This exhibit tells the stories of freshmen year from participants in a student success intiative, WKU Freshmen Guided Pathway (FGP). This cohort of first-time, full-time students who graduated from one of five high schools in Warren County represent the typical WKU freshman in terms of academic achievement prior to admission and their demographic makeup.

FGP assists students as they negotiate the often difficult affective and academic shifts between high school and college. Learn more about the program in this exhibit, presented by the Kelly M. Burch Institute for Transformative Practices in Higher Education, Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing, the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, the WKU Center for Literacy, and the Kentucky Museum.

Gazing Deeply showcases how WKU’s backyard—the unique landscape of Mammoth Cave—is being studied, interpreted, and inspiring action on environmental change. Coinciding with the UNESCO Conservation of Fragile Karst Resources: A Workshop on Sustainability and Community and Earth Day’s 50th anniversary in 2020, this exhibition is a collaborative effort between arts and science faculty and students that highlights one of the most well-known and vital natural landscapes in the world. 

History suggests that as “big business” started to take hold in the late 1800s, women became more involved in business and working outside the home. However, few women owned companies. Those that did were in industries centered on women, such as home goods, apparel, or personal care.

Today, women own only 40% of businesses in the U.S., making Carrie Burnam Taylor’s business of the early 20th century that much more impressive. Curated with Dr. Carrie Cox, this exhibit will explore Taylor's life and work, displaying three of her dresses, two coats, two bodices, and various undergarments recently conserved thanks to our Adopt-an-Artifact program.

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In the late 1800s, stitchery from London's Royal School of Art needlework and Japanese arts and crafts exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition inspired women across America to take up their needles in new and different ways. Explore the various "maniacal" and "maddening" designs that resulted in this showcase of our Crazy Quilt collection.

Do you think museums should be free?

So do we. During the past three years, the Kentucky Museum has seen this point in action through the success of a three-year grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation that afforded free general admission to all visitors. In the first year, 2019, our in-person visitation grew by 45%. Despite the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, we welcomed more than 20,000 virtual and appointment-based visitors. This past year, 2021, we reopened to the public and welcomed more than 30,000 online and in-person visitors.

Free admission means more than numbers. It provides equitable access to arts and culture for our community, where one in three families experience poverty. Yet, as much as we would love to, we cannot provide continued free admission without replacing the revenue that admission fees generate. This revenue is integral to our mission, since all our exhibits and programs are supported by donors like you.

This year, we are establishing the Kentucky Museum for All Fund – an endowment to provide sustainable funding while supporting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility throughout the Museum.

You are key to this endeavor. Will you make a gift to support the Museum for All fund?

Click here to make a gift.

A two-week camp held in June, SCATS offers high-ability students who have completed grades 6–8 a unique learning environment to explore new ideas, develop concepts, make friends, and share experiences. Students arrive at the WKU campus from counties around Kentucky, states across the nation, and countries around the world to challenge themselves academically and to meet like-minded peers with diverse backgrounds and interests.

Residential campers participate in evening and weekend activities and live on WKU's campus in an air-conditioned residence hall under the supervision of camp counselors.

SCATS provides a diverse curriculum and a wide range of enrichment experiences for about 150 middle school students every summer. Course options change each year but always range from the arts and humanities to mathematics and sciences. From a list of about 20 classes, students rank their top ten choices and are placed in four, which they attend every weekday.

Teachers are drawn from the WKU faculty, outstanding area teachers, and teachers who are enrolled in the WKU graduate program in gifted studies. They structure their courses around students’ interests and understand how to allow students to learn at higher levels and to think and create in their own ways. Courses change each year.

Though academics are at the heart of SCATS, emphasis is also placed on the social aspects of camp. Campers participate in a wide range of activities, many of which are created by their counselors, most of whom are college students who attended SCATS themselves. Whether they are competing in Ultimate Frisbee, making friendship bracelets, eating at cookouts, or playing capture the flag, campers come together as a community where everyone is accepted and learning is celebrated.

In many cases, the friendships students form at SCATS are life-long. “It’s not just a learning camp,” one participant remarked. “It’s a place where you feel accepted, loved, and respected by your friends. It's a place you will never want to leave.

Learn more: https://www.wku.edu/gifted/scats/