Wichita State University

The Kansas Board of Regents voted unanimously Thursday for Jay Golden to become the new president of Wichita State University.

Golden is currently the vice chancellor of research, economic development and engagement at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He's also worked at Arizona State University and Duke University. He has a doctorate in engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Outside of academia, Golden started an engineering services company in Arizona. He also served as a police officer and hazardous materials specialist in Arizona.

An employment forecast released Thursday projects continued economic growth for both the Wichita area and Kansas next year.

Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) conducts industry-level employment surveys each year to help formulate its forecasts.

CEDBR Director Jeremy Hill says the Wichita area is expected to grow about 0.5% in 2020, adding about 1,600 new jobs. The workforce expanded by 1.3% this year.

He says the slow job growth pattern is a turnaround from 2017 when the region lost jobs.

Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky has been referred to as “an important literary event” and the collection described as “a contemporary epic,” as “a poetry collection framed as a two-act play,” and as “book-length series of poems.”

In anticipation of his visit to Wichita State University, KMUW's Beth Golay reached out to Kaminsky with some questions about his new collection.