Innovation Campus History

Creating the Innovation Campus

Beginning in 2012, Wichita State launched a master planning process to engage the Wichita State community in the task of imagining a campus aligned with the dynamic, powerful future envisioned in WSU's ambitious mission and vision statements. Within five years, that work was well established with the amazing transformation of a 120-acre section of the campus that once had housed the Braeburn Golf Course.

Dubbed the "Innovation Campus," the new part of campus has already become a catalyst for research, innovation and learning with amazing new research and lab facilities and partnerships with industry. It is also home to new residential, retail and services developments to improve the quality of student life and draw the community onto campus -- and there is much more to come!

Innovation Campus Timeline

This is an exciting time to be part of Shocker Nation! To give you a sense of the pace of change on our campus, here's a timeline of the remaking of WSU.

(Major building/facility openings in bold)

2020

Advanced Virtual Engineering and Testing Labs

Steve Clark YMCA and Student Wellness Center opens
Journey East Asia Grill opens
The National Institute for Aviation Research Advanced Virtual Engineering and Testing building (AVET) opens.
Partnership Building 3 (PB3) opens. NetApp takes temporary occupancy while its new headquarters is under construction.

2019

WSU Bookstore opens a satellite location in Braeburn Square development.
Grand Opening celebration for the Braeburn Square.
National Institute for Aviation Research Crash Dynamics Lab breaks ground.
The Suites at WSU, a new residence hall near The Flats at WSU, breaks ground and opens in August.
Partnership Building 3 (PB3) breaks ground.
Journey East Asia Grill announces plans to open in Braeburn Square.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop opens as the first restaurant tenant in Braeburn Square.
Hyatt Place Hotel breaks ground
Fortune 500 company Netapp announces it will explore moving its Wichita operations to the Innovation Campus

2018

The Law Enforcement Training Center opens.
Partnership Building 2 opens with Spirit AeroSystems and FirePoint Innovations Center as major tenants.
The original Pizza Hut building is relocated and reopened as the Pizza Hut Museum.
Wesley Medical Center announces it will site a Wesley Urgent Care Center inside the planned Steve Clark YMCA and Student Wellness Center
Plans for Woolsey Hall, a new home for the Barton School of Business, are announced.
Wonder, an independent experiential learning school, opens.

2017

Experiential Engineering Building, later renamed the John Bardo Center, opens.
Airbus Americas Engineering holds a grand opening its new facility.
Dassault Systemes holds a ribbon-cutting for its 3DExperience Center.
GoCreate makerspace holds its grand opening.
YMCA and Wichita State announce partnership for a new student wellness center and fitness facility on campus.
A free-standing Starbucks opens. First building in Braeburn Square development.
The Flats at WSU opens.

2016

A four-bay Food Truck Plaza opens near the National Institute for Aviation Research on WSU's main campus.
Plans announced for The Flats at WSU, a 112-unit student housing apartment complex.
Plans announced for a $9.5 million Law Enforcement Training Center in partnership with the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County. The facility would house WSU's Criminal Justice program.

2015

Airbus announces plans to relocate its Wichita engineering center to a new 90,000-square-foot building on campus.
Plans announced for Braeburn Square, a 20-acre mixed-use development with restaurants, shops and lodging.

2014

Braeburn Golf Course closed to make way for development.
Wheatshocker Apartments razed to make way for the Experiential Engineering Building.
Koch Industries and the Fred & Mary Koch Foundation give $3.75 million for a community makerspace in Experiential Engineering Building. The makerspace would eventually be named GoCreate, a Koch collaborative.