Dear Colleagues,
Happy official spring! It is truly hard to believe that there are only five weeks left in this semester. This time of year offers so much to recognize and celebrate. I would like to provide an update on an important initiative. As of this week, 56% of eligible students have registered for both the fall and spring semesters! We hope that multi-term registration will support retention and enrollment efforts, allowing our institution to focus on a more holistic approach to registration and degree progress.
One common theme within this year’s work is preparation, intention, and dedication. Your dedication to our students is imperative and appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and sincere dedication you have to our great university.
Events
- The Raj Soin College of Business will host the Final Wright Venture Presentations on Thursday, April 6, from 3 to 5 p.m. in 160 Rike Hall.
Wright Venture is an entrepreneurial opportunity for Wright State students modeled after ABC’s Shark Tank. Wright State entrepreneurs will present their business ideas to a panel of industry experts called the “Wolves.” See who wins a $5,000 investment in their business!
- Wright State University’s ArtsGala, one of the region’s most festive and unique arts events, will take place this Saturday, April 1, with an impressive program featuring student performances in theatre, dance, motion pictures, music, and visual arts. The 7 p.m.-to-midnight event in the state-of-the-art Creative Arts Center is presented by the College of Liberal Arts. The popular black-tie-optional ArtsGala is regarded as one of the area’s premier arts events, drawing hundreds of patrons each year.
Proceeds go toward scholarships for Wright State’s outstanding fine and performing arts students. The event has raised more than $3 million for arts scholarships during its 23-year history.
ArtsGala tickets ($300 each) may be purchased at wright.edu/artsgala.
- The University Libraries and the Friends of the Libraries invite you to join us at the annual Friends of the Libraries Luncheon on Wednesday, April 26, at 11:00 a.m. in the Wright State Nutter Center Berry Room. Our featured speaker, Erin Flanagan, professor of English, will share her thoughts on how creativity provides the tools to process the world through inquiry, risk-taking, and problem-solving, and why that is so important for a well-functioning society. A lunch buffet will be provided.
Registration is required and must be completed by April 19. Patron registrations help support the Friends of the Libraries. If you need accommodations for this event, please call 937-775-2380 five business days in advance.
Spring Commencement Ceremonies
Graduate Ceremony: Friday, April 28, 7:00 p.m.
Undergraduate Ceremony: Saturday, April 29, 10:00 a.m.
Commencement is an event that marks a significant moment in the lives of our students and their families. The granting of a degree and the admission to the “rights and privileges” associated with a given degree are extraordinarily important events for those receiving degrees.
The presence of faculty is especially important for the graduates and their families. All faculty should prioritize their attendance, and bargaining unit faculty are reminded of their responsibility under Article 7.4.8.
I encourage all faculty to attend one or both ceremonies. Registration is open now through April 10.
Recognition
- We are pleased to announce that Wright State has receive nine Defense Associated Graduate Student Innovator Awards for FY23 from the Strategic Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE). View the list of award winners.
- Dr. Allen Hunt, professor of physics, has been recognized by the world’s top-ranked civil engineer, Dr. Kevin Beven, for recent work addressing a simple equation, known as the water balance, which keeps track of where water that falls onto the land surface goes.
What makes solution of this equation important is the prediction, as a function of input solar energy and precipitation, of what fraction of this rainfall goes to helping plants convert solar energy to plant matter, and what fraction eventually flows off in rivers, available for human use. The new theoretical work gives an excellent accounting of the fraction required by plants through application of an ecological optimum, i.e., the local plant community that can best cover the ground through reproduction and growth will be the most likely found in undisturbed watersheds. This new work, published in Science of the Total Environment, demonstrates how this ecological principle can generate the water balance and then focuses on forests and grasslands, two of the most important types of ecosystems.
Solution of the water balance is the central problem of hydrology and, because of the importance of this means of solution for the net primary productivity of plants, one of the central problems of ecology, as it defines the energy input into ecosystems. This result is a critical outcome of over two decades of work addressing flow and (reactive) transport in porous media, chemical weathering, soil formation, and plant growth rates as a function of transpiration. Dr. Hunt has been invited by Dr. Beven to write a wiki page associated with this working group’s history of hydrology. Additional information is available on this Wiki site.
Faculty Resources and Workshops
- SOCHE provides our members access to free unlimited live webinars. To access the webinar, you will first need to create an account on our webinar site. If you encounter difficulty while creating your account, please contact support@ieinfo.org.
- Thursday, March 30, at 1 p.m.: Active Learning: Utilizing Backwards Design To Articulate Learning Outcomes & Maximize Student Learning
- Promoting Student Well-Being Webinar: Dr. Amanda Hinson-Enslin, assistant professor of population and public health sciences in the Boonshoft School of Medicine, will host a virtual lunch and learn on “Practical Methods to Promote Well-Being in the Classroom” on Thursday, April 13, at noon. Learn more about the event and Dr. Hinson-Enslin.
Research and Sponsored Program Events
- Pre-Award Training and Events:
Research and Sponsored Programs is excited to announce that the Cayuse Sponsored Projects module will be live April 1. Instead of completing the proposal set-up questions, principal investigators will now complete sections in the proposal’s area of sponsored projects. Principal investigators will still work with their pre-award point of contact in advance on the budget and submission of the proposal.
RSP pre-award staff will host a series of Cayuse Sponsored Programs hands-on trainings in April. Attendees will be given an overview of the proposal screens and the opportunity to input a proposal in Cayuse Sponsored Programs.
Cayuse Sponsored Projects Training Dates:
Tuesday, April 4: 9:00–11:00 a.m., 043 Millett Hall
Wednesday, April 12: 1:00–3:00 p.m., 043 Millett Hall
Thursday, April 20: 10:00 a.m.–noon, 009 University Hall
For additional information, contact Marianne Shreck at Marianne.shreck@wright.edu or your pre-award point of contact.
- Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) Training Dates:
Research and Sponsored Programs will host four weekly sessions to address the core areas of responsible conduct and discuss the future of the Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) program. Provisions of the sponsored research contracts may require researcher participation in RECR development activities.
Contractual RECR Requirements: Faculty, staff, students, and external collaborators whose research is supported by these agencies are required to periodically participate in responsible conduct of research forums. This includes anyone who can influence the results and validity of your research. Essentially if their behaviors can influence the validity of the funded research, the requirement applies.
This requirement extends to anyone whose research is supported by an NSF or NIH grant, but all are welcome to attend the weekly sessions. Since undergraduate students have a limited ability to adversely affect the results of research, at the discretion of their PI, they will be able to meet the obligation by attending a one-session workshop.
The topics covered include data management, conflicts of interest, publication practices, collaborative science, mentoring, research misconduct, and research as a member of society.
These sessions will take place from 9 to 9:50 a.m. in 101 Neuroscience Engineering Collaboration Building on Fridays, April 7, April 14, April 21, and April 28.
Register for these sessions. For additional information, contact Neal Sullivan.
When a Student Needs Support
Wright.edu/help is a great resource for helping students or making referrals. This site contains contact information for emergency or essential departments that can assist your students all in one location.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! You are appreciated!
Amy Thompson, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
