2021 Bender of Twigs

Darlene Dinkel began working at Wichita State University in 1995 in the UCATS department where she worked on the university’s mainframe system. You could find her code in the financial systems in several different areas including the Rhatigan Student Center, ICAA, Alumni Association, Board of Trustees, and the WSU Foundation’s phone campaigns and Aladin database system.

She was involved in the upgrading of all these systems to be ready for the “Y2K” event. WSU migrated data from the mainframe to the new Banner environment several years ago and Darlene focused on the financial system data and began developing financial reports for use by WSU departments all over campus. As technology has relentlessly evolved over these past 25 years, Darlene continues to enhance her knowledge and skills as a key member of Information Technology Services. She is a member of the Data Warehousing and Reporting team and now focuses her talents on presenting WSU data to the university community in a meaningful and useful way to provide decision-makers with the most accurate data possible.

As a board member of the Women of Wichita State University (formerly the Council of University Women), Darlene has served as the Courtesy Chair since 2019. She served on the CUW scholarship committee as well as the CUW Scholarship Bash Committee. She always does a great job getting others involved in the fundraising for the CUW Scholarship to support WSU students.

Darlene enjoys the campus environment by participating in WSU Community Education road trips and walking tours. When you visit Darlene’s desk you will quickly see that she is a big supporter of WSU Women’s volleyball and basketball teams, attending these games as well as many WSU Fine Arts productions. Concerts are a big favorite, and some of her favorites were Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Rolling Stones, Foreigner, Elton John, REO Speedwagon, and Ringo Star. Rock on!

We are so fortunate to have Darlene as a member of the Data Warehousing and Reporting team from its formation. She brings a positive and friendly attitude to our department every day and has truly earned the designation as a Bender of Twigs! Congratulations Darlene!