ACL 2020: Beyond All Limits!: Welcome!

Dugan Library is on the eastern edge of campus. ACL Registration will be in the atrium. You will also find the bookstore, student center, conference center and alumni centers in this building.

Eck Hall is where the majority of conference presentation will take place. This classroom building is used for all types of classes.

DeMattias houses the fine arts and the performance hall where our keynote speaker will address us on Tuesday morning. The building is joined with our athletics center by the round atrium in the middle. In front you will see a statue which is in the middle of Founder's Plaza. Founder's Plaza is where the President's BBQ and the entertainment we have planned will be.

Founder's Plaza with its statue of Saint Maria DeMattias is where the Thursday evening President's BBQ and our evening entertainment will be. It's located behind Dugan Library.

Mabee Dining is where most meals will be served. It's conveniently located just a short walk from both dorms we will be staying in. We will be the only group on campus during our conference so wait time should be pretty short.

Gerber Science Center is where most of our morning and afternoon breaks will be as well as a couple of classrooms for workshops and other meetings. This is the newest building on campus and is a state of the art facility for our science programs.

Beata Hall is a pod-style dorm where 6 single rooms have a common living and kitchen space. Located on the south side of campus, it's an easy and short walk to all campus locations.

Carrocci Hall is named for our immediate past president is the newest dorm on campus. It is also sometimes called our Freshman dorm. This is a more traditional set up with two rooms sharing a bathroom between them. It's located on the west edge of campus and is a short and easy walk to all campus locations.

- Jeanette

I've been involved in ACL for many years and I am really looking forward to hosting the 2020 conference. We've been working to plan some fun events along with the professional development that is such an essential component of ACL. I welcome any questions about our campus, city or conference, please feel free to reach out.

Phone: 316-942-4291, ext. 2108

Email: parkerj@newmanu.edu

- Steve

Steve has been Library Director for almost six years and worked in Dugan Library for almost sixteen. He has been involved in ACL for several years now, attending and presenting at several conferences. He is looking forward to having ACL members and conference attendees on campus. 

Phone: 316-942-4291, ext. 2108

Email: hamerskys@newmanu.edu

-Dyana

Dyana is the newest member of our library staff. After working for three years as a student worker, she transitioned to a full time staff position in January 2020. She is very busy finishing up her last semester as a full-time student and will graduate in May. We are blown away by her work ethic and energy! She has also been completing her marketing internship by helping plan the local details for our conference. Dyana is a new member of ACL and this will be her first conference.

Phone: 316-942-4291, ext. 2210

Email: bacad@newmanu.edu

One chilly Friday afternoon, the Dugan Library staff was discussing how to introduce ACL members to our fair city of Wichita, Kansas. We were aware of the stereotypes of Kansas, sometimes called a 'fly-over' state. Steve and I are both natives of Kansas and Dyana has lived here since she was a small child. We are all fans of our city. We decided the best thing to do was to visit some of our favorite spots, take some photos and share them here with you! Here's what happened...

First stop: lunch!

We are all fans of Norton's Brewery. It's located just a couple of miles from campus, serves delicious food and is located near several key areas we wanted to visit. Check out the 'Dining in Wichita' tab for more information!

Here I am with our appetizers. Bacon Crack and Jalapeno Queso Fries.

Yum! Happy plate!

We all enjoyed the Bacon Crack!

You can rent these electric scooters all over the place in downtown Wichita. We saw these scooters as we were leaving Norton's. Here's more information about the scooters.

Nifty Nuthouse is very popular with locals and visitors. They opened in 1937 and are still going strong. Not only can you buy a seemingly endless array of nuts and nut mixes by the pound, they also have all kinds and types of candy, fudge, dried fruits and so much more! They have this mural on the outside of their building.

We tried to take a picture inside using their cutout, but we apparently aren't very coordinated. We resisted temptation on this day. Check out their website for more information.

Old Town Wichita has a central plaza surrounded by restaurants, shopping, art galleries and gathering space. There's so much to see and do here we decided to make this a destination for one of the Tuesday evening excursions. Check out our Excursion page on the LibGuide for more information.

You can drive yourself to Old Town where there is a parking garage with lots of free parking and explore or take advantage of the shuttle we'll provide to and from campus!

