Richard Muma

Richard D. Muma is an American academic, physician assistant and president of Wichita State University. He was named Wichita State University president by the Kansas Board of Regents in May 2021 after serving in an interim role following the departure of Jay Golden in September 2020.

Muma is the first physician assistant to be named president of a university, and he is the first openly gay president of Wichita State.

Major university initiatives forwarded during Dr. Muma's presidency include:
* Began construction on Phase I of the Wichita Biomedical Campus, a joint project between Wichita State University and the University of Kansas to create an academic health science center that fosters job creation, collaboration, research, and interprofessional learning. Once complete, the campus will combine WSU’s College of Health Professions programs, including its Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, WSU Tech’s health care program and the Wichita campuses of KU School of Medicine and KU School of Pharmacy — all into one location. For his leadership on the Wichita Biomedical Campus project, Muma was awarded the 2024 Donald A. Wilson Visionary Award by the Kansas Hospital Association.
* Launched the Student Success and Persistence initiative, a university-wide effort to improve persistence and graduation rates.
* Created the Shocker Success Center, a renovated facility opened in fall 2024 that centralizes 19 student support services in a single building.
* Launched the Marcus Welcome Center — Milly Marcus Annex, which brings together the Office of Admissions and Shocker Career Accelerator career services.

References

Presidents of Wichita State University
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people

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