Three candidates vie for liberal arts and sciences dean
Since the departure of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Andrew Hippisley in June, the search for a new dean of Wichita State’s largest academic college has been narrowed down to three candidates.
I’m particularly excited about improving higher education here at Wichita State University, and that’s what I’m passionate about right now.”
DAVID EICHHORN Candidate for LAS dean position
DAVID EICHHORN
The interim dean of the Fairmount College, David Eichhorn has been at Wichita State for almost 30 years. And, regardless of whether he gets the dean position or not, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.
“I found that it’s (WSU) a great place to do what I was doing,” Eichhorn said. “I was an assistant professor in the chemistry department, and what I liked about Wichita State the most was its combination of emphasis on teaching and research.”
Since then, Eichhorn has served as the associate dean of the graduate school, chair of the chemistry department and the associate dean for Faculty Development and Research. He’s also maintained membership within several university and Fairmount College committees, especially those with an emphasis on teaching and research.
“(WSU) has the infrastructure to allow me to do the kind of research that I wanted to be able to also, unlike some other research level school,” he said.
Eichhorn assumed the role of interim dean after Hippisley’s departure, carrying out the dean’s duties and responsibilities. Eichhorn said his previous experience in the dean’s office has “helped my transition tremendously.”
“Moving into the dean’s role just gave me an ability to really interact with all the other teams and the colleges and university leadership in really trying to start a path forward for the university,” he said.
Since accepting the interim role, Eichhorn has continued the implementation of several new initiatives, including a new peer-to-peer mentoring program — which pairs upper-class students with incoming first-year students — and changing college graduation competencies and general education requirements.
“We’ve (also) just designed them to allow students to better appreciate the types of skills that they are learning in their liberal arts and sciences degree,” he said. “And these also are competencies which we know employers are really interested in seeing.”
Regardless of who is offered the position, Eichhorn said he’s excited for what his future at WSU may be. He said it’s passion for education that’s kept him here for three decades, and it’s passion that will keep him here for the foreseeable future.
Kansas is always close to my heart. … I thought, ‘What a great place to have the opportunity to continue to educate students.”
TAMELA EITLE Candidate for LAS dean position
TAMELA EITLE
Born and raised in Gardner, Kansas, Tamela Eitle said she didn’t initially jump at the LAS dean opportunity, but after repeated requests from the search firm and looking at “the amazing things that are happening here,” she said she knew she’d regret it if she didn’t apply.
“Kansas is always close to my heart,” Eitle said. “ … I thought, ‘What a great place to have the opportunity to continue to educate students, to provide them opportunities so that they can be successful.’”
The current dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University, Eitle said IU is much like WSU in that they are both urban public research universities. This means both schools have prioritized obtaining Research 1 status, a designation IU recently received.
If hired, Eitle hopes to implement “the big easy” — “the big, impactful thing that we can do that’s the easiest for us to do because none of us need a lot more work” — to help WSU achieve R1 ranking, as well as further student retention and recruitment, applied learning and inclusive excellence goals.
One potential implementation of this philosophy, Eitle said, could be expanding and creating interdisciplinary degrees, which could simultaneously grow enrollment and bolster master’s and Ph.D. programs.
“The interdisciplinary programs really are helpful in terms of getting some students into classes where there’s not that many students,” Eitle said. “ … It can really help support your other master’s programs, too … (then) those students might seamlessly transfer into Ph.D. programs if we build that correctly.”
There are other ways she wants to offer applied learning, such as through community partnerships.
“We can find partnerships, certainly cultural institutions and civic organizations in Wichita can give valuable experience to our students and supply talent that hopefully will help support WSU’s mission to be an economic driver for Kansas,” Eitle said.
Eitle said that while her visions for WSU may seem grand, she believes WSU “has a lot of promise.”
And, as her Kansan parents taught her, “The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.”
“I know there will be challenges. There’s no place in higher ed where there’s not going to be challenges,” Eitle said. “But you have to have the vision. You have to know what you’re trying to work towards, and why not have big, audacious goals? That’s how you really make things happen.”
‘Why Wichita?’ is because Wichita State; that’s just the answer to that. And there is no parallel.”
SARAH BETH ESTES Candidate for LAS dean position
SARAH BETH ESTES
Once upon a time, “like, 1,000 years ago,” Sarah Beth Estes interviewed for a job at WSU. While she didn’t receive the role, she said she quickly came to love the school and city, especially its many murals.
“I saw my first mural in person here, and I thought, ‘People could see that every day here.’ ... It was amazing to me,” she said.
Estes instead took her first job as an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati.
Several years later, she accepted an assistant professor role at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. That year, she worked alongside Little Rock’s new provost, former WSU dean of the College of Engineering Zulma Toro-Ramos, to restructure the college’s academic affairs and overhaul the core curriculum to meet new state mandates.
After countless hours of conducting interviews, surveys and focus groups with stakeholders while serving as the liaison for faculty, staff, associate deans and the dean’s councils, she accepted a series of associate dean and leadership roles that “If I listed them chronologically in my CV, you all would be like, ‘We are collectively witness to a crime scene.’”
But Estes said the mismatched positions and titles taught her that she has dispositions toward innovation and entrepreneurship, which have been instrumental in her last seven years of deanship for Little Rock’s College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education.
In the position, Estes was again acquainted with a former WSU dean — former Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Lawrence Whitman. As the dean of the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Whitman shared stories from about WSU with Estes.
“I had heard a lot of lessons from Wichita State, a lot of adages from Wichita State, and also that your YaYa’s is way better than ours,” Estes said.
Aside from Toro-Ramos’ and Whitman’s praises, Estes said she was attracted to WSU through experiences she had consulting with Wichitans and Shockers while in her career services role. What she saw then, and what Estes said she believes now, is that Wichita State looks ahead toward the future.
“(WSU is) where I believe higher ed has got to be for the future,” Estes said. “ … So the ‘Why Wichita?’ is because Wichita State; that’s just the answer to that. And there is no parallel.”
BY ALLISON CAMPBELL editor@thesunflower.com
Provost on DEI-related changes: ‘We are currently out of compliance’
BY AINSLEY SMYTH news@thesunflower.com
Wichita State, like all American universities, is grappling with the implications of federal changes due to recent presidential executive orders. Changes at the state level in the current legislative session, as well as in past years, also have the potential to impact many different aspects of the university.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” WSU Provost Monica Lounsbery said.
In regard to the “Dear Colleague” letter issued by the federal Department of Education that outlines the department’s expectations for educational institutions in dealing with the changes, Lounsbery said it
is clear that some things at WSU will need to change, which may include events like award ceremonies.
“One of the things that was specifically called out (in the letter) was these exclusive opportunities for some students to enjoy celebrations and that exclude others,” Lounsbery said. “One of the things that we need to do to comply with these requirements is create a celebration that includes everyone, and so we’re currently working with our Division of Student Affairs to take a look at all the things that we are doing on our campus that really are explicitly linked to what we need to do to comply.
And so we do expect some of these things to change because we are currently out of
compliance with some of the things we have on our campus.” Lounsbery said changes are coming at a “neck-breaking speed,” and university leadership is continuing to monitor them
and review policies and programs to ensure they comply with federal and state law. Recently, several pages of the university’s website were marked with notices stating that the programs or policies that feature diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are under review.
“There is this moment in time where we’re trying to understand what the changes are going to be — from an executive order to the interpretation of those executive orders and how they really translate into what we need to do in terms of action,” she said.
Monica Lounsbery, senior executive vice president and provost at WSU, speaks about the changes in diversity, equity and inclusion policies on campus. | Photo by Peyton Eck / The Sunflower
Photo by Shelby DuVall / The Sunflower
Photo by Allison Campbell / The Sunflower
Photo by Allison Campbell / The Sunflower
Wichita State aims to reach a research designation that would create new opportunities.
