Gary Magazine 04/27/17

special thanks from dale augenstein and team steam

a ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are made for. congrats on your next venture as president of semester at sea.

APRIL 27, 2017

A COLLEGE HEIGHTS HERALD SPECIAL EDITION

Table of Contents 20 YEAR REIGN WKU’S FIRST LADY INTERNATIONAL CAPACITY A GROWING BODY A STEADYING HAND GARY SELFIES CONSTRUCTING A COMMUNITY GATEWAYS REFLECTION ON RANSDELL

2 7 12 19 21 27 28 32 36

SPRING 2017 HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD

Lashana Harney Editor-in-chief

Alyse Young Video Editor

Nicole Ares

Digital Managing Editor

Emma Austin News Editor

Andrew Henderson

Jacob Dick

Opinion Editor

Print Managing Editor

Craig Ostertag

Spencer Harsh

Design Editor

Copy Desk Chief

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Evan Heichelbech

Shaban Athuman

Mhari Shaw

Andrew Critchelow

Sports Editor

Assist. Photo Editor

Photo Editor

Features Editor

20 Year Reign President Gary Ransdell has covered a lot of ground over his 20 year tenure. Here are a few snapshots of his time on and off the Hill.

H

e parked right outside the heavilyguarded gate. After getting out of the car, President Gary Ransdell reached into his backseat and pulled out a customized camouflage jacket, complete with a WKU patch.

Ransdell visited WKU ROTC students at Fort Knox on July 2, 2014, to check in during their Leader Development and Assessment Course.

“This is a good affirmation for me to actually see what skills they’re learning and how to apply them,” Ransdell said. “They’re learning confidence in reallife situations, how to deal with adversity, how to approach an enemy and how to ensure safety for each other and consequently, our nation.”.

Story by Tanner Cole/ Photo by Harrison Hill

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resident Gary Ransdell fastens his gloves before boarding the Golden Knights plane. He was preparing for a dramatic entrance from the crisp November sky into the Hilltopper football game.

“Is it a bird? Is it a plane?” No, it was Ransdell parachuting from the sky to deliver the game ball for the WKU vs.

Army game in 2014.

Photo by Jake Pope

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Photo by Ian Maule

P

resident Gary Ransdell and assistant men's basketball Coach David Boyden celebrates WKU's victory of Florida International in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game to clinch a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Photo by Andrew Otto

I

t was December 4, 2000 and sitting with faces of puzzlement and perhaps dismay, a panel listened to a question from Louisville sophomore Justin Hamilton Salem regarding the possibility of a film major at WKU. The Perspectives telecast event featured President Gary Ransdell, the Dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business Robert Jefferson and the Vice President of Student Affairs and Campus Services Gene Tice.

Best of luck,

Gary Ransdell

Wishing you the best from your friends at Topper Corner!

in your future adventures

Toppper Corner •360 8th Ave. •Stadium park plaza• •bowling green, ky 42101 • (270)• 745 •3580• @wkuTopperCorner

Thank you,

Gary,

for supporting local businesses!

WKU’s First Lady Julie Ransdell plays an integral role in WKU’s community.

Story by Elisabeth Moore

At 6:30 a.m. Julie Ransdell takes her dogs, Spirit and Tsavo, on a walk through campus. For the past 12 years she had been joined each day by her friend, Ann Allen. “We do it early because we need to do it before work and it is a good way to start the day,” Ransdell said.

Photo by Emily Twardowski/HERALD

B

ehind every great man, there is a great woman, especially at WKU. One great woman is Julie Ransdell, first lady and self-proclaimed mother of WKU. Julie first arrived at WKU to work toward her bachelor of science degree in elementary education, which she graduated with in 1975. While Julie was a student, she met Gary Ransdell at a mixer that eventually led to them dating.

Though Julie said she was not interested in him at first, the Ransdells decided to date and marry during their time at WKU. “Julie is a partner with Dr. Ransdell in every definition of the word,” Julie Hinson, president of the WKU Alumni Association and founding member of

the WKU Sisterhood, said. “Julie has transformed the idea of a university president’s wife. I love that when she feels it is warranted that she will advise Dr. Ransdell, whether he wants to hear it or not.”

When the Ransdells first became a part of WKU as president and first lady, Julie stayed in Florida with one of her sons while he finished high school. From then on, Julie joined her family at WKU, which became their permanent home for the next 20 years.

“The first time I met them, quite frankly, was probably when they first came to WKU,” Kristen Miller said, co-chair for the WKU Sisterhood. “I was on the WKU search committee my senior year. Julie Ransdell is one of those people that

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when you know her, you feel like you know her forever.”

At the beginning of their reign at WKU, the Ransdells decided to become a major part of student and campus life.

One of the first things Julie remembers doing on campus is visiting many of the sports games that are held each week.

“I hope that, along the way, I helped some of these students find their purpose in life, what they are going to do with their life,” Julie said. “I’ve enjoyed, especially when I had an empty nest and no children at home. I’ve had 20,000 children.”

Currently, Julie spends most of her time visiting student events, sports games and hosting campus visitors.

Julie is an avid traveler, pursuing a study

WKU President Gary Ransdell embraces his wife Julie during halftime of the WKU basketball senior night on March 4 in Diddle Arena.

Photo by Silas Walker/HERALD

abroad trip every year.

While first lady at WKU, Julie has visited Rome, the Galapagos Islands and Africa.

Julie is currently a founding member and co-chair of the WKU Sisterhood. The WKU Sisterhood was created by Julie and a few other members to contribute to those who are most involved on and around campus. Once the Ransdells leave WKU, Julie’s position at the WKU Sisterhood will be given to the newest first lady, Kacy Caboni.

Founded in 2010, the WKU Sisterhood is made up of faculty, staff, alumnae and others who are dedicated to contributing to the WKU community. Each member makes an annual donation of $1000 per fiscal year and non-members can also make contributions. These donations go into grants for various campus organizations every year. The WKU Sisterhood donated nearly $36,000 to

campus organizations in 2015.

Some of the donations over the years have gone toward organizations such as the the WKU Department of Music, the Department of Counseling and Student Services and Women in Transition. Julie was recognized last October at the Summit Awards for her work with WKU Sisterhood, receiving a Distinguished Service Medal.

Miller said the WKU Sisterhood has made great strides for the WKU community.

“We are a group of all women philanthropists that pool our resources together and each year we pick one or more organizations, departments, professors who apply to us for funding for different programs,” Miller said. “I really loved the idea of it about that group of women coming together and really bringing together their experience on campus and in life generally.”

“We are a group of all women philanthropists that pool our resources together and each year we pick one or more organizations, departments, professors who apply to us for funding for different programs.”

Co-Chair for the WKU Sisterhood Kristen Miller

Julie Ransdell waits after a men’s basketball game against Louisiana -Monroe at Diddle Arena.

Photo by Evan Sisley/HERALD

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There are many stories that have come about from the Ransdells’ time at WKU and every person around Julie and Gary seem to have their own favorite anecdote from the past 20 years. Deborah Wilkins, General Counsel for WKU, said she remembers back to when Julie first arrived at WKU and she always had one favorite story about her.

