The newsletter for the WKU community
June 18, 2020
President's Message: Big Red Restart update
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:

During the last two weeks, our four Restart WKU Committees reviewed the terrific feedback provided by our WKU Community on our Big Red Restart plan. We appreciate your engagement and personal investment to ensure our reopening plan both protects the health and wellbeing of all those on our campuses and provides the unique WKU Experience.
 
After reviewing your feedback, we have clarified the questions and concerns that were prevalent throughout the forms. The committees’ responses to those recurring themes are below:
 
Why was the academic calendar modified?
The calendar was modified to mitigate the anticipated flare-up of COVID-19 cases consistent with the yearly return of cold and flu season. Observing Fall Break, as well as Labor Day, during the Thanksgiving week and moving to remote delivery for the last two weeks of the semester allows the maximum number of in-person class meetings prior to cold and flu season, mitigates community spread as a function of personal travel and allows faculty ample time to plan for a successful student learning experience and final assessment.

How will students’ tuition be affected if their class(es) move from face-to-face to online?
We are taking actions that are in the best interest of our students, even when it is more difficult for us as an institution, being mindful that we don’t place the financial burden stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic on our students or their families. As a reminder, we will NOT increase tuition for the 2020-21 academic year, and we have waived (for one year) the distance learning course fee. To be clear, this also means that if students’ on-campus classes are switched to online modality, by WKU or due to personal choice, their tuition assessment will remain at the on-campus rate.
5 recognized in Fulbright competition
Two WKU students have been named Finalists for Fulbright US Student Grants for the 2020-21 academic year by the US Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. An additional three have been designated alternates. They are among over 2100 graduating seniors and recent graduates nationwide selected this year on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields.
CLIMBING HIGHER
Dr. Amy Brausch, professor in WKU’s Department of Psychological Sciences , has been elected as Research Division Chair and Board Member for the American Association of Suicidology. Learn More
Ron DeMarse has been named Interim Director of WKU's School of Media . DeMarse has served as an Associate Professor in Broadcasting for the school since 2013. Learn More
Allison Denny of Erlanger, who graduated this spring with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Visual Studies, is one of 10 recipients of the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance’s 2020 Dianne Komminsk Scholarship for outstanding student achievement in sculpture. Pictured is Denny's work Introspective Souvenirs . Learn More
WKU freshman honored as top speaker in debate competition
WKU Forensics Team member Andre Swai, a freshman from Springfield, Missouri, won top speaker at the NFA Lincoln-Douglas Debate Grand Prix in a virtual setting.
4 incoming freshmen named Alumni Leadership Scholars
Four incoming WKU freshmen were awarded a four-year renewable scholarship totaling $8,000, $2,000 per year, as part of the WKU Alumni Association’s Alumni Leadership Scholars program.
Spring Dean's/President's Lists
WKU has released the honors lists for the spring 2020 semester. Full-time undergraduate students with a semester grade-point average of 3.4 to 3.79 are named to the Dean’s List. Students with a GPA of 3.8 to 4.0 are named to the President’s List.
Spotlight: Drew Logsdon
Drew Logsdon, a 2009 WKU graduate from Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, was recently elected as the 90th President of the Fraternity Communications Association. “I would not be where I am personally or professionally without my WKU experience,” he said. “I owe many of my achievements to the faculty who challenged me, the friends who encouraged me, the Student Affairs folks who supported me, and the Hill that taught me that anything worth reaching is worth climbing up every day."
Scholarship established in honor of Black Lives Matter
Juan Dozier recently made a gift to WKU to establish the Juan H. D. Dozier II Scholarship in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement. “I want to assist individuals who seek to become leaders in their field of study and in their community. If we want to see change occur, it must start with us and our ability to lead other individuals," Dozier said.
Scholarship honors legacy of WKU faculty member's parents
Dr. Janet Tassell and Brad Tassell have established a scholarship in memory of Dr. Tassell’s parents, Paul and Dee Ann (Oxley) Hagemeyer of Stendal, Ind. The Paul and Dee Ann Hagemeyer Scholarship will support students from southern Indiana who are pursuing a degree in education. “Having the opportunity to promote becoming an educator and to honor my parents’ history of service was such a great combination,” said Dr. Janet Tassell, an Associate Professor in WKU’s School of Teacher Education. The inaugural recipient of the Paul and Dee Ann Hagemeyer Scholarship is Cole Mohr, an incoming WKU freshman from Ferdinand, Ind.
Professor plants seeds in wilderness & students' minds
As a conservation ecologist and the principal investigator and co-founder of the WKU Green River Preserve, Dr. Albert J. Meier is well-versed in overseeing growth and development in an ecological environment as well as in the minds of his students. 
WKU graduate gained valuable mentoring experience
A student’s passions, dreams and aspirations can often truly be realized with the support of the right professor. At WKU, Jasmine Kelly found a mentor who did just this in Professor Monica Burke.
Alumni offer advice for success
During the months of June and July, WKU will share advice for success from Hilltopper Alumni. Recent profiles featured Christopher Page , the owner of Shake Rag Barbershop, and Brittany Long Blackerby , the owner of Dixieland Boutique. Page, who also serves as the pastor of Center Baptist Church, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies with a minor in African American Studies years after completing barber school. Blackerby earned a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Arts in History with an emphasis in Latin American Studies.
50th annual Student Research Conference held virtually
WKU’s 50th annual Student Research Conference ended up being more unique than organizers ever imagined after COVID-19 prompted its move to a virtual format. WKU’s Amy Bingham explains in the View from the Hill .
WKU Football back on campus, implements safety measures
So far so good. That’s what WKU Football is saying about efforts to keep student athletes safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. WKU’s Amy Bingham shows us the safety measures being taken in the View from the Hill .
Kentucky Museum announces new membership levels
The Kentucky Museum recently revised its Friends membership levels , with annual membership starting at $5 per year. In light of the pandemic and socioeconomic changes in the South-Central Kentucky region, membership levels are now more accessible to all in the community.
Kentucky Folklife Program launches multimedia digital publication
The Kentucky Folklife Program, a part of the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at WKU, is excited to announce the launch of  Kentucky Folklife , a multimedia digital publication dedicated to exploring expressive cultures throughout the Commonwealth. “With the KFP’s ongoing mission to document, present and conserve the traditional arts and diverse cultural heritage of the Commonwealth, this magazine further assists us in sharing the stories of so much fine cultural documentation being done across the state by a host of community caretakers,” KFP Director Brent Bjorkman said.
Joy Marini, Global Director, Women's Health, Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Johnson & Johnson, has been using her training as a Physician Assistant by volunteering with the Medical Reserve Corps, a network of community-based volunteers who are deployed during disasters or emergencies. Marini, who lives in Monroe Township, N.J., has been working at drive-through testing centers in Middlesex County, N.J., testing upwards of 180 people a day and noting a 50 percent positive rate for COVID-19 at one site.

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