WKU Faculty and Staff Convocation - August 12, 2024
WKU President kicks off academic year with Convocation address
WKU announces Opportunity Fund surpasses $100 million goal
President Timothy C. Caboni's Convocation Speech
Welcome
Hilltopper Family, friends, and guests, good morning and welcome to the start of the 118th academic year at Western Kentucky University!
As we prepare for the arrival of our students in the coming days, I want to extend my gratitude for your continued hard work during the summer months. Your dedication ensures our students feel a sense of belonging on our campus, engage fully in the transformative WKU Experience and are equipped with the tools needed for success after graduation.
Introductions
This morning, outstanding leaders from across the Commonwealth who serve on our governing board are with us. Please hold your applause until the end as I recognize each member of the WKU Board of Regents present with us today:
- Regent Doris Thomas from Smiths Grove, Kentucky;
- Faculty Regent Shane Spiller from Bowling Green;
- Staff Regent Jennifer Hammonds from Bowling Green; and
- Student Regent Sam Kurtz, also from Bowling Green
I also would like to extend thanks to Regent Linda Ball and Staff Regent David Brinkley, whose terms on the board concluded this summer. We are grateful for their time, energy and commitment to our institution.
As we bid farewell to these two regents, we welcome two more. Last month, Governor Beshear appointed Derrick Helm to the Board. Derrick is a 2006 graduate of our institution, and his dedication to his alma mater will be an asset to WKU. We also welcome new Staff Regent Jennifer Hammonds to the Board. Jennifer has worked at WKU since 2019, and her optimism and transparent, thoughtful approach to decision making will serve our institution well.
Please join me in welcoming all of our regents here with us today.
In recent months, there were several changes to our administrative leadership team. Last month, Joshua Vossler joined the WKU Family as our new Dean of University Libraries, succeeding Suzanne DeVries, who joins the library faculty after completing her term as dean. Also, while not a new face on our Hill, we are pleased to see Evelyn Thrasher begin her new role as Dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business.
Please join me in congratulating Joshua and Evelyn!
Also, join me in welcoming the new faculty and staff participating in their first Convocation with us this morning. If you are new this fall or if you joined us during the past academic year, please stand so we can properly welcome you to the WKU Family. We are glad you are here!
Opportunity Fund
This morning, I begin with a significant announcement – one that changes the lives of our students and advances our university in perpetuity. One that is made possible only because of our shared Hilltopper Spirit.
During my Investiture in April 2018, I shared the vision for a student-centered fundraising campaign designed to remove barriers to education through needs-based financial assistance. Named the WKU Opportunity Fund, this campaign became one of the initiatives in WKU’s ten-year strategic plan, Climbing to Greater Heights, and it established a critical pathway to ensure that every student at WKU could have a full college experience.
At Fall 2021 Convocation, I announced that we surpassed the Opportunity Fund’s initial goal of fifty million dollars ($50 million) and set a new ambitious goal of one hundred million dollars ($100 million).
Today, I am proud to announce that just three years later, we have surpassed that new goal, raising more than one hundred and two million dollars ($102 million), establishing two hundred, sixty-seven (267) new endowed scholarships. The Opportunity Fund changes lives. We more than doubled the initial vision we established for the Fund!
One goal of the Fund is to provide students with access to a degree – access that would otherwise not be possible. To open doors for students by easing their financial burden.
Then, we work to keep them in school all the way through graduation. And this is important. Because we have students who face difficult financial circumstances not only during their first year, but in year two, year three and year four. And sometimes the only way they can return to our Hill to finish is with a little help.
What we have learned is that the help we provide looks different for each of these students. Some need assistance with tuition, housing or simply a course fee. For others, the only obstacle to starting classes is the purchase of their books.
The final goal of the Fund is to provide hands-on, applied educational experiences beyond the classroom because we know these elevate our students’ collegiate experience. For those struggling just to make ends meet, the notion of attending a conference or participating in Study Abroad, for example, may be out of reach. Without a little help, that is.
