WKU News

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is expanding its two civil engineering scholarship programs to now include a third construction management scholarship.  These programs provide tuition assistance, hands-on experience and guaranteed employment after graduation.

“It's a great time to be a civil engineering or construction management student at Western Kentucky University,” said Jason Wilson, Civil Engineering & Construction Management Program Coordinator. 

KYTC will award up to 30 new scholarships for the 2022-2023 school year to prospective and current college students pursuing civil engineering and engineering technology degrees. The application deadline is Feb. 1, 2023.

“Scholarships are a proven pipeline to recruit talented and experienced students to join our team,” said Secretary Jim Gray. “We’re thrilled to expand our scholarship program to invest in students seeking construction management degrees that develop critical skills needed in the industry to manage projects of all sizes.”

The new Construction Management Scholarship is for students focusing on a four-year construction management degree who attend a number of Kentucky universities including Western Kentucky University.  A limited number of scholarships will be offered and they will be worth up to $59,200 (also ranging from $7,200 to $7,600 per semester).

Programs also include the Civil Engineering Scholarship for students focusing on a four-year engineering degree and the Civil Engineering Technology Scholarship, which was established in 2009 and partners with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS).

All three of these scholarships provide employment during the summer and job placement at KYTC after graduation. Scholarship recipients agree to work for KYTC for a year for every year they received the scholarship. Former scholarship recipients have held top management positions at KYTC including multiple state highway engineers, chief district engineers and branch managers.

“Currently, our region and the Commonwealth of Kentucky are experiencing unprecedented growth, and the KYTC scholarship provides students seeking a degree in civil engineering and construction management an excellent opportunity to contribute to that growth while completing their degree,” said Wilson. “This hands-on experience provided by KYTC, coupled with our project-based curriculums at WKU, has led to many of our alumni having successful careers within KYTC. WKU appreciates the partnership with KYTC, not only for the scholarship opportunity but their continued involvement with all our CE and CM students.”

Scholarship recipients will be notified in April.

For more information about these scholarships and other educational opportunities, please visit https://transportation.ky.gov/Education/ or call (502) 564-3730.