The newsletter for the WKU community
February 14, 2023
President's Message: Retention Success
Dear Colleagues,

The rate at which students continue their education with us, semester to semester and year to year, demonstrates continued progress toward our goal of an 80% first-year retention rate outlined in our strategic plan, Climbing to Greater Heights. It is evidence of your commitment to provide an unparalleled academic experience for our students – from extraordinary instruction and hands-on application to residential life, campus engagement and more. While we have celebrated tremendous gains in student retention during the last several years, today I am happy to share with you a few new record-breaking (fall 2022-to-spring 2023) retention achievements:

  • Overall, 85.1% of our fall undergraduate, degree-seeking students returned this spring, the highest percentage since WKU began tracking this data in 2010.
  • 91.1% of our first-time, first-year students returned, representing a 4.8 percentage point increase since the 2017-2018 academic year and the highest returning percentage for this population since tracking began in 2010.
  • Our underrepresented minority students returned at a rate of 90.8%, an increase of more than 10 percentage points since the 2017-2018 academic year and the highest overall percentage for this group since 2011.
CLIMBING HIGHER
By Parties Unknown, a WKU PBS documentary that explores the story of a lynching in Russellville, will be distributed nationwide this month with a reach of 246.5 million people. Learn More
The WKU Forensics Team captured the team sweepstakes championship at a tournament held virtually by St. Anselm College on February 11. Learn More
Spotlight: Warren-Brooks Award
Climate and the Making of Worlds: Toward a Geohistorical Poetics, written by UC Davis professor Tobias Menely, is the 2022 winner of the Robert Penn Warren-Cleanth Brooks Award for outstanding literary scholarship and criticism.
WKU Biology professor receives two research grants
Dr. Ajay Srivastava, Professor in the WKU Department of Biology and Associate Director of the WKU Applied Research and Technology Program, has received two KY NSF EPSCoR grants. The first was a KY NSF EPSCoR Research Award for his proposal titled Further Characterization of a Basement Membrane Associated Protein encoding Gene in Drosophila melanogaster. The second was a KY NSF EPSCoR Research Instruments and Equipment (RIE) Award for his proposal titled Acquisition of a Stereo Fluorescence dissection microscope for matrix centered research projects in the Srivastava lab at WKU.
Gatton Academy student semifinalist for scholarship
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation announced the selection of 626 high school seniors as semifinalists for the distinguished Cooke College Scholarship Program, including Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science and Caverna High School senior Kenyan Wood.
Gatton Academy student earns award for prose, poetry
While students at The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science are typically known for their talents and passions in the STEM fields, Gatton Academy and Bowling Green High School student Ariti Gani has additional interests in writing and poetry. The high school junior has been writing stories from a young age and is now receiving attention for her essays and poems.
Hearts on The Hill
WKU C.A.R.E.S. program earns student success award
The WKU Coaching for Academic Readiness Excellence & Success (WKU C.A.R.E.S.) program has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 UPCEA Excellence in Advancing Student Success Award. The program was chosen because of its contribution to furthering best practices of adult learner student success through innovative, creative, and sustainable measures.
Screenwriter shares tips as part of Creative Writing series
On February 6, William Akers spoke students in Cherry Hall 125 as a part of the Creative Writing Reading Series. Akers spoke not only about screenwriting, but about life after college and the ins and outs of the job field. Akers is the author of Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 Ways to Make It Great. He has been a professor of filmmaking and screenwriting at Vanderbilt University and helped form Belmont University’s Motion Pictures department which was named a Variety top 30 Film School.
OCSE announces passing of Dr. George Vourvopoulos
From WKU's Ogden College of Science and Engineering: It is with great sadness that we share the loss of retired professor Dr. George Vourvopoulos. He passed away on February 3, 2023, at age 86. Dr. Vourvopoulos’s career in nuclear physics led him to Western Kentucky University in 1983 where he was a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. In 1994, he established the Applied Physics Institute (API) at WKU.
Basketball Event Parking
WKU Parking and Transportation Services has a reminder for the campus community about event parking for Lady Topper Basketball games Thursday night and Saturday afternoon. 
WKU Week in Photos
Whether meeting with future Hilltoppers or connecting with our community, a week on the Hill is always filled with exciting events! Catch a glimpse of what happened on the Hill this week in the latest installment of WKU Week in Photos by Clinton Lewis, Carol Coronado, Katie Crable and Mary Bidwell.
Athletics
February
15
Wednesday
Global Fest

WKU Global Learning and International Affairs will present Global Fest from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Honors College and International Center. Learn More
February
16
Thursday
IdeaFestival

The Center for Gifted Studies will host IdeaFestival Bowling Green at 8 a.m. Thursday at Downing Student Union. Learn More
February
16
Thursday
Faculty Senate

The WKU Faculty Senate will meet at 3:45 p.m. Thursday via Zoom. Learn More
Western Kentucky University 
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Bowling Green, KY 42101