In 1895, on the same site, Fairmount College opened collegiate classes for men and women with funding by the Congregational Education Society.

An effort to move it out of the path of Kellogg expansion resulted in the building coming to Wichita State University in the 1980s.

The Hughes Metropolitan Complex and Advanced Education in General Dentistry buildings, located at the intersection of 29th St N and Oliver Ave, are considered part of the main campus.

Research facilities include: The university comprises the following academic colleges and schools: The Aerospace Engineering department was founded in 1928 and has longstanding collaborative relationships with Airbus North America, Boeing, Bombardier-Learjet, Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft, Spirit AeroSystems, and other Wichita aviation concerns.

The department teaches in the areas of composites, structures, Engineering mechanics, computational Fluid dynamics, applied Aerodynamics, and Flight simulation.

The Wichita State University Libraries have holdings of more than 2 million volumes, over 350 electronic databases[26] and more than 70,000 journal subscriptions.

In 2014, President John Bardo announced plans to launch a major academic and student life initiative, dubbed the "Innovation Campus.

"[34] The plan includes public/private partnerships with domestic and international companies that would build offices on the WSU main campus and collaborate with the students and faculty on research projects and product development through a technology transfer system.

[36] The university has secured on-campus partnerships with multiple companies including Sunnyvale, Calif.-based NetApp, which moved its entire Wichita operations into a new building on campus; Airbus; Deloitte; Textron Aviation; Boston Consulting Group; and Dassault Systèmes to name a few.

[41] Recognized fraternities and sororities at the university include:[49] The Wichita State (WSU) athletic teams are called the Shockers.

The university is a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) since the 2017–18 academic year.

WSU competes in 16 intercollegiate athletic teams:[50] Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, tennis and track & field (indoor and outdoor); while women's sports include basketball, bowling[51], cross country, golf, softball, tennis, track & field (indoor and outdoor) and volleyball.

The name reflects the university's heritage: Early students earned money by shocking, or harvesting, wheat in nearby fields.

WuShock came to life when junior Wilbur Elsea won the Kappa Pi honorary society's competition to design a mascot typifying the spirit of the school.

Elsea, who had been a Marine during World War II, decided that "the school needed a mascot who gave a tough impression, with a serious, no-nonsense scowl."

During the 1980s, WuShock briefly had a sidekick named WeeShock, that was introduced as an attempt to make the mascot more appealing to children.

The Shockers have three alumni currently playing in the NBA in Fred VanVleet, Landry Shamet and Craig Porter Jr. Other Wichita State products who have played in the league include All-Star Xavier McDaniel, power forwards Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, Cleanthony Early, two-time All-American Dave Stallworth, centers Gene Wiley and Jaime Echenique, guards Gal Mekel, Toure' Murry, Ron Baker, and Greg Dreiling.

Four-time All-American Cleo Littleton joined the Shocks in 1951, breaking the unofficial color barrier in the Missouri Valley Conference.

It had never fully recovered from losing 16 starters, its athletic director, football coach and many others critical to the WSU program in a plane crash in 1970 (see below).

Wichita State University was also the first Division I-A school to hire a black head coach in college football, Willie Jeffries, in 1979.

It flew into a mountain valley too narrow to enable it to turn back and smashed into a mountainside, killing 31 of the 40 players, administrators, and fans near a ski resort 40 miles (64 km) away from Denver.

[63] Notable engineers include Harold G. White,[64] lead in NASA's Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory, and Dwane Wallace,[65] President and Chairman of Cessna.

In the arts, graduates included opera stars Joyce DiDonato and Samuel Ramey, actor Shirley Knight and Broadway performer Karla Burns.

In athletics, notable individuals include basketball players Antoine Carr and Fred VanVleet, as well as Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells.

[68] U.S. Army captain Riley L. Pitts, who graduated with a degree in journalism, was the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor.