Community Engagement, will provide remarks to kick-off the start of DiverseCity. We encourage you to stop by and view all of the work from the submissions that highlight successes related to diversity. The showcase kick-off will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday, April 15, in 233 Rhatigan Student Center.

Call for submissions

All students, faculty, staff, student organizations and departments are invited to submit entries that are examples of diversity or highlight successes related to diversity. We are looking for all kinds of diversity entries from individual / group projects, workshops, events, mixed media, photography or artwork. The deadline for submission is 5 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, March 15).

For more information and to submit your entry, go to .


Service-Learning Showcase registration open

Service-Learning Showcase April 24, 2019

The Service-Learning Showcase will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, in 233 RSC. It is a unique opportunity for students who participate in service-learning through applied learning opportunities to showcase their experience through a research or reflective poster about the application of their course work to current community issues.

The showcase is an open forum for students to interact with faculty, staff, community partners and other students to engage in conversation about WSU’s commitment to the public good. Awards are presented in the following categories: Overall Service-Learning, Community Impact, Innovation and Creativity (i.e., problem solving), and Collaboration/Leadership.

Registration is available here.


WSU graduate students attend statewide 16th Capitol Graduate Research Summit (CGRS)

CGRS winners 2019

On Feb. 26, nine WSU graduate students drove to Topeka to participate in the annual statewide KBOR Capitol Graduate Research Summit (CGRS) event at the Capitol. Brien Bolin, associate dean, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Kerry Wilks, interim dean of the Graduate School, participated. The event featured research conducted by graduate students at all Kansas Board of Regents graduate public universities.

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Selected in a competitive application process by the CGRS committee, the students showcased research and projects relevant to the state of Kansas and of potential interest to state legislators. A multi-month commitment, the Graduate School congratulates all participants and the winners!

  • Winner of the WSU award:  Heather Forster, master's student, Department of Biological Sciences, “Innovative Genetic Approach May Give Crops Resistance to Charcoal Rot Disease." Bin Shuai, research advisor.
  • Winner of the BioKansas award:  Jacob Griffith, master’s student, Department of Biomedical Engineering: "Non-Invasive Detection of Intracranial Fluid Volume Shifts Using Wearable Headband."Kim Cluff, research advisor.

Other 2019 WSU graduate student research presenters included:

Sattar Ali, doctoral student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, “Produced Water Treatment for Agricultural Use in Kansas Oil, and Gas Production Fields.” Eylem Asmatulu, research advisor.

Fayez Alruwaili, master’s student, Department of Biomedical Engineering, “Cardiac Failure Detection Using a Wearable Patch Sensor in a Point-of Care Setting.” Kim Cluff, research advisor.

Suvagata Chakraborty, doctoral student, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, “Modeling and Evaluating the Effect of Data Aggregation Interval on Smart Power Distribution System.”Visvakumar Aravinthan, research advisor.

Parsa Kianpour, doctoral student, Department of Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering,“Economic Development and Job Creation by Applying Optimization Methods for Scheduling Problem in Job Shops.” Deepak Gupta, research advisor.

Jenny Masias, master’s student, Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature, “The Immigrants Who Built Kansas: One Spike at a Time.” Enrique Navarro, research advisor.

Seyed Ali Mirzapour, doctoral student, Department of Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering, “Organ Motion Prediction in MR-Guided Radiotherapy.” Ehsan Salari, research advisor.

Naveen Ravindran, master’s student, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, “GuideCall: A System for Remote Video Call Assistance for Blind and Visually Impaired People.” Vinod Namboodiri, research advisor.

For more information, including abstracts, click on .


Take a tour of The Suites residence hall starting March 18

The Suites

Housing and Residence Life will offer hard hat tours of ͷ State’s newest residence hall, The Suites at WSU, beginning Monday, March 18. Tours will be about 20 minutes long and will be offered every day, Monday through Friday, from 3:30-5 p.m. Tours will start and end at the front desk in The Flats Apartments. Visitors must wear closed-toed shoes. Join us for a first-hand look at the latest housing option at ͷ State! Please direct any questions to Katie Austin at Katie.Austin@wichita.edu.


Watch the new Study Abroad video

Check out the new Study Abroad video featuring Shockers who participated in Study Abroad programs in 2018.

Thank you to all of the students who provided photos from their experiences abroad!