“Gary and Julie were hosting an event at the President’s Home on Chestnut Street,” Wilkins said. “One of the attendees was a former boyfriend from Julie’s college years. Gary said, ‘Just think Julie, you could have been

Gary and Julie Ransdell pose last fall in front of the President’s House.

Their house has hosted numerous events, conversations and dinners over the 20 years Gary has been president. Photo by Michelle Hanks /HERALD

married to him.’ Julie, not missing a beat, replied, ‘Yes, and he would have been President of WKU.’” If Julie was not the first lady, she said she would continue down her elementary education career path.

“You know, there are similarities there in that when I was teaching school, I was working with students and doing things and that has been like the last 20 years here,” Julie said. “I’ve been working with students and helping them get on their way.”

After their retirement, Julie has plans that will allow her to stay in touch

with WKU. Being a part of the Alumni Association and having tickets for the WKU football and basketball seasons are a few ways the Ransdells will keep in touch with WKU. Julie also plans on attending the WKU volleyball games as well as the other various athletic teams on campus.

“I was a Chi Omega when I was here and it was very hard to do much with them without showing favoritism,” Julie said.” So, I am hoping that I can get involved with the Chi Omega alumni.”

Outside of WKU life, the Ransdells will be traveling between their house

in Bowling Green and Colorado, where Gary will be working as CEO and president of the Semester at Sea Study Abroad Program until he fully retires.

Julie also plans on visiting her children in Florida. In short term plans, the Ransdells plan on taking a river cruise over the summer with friends to celebrate their retirement.

“I will miss campus in general, but I will also miss the students,” Julie said.

“That will be the biggest thing. That’s why we are all here, it’s for the students.

I will miss seeing the students day in and day out.”

“I will miss campus in general but I will also miss the students. That will be the biggest thing. That’s why we are all here, it’s for the students. I will miss seeing the students day in and day out.”

Julie Ransdell

International A look behind the curtain of becoming “a leading American university with international reach.”

Story by Andrew Henderson

INTRODUCTION

I

n 2007, President Gary Ransdell promised a transformation unlike any other the university had seen up to that point. It was a promise not to be taken lightly from a man entering into his tenth year as president after leading a successful capital campaign and physical reshaping of campus.

Sept. 14, 2007, marked the ten year and two day anniversary Ransdell was named WKU’s ninth president by the Board of Regents. He was addressing the faculty and staff during a convocation that day in what can best be described as a mix between a pep rally and an informational meeting.

Ransdell was full of the characteristic charm and optimism, which has come to define not only his tenure but his public persona. Even then, he was looking towards the long-term, saying

SETTING THE STAGE

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oming here in 1997, according to Ransdell in present-day, the shape of international outreach at WKU wasn’t

“the board leadership and I have reached an agreement which will go before the full board in November, which is structured to take my term as president through 2022.”

Yet, in hindsight, not everything goes the way people might expect.

Ransdell’s presidency will end on June 30, a modest five years before he once envisioned, but still well above the currently observed trend of eight and half years for university presidents; his tenure is more than double the norm.

Already 10 years as president, Ransdell boasted an impressive repertoire of changes on campus: a 25 percent growth in enrollment, 125 percent growth in the campus budget, 478 percent growth in annual gift deposits, a 13 percent growth in student retention and so on.

But a second chapter of transformation was due to take place, and he was there to set the stage focusing on nine primary points of

progress, one of which was study abroad and internationalization. All of this was outlined in the 2007 strategic plan, “Challenging the Spirit.”

More than anything else, Ransdell hedged his bets on internationalization preparing students for success, and come to benefit the university as a whole. International reach was essential to achieving the first four words of WKU’s now well known tagline, “A leading American university with international reach.”

“Let’s produce a new generation of college graduates capable of addressing the global challenges it faces now and will continue to face for the rest of their lives,” Ransdell said at the 2007 convocation. “It will have risks. It will not be easy or inexpensive, but the time has come for us to acknowledge what it means to educate students for the global environment of the 21st century and to press ahead in a pervasive manner.”

much nor was internationalization any sort of priority.

When asked today, Ransdell said international outreach was basically non-existent when he arrived in 1997.

In a larger context, the push for internationalization across the board

for American universities was still a relatively new phenomena, one that was just beginning to bud at the turn of the 21st century.

According to a 2000 report authored by the American Council on Education,

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l Capacity or ACE, “Internationalization of U.S. Higher Education,” international education at U.S. universities was poorly documented and much of the available data the ACE was able to gather proved suspect, inappropriate for comparison or too outdated to be of contemporary value. However, the report noted a hopeful arrival on the horizon.

“When carefully scrutinized as a whole, however, a snapshot of the state of internationalization emerges,” the report states.

However, this picture was far from complete. Study abroad remained undervalued, foreign language enrollments were low and internationalization as an institutional concept was rare. But, the ACE said this was the time to act.

“Now is the time to begin better preparing our graduates for productive roles in a world of new and rapidly

changing realities,” the ACE executive summary concluded.

While American universities as a whole, in 2000, had yet to become the international powerhouses we now know them to be, there was a specific impetus Ransdell noted which sparked his desire in increasing WKU’s global profile: the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“That caused all of America, and most Americans, to look differently on the world stage. That was an impetus for us to make sure our students thought in global terms,” Ransdell said.

The U.S. government, under the administration of President George W. Bush, responded to these attacks in a number of ways. The invasion of Afghanistan, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the creation of the Transportation Security Administration and a vast expansion of

the U.S. intelligence apparatus are but a few examples.

The attacks also gave rise to what’s known as the Bush Doctrine, foreign policy implemented by Bush’s administration and criticized by some as being nationalistic in its policies.

Despite arguments of nationalistic aspects of the Bush Doctrine, Ransdell said while he could see the perspective of closing our ranks and protecting ourselves, there are too many major issues across the globe which need to be addressed.

“And so in my mind, that was a wake-up call. Embrace other countries, other cultures, other religions. But more importantly, help our students become comfortable in an international context,” he said. “Don’t close the world off. Let’s open this campus up to the world, and help this nation find solutions.”

INTERNATIONAL APPARATUS

Agents are people who represent organizations or firms across the globe hired to recruit students for a university.

In return, agents typically receive a portion of an international student’s first year tuition rate.

“So we do in the country recruitment, just like you would for domestic admissions, but then we have a third party entity that Dr. Ransdell was alluding to, like an agent,” Stephanie Sieggreen, executive director of International Enrollment Management (IEM) said. “And then they help to funnel applicants to us, and we handle the admissions processing.”

Thirty-seven percent of U.S. universities and colleges work with

international student recruitment agencies, according to a 2016 Bridge Education Group report.

IEM deals with recruitment of international students, international student services and undergraduate admissions among other services. WKU has created and fine-tuned several offices and departments in just the past decade whose sole focus has been on internationalization.