BY RILEY SIPES
Last semester, John Tomblin, executive vice president for research and industry and defense programs at Wichita State, explicitly stated the university’s goal of becoming a Research 1 university. To do this, WSU needs to spend at least $50 million on research and award 70 research-based doctorates in a year.
This title would raise Wichita State into the same domain as the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, two schools that attained R1 status years ago.
Coleen Pugh, vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School, said Wichita State’s president Richard Muma shares this ambition with Tomblin.
“We’ve kind of gone back and forth between being it an implicit goal, versus something that would be great if we attain,” Pugh said. “(Muma) would say, it is definitely a goal of becoming R1. It’s wonderful to be R1, both for the recognition, as well as for opportunities.”
Despite this objective, Wichita State failed to meet the requirements for the most recent three-year classification cycle and will have to wait a few years before it can be reevaluated.
For this classification cycle, year to year, Wichita State spent roughly $370 million on research but only awarded 48 research-based doctorates.
WHY WSU WANTS
STATUS
R1
Pierre Harter, the associate vice president for research and
‘REIMAGINING’ INCLUSION
Lounsbery said that the university needs to shift the way it organizes events like award ceremonies.
According to Lounsbery, summer will be a time for leadership to do more of this “reimagining.”
industry engagement at WSU, outlined a few of the reasons why Wichita State hopes to become an R1 university. “Research 1 universities are typically held at a higher regard. It’s more prestigious, so you can recruit higher-caliber students,”
Harter said. “It helps with retaining and recruiting more prestigious faculty that bring more research. There’s a lot of different types of grant organizations, whether it’s government funding or non-profit or non-governmental agencies that offer research grants, that if you’re not R1, it’s pretty difficult to get.”
Pugh compared the difficulty of attaining R1 status to the “chicken or the egg” dilemma.
“Having the (R1) designation correlates, I would say, with greater resources and correlates with greater opportunities,” Pugh said. “Whether we have greater resources and greater opportunities as a result of being R1, or we become R1 because we have greater resources now. It’s hard to say what comes first.”
Pugh echoed Harter’s sentiments, saying that being an R1 university would provide Wichita State with greater opportunities. She also thinks it would boost morale for the school.
“I kind of equate it to when you bring in someone new or you have a big change,” Pugh said. “It’s a really great incentive to make people think about what is possible and sort of reinvigorate energy.”
Harter said the specific doctoral
“We really don’t have a choice in coming into compliance, but I do think we can innovate around how we can create opportunities to provide support for all students and still accomplish these goals ...” Lounsbery said. “So I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like yet, but I do think folks should know that coming into compliance, that we’re going to have to make some changes, and that those
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degrees that count toward R1 guidelines are what is keeping them from meeting that threshold.
“If you look at the total number of doctorates that we put out, (we’re) well over 70,” Harter said. “But nursing and physical therapy and audiology, those are clinicalbased. They’re not really doing a lot of research or dissertations, so those don’t count.”
HOW WSU PLANS TO BECOME AN R1 UNIVERSITY
Wichita State is in the process of increasing the number of research-based doctorates it awards. Pugh said that Wichita State’s Graduate School is creating a material science and engineering doctorate program. They are also beginning an interdisciplinary master’s program that could eventually result in a doctorate program of the same nature.
“We’re kind of working our way through the system to put it up to faculty consideration and then (Kansas Board of Regents) vote in the fall,” Pugh said.
These new graduate programs are adaptable, allowing students to pursue a degree with an analytics emphasis in any field they desire.
“To me, it’s very important that it’s not just an individualized major, but that the product is greater than the sum of its parts; where you’re maybe creating a new field,” Pugh said.
Faculty are working to increase research funding for both graduate and undergraduate students as
changes are ones that we believe in and we have been informed that we need to take.”
Lounsbery pointed to legislation at the state level which passed last year, banning colleges and universities from requiring DEI statements in hiring.
“I think there was some foresight in the state of Kansas, and certainly within KBOR (the Kansas Board of Regents) around
well.
“We have a wonderful program we started last year called Delfin,” Pugh said. “We became the third U.S. institute to join Delfin. The idea is to provide an undergraduate research experience for students from Latin American countries.”
Pugh said Wichita State has also been trying to get National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates, a program that provides funding for intensive research.
These initiatives have the potential to help Wichita State qualify for R1 status in 2028 when the next Carnegie Classification review is set to take place.
WHAT IS CARNEGIE CLASSIFICATION?
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is a ranking system that categorizes universities based on how much funding a university allocates to research and the number of research-based doctorates awarded to students.
Established in 1973, this framework was created to help the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education easily categorize universities. These classifications allow researchers to collect data and represent university demographics more accurately.
Carnegie Classifications have since become the benchmark standard for defining universities and the organization has cycled through many revisions to the
some of these things that we needed to shift. And now we have kind of more instructive guidance about what we need to be doing now,” Lounsbery said.
Lounsbery said the university will not abandon its commitment to having an inclusive campus when it makes these changes.
“ ... Our commitment to creating access and for helping all students thrive and succeed is unwavering,
original requirements throughout the years.
Most recently, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education (ACE) worked together to streamline the Carnegie Classifications for 2022.
“They had a more complex system of classification,” Harter said. “They went through an effort to simplify it; to make it more understandable and potentially easier for people to navigate.”
While there are a few Carnegie Classification designations for universities, Wichita State is interested in the 2025 Research Activity Designations, which categorize universities as R1, R2 or Research Colleges and Universities.
LEVELS OF CLASSIFICATION
R1: Very High Spending and Doctorate Production
- In a single year, an institution spends at least $50 million on research and awards 70 research doctorates.
R2: High Spending and Doctorate production
- In a single year, an institution spends at least $5 million on research and awards 20 research doctorates.
Research Colleges and Universities:
- In a single year, an institution spends at least $2.5 million on research.
and we still have an extraordinary commitment, but how we do that needs to shift and change so that we can remain in compliance.”
Lounsbery encouraged students who have questions about changes — or the possible implications of state and federal actions — to reach out to faculty, department chairs or deans if their concerns are academically related.
After post-COVID lull, student organizations are back on the rise
BY JACOB UNRUH sports@thesunflower.com
Student involvement in clubs and student organizations at Wichita State was nearly cut in half by the COVID-19 pandemic but has rebounded in the past year, according to data collected by The Sunflower.
Student Engagement and Belonging’s annual reports show that the number of active student organizations had risen for four consecutive years beginning in 2016, peaking at 325 organizations in spring 2020. By spring 2023, however, there were just 174 student organizations, a 46% decrease.
Today, there are 253 active organizations — still less than the peak prior to the pandemic, but a dramatic increase from just a few years ago.
“I think we’re almost comfortably back where … like the 2018-2019, where you have more active organizations who are coming out,” said Tia Hill, the associate director of Student Engagement and Belonging. “They’re doing social events. They’re participating in involvement fairs. They’re holding info tables downstairs and recruiting new members. And they’re wanting to leave a legacy, and they’re wanting to ensure the longevity of that organization.”
Hill said that during COVID, the senior leadership of many organizations graduated, leaving the groups dormant. Over the past few years, many former advisers and leaders of those organizations have worked to revive them and officially reregister them with the university.
“I think how we got to that number was not us getting to that number, but those student organizations naturally replenishing themselves and becoming more open and visible to the campus community,” Hill said. “And at that point, when they get more members, they come looking for resources, and then they reregistered with us.”