Altogether, during the Opportunity Fund campaign, we provided twenty thousand, two hundred and five (20,205)students with private scholarship support. I believe that deserves another round of applause!
I want to thank our Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, the College Heights Foundation and campus leadership for the success of the Opportunity Fund.
I also want to thank my wife, and WKU’s first lady, Kacy, for her vision and her help to create, launch and advance this initiative. And I especially want to extend my heartfelt thanks to those of you who made gifts to support this effort. To the seven hundred and forty (740) faculty and staff members, including current and retired personnel, who gave more than six million dollars ($6 million) to the Opportunity Fund, thank you!
OUR STUDENTS
Retention
Our students remain at the heart of everything we do as an institution. I often emphasize that regardless of your role at the university, you have one primary job—to ensure every student we enroll succeeds and ultimately graduates. To achieve this, we established ambitious goals related to student retention in our strategic plan, including an aggressive overall first-year retention rate of eighty percent (80%).
In just six academic years, student retention at WKU has increased by eight-point one (8.1) percentage points. And today, we are at seventy-nine percent (79%) - just shy of our eighty percent (80%) goal! This is an incredible achievement, and we should all be proud of this accomplishment.
During the past the past six years, retention among underrepresented minority students jumped by sixteen-point nine (16.9) percentage points, marking the largest six-year increase in WKU’s history. Additionally, retention for low-income students increased by seven-point nine (7.9) percentage points during the same period.
Our collective efforts to ensure the success of every one of our students are truly remarkable!
Living Learning Communities
During the past several years, we have invested increasingly in student success. Our students succeed through deep engagement both inside and outside the classroom, and the support structure we provide must continuously evolve to meet the needs of our students during their college careers.
Our first-time, first-year students best succeed when they engage in Living Learning Communities. For instance, our fall 2023 LLC students returned this spring at four-point five (4.5) percentage points higher than non-LLC participants, and preliminary data for this fall indicates a retention rate eight-point one (8.1) percentage points higher!
During the past three years, we offered on average twenty LLCs, with at least one in every academic college. And this spring, we graduate our first cohort of LLC participants under the revamped model. You may recall that these students were the first to occupy Normal and Regents Halls in fall 2021. We have followed their return semester to semester, and I am pleased to share with you this morning that their long-term retention rate is nine-point three percent (9.3%) higher than our non-LLC students!
This semester, we will welcome seven hundred, eighty-two (782) students - nearly one third of our entering class - into one of our twenty (20) first-time, first-year LLCs.
And this fall, our dedicated LLC Fellows, organized into task groups, will begin a deep dive into the program, focusing on aspects from curriculum enhancement and student engagement to addressing logistical complexities and improving support services.
I want to thank each of these Fellows for their collaborative work and their commitment to ensuring that the program remains dynamic and responsive to the evolving needs of students while also maintaining its high standards of excellence. Their efforts remain instrumental in helping our newest students acclimate to university life, navigate campus resources, form friendships, connect to the Bowling Green community and grow academically, socially and personally.
First Gen
Similarly, we have made tremendous strides reaching and engaging our First Generation Hilltoppers, who comprise nearly one third of our student body. These students often face distinct challenges, including financial constraints, lack of familial guidance and a limited understanding of the resources available to them.
Recognizing the challenges these students face, we developed our First-Generation Faculty and Staff Initiative to create a more welcoming and belonging campus environment for our First Gen Hilltoppers. The initiative, focused on self-advocacy, socialization and professional development, boasts a robust network of more than one hundred fifty (150) faculty, staff and alumni advocates dedicated to fostering community and enhancing the success of our First Gen students.
Just last academic year, we reached more than seven hundred (700) First Gen students through initiatives, such as our inaugural First Gen Summer Camp, our inaugural Make it Count series, our inaugural Pilot Career Launch Program and our third First Gen Welcome Dinner.
This year, we will further enhance our programming and initiatives for First Generation Hilltoppers with the First to the Hill Academy. Modeled after the successful ISEC Academy, it will help a cohort of students discover and develop their scholarly and professional talents.
