Business
Rural Professionals
“Business school” conjures up pictures of three-piece suits, briefcases and PDAs, and skyscrapers rising in the background. But a new partnership between WSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and the Solomon Valley Regional Learning Center in Phillipsburg, Kan., is revitalizing the plains without a Sears Tower in sight.
Located 250 miles northwest of Wichita, Phillipsburg has a population of 2,668. It’s been losing the equivalent of a family of five every month for 20 years and has seen its businesses dwindle accordingly. But things may be changing. Last fall, Terry Noel, an assistant professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at WSU, was the first to teach a class offered through the new partnership. And Noel’s class on developing business plans has already resulted in measurable business growth.
Jeff Hofaker, director of Phillips County Economic Development Inc., explains that out of the 11 students who took the class, six have developed “viable businesses, and one is financed and running.”
That business is native Sally Brandon’s The Shepherd’s Mill, which offers custom processing of the wool from sheep, alpaca, llama and other fiber-producing animals. It employs four people.
Center director Don Hackett says that WSU has “had feelers from other communities.” Noel points out, “There’s a world of smart people out there, and all they need is a few tools in their tool kit.” Luckily, Wichita State has the tools to spare.
College of Education
Langwidj Skilz
Although spelling is something most of us do every day, it’s not something we do very well, says Kenn Apel, chair of Wichita State’s department of communicative disorders and sciences. To help students become better spellers, Apel has co-developed a two-part instructional program comprised of a diagnostic spelling software program called spell and an instructional workbook titled Spell-Links to Literacy.
“When a student improves in his spelling ability, there generally is a payoff in his ability to decode words or to sound out words, which leads to better reading comprehension and also leads to better fluency in reading, as well as a fluency and increased ability to write passages or essays,” Apel says and adds that the traditional method of teaching spelling by memorization isn’t effective for all children.
He explains, “Many people assume that English spelling should all be based on sounds, but actually a lot of English is based on meaning. So, for example, ‘magic’ and ‘magician’ have similar meanings. So when you spell ‘magician,’ if you’re aware that it comes from ‘magic,’ it’s going to be easier to spell the ‘c’ in ‘magician’ because you’ll note that there’s a ‘c’ in ‘magic’ as well.”
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Not Just Sticks and Stones
Walk past a playground on a spring day and you’ll hear shouts and laughter — the innocence of childhood, right? But the kids being laughed and shouted at feel differently. Bullying at school is such a problem that three Wichita State professors are studying it.
Jim Snyder, child psychologist and WSU chair and professor of psychology, observed 266 children ages 5-7 in a Wichita schoolyard during an NIH-funded study and discovered that they were the target of verbal or physical harassment every three to six minutes.
Some children, he says, become “chronic victims” who often show more antisocial or aggressive behavior at home. Later in life, those who are bullied are more likely to suffer from depression, while those who bully are more likely to engage in criminal activity.
The framework to end this behavior may already be in place. Ron Matson, associate professor of sociology, has been evaluating sexual harassment and violence programs used in some Wichita middle schools. Students have reported that these programs improved attitudes regarding violence and significantly lowered violent behaviors.
And Joanne Levine, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, is gauging the effectiveness of three programs present in Wichita public schools: Second Step, violence prevention; the Behavior Improvement Learning Packet System, early intervention; and the Crisis Prevention Intervention Program, which provides training for teachers to address conflicts.
Many parents remember incidents of bullying in their youth and reassure themselves that “I turned out all right.” But Snyder reminds us that “just because bullying or harassment happened when I was 7 in 1952 doesn’t mean it was OK then.”
University Advancement
January Sweep
This January, during the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s District 6 conference in Denver, Wichita State garnered sweepstakes honors by amassing the most points in CASE’s annual Institutional Awards program.
Among the many awards presented to WSU were Gold accolades in the Excellence in Alumni Special Events category for the WSU Alumni Association’s Blair Wu Project, the 23rd Annual Shocker Auction, and Silver in the Excellence in Writing category for The Shocker’s “Behind the Scenes,” about the work of WSU graduates in the Wichita Police Department’s crime scene investigation unit.
The 2004 sweepstakes award is the third time WSU’s advancement division — which covers the alumni association, the WSU Foundation, university publications and advertising departments and the Ulrich Museum of Art — has brought the honor home during the tenure of Vice President for University Advancement Elizabeth King.
