WKU News

It’s been 10 years since nearly 140 acres of land was dedicated to WKU by the family of Hardin Field McChesney Sr.

The addition of a new pavilion is going to take the learning opportunity to a whole new level as WKU’s Amy Bingham explains in this week’s View from the Hill. 

“McChesney Field Campus is applied learning realized.”

Located along the Green River in north Warren County, the McChesney Field Campus is used by a variety of students at WKU.

“Archaeology and folk studies, we’ve had geography and geology, recreation administration. Just a lot of faculty and a lot of students have made a footprint, a huge impact.”

That’s exactly what Field McChesney hoped for when the land was dedicated back in 2009.

“We hope that everybody on the hill,  every discipline, every department will figure out some way to use it.”

Now it’s time for the next phase.  The Mary McChesney Kindell pavilion, named after McChesney’s older sister, will include storage space, classroom space and restrooms. (Read more about the project.)

“We didn’t just want a picnic shelter type of thing.”

Over the past decade students have added a nearly four-mile walking trail and used lots of outdoor classroom space.

“This pavilion will allow us to have some storage, allow us to have some opportunities to do research as well and we’ll have the opportunity to attract different disciplines and a larger student base and faculty base.”

New Dean of the College of Health and Human Services Tania Basta says she would love to see a residential facility added in the future.

“Obviously our students here then could be the ones running the show and so they could get the experience with hotel, tourism.

"Could be working with the Gordon Ford College of Business and running the actual business side of it.”

A fitting legacy for a family who have had six generations at WKU since Field’s father moved here in 1927 to teach.

“The stories they told and how the property was just ingrained in part of the McChesney family.  They remember vividly the times they would go out there with their parents.”

Construction on the Mary McChesney Kindell Pavilion will begin in the spring and it should be operational by fall of 2020.