Additionally, two new mentor programs, the First Gen Faculty and Staff Advocate Mentorship and the First Gen Peer Mentorship Programs, will provide students with guidance, support and resources from experienced faculty, staff, alumni and student perspectives. We will also grow the mentorship offered by the WKU Alumni Career Consultants through an expanded Career Launch Program.
If you are not involved in our First-Generation outreach programming, I encourage you to consider how you might serve as a resource to these students. Since the creation of the First Gen student programs in 2022, the first-year retention rate has improved more than four percentage points. Targeted resources, mentorship and community-building initiatives remain essential to ensuring these students not only persist but graduate, setting them on a path to long-term success.
Honors College
This summer, we lost a valuable member of the Hilltopper Family much too soon. Since his arrival at WKU in 2005, Craig Cobane served as a respected colleague, mentor, advocate, teacher and, most importantly, a cherished friend. He led the transformation of what was our Honors Program into the Commonwealth’s first true Honors College in 2007, and I am pleased that last Friday, our Board of Regents voted to appropriately honor his dedication to WKU by naming the Honors College Office Suite in his name.
Since its creation, the Mahurin Honors College has provided outstanding opportunities for students seeking to challenge themselves academically. It has been instrumental in attracting high-potential and high-achieving students to WKU, and it differentiates us from other universities through the community and support it provides honors scholars.
However, seventeen (17) years after its establishment, the College remains very much the same as when it was founded.
So, this year I will appoint a taskforce, including members of the Mahurin Honors College leadership team, representatives from the Office of Scholar Development, academic leadership from across campus and select faculty members, to consider revisions to the College, its curriculum and programming that might reinvigorate and elevate our offerings and increase interest and availability to an even wider range of WKU students.
This taskforce will consider how we:
One - more deeply embed the honors curriculum in each college and create pathways for honors recognition within each college and select majors;
Two - democratize access to more students who wish to challenge themselves academically;
Three - expand the Honors Self Designed Studies process, creating more opportunities for individualized honors learning programs across all of our colleges for students who wish to create a major that isn’t formally offered at WKU;
Four - reimagine what Honors College living communities might evolve into as replacement options for Minton Hall are considered by the Student Life Foundation; and
Five - explore other ideas and opportunities to ensure that our Honors program remains the best in the state and is among the most innovative and well regarded nationally.
Global Study
While the programmatic and personal support of our newest Hilltoppers through Living Learning Communities, First Gen programming and the Honors College remain critical to their personal development and success, global study also remains a core tenet of the overall WKU Experience, providing our students with rich, supplemental opportunities to learn, explore, enhance and apply what they learn in the classroom. Many times, it’s through these experiences that our students develop an even deeper understanding of and connection to their area of study and perhaps even a new sense of their career pathway after graduation.
For more than three decades, we have prioritized developing study abroad opportunities for our students, and as I shared last year, our study abroad numbers have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
For our Hilltoppers who study abroad, the cultural exposure gained by living in another country broadens their horizons, fosters a greater understanding of and appreciation for diversity, challenges them to become more independent and enables them to develop problem-solving skills and confidence while navigating unfamiliar environments. In an increasingly interconnected world, understanding global issues and being able to interact effectively with people from different backgrounds is crucial to becoming informed and engaged global citizens.
Key to our quest to expand study abroad opportunities for our students is helping them overcome the financial hurdles associated with international study. Just last academic year, WKU invested more than eight hundred, sixty thousand dollars ($860,000) in institutionally awarded scholarships for our students to study abroad, enabling a total of more than four hundred (400) Hilltoppers to expand their learning opportunities around the world.
To that end, WKU consistently leads the Commonwealth in nationally competitive study abroad scholarships. With three hundred, fifty-five thousand dollars ($355,000) earned in study abroad scholarships this year, the Office of Scholar Development continues to open doors and expand horizons for all WKU students.
Of note, WKU was recognized by both the Gilman Scholarship and Boren Scholarship programs as a top producer in the nation. Forty (40) WKU students received Gilman Scholarships. And once again, WKU students were awarded more Gilmans than all other Kentucky institutions combined. And seven WKU students were selected as Boren Scholars.
