Author: Chelsea Redger-Marquardt

The Service-Learning Showcase is a unique opportunity for students who participate in service-learning through applied learning opportunities to showcase their experience through a research or reflective poster about the application of their course work to current community issues.

The showcase is an open forum for students to interact with faculty/staff, community partners and other students to engage in conversation about Wichita State’s commitment to the public good. This year, 15 individual and group projects participated, supporting 26 community partners, and representing four academic colleges (College of Engineering, Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and College of Health Professions). Thanks to all the students, faculty and community partners that are working together to ensure Wichita State is supporting the greater public good.

Awards were presented in the following categories:

Overall Service-Learning Award:

• Title: Service-Learning at BILL’S Trip
• Community partner: Hot Springs National Park, Little Rock HS National Monument, Lake Catherine State Park
• Students: Olive Colfelt, Bentley Hagerman, Claire Stewart, Elijah Allen, Lorena Favela, Harper Wright, Jenna Moore-Kirby, Karaline Scott and Layton Maienschein
• Faculty: Dr. Chelsea Redger-Marquardt, Cohen Honors College + College of Education, Olivia Cutler, College of Education

Community Impact in Service-Learning Award:

• Title: A Work Systems Study with Dear Neighbor Ministries
• Community partner: Dear Neighbor Ministries
• Student: Cody Goetz, Daniel Gonzalez, Tanatswa Mafume
• Faculty: Dr. Laila Cure, College of Engineering

Innovation, Creativity, & Advocacy in Service-Learning Award:

• Title: Los Pollitos​ Service-Learning Showcase
• Community partner: Wichita State University Child Development Center
• Student: Lydia Scheck, Kimberly Rader, Cary Doerflinger
• Graduate student: Daniela Yañez Zuazo
• Faculty: Dr. Rocio Del Aguila & Dr. Maria Hernandez-Etura, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 

Collaboration and Leadership in Service-Learning Award:

• Title: Donation Warehouse Process Improvement
• Community partner: Union Rescue Mission
• Students: Devin Taylor, Logan Erion, Domanic Wood, Esteban Ruiz
• Faculty: Dr. Laila Cure, College of Engineering

For more information about service-learning, visit wichita.edu/servicelearning.

Join the Cohen Honors College for the Honors General Assembly from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8 in 305/306 Rhatigan Student Center, Beggs Ballroom. The annual gathering brings together Honors students, faculty and staff to celebrate shared work, highlight recent accomplishments and look ahead to upcoming initiatives.

Hear updates from Honors leadership and council representatives, connect with members of the Honors community and celebrate the first-year students with a special end of year recognition. For questions, contact honors@wichita.edu.

The Service-Learning Showcase is a unique opportunity for students who participate in service-learning through applied learning opportunities to showcase their experience through a research or reflective poster about the application of their course work to current community issues.

The showcase is an open forum for students to interact with faculty/staff, community partners and other students to engage in conversation about Wichita State’s commitment to the public good. Awards are presented in the following categories:

• Outstanding Overall Service-Learning Project: $550 scholarship to winning entry
• Innovation and Creativity in Problem Solving: $350 scholarship to winning entry
• Community Impact/ Community Choice: $350 scholarship to winning entry
• Collaboration and Leadership in Service-Learning: $350 scholarship to winning entry

And new this year are the Faculty Mentoring Awards, which will be provided to the sponsoring faculty of students awarded in the above categories.

Submissions are due on April 8. For more information and to submit, visit the showcase website.

A multi-disciplinary group of faculty published “Reflections from the road: exploring student outcomes and perceptions of an undergraduate Honors Leadership Academy” in Journal of Leadership Education on May 19, 2025.

The group of faculty:

• Chelsea Redger-Marquardt, assistant dean, Cohen Honors College and assistant professor in the Department of Sport and Leadership Studies
• Doug Stucky, director and assistant dean of the College of Innovation and Design
• Cindi Mason, associate teaching professor and undergraduate coordinator of the Department of Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering
• Bobby Berry, assistant dean for students and strategic initiatives, College of Education and assistant professor in the Department of Sport and Leadership Studies
• Samantha Gregus, director of clinical training and associate professor in the Department of Psychology

Abstract: Purpose
Leadership can be developed through interdisciplinary teaching with a focus on innovation and design thinking, and travel as an experiential learning exercise. Design thinking encourages students to engage in problem solving from an interdisciplinary lens, often resulting in personal growth. Place as Text allows students to explore places experientially, and often results in increased motivation, engagement and learning when included in courses. The purpose of the current study was to explore how participation in an Honors Leadership Academy that combined instruction and travel impacted student perceptions of growth, learning and self-report of leadership values.

Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method design was used in the current study. Four cohorts of undergraduate honors students (n = 30) enrolled in an Honors Leadership Academy rated their leadership values at pre- and post-participation in the academy. Students also completed reflection essays at the conclusion of their experience in the academy. Essays were coded and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to assess growth or changes in leadership values and learning overall.