We're standing huddled together in the cold in the central plaza. I once witnessed a flash mob dance in the summer a few years ago! There are water jets here that shoot out cool, refreshing water on warm summer days. In fact, there are quite a few splash parks all over the city, check them out here.

While in the downtown area, we decided to stop at several places along the main drag, Douglas. Douglas splits the city into the north and south sides. Steve and I have debated which side of town is best. He's a south-sider and I'm a north-sider. I think I could count on one hand the number of times I visited the south-side in the first 30 years of my life. Seriously, everything you need or want you can find on the north-side of town.

But I'm getting off track! You can rent a bike and explore all over the downtown area. There's an awful lot to see and do. Our campus is just three miles from the downtown hotspots! Just like the scooters, you can rent a bike to explore our city.

We have statues and murals galore all along Douglas. Some are whimsical, some reflect our history and others show the cultural diversity that is so much a part of our city! Here we are with the guitar guy.

Wichita probably doesn't come to mind when thinking of civil rights activities. However, one of the earliest sit-ins occurred at a drug store in downtown Wichita. The drugstore isn't there anymore, but a life-size statue commemorates the 1958 sit-in. 

Here's what happened:

In July of 1958, Carol Parks-Haun, 19, and her cousin Ron Walters, 20, decided to protest restaurants which denied services to blacks in Wichita. At the time both were leaders in the local NAACP Youth Council. Walters and Parks-Haun organized a sit-in at Dockum Drugstore -- a popular eatery with a soda fountain. For the next three weeks the polite, well-dressed students would remain quietly seated as they were refused service at the lunch counter. They sometimes sat for hours and their presence was unnerving to patrons. Some patrons taunted and threatened the students. Nearly a month after their sit-in began, the owner relented. "He came to the door and he looked directly to his manager and he said, 'Serve them -- I'm losing too much money,' and then he left. It was that simple!" Parks-Haun says. - NPR 

Just down the street from guitar guy and the Dockum Sit-In is an urban PopUp Park. Not a lot happening on a wintry afternoon, but it's a busy place in the spring, summer and early fall. Most afternoons in the summer, you'll find a variety of food trucks and lots of company! We decided to play a little table tennis to warm up. Brrr!

The Keeper of the Plains is everywhere in Wichita, you'll find these small replicas decorated in many different ways. This one features the Orpheum Theatre, another popular place! I believe there were at least three different Keepers in the PopUp Park.

We found cupid in the PopUp Park. I know you probably can't tell, but it was so cold in the park that day, the wind chill was brutal.

We left our mark on the giant chalkboard making sure everyone knows about the ACL conference!

We are very proud of our city flag in Wichita. It is seen all over the place. I have a decorative license plate on the front of my car, residents fly the flag from their front porches and businesses have found creative ways to incorporate the flag into products and advertising. Here are some fun facts about the Wichita flag.

Douglas Street is lined with murals of all kinds. However, many of them are Wichita or Kansas themed. It's always fun spotting new ones or discovering one hidden away from the main drag. Fortunately, there is an online tour map that gives locations of many murals. Check out the tour here.

We're not very good at being goofy, but we tried! However, it was very, very cold.

And speaking of murals. We have the world's largest mural painted by a single artist in Wichita, it is an official Guinness record (Nov. 2018). It's fairly easy to spot as you drive thru town on I-135 either north or south bound. But we trekked a little closer to the grain elevator in order to get our shot. It's a beautiful representation of the diversity that is so much a part of our city.

More information about the artist and the project is available here.

Newman is located just a few miles from the historic Riverside neighborhood. There is so much to see and do here that we were only able to take a few pictures. Most of these  places are highlighted on the 'Fun & Unique Wichita Hot Spots' page on this LibGuide. Our first stop was Botanica, They have a wide variety of gardens and they are beautiful year round. Dyana and I are near the entrance.

Cowtown is well worth the time it takes to visit. If you've ever wondered what life was like in the late 19th century, this is the place for you. Filled with original buildings from the time, historical re-creations and more. I remember as a Girl Scout spending a week in the summer dressed in my frontier dress and bonnet taking classes in the old school house, shopping in the General Store and learning to sew by hand and enjoying a cold sarsaparilla in the afternoon heat. Steve and I are outside the main entrance.