Hill said it’s important for student organizations to match the needs and interests of students. Whether it’s a careerbased club that could set a student apart on a resume or a cultural/social club that could allow students to find a community, student organizations are critical to the campus experience.
“It creates more vibrant campus life, and it creates a lot more opportunities for students to be social or engage with others,” Hill said.
COVID CHALLENGES
As of spring 2024, there were 424 active
BY AINSLEY SMYTH news@thesunflower.com
Last week, Wichita State’s Student Government Association Senate recommended $9,000 in student fee funding to The Tilford Commission, an organization that no longer exists.
According to a page of the university’s website that also no longer exists, The Tilford Commission was “a campus-wide group of faculty, staff and students dedicated to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion at Wichita State University.”
On Wednesday, when the Senate discussed passing the funding for the commission, it learned that the statewide program under the Kansas Board of Regents — the body that oversees higher education in Kansas — was discontinued in February.
According to Gabriel Fonseca, SGA’s adviser, The Tilford Commission’s director of operations, Tia Owens, who spoke at the March 26 Senate meeting to ask for the funding, was apparently not informed that the commission she was advocating for no longer existed.
In light of the news, which appeared to surprise most senators, the Senate broke from its traditional student fee proceedings.
Change in number of student organizations over 10 years
*Graph shows the number of active student organizations on campus in the Spring semester
Severity of mental health cases handled by CARE Team has increased
BY MYA SCOTT mds.200624@gmail.com
A mental health service at Wichita State is seeing an increase in the severity of cases in comparison to previous years. Alicia Newell, Vice president of Student Belonging in the division of Student Affairs, said case numbers in February were “roughly the same” but there was something different when looking at the reports.
“From this time last year, the one thing that is different that I can say … is that we have had a significant increase of students that were transported for suicidal ideation, as well as just general overall mental health and wellness (issues),” Newell said.
student organizations at Kansas State University and 498 at the University of Kansas. Adjusting for enrollment, there is one student org per around every 38 full-time students at Kansas State and 47 at Kansas.
The post-COVID lag in student organizations hit Wichita State especially hard. In 2023, WSU was down to one club for every 68 people. Now, with the increase in student involvement, Wichita State is between KU and K-State with one organization per 45.6 full-time students.
According to Hill, there was still interest in student organizations during the pandemic, but it took students time to reacclimate to in-person meetings.
“The decline is all having to do with graduation numbers, the willingness of people to want to take on leadership positions and the comfortability of people wanting to be in social spaces,” Hill said.
University policies posed another issue. New student leaders had to relearn Shocker Sync and understand how to set up a student organization.
Abbi Whisler, the registered student organization coordinator from 20212023, estimated that she trained roughly 200 advisers during that time. She also reintroduced many student leaders to the process of running a club.
“Some students had been maybe set in their ways of like, ‘This is how we did it before,’” Whisler said. “And we haven’t had to really do anything during COVID because a lot of events, you couldn’t have them just due to the safety regulations or whatnot. And then coming back to a new person who is setting their expectations, the new rules and regulations because we do policy changes every summer.”
Hill said cultural and career-based organizations were often the first to regain
membership post-COVID, while social and special interest clubs lagged behind.
“They’re just looking to socialize in a different way,” Hill said. “And I think that’s all it is, is just building those connections and spaces and places that they already exist in.”
It took a few years post-COVID for student activity to recover. The number of active student organizations dropped every year between 2020 and 2023. Hill said this was because it took a while for people who weren’t as impacted by COVID to become college students.
“It’s come with time where we’re now seeing more leaders who have more leadership experience, and therefore have more comfort with either starting their own group or are comfortable being a member of another group,” Hill said. “And so that’s just a natural progression that has happened over time.”
However, Malaree Hood, the assistant director of Student Engagement and Belonging, said student organizations might never fully recover to what they were prior to the pandemic.
“I don’t think anything will ever be the way that it was before COVID,” Hood said. “I think COVID taught us a lot of really great things … I also think that it has hurt us as well, and I don’t think that we will be able to get back to where we were COVID-wise.”
Despite this sentiment, Hood reiterated the importance of student organizations for student retention and enjoyment.
“It’s going to be really important for students to just enjoy their experience here,” Hood said. “Because while there is stuff to do in the community, the only other people who are going to understand your experience are the students who are currently also having your experience, which would be other WSU students.”
*Student organizations data from Kansas and Kansas State taken from Spring 2024 reports. Full-time student data taken from the Kansas Board of Regents Fall 2024 report.
FUNDING CONCERNS
Typically, the Senate follows a three-week process in which it must repeatedly vote on student fees. However, after declining to move funds to the non-existent Tilford Commission, the Senate voted to make the final decision then and there and passed the recommended student fee allocations.
WHY WAS THE COMMISSION DISCONTINUED?
Fonseca said he had no concrete answer as to why KBOR decided to end the commission. However, Government Oversight Chairperson and Finance Commissioner Andrew Bobbitt alleged that the change was due to shifting policies in regards to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the state and federal levels.
“It’s been indicated to me that this program was slated for review and ultimately dissolved as a result of some of those changes that are occurring,” Bobbitt said. “… I think this is the beginning of the end. A lot of programs are currently being reviewed.”
As the Senate meeting was held in the evening, The Sunflower was not able to reach KBOR for comment but is waiting to hear back.
Sen. Josh Mallard questioned what would happen to SGA funding already given to different agencies, departments and organizations if those organizations were discontinued due to DEI challenges.
Fonseca said that the Senate may have the ability to recall funds if that were to occur.
Bobbitt said that the situation added to his concerns about the management finances, stemming from the shortfalls that SGA is facing for 2025 and 2026.
The 2025 shortfall was caused by an oversight in the estimate for student fee revenue. Students in the Teacher Apprentice Program, who do not pay typical student fees, were counted within the student fee tier system. Combined with a decline in international student enrollment, this resulted in a roughly $900,000 shortfall for 2026.
“At this point, I have no faith in the university’s financial systems to actually be able to account for student dollars,” Bobbitt said.
The student fee act must be approved by SGA treasurer Jia Wen Wang, Student Body President Kylee Hower and university President Richard Muma. It will then be sent to KBOR for approval.
Newell said because cases are more severe than in the past, the CARE Team has had to respond with an elevated level of coordination and preparation.
“When we’re looking at the severity and the critical level of the case, those students are being transported, it takes a higher level of touch points in outreach and coordinated care that the staff have to do to work with,” Newell said. Typically weeks four through eight within the spring semester — early February through early March — are more prone to a steady increase in cases, according to the CARE Team’s data . CARE Team, in their January monthly update, said they would be preparing for this climb. This rise typically stems from academic difficulties students face.
“They’re overwhelmed,” Newell said. “A lot of students are exhibiting anxiety and depression, and we typically see that around especially midterm time.”
Newell said they also typically see these changes in mood when the weather shifts and during the registration period for the spring semester.
“As students are looking at meeting with advisers to register for classes, they’re also being made aware that they may have a financial balance that’s due in order for them to be eligible to register for classes that next semester,” Newell said.
On top of these common concerns, Newell said that political worry has also been an additional stressor this year.
“Some of the top concerns that they’re needing to be seen for — political unrest is a new one that we’re seeing come to the top,” Newell said. “And so there’s a lot of students who are exhibiting distress and feeling overwhelmed due to the current political state that we’re in.”
Newell said in an email that during February, 97 students were referred to the CARE team while in 2024, there were 85 cases. The difference represents a 12.94% increase compared to the previous year.
However, Newell said that this increase is likely due to better reporting.
“They’ll continue to increase, just for the simple fact that there is a significant amount of awareness that we’ve done with our faculty and staff in regards to how to identify students who are in distress and the importance of reporting,” Newell said.