We also had two of only five Goldwater Scholarship recipients among Kentucky institutions, demonstrating that nationally recognized STEM research careers can start right here.
Finally, 2024 graduate Tani Washington made history as WKU’s first ever Gaither Junior Fellow. Tani will work as a research fellow in the Africa program, providing analysis and insights on the economic, technological and transnational issues shaping Africa’s future—an extension of her undergraduate research and study abroad. She is one of only sixteen (16) selected in the nation from WKU and other universities, including Harvard, Yale, Cornell and Duke.
Enrollment
Though preliminary, current enrollment data illustrate positive momentum and continued growth in our student body. As of last week, total enrollment for the fall semester has increased by one point two percent (1.2%) compared to this time last year, indicating an increase two years in a row. This is significant, given the mounting challenges faced by higher education, which I will discuss in a bit more detail later. We will continue our press on recruitment – across Kentucky, across the rapidly growing Greater Nashville area, across our border states and beyond.
Entering class and student accomplishments
This fall, we anticipate welcoming one of our most talented first-year classes in the history of WKU. Our incoming class GPA currently stands at three point four five (3.45).
And once here, our Hilltoppers continue to excel both inside and outside of the classroom.
This past spring, our Forensics team once again captured the National Forensics Association national title ahead of sixty (60) other colleges and universities. Also in the spring, the team was named the state champion at the Kentucky Forensics Association state championship for the thirty second (32nd) consecutive year. Not only is WKU Forensics unmatched statewide, but we are also without equal anywhere in the nation.
Our Big Red Marching Band, the largest in Kentucky and as I just learned at three hundred (300) marching members this year, has been invited to participate in the London New Year’s Day Parade, which typically draws half a million spectators and is broadcast on PBS to more than five hundred million (500 million) viewers, reaching eighty-two percent (82%) of U.S. television markets.
And we continued our institutional tradition of national success in the annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program with a sixth-place finish in the Overall Intercollegiate Competition, marking the thirty first (31st) consecutive top eight (8) finish.
OUR HILL
Physical Changes to our Hill
We take great pride in our Hill’s reputation as a beautiful, inviting campus. Many of our students share with us that it was their campus visit that confirmed their decision to choose WKU.
As guardians of this space, we have a responsibility to both maintain our picturesque campus and to constantly reimagine how it might support the needs of tomorrow, ensuring that it serves our students, our faculty, our staff and our broader community for generations to come.
Last September, we cut the ribbon on our new Soccer/Softball Complex. With dedicated locker rooms, coaches’ offices, batting cages with turf, athletic training and nutrition spaces and a team classroom, this Complex vastly improved the operations of our Women’s Soccer and Softball teams.
In November, we broke ground on our new Press Box, opening this fall, and Hilltopper Field House, set to open next fall.
While our existing press facilities had long surpassed their useful life, the new Press Box, positioned atop the Harbaugh Club, will offer state-of-the-art facilities that media members expect at modern stadiums.
Strategically located on the current footprint of the outdoor football practice field, the Hilltopper Fieldhouse will serve as the new home for our Forensics and Esports programs, while providing much-needed rehearsal and practice space for our Big Red Marching Band and our athletic teams. This is a game-changer for all of these students. They compete at a very high level, and we want to make sure they have a place that best supports their efforts.
Near our Guthrie Bell Tower and South Lawn, work continues on our new building which will serve as home to the Gordon Ford College of Business.
Placed in the center of campus on the former site of Tate Page Hall, this new building is made possible due to our receipt of seventy-four point four million dollars ($74.4 million) from the Kentucky General Assembly. This was WKU’s first allocation for a capital project from the state since 2014.
Set to meet our increased need for business education space, this building will revolutionize business instruction at WKU. Through flexible classrooms; new technology; areas for team-based learning; spaces to emulate real-world working environments; and more, this facility will transform the way we teach and support our Hilltoppers, plus it will foster deeper engagement with the regional business community. Opening next fall, it will be a signature building on our campus and a point of pride for the WKU and Gordon Ford communities.