By the time we arrived at Botanica and Cowtown, we'd lost our faithful photographer, Shellie, who was apparently also keeping us on our best behavior in the photos. It was so cold the day we took these photos, I couldn't resist 'triple dog daring' Steve to see if his tongue would stick to the metal sign.

This statue by American West artist Frederic Remington is close to the entrance to Cowtown.

Many sculptures dot the landscape outside the Art Museum. Steve and I were debating what this statue is all about, we just couldn't decide, but it is huge!

I'm not sure how many pieces there are of this sculpture, we were confounded. The art inside the museum is varied and unique. The museum features a large collection of American West art by Charles Russell. The museum is a beautiful space and well worth a visit. I live in the Riverside neighborhood and can see the north side of the museum from my front porch.

I snapped this photo as we approached the Keeper of the Plains. This iconic statue represents the Native American history that is so much a part of our region of the country. I drive past this and see it every day on my way to and from work. It's one of my favorite places to visit in Wichita.

We wanted to be sure to have a shot where you can see the Keeper behind us. The 44-foot statue is situated at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers and considered sacred to Native Americans. This area underwent a renovation and restoration several years ago to make it a more visible site along the river.

As part of the renovation, these information panels were added to the area around the base of the Keeper. Another addition to the statue were metal pots where flames are lit nearly every evening throughout the year, unless its especially windy! No doubt, you have noticed our crazy, wind blown hair in all of our photos. It's windy all year round, in case you were wondering! Adjacent to the Keeper is the Mid-America All-Indian Center, a museum dedicated to the history and preservation of Native American cultures.

A visit to see the Keeper, and especially the lighting of the flames, is a must when visiting Wichita. During the summer, the flames are lit at 9:00 p.m. and burn for 15 minutes. There's a path that extends down and around the entire statue. It's pretty warm when you get to the base and are closer to the flame pots. An excursion to the Keeper is schedule for Tuesday evening during the conference. You'll be able to easily visit following the public library tour or after spending time in Old Town.

Behind Steve and I is Exploration Place. We're actually standing across the river at the Keeper. Exploration Place is a fun, family-friendly science and discovery center. It's hard to tell from this angle, but the museum extends quite a ways along the river. I enjoy walking the sidewalk-bike path along the river enjoying the views.

This view is a little farther south along the river. It was a little snowy the week we took these photos, however, during June the view is much more green and it's very pleasant walking along the river. In the background of this photo you can see the bridge connecting the Keeper of the Plains with both sides of the river.

We're still down along the river and behind us you can see our new baseball stadium under construction. They plan to have it up and running by the first games that are scheduled for April. It will definitely be open and a great venue by the time for our Tuesday evening baseball excursion.

February is Heritage Month on our campus. We celebrate our namesake, Saint John Henry Newman, famous for his work in higher education, and Saint Maria DeMattias, the founder of the religious order who founded Newman University. Since St. Newman was English High Tea is served every year. It's a wonderful event attended by students, faculty and staff from all across campus. We decided to take our trusty ACL Conference banner with us. Our campus is looking forward to hosting conference this summer, and though many of the people in these pictures won't be here, they are glad you will be experiencing Newman University and Wichita!

These nursing students were delightful company while the library staff drank tea.

Dyana joined this group of current students for this action shot.

And their posed picture.

Current students with an education professor and a philosophy professor. 

Current students and our director of security.

I joined this group of students, business professors and our campus chaplain.

Part of our university relations and advancement staff.

A student with two of our past presidents and sisters from the Adorers.

Social work students and professors.

Three of our nursing faculty, a retired former employee and our instructional designer. 

An education professor, a social work professor and the registrars' staff.

Our former registrar, math professor, dean of undergraduate studies and our director of archives.

Staff and student staff from enrollment management and admissions.

An art professor, students and the director of residence life.

Dyana and some of her fellow students.

This is an eclectice group! A theology professor, an alum, VP of Enrollment, the director of mail and copy and her son, a current student and our beloved sociology professor.

Students rocking the high tea hats!

Three students who volunteered to help serve tea.

Faculty and staff volunteers who helped to cut and plate the high tea foods. I'm guessing they also helped by preparing some of the food and bringing it to share with our campus community.

Here I am with Larry, the bookstore manager.