WKU President delivers annual address to faculty and staff

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -In his annual faculty and staff convocation address Monday morning, WKU President Timothy C. Caboni reflected on the previous school year and looked ahead to the coming year.

Caboni discussed the progress on the university’s fifth year of its strategic plan.

Climbing to Greater Heights is the university’s 10 year plan serving as a roadmap to all WKU activities.

He discussed creating a group to examine the program’s progress and figure out where improvements are needed and what other directions they can take.

Additionally, the president also spoke about construction on campus.

“We’re in the process of completely transforming the hilltop, taking the opportunity with the removal of the Garrett Conference Center, to reimagine what the top of the hill looks like and really trying to return it to President Cherry’s initial vision for an oval academic village at the top of our hill,” he said.

The address included announcements about the university’s fundraising efforts and put a spotlight on the university’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team.

“We’re really excited for us to come back together as a community,” Caboni said. “It’s been a while. All the changes because of COVID created an opportunity for us to learn a lot of things but the thing we learned the most was that being together is crucial for us to be successful.”

After the convocation address, Caboni awarded the 2022 Spirit of WKU Award to Dr. Martha Sales, Dean of Students and Assistant Vice President for Student life.

Sales, who has been with the University for over 24 years, also serves as Executive Director of TRIO Programs and the Intercultural Student Engagement Center.

“It’s going to be a fun semester, some new things happening, but the reality is what’s most exciting about the beginning of the school year is us all convening together again for the first time in a while, so we’re very excited to get the semester started,” said Caboni.

Monday was move in day for students and classes officially begin on Aug. 22.