2020 benefits Open Enrollment events
All benefits-eligible state employees must participate in Open Enrollment! Log in to the Member Administration Portal at to make your elections.
Events occurring next week:
Monday, Oct. 14: HR Total Rewards Open Enrollment Presentation at 2 p.m. in 233 RSC. Your Total Rewards team will be here to present your 2020 open enrollment benefits and changes.
Tuesday, Oct. 15: HR Total Rewards Open Enrollment Presentation at 9 a.m. in 142 RSC. Your Total Rewards team will be here to present your 2020 open enrollment benefits and changes.
Wednesday, Oct. 16: Open Enrollment Open Lab 2:30-4:30 p.m. 122 Jabara Hall.
Employees can drop in anytime during the open enrollment lab for assistance registering and entering enrollment elections. You can RSVP at . Open Enrollment Labs do not include a presentation of plans or changes.
Due to the high volume of work during the open enrollment period, the HR Total Rewards Team will not be available for walk-in traffic or to make individual appointments regarding open enrollment. Please take advantage of the scheduled presentations, on-demand webinar and open lab sessions. For a full listing of Open Enrollment events visit the. Any questions should be directed to TotalRewards@wichita.edu.
Win $5,000 and your own parking space
In order to advance WSU鈥檚 Strategic Plan and SEM plan, a competition is underway to develop new interdisciplinary programs.
The competition is:
- For all members of the WSU community
- Open to proposals for new interdisciplinary certificates, minors, honors tracks, undergraduate, mini-master鈥檚 or master鈥檚 programs
- Focused on programs that meet the future needs of students and the community
The authors of the winning proposal will receive a combined cash award of $5,000. There also will be up to five reserved (red sign) parking places made available for the next academic year for use by the authors of the proposal, at no charge to them.
Proposals are due Friday, Nov. 29
TIAA financial consultant will be on campus next week for retirement counseling
Jeremy Kohn, ChFC, TIAA financial consultant, has available meeting times for 1:1 retirement counseling sessions at WSU on Wednesday, Oct. 16, and Thursday, Oct. 17.
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Please email Kohn at Jeremy.kohn@tiaa.org if you are unable to set a meeting time and he will help you.
Strategic Communications mourns the loss of team member
As some of you may have heard, we lost a member of our Strategic Communications family on Wednesday night. The name of this person will be released when more information on funeral arrangements is known. We appreciate everyone鈥檚 concern during this difficult time. If you need help processing this, you can reach out to WSU鈥檚 Counseling and Prevention Services at 316-978-3440 or you can visit their office in 320 Grace Wilkie.
ISME Colloquium today (Friday, Oct. 11)
Dong Lin, assistant professor of Department of Industrial and Manufacturing System Engineering at Kansas State University, will present "3D Printing of Graphene Aerogels," from 11 a.m.-noon today (Friday, Oct. 11) in 214 Clinton Hall.
The surging 铿乪ld of graphene aerogels (GA) provides a promising methodology for transferring inherent properties of graphene into macroscopic applications for composite materials, energy storage, stress sensor, thermal insulator, and shock damping. However, fabrication of GA with tailored macrostructures by scalable and controllable methods remains a signi铿乧ant challenge.
The vision of tailoring architecture of GA for speci铿乧 applications, including separation, all-solid-state batteries, micro pressure sensors, 铿俥xible electrodes, and electrochemical catalyst templates, has stimulated the research on 3D printing of GA. Here, we propose a printing methodology that combines multi-nozzle drop-on-demand inkjet printing of pure graphene oxide (GO) suspension with freeze casting for rapid printing of 3D GA architectures to achieve several key qualities, namely, pure, continuous, boundary free, controlled microstructure, and truly 3D architectures (e.g., 3D truss with overhang structures). To date, we have successfully printed world鈥檚 lightest material via 3D printing through the proposed technique.
NASA Space and STEM Watch Party
Love NASA? Want to know what the future of space exploration might look like, and how you might fit in? Join us for this free event at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in 264 John Bardo Center. We will have NASA trivia, snacks, and watch the broadcast with NASA leadership from IAC.
Want to submit a question? Contact nasainkansas@wichita.edu.
HCEA Cybersecurity Speaker Series | Amber Stone
Join the Hub for Cybersecurity Education and Awareness to hear from Amber Stone of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City about cybersecurity concerns within the health care industry from 2-3:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in 010 Devlin Hall. Find out more and register at .
Faculty and staff regalia for commencement
The Shocker Store is taking regalia rental orders from faculty and staff members who are planning on attending the fall 2019 commencement. The deadline to place your order is 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15.
Please email Julie at shockerstore@wichita.edu or call 978-7021. Payment is due when you place your order. If you would like to purchase custom academic regalia, the deadline is today (Friday, Oct. 11).
Registration for Ability Ally Training is still available for Oct. 17
Ability Allies are a network of faculty, staff and students who take a visible role in promoting disability awareness, supporting persons with disabilities, and maintaining resources for working and interacting with people with disabilities.