Before forming under the banner of IEM in 2013, the office was called International Student and Scholars Services. Back then undergraduate admissions and recruiting were geared toward primarily domestic students as was recruiting, and they were combined.

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nce deciding to make international efforts a priority for the university,a decision first had to be made about how to recruit on a global stage. WKU had to find a way to recruit students from across the globe. Ransdell said he realized early on it wasn’t feasible, practical or sustainable to gear up an admissions staff of dozens of people and have them travel the world.

Enter: international agents. No, not that kind of agent.

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As Sieggreen outlined, the process of getting international students here differs vastly from domestic students.

From an information standpoint, there’s specific documentation for coming to the U.S. which has to be taken to a U.S. consulate to apply for a visa to study here.

“So those questions are pretty specific in terms of their permanent

address, what’s their citizenship, their country of residency, do they have dependents even? Are they coming with a wife, husband, children?

Because we have to provide those kind of documents as well,” she said.

International students also have the enhanced burden of having to provide financial evidence that they can feasibly attend the university and

come to the U.S. “We have to provide them to show, it’s gonna cost you for international students $37,000 a year to come here for one year,” Sieggreen said. “They have to provide financial evidence that they can afford that for the one year. So that’s something that they have to submit and supply as well.”

NOT EASY OR INEXPENSIVE

contract for the review committee.

A previous personal service contract WKU filed from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016 for international recruitment lists the contract amount at $100,000.

Some of the agents included in the 2016-2018 contract include, Valmiki Consultants Limited and EDU Overseas Consultant.

In a February 2016 invoice from Valmiki, WKU paid an agent commission payment of $2,500 for the “recruitment of two international graduate students per the agent agreement.”

Then in a payment from December of 2016, WKU paid EDU $1,250 a commission payment for the recruitment of a graduate student.

In February of last year, WKU ended its partnership with Navitas, one such recruiting agency, after five years. Ransdell attributed the split to a low number of students being recruited by Navitas.

Navitas took approximately 70 percent of the tuition students in the program paid, according to Ransdell. The new revenue WKU received from international students’ tuition was used to pay for the Honors College and International Center, which carried a $22 million price tag.

What used to be Navitas is now Pathway, a program owned entirely by IEM. Sieggreen said Pathway is a good opportunity for students who may not meet the direct admissions requirement;

providing them with a sort of ‘soft landing.’

These are far from the first recruiting firms WKU has used, and the efforts have not always been easy. Most notably, an April 2016 story in The New York Times details the university’s relationship with Global Tree Overseas Education Consultants.

Of the 132 students admitted through Global Tree’s recruitment effort, 106 scored below WKU’s requirement on an English language test.

“It is ethically wrong to bring students to the university and let them believe they can be successful when we have nothing in place to make sure they’re successful,” SGA President Jay Todd Richey told the Times.

More than one-third of the students from India recruited through this campaign were asked to leave WKU, a follow-up story from the Times found.

At least 25 students who came to WKU as recruited from Global Tree ended up leaving.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” James Gary, department chair of WKU’s computer science program, told the Herald.

“I don’t want to put a bad spin on anybody. There are lots of potential sources for the problem here, but there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding between our expectations of the students and what the students expected when they got here.”

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s Ransdell said in 2007, this process would neither be easy nor inexpensive, and he was right.

According to expenditure data for IEM, starting in the 2013-2014 academic year and to the most up-to-date numbers as of February 2017, IEM expenditures total $3.35 million.

Additionally, WKU, apart from its own recruitment services, pays large sums of money for the use of third-party recruitment firms.

According to the Kentucky Government Contract Review Committee, from July 1, 2016 to July 30, 2018, WKU is slated to pay $900,000 for international recruitment under a personal service contract.

The contract is listed as “multi,” meaning there is more than one agency/ vendor involved. As Jim Cummings, chief financial officer, explained what typically happens for these kinds of contracts is WKU writes up a sort of master contract, for recruitment in this case, and different agents are filed underneath.

So long as the amount paid out to the agents doesn’t exceed $900,000. The university isn’t required to update the

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INTEGRATION

T

he most current data for the 2017 academic year places the number of international students at 1,446. This is over double the amount in 2007 and almost 14 times the amount when Ransdell started in 1997 when there were 105 international students.

IEM serves as the main hub of enrollment services, but focuses heavily on student services as well.

As Sieggreen explained, IEM helps international students with every step along the way: helping apply for a visa, answering any questions, what to bring with them, etc. But the scope of IEM goes beyond the bureaucratic side of things.

“We try to highlight Kentucky, trying to do some–get them used to American culture as well, so we–we have to

Omar Attia and Flavio Chavarri sing karaoke at the "Love Has No Borders" event on Feb. 10. The event was planned in response to President Donald J. Trump's recent travel ban on 7 muslim-majority countries. The event was planned by the International Student Diplomats in an attempt to get international and American students to mingle and get to know each other.

Lydia Schweickart/HERALD

do the regulation stuff, but we also do the fun stuff as well sometimes,” Toni Dye, the assistant director of the International Student Office, said.

Quite a bit of this ‘fun stuff’ and additional programming is achieved through two international student groups which are affiliated with IEM: the International Student Diplomats and the Council of International Student Organizations (CISO).

Flavio Chavarri, a junior from Arequipa, Peru and chair of the

diplomats, said under his leadership, he’s made strides to gain more publicity for the diplomats so more students will know about them. He did this with a main goal and mission in mind to increase the integration between international students and American students.

“That’s our main goal, and that’s our common mission that I always share with my team,” Chavarri said. “So if we want to do that, we have to create charitable, social and educational events.”

Integration is a recurring issue international students mention when coming to WKU and Dye said the diplomats are the main conduit through which IEM addresses the issue.

“I would say that’s one of the great challenges is they want that connection to the American students, but it’s hard for them to kind of break through that first, initial barrier that they both feel is probably there,” she said.

Last semester, Chavarri said the diplomats hosted five events and raised money for two organizations, taking on more responsibility than the diplomats had in the past.

Just earlier this semester, they helped sponsor Love Has No Borders,

an event mixing the international and American communities together to foster a culturally diverse learning environment.

First coming to WKU, Chavarri said he felt like he didn’t have the kind of representation on campus as an international student as he does now, but through the diplomats he’s gained a voice, and he’s looking to amplify this voice.

Recently, Chavarri gained approval from Student Activities to found Beta Gamma Omega, a multicultural fraternity.

“So basically with that, we can finally do the things that the American people do, and we can even do activities with sororities. Right now they are well-integrated among just international people, but if we integrated with American people, they will feel more at home. And that’s our goal for this semester,” he said.

Calling it the most powerful weapon for international students, Chavarri saw the opportunity to form a brotherhood, something basic for international students. Vice-chair of the diplomats, Hovsep Yakubyan, a junior from Armenia, called the fraternity “an international fraternity with international reach.”

The flip side of the diplomats efforts to increase international and domestic integration is the working being done by CISO to create a cohesive international community.

