Wichita State University Profile

Wichita State is distinctive for opening pathways to applied learning, applied research and career opportunities, alongside unsurpassed classroom, laboratory and online education. The university's beautiful 330-acre main campus is a supportive, rapidly expanding learn-work-live-play environment, where students gain knowledge and credentials to prepare for fulfilling lives and careers.

Students enjoy a vast selection of courses in more than 200 areas of study on the main campus, online and at locations across the metro area. WSU's more than 17,000 students come from every state in the United States and more than 115 countries. About eight in 10 Shockers are from Kansas, representing every state in the country.

About 72 percent of students attend Wichita State full time, and students can find educational opportunities in disciplines as varied as financial accounting, performance art, cybersecurity analysis, archaeology, health care professions and marketing for global corporations.

Degree-seeking students are required to complete applied learning and often take advantage of the university’s solid partnerships with more than 500 employers throughout the United States — including NetApp, Deloitte, Airbus, Bombardier Aerospace, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation (including Beechcraft and Cessna), Koch Industries, Wichita Public Schools, Ascension Via Christi, Wesley Medical Center, AGH CPAs and Advisors, BKD CPAs and Advisors, Cargill, Evergy, Johnson Controls, Cox Communications, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

In 2023, 8,200 Wichita State students earned $30.6 million in applied learning experiences, allowing them to gain valuable career skills and industry knowledge while earning a paycheck to help offset tuition and living expenses.

Wichita State — which is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a doctoral-granting, high-research institution — offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs with 63 bachelor’s degree programs, an associate’s degree, 13 doctoral degrees, 52 master’s degrees, a specialist in education degree, and 116 credit-bearing certificates from eight colleges: the Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College, W. Frank Barton School of Business, College of Applied Studies, College of Engineering, College of Fine Arts, College of Health Professions, College of Innovation and Design, and the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The Higher Learning Commission and 21 program-specific accrediting agencies accredit WSU. A listing of WSU programs and degrees is located in the graduate and undergraduate catalogs.

Wichita State has more than 550 full-time faculty, with 85 percent of the faculty having earned the highest degree in their field. Academic programs also draw on the professional expertise of adjuncts from businesses, agencies, and organizations. Instructors and guest lecturers include those actively practicing their professions in venues that include boardrooms, technology startups, operating rooms, and many of the world’s greatest theaters and stages.

In 2012, WSU’s main campus in northeast Wichita was expanded by 120 acres with the conversion of a golf course into an interconnected community of academic and partnership buildings, research laboratories and mixed-use facilities known as Innovation Campus, which is home to more than 50 companies, agencies and industry leaders in fields that include advanced manufacturing, digital transformation, logistics, aerospace engineering, law enforcement, cybersecurity, energy, crash dynamics, software development and health science. Students work in state-of-the-art laboratories and learn from outstanding faculty and professionals.

The Innovation Campus is also home to high-quality student housing, Food Truck Plaza, shopping and dining spots, outdoor walking and running paths, a YMCA, Hyatt Place Hotel, the National Institute for Research in Digital Transformation, and the Digital Research and Transformation Hub.

WSU is closely affiliated with WSU Tech, which prepares its students for high-demand careers in a diverse range of fields — including aviation, health care, manufacturing, general education, design and hospitality. WSU Tech offers more than 100 degree and certificate programs. Through the Shocker Pathway program, students can begin their studies at WSU Tech and earn 45 credit hours that will transfer to Wichita State. With an additional 15 credit hours at WSU, students can be awarded an Associate of Arts degree. Shocker Pathway students have the option to continue at WSU for bachelor’s degree completion.

WSU and WSU Tech share several facilities and collaborate on initiatives and programs, including the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul program, which repurposes aging aircraft and gives hundreds of students from both institutions valuable and cutting-edge industry experience.

Wichita State’s commitment to the community includes robust curriculum and problem-solving, applied research that prepares students for the careers of tomorrow and supports Kansas businesses with a talent pipeline that meets employer needs. For example, the National Institute for Aviation Research consistently receives funding from agencies such as the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA to continue important research in areas that include composites and aging aircraft. According to the National Science Foundation, WSU is one of the top research universities for aerospace research in the country. It is the top industry-funded aviation research university in the nation.

