1. WATC Partners With Wichita State
for Associate’s Degree
The Shocker Pathway is a new approach for students to complete their degrees,
providing a simple path for any type of student. This partnership between Wichita
Area Technical College and Wichita State University is the first of its kind in Kan-
sas, and possibly the whole country, between a two-year technical college and a
four-year university.
“This agreement between WSU and WATC is the first of its kind, and it demon-
strates how we, as a university, can use an innovative partnership to encourage
degree completion and meet the needs of our community and students,” said
Tony Vizzini, Wichita State University’s senior vice president.
The program is specifically designed to create a clear route to completing an Associ-
ate of Arts degree by beginning course work at WATC and finishing at Wichita State.
Technical colleges in Kansas cannot issue AA degrees, but the Kansas Board of
Regents has allowed them to teach individual general education courses that are
easily transferrable.
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Shocker Pathway allows students to transfer up to
50 credit hours from WATC to WSU. Then students
can choose to take 15 additional credit hours
at WSU for more specific course requirements.
WATC is also giving away $50,000 in scholarships
for the first 100 students who enroll for fall classes
starting August 17. This means the recipients’
first two general education classes will be free.
Newman Adds Licensure
Program for School
District Leaders
In January, the Kansas Board of Education
approved a new master’s degree level school
district leadership licensure program at Newman
University. This program is being offered for the
first time Fall of 2015 and was developed by John
Burke, assistant professor of education.
“I wanted to give students across the state of
Kansas the opportunity to access a high-quality,
five-course program that would lead to them get-
ting district-level licensure,” Burke said. “There are
similar programs around, but this being a program
that would take a year or less, and it would be
fairly economical.”
This new district leadership program is 15 credit
hours and leads to district-level licensure. The
program provides students with qualifications
for positions such as superintendent, assistant
superintendent, special education director and
other district-wide positions.
Some of the classes for this program include Leader-
ship for Learning, Leadership for Special Programs,
Leadership for Business Management, the District
Leader and the District Leadership Practicum.
In addition to the five eight-week courses, students
must also complete the School Superintendent
Assessment to apply for PreK-12 district leader-
ship licensure.
Butler Launches $10 Million
Campaign for Scholarships
This April, Butler Community College announced
the Forever Butler Campaign, a $10 million effort
to aid students and academic programs. This
is historic for Butler since very few community
colleges in Kansas have embarked on an endow-
ment and deferred giving campaign.
“Thanks to the generosity of many and the work
of the National Campaign Leadership Committee,
we have already raised $7.2 million in current and
deferred gifts for this exceptional institution,”
said Kim Krull, president of Butler Community
College. “Butler’s alumni and friends are chart-
ing new opportunities for our students through
scholarships and funds which directly support
academic programs.”
The National Campaign Leadership Committee
is composed of donors across the country. They
have committee members in 28 communities
across 14 states, and more are continuing to join.
The Forever Butler campaign is also allowing the
college to have endowed chairs for nursing and
the Early College IT Academy that is located in
Andover. This is something that is unique for a
community college.
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