Hizareth Linares, senior from Venezuela, is the chairperson of CISO;

the council is still relatively new having only started in March of last year.

There are currently 13 international student organizations represented in the council.

A main responsibility of the council is to support the individual student organizations in their programs and endeavors. For instance, the Korean Students Association organized a K-Pop event, so as a council they would help with funding or providing volunteers if need be, which is part of the integration process as well.

Linares said she was interested in joining the council to help integrate all the international organizations as it can be common for a lot of the new students to stay within their own community and not reach out.

“So it’s kind of like we wanted to help bridge that gap, and have more integration within the international community,” she said. “I was very interested in that because I have a lot of international friends, and I think it’s very important to be able to learn from other cultures, not just stay within your own.”

Improved integration between international students and domestic students may prove to be the largest hurdle WKU faces as it continues its international outreach. In fact, Hovsep said it’s where the university’s main focus should lie with international students.

“Getting rid of the transparent glass wall between international students and American students,” he said.

Please continue reading online at ransdell.wkuheraldprojects.com

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ISSUE No. 02

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A Growing Body Ransdell leads the university through enrollment growth Story by Bryson Keltner

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rowth has to start somewhere, and universities often turn their attention to one place: enrollment. Higher enrollment means more revenue from tuition, which enables projects campus wide.

President Gary Ransdell took the common goal a step further during his presidency by leading WKU through enrollment growth in the American student population as well as international student population, coining WKU’s mission statement of becoming “a leading American university with international reach.”

“Those are not just words on a page or a mission,” Brian Meredith, chief enrollment and graduation officer, said.

“That drove everything in his 20 years

leading us.”

According to information provided

by Sharon Hunter, director of strategic enrollment management, there has been a 39.5 percent increase in enrollment from 1997 to 2016. The six-year graduation rate went from 39.6 percent to 51.9 percent.

“That is huge,” Hunter said. “If you want a story about Gary Ransdell, those are the two points that sum up what he did.”

Some staff say part of WKU’s enrollment success is due to WKU’s tuition rates being lower in comparison to other state schools. They also say WKU’s involvement with TRIO programs, which support students from disadvantaged backgrounds, play a large role.

Ransdell has asked all first-generation college students to stand at every

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commencement; Meredith said Ransdell takes pride in fighting for low tuition to make education obtainable for everyone.

“He has represented us well in Frankfort with the general assembly,” he said. “He has represented us well with our Board of Regents and with our alumni and selling the message that we have to keep higher education, one: relevant, and two: affordable.”

Meredith said aside from advocating for affordability, Ransdell helped WKU progress in all facets, including growth in international students, out-of-state students as well as overall average ACT and SAT scores and GPAs. “Those were all successes that didn’t just happen,” Meredith said. “They were very deliberate in his leadership.”

Arial view of Western Kentucky University on March 23. As of 2017, 261 projects have been completed on WKU’s campus with 12 still in progress.

Photo by Silas Walker /HERALD

WKU had 84 international students before Ransdell’s arrival in 1997. Last fall, WKU had 1,147 students from other countries.

“He’s taken it from a handful of countries to truly a diverse geographical international profile,” Meredith said.

“That’s taken our brand across the globe.”

Executive Director of International Enrollment Management Stephanie Sieggreen attributed WKU’s success with international reach to Ransdell and his vision.

“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think we’d be where we’re at today,” she said. “One is his dedication to anything and everything international. There’s

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that study abroad piece, but also he’s so supportive to bring international students here. He’s been an advocate.”

Aside from the international reach, Ransdell also showed much dedication to improving the Honors College, which was still just a program when he became president. The Honors Program became a college in 2007 and was the

first of its kind in the state.

Craig Cobane, executive director of the Dixie and Pete Mahurin Honors College, said Ransdell made honors education a strategic priority during the 2004-2005 school year. “[Ransdell] has been a huge part of the success of the Honors Program and Honors College over the years,” Cobane

said in an email. “He has supported the creation, he has been a great recruiter [meeting with many prospective scholars personally], and he attends numerous honors events.”

In the last 15 years, WKU has gone from having under 500 Honors students to over 1,300 students.

Coupled with the rise of the Honors College, Ransdell helped found the Gatton Academy of Math and Science, which has been ranked as the number one high school in the nation for several years.

The director of the Gatton Academy, Lynette Breedlove, said Gatton has seen growth in diversity throughout its 10 years.

“We want to represent the state geographically as well as in other demographic ways,” Breedlove said.

Breedlove also said last year was the first year that Gatton had a class with 100 students, as opposed to the average of 60 students it previously held. Next year, the Gatton student body will be made up of nearly 200 students.

“That is in large part from the success of the school,” Breedlove said.

“So, we’ve had a lot of very positive publicity and we’ve been able to be a successful school because of the support of Dr. Ransdell and everyone on the WKU campus being very open to seeing our students as if they were any other WKU student, regardless of their age.”

Breedlove emphasized that Ransdell’s vision for WKU substantially played a part in Gatton’s success.

“Dr. Ransdell is brilliant at branding,” Breedlove said. “He has done a fabulous job of making sure that Gatton has specific opportunities in addition to things at WKU. So, when he’s building partnerships and as he’s built a vision for WKU, he’s very good at keeping specific pieces of WKU in mind.”

Meredith said the Honors College and Gatton Academy have not just

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had success within themselves, but have also contributed to the growth of WKU as a whole.

“The Honors College and Gatton are high-visibility programs that are extremely successful, and they are producing students who are extremely successful,” he said. “Those really help us recruit other students.”

Meredith and Hunter said the international, high-achieving and low-income students have all directly contributed to WKU’s flavor of diversity.

“Diversity has grown much like any other elements and characteristics of the enrollment profile,” Meredith said. “Not just with race, gender and ethnicity, but with geographic region.

Culturally, you name it. He’s [Ransdell] tried and infused a culture of hospitality and welcoming on the Hill.

It is a friendly, warm place. He refers to it in a lot of his talks as a family. It is a family.”

Ransdell worked with admissions before he moved up in the educational ranks, which many say correlates to his success with recruitment. Hunter said the Office of Enrollment refers to him as the “Recruiter in Chief.”

“You will never meet a better recruiter for WKU. So much of who we are and who we’ve been for the past 20 years is directly attributed to Dr. Ransdell,” she said.

Meredith said the president’s personality is the university’s ultimate recruiting tool.

“As a recruiter, you want to make sure you’re putting your best face forward at all times,” he said. “As the face of this institution, Gary Ransdell was always ready. He had done his homework and he infused energy and charisma into his interaction with the high school students, families, and communities. You never had to worry about it. People were going to come out of that room sold on WKU because of Dr. Ransdell’s charisma.”

A Steadying Hand The thought processes behind some of the biggest decisions in WKU sports history

Gary Ransdell and the then Head Coach Jack Harbaugh after winning the FCS 1-AA national championship in 2002.

