WSU News - All Stories

Oct. 15, 2021 – Today, Spirit AeroSystems Inc. held a grand opening event and ribbon cutting ceremony for its National Defense Prototype Center (NDPC), a joint project with Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). This new research center will significantly expand Spirit’s capabilities and production efficiencies in the defense and space market.

Oct. 11, 2021 - Louisa Brunt, from Manchester, England, transferred to Wichita State from Texas Tech University to golf and to earn her master’s degree in criminal justice. Brunt graduated from Texas Tech, where she earned Academic All-Big 12 honors three times, with a major in criminology and a minor in forensic science. Brunt expects her career path to take her into police work or the FBI.

Sept. 23, 2021 – The show must go on, and thanks to Wichita State’s Molecular Diagnostics Lab, Music Theatre Wichita has been able to keep its doors open to audiences.

Sept. 22, 2021 — What started as one woman’s passion project has flourished into a literacy empire that serves thousands of children in schools across the Wichita area — helped along the way by the people and services of Wichita State University.

Sept. 17, 2021 — The first cohort of the Widener Global Leaders Program will consist of 10 women from the Barton School of Business, the Elliott School of Communication in Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the School of Music in the College of Fine Arts.

Oct. 16, 2021 - Later this fall, pickleball becomes permanent on campus at the Heskett Center’s Outdoor Sports Complex.  When it became necessary to resurface six tennis courts, John Lee, director of Campus Recreation, decided to do something different. The complex will feature four pickleball courts, two courts for tennis and two existing courts for half-court basketball and one for futsal. 

Sept. 8, 2021 — WERX at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) has received its first Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft. As part of its rapidly growing Maintenance Repair and Overhaul program, WSU-NIAR WERX, in conjunction with Kansas Modification Center, will convert the passenger aircraft into a freighter that will be transferred to an external client to meet the growing needs of the e-commerce and express cargo market.

Aug. 23, 2021 - Casey Ratzlaff, a Wichita State University senior majoring in sport management, will compete in the Tokyo Paralympics Games beginning Aug. 27, at Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo. 

Aug. 18, 2021 — The Department of Defense (DoD) has designated South Kansas as a Defense Manufacturing Community (DCM), making the region eligible for $5 million through the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation’s Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program. The initiative is led by Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR).

Aug. 13. 2021 – Amanda Phanivong, a Wichita State University junior studying integrated marketing communication, recently began a fellowship with the Kansas-based Storytime Village Inc. While working there with their marketing and special events cohort, Phanivong has fully embraced her time with the Storytime team.

Aug. 5, 2021 - Aliphine Tuliamuk is Wichita State’s greatest female track and field athlete and the owner of 13 NCAA All-American honors in track and cross country. She is also an Olympian, a new mother (daughter Zoe was born Jan. 13) and an athlete willing to speak out on important issues. Recently, she is lending her voice and example to advocate for female athletes who compete as mothers.

July 23, 2021 - Lindsey Harvell-Bowman and Eric Wilson consider themselves aviation geeks. They tease each other about favorite airlines and digest every bit of airplane news and research. It is fitting their friendship began as graduate students at Wichita State University, in the Air Capital of the World. Their collaboration continues in Harvell-Bowman's “The Psychology and Communication Behind Flight Anxiety: Afraid to Fly,” a book that examines the intersection of journalism, communication, and psychology in affecting the flying public.

July 9, 2021 - John Wise, Wichita State University assistant director of track and field, documents his love of history, travel and frozen soft drinks in “Travel With a Wiseguy” on YouTube. He posts a video weekly, many from trips around Kansas to visit small towns, ghost towns and places such as Old Oxford Mill and Little Jerusalem.

June 30, 2021 -- The U.S. Air Force is launching a new program with Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to make a digital replica of the F-16 Fighting Falcon in an effort to improve the sustainment and modernization of F-16s operating around the world.

June 29, 2021 -- An opening reception for "From Lima to Wichita: Intercultural Dialogues in Clothing & Paint" will take place from 6–9 p.m. July 2, at ShiftSpace, WSU’s student-run gallery, as part of Wichita’s First Friday gallery crawl.