When Provost Shirley Lefever feels overwhelmed or stressed, she does what most Wichita State students do — she asks her mother for advice. Lefever said her mother, a widow who raised seven children, would often give her the same suggestion; “Shirley, all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other.”

“(She would say) ‘Stop thinking about two years from now; you just wake up every day, and you put one foot in front of the other. Take one step at a time,’” Lefever said. “So that’s always been my thing.”

Lefever has taken that advice to heart throughout her career at Wichita State; she even has a wooded plaque in her office in Morrison Hall inscribed with the phrase. But Lefever is now preparing to apply the adage differently as she approaches the start of a new chapter in her life: retirement.

Moving the needle

Lefever began serving as the university’s executive vice president and provost in an interim capacity in 2020. During that time, now-University President Richard Muma was also the interim president. He’s known Lefever since before he was provost in 2018, when she was an associate dean in the College of Education, now the College of Applied Studies. He said early on he found her “very responsive and just really insightful.”

“Shirley was always looking at life glass-half-full … and just really had an overall positive outlook on students, faculty, higher education in general,” Muma said. “(She’s) a very easy person to work with in all matters concerning higher education.”

Lefever has acted as the executive vice president and provost since 2022. According to Muma, Lefever is in charge of “about 70% of the university,” including all things concerning academics, enrollment management, student success and “all the student support that’s necessary to make sure students are on track.”

Most of Lefever’s work at Wichita State has been focused on improving the access and affordability of higher education through projects like establishing Wichita State Connect, developing the talents and skillsets of students and working to create economic prosperity for the Wichita area. And according to Muma, Lefever has excelled in doing so.

“She has moved the needle in her work in terms of students’ success, persistence, (and) graduation rates,” Muma said. “All those have improved under her leadership.”

A ‘Kansas girl’

Before Wichita State University, Lefever was a fifth-grade classroom teacher who “never, never aspired to be in higher ed.” But when one of her students wasn’t reading at the appropriate level, she turned to those in higher education for help.

“I just kept thinking, ‘Okay well I have to take responsibility. I can’t let this student go one more year (reading below grade level),’ but I was also kind of panic-stricken,” Lefever said. “So I called my professor (from Kansas State University, Lefever’s alma mater) … and I was like, ‘I’m not sure what to do.’ But she was like, ‘Yes, you do, Shirley, just relax, just think,’ and she goes ‘We’d also love to have you come back and pursue graduate school.’”

Taking her former professor’s advice, Lefever returned to Kansas State and quickly found herself “really immersed” in literacy acquisition. She graduated with her master’s and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and a passion to continue “learning about learning” to enhance literacy education. 

That interest took her to the University of Arkansas, which was recreating its teacher preparation programs and professional development models. But after 14 years at Arkansas, Lefever — a “Kansas girl” at heart — was invited to serve as the department chair for curriculum and instruction at Wichita State. In that capacity, she helped redesign the teacher preparation program at Wichita State and “developed some really strong partnerships” with Wichita and surrounding district schools.

After climbing the ranks at Wichita State, Lefever assumed the role of provost, an “amazing experience” for her since. 

“People can go through their entire careers and never have an opportunity to be part of something that is bigger than them. And so I feel like I’ve been very fortunate,” she said. “So that’s going to be hard to leave.”

Her departure, however, comes with one of the university’s most illustrious awards, the Laura Cross Distinguished Service Award, for her contributions to Wichita State.

Looking forward

Lefever’s educational background is present now as she prepares for retirement; she’s even reading a book about it. But, unlike carefully assembled grade school lesson plans, Lefever says she plans to give herself some time to “see what happens.”

So far, that’s included adopting a bernedoodle — a cross between a Bernese Mountain dog and a poodle. The puppy, named Luca, is expected to “fill some of those hours” of newfound retirement. Lefever also hopes to spend time with her mother.

While leaving Wichita State is “the hardest decision” she’s ever made, Lefever said she’s leaving without any regrets.

“(I’m fortunate to have been a part of and to) be proud of an institution that was really trying to do something,” Lefever said.

Lefever still plans to visit and remain a part of campus, though, whether in the stands at sporting games or other university events.

“I’m gonna miss our students. I really am. I’m gonna miss our faculty … It’s the people (that I’ll miss most),” Lefever said. “But … (I’ll) always (be) a Shocker.”