Story by: Evan Heichelbech

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university president’s list of responsibilities and accomplishments is long and extensive. Between establishing a vision, building up a campus, energizing a community and spreading a university’s global reach, athletics can easily get lost in the shuffle.

Since 1997, President Gary Ransdell has been dealing a lot of cards, moving a lot of parts around and transforming the campus and community of Bowling Green in the process.

He’s painted a lot of new landscapes, none more delicately, perhaps, than the athletic program of his alma mater.

Calculating each move aggressively with a great deal of understanding of how it could impact a change, Ransdell reshaped Hilltopper athletics into something entirely different than what it was 20 years ago.

“I knew when I became president here that I needed to keep a handle on it,” Ransdell said. “Plus, I needed to be visible. I needed to exhibit my own type of WKU spirit, and I wanted to lead by example. I wanted our students to see my energy and my passion, and that’s a little hard to do in the academic arena or in other more traditional setting where a president might find himself.”

During Ransdell’s tenure, WKU’s athletic teams have won over 100 conference championships.

Two decades ago, WKU was playing in FCS 1-AA football without a conference to call home.

Now, the last three men to serve as head football coach at WKU are coaching in Power Five conference.

Behind the mind of a big thinker, some of the biggest moves in not only one man’s presidential tenure, but in WKU athletics history were made 22

over the last 20 years. One of the first things Ransdell did was add two women’s sports to the program.

“Softball and soccer were the two women’s sports we added to give us a more balanced portfolio of men and women’s sports,” he said.

Once the action was made to add two new sports shortly after Ransdell began at WKU, his focus began to shift toward enacting a change that desperately needed to be made.

“I became chairman of the Sun Belt Conference and also led the search to hire Wright Waters as the Sun Belt Conference commissioner,” Ransdell said. “And through that process and serving as chair of the Sun Belt Conference, it was abundantly clear to me that we had this awkward dynamic. We were the only member of the conference that had a football team that at the time, didn’t play Division 1 football.”

ORCHESTRATING A PROCESS BY ‘READING THE TEA LEAVES’

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When Ransdell took office, WKU was one of only two schools in America that was in a Division 1 conference, but was playing 1-AA football. The other was Villanova, who is now alone in that category.

“My colleagues in the Sun Belt Conference began to pressure me.

‘When are you guys gonna fix this?

You’re members of the conference but you’re playing 1-AA football. When are you gonna be a full member of the conference?’,” Ransdell said. “And I knew that that wasn’t as simple as they would like for it to be.”

The first move for WKU was to go back to its old Ohio Valley Conference home in football. After winning the OVC championship in 2000, the conference asked WKU to rejoin as a full member in all sports. Ransdell and WKU wouldn’t commit to that, so the school moved to the now defunct Gateway Conference, where they went on to win the 1-AA National Championship.

“After we won that national championship, then it became clear to me that we needed to be thinking about a move,” Ransdell said. “That was 2002, and [former athletic director] Wood Selig and I began to set the stage for transitioning.”

The next place Ransdell and WKU looked was the Mid-American Conference. According to Ransdell, it became evident that the MAC wasn’t willing to expand, further pressuring the university to act quickly.

“I began to read the tea leaves and at the time the NCAA was about to put a moratorium on schools from making the move [to Division 1], and we wanted to get out ahead of that,” he said.

But before the Hilltoppers were

going to be able to make anything official, a major necessity needed to be addressed. WKU needed to upgrade its stadium and cover Division 1 scholarship costs, and that meant accruing some financial aid.

A major contribution to stadium funding came in the form of a mid-year tuition increase that took effect in 2006.

The $156 spike in tuition in the spring of 2006 was for a campus rebuilding fee which included renovation to Van Meter Hall, the arts and drama building and the math department in College High Hall as well as expansion of the Preston Center and the music building.

“One of the things that made that move palatable for the campus was we didn’t have to have a unique, improvethe-football-stadium fee,” Ransdell said.

“So there was academic, campus life and athletic facilities all included in that campus rebuilding fee with the stadium being one of those projects. The reason that’s important is because the funding for the stadium improvements was never a part of the athletic department budget, and it was not something that we were trying to do in-and-of-itself, by itself. It was part of a broader effort, and if you didn’t like that project, well you probably liked the other projects in that group. It was a lot less contentious.”

While Ransdell helped package the stadium improvement funding within the campus rebuilding fee, the university received an additional contribution from a local company.

“We also got the gift from Houchens Industries for $5 million cash,” Ransdell said. “That wasn’t a pledge, that wasn’t a long-term payoff. That was a check for $5 million from Houchens to go into the stadium improvement project. So we weren’t asking a student fee to do that by itself.”

In total, the university spent $49 million in stadium improvements and had to generate enough funding to cover 22 new scholarships in order to meet the FBS cap of 85 spots.

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Four years after winning the FCS National Championship, WKU’s Board of Regents voted in 2006 to move the football program to Division 1 FBS. “All of that unfolded over a period of probably a year to eighteen months, getting all of that through the Board of Regents,” Ransdell said.

Once WKU football achieved the benchmark of being recognized as a Division 1 program, it would have to endure the brunt of the lows that come with major transition before experiencing any taste of the highs of playing at the top level of competition in intercollegiate athletics.

WKU was forced to go through a two-year waiting period before being allowed to compete in the Sun Belt Conference or for a bowl berth. From 2007 to 2008, WKU went 7-5 and 2-10, respectively.

In 2009 the Hilltoppers were able to compete in the Sun Belt Conference and were eligible for a bowl berth. They went 0-12, and head coach David Elson was fired.

Once again, it was time for a change.

“We weathered all of that, and then for the next few years we had to suffer through not much success,” Ransdell said with a chuckle. “And then we made the coaching change that brought Willie Taggart in as our coach, and Willie fought it for a year or two before we began to turn things around.”

A former three-year starting quarterback and assistant coach on the 2002 national championship team, Taggart took over as head football coach in 2010. Taggart led the Hilltoppers to multiple successful Division 1 seasons, including its first FBS bowl game in 2012 after notching a 7-5 regular season record.

“If you’re looking at what was the most profound athletic dimension of my presidency that would have to be it,” Ransdell said of the step up to Division 1. “Followed closely by the move to Conference USA.”

President Gary Ransdell, Conference-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky, and WKU Athletic Director Todd Stewart announce on Monday, WKU’s move to C-USA in 2014. Photo By Brandon Carter

A SECOND STEP UP

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uring Ransdell’s tenure, all of the athletic successes of his alma mater have primarily been captured within two conferences.

WKU spent 32 years in the Sun Belt Conference (1982-2014) and left a mark on the league, capturing 132 championships throughout its time in the conference. Even though the Hilltoppers had great success in the Sun Belt, the ever-growing revenue market was an ominous indicator that WKU was destined for realignment.

The main issue was a matter of timing.

“Well, we weren’t getting much money from the Sun Belt Conference in terms of the revenue sharing, TV contracts and bowl games,” Ransdell said. “Todd Stewart and I had watched some of the moves taking place with conference realignment, and I just didn’t feel like the timing was right for us to get in that mix.”

