CONTENTS

Joyce (Flaherty) DiDonato ’92 is well on her way to becoming opera’s next big star.

Born in Nigeria, educated in England, working in the United States and recently returned from China, Abiola Dipeolu makes every corner of the world, her corner of the world.

Every crime scene — like the double helix of DNA or the whorls and ridges of a fingerprint — is unique. But it takes a practiced, patient eye to catch all the differences, not to mention the perps.

Readers write in to comment on The Shocker and its contents.

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:

Shocker personalities show up everywhere. Take a look!

Alumni events range from California to all over Kansas - including Wichita, of course. Check out the opportunities for Shocker fun.

The WSU Student Alumni Association (SAA, for those in the know) has a serious mission: building Shocker tradition, spirit and loyalty through various events and philanthropic projects. But along the way, SAA members have developed quite a reputation for fun.

To date, more than $70,000 has been added to Wichita State’s general scholarship fund by the “Drive Your Pride” WSU License Plate Scholarship Program, which is managed by the WSU Alumni Association.

Jeff DeGraffenreid ’88, WSU Alumni Association president, says being a member of the organization helps support higher education.

Thank you to these 2001-02 Heritage Fund contributors.

Dare to Come ... The Blair Wu Project. Years ago, an intrepid group of Shocker faithful headed for the deep Wichita woods. Their mission: to raise funds in support of higher education at Wichita State. It was supposed to be a routine trip — but they were never heard from again.

Brad S. Beets ’87 presents his fall message.

Topics in The Shocker's fall 2002 Gleanings highlight everything from a new dean to an award for a noted professor.

This academic year a number of WSU faculty and staff are working on key research projects and developing important training and service programs, thanks to grants and contracts from federal agencies and the private sector totaling $30,111,238. This total for fiscal year 2002 represents a 17.6 percent increase over the amount of money awarded in the last fiscal year.

Wichita State’s third annual Fall Convocation, held in Wilner Auditorium on Aug. 27, helped ignite a sense of Shocker community.

Members of the Wichita State community gathered outside Ablah Library for a memorial service the morning of Sept. 11.

A gallery of both literary and visual art, Shock Art showcases work by Wichita State University alumni, faculty and students. For details about contributing, please contact the editor: (316) 978-3835 or connie.white@wichita.edu.

Wichita State University’s Kids Training Team supports mental health providers throughout Kansas in their dealings with troubled children — and gives the children themselves a chance to shine in their award-winning calendar, “Expressions of Joy.”

The Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kan., has come a long way since Patty Carey first set up a star projector in a poultry barn. Now, that journey continues under the museum’s second Wichita State-educated chief executive.

WSU produces artists of all stripes — sculptors, actors, poets, musicians. But Pano M. Perdaris ’75 works not in clay or paint but with his own body.

Plans for a new Wichita State welcome center are underway. Yet as building designers and university planners look to the future, they also pay heed to the past.

During the 2002-03 season, the Shockers will play two exhibition and 16 regular-season home men’s basketball games in its temporary home, the Kansas Coliseum, third-year Wichita State head coach Mark Turgeon announced Aug. 16.

Fifth-year Wichita State women’s basketball coach Darryl Smith describes the 2002-03 team as “tough and tenacious.” Although the Shockers lost Jennifer Kaczka, one of the top players in the history of the WSU women’s basketball program, the core of the team returns from last year’s squad, which posted a 14-15 record and finished sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference with an 8-10 record.

Shockers excel in the world of sports. Here are highlights of some of their recent accomplishments.

Comings, goings, appointments, retirements, honors, accolades rs, accolades and other personal alumni news. Former students are designated by FS. Honorary alumni are noted as HN. Members of the Wichita State University Alumni Association are identified by an asterisk (*). Membership dues support alumni publications as well as many other programs and services that support higher education at Wichita State.

John Leonard, Roberto Cruz ’64 and Russell A. “Jiggs” Nelson ’41. These other WSU alumni and university friends leave lasting legacies.

A white English professor finds African-American literature fascinating, beautiful and important.

Anita Cramm ’88 spent more than 20 years working with animals, first at the Sedgwick County Zoo, then Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo and the Phoenix Zoo. All the while, the interests of this biological science graduate included flora as well as fauna.

Lawrence “Larry” King ’68 is an accomplished set designer who’s worked his way from simple Wichita-area puppet shows to award-winning sets for New York City-based soap operas and lavish international opera productions.

Brig. Gen. Russell Axtell ’77 became a fighter pilot in 1968, while a junior at WSU. “It was always my goal to go into the Air Force and fly while I was in college,” he says.

Newsworthy items about alumni and university personalities and events -- all packaged up in bite-size reads, complete with original illustrations by Wade Hampton.