Biology

Four more WKU students have earned national certification in floodplain management.

Students Ben Bell from Madisonville, Jeremy Brown from Bowling Green, Will Spaulding from Springfield and Justin Wallace from Elizabethtown recently passed the Certified Floodplain Manager examination.

In the past four years, 40 WKU floodplain management students have passed the CFM exam. The exam has a national pass rate of about 75 percent, but most of the people who take the exam have worked some years in floodplain management, according to Warren Campbell, associate professor of civil engineering and coordinator of the floodplain management minor.

Kentucky now has 71 CFMs; 12 states have fewer than 40 CFMs, Campbell said. Almost 22,000 U.S. communities participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, and by law each must designate a floodplain administrator.

“Each of these communities should want their administrator to be a competent professional, and the CFM credential is currently the best indicator of that professionalism,” Campbell said. “However, there are only about 7,000 CFMs nationwide. WKU is doing its part to satisfy this national need.”

Contact: Warren Campbell, (270) 745-8988.