October 2025

Wichita State breaks records as it breaks barriers

Our momentum comes from doing the right things for the right reasons: putting students first, listening to employers and building pathways that connect talent to opportunity.

This fall, our combined enrollment across Wichita State and WSU Tech reached an all-time high of 25,147 students. Over the past decade, enrollment has climbed 27.3% at Wichita State and more than doubled at WSU Tech — proof that our shared focus on student success is working. These numbers tell a story of trust. They tell us that students, families and employers believe in the value of a Wichita State education and its ability to open doors and deliver results.

That value shows up most clearly in applied learning. Over the past year, our students earned a record $39.2 million in paid applied learning experiences, which is an 11% increase from the previous year. Shockers completed more than 12,000 applied learning experiences through internships, co-ops and on-campus jobs that prepare them to make an impact from day one.

Episode 36: Coaches Chris Lamb and Terry Nooner

Join Wichita State President Rick Muma when he talks with women’s basketball coach Terry Nooner and volleyball coach Chris Lamb about their seasons, athletes and what it means to be part of Shocker Athletics.

Episode 37: Men's basketball coach Paul Mills

Wichita State President Rick Muma talks with men's basketball coach Paul Mills about how the college athletics landscape has changed in the last few years and his strategy and goals for his third season with WSU.

Click above to watch the videos of the podcast. The podcast is also available on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts or Apple Podcasts (iTunes).

Enrollment surges to historic high at Wichita State with more than 25,000 students

Wichita State University and the Wichita State University Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology (WSU Tech) are celebrating record-breaking enrollment this fall, continuing a decade of extraordinary growth. Over the past 10 years, WSU has grown 27.3% and WSU Tech 101.5%. That momentum is reflected in this fall’s historic headcount of 25,147 students — the highest in university history.

According to data from the Kansas Board of Regents, Wichita State’s main campus enrollment increased 4.3%, from 17,700 in 2024 to 18,458 in 2025. That’s the largest number of students ever choosing to enroll at Wichita State, marking five consecutive years of enrollment growth at Wichita State. Additionally, student credit hour production is at an all-time high at 170,521, an increase of 2.3% increase from 2024.

WSU Tech also reported its highest headcount and credit hours in the history of the college with 6,689 students, a 9.5% increase, and 60,211 credit hours, a 9.2% increase. This marks the first semester WSU Tech has surpassed both 6,500 students and 60,000 credit hours.

“This surge in enrollment reflects what we’ve known all along: When you prioritize access, affordability and student success, students will choose Wichita State,” said Dr. Rick Muma, WSU president. “In my 30 years at Wichita State, I’ve seen steady progress, and the past decade has brought remarkable growth thanks to our focus on innovation, partnerships, and creating opportunities that matter for students and for Kansas.”

Wichita State students earn record $39.2 million in paid internships, fueling Kansas’ talent pipeline

Wichita State University students earned a record-breaking $39.2 million through applied learning in the 2025 academic year — a powerful testament to WSU’s hands-on approach to career readiness and its role in strengthening the Kansas workforce.

That marks an 11% increase from the previous year’s $35.3 million. And more students than ever are receiving these opportunities, with 12,328 applied learning experiences — a 31% jump over last year’s 9,397 — through paid, resume-building work with area businesses, organizations, on-campus positions and Innovation Campus companies, all while still pursuing their degrees.

The record gains come as Wichita State’s celebrates its fifth straight year of enrollment growth, with more than 18,458 students enrolled at its main campus this fall. University leaders say the growth reflects the appeal of applied learning, which has become central to WSU’s mission of providing affordable education with real-world value.

“This work changes lives,” Wichita State President Rick Muma said. “Applied learning equips our students with the skills and competence to make immediate and meaningful contributions to their employers immediately after graduation.”

WSU announces Shocker Support Locker renaming, awards outstanding alumni

Wichita State University unveiled the newly named Kiah Duggins Shocker Support Locker during its annual Heritage Gala on Oct. 9, hosted by the WSU Foundation and Alumni Engagement in celebration of the 2025 alumni award recipients.

The support locker honors the legacy of Kiah Duggins ’17, who died earlier this year aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita to Washington, D.C. At the gala, Duggins was also posthumously awarded the 2025 Young Alumni Award.

As a student leader and co-founder of the original Shocker Food Locker, now located in the basement of the Shocker Success Center, Duggins was a passionate advocate for student support services during her time as chief of staff in student government. She went on to graduate from Harvard Law School in 2021 before beginning her career as a civil rights attorney in Washington, D.C.

To commemorate her legacy of promoting social justice, the 2024-25 administration of the WSU Student Government Association requested the university name the Shocker Support Locker in her honor. The naming was approved as of Oct. 8.

Four Wichita State faculty and staff honored as Kansas Board of Regents awardees

Four Wichita State University faculty and staff members have been named 2025 Faculty and Staff of the Year by the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR), recognizing their excellence in teaching, research, service and student support.

The KBOR awards recognize outstanding contributions by faculty and staff across the state’s universities.

