Wichita State Poised For Massive Growth

[Kung Wu]

There will be a couple a thousand other Soccer fans who will be there with you that they “hate soccer fields inside of tracks”. However, I’ve got to say that I thought that while sitting in the bottom 15 rows to watch a football game was a good venue. Soccer fans will just have to deal with it.

Yeah its certainly better than nothing, until we make it to a final four. Then I want a dedicated stadium. Hahahah

[Kung Wu]

Nobody likes football or soccer stadiums with a track, but you do what you have to do.

Maybe if our future soccer team kicks major ass they'll get a dedicated stadium built for them to use.

Right.

[Shockm]

Yeah its certainly better than nothing, until we make it to a final four. Then I want a dedicated stadium. Hahahah

You also could use the same thing softball needs. A billionaire soccer enthusiast benefactor that buys the majority of a new stadium.

[RoyalShock]

Nobody likes football or soccer stadiums with a track, but you do what you have to do.

Maybe if our future soccer team kicks major ass they'll get a dedicated stadium built for them to use.

I think with soccer, the correct phrase is "kicks major balls".

[SubGod22]

WBJ - Gene Haas Foundation donates $1M to WSU Tech for new machinists center

WSU Tech is preparing to open a new innovation center thanks to a $1 million gift from the Gene Haas Foundation, which president Sheree Utash says is the single largest donation to the school.

The North Carolina foundation, named after the founder of Haas Automation, is helping to support the technical school's CNC machinist training, which is a manufacturing process involving pre-programmed computer software.

The state-of-the-art facility, called the Gene Haas Innovation Lab, will provide WSU Tech students access to machining equipment in an environment that will mirror manufacturing facilities.

This is a nice gift for WSU Tech and will be great for the area as the school continues to grow and prepare the next generation.

[WstateU]

WBJ - Gene Haas Foundation donates $1M to WSU Tech for new machinists center



This is a nice gift for WSU Tech and will be great for the area as the school continues to grow and prepare the next generation.

Awesome news, WSU Tech is vital to the future of Wichita.

[SubGod22]

WSU - Wichita State's public affairs program ranked nationally by U.S. News

Wichita State’s public affairs program has been ranked near the top third of all graduate school programs of its kind in the United States by U.S. News & World Report for the 2024-2025 academic year. The program, housed in the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs, emerged in the 99th position, moving up from 118th place last year.

Additionally, the public affairs program’s specialty area of public finance and budgeting has been ranked 27th by U.S. News, tied with the University of Central Florida and the University of Michigan.

[COLOR=var(--cms-region--primary-black)]“The Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs has been acknowledged by our peer institutions as one of the top 100 best public affairs schools,” said David Guo, interim director of the Hugo Wall School and Regents Distinguished Professor of Public Finance. “This acknowledgment is a testament to the dedication of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni to the field of public administration and the local community.”[/COLOR][COLOR=var(--cms-region--primary-black)] [/COLOR]

“The Hugo Wall School is a leader in Fairmount College for community engagement and applied learning,” Andrew Hippisley, dean, said. “Its new ranking speaks to the high value it holds for connecting students and faculty with local government, state government and nonprofit organizations, to the benefit of our students and the community.”

Wichita State’s program is ranked second in Kansas, and 18th in the Midwest, according to Guo. The public finance and budget specialty area was first ranked more than 15 years ago, and to Guo’s knowledge, this is the first time it has appeared in ranking again in the last decade.

“The Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs has consistently earned peer recognition, with the program's core strengths lying in public finance and city/county management,” Guo said.

Students with a master’s of public administration degree are prepared to make important management and policy contributions in public and nonprofit organizations, and civic and nonprofit leadership roles. For the spring 2024 semester, 53 students enrolled in the degree program. On average, for the academic years 2020-2023, 23 students graduated each year.

“The typical career trajectory of our students often begins within the finance or budget department of a local government, progressing towards roles as city or county managers,” Guo said. “Our graduates are renowned for their readiness to assume greater responsibilities, attributed to their hands-on experience gained through the MPA curriculum.”

[WstateU]

WSU - Wichita State's public affairs program ranked nationally by U.S. News

[SHOCKvalue]

Saw something in the Wichita news about a car manufacturer getting STAR bond funding to build on the Innovation Campus.

What the what? Doesn’t make much sense on any number of levels. Thought I’d come here and find the scoop but crickets. Anyone have the downlow?

[SHOCKvalue]

https://kansasreflector.com/2024/04/18/kansas-offers-200-million-in-bonds-to-lure-theme-park-in-bonner-springs-car-plant-in-wichita/

[SubGod22]

Saw something in the Wichita news about a car manufacturer getting STAR bond funding to build on the Innovation Campus.

What the what? Doesn’t make much sense on any number of levels. Thought I’d come here and find the scoop but crickets. Anyone have the downlow?

I saw that briefly mentioned in a Kansas Reflector article that was mostly about Mattell. I can't find any mention of it anywhere else. The way I read it, it also sounds like it's not actually a car manufacturer like one would think. But it also sounds like something that is in flux so they're not talking about it in any sort of specifics. I think I also saw that maybe the Iola paper picked up the article and published it online as well.

During House and Senate negotiations on a new state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, Republican Sen. J.R. Claeys of Salina said approximately $100 million in STAR bonds should be made available for a “large-scale manufacturing” project at the Innovation Campus of Wichita State University.

The bond proposal would be active until Dec. 31, 2025, at which point the recipient would need to have broken ground on the plant, he said.

“I don’t want to speak about the very fine details about what’s coming because, of course, these are all competitive projects,” said Claeys, a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “There would be an entity there that would be the purchaser of the item being manufactured.”

Waymaster, while explaining to House members the STAR bond projects included in the state budget, said the innovative campus development at WSU would be for a “car manufacturing plant.” He didn’t elaborate on what company was considering locating in the university district.

An entity already on campus that would purchase what would be manufactured? Am I reading that correctly? If so, I'm not entirely sure what that means.

For years I wish Wichita would have landed an actual car manufacturing plant. There has been some interest in the past and I want to say Hyundai was serious at one point but Wichita leadership wasn't all that interested. I could be misremembering that as I want to say it was 20+ years ago. Short-sighted leadership or bad memory? I don't know.

[Kung Wu]

https://kansasreflector.com/2024/04/...nt-in-wichita/

WHAT THE HELL???

Doesn't that turn the campus into a special tax district driving up costs to all students, teachers, businesses, etc in the way of sales tax hikes just for them??

Everybody on campus would pay the price for someone else's profit. Every sports ticket sold, etc goes up.

This WREAKS!!

[Kung Wu]

If we are going to create a STAR bond sales tax over WSU, then use it to build a football stadium and resurrect a football team. You kmow, something the WSU community as a whole benefits from for paying all the extra tax.

[SHOCKvalue]

The lack of coverage is concerning. Something relatively significant is brewing with respect to the WSU IC, and the only media covering it right now are some paper in Iola plus an independent media source who covers random stuff all over Kansas.

[Kung Wu]

Muma should outright reject a STAR bond tax district overlaying the campus. At least one benefitting a 3rd party and not the WSU community directly.

This is terrible.