When Ransdell and Stewart first began looking into making the move to C-USA in 2012, the league had just made a move that added Florida International, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Old Dominion and Texas-San Antonio. Even with those five being brought in at the same time, Ransdell felt an obligation to stay focused on the Sun Belt.

“At that particular time, I was chairing the Sun Belt Conference strategic planning committee, putting a longterm strategic plan together for the Sun Belt Conference,” Ransdell said. “And I felt disloyal if in the middle of that, I would’ve been out shopping WKU for

another conference.”

The following year, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee, who were both trying to make the move from the Sun Belt to C-USA, were disappointed they didn’t get brought into the league with the previous group. By 2014, both schools were added.

“We began to second-guess ourselves for not getting involved at that time,” Ransdell said.

In the summer of 2014, a spot opened up. Tulsa left C-USA for the American Athletic Conference, and it was at that time that Ransdell was determined to get WKU in the league to fill the void.

“When Tulsa left, I determined that was our window of opportunity, and I felt like if we didn’t make the move then that window might close on us,” he said. “So I felt like we were the obvious choice to replace Tulsa in Conference USA. That’s when [athletic director Todd Stewart] and I went to work.”

After Ransdell worked with the C-USA president and Stewart worked with the athletic directors, Ransdell began to set up meetings and discussions with thenleague commissioner Britton Banowsky.

The two sold WKU on being the next member of C-USA. That proved to be a good move, as WKU received an invitation from C-USA in April 2013 and officially joined on July 1, 2014.

One of the biggest shortcomings of being a member in the Sun Belt Conference was revenue, an issue that wasn’t present in the new conference.

“Our revenue sharing for the first couple of years went from maybe not even $100,000 to something in 24

the range of $3 million for that first year or two,” Ransdell said. “We’re still getting significantly more revenue from Conference USA than we were from the Sun Belt.”

A product of his ambitious way of thinking, Ransdell said WKU’s exclusion from receiving a bowl game bid after going 8-4 in the 2013 regular-season – its best record since 2004 – was just another sign that a major change was necessary.

The Hilltoppers won eight games and finished third in the conference. The Sun Belt only had two bowl tie-ins.

“We were sitting at home for a bowl game after winning eight games, and that was just wrong,” Ransdell said. “That drove me and Todd Stewart as much as anything. We could never let that happen again.

“We’re going to a conference where there are enough bowl contracts and bowl ties that if we’re bowl eligible, we’ll go to a bowl game.”

IT ALL STARTS WITH RELATIONSHIPS…

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hile Ransdell’s involvement in forever altering the course and future of WKU athletics over the past two decades is noteworthy, he deflects a lot of the credit and recognition to a specific titleholder: the athletic director.

From the beginning, Ransdell knew that anchoring down this position with someone with a determined approach like that of his own was critical to transform an average sports program.

The first of four athletic directors Ransdell worked with was Lewis Mills.

A lack of parallel vision was the root cause of why Ransdell and Mills’ time together was short-lived.

“I just didn’t feel Lewis was bold enough and was thinking and innovative enough to do what I felt like we needed to be doing,” Ransdell said. “So that relationship never really got off, well it just didn’t get off to a very good start, and I just felt like we needed a stronger athletic director.”

Unbeknownst to him at the time, Mills’ exit led to Ransdell making a hire that would greatly affect the next 10 years of WKU athletics in ways few foresaw coming.

Wood Selig was serving as senior associate athletic director at the Virginia when Ransdell came calling.

“I was impressed with what his references were telling me,” Ransdell said. “I was impressed with what I was learning with other colleagues across the ACC that knew Wood, and having spent 11 years at an ACC member institution I knew who to call and where to probe a little bit with regards to Wood Selig’s candidacy.”

From 2000-2010, Selig was the second visionary thinker Ransdell needed in control of the program’s future.

Aside from his leading contributions in the transition to Division 1, WKU won 70 Sun Belt Conference championships under Selig, including a national record 19 conference championships from 2008-2010.

Selig is also credited with helping raise upwards of $39 million for athletic facilities, and was able to double the athletic budget in the latter half of his tenure.

When Selig moved on to the same position at Old Dominion in 2010, he had laid the groundwork for his successor to continue paving future successes.

Ross Bjork became the next WKU athletic director, serving a brief twoyear stint before taking the athletic

director job at Mississippi.

Under current athletic director Todd Stewart, Hilltopper athletics have thrived over the past five years. Since joining the Conference USA under Stewart’s directives, winning has been everything but difficult.

The football program has been to three consecutive bowl games and won all three. Only nine other programs can claim that fact.

The Lady Topper volleyball program has claimed C-USA regular-season and tournament titles for three consecutive seasons, making the NCAA Tournament in each year.

The women’s basketball team captured the 2014-2015 and 2016-2017 C-USA regular-season and tournament crowns, and has won 27 or more games in three consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.

Even the fluctuating men’s basketball program made two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013.

“From time to time I hear presidents talk about, ‘I don’t care about what goes on in athletics, I need to keep my distance from that,’” Ransdell said.

“Well, a president who keeps his or her distance from the athletic program will do so at his or her own peril … Any successful, effective president stays in touch with the pulse of intercollegiate athletics, just so they know the occurrences and the dynamics and make sure that their campus steers clear of problems and difficult dimensions that athletic departments are capable of getting an institution into.”

…AND ENDS WITH MOMENTS

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wenty years as a university president is longer than usual.

Twenty years as a university president at your alma mater is even more unusual.

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Ransdell can claim he’s bucked both of those trends, and he’s accumulated an innumerable amount of memories.

As far as athletics go, he prefers to boil them down to four moments.

The first one strikes a personal chord.

Ransdell’s son Matthew was the second of two baseball letter-winning children of the university president to play for WKU. In 2004, Matthew Ransdell and the WKU baseball team won the Sun Belt Conference tournament baseball championship as a No. 8 seed.

“I can remember every player on that team and to watch your son in the middle of that dogpile on the pitcher’s mound, sprinting in from centerfield, that was a pretty special moment,” Ransdell said. “Because we had not won the tournament before at that point in time. That has a very personal dimension to it.”

“For eight years, we were able to go to WKU baseball games and watch our sons take the field in a WKU uniform.

To have that dynamic, that was very special to our family,” Ransdell said.

Ransdell qualified the second memory, saying the 1-AA National Championship “wasn’t on the biggest stage,” but still holds significance.

“The third was Ty Rogers’ shot over Drake in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

If you’re talking about a moment,” Ransdell said, pausing with a laugh, “it’s pretty hard to beat that.”

Lastly, Ransdell summarized the most significant moments by packaging a few recent achievements that resonate with many current Hilltoppers.

“The three bowl victories, I’m gonna put all those together, because of what they have meant to our university in affirming the right decision to make the football move, and validating that we can compete at the highest level,” he said.

“I would put those in that order of the moments that have meant the most to, I’d say, Julie and me.”