She also said that while faculty are the number one reporters, students are reporting their friends and themselves more often than in previous years.
“In today’s generation, they really wrap their arms around mental health and wellness and it’s an important topic for them,” Newell said. “... And so I think that also has a big, significant impact on the work that we’re doing.”
Additional information about the CARE Team and access to the team’s concerning behavior form can be found on the support group’s website. People can contact the CARE team at 316-978-3149 or care@wichita.edu.
Data collected by The Sunflower and provided by Student Engagement and Belonging. Graph by Taliyah Winn
Executives of student organizations work together to build a tower out of spaghetti, marshmallows, tape and string at an event in September. | Photo by Zachary Ruth / The Sunflower
Men’s basketball lands first transfer: defense-first forward Karon Boyd
BY JACOB UNRUH sports@thesunflower.com
A defensive stalwart is coming to Wichita State men’s basketball next year.
Junior forward Karon Boyd committed to Wichita State from the transfer portal on Wednesday morning, according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from Joe Tipton of On3 Sports.
Boyd played for East Tennessee State University last season and was named the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
He averaged 30.5 minutes, 8.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game during the 2024-25 campaign. Boyd, who stands at 6-feet-5-inches, is not an efficient scorer. He shot 44% from the field, 24% from 3-point range and 63% from beyond the arc last year.
Boyd played in Charles Koch Arena against the Shockers on Dec. 7. He scored 16 points on eight shots and grabbed five rebounds in an ETSU loss.
He is the first member of WSU’s 2025 transfer portal class, a group that will likely add six more players as the Shockers replenish a roster that was emptied by transfers and graduations.
by
Third men’s basketball player enters transfer portal
BY OWEN PROTHRO owenprothro@gmail.com
Junior forward Corey Washington announced Tuesday that he’s entering the transfer portal according to a post by @jeffborzello via X, formerly known as Twitter. Washington is the third Wichita State men’s basketball player to enter the transfer portal.
Washington averaged 13.7 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game and was the highest-scoring Shocker who still had remaining eligibility.
The 6-foot-5, Little Rock, Arkansas native was named Second-Team All-American Athletic Conference and was an Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week in February.
Washington played one season for the Shockers after transferring to Wichita from St. Peter’s University during the last offseason.
Washington joins center Quincy Ballard and guard Yanis Bamba in the transfer portal. Freshman guard Zion Pipkin, who played 7.4 minutes per game and scored 1.4 points per game, is now the Shockers’ leading returner.
The transfer portal closes on Tuesday, April 22.
How Wichita State students, faculty helped run college basketball’s biggest tournament
BY OWEN PROTHRO owenprothro@gmail.com
Men’s March Madness returned to Wichita for the first time since 2018 on March 20 and 22 at INTRUST Bank Arena. With it, Wichita State faculty and students came together behind the scenes to ensure everything ran smoothly.
Managing and helping run one of the nation’s largest sporting events is no small feat. Airwaves must stay consistent from coast to coast, the mornings start early, and the hours are endless. And after a week of work, it’s over.
At the end of it, you’ve bonded with the people you just worked with, in shifts that sometimes stretch 22 hours. By 3 a.m., everyone is belly laughing with each other like a closeknit family. Time itself seems to vanish.
“It’s so much fun that sometimes you forget about the long hours,” said Mike Ross, WSU graduate coordinator of sport and leadership studies and assistant professor.
Ross was the games’ host media coordinator. He had several tasks, from approving media credentials to acting as the liaison to CBS, which hosts the Big Dance.
‘VAULTS
YOU INTO A DIFFERENT STRATOSPHERE’
It takes a certain commitment to work the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament, especially as a college student on spring break. A student spends the longest break of the spring semester working, sometimes for lengthy hours, and has the willingness to show up each day.
Joel Ford, a junior sport management major, was there from 8 or 9 a.m. and didn’t leave until midnight on the first day of the games. He said he was kept busy until 5:30 p.m. that day and didn’t even realize what time it was until someone checked their phone.
“I’m like, ‘It does not feel like that at all,’” Ford said. “And then right around, like, 10 p.m., we started getting a little tired, started feeling like, ‘Okay, we can see how it’s 10 p.m. now.’”
The reliability Ford showed while volunteering is what Ross said he looks for most when recruiting people to join his staff, particularly with WSU volunteers. They also have to be willing to learn to run the tournament the right way.
“And a lot of that’s dictated by the NCAA,” Ross said. “A camera can’t record anything on court beyond the 60-minute mark of the countdown clock and things like that. So (I look for) people that can learn the rules and enforce them and basically help keep everything looking the way that it’s supposed to look.”
When Brad Pittman, WSU’s senior associate athletic director of Facilities and Operations and an adjunct teacher on campus, hired staff and volunteers to his team, he said he looked for those who showed extra effort to put in the hours.
“I don’t necessarily care about experience … because you can teach people a lot of things,” Pittman said. “You cannot teach them passion and hunger and the other things that go with that.”
Despite the tournament’s demanding nature, Ross said the experience alone is a vital stepping stone for the students involved, given its vast popularity.
“This is probably a top-five event in the world,” Ross said. “You have the eyeballs of the entire world on you … Not everyone gets that opportunity. So it vaults you into a different stratosphere in terms of experience.”
THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Pittman and Ross said volunteering at an event like March Madness for the first time is jaw-dropping for students. INTRUST Bank Arena seats over 15,000 people. On multiple occasions, nearly every seat was filled.
Tyler Winn was a WSU student who volunteered during the event. He is a senior majoring in sport management with a minor in communications. Winn had previously interned
“
It was kind of something like a resume builder. But it was also a kind of cool experience coming from a small town where it’s like you have to drive five hours to get to anything like that.”
JOEL FORD Junior, sport management
with the Wichita Thunder, a local minor-league hockey team, but said the difference in the size of crowds between the Thunder and the NCAA was crazy.
“Seeing those people enjoy basketball … was just amazing,” Winn said.
Winn checked teams into the venue and helped them with whatever they needed. He helped set up locker rooms after each game and even helped set up name plates for the postgame press conferences. Overall, he wanted to do whatever he could to help everything run correctly.
This was Winn’s first experience working at a large event like this at the collegiate level. He said it opened his eyes to how they’re run and the required professionalism that goes with it.
“That experience was really exciting to learn,” Winn said. “And just the experience of being around like-minded individuals with career roles in the sporting industry and just picking their brains and networking was truly something I enjoyed.”
Despite the large crowds, Pittman and Ross said once the students understood their roles, the feelings faded and they came out of their shells.
Ford worked the media side of the event and ran transcripts from the distribution center to the media rooms. He also delivered box scores to the media at halftime and at the end of games.
Ford said he jumped on the opportunity because of some conversations he had with his roommate and Ross.
“It was kind of something like a resume builder,” Ford said. “But it was also a kind of cool experience coming from a tiny town where it’s like you have to drive five hours to get to anything like that. I thought it was pretty cool to see and just be involved in it.”
Ford is from Phillipsburg, Kansas, a 3 ½ hour drive from Wichita. It has a population of roughly 2,500 people. He said the experience of being from a small town and volunteering for such a big event opened his eyes because, in a city as large as Wichita, he felt he was “one in a million.”
“You come in here and you have to really, like, fight for opportunities,” Ford said. “If you want to volunteer for something or be involved with something, you have to be able to stack up and be better than the people next to you.”
Kaori Buchanan, a freshman majoring in social work, volunteered during the tournament. Every member of WSU’s Spirit Squad, including Buchanan, volunteered. Buchanan and the Spirit Squad were
responsible for checking the teams, coaches, other schools’ Spirit Squads and bands into the venue and escorting them to various holding rooms and locker rooms before the start of each game. She said there was an extra sense of responsibility given the nature of the event.
