The newsletter for the WKU community
January 22, 2021
Forensics Team member wins top overall speaker at semester's first tournament
From left: WKU Forensics Team members Samantha Sallee, Kellin Robinson, Derek Collins and Paige Allbright.

The WKU Forensics Team opened its spring semester with a strong individual performance by senior Derek Collins, who won top overall speaker at the “Hell Froze Over XXII Swing,” a virtual tournament hosted by Bradley University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Long considered a bellwether of the upcoming national events, HFO is one of the largest tournaments of the invitational season.

To win top overall speaker at the tournament, Collins was a finalist in all his events and placed in the top three in all finals, including three championships. As a team, WKU finished third at the first half of the swing and fifth at the second half.
Sustainability efforts earn recognition
WKU’s sustainability efforts have earned recognition again in the University of Indonesia GreenMetric World University Rankings. In the overall 2020 rankings, WKU was recognized as the 385th World’s Most Sustainable University out of 912 universities from 84 countries. WKU ranked 15th out of 33 U.S. universities invited to participate.
CLIMBING HIGHER
WKU photojournalism graduates Silas Walker and Michelle Hanks finished in the top 10 of the first multimedia competition of the 2020-2021 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Learn More
Open forum for Provost finalist
Four finalists have been selected for the position of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and will be participating in on-campus interviews. The first is Dr. Susan Mumm, the Former Principal at Brescia University in London, Ontario, Canada. An open forum begins at 2 p.m. Monday in the Downing Student Union Auditorium or via Zoom.
Spotlight: Becky Tabor
WKU graduate and retiree Becky Tabor has earned Emeritus status. She was nominated by the Dental Hygiene program in 2019 after serving as a faculty member and retiring after providing five years of transitional retirement.
WKU Graduate School to host Three Minute Thesis competition
The WKU Graduate School will host its inaugural 3MT® competition in February. The 3MT® competition is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. Virtual information sessions will be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 28 and Feb. 3.
WKU to host 40th Annual Mathematics Symposium
The 40th Annual Mathematics Symposium at Western Kentucky University will be held virtually from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 20. Featured speakers are James Harrington of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Professor Stacey Smith? of University of Ottawa, Canada. Registration is free. The symposium is sponsored by the WKU Department of Mathematics, Ogden College of Science and Engineering, and The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky.
View from the Hill
The spring semester is underway at WKU and administrators are reminding students not to let their guard down when it comes to COVID-19. WKU’s Amy Bingham looks at what’s being done to remain Healthy on the Hill in this week’s View from the Hill.
Athletics
January
22
Friday
Lady Topper Basketball

Lady Topper Basketball will host Middle Tennessee at 6 tonight and 6 p.m. Saturday at Diddle Arena. Learn More
January
24
Sunday
WKU Volleyball

WKU Volleyball will host Mercer at 11 a.m. Sunday and Bellarmine at 6 p.m. Sunday at Diddle Arena. Learn More
January
24
Sunday
Hardin Planetarium Show

Perseverance to Reach Mars will be presented at 2 p.m. Sunday at WKU’s Hardin Planetarium. Learn More
More events: Check WKU Events calendar or follow @wkuevents on Instagram
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