UA3/9/1 Western Kentucky University Annual Report WKU President's Office

Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® WKU Archives Records WKU Archives 2003 UA3/9/1 Western Kentucky University Annual Report WKU President's Office Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_records Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation WKU President's Office, "UA3/9/1 Western Kentucky University Annual Report" (2003). WKU Archives Records. Paper 1737. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_records/1737 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in WKU Archives Records by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY 2002/2003 ANNUAL REPORT Table of Contents 2 Letter from the President 4 Academic Prominence/Student Success 7 Campus Construction and Renovation 8 Faculty/ Staff Accolades 10 Economic Development/Sponsored Resea rch and Public Service 13 Private Fundraising 14 Athletic Accomplishments 16 Leadership COVER PHOTO BV SHERYL HAGAN ·BOOTH WKU· PR INTING PAID FROM STATE rUNOS. KRS $7.375 Letter from the President population to fund the costs associated with growth , but student tuition alone does not cover the cost of educa t ing students. According to the CPE funding formula, public universities should expec t tu ition to account for approximately 37 perce nt of total revenue, with the remaining 63 percent to come from the state. Currently, state appropriations account for on ly 4 I percen t of our funding. Tuition revenue at Western is nearing to the point where it is equal to state appropriated revenue. Academic Quality In an effort to address the pressures our faculty face from unfunded enrollment growth, the Board of Regents recently took a first step by authorizing a major aca demic quality/student success initiative. This initiative will create new full-time faculty positions, reduce the number of part-time faculty positions, strengthen academic operating and professional development budgets, improve classrooms and instructional technol ogy, increase need and merit-based student aid, in crease graduate student stipend s, create student success Dr. Gary A. Ransdell cen ters and expand the instructional and student service space in the Community College. On behalf of the Board of Regents, it is with great In spi te of the challenges, many academ ic programs pleasure that I present Western Kentucky Unive rsity's at Western continued to garner national recognition. 200212003 Annual Report. This document renects upon The School of Journalism and Broadcasting, a Program the significa nt accomplishments of the past academic of Distinction in Kentucky, achieved national promi year, and looks toward to the challenges th at lie ahead. nence by placing in th e top three of the Wi lliam Randolph Hearst Foundation national academic rankings in each of the past fi ve years; the William E. Enrollment Growth Western Kentucky University continues to be the Bivin Forensic Society completed an unprecedented fastest growing university in Kentucky. Si nce Higher sweep of th e four major national and international Education Reform legislation passed in 1987, we have debate titles in 200212003; the College Heights Herald nearly doubled our appl ica nt pool to over I 1,000 and received its 10th national Pace maker award, top prize grown our enrollment by 3,700 students. Enrollment for for college newspapers; and our civil engineering this fa ll reached an all-time high of 18,39 I. Clearly, students finished sixth in the national concrete ca noe Western Kentucky Universi ty has become a university of design competi tion. In 2003, Western added two initiatives - the choice in Ke ntucky. However, Western has not received the state Ameri ca n Democracy Project and the American funding needed to cover the cost of educating our Humanics Program - to improve the Western experi additional students. According to the most recent data ence and increase civic engagement among stud ents. available from the Council for Postsecondary Education benchmark-funding model, Western is underfunded Investing in the Spirit:The Campaign for Western from the state by $42.9 million. To compound the Another tangible sign of our success is the generous matter, three of the last four years have meant actual financial support by alumni and friends for the Univer reductions in appropriations. Western has re lied on si ty. Five years ago, we announced an ambitious goa l of additional tuition generated by the growing student - 3 - $78 million for peopl e, places, and programs through ce nters in the life and physical sciences is lead ing the our Investing in the Spirit Campaign. We have met and way in the identification and solving of problems in our surpassed that goal. At the conclusion of the ca mpaign region. Our Center for Research and Development has the remarka ble total