“There’s confidential stuff that happens that, like, you can’t say,” Buchanan said about behind-the-scenes work. “And so, just keeping that in mind, like, you’re here to work and not just have this fun experience.”
Colin Crowell, a senior majoring in sport management with a minor in marketing, said his main responsibility was making sure everything was set up: from the practice courts to the locker rooms to hanging all the banners around the arena. Much like Buchanan, he said there was a heightened sense of responsibility that went with the tournament.
“It’s a billion-dollar project,” he said. “... So, a large corporation like that, you definitely feel more responsibility and more initiative needs to be taken just to put things into place.”
Mahtee O’Shea, a senior majoring in sport management with a minor in exercise science, was the lead for the player and coach check-in. She made sure everyone from the players to the staff had proper credentials. She also talked with the team’s director of operations and made sure everything was correctly organized.
She said the biggest takeaway from working at an event of this size was the networking aspect.
“You never know who you’re going to meet. And once you meet someone, you never know who they could connect you with,” O’Shea said. “... I was able to meet so many other people, especially people that were from, like, other areas in Kansas.”
LASTING MEMORIES
On the first day of the games, Buchanan remembered seeing announcers and reporters conducting interviews.
“I was just thinking about how people are seeing that from home on TV,” Buchanan said. “And I’m just standing here, like, watching it right next to me as it happens. So, that was really cool.”
O’Shea said she won’t forget helping set up the locker rooms. She has assisted with event operations for the past three years at WSU and worked with the people she normally does for events on campus during the tournament.
“Just having fun down in the locker rooms and in the tunnel and everything with the group of guys that I was with,” O’Shea said. “I work with them every day. So, it was fun to work with them in a different environment in a different stadium.”
Ford said he couldn’t pick just one single moment as his favorite.
“Just everything we were doing that whole entire four days was just a blast. I’ll never forget (them),” Ford said.
This year will likely be Ross’ last as host media coordinator. By the time Wichita can host games again, he’ll be nearly 55, and it’ll be a good opportunity for someone new to fill that spot. Still, he wants to help run the show — just not in the same capacity.
He said the relationships he’s made along the way are the best part of the job. He compared seeing everyone he’s known and met to a family reunion.
“I don’t know another event or anything like that where you get students, faculty and alumni all together at the same time, working together all while working an event that injects millions of dollars into the local economy,” Ross said. “It’s different. And they (the students) will be better off for having worked it, but the city is better off for them having been there to help put this thing on because it puts Wichita on the map.”
Corey Washington faces off with a Memphis defender at the top of the 3-point arc on March 14. | Photo
Zachary Ruth / The Sunflower
Photo courtesy of Mahtee O’Shea
Mike Ross and Brad Pittman stand together at midcourt of INTRUST Bank Arena. | Photo courtesy of Mike Ross
Inside of INTRUST Bank Arena before the start of the Texas Tech vs. Drake game on March 22. | Photo courtesy of Tyler Winn
‘LOOK GOOD PLAY GOOD’
Wichita State track and field jumper starts fashion brand
BY MYA SCOTT
mds.200624@gmail.com
In downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, a boy was inspired by those around him as they taught him to be the best version of himself he could be. He learned that the better he dressed, the better he seemed to feel about himself.
That boy is Kielon McQuarters — now a junior jumper for Wichita State’s track and field team — who is still inspired by the people in his hometown and by the fashion that makes him confident.
“I grew up around this man, Pastor Mike, a pastor that is very into clothing,” McQuarters said. “And from that my older brother got into clothing. And I guess as a little brother … I kind of just wanted to be like him ... That ‘look good, play good’ saying, I really developed that. More of a self-confidence build thing — that the better I feel I look, the more confidence I had in myself.”
McQuarters took his love of fashion further than just wearing what makes him feel good. He now aims to help inspire others to feel confident with his own clothing brand, KKV, which stands for “Kielon and Kameron’s Vision.” KKV was created by McQuarters and his childhood friend, Kameron. Through it, they want to help people find satisfaction in their own visions of success.
“Everybody goes at their own pace, and so I’m just trying to use (the) understanding that
“
If you truly love what you do and you appreciate what other people are giving to you, you do the exact thing and give it back to people younger than you.”
KIELON MCQUARTERS Junior WSU track and field jumper
everybody has their own vision and their own version and that your version is okay,” McQuarters said. “As long as you’re striving for the vision, you don’t really have to worry about your version as long as you are making steps to be better.”
KKV plans to drop its first clothing line in fall 2025. It will include three pieces of casual wear.
For now, the track team at Wichita State is McQuarters’ priority. McQuarters has only been jumping since his senior year of high school, which he said he started on a whim.
“(I) played basketball my whole life and my assistant coach was a high jump coach and said, ‘Come try it.’ I was like, ‘Sure, why not? I get to miss school,’” McQuarters said. “So after four weeks, I was number two of the state, top 50 in the nation, and so it was like, ‘Forget basketball. We’re here now.’”
McQuarters has met many people on the team, but when he saw fellow jumper, junior
Baseball comeback attempt falls short against No. 22 Kansas State
BY OWEN PROTHRO owenprothro@gmail.com
The two times Wichita State and Kansas State’s baseball teams met last season, the Shockers took an early lead, but the Wildcats stole the win each time.
WSU met the same fate in its Wednesday evening game against No. 22 KSU, falling to the Wildcats, 13-10, despite going into the fourth inning with a lead.
WSU outhit KSU 13-11, but lapses on the mound and defensive side of the ball cost the Shockers the win.
“We out hit them. So that was a positive force there,” WSU head coach Brian Green said.
Amarrion Reese, they “just kind of clicked.”
“Right off the bat, I would say I didn’t click with anybody else on the team like I did with him,” McQuarters said. “Since then, I feel like there’s somebody I’ve always kicked it with.”
Reese said he doesn’t have an exact favorite memory with McQuarters since they spend so much time together on bus rides, in hotel rooms and just talking in general. He finds that they have a “good little balance” on the field when competing.
“(He’s) very focused, very locked in,” Reese said. “Really not much you can say to knock him off his game, which is good because I be not so locked in sometimes.”
McQuarters decided to join Wichita State because of his passion for track and his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi.
McQuarters is part of a little brother group where he spends time with elementary school students three times a week.
“If you truly love what you do and you appreciate what other people are giving to you, you do the exact thing and give it back to people younger than you,” McQuarters said.
McQuarters said that he has learned to trust his own vision as long as it’s something he truly believes in.
“Not everybody is going to like the clothes I put out,” McQuarters said. “But it’s what makes me happy.”
“(We’re) a very physical team. We just didn’t get it done on the mound in the midweek, and that’s something we have to address moving forward with our program.”
The loss came against the highest-ranked team the Shockers have played this season. Their record fell to 10-18. KSU’s record improved to 20-8.
WSU used 10 pitchers. They gave up more than twice as many runs as the batters they struck out, with only six strikeouts for the whole game.
Green said using many pitchers was part of his game plan, but he stressed the importance of coming out of the bullpen on the right foot.
“Teams understand on Wednesday games that when you’re going to see a lot of multiple pitching that you’re not into a pitch count or anything like that,” Green said. “You’re just in there trying to be as aggressive as you can.”
Sophomore Tyler Dobbs entered the mound in the fourth, loaded the bases and gave KSU its first run on a full-count walk.
The very next batter hit a basesclearing shot to right field.
Later in the inning, the KSU fans’ roars turned into “K-SU” chants after the Wildcats’ sophomore Dee Kennedy sent his fifth home run of the season over the left-center wall, which drove in four more runs, 7-1.
