Shockers everywhere, at events long ago or happenings just the other day, always have something interesting to say. Take this sampling as a Shock Talk example:
“Inside Granny Jean’s Treehouse are a series of fairy houses created by Connie Ernatt (’95), who also painted murals and made the salamanders having a water fight near the stream.”
— From “Children’s Garden blooms at Botanica” – an article about Botanica’s newly created Downing Children’s Garden, a $3 million project featuring 30 pieces of interactive art by 10 artists – in the July-December 2011 issue of Wichita Times, published and edited by Cynthia Mines ’82.
“Patti and I have been very blessed to have been associated with Wichita State for nearly 30 years. We both have benefited greatly from our experiences there as students and also as alumni. After graduation, we have remained in Wichita and believe that WSU is an important part of what makes this community so great.”
— Jim Zielke ’86, as quoted in the summer 2011 issue of the WSU Foundation’s Horizon, about his and his wife’s (Patti ’88, finance) reasons for helping the foundation in its goal of establishing 100 new planned gifts during the Promise for the Future campaign, which kicked off July 1 and is slated to run through Dec. 31.
“The reality is, fewer and fewer people can do it in four years. It’s atypical to finish in four.”
— Keith Pickus, WSU interim provost, as quoted in “Path to college degree getting longer, costlier” in the Sept. 17 Wichita Eagle, about the Kansas Board of Regents’ goal to increase the freshman retention rate and graduation rate at public universities.
Three Wichita State alums, Alex Kanelakos ’07, a NASA aerospace engineer; Julius Thomas III ’05 (profiled in “Broadway Julius” in the fall 2010 The Shocker) and Dana Mitchell ’08, an “outstanding first year” kindergarten teacher at Wichita’s Samuel E. Spaght Multimedia Magnet elementary school — are featured in the university’s newest marketing campaign, which hits the airwaves this fall.
Two of the Wichita State pros involved in the planning and development of and media selection for the campaign are Barth Hague, associate vice president for university relations and chief marketing officer, and Craig Lindeman ’98, director of creative services. “Craig was the creative leader on developing the messages,” Hague says. “In today’s competitive environment, colleges and universities have no choice but to zero in on the thing that makes them truly unique in the marketplace. Wichita State’s is experience-based learning.”
Lindeman adds, “This campaign is all about what separates Wichita State from the other guys. It’s about the unmatched opportunities provided by our unique urban setting and the unparalleled outcomes they can lead to. What’s cool about the alums we’re profiling is that they are all living their dreams, and in each case it’s a result of a journey that started while they were still in school. That’s what’s so great about Wichita State — students don’t have to wait until after graduation to start building a career. They can do it from virtually the moment they step foot on campus, and Alex, Julius and Dana are testament as to the how far that journey can take you.”