Businesses, local government, industry and nonprofits benefit from WSU resources, such as the Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center, Small Business Development Center, Center for Management Development, Center for Entrepreneurship, Community Engagement Institute, and the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs.

WSU offers numerous recreational and cultural opportunities through the concerts, recitals, theatre, dance and other productions performed in its fine arts facilities. The Ulrich Museum of Art specializes in contemporary art. More than 80 pieces of sculpture by internationally known artists adorn the campus as part of the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection. The university’s premier cultural collection of Asmat art, one of the largest such collections in the United States, is on display in its Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology.

As an NCAA Division I institution and a member of the American Athletic Conference, WSU fields teams in tennis, cross country, basketball, track, golf, baseball, volleyball, softball and women’s bowling. The men's basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament 16 times in its history, highlighted by trips to the Final Four in 1965 and 2013. Shocker softball played in four of the past five NCAA regionals, and Wichita State baseball won the College World Series in 1989. Wichita State’s most recent Olympian is United States marathoner Aliphine Tuliamuk, an NCAA All-American for the Shockers.

In club and competitive sports, Wichita State men’s and women’s bowling teams have won 23 national championships; and in 2023, the university announced plans to add women's bowling as a NCAA Division I sport competing in 2024-25. Men’s and women’s rowing teams compete in state, regional and national championships. The rowing teams occupy a new boathouse on the Arkansas River at a prime location in downtown Wichita. Esports is an up-and-coming feature of student life. The Esports Varsity Team and the Esports club both have a home in the Heskett Recreation Center on campus.

More than 200 social and special interest clubs provide opportunities for students to meet and work with others who share their interests, and 25 national sororities and fraternities are active on campus.

The 330-acre traditional campus is modern and accessible; and, at the same time, maintains the spirit of the university’s heritage, combining distinctive Georgian-style architecture with more modern buildings of stone and brick that are accentuated by attractive landscaping. Internationally, the most-recognized building on the WSU campus is the Corbin Education Center, which was one of the last buildings designed by one of America's best-known architects, Frank Lloyd Wright.

In August 2022, the university completed construction of its first new academic building in 30 years: Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall, a state-of-the-art facility that’s home to the W. Frank Barton School of Business. In the Barton School’s former home, Clinton Hall, Wichita State has begun construction on the Shocker Success Center, which will house 17 student services that are currently scattered across campus in 10 buildings. The building’s centralized location between Ablah Library and the Rhatigan Student Center, the Shocker Success Center will serve as an all-inclusive facility that supports students throughout their academic journeys. The Shocker Success Center is slated to open in summer 2024.

Vision

To be one of the nation’s premiere urban public research universities, known for providing impactful applied learning experiences and driving prosperity for the people and communities we serve.

Mission

The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good.

Core Values

Values that have always underlined the culture at Wichita State:

  • Integrity
  • Transparency
  • Personal responsibility
  • Collaboration
  • Access
  • Equity

Distinctive Values

At Wichita State University, we value:

  • Seizing opportunities
  • Adaptive approaches
  • Positive risk-taking
  • Innovation and creativity
  • Knowledge creation and dynamic educational opportunities

2024 – 2025 University and Academic Officers

Richard Muma, president
Shirley Lefever, executive vice president and provost
John Tomblin, senior vice president for industry and defense programs, executive director of the National Institute for Aviation Research
Sheree Utash, president of WSU Tech and vice president of Workforce Development for WSU
Kevin Saal, director of athletics
Stacia Boden, general counsel
Shelly Coleman-Martins, vice president of strategic communications and marketing
Marche Fleming-Randle, vice president/chief diversity officer and director of military and veteran programs
Werner Golling, vice president for finance and administration
Teri Hall, vice president for student affairs
Coleen Pugh, ​vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School 
Andrew Schlapp, vice president of strategy and government relations
Marie Bukowski, dean of the College of Fine Arts
Kimberly Engber, dean of the Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College
Jennifer Friend, dean of the College of Applied Studies
Larisa Genin, dean of the W. Frank Barton School of Business
Gregory Hand, dean of the College of Health Professions
Andrew Hippisley, dean of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Brent Mai, dean of university libraries
Anthony Muscat, dean of the College of Engineering
Jeremy Patterson, dean of the College of Innovation and Design, executive director for innovation and new ventures