of $ 102 million was announced. also been developed to serve as a business incubator, From this effort, $29 million fo r new endowed sc holar and rec ruit New Economy businesses. ships was raised, 27 new endowed professorships were funded, and our endowment more than doubled to $56 Athletics million. Athletics experienced perhaps its greatest overall Wh ile the ca mpaign has been a great success, there level of accomplishments in 200212003. For the second is sti ll work to be done to address remaining unmet straight year, Western won the Sun Bel t Conference's needs in endowed faculty support, instructi onal technol Vic Bubas Cup, representati ve of overall excellence in ogy, cultural enhancement, unive rsity libraries, and the athleti cs. The football team won the 2002 NCAA Divi Kentucky Museum. sion I-AA National Championship. The men and women's ba sketball tea ms and the volleyball team each Capital Improvements won their Sun Be lt Conference to urnaments and Despite the lack of state money for capital projec ts, represented Western proudly in their respective NCAA the physica l campu s tournaments. The continues to be women's swim transformed. Of Ihe ming and diving approximately $ 165 team and the men's million in const ruction outdoor track and projects that have field squad also been recently com won Sun Belt pleted or are curren tly Conference underway, only the championshi ps. As Mass Media and outstanding as our Tec hnology Hall ($ 18.5 stu dent -athletes million) which opened were on the courts this fall, the Complex and fields, they for Engineering and were also success Biological Sciences ful in the cl ass ($20 million) which is rooms. Forty now under const ruc percent earn ed a ti on, plu s so me 3.0 or better GPA deferred maintenance Downing University Center and 26 had a projects totaling about $3 million, were fun ded by the perfect 4.0 in th e spring 2003 semester. state. Other projects, such as the renovation of Diddle This is an extremely exciting and encouragi ng time Arena ($29 million), residence halls ($45 million), for Western Kentucky University. Si nce launching the campus dining fac ilities ($3.5 million), and parking Challenging the Spirit strategic plan in 1998, the Unive r improvements ($ 15 millionl were funded by good sity has made great strides toward our goal of becoming bu siness practices and student support. the best comprehensive public inst itution in Ke ntucky, and among th e best in the nation. For those of you who ha ve had a hand in Ollr Sllccess, YOll have my sincere Economic Development Western Ke ntucky u nive rsity is at the forefront in gratitude. For those of you w ho ha ve not experi enced the "Spirit of Western" I encourage you to join us. nurturing an entrepreneurial sp irit in Sou th Central Kentucky and beyond. We have worked diligently to establ ish partnerships w ith chambers of commerce, the Si lCerely, Cabinet for Economic Development and other economic development organizations, along with our faculty, students and industry to produce a trained workforce, facili tate tec hnology transfer, and encourage commer Gary A. Rans ell cialization opportunities. A se ri es of applied research Pres id ent - 4 - Academic Prominence/Student Success Western KentuckY University is making a transformation from a univer Western's pass rate and rank I raling sity traditionally characterized as regional to a university ofn ational promi on the Praxis II exam for 200 1-02 nence. helped earn the University an Western's vision is to be the best comprehensive public institution in excellent raling on the Quality Kentucky and among the best in the natioll. Performance Index. In the other two The fastest growing university in KentUCky, Western has become a components, Western had a 99 university ofchoice for students. perce nt pass rate on the 2000-03 Western has experienced a 24 percent increase in enrollment over jive Ken tucky Teacher Internship yeats, including a record 18,391 in the fall of2003. Program and a high score on the High -achieving students led by 2002-03 New Teacher Survey. quality and dedicated faCUlty mem Western is the only public institution bers are building a national and to achieve an excellent rating. international reputation for academic programs at Western. Western's civil engineering concrete canoe team remains among the best in the nation with a The Talisman yearbook received sixth-place finish in nalional second place in Best in Show for competition in Phi ladelphia. "illu yearbooks with fewer than 300 sion," built by students, won the pages. The 2003 Ta lisman was Ohio Va lley regiona l competition in Western 's fi rst yearbook in six years. the spring and advanced to the 2003 National Concrete Ca noe Competi With a 99 percent pass rate, tion at Drexel unive rsity.

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