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CONGRATULATIONS

TEAM

GARY AND JULIE RANSDELL

20 YEARS OF SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP AT WKU THANK YOU FROM JULIE & MIKE HINSON

Thank you, Dr. Ransdell. Your leadership and compassion for this great University will be deeply missed. We congratulate you as you embark on your next chapter in life.

Best of Luck!

THE OFFICIAL HOTEL OF WKU

President Ransdell, Thank you for always supporting the MBA!

Selfies with Gary Ransdell Photo submitted by Tim Rhea

Photo submitted by Western Kentucky University Dance Program

Photo submitted by the WKU Red Shirts

Photo submitted by Tyler Forbes

Photo submitted by Lhousseine Guerwane

Photo submitted by Emily Schott

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Constructing A Community A tired campus transforms into a revitalized university.

Story by Rebekah Alvey

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iews from the top of the Hill are a source of pride for the WKU community. During the past 20 years, those views have changed as the university has seen additions, renovations and improvements, inspired by the man with a vision for a more sustainable, beautiful and connected campus: President Gary Ransdell.

BEGINNING CONSTRUCTION

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onstruction began soon after Ransdell arrived at WKU. In 1998, he started his first project, the construction of Mass Media and Technology Hall, which was completed and dedicated

five years later.

From there, buildings were torn down, renovated and built from scratch. In total, 261 projects have been completed, with 12 still in progress and 11 set for the future.

These projects range from construction of new buildings, renovations and smaller upkeep changes like lighting and sidewalk repairs.

Before Ransdell, Smith Stadium only had one side for seating. Where Centennial Mall now sits was a busy road, separating Northeast Hall and Southwest Hall. Instead of greenery outside Grise Hall, there was a parking lot. Guthrie Tower and Plaza didn’t exist before Ransdell arrived.

Overall, the campus was in need of renovation.

Chief Facilities Officer Bryan Russell 28

graduated from WKU in 1984 and has watched the campus evolve since returning as an employee.

“We had a tired campus,” Russell said. “[Ransdell] achieved phenomenal transformation in a relatively short period of time that the campus really needed.”

History professor David Serafini came to WKU as a student in 1990 and hasn’t left since. During his time, he saw parts of campus needing a lot of work, with some buildings falling apart.

Serafini recalled one incident where portions of a ceiling fell from a professor’s office.

“The upkeep just wasn’t what it was supposed to be,” Serafini said.

Serafini said Ransdell’s changes have made the campus more attractive for the community.

The various projects have touched

From left, David Williams, President of the Kentucky Senate, President Gary Randsdell, and Jo-Ann Albers, Director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting were part of the groundbreaking ceremonies Friday, April 6, 2001.

The ceremony marked beginning construction for the threestory, 94,400 square-foot Media and Technology Hall which was finished in the fall of 2002.

Photo by Wendy Berna /HERALD

all aspects of campus life, ranging from housing, dining, academic, athletic and community places.

The multiple construction projects in the Downing Student Union, previously Downing University Center, illustrate the scope of these changes.

Renovations to DSU began in 2003, with additions to the exterior, design and dining facilities that continue today.

Russell said in the early stages of planning for DSU, faculty and members of the Student Government Association toured other college campuses, where they drew inspiration and learned the majority of costs for student unions are paid for by the students.

Russell said the current policy follows a typical, 70-30 rule. Seventy percent of the costs are covered by the students to repay agency bonds while auxiliary services cover the other 30 percent.

Aramark, WKU’s dining and catering services provider, contributes money towards that 30 percent for upgrades and renovations.

Part of DSU’s transformation is seen through branding. Russell said during the tours in 2008, they were especially

impressed by the campuses with prominent branding.

Some of the changes include the addition of flags and banners on light poles. Also with the city, Russell explained they were able to put branding on the entrance from the interstate as well as banners and signage at the roundabout, all with the goal of increasing recognition and pride for WKU. “If you were blindfolded and left somewhere on campus, you would always know you are at WKU,” Russell said.

Russell said this was also partially done through the standardized architecture style with new buildings.

In 1999, Russell began working on renovation projects with the dormitories and residence halls. Up until 2008, he worked with the Student Life Foundation on the numerous improvements and projects associated with student housing.

He also began working intensively with Ransdell in 2008. Russell said one of Ransdell’s directives with the Board of Regents was to transform a campus that had not had any new construction 29

in a long time. The last construction project completed before Ransdell’s arrival in 1997 was to Zacharias and Meredith Halls in 1992.

“It’s fascinating to me because I did graduate from WKU in 1984, so it was exciting when we had the opportunity to come back and work on renovating residence halls that didn’t even have air conditioning,” Russell said.

He said many of the halls were outdated or not serving to their full potential. Florence Snyder Hall was not being utilized until it was converted into Gatton Academy housing in 2008 from state money and donations.

Vice President of Student Affairs Brian Kuster said Ransdell started by meeting with groups of students to get their perspectives.

From this, Ransdell created the Student Life Foundation in 1999, which has organized and renovated every residence hall project since. The foundation allows WKU to expand and improve its buildings without costing the university by using borrowed money and funds, benefiting students by lowering housing rates without lessening the quality of dorms.

BUILDING A COMMUNITY

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ost of the newer projects include creating common areas for students, a trend throughout each of Ransdell’s projects.

“One of the things I remember Ransdell sharing was the idea of building a community in our campus,” Russell said.

Ransdell wanted to focus on building a community in WKU, by providing places for real-life interaction with students, faculty and alumni.

Kuster said Ransdell understood the importance of creating places for students in and outside of classrooms to congregate and interact.

Russell reflected back on his experience as a student at WKU, as well as his sons’, and he said some of his best memories were formed on campus and by building a stronger community, students don’t need to leave campus and can make greater bonds.

Russell said Ransdell wanted to build that community because it strengthens the support for WKU, instilling pride in students and alumni to return and give back.

How this pride affects alumni is of particular importance. Director

of Alumni Engagement Ginny Steenbergen Hensley said there had been more alumni investment since Ransdell became president. She said they recognized the need for fundraising and private support.

Much of the construction was made possible by the division in funding. Russell explained because of Ransdell’s collaboration with students for the Student Life Foundation, the occupancy percentage has increased from 50 to 100 percent. There is currently a wait list for students to live in the residence halls.

Russell said projects are now funded mainly through various types of bonds.

State bonds have gone towards academic projects like Mass Media and Snell Hall, while WKU agency bonds have gone towards projects like DSU and the Honors College building. Residential projects are funded completely by the Student Life Foundation.

Several of the projects are funded privately through donations, federal funds and grant money. Projects like the Gatton Academy building and Guthrie Tower are examples of private funding.

Hensley said a lot of this support comes from pride in the revitalized campus but is aided by the addition of the Augenstein Alumni Center. Before the alumni center, there wasn’t a place specifically for alumni to visit.

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Construction on the center lasted roughly two years and finished in spring of 2013, costing more than $9.7 million.

Hensley said the center is welcoming to alumni, featuring pieces of WKU’s history from the start in 1907 to today.