This summer, we completed the restoration of our Hilltop. This important and complex project enhanced accessibility by reconfiguring traffic flow and improving pedestrian circulation and walkways and, at the same time, generating new greenspace for the community to gather – all around the heart of academics.
Now, The Commons at Helm Library, the Colonnade, Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center, Potter Hall, Van Meter Hall, Gordon Wilson Hall and Cherry Hall create an oval academical village, returning the top of our Hill to the original design envisioned by President Cherry and our founding architects.
I invite you to join us on the Hilltop on Thursday, September 5th at 10 a.m. as we celebrate Virginia and Dr. Paul Garrett and dedicate the Garrett Plaza.
As I shared with you this spring, WKU received the largest capital appropriation in our institution's history during the legislative session, one hundred and sixty million dollars ($160 million), for the replacement of our Academic Complex, home to our College of Health and Human Services.
The planning and design phase for this monumental project began this summer, with construction scheduled to begin next summer. During this year, we, along with our design partners, will work to meet the multifaceted needs of the departments within the building, while also incorporating innovative design principles and cutting-edge technology, to ensure the facility meets the future needs of our university community.
Finally, we continue developing plans to renovate and reimagine one of our campus’s most iconic structures, Cherry Hall, with work set to begin by next fall.
Reaffirmation and QEP
Since 1926, WKU has been accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACSCOC, and this year marks an important milestone for our institution as we continue our important work toward our ten-year reaffirmation of accreditation.
Institutional accreditation ensures that students who earn a degree from an institution receive a quality education. And the quality assurance function of accreditation is one of the requirements for participation in the Higher Education Act’s federal student aid programs.
I want to thank the faculty and staff who have participated in the reaffirmation process during the last year and a half, including assessment planning and reporting, strategic planning implementation, writing the compliance certification report and participating in focus groups and internal reviews.
We are now finalizing the off-site compliance certification document, which is a comprehensive overview of the administration of WKU, including our policies and procedures, our approach to ensuring the quality of our educational programs and the many ways we support our students. Once the off-site committee completes its review of this report in November, we will receive valuable feedback and questions to which we will respond.
Then in January, the on-site review committee will begin its work, culminating in a March visit to campus and two of our regional campuses, where they will interview faculty and staff. After the committee shares its findings, the SACSCOC Board of Trustees will meet in December to make the decision on our reaffirmation.
Reaffirmation is a lengthy process, and we continue to work toward a positive outcome in December 2025. It also creates an opportunity to examine and re-evaluate how we educate and serve our students.
A key requirement is the creation of a new Quality Enhancement Plan or QEP.
Led by Dr. Molly Kerby and Dr. Wren Mills, WKU’s new QEP - titled Toppers R.I.S.E. – is a commitment to enhancing the educational experience on our campus. Incorporating the Kentucky Graduate Profile's 10 Essential Skills, Toppers RISE includes curricular learning outcomes and extra-curricular programming, ensuring our students gain competencies needed for success after graduation.
This year, the team will introduce the QEP to faculty and staff in preparation for full implementation next academic year.
Research
At last year’s Convocation, I discussed our continued growth in research, and I challenged our campus community with a bold goal of increasing research expenditures to forty million dollars ($40 million) and to double our federal research funding.
This morning, I am excited to share that we are well on our way.
Last year, WKU received nearly twenty-eight point seven million dollars ($28,690,920) in total external funding. That’s an increase of nearly six point five million dollars ($6,461,668) or a twenty-nine percent (29%) increase year over year.
Congratulations to our deans, department chairs, faculty and staff, as well as the Office of Research & Creative Activity and the Division of Academic Affairs, for all of your efforts to expand our sponsored research portfolio. I want to highlight four of the major awards we received last year.
Within the College of Health and Human Services, the WKU LifeSkills Center for Child Welfare Education and Research received more than five point eight million dollars ($5.8 million) to expand its services. In partnership with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Center is making a difference in child welfare through its work to serve, advocate and innovate.
