Wichita State University

ABOUT UNIVERSITY

Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university located in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1895 as Fairmount College, it became the Municipal University of Wichita in 1926 before joining the Kansas state higher education system in 1964 and adopting its current name. WSU is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents and is classified as an R2 doctoral university with high research activity. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate programs, over 50 master’s degrees, a specialist degree in education, and 13 doctoral programs across colleges including Engineering, Business, Health Professions, Education, Fine Arts, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Innovation and Design, and the Graduate School. As of Fall 2025, enrollment reached a record 18,458 students. The main campus is located at 1845 N. Fairmount Street, Wichita, Kansas 67260, and is complemented by several satellite campuses, including WSU Tech. WSU is known for its strong emphasis on applied learning, industry partnerships, and workforce development through its Innovation Campus initiative, launched in 2014. This initiative has attracted major companies such as Airbus, Deloitte, NetApp, Textron Aviation, and Dassault Systèmes to collaborate with students and faculty on research and innovation projects. The university’s mascot, the Shockers, originated from student-athletes who harvested wheat fields in the early 1900s. WSU also maintains extensive library resources with more than two million volumes and significant special collections, making it a major educational, research, and innovation center in Kansas and the Midwestern United States.