Bell Lecture Series

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HISTORY OF BELL LECTURE SERIES

In the late 1990’s, the state of Kentucky created the Brains for Bucks initiative, matching state funds with private donations to create endowments supporting critical initiatives at Kentucky universities. The WKU president at the time, Dr. Gary Ransdell, quickly seized upon the opportunity to expand upon the existing strengths of WKU by creating matching opportunities for programs around the campus. One of these opportunities was the Bell Fund for Civil Engineering which was established in June of 2000.  A gift from the Bell family was matched to create a total $250,000 endowment.

The mission of the endowment is stated to be:

“This fund provides program specific support for the Civil Engineering program. The fund supports a lecture series in the area of civil engineering, bringing prominent international and national professionals to WKU. Funds not utilized for the lectureship may be allocated for faculty and student development.”

Various talks were featured in the past, some to great acclaim, but over the past few years the second purpose of the endowment has overshadowed the main purpose of the lecture series. No one holds the position of the Bell Fund, so in this 20th anniversary year of the Bell Fund, the endowed engineering chairs and professors requested and received responsibility to ensure the Bell Lecture series is restarted and sustained. Our current plan is two talks per year.

For more information on the Bell Lecture Series, please contact the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, seas@wku.edu