Kansas Board of Regents1

Blake Flanders, president and CEO

Board Members

Blake Benson, Pittsburg
John B. Dicus, Topeka
Carl Ice, Manhattan, vice chair
Alysia Johnston, Edna
Cynthia Lane, Kansas City
Diana Mendoza, Dodge City
Neelima Parasker, Overland Park
Jon Rolph, Wichita, chair
Wint Winter, Lawrence

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As of January 9, 2024

WSU Tech

The Higher Learning Commission approved an official affiliation between Wichita State and Wichita Area Technical College (WATC), effective January 1, 2018. WATC became the WSU Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology, known as WSU Tech, enhancing the already strong partnership between the two institutions. The affiliation allows both institutions to better fulfill their missions by increasing the availability and quality of opportunities for students, while directly meeting the core workforce needs of the state. Coursework taken at one institution will continue to be reflected as transfer work on the record of the other institution.

WSU History

Wichita State University began as Fairmount College, a Congregational institution, in 1895. In 1926, by a vote of the citizens of Wichita, the college became the Municipal University of Wichita, the first municipal university west of the Mississippi River. After 38 years as a municipal university, WSU again changed its status July 1, 1964, when it entered the state system of higher education. The citizens of Wichita had voted to move the university into the state system and when the measure passed the Kansas Legislature, Wichita endowed WSU with a 1.5 mill levy, a tax that was later adopted by Sedgwick County. The WSU Board of Trustees administers these funds and other local assets of the university.

During its history, the university has had 15 presidents1:

Nathan J. Morrison, 1895–1907;
Henry E. Thayer, 1907–1914;
Walter H. Rollins, 1914–1921;
John Duncan Finlayson, 1922–1927;
Harold W. Foght, 1927–1933;
William M. Jardine, 1934–1949;
Harry F. Corbin, 1949–1963;
Emory Lindquist, 1963–1968;
Clark D. Ahlberg, 1968–1983;
Warren B. Armstrong, 1983–1993;
Eugene M. Hughes, 1993–1998;
Donald L. Beggs, 1999–2012;
John W. Bardo, 2012–2019;
Jay Golden, 2019–2020; and
Richard D. Muma, 2020–present.

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Andy Tompkins, interim president, April 8, 2019 – December 17, 2019.

University and Specialty Accreditation

Wichita State University has held regional accreditation since 1927 from the Higher Learning Commission. The university will undergo its next comprehensive evaluation during the 2026-2027 academic year. Additionally, several WSU programs hold specialty accreditation. The accreditation status of those programs can be found on the Academic Affairs: Assessment webpage1 or in information published by the accredited programs. In some cases, regional and specialty accreditation status is required by some programs for its graduates to sit for certification examinations and/or to obtain a license and/or a registration. Regional accreditation by The Higher Learning Commission does not constitute specialty accreditation for individual programs.

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Accreditation Associations

Academic programs at Wichita State University are accredited by or hold membership with the following associations:

  • ABET
  • Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant
  • American Association of State Colleges and Universities
  • American Chemical Society
  • American Dental Educators’ Association
  • American Psychological Association
  • Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities
  • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business — Business and Accounting
  • Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education 
  • Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education
  • Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
  • Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association
  • Commission on Sport Management Accreditation
  • Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs
  • Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation
  • Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology
  • Council on Social Work Education
  • Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
  • Kansas State Board of Nursing
  • Kansas State Department of Education
  • National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences
  • National Association of Schools of Art and Design 
  • National Association of School Psychologists
  • National Association of Schools of Dance
  • National Association of Schools of Music
  • Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration
  • The Higher Learning Commission1
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The Higher Learning Commission
230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7–500
Chicago, Illinois 60604;
1-800-621-7440