Our College of Education and Behavioral Sciences received more than three million dollars ($3 million) in federal funding for two educator apprenticeship programs to help combat teacher and principal shortages.
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded WKU more than one point three million dollars ($1,323,733) to support K-12 principal apprenticeships through Project ELEVATE, the first registered principal apprenticeship in Kentucky. The project leverages the use of Registered Apprenticeships, providing high-quality training opportunities for aspiring school leaders statewide.
Registered Apprenticeships also play a key role in Project CARE (Collaborative Apprenticeships for Rural Educators), a four-year, two-million-dollar ($2 million) award from the U.S. Department of Education to support high school students in ten rural school districts as they pursue careers as K-12 teachers.
Finally, WKU will receive two point one million dollars ($2.1 million) as one of eight institutions participating in CLIMBS, a statewide five-year, twenty-million-dollar ($20 million) multidisciplinary effort funded by the National Science Foundation. The project will enhance Kentucky’s trajectory as a national leader in climate resiliency and hazard management. Serving communities across Kentucky, especially those affected in recent years by severe weather, tornadoes and floods, CLIMBS will provide research opportunities for thirty (30) undergraduate and ten (10) graduate students in our meteorology, climatology and disaster science programs.
As we continue to grow federally sponsored research, I encourage faculty who have not yet pursued federal funding to consider partnering with our research office to explore funding streams that could support your inquiry and might expand its scope and reach.
R2/Phd
We aspire to become Kentucky’s first Carnegie classified high research institution or R2 institution for short - a goal that will take us a number of years to achieve. I want to be clear; this is not a light switch but rather a process.
We pursue this designation not for the recognition it conveys. We pursue it because to achieve that classification requires us to evolve, grow and stretch; to continue to enhance our research capacity; to grow the percentage of faculty successfully pursuing federal grants; to invest in select trans-institutional research pilots; to build new relationships with external partners; to address together pressing regional and national challenges; and to integrate even more of our students into basic and applied research activities. This continues our transformation, already well underway.
To reach R2 status, a university must have at least five million dollars ($5 million) in federal research and development expenditures as measured by NSF. In recent years, WKU has exceeded ten million dollars ($10 million), and as I just shared, we are positioned to continue our growth.
Additionally, a university must award at least twenty (20) research doctorates annually. Central to our push to meet this threshold in our pursuit of R2 status is WKU’s ability to offer PhD programs. Last session, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution one seventy (170), which paved the way for us to explore offering additional research doctoral programs.
This year, we will work closely with CPE and an external organization to determine our path toward offering a limited number of PhD programs. We will focus heavily on the conceptual work needed to be done around curriculum development, areas of focus and talent acquisition so that we are prepared to hit the ground running once we get the green light.
I have asked our academic leadership to think critically about the PhD programs we might offer. PhDs in programs like Disaster Sciences, Rural Leadership Policy Studies, AI/data analytics, all for example, could build upon our existing resources and successes and position us to be an innovative leader nationally and among Kentucky’s research institutions.
Also, I will convene a new taskforce to explore creating an interdisciplinary school focused on AI, computational studies and data analytics. The foundation for this school exists, but we must do more to differentiate ourselves regionally, be more competitive nationally and capitalize on the booming fields of artificial intelligence and big data. This also will catalyze partnerships across campus and organizational silos under a single academic umbrella.
OUR COMMUNITY and BEYOND
Innovation Campus
We have worked tirelessly to transform our Center for Research and Development into a true Innovation Campus. This vibrant environment connects students, staff and faculty with entrepreneurs, industry leaders and business resources to create jobs, develop talent pipelines and propel our regional economy.
This facility continues to breathe life into research, emerging technology and economic and cultural development at WKU, in Bowling Green, throughout the region and beyond. And, perhaps most importantly, it serves as a driver in deepening our partnership with the Chamber, the City of Bowling Green and Warren County as together we focus on economic development and attracting the next generation of investment in new companies - moving us from a college town to a knowledge town.