Senior Arnad Mulamekic stepped in to replace Dobbs and eventually retired the side.
After he stopped WSU’s bleeding in the fourth,
Mulamekic gave up a leadoff homer in the fifth.
In the seventh, Kennedy smashed his second home run of the game and was once again greeted with “K-S-U” chants from the Wildcats’ fans. These chants were the loudest of the game.
In the seventh, WSU began to mount a comeback after sophomore Kam Durnin drove in two runs with a double. Senior Mauricio Millan tacked on one more with an RBI single in the same inning.
Senior Jordan Rogers doubled in the eighth, resulting in another run for WSU. Later in the inning, the Shockers loaded the bases with no outs and drove home four more runs.
The longer the inning went on, the louder the Wildcats’ fans groaned for the game to end. Luckily for them, KSU tacked on an insurance run in the ninth, and WSU went down with two runners stranded on base.
Green said that he was proud of the way his team was able to stand in and continue to fight, even with a run-rule loss looming over their heads.
“We were about to get 10-runned and embarrassed,” Green said. “And I was proud … I mean, nine runs in the last three innings was quite an effort to come roaring back against a top-25 team.”
Millan said that in the six innings before the final three, the team is going to have to find the most quality at-bats from the first pitch.
“I think just keeping that mindset, regardless of what the score is — winning pitches, winning at-bats, and then with time, you’ll start winning some innings,” Millan said. Next up, Wichita State will hit the road for a conference series against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from Friday, March 4, to Sunday, March 6. The first pitch against the 49ers is scheduled for 5 p.m. Millan said he hopes the team can transition its late offensive firepower into its series at Charlotte.
“We’re just hoping to go to Charlotte and kind of … carry on that late-inning vibe from K-State,” Millan said.
Photo courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
Kaleb Duncan slaps the outfield wall in frustration after a home run. The Shockers fell to Kansas State, 13-10. | Photo by Mack Smith / The Sunflower
WSU community garden finally gets the sunlight it deserves
For once, Wichita State is making a change that isn’t about sports, business buildings or squeezing money out of students. The university’s community garden is getting a much-needed relocation — from its hidden spot near Ahlberg Hall to a prime location by the Rhatigan Student Center and Shocker Success Center.
This is exactly the kind of campus improvement WSU needs.
The move isn’t about shifting some plants. It is about turning sustainability into something students can actually see and engage with.
Since 2020, the student-led Green Group project has been out of sight and out of mind, leaving it to a handful of dedicated Shockers to keep it alive.
I didn’t know about the community garden until this past fall, while I was delivering newspapers. Early on a Thursday morning, I stumbled across the garden while trying a new route. There were tomatoes, peppers and plants I didn’t recognize. I absolutely loved it and was immediately proud that we had such a thing on campus. Now, instead of being buried behind a building, the garden will be in a high-traffic area where students pass every day. More visibility means more involvement.
The move adds personality to
the main area of campus that holds events, where new students live nearby and all Shockers congregate despite their majors and schedules.
A well-kept patch of grass and a growing garden bring color and life to a space dominated by blinding sidewalks and buildings on top of buildings.
It is a step toward WSU being more environmentally conscious and making an effort rather than just letting the garden as a whole get sucked up in Ahlberg’s shadow — left to wither away during and after the winter season.
This is an example of studentfocused decision-making that the university should make and consider more often. It is not always about profits or the illusion of prestige. It is about improving campus life in a way that benefits students or Shockers in general.
The garden has a home where it can thrive. Now, it is up to us Shockers to make sure it grows.
Writing for a better Student Government Association at Wichita State University
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Student Government Association as an organization is bloated and does not truly represent the student body.
SGA is poorly run due to a lack of resources but also due to the lack of vision and unwillingness to push boundaries in the best interests of the student body. SGA acts in a more of a ceremonial role than an actual government while also having an endless tide of drama that happens behind closed doors.
All these things have led me to decide that SGA was not the best outlet for change at WSU and led to my resignation.
Veteran senators, or what I will call the “Old Guard,” act as a stalwart against change to the status quo. New senators like me get grilled heavily by other new senators and the Old Guard for our legislation while Old Guard members essentially get a pass.
Meanwhile, there are many problems at WSU that go unsolved. The long list includes, but is not limited to, lack of accessibility of information, lack of public health resources, unstable internet access, not engaging with students where they are at, inconsistency for enrollment and international students struggling in getting to campus. I could go on forever, but how can we really fix these issues?
The first option, but not a very favorable one, is changing SGA from an actual government to more of a leadership council. Many universities, big and small, have different forms of government for students to voice their concerns, and many universities choose a leadership council as opposed to a fullfledged government. This would mean that SGA would go from having a senate, judicial and executive branch down to a simple seven-to-12 person council made up of students that can handle many of the more ceremonial tasks like condemnations, calling for celebration and taking complaints up and sending them to the university leadership, while the Finance Commission can handle the monetary aspect of SGA.
This would not only make the central office’s job easier but also make student representatives more responsive and flexible. In the end, if you’re going to be ceremonial then you might as well make the organization itself ceremonial.
The second option is a multistage reform process with an
Rolling into 2025, there were many things that I hoped our government would address: the rise in school shootings, climbing grocery costs or the steadily worsening climate. Pronouns were not at the top of that list.
Kansas lawmakers are currently looking at passing Senate Bill 76, known as the Given Name Act, which wouldn’t allow employees of school districts or postsecondary educational institutions to refer to a student by their chosen name or pronouns without written consent of the student’s parent or guardian. And while the legislature’s tight schedule may not allow it to pass this session, the bill could still reappear.
If Senate Bill 76 is passed, school district employees could only refer to students by the name
on their birth certificate or a derivative of the name.
What I’m wondering about this bill is if it will apply to everyone or only target trans kids who will likely feel even more isolated, targeted and singled out while already going through the war that is school and puberty.
I know many people who choose to go by their middle name or a completely different name just because they don’t like their given name, or because that is what their family chose to refer to them as they grew up. Will they also not be allowed to go by their chosen name, or will they be pardoned since they still abide by their chosen pronouns?
Something tells me it could very easily be the latter.
I will never understand the fascination lawmakers have with pronouns, especially those of children. They don’t hurt anybody.
If a child wants to go by “they/ them” and change their name, that’s well within their right. Just
expansion of the central office and a reform committee for SGA can be held to ensure that future SGA sessions are more fruitful and proactive in their engagement with the student body. The first and easiest would be simply the expansion of the central office.
While the central office’s main staff member, Gabriel Fonseca, is really overworked and often undervalued by the university from a senator’s perspective, having multiple people that can do the job of Mr. Fonseca would allow for a better engagement between SGA and the central office, which oversees and helps in running SGA smoothly.
Though the reform of SGA is a whole other beast. In my talks with Speaker Victoria Owens, she expressed agreement and willingness for SGA to make reforms to the process of legislation.
While SGA used to have engagement as a requirement through the usage of senator hours, I heard the words senator hours and I knew exactly what the problem was. Having an engagement commitment that is based on hours and not acts of engagement itself can make engaging with your constituents more of a chore than an actual conversation and collection of concerns.
Instead, engagement should be a direct requirement through a dual committee process. This first committee can act as an engagement committee where tabling can be scheduled and surveys that go out to students could be made, reviewed, and then legislation created off student responses would ensure that engagement is baked into the process of making legislation.
Now the drama, oh boy the drama. In my time in SGA, I have had hostile remarks thrown my way, dealt with people belittling me, have people make it clear they feel like they are superior to me, and even people who are even part of the Old Guard make it clear they do not like me all the way back during senator orientation.
