It is essential to the mission of Wichita State University to ensure that each member of the community — faculty, staff and students — has full opportunity to thrive. We believe that diversity is key to individual flourishing, educational excellence and advancement of knowledge.
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan Focus Areas and Foundation WSU Diversity Resources
Focus Areas
Leadership and accountability
Faculty and staff development
Student learning experience
Council of Colleges Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CCDEI)
Council members attend monthly meetings with the Vice President / Chief Diversity Officer, submit monthly feeder reports on DE&I initiatives within their college, monitor their college DE&I plan, assist with the university DE&I plan, review policies and procedures, and host the biannual All-Staff and Faculty DE&I social.
Berry
College of Applied Studies
Bobby Berry, Assistant Professor, Sport Management, and Assistant Dean
Dr. Bobby Berry is Assistant Dean for Diversity and Outreach for the College of Applied Studies and Assistant Professor for the Department of Sport Management. Bobby currently serves as the Chair of the First-Generation Coordinating Council and the WSU-BAASE Partnership at Wichita State University (WSU) and sits on the President’s Diversity Council (PDC).
In addition to being the Vice President of the African American Faculty and Staff Association (AAFSA) and the Director of The Fuse, an outreach initiative for the College of Applied Studies. Dr. Berry also serves as chair of the Diversity Task Force for his college and co-facilitator for Men of Excellence which is a support group for Educators of Tomorrow on campus housed in The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI). Bobby recently chaired the Campus Culture Committee for the refreshed Strategic Plan at WSU and has previously served as a Faculty Fellow for the Office of Admissions for both Recruitment and Freshman Orientation.
Dr. Berry’s service has been acknowledged by his recent awards: 2019 recipient of the University Recognition Award from the Alumni Association and a 2019 and 2022 recipient of the Diversity and Inclusion Award from the Wichita Business Journal. His passion is in alignment with his research interests of African American males and their experiences at a PWI, The impact of formal and informal mentoring between generations and identity and adaptation of student athletes.
Bobby currently sits on the board for NAMI Wichita (National Alliance of Mental Illness), Urban Professionals, CORE (Community Operations Recovery Empowerment Inc), Impact Board for the Boys and Girls Club and is a Hero for the non-profit Real Men Real Heroes. Bobby also co-hosts a podcast called Let’s Talk About and the CEO of his LLC, Intentional Work, which provides coaching, consulting and professional development.
Markova
W. Frank Barton School of Business
Gery Markova, Associate Professor and Chair, Management
Dr. Gery Markova is a professor and chairperson of the Management Department and has been with the Barton School of Business for 16 years. She earned her PhD in Management from the University of Central Florida in 2006.
Her research interests include professional development, human resource practices, employee well-being, and diversity. Dr. Markova’s research appeared in the Journal of Social Psychology, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Managerial Issues, and International Journal of Productivity & Performance Management. Her work on professional associations has earned the 2014 Outstanding Academic Publication from the Institute for Nonprofits and American Society of Association Executives. She has received external grants to continue her work on professional associations and participates in an inter-disciplinary team that received NSF developmental grant to advance women in STEM disciplines.
Dr. Markova teaches classes in Human Resource Management, Learning in Organizations, and Diversity. She conceptualized and implemented the launch of the Master of HRM and leads the program to its current success. She also serves as a faculty advisor to two student organizations - Student Chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management and the Business Club Internationale. She has served in many leadership roles on campus including Director of Faculty Advancement and Vice President of the Faculty Senate. She has passionately supported faculty through various teaching and developmental initiatives. As an outspoken promoter of diversity and inclusion on campus, she has participated in the Tilford Commission, Diversity Task Force, Diversity Re-Activation Team and First Generation Coordinating Council. She continues to serve on the President’s Diversity Council, the Council of Colleges DE&I, and chairs the Diversity and Inclusive Excellence committee in the Barton School. Dr. Markova integrates DEI work in all of her roles - as a core part of her curriculum and as an integral part of her contributions to Wichita State University.
Dr. Markova has been recognized as “Women in Business” and “Women Who Lead in HR” by the Wichita Business Journal and named a Barton Fellow for 2019-2021. She has also received WSU President’s Service Award, Strategic Enrollment Management Program Award, WSU Advancement of Teaching Award, Phenomenal Women from the Office of Diversity & Inclusion.
Twomey
College of Engineering
Jan Twomey, Professor, Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering, and Associate Dean
Dr. Janet Twomey began her career at WSU with the personal and professional goals to always pursue research in areas of national need and effect the academic culture for women in STEM. To that end she her research has focused on improving the environmental sustainability of products and processes, and programing to diversify the faculty and student body at WSU.
Dr. Twomey has co-authored over 70 peer reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings and has received funding totaling over $5 mil. The majority of which has come from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Twomey received WSU’s first NSF Faculty Early CAREER award (the most prestigious award for new faculty) for her work in neural networks and sparse data sets. As PI of awards from the NSF and DOE, Dr. Twomey initiated research in environmentally benign manufacturing, green wind energy, and sustainable healthcare services. Those awards were used support new research areas in sustainability by seeding the work of over 20 faculty and 30 students. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has adopted the framework developed by Dr. Twomey and her colleague Michael Overcash, to account for the environmental impacts of manufacturing unit processes (UPLCI). Dr. Twomey’s work received international recognition through invitations to organize and speak at workshops on reverse logistics at INSEAD in Fontainebleau France, on green manufacturing in San Carlos Brazil, wind energy in Cairo Egypt, and women in engineering in Istanbul Turkey. These were supported by the NSF. Dr. Twomey’s students are continuing to work in these areas as academics in the US and abroad. Three of her PhD students were female.
