President Caboni

Dear Colleagues,

Each fall, Hilltopper football generates an extraordinary sense of spirit on our campus. If you attended the game on September 28th, you likely noticed an enhanced atmosphere, with nearly 2,800 Hilltopper family members joining us in the stands and 1,300 attending our pregame Hilltopper Family Cookout. This record turnout is the most we have seen since the inception of Parent and Family Weekend fifteen years ago.

Based upon feedback from last year’s attendees, we made significant programmatic changes this year, shifting from a one-day to a three-day event, adding Sunday brunch, and including other campus activities, such as a symphony performance, a play, an art show, a volleyball game, and more.

Thank you to the Housing and Residence Life and Student Activities staff for their outstanding planning and execution, buttressed by collaborative support from across the university. This concerted effort and intentional partnering lead to a tremendous success for WKU. I trust this group will find even more ways to enhance this critical event next year.

As we prepare for Homecoming, I want to emphasize that next week’s activities are about much more than an athletic contest. It is the largest gathering of the WKU Family each year. We take this as an opportunity to gather as a community to celebrate the shared traditions that bond alumni to the university and each other across generations. We will showcase accomplishments of our alumni, students, faculty and staff at multiple events. And we will engage the broader Bowling Green community to continue our strong relationships with local businesses, residents and civic leaders.

There is no better indication of our success as a university than the success of our graduates, both personally and professionally. We look forward to celebrating those individual successes, sharing stories and laughing together as we recall time spent on the Hill months, years, or decades ago. We welcome all who will gather on campus – those who come back annually and those whose schedules allow only an occasional chance to return home to their alma mater.

Please make plans to participate in the activities next week, kicking off Thursday, October 17, with the annual Chili and Cheese Luncheon and Pep Rally. The full schedule can be viewed here: www.alumni.wku.edu/homecoming.

I look forward to greeting personally the thousands of alumni from across the country and sharing with them the important work we are doing as an institution to transform lives through the WKU experience. Go Tops!

Best,

Timothy C. Caboni