From the get-go it was clear there were three subsets of members of the Old Guard, people who acted as leaders not only to new senators but on behalf of SGA as a whole, those who make SGA a hostile working environment, and those who are just tired of it all.
These subsets are not restricted to only one subset that a member of the Old Guard can inhabit but can shift more toward one or another at times.
Other than interpersonal conflicts are the things I’ve heard also from fellow senators. Many times I felt like I didn’t have the space to disagree until I really
found my footing around the end of my time at SGA, more or less feeling like I had to agree with the sentiment of the Old Guard. This caused me to find myself to agree with thoughts like, ‘The Sunflower doesn’t really do its job as reporters about SGA’ or the quiet part that isn’t dared to be said out loud — that because of the lack of engagement from students, SGA doesn’t really have to care about them, when SGA is the cause of the lack of engagement from students.
In the end, the only power that SGA wields is that of student fees as this directly affects the pocketbooks of the student body. This main power with the lack of engagement with students makes SGA more of a bank who is asking for fees to use it while at the same time making students go through a lengthy application process to get their money withdrawn which the bank could either approve or deny. With all these conflicting problems of lack of engagement, an overworked central office, drama, lack of vision and being a bank run by essentially courteous lords it would surprise me that any new senator can get to the student fees process as most new senators quit before then.
Leadership within the legislative branch has tried this session to make the impossible possible and move mountains but this is a problem that’s bigger than the legislative leadership can tackle. It’s a problem that the entirety of SGA must tackle.
I would love to rejoin SGA but only with extensive reforms I’ve mentioned in place. So, unless you’re fine with not seemingly getting a whole lot done in the grand scheme of things, be my guest and run for SGA. I sure as hell won’t.
Submitted by Michael Miller Former SGA senator
because it doesn’t fit in with the small-minded view part of our society holds, doesn’t mean it is inherently evil and should be banned.
This could also place a prominent strain on teacherstudent relations. Any student who once felt comfortable with a teacher because of their ability to be themselves will have that relationship stripped away by this bill.
Any teacher who believes in a student’s ability to choose who they want to be would be placed in a precarious situation and lose their right to free expression, while trying to fit the latest laws placed on school staff. Proponents of this bill tout it as protection for teachers who choose not to respect students’ preferred names and pronouns. And while that’s likely a column for a different day, this bill goes far beyond protecting those teachers. By attempting to push this bill forward, lawmakers are actively
alienating a group of children, who are vulnerable and who just want to feel comfortable in their skin without being stuck with the label of “tomboy” or made fun of for liking what is seen as a “girl item.” They are also forcing teachers to choose between a positive, respectful and trusting relationship with their students and facing lawsuits, disciplinary actions and even termination. We often encourage children
to be themselves and to not let anybody stand in their way of what they believe is right, yet lawmakers in Kansas are showing them that the lesson to be learned isn’t being who you are; it’s conforming to the social construct of gender. I urge Kansans to think about what’s more harmful to the world: a child wanting to feel comfortable in their identity or lawmakers who decide who our children should be.
Illustration by Emma Wilks / The Sunflower
Former Sen. Michael Miller speaks to the senate on March 12. | Photo by Mya Scott / The Sunflower
Emma Glover drenches plant beds in the community garden as part of the Shocker Locker’s new responsibilities following the move. “Now that the garden is right next to us, this has become sort of like a babysitting gig for us,” Glover said. “I think the idea now is all the vegetables planted in here will help contribute to the Shocker Locker.”
Three trees in the community garden blossom flowers as the April showers begin.
Romaine lettuce sprouts next to the Rhatigan Student Center in the community garden plant beds on April 2.
An onion bulb thrives despite breaching the soil surface. Various materials are mixed in the soil including leaves, mulch and pine cones for optimal nutrients. | Photos by Piper Pinnetti / The Sunflower
SHOCKERS GOT TALENT
Students at Wichita State University showcased their talents at the Student Activities Council’s Shockers Got Talent on March 28.
Scribbles, sketches and signatures: Make your mark in a Shocker Store journal
BY ALLISON CAMPBELL editor@thesunflower.com
Self-portraits, doodles of WuShock, sketches of goldfish and a poll of whose music is better: Kendrick Lamar’s or Drake’s. These are just some of the scribbles, tracings and drawings that can be found inside the pale pink Leuchtturm 1917 journal on display in the basement of the Shocker Store.
The sample journal holds more than two years’ worth of signatures and illustrations left behind by visiting campus groups, students and Shocker Store shoppers.
“There’s just been some really cute stuff in here,” Course Materials Manager Lisa Fitzsimmons said. Fitzsimmons said the idea to feature a display journal was given to her the same year the store began stocking the Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks. She was attending the International College Bookstore Association conference in 2022 and was paired up with course material employees from other colleges when one of them offhandedly mentioned how popular the brand’s notebooks are for journaling.
“So I met a couple gals … but they were going on and on about the journals … And I’m like, ‘Okay, stupid question, but what the heck is journaling?’” Fitzsimmons said.
Fitzsimmons took it upon herself to look up the subject, watching several hours of journaling videos, guides and tutorials on YouTube. Quickly, she said she began to see the value in journaling — and in stocking quality journals to do the job.
“A lot of them (students) really get into it with different colored pens and markers and just, you know, all kinds of stuff,” Fitzsimmons said. “I think their main purpose is to help a lot with mental health. So hopefully, if that helps somebody, then I guess we did our job.” Fitzsimmons said the Shocker
Store had never offered anything along those lines before, and she was excited to bring the newfound knowledge back to Wichita State. But it was a friend of hers at the conference who suggested that she invest in the Leuchtturm 1917 and leave a sample for students to use.
“She said, ‘Put it out there, just so they can see what it’s like. Let the kids mark in it,’” she said.
Fitzsimmons started with a small order, only a few dozen journals, and said they sold well. After investing in a few different color varieties, Fitzsimmons said, they started flying off the shelves.
Now, she makes two orders a year of 50 to 75 multicolored, lined, gridded and dotted journals.
Since setting out the first journal in 2023, it’s filled about halfway. Fitzsimmons said once it fills up, she’ll definitely put out another one. She’ll keep the completed one around for other potential journalers to page through while they shop for what may be their next mental health help tool, or just a means of expression.
“And it’s just, you know, just a way for people to express themselves, their thoughts, their feelings, whatever it may be, in whatever form, either writing or drawing pictures,” Fitzsimmons said. “ … If it helps somebody to kind of, you know, work through their thoughts, or work through, you know, whatever it may be issues or something like that, then that’s their purpose.”
Visiting scholar offers WSU students new ways of thinking about art
BY KAMI STEINLE steinlekami@gmail.com
In connection with “Devan Shimoyama: Rituals,” a current exhibit at the Ulrich Museum of Art, award-winning writer and scholar Derrais Carter visited Wichita State University to offer students new ways of thinking.
“Just be curious, be open, and I don’t know, we’ll chat it up,” Carter said when opening his talk.
Finding imaginative ways to think about history or art can open up new avenues to form connections with other people, Carter said.
Carter began the talk by playing “Young, Gifted and Black” by Aretha Franklin. The way he described this song was compared to how he felt when he first saw Shimoyama’s exhibit. Shimoyama’s exhibit is a reimagining of tarot cards.
“There’s something absolutely stunning about the sheer force of at least being delusional enough to be like, ‘Oh she’s singing directly to me at this moment,’” Carter said. “I want us to begin there because stepping into the ‘Rituals’ (exhibition), I felt some version of that.”
Carter said connecting with things from the past and being able to make them into something personal is important because it brings people together, even if a piece of art can only be deeply appreciated by one person, it’s doing its job.
