THESE AREN’T NAT KING COLE’S “lazy, crazy days of summer” on campus. Well, crazy maybe, but definitely not lazy. Despite state budget issues you’ve read about, we are moving ahead on numerous fronts to provide students with the quality of education and campus environment that will lead to fulfilling lives and careers.
We remain dedicated to the university’s vision of developing a global reputation for applied learning and research. We have already achieved that status in aviation through the National Institute for Aviation Research. Now we need to bring together academic excellence, innovation and entrepreneurship in a half dozen other fields.
One idea that greatly appeals to me is the transformation of Henrion Hall into an Ideas Lab. If you look at this magazine’s cover photo, you can envision the positive impact of renovating the interior of one of the oldest buildings on campus, while keeping its historic facade.
If you ever attended a game in Henrion, or had a class there, I encourage you to think about it in an entirely new way, as a university gateway to 21st century creativity.
Henrion will have updated studios for sculpture, ceramics and painting, while adding labs in multidisciplinary areas such as design and video production. I expect it to become a gathering center for all people with a creative bent — students, faculty and staff from all disciplines, plus engaged community members.
Five Wichita couples are partnering with the WSU College of Fine Arts and the WSU Foundation to privately raise $4 million or more that will be matched by university funds. The Henrion effort is part of the comprehensive fundraising campaign, which will be publicly announced by the Foundation this coming fall.
For more information, you can talk with members of the Ideas Lab Leadership Council: Curt Gridley ’80, Tracy Hoover, Clark ’75 and Sharon ’76 Bastian, John ’70/73 and Nancy Brammer, Joy ’00 and Brian ’96 Heinrichs or Bill ’81/83 and Andrea Gardner. Information is also available from Rodney Miller, fine arts dean, or Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the WSU Foundation.
On the other side of campus, you can see the first two Innovation Campus buildings that are well under construction. Both will be completed this fall: The Experiential Engineering Building will include 25 laboratories and a community makerspace called GoCreate, a Koch collaborative.
The first partnership building will house the Airbus Wichita engineering center for up to 400 Airbus employees and Wichita State students engaging in applied learning with the company.
A third building was announced in April. The Law Enforcement Training Center is a collaboration of the city of Wichita, Sedgwick County and the WSU Criminal Justice Department, where police officers, deputies and students will be trained and educated.
This June, we announced that the mixed-use section of Innovation Campus, near 21st Street and Oliver, would feature a new Element by Westin hotel. We’re also in discussions about additional amenities including a coffee shop with drive through and well-regarded restaurant brands.
It’s all part of an effort to create an innovation district that attracts students and employers and boosts economic growth for the city and state. In his 2011 book, The Coming Jobs War, Gallup chairman Jim Clifton addressed where the next major wave of American jobs will come from.
“From the combination of the forces within big cities, great universities and powerful local leaders,” Clifton wrote. “Those three compose the most reliable, controllable solution.”
We’re feeling that keenly in Wichita and at the university. That’s why we’ve chosen this path of innovation and entrepreneurship, and why we’ve gotten deeply involved in community efforts, including the Greater Wichita Partnership, Chamber of Commerce and Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth.
Our proposed merger with Wichita Area Technical College is all about strengthening the workforce to help Kansas companies grow and students succeed.
When we speak about the Innovation University, we mean something broader than the 120 acres of Innovation Campus. Innovation is well underway in every college of the university, from the cancer research in the College of Arts and Sciences, to the dance performances being created in the College of Fine Arts; from College of Education research to address the Kansas teacher shortage, to the Koch Global Trading Center in the College of Business; from the Cassat Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic in the College of Health Professions, to the University Innovation Fellows in the College of Engineering.
We can’t win the future with just one big idea. We need a thousand to bloom. We need an entire campus and community ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Alumni play a critical role in the university’s future. We’d like you to recommend Wichita State to college-bound students; to consider returning to campus yourself as an adult student, teaching adjunct or mentor; to work with WSU Ventures on your high-growth potential business idea.
Early next year, when we open the GoCreate community makerspace in the Experiential Engineering Building, I hope you will consider becoming a member and an active user.
And, as always, we welcome you to display your passion for Wichita State in every way, from a T-shirt or license plate frame to a generous contribution to the WSU Foundation.
Help make it a great decade to be a Shocker.