This morning, I am excited to highlight several successes of the Innovation Campus this past year.
Holley Performance Brands
We were thrilled to see Holley Performance Brands, a staple company here in Bowling Green, significantly expand their relationship with the WKU Innovation Campus. After relocating their R&D and Engineering teams to our headquarters on Nashville Road in 2021, Holley now occupies nearly eighty thousand (80,000) square feet on our campus.
Their corporate functions are now aligned, united and connected to the collaborative environment we’ve established. This deepens the ties between WKU and Holley, providing research opportunities in partnership with our faculty and staff, as well as applied research, internships and career pathways for our students.
Expanding the Innovation Campus
As part of our partnership with Holley, we now occupy a thirty-five thousand (35,000) square foot portion of their facility on Russellville Road, providing a second Innovation Campus location closer to our main campus, the Gatton Academy, local K-12 schools and our partners at SKYCTC. This expansion helps as we move toward capacity at our headquarters location, providing additional office space for multiple companies and an ideal location for programs that engage our main campus students. It also provides optimal space for technology incubation.
Our Innovation Campus is far more than simply office space for start-ups. It is an ever-increasing driver of economic development in our region and a primary contributor to WKU’s overall economic impact in South Central Kentucky.
Regional Campuses
Beyond the economic advancements they provide, our regional campuses remain integral components of our university’s identity and our institutional mission, helping WKU reach our twenty-seven (27) county service region. These campuses make possible opportunities for students who cannot come to our Hill – those who would otherwise not have access to a college experience - offering a place, within reach, to achieve their WKU degrees.
Our regional campus leaders continue to engage in collaborations with each of our academic colleges, and last fall we launched our Signature Regional Programs. This plan clearly defines eleven (11) degree programs available in full at our regional campuses, creating a menu of offerings responsive to our service region’s greatest demands.
As a result of this program’s remarkable success, coupled with our regional team’s expanded recruitment and retention strategies, not one – but each - of our regional campuses – is on track to increase on-campus enrollment this fall.
A quick note about each.
At Elizabethtown/Ft. Knox, I had the opportunity to talk with three hundred and fifty (350) community members at their April Chamber meeting about our response to Hardin County’s rapid population growth. As the area grows, we are reintroducing in-person classes at the U.S. Army Garrison at Ft. Knox, where active-duty soldiers will study Criminology and Management this fall.
In June, I visited with three hundred (300) members from the Owensboro community during a Chamber of Commerce Breakfast. We are on course to enroll the largest number of in-person students at our Owensboro Campus since 2020, including a new cohort of Social Work students.
Last month, I met with nearly two hundred (200) community members in Glasgow and Barren County at their Chamber Breakfast. Projected to achieve a five-year enrollment high this semester, we are seeing a sharp increase in the number of students choosing to study on campus in Glasgow. More students means more class offerings. So, this fall we will offer twenty-four (24) additional course sections in Glasgow compared to just one year ago.
And in Somerset, thirty (30) students are enrolled in the Elementary Education program – a program we launched just two years ago to combat the teacher shortage in Kentucky.
The impressive growth at our Regional Campuses requires commitment from many across our university - each academic college, each faculty member who provides quality instruction and builds relationships, each member of our regional campus staff and more. Thank you to all those who continue this important work beyond our main campus in Bowling Green – creating new opportunities for place bound students, strengthening our service region and elevating our communities.
Confidence in Higher Ed
Finally, as we begin this semester, we do so in a context in which some in society are questioning the value of major U.S. institutions nationally and losing confidence in many of the important arbiters of civil society.
The percentage of Kentucky high school students continuing their education after high school has decreased from fifty-nine-point seven percent (59.7%) in 2015 to fifty-three-point three percent (53.3%) in 2022 – nearly nine percent (9%) below the national going college rate.
Additionally, survey respondents indicate that their confidence in higher education has dwindled from fifty seven percent (57%) to thirty six percent (36%) in just eight (8) years. Polarization, cynicism and the lingering effects of the pandemic and Great Recession all feed these perspectives.