“As far as I’m concerned, the notion of a world is relative,” Carter said. “We live in many worlds at once, and if a world is defined by our relationships to others, then we live in a multiverse.”
Art can be looked at in many different ways. Sometimes it’s
“Without the performative restaging of the critical interventions, what are we leaving audiences with?”
DERRIAS CARTER Visiting writer “
used as commentary, and other times it’s used to convey emotion and experiences.
“I try to be as sensitive and considerate as possible when it comes to engaging, not just popular culture, but also art,” Carter said. “In large part because we need it so much and don’t always need it for the explicit, structural, political things. No, we need it because … sometimes we just need touch.”
Carter said that the touch people need is not always physical. Being touched by a piece of art can come through the colors and atmosphere. People can also be touched by books and music in the same ways.
He also connected Marvin Gaye’s music and performances to the feeling of experiencing Shimoyama’s exhibit. Both are full of charisma and hold your attention.
“For me, there’s so much wrapped in it, around having to deal with life, right?” Carter said.
“So much of what pulls me back to this man (Marvin Gaye) with this, again, a silhouette that won’t quit, and a coolness that is so striking.”
Carter said finding a piece of art that makes you want to go back to it again and again is really special. Creating art that people can connect with and find meaning in is special.
“When I was trying to make sense earlier of the colors (and)
textures in Devan’s show, and I kept going back to luxury,” Carter said. “Kept going back to adornment. I kept going back to embellishment. I kept going back to all of these things that we will take on, these traits, these objects, these artifacts that we will absolutely place on our bodies or surround ourselves with just so we can radiate like the sun over and over and over.”
He also talked about “Blaxploitation” films and how they have been viewed by historians. During the 1970s, Hollywood was losing a lot of money and decided to target Black audiences by making movies that exploited Black people.
“All I could think about was the fact that, for this one brief, unique moment in American history, it’s like five, six years, with that film cycle you had the most outlandishly varied depiction of Black folks in film,” Carter said. The opinions on these types of films vary greatly. Many artists, including Shimoyama, use imagery from these films in their art, but during the period of time these films were being made, they weren’t very popular.
“This whole set of films were written off … I feel like it’s one of the most dismissive ways to talk about a vibrant cultural moment where you had films that now have film reach and Black people that also have soundtracks by Black artists,” Carter said.
Carter closed his talk by encouraging people to engage with old things and make art even if it only connects to a few people.
“Without the performative restaging of the critical interventions, what are we leaving audiences with?” Carter said. “And I want to put front and center what I want to leave audiences with.”
Toomaj Amiri, a graduate research assistant at Wichita State University, sings Faramarz Aslani’s “Age Ye Rooz.” Amiri said he dreams of becoming Iran’s next singing star.
Best friends and members of Neighbors with Guitars Hannah Schwemmer and Kennedy Fisher sing and strum to Schwemmer’s original song, “If You Buy Me Flowers.” The performance marked the first time the duo has publicly performed the song.
Taylor Sims sings “Listen” by Beyoncé at the March 28 Shockers Got Talent show. Sims is from Kansas City and has participated in gospel choirs and used the Student Activities Council event to showcase her solo singing skills.
Kailer Megrail sings Stephen Schwartz’s “No Good Deed,” as performed in Broadway musical Wicked.
A guitarist with band Skylar and the Strings performs an original song at Shockers Got Talent. Their song “The Person You’ve Become” was written by lead singer Skylar Isenegger.
Fitzsimmons flips through the pages of the display journal in the basement of the Shocker Store.| Photo by Allison Campbell / The Sunflower
READY, SET, FLY
Aerospace class tests plane projects before competition
UPCOMING EVENTS
WSU OPERA THEATRE PRESENTS MENOTTI’S ‘THE CONSUL’
FRIDAY, APRIL 4
7:30 p.m.
Miller Concert Hall
Experience Gian-Carlo Menotti’s opera “The Consul” performed by the Wichita State Opera Theatre under the direction of Alan Held. Premiering in 1950, the story remains as relevant as ever, with themes of oppression and justice. Set against a politically tumultuous backdrop, “The Consul” follows Magda Sorel as she tries to secure visas for her family to escape a totalitarian regime. Students can get a free ticket in advance at the Fine Arts Box Office in Duerkson Fine Arts Center, by phone at (316)9783233 or online at wichita.edu/ fineartsboxoffice. Tickets are $10 to $20 otherwise.
FACULTY ARTIST SERIES: THE FAIRMOUNT TRIO
SATURDAY, APRIL 5
3 p.m.
Doors open at 7 p.m.
Weidemann Hall
Take a trip around the world with the Fairmount String Trio in this diverse program with violin, viola and cello. Students can get a free ticket in advance at the Fine Arts Box Office in Duerkson Fine Arts Center, by phone at 316-978-3233 or online at wichita.edu/fineartsboxoffice. Tickets are $6 to $12 otherwise.
DRAG BRUNCH AND PANEL DISCUSSION
SUNDAY, APRIL 6
Doors open for brunch and drinks at 11 a.m.
Program begins at 1 p.m.
Roxy’s Downtown
412 1/2 E. Douglas Ave.
Join the Ulrich Museum of Art with renowned drag artists for a brunch and panel. Widow Von’Du from season 12 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Riirii from Kansas City and Jaharia from “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula” will appear alongside Wichita drag artists Brown Sugar and Lorelei. Tickets are $30 for students 18+ with an I.D. and $42 otherwise, available for purchase at roxysdowntown.com.
EARLY REGISTRATION FOR SUMMER AND FALL BEGINS
MONDAY, APRIL 7
QUEER COFFEE HOUR
TUESDAY, APRIL 8
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Rhatigan Student Center, room 208
Enjoy coffee, tea, fun crafts and conversation in this event sponsored by Student Engagement & Belonging. Find support in a welcoming environment, whether you’re LGBTQ+ or an ally.
LIBRARY RESEARCH AWARD INFO SESSION
TUESDAY, APRIL 8
Noon - 12:45 p.m.
Ablah Library, room 225
Earn $1,000 for your research or creative projects through Ablah Library. Even if your project is not finished by the application deadline, you’re still eligible. This event will guide you through the simple application process and answer any questions you have. Email lib.award@wichita.edu with any questions or concerns.
SAVVY SCHOLAR WORKSHOP: SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
TUESDAY, APRIL 8
3 - 4 p.m.
Ablah Library
Break down systematic reviews and how they differ from regular lit reviews in this online or in-person workshop. Learn more and register
HAVE AN EVENT YOU WOULD LIKE LISTED? CONTACT THE ARTS EDITOR: arts@thesunflower.com CONTACT THE NEWS EDITOR: news@thesunflower.com
Student Darsh Choksi grins with his group’s plane after completing
Jielong “Jacky” Cai’s
session were able to successfully take off. | Photos by Allison Campbell / The Sunflower Jordan Glover makes
Laura Paige Nobles gasps after a team’s plane crashes into the concrete wall of the Heskett Center. The plane was left in pieces after veering off course and colliding into the gym’s far wall.
Team 4 members Anubhav Pant, Pedro Cupertino and Yuto Minami carry their Aerospace Design II plane to the testing area during the practice flight session on March 29.
Team 10 members Caleb McDaniel and Marion Jackson adjust their plane’s wiring with the help of professor Jielong “Jacky” Cai. The group’s plane successfully achieved take off and flew on March 29.
Julia Buie, an aerospace engineering student, makes modifications to her plane’s wiring ahead of their scheduled test flight time. Students had to connect their planes, made for the Aerospace Design II class, to a controller to practice a controlled flight as part of their final project.
Aerospace engineering student and undergraduate lab assistant Aiden Holt holds up a hand heart after her team’s plane successfully achieved liftoff.