This Diversity in Action interactive training, at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in the RSC, is designed to shape your perspective on ability versus disability, and providing an open forum for questions and concerns for those interacting with individuals with disabilities. Click here for more information about the .
This training is free and available to all WSU employees (faculty and staff). Log in to myWSU, and register through myTraining. For questions, contact myTraining@wichita.edu.
KSN & FOX Kansas visits 成人头条 State Esports
Carly Willis of KSN and FOX Kansas visited and interviewed the 成人头条 State Esports team. We made a behind the scenes video of her visit and ask her a couple questions on why she decided to do a story on WSU Esports.
Join the Graduate School and University Libraries for Patent Searching for Research and Development
Have questions about searching for patents? Join the Graduate School with presenter Sara Butts from University Libraries for Patent Searching for Research & Development from 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in 266 RSC, to learn how to use patent databases to search for patents alongside scholarly articles to research the advancement of technology.
Sign up for an upcoming Preventing Suicide Training by CAPS
Join Counseling and Prevention Services for our Preventing Suicide Training on Thursday, Oct. 17, in the RSC. Each training lasts an hour and helps provide tools to provide assistance for someone in need.
Please sign up thought myTrainings for staff or faculty. Students and community members, sign up at .
Last call for the Pumpkin Run
Have you signed up for the Pumpkin Run yet? If not, sign up today using the codes 10OFF for $10 off, 5OFF for $5 off, or 2OFF $2 off the 5K registration. We have limited quantities for each code, so register fast! You do not want to miss out on this fun run. This is the last promotion before the race. The Pumpkin Run is 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. Register now at .
Fall World Series, Alumni Weekend details announced
The annual 成人头条 State Baseball Fall World Series will begin on Saturday, Oct. 12,
at Eck Stadium, Home of Tyler Field. The series is slated to last until Saturday,
Oct. 19.
The Shocker roster will be divided into two teams, the Black and Yellow.
Admission to each game of the Fall World Series is a can of food for the Kansas Food Bank.
Get ready for this year's Trunk or Treat!
Looking for a spooktacular and safe alternative to trick or treating? Have an unboolievably good time with trick or treating, crafts, concessions, a costume contest, and more exciting interactive activities! This fangtastic Halloween-themed event is open to everyone.
Get your idea off the ground with E-Launch!
If you have a product, business idea, or are starting a new product line, you won鈥檛 want to miss out on E-Launch. The next launch takes place from 6-9 p.m. Mondays, Oct. 21-Dec. 9, in the Innovation Hub in Devlin. This six-week training session will help you take the necessary steps to ensure you avoid failures in execution by learning before you launch, not after. For more information and to register, visit wichita.edu/elaunch.
E-Launch Information & Registration
Go cosmic bowling during Fall Break for only $1
Make it a cosmic Fall Break at the Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes! From 5-9 p.m. Monday, Oct.14 and Tuesday, Oct. 15, cosmic bowling is just $1 per game, with FREE rental shoes. Offer is not valid for group reservations. Shocker Sports Grill & Lanes is open to the public, so join us for some dollar cosmic bowling on campus! For more information, call 316-978-3479.
Living Out Loud!
LGBT History Month keynote speaker Nyle Dimarco will present 鈥淟iving Out Loud,鈥� at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in the Hughes Metropolitan Complex.
Co-sponsored with Student Involvement, Housing and Residence Life and Spectrum: LGBTQ & Allies
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Audiences are moved as DiMarco discusses and demonstrates the value of non-verbal communication and embracing one's true identity. As he shares firsthand experiences from his life and career, he piques curiosity among listeners as they gain a deeper understanding of the deaf community.
In his powerfully emotive presentations, DiMarco reveals his triumphs, challenges, fears, and dreams, and encourages others to live their own lives authentically and define their own versions of success. Listeners walk away enlightened and empowered to discount societal pressures, embrace diversity and appreciate and harness personal strengths.
DiMarco, winner of Dancing with the Stars and America鈥檚 Next Top Model, empowers audiences to believe they can do and be anything they want in life, no matter the obstacle. For more information, contact the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at 978-3034 or visit wichita.edu/diversitylectureseries.
WSU volleyball to show appreciation for teachers with $5 admission
Come support your Shocker volleyball team this Sunday, Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. as they take on Tulane. Shocker volleyball will be showing their appreciation for our teachers by offering a $5 ticket to all teachers in attendance with a valid school ID.
SAC Dodgeball coming Oct. 23
Remember the five d鈥檚 of dodgeball; dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. Gather a group and sign up your team for this year鈥檚 Shocktoberfest Dodgeball Tournament at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in the Heskett Center. Teams must have a minimum of six participants to compete, and no more than 10 participants on the court at any one time. Pre-registration and a $10 registration fee per team is required. Register at . For more information about SAC-sponsored events, please visit or contact us at sac@wichita.edu