Wichita State’s Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Linnea GlenMaye retired with a reception held on Aug. 14 to celebrate her time at WSU. GlenMaye had been at Wichita State University for over two decades, starting as an assistant professor in 1998 and later becoming an associate professor in 2004.
GlenMaye announced she would officially retire on Aug. 16. She said after being in higher education for 30 years, she felt like it was time to move on and try different things and let someone else have the opportunities she had been given.
After former Provost Shirley Lefever retired at the end of 2024, Glenmaye said she was torn and decided to stay for a few more months to help with the transition to the new Provost, but that that was the sign it was time for her, too. In her retirement she plans to spend more time with her family.
“It’s a hard decision because this has always been my life, and so working with the most wonderful colleagues has been the most rewarding part of my job,” GlenMaye said. “So, you know, losing that part of my life is hard, but I’m ready to do more things … maybe even relax a little.”
GlenMaye’s position carried a wide range of responsibilities. She oversaw faculty development and success including annual evaluations and had a part in tenure promotion processes. Besides the registrar, she was the final approver for any curriculum or program changes and any new programs. She also provided guidance for the general education curriculum.
“I get to see what is going on at the university but particularly what’s going on in the colleges,” GlenMaye said. “Working with people that I think are absolutely outstanding and wonderful colleagues has been really the most rewarding part of this job.”
She was the designated liaison to the Kansas Board of Regents where she was involved in student transfers and articulation between the Kansas public college system. She played a role in developing and implementing a new general education program and getting rid of supplemental courses and creating corequisites classes for math and english.
“The hope is that it will increase success of students and allow them to progress in their major in the way they’re supposed to,” GlenMaye said, “ because for a lot of students, unfortunately, math and English too can be a hurdle that they have to get over before they can get on with their studies.”
Working with students directly was also something that GlenMaye did as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. She had been a member of the WSU CARE Team since 2011 and dealt with grade appeals. In some cases, she would work with students who ran into unique challenges.
“It’s not a main part of my job … but it’s something that I do every now and then and I’ve been very fortunate to have a number of students that I think sometimes it just takes a person to step in at the right time and then they can stay on track.” GlenMaye said.
GlenMaye’s background is in social work, and she was the Director of the School of Social Work from 2004 until she began her position as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2011. She also played a role in developing WSU’s Master of Social Work program.
“There’s a lot I could tell you about social work,” GlenMaye said. “Obviously, that’s the love of my life and I still miss those students tremendously.”
Her transition from the School of Social Work to Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs came after working with former Interim Provost of WSU, Keith Pickus, on a project called Foundations of Excellence. It was a campus wide project that involved collaboration between colleges to achieve a set of goals in many different areas. Pickus later encouraged her to apply for the position.
“I think often in offices like this there’s a lot of administrative work that’s more technical in a sense that requires a different set of skills,” GlenMaye said. “But there’s a lot of work that’s done in this office that requires some people skills. I think people kind of thought, whether it was right or not, well a social worker knows how to work with people so, maybe that would be a good fit.”
GlenMaye said her time at WSU was very special.
The year before she came, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and said losing her hair due to chemotherapy was hard to deal with. A student organization at the time she first got to WSU put pink ribbons on baseball caps to sell to students and donate the profit made to the Susan B. Komen Foundation.
“That was the most supportive thing — made me cry — that I could’ve imagined and that’s what I think of here.” GlenMaye said. “The students are so special and of course I love the social work students, but I’ve met every kind of student that we have now. I just think that it’s such a privilege to be in this place of supporting students who are trying to achieve their goals and to be who they want to be. To be there and part of that has just been the joy of my life.”