Findings
Participation in the academy resulted in improvement in participants’ ratings of their leadership values. Thematic analyses revealed growth in students’ leadership knowledge, peer relationships, self-discovery, appreciation for collaboration, connection to the college/university and place-based learning.

Originality/value
The current study highlights how an interdisciplinary, collaborative Honors Leadership Academy that combines instruction with travel can promote students’ understanding and growth in leadership values and learning through an innovative model. This study also adds to the literature specifically exploring leadership development in undergraduate honors students.

A multi-disciplinary group of faculty published “Leadership Academy: Fostering Honors Faculty Growth through Peer-to-Peer Learning” in National Collegiate Honors Council- Monograph Series entitled “Where Honors Education and Faculty Development Meet” on July 16, 2025.

The group of faculty:

• Chelsea Redger-Marquardt, assistant dean, Cohen Honors College and assistant professor in the Department of Sport and Leadership Studies
• Doug Stucky, director and assistant dean of the College of Innovation and Design
• Cindi Mason, associate teaching professor and undergraduate coordinator of the Department of Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering
• Bobby Berry, assistant dean for students and strategic initiatives, College of Education and assistant professor in the Department of Sport and Leadership Studies
• Samantha Gregus, director of clinical training and associate professor in the Department of Psychology
• Kimberly Engber, dean, Cohen Honors College and associate professor, English

Abstract: Developing leadership experiences around multi-disciplinary academic content and application was one of the elements of an honors college vision articulated on our campus ten years ago. We outlined the anticipated benefits for students. We did not anticipate what a significant impact this model would have on faculty growth. Now beginning its fourth year and called “Lead for Tomorrow,” the Cohen Honors Leadership Academy builds a multi-layered intellectual community each year. A team of faculty thought leaders from multiple disciplines meets to design a course plan consisting of a theme, community partnerships, discipline-specific content, and design-thinking projects. The academy culminates in a multi-day trip outside of our region that is structured by Place-as-Text methodology and that informs final student group presentations to community partners. The multidisciplinary faculty team builds the first layer of the community. Honors students from a diversity of academic majors, experiences and perspectives apply to participate in the academy and add the second layer. Community non-profit organizations add a third layer by posing a wicked problem to students.

Since the academy’s inception, the faculty thought leaders have engaged in student-centered teaching including flipped classroom methods and modifying course content responsive to student interest. Each faculty member initially identifies skills, tools, and key concepts from their academic fields that are relevant to the course theme. Faculty then become students by attending class sessions led by other faculty. Beyond modeling the power of dialogue across fields to understand and solve complex problems, this environment quickly created a parallel learning community among the faculty. Teaching on the same topic taught faculty different perspectives, and each instructor’s unique way of delivering the material impacted the faculty team’s overall teaching effectiveness. Faculty also learn directly from community partners in real time about the skills they seek from our college graduates. To continue to develop this course experience, members of the faculty team have engaged with university-wide teaching and learning programs including the service-learning scholars program coordinated by faculty directors and a faculty working group developing best practices for ePortfolios. An interpretative qualitative approach allows for a thematic analysis of retrospective faculty narratives from the 3 years of academy implementation. Further, an outside observer and leader of the honors college serves as an additional debriefer in the research process.

As part of a larger research study, it became apparent to the research team that examining their teaching and learning as a result of continued engagement with this dynamic team-teaching environment would yield a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of their teaching practices. Drawing on many research studies and practices within the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), the practitioners serve as both the instructors and the researchers for this study (Chick, 2018). Thematic findings of faculty lessons learned, de-siloed partnerships, and innovative community partnerships will be shared. Further, the interdisciplinary team-taught leadership academy model will be offered for discussion for other institutions. Implications for honors practitioners and ideas for collaborative programs and course design are included.

The Service-Learning Showcase is a unique opportunity for students who participate in service-learning through applied learning opportunities to showcase their experience through a research or reflective poster about the application of their course work to current community issues.

The showcase is an open forum for students to interact with faculty/staff, community partners and other students to engage in conversation about Wichita State’s commitment to the public good.

Awards were presented in the following categories:

Overall Service-Learning Award:

Title: Helping Students Thrive
Community partner: The Pando Initiative
Students: Elizabeth Martinez and Giselle Barrios
Faculty: Rheanna Pierce, School of Social Work, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Community Impact in Service-Learning Award:

Title: ICT Street Team
Community partner: ICT Street Team
Student: Alaina Lawson
Faculty: Ngoc Vuong, Department of Psychology, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Innovation, Creativity, & Advocacy in Service-Learning Award:

Title: Improving Kansas Healthy Equity for Speakers of Spanish and Indigenous Languages through Community Health Work
Community partner: Alce su Voz
Student: Gabriela Aguilar
Faculty: Alexus Cossell, Human Performance Studies, College of Applied Studies

Collaboration and Leadership in Service-Learning Award:

Title: Service-Learning with Embrace Pregnancy Center
Community partner: Embrace Pregnancy Center
Students: Whitney Salmans, Aiden Heckard, Hannah Swanson and Julie Sok
Faculty: Dr. Cindi Mason, Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering

A total of 33 non-profit organizations and local schools were represented through academic service-learning courses showcased at this year’s event.