Wichita State’s 2025 KBOR awardees:

• Dr. Lisa Parcell, Kansas Health Foundation Director of the Elliott School of Communication and professor of communication, Tenured Faculty of the Year. A nationally recognized scholar of media history, Parcell explores how advertising and public relations shaped consumer culture. As a teacher and mentor, she is known for building students’ confidence in communication and research. Read more about Parcell.
• Dr. Erin O’Bryan, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders, Tenure-Track Faculty of the Year. O’Bryan leads research on person-centered storytelling for people with aphasia, helping patients reclaim their voices while training future speech-language pathologists in empathy and compassion. Read more about O’Bryan.
• Marco Hernandez, assistant teaching professor of print media and foundations coordinator in the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, Faculty of the Year. Hernandez blends cultural identity and creativity in his art and teaching. His prints have been exhibited nationally, and he inspires students through his leadership of Tornado Alley Press and the First-Generation Artist Exhibition. Read more about Hernandez.
• Dr. Christopher Leonard, director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), Staff of the Year. Leonard has transformed CAPS into a hub of student-centered mental health services, reducing wait times, expanding access and fostering a campus-wide culture of care. Read more about Leonard.

Provost Lounsbery elected as president of National Academy of Kinesiology

Dr. Monica Lounsbery, senior executive vice president and provost at Wichita State University, has been elected as the 2025-26 president of the National Academy of Kinesiology. The election reflects her commitment to advancing the field of kinesiology and the science of human performance and physical activity.

Lounsbery's research has been marked by an interest in how movement shapes people's lives and their communities, and how to create systems that promote physical activity.

President Muma recognized with Change Maker Award from EAB

Wichita State University President Rick Muma was recognized with a 2025 Change Maker Award from EAB for "transforming healthcare education at Wichita."

The award recognizes President Muma's leadership on the transformative Wichita Biomedical Campus in Wichita, a collaborative health science center in Wichita, combining WSU's College of Health Professions, WSU Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology’s (WSU Tech) health care program, and the Wichita campuses of KU School of Medicine and KU School of Pharmacy.

Wang, Roselli win American Conference doubles title for Shocker women's tennis

Wichita State's Xin Tong Wang and Giorgia Roselli won the 2025 American Conference Doubles Championship Oct. 26 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The top-seeded and 31st-ranked Shockers dispatched Charlotte's third-seeded Ni Xi and Sara Suchankova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to win the doubles title. With the win, the Shockers have earned the right to represent the American Conference in doubles at the 2025 ITA Conference Masters Championship, Nov. 7-9 at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.

Additionally, Roselli was women’s singles runner-up, and Shocker men’s tennis player Alejandro Jacome made it to the men’s singles semifinals after defeating the second and tenth seeded players in the tournament and to the men’s doubles semifinals with Ilias Worthington.

Wichita Biomedical Campus interior and exterior take shape as construction continues

More structures are going up in Phase 1 of the Wichita Biomedical Campus in downtown Wichita, including the interior staircases, terraced seating area, concrete pours and interior walls. Follow along with the construction by watching the continuous livestream of the construction site online.

Phase 1 of the location is a $222 million, 350,000-square-foot joint health sciences center, in downtown Wichita. Once complete, the Wichita Biomedical Campus will combine WSU’s College of Health Professions programs, WSU Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology’s (WSU Tech) health care program, and the Wichita campuses of KU School of Medicine and KU School of Pharmacy.

Basketball season is right around the corner for Shocker Nation

Shockers, get ready for the upcoming Shocker Athletics events coming up.

• Wichita State opens basketball season later this month. Shocker women’s basketball plays Newman University in an exhibition game at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, with its season opener scheduled for Nov. 3 against Lincoln University. Men’s basketball opens the season with a game against UNC Asheville at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 4.
• The Shocker men’s cross country team prepared for its championship meets with an outstanding performance in the Pre-National Invitational in Columbia, Missouri, site of the NCAA Championships in late November. The Shockers finished seventh in the 32-team field, ahead of No. 22 Arkansas, Purdue, Florida, Wyoming, Kentucky, Kansas, Tennessee, Kansas State and others. Sophomore Elkana Kipruto finished as runner-up in the 8,000-meter race and broke the school record with his time of 22 minutes, 45.6 seconds. The American Conference Championships are Nov. 1 in Concord, North Carolina.
• Shocker softball continues its fall scrimmages against Hutchinson Community College at 6 p.m. Oct. 29.
• Shocker baseball’s best-of-five Fall World Series begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28. The series continues Oct. 29 and 30, also at 6 p.m. After a day off, it concludes with games at 2 p.m. Nov. 1 and 1 p.m. Nov. 2.

For updates on more athletics at Wichita State and to buy tickets, visit goshockers.com.

'Tech Talk' podcast: President Muma on innovation and the future of higher education

What does it take to transform higher education? In this special one-year anniversary episode of "Tech Talk with WSU Tech," WSU Tech President Sheree Utash sits down with President Rick Muma to talk about leadership, innovation and the ever-evolving partnership between WSU and WSU Tech.

President Muma shares how his journey from physician assistant to university president shaped his leadership philosophy, the inspiration behind his new book "Student Centered, Innovation Driven: A Guide to Higher Education," and how collaboration between WSU and WSU Tech is creating bold new opportunities for students and the community.

Aging-simulation suit puts WSU physical therapy students into patients’ shoes

When Wichita State University physical therapy students strapped on sunglasses smeared with petroleum jelly, ankle weights and a stiff neck collar, the laughter came quickly. They shuffled around the room, testing their balance in flip-flops to mimic neuropathy and difficulty with walking, while leaning on friends as they struggled through simple tasks.

But as the exercises wore on, the fun gave way to frustration. Hearing became muffled under earmuffs. Vision blurred. Knees stiffened. Students who had just been joking about their new look began to feel something else: the physical and social isolation many older adults live with every day.

That shift — from amusement to awareness — is exactly what Dr. Justin Smith, assistant professor and board-certified geriatric clinical specialist, hoped for when he built a homemade geriatric-simulation suit and launched a pilot study to measure its effect on empathy in physical therapy students.

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