A new semester brings many changes, including a new routine, new classes and new roles. In keeping with the theme, Wichita State hired nearly 50 new faculty members for the fall semester.
These new employees are based in various academic colleges, with the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS), the College of Health Professions and the College of Fine Arts bringing in the most new faculty.
Voncella McCleary-Jones serves as the associate dean of academic, faculty and student affairs in the College of Health Professions. She said there may be a few reasons for hiring new faculty.
“One, there could be a new position needed, and then, two, someone may have transferred to a different department or have left the university or retired,” McCleary-Jones said.
The associate dean said it’s not unusual for so many faculty members to be hired around the same time.
“We hire all the time,” McCleary-Jones said. “We have some (faculty) who start, say, later in the fall. It’s typical we have a couple or so (new faculty) each academic year.”
Whether one faculty member was hired or 100, McCleary-Jones said the university is “always happy to have them join us.”
“We know they bring knowledge and expertise and that our students will be in good hands,” McCleary-Jones said.
One of those new faculty members is Calee Courter. Courter is an assistant educator in the College of Health Professions.
Courter previously worked as a dental hygienist and helped start the dental hygiene program at Salina Area Technical College. She transitioned to teaching at Wichita State in order to work closer to her home.
“(Wichita is) my hometown and it’s a long-time dental hygiene program — it’s one of the best,” Courter said. “(I have) the chance to help the future hygienists that are coming out of the program (who) are going to be working probably with doctors and offices that I have worked with before, so I like being a part of that. I like that a lot of them will be sticking around Wichita.”
Courter said her transition to WSU has been smooth because of the support of other faculty as well as the systems and routines the college has in place.
“They have everything down pat. I was nervous because at Salina Area Technical College, I had a total of 24 students, and Wichita was a lot bigger,” Courter said. “But everybody has been so nice, the faculty are some of the nicest people I have ever met, and it’s been really good.”
The amount of new faculty hired typically varies between years and can be affected not only by turnover but by the introduction of new positions.
David Eichhorn serves as the interim dean of the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He cited the size of the college as the reason for so many new faculty members this year compared to other colleges at Wichita State.
According to Eichhorn, the college has 14 new faculty, including a new department chair to replace one who left the university a few years ago.
“There’s people leaving or retiring, and we’ve got a couple of new degree programs that we’re trying to ramp up,” Eichhorn said.
Last year, the university reported over 60 new faculty members for the summer and fall hiring season. This year, the university has almost 50 new faculty for the fall alone.
“We usually begin searches about a year before the faculty member is going to actually come in,” Eichhorn said. “So a lot of the searches for faculty who are going to start in fall of 2025 are now at least in the process of beginning.”
And, according to Eichhorn, the university doesn’t plan to slow down these hiring efforts any time soon.
“It’s great when we can hire new faculty because they just bring new ideas to the university,” said Eichhorn.
A complete list of new faculty and staff for the fall 2024 semester can be found here.