 

The Service-Learning Showcase is a unique opportunity for students who participate in service-learning through applied learning opportunities to showcase their experience through a research or reflective poster about the application of their course work to current community issues.

The showcase is an open forum for students to interact with faculty/staff, community partners and other students to engage in conversation about Wichita State’s commitment to the public good. Awards are presented in the following categories:

• Outstanding Overall Service-Learning Project: $550 scholarship to winning entry
• Innovation and Creativity in Problem Solving: $350 scholarship to winning entry
• Community Impact/ Community Choice: $350 scholarship to winning entry
• Collaboration and Leadership in Service-Learning: $350 scholarship to winning entry

And new this year: Faculty Mentoring Awards will be provided to the sponsoring faculty of students awarded in the above categories.

Submissions are due April 4. For more information and to submit, visit the showcase website.

The Service-Learning Showcase is a unique opportunity for students who participate in service-learning through applied learning opportunities to showcase their experience through a research or reflective poster about the application of their course work to current community issues. For 2024, the showcase will be held in a digital format and judged by a team of community partner leaders.

The showcase is an open forum for students to interact with faculty/staff, community partners and other students to engage in conversation about Wichita State’s commitment to the public good. Awards are presented in the following categories:

• Outstanding Overall Service-Learning Project: $150 scholarship to winning entry
• Innovation and Creativity in Problem Solving: $100 scholarship to winning entry
• Community Impact/ Community Choice: $100 scholarship to winning entry
• Collaboration and Leadership in Service-Learning: $100 scholarship to winning entry

Submissions are due April 5. For more information and to submit, visit the showcase website.

Please join in celebrating 10 years of academic service-learning at Wichita State. Festivities will include feature program of a Service-Learning Faculty Scholars panel sharing their perspectives and experiences with service-learning Wednesday, Feb. 28 in 233 Rhatigan Student Center, Santa Fe Trail Room.

The full program will feature:

• 8:30-9 a.m. – Registration and check-in
• 9-10:30 a.m. – Featured program: Service-learning panel and brunch. Moderated by Dr. Amy Chesser, 2023-24 Advancing the Practice Scholar
• 10:30-11:30 a.m. – Faculty networking and consultations

Support your colleagues (all academic colleges will be represented) and learn more about service-learning as a high impact practice. RSVP by no later than Wednesday, Feb. 21.

For more information or questions, contact the service-learning team (Dr. Rhonda Lewis: rhonda.lewis@wichita.edu, Dr. Chelsea Redger-Marquardt: chelsea.redger@wichita.edu or Dr. Amy Chesser: amy.chesser@wichita.edu).

The Service-Learning Showcase is a unique opportunity for students who participate in service-learning through applied learning opportunities to showcase their experience through a research or reflective poster about the application of their course work to current community issues.

The showcase is an open forum for students to interact with faculty, staff, community partners and other students to engage in conversation about Wichita State’s commitment to the public good.

Awards were presented in the following categories:

• Overall Service-Learning Award:
  • Panther People: Creative Education at the Service of Language Diversity
    • Community Partner: The Independent School, Wichita
    • Students: Samuel Nze, Raul Rangel, Randi McCowan, Abigail Mackey, Kelly Adams, Ann Lipsett and Kaitlyn Hemberger
    • Faculty: Dr. Mythili Menon, Department of English
• Community Impact in Service-Learning Award:
  • Open Your Eyes
    • Community Partner: Shocker Support Locker
    • Students: Bashar Alajmi, Fidias Candia Farina and Vi Pham
    • Faculty: Dr. Cindi Mason, Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering Department
  • Healthy Mind Healthy Life
    • Community Partner: Counseling and Prevention Services
    • Students: Carolina Wright
    • Faculty: Julie Henderson, Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
• Innovation and Creativity in Service-Learning Award:
  • Every Kid Outdoors Outreach
    • Community Partner: Every Kid Outdoors, Hesston Elementary, Tescott Elementary Schools
    • Student: Meaghan Roths, Jordy Mosqueda, Kyndal Dorzweiler, Cole Wassenberg and Kylie Flax
    • Faculty: Dr. Chelsea Redger-Marquardt, College of Applied Studies
• Collaboration and Leadership in Service-Learning Award:
  • Organizing Archives
    • Community Partner: Kansas Aviation Museum
    • Students: Kayla Van, Natali Aguilar-Lopez and Ximena Chanez
    • Faculty: Dr. Cindi Mason