But the issue goes beyond perception, with cascading implications for universities broadly but also for us specifically.
If you don’t believe that a four-year degree will produce returns over a lifetime, even though we know there is an economic benefit and that by 2030 the majority of “good jobs” will require one, you won’t encourage young people to attend college.
We, as universities, have been granted a privileged position in the U.S. because of that historical trust and confidence in us. We also have been buffered from some of the oversight and intrusion from outsiders, precisely because of the historical trust placed in us.
And at a time when the value of higher education is being questioned, we must remain true to our mission and advocate for what we contribute to society. That we are essential to continuing the region's economic growth and diversification; that for us to meet the workforce needs of South-central Kentucky we need more students graduating college.
Beyond that, we must articulate that we equip students to engage civilly and civically; to weigh all sides of an issue; to think critically; to utilize data to guide decision making; and to base arguments on evidence, not feelings.
And at the same time, hear this from me. We will remain the same institution of access and opportunity that we have been since our institution’s founding and President Cherry’s commitment that no matter one’s economic condition or station in life, if you want to pursue a college degree, we will do everything in our power to make it possible for you.
We will continue our focus on creating what we call ONE WKU. It’s not just about programs, initiatives or activities. It’s about fostering a sense of belonging. It’s about ensuring that every individual who comes to our campus – to study, to teach, to live, to compete or just to visit – finds their place and recognizes they are an essential part of our community.
Our students can’t be successful without a sense of belonging. Our faculty and staff can’t be successful without a sense of belonging. And our alumni – and all those who come to our Hill – won’t feel welcomed unless they know that they also belong.
This has been our core mission since our founding more than a century ago, and we will remain steadfast and unwavering in accomplishing it, no matter the challenges and pressures we face.
Spirit of WKU
And now, my favorite part of Convocation - recognizing our Spirit of WKU Award winner - an individual selected for representing enthusiasm for WKU; loyalty to the institution; and principles of the WKU Experience and its motto, “The Spirit Makes the Master.”
Since joining WKU in 2013, this year’s recipient has shared what one nominator described as “contagious enthusiasm” and a “spirit of positive possibility” within our campus community and beyond.
He works to ensure that all students know they belong at WKU, and he has an unwavering commitment to student success. One of his favorite expressions is “don’t be sorry, be better.”
Letters of support noted that “his passion and exuberant attitude about higher education and our students spread to everyone he collaborates with, making our Hill stand a little taller and shine a light brighter” and that he “succeeds as a teacher, colleague, and administrator because he cares for people” and “he has a way of making other people feel seen and heard because he takes the time to see and hear them.”
With that, please help me congratulate Dr. Marko Dumančić! Marko, if you will, please join me on the stage at this time.
Dr. Dumančić’s journey began in the 1990s when his family fled war-torn Yugoslavia for the United States. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history at Connecticut College and his master’s and Ph.D. in history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
As a faculty member, he transformed the History Department’s teaching and curriculum to make them more inclusive. He received the 2017 Faculty Award for Teaching for his student-driven, student-focused content. He has published numerous research articles and authored Men Out of Focus, an award-winning book on the cultural history of 1960s-era Soviet film.
Dr. Dumančić serves as Director of the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning and as Assistant Provost for Faculty Development and Human Success. He played a major role in developing our Living Learning Communities and is a founding member of the committee that organizes WKU’s annual Lavender Recognition Ceremony. He provides active leadership for WKU’s First Gen initiatives and has a passion for providing first-generation students with the resources and support they need to thrive.
Colleagues, please join me in congratulating the 2024 Spirit of WKU award recipient, Dr. Marko Dumančić!
Closing
Thank you for joining me this morning to reflect and to look toward to this academic year and beyond. We have many successes to celebrate as an institution and many more to celebrate in the future.
So, let’s get to it. Have a great year and…Go Tops!
WKU President Timothy C. Caboni
President Caboni's Convocation Speech - August 12, 2024
Award announced during Convocation:
Spirit of WKU
Dr. Marko Dumančić
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