Dr. Twomey was a Program Officer for Manufacturing Enterprise Systems at the National Science Foundation from 2001 to 2004. She has served as VP for Academics on the Institute for Industrial Engineering Board of Trustees from2012 -2014, and a member of the City of Wichita’s Cultural Funding Committee from 2005 to 2006. She serves on the board of the Environmental Genome Initiative, given talks on healthcare services sustainability at Yale’s School of Medicine, and co-authored two invited articles for a special edition of the highly ranked environmental sustainability journal, Resources, Conservation & Recycling.
In 2015, Dr. Twomey took a position as the Associate Dean for Graduate Education, Research and Faculty Success in the College of Engineering. In this position she has been able to pursue her goals in environmental sustainability research and increasing diversity of faculty and students in engineering. She is the WSU PI of the Kansas NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation award, and the PI of NSF ADVANCE Catalyst: A Catalyst to Increase the Representation and Advancement of Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Academic STEM Careers at Wichita State University. She is currently serving as co-PI on two NSF-funded awards: 1) to reduce the environmental impacts and make road salt more substantiable; and 2) to support high achieving, economically disadvantaged engineering students.
Clawson Chandler
College of Fine Arts
Cheyla Clawson Chandler, Assistant Professor, Dance, and Director, School of Performing Arts
Cheyla Clawson (MFA Modern Dance, MA Sociology) is the Director of the School of Performing
Arts. Cheyla is invited to participate in a select national thinktank through The
Joyce Theatre NYC/NYU in January 2023 focused on dance, technology, advocacy, and
social justice. She has been invited to share her latest paper on embodied movement,
shared identity, and social justice at The International Arts in Society conference
in June 2023 (Krakow, Poland), gave a workshop on Dance and Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion for the National American College Dance Association Workshop series in March
of 2021, and community-based intergenerational research at the National Dance Education
Organization Conference in November of 2021 with colleague Dr. Twyla Hill (WSU Sociology).
Clawson’s modern dance scholarship focuses on Horton Technique, and she attended Horton
Dance Technique Certificate Programs in 2013-2020 at The Ailey School in NYC. Her
two duets, Anam Chara (2014) and nosuchSymbiosis (2016) were invited to The American
College Dance Association National Festival at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
In collaboration with colleague Dr. Bret Jones, Cheyla choreographed and co-directed
the award-winning dance film, “She Moved the Prairie,” focused on female Kansas farm
labor practices in the early 20th century supported as a Tallgrass National Artist
2020. Since June of 2021 the film has been screened at festivals in Mexico, Japan,
India, Hungary, Lebanon, and more.
At Wichita State University, Cheyla coordinates the College of Fine Arts Inclusion,
Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Alliance, is the Chair of the School of Performing
IDEA, is a member of the University President’s Diversity Council, and serves on the
University Assessment Committee. Outside of WSU, Cheyla is a board member for Harvester
Arts and is a Policy Board Member for the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).
She was awarded the NDEO Presidential Award for her work in Justice, Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion Leadership (co-lead for National Dance Standards).
Navarro
Graduate School
Enrique Navarro, Associate Professor, Spanish, and Associate Dean
Enrique Navarro is the Associate Dean of the Graduate School and an Associate Professor of Spanish. He received his Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature from the University of Texas at Austin and a Law Degree from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
He specializes in Contemporary Latin American literature and culture, the Latina/o Midwest, and graphic novels. Since 2017, he has worked on various projects on the history of the Hispanic communities in Wichita. Mexican Americans of Wichita's North End received the Best History Book award at the International Latino Book Awards in 2022. His next project, funded by the Library of Congress, is a documentary on Latino traditions and festivities in Western Kansas.
He was a Tilford Fellow in 2017 and served as a Diversity Advocate in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2021.
Download the Graduate School plan (docx)
College of Health Professions
Evan Ohlman, Assistant Clinical Professor, Physician Assistant Program
Harrison
Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College
Kevin Harrison, Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Download the Cohen Honors College plan (docx)
Patterson
College of Innovation and Design
Jeremy Patterson, Dean, and Executive Director of Innovation and New Ventures
Download the College of Innovation and Design plan (docx)
Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Jean Griffith, Associate Professor, English, and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Download part one of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences plan (docx)
Download part two of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences plan (docx)
Williams
University Libraries
Virginia Williams, Professor and Senior Coordinator of Collection Strategies and development
Virginia Kay “Ginger” Williams is the Coordinator for Collection Strategies and Development in the Wichita State University Libraries. She holds a bachelor’s in history from Furman University, a master’s in librarianship and a law degree from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests focus on library collections, including strategies for increasing underrepresented voices in the library collection.
University Resources
The following Wichita State offices contribute to the university's diversity landscape.
- President's Diversity Council
- Office of Community Engagement and Opportunity
- Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance
- Office of Human Resources
- Office of Online and Adult Learning
- Office of Diversity and Inclusion
- Diversity Training Series
- Office of Disability Services
- Disability Support Services (TRIO)
- Military and Veteran Student Center
External Resources
Below is a sampling of available opportunities and external resources for promoting diversity.