ON THE HILL

On any given evening this year, 18 student employees will be sitting at their phones under the watchful eyes of Brandon Smith, Wichita State's new coordinator of The Annual Fund for Excellence. The student workers are calling Wichita State alumni, trying to raise money for the annual fund, a program sponsored by the Endowment Association that funds student scholarships, faculty and staff development, as well as equipment and technology needs for the campus. This year Smith has set a high g...

A "reconstituted" Board of Regents now holds a wider rein on higher education in Kansas This past spring the Kansas Legislature voted into law a historic bill that restructures the system of governance for higher education in the Sunflower State. Swept away is the old Kansas Board of Regents, whose members governed the six so-called Regents universities. In its place is a new Board of Regents. Same name, but with new members and a broader mandate. The board continues to govern Wich...

This July, Jim Schaus became WSU's 16th director of athletics, following Bill Belknap, who retired from the position after six years on the job. Schaus (pronounced Shouse) has spent nearly 20 years in athletic administration with a strong emphasis in external relations and internal management. He has 12 years experience as an assistant athletic director or higher at the Division I level. He's been senior associate athletic director at the University of Texas at El Paso since 1998. &quo...

Liberal Arts Faith's Harvest Using oral and written histories, the associate dean of WSU's Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has written a book about Mennonite communities. Sharon Hartin Iorio, associate professor of communication, says the book grew from her research into how a group interprets change. The Mennonite culture, she explains, has evolved from a closed, German-speaking society into one more integrated with society at large. "I want," she says, "...