BUSINESS
All’s Fare in Air Travel
Wichita State’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research is working in partnership with The Wichita Eagle and Quantum Market Research, co-sponsors of the 2003 Wichita Area Outlook Team Community Service Research Project, on an assessment of Wichita’s air service. The Wichita Area Outlook Team is made up of 40 community leaders from business, industry, government and education.
Researchers at WSU’s center, in cooperation with members of the outlook team, will examine the economic impact of Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, survey consumer and business attitudes toward Fair Fare$ (the program created to provide economic incentives for airlines to offer service from Wichita) and complete a cost-benefit analysis of the tax subsidies provided to airlines in coordination with the Fair Fare$ program. Janet Harrah, director of the CEDBR, says, “We will be looking at two central questions during this research project. First, is a successful airport important to an individual even if that person does not fly? Second, what increase in passenger numbers is necessary over the next 10 years for the city of Wichita to break even on its investment in airline subsidies?”
EDUCATION
Grants Granted
Grade grant activity in the WSU College of Education as A’s across the board. Mara Alagic, professor of curriculum and instruction, and Randy Ellsworth, associate dean and professor of education, have received $58,195 from the Kansas State Department of Education for a three-year project that features the goal of improving language arts and math skills at Anderson Elementary School, Wichita.
Kay Gibson, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, has been awarded a $12,700 Global Learning seed grant for her project to integrate a global learning component into the master’s degree in the special education-gifted program during 2003. Gibson, Alagic, Marsha Gladhart, project manager for Ed-Models, Mentors and Mobility, Linda Mitchell, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, and Connie Haack, assistant professor in curriculum and instruction, received a $4,217 Internet 2 grant for Window to the Classroom, a project that proposes using video conferencing technology to establish access to real classrooms for teacher education.
Alagic and Sue Neal, educator in mathematics and statistics, received $49,971 from the Kansas Board of Regents for the project, bridges: Connecting Mathematics Teaching, Learning and Applications.
Jon Englehardt, dean of the college, says, “The receipt of grants is critically important in meeting our mission, providing for our community and maintaining our role as a college.” Englehardt also points to associate dean Ellsworth’s work with the Center for Research and Evaluation Services as key to the mission of the college. The center’s mission, Ellsworth says, is to provide “leadership, coordination and support to WSU College of Education faculty in identifying, obtaining, administering and publicizing results of externally funded grant and contract activities that benefit the college’s faculty, staff, students and alumni community members.” The center, which does not receive funding from the state budget, was founded this year.
FINE ARTS
V Day
As part of V Day, a day designated to raise money for charities that seek to end violence against women and girls, WSU’s theater department hosted a production of The Vagina Monologues and raised more than $2,500 for a local women’s crisis center. Joyce Cavarozzi, associate professor of theater, reports that students were more than eager to get involved: “We had former students who came to help out with the production. It shows that people can support good in our society.” WSU was one of more than 600 universities nationwide that participated in V Day. To date, $14 million has been raised for local women’s crisis organizations.
LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
War and Remembrance
Glenn Fisher, Regents Professor emeritus of urban and public affairs at Wichita State, has published a biographical account of his experiences as a drafted foot soldier in World War II. Titled Not to Reason Why: The Story of a One-Eyed Infantryman in World War II, the book follows the former Missouri farm boy as he loses sight in one eye during a training mishap, through a battle on enemy lines in which he was wounded and beyond.
An expert on the subject of state and local government and taxation, Fisher is the author of six other books.
UNIVERSITY NEWS
The Boom Goes On
Spring 2003 enrollment at Wichita State is 15,319 students compared to 15,049 a year ago, an increase of 1.79 percent. It’s the highest spring enrollment at WSU since 1991. Students are enrolled in 147,339 credit hours this spring, an increase of 3.93 percent compared to a year ago and the highest spring total since 1983.
University officials attribute the strong enrollment to the economy, noting that typically when the economy is down, college enrollments go up, particularly for metropolitan universities. However, officials are pleased that more students are choosing to take advantage of WSU’s programs to meet their needs.
“Students recognize that we have a lot to offer,” says Cheryl Anderson, dean of students. Four of the six academic colleges have seen increased enrollment — Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Engineering and College of Health Professions. The graduate school also had a slight increase.