“It’s a place for alumni to call home,” Hensley said.

A part of this pride for campus stems from Ransdell’s attention to detail.

Hensley said he goes around and makes sure campus is in tip-top shape.

The goal of removing the road from the now Centennial Mall area was to remove vehicular traffic and increase pedestrian traffic.

Russell said Ransdell brought in a landscape architect to work on the design of the campus. They developed the plan to be able to stand at the top of Cherry and look all the way down through campus.

“They created a sense that you could walk through campus uninterrupted,” Serafini said.

With the focus on landscape came an increase in the artwork. Provost David Lee said Ransdell purchased or commissioned a lot of the major art pieces for WKU. “He believes visual arts should be a part of campus, not just in a gallery,” Lee said.

Lee added how it’s important to have these pieces on a college campus because art is a part of daily lives and gives WKU distinction.

BEGINNING CONSTRUCTION

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ustainability and beautification have been crucial to Ransdell during campus improvement.

WKU has created and renovated buildings to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified. The first to be LEED certified was Gary Ransdell Hall, which opened in 2011.

Sustainability Coordinator and alumna of WKU Christian Ryan said being certified goes beyond being energy and water efficient but also includes steps like utilizing daylight and using paint that does not release toxins.

Ryan said a new energy policy was made in 2009 mandating all new buildings meet LEED standards. She also explained buildings like DSU are being renovated to meet these standards, including features like counters made from recycled glass.

In addition to LEED certification, the campus has been coal-free since 2010.

In replacement, natural gas boilers and bag-houses were placed outside of campus for energy use.

Last semester, WKU was recognized as the 2016 Environmental Sustainability Award recipient because of these efforts as well as others.

In addition to creating an ecofriendly campus, Russell said these efforts also result in better cost efficiency. Savings from energy efficiency roll over and go towards new projects, he said.

Beautification of campus has also had a role in improving sustainability.

“Ransdell is considered the campus’ Lorax,” Beth Gafford, resource conservation coordinator, said.

She said Ransdell reviews every request to cut a tree down and must approve it.

Campus Services Manager Joshua Twardowski explained the process of cutting down a tree needs approval from Ransdell, the chief facilities officer, university arborist and the grounds manager. Twardowski said the tree removal request form includes a picture of the tree, location, tree species, a recommended species to replace it and a reason why. He said Ransdell had visited trees that are suggested for removal.

“We do take great pride in our trees and inspect them daily for damage or hazards,” Twardowski said Ryan said there is a “Ransdell rule,” if a tree is taken down, it must be replaced by three more trees. The Ransdells donated 100 cherry trees in 2006.

Through his respect for the trees, Ransdell has led WKU to become a Tree Campus USA, Wildlife Habitat and a certified arboretum. Ryan said these are unique for college campuses but are all possible because leadership made campus being a natural space a priority.

“Since I started, I felt constantly supported by Ransdell, and I know a lot of people at other campuses that don’t have the same support,” Ryan said.

Ryan said she has watched Ransdell become more concerned with the environment, pushed by a personal and professional responsibility.

“He’s thinking about the world we will be leaving,” Ryan said.

Gafford said recycling has also seen several improvements. Twenty-seven large recycling bins were brought to campus as well as a small recycling bin to accompany every trash can.

“They made it as easy as possible to recycle,” Gafford said.

Gafford said these initiatives extend beyond creating a greener campus.

Universities are supposed to be leaders in a position to demonstrate the best practices to students and other institutions, she said, and sustainability 31

is no exception to this.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

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n the wake of beginning a new chapter with the next university president, Tim Caboni, some uncertainty surrounds the future of campus projects.

Serafini said he hopes to see what was started is maintained, so a massive wave of necessary construction is not repeated.

Russell said the residence halls need to be refreshed because students have changed and expectations have changed. When they had first renovated 20 years ago, residence halls had no air conditioning. Now students want more private space and community places.

Russell said the university couldn’t provide that in the design of dorms like Rhodes, Harlin Hall which is why the 10-year master plan is in place and is expected to go through.

While Kuster said he does not know the exact direction Caboni will go in, Caboni is in the process of reviewing the extensive description of the master plan.

In regards to sustainability, Ryan said Caboni is coming from a good program and will hopefully share the same ideas.

Russell said he is looking forward to fresh ideas and a new direction that achieves what’s best for WKU. Ransdell has set a standard of quality and sustainability for the campus which isn’t always common at other institutions. This can be attributed to his passion and constant hard work. Russell commended Ransdell’s time and said he’s never before seen someone work around the clock the way Ransdell has.

Gateways How the Ransdell-era transformed Bowling Green Story by Andrew Critchelow

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ollowing Gary Ransdell’s summer 2017 retirement, a few of the things that will surely be remembered about his 20-year tenure include his role in the increase of student enrollment and graduation rates and his emphasis on physically changing WKU through extensive construction projects.

Indeed, student enrollment has remained over 20,000 since 2009, compared to 14,500 when Ransdell took office, along with graduation number increases in the thousands, according to the WKU Institutional Research’s annual reports. Over $850 million has been spent in construction since 1998, with the development of various new buildings and extensive renovations.

However, with Ransdell’s role in the increase of student enrollment and his penchant towards construction, these aspects of his 20-year reign have made his impact extend beyond WKU and into the community of Bowling Green.

According to Census data, Bowling Green is currently made up of around 64,000 residents. With over 20,000 students currently studying at WKU and taking part in Bowling Green’s economy, it’s undeniable that Ransdell’s increase in enrollment over the past two decades has had an effect on Bowling Green.

According to 2016 U.S. Census Data, Bowling Green had 217 startup businesses

in 2014, making up 9.1 percent of total business. This puts Bowling Green at number three in the nation for growth in the percentage of businesses less than a year old.

One of the major proponents of small business growth in Bowling Green is the WKU Small Business Accelerator, a program created during Ransdell’s presidency that caters to the needs of startup businesses. Some of WKU Small Business Accelerator’s local clients include Code Switch Media, KenMold and Alltech Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company.

Warren County First District Magistrate Doug Gorman said WKU’s role in Bowling Green’s economy is substantial.

“The 20,000 students that inhabit Bowling Green from August to May each year has a direct impact on the service industries of Bowling Green,” Gorman said. “The dollars spent directly by WKU students easily are multiplied by three on the net effect of the economy.”

Brewery Supervisor Joe Walls flushes the line before transferring of the wort, a sweet liquid made from steeped grains, from the kettle into the fermenter during a trial brew at the new brewery at the WKU Research & Development Center on March 24.

Photo by Leanora Benkato /HERALD

Gorman also cited WKU’s presence as an employer in the community as a major factor in the economy of Bowling Green.

The largest employer in the city, WKU is responsible for close to 5,000 jobs in Bowling Green, according to a 2011 report by the Bowling Green Department of Finance.

When Ransdell became president, WKU’s full-time employment number was around 1,500; that number is now around 2,400, according to WKU Institutional Research.

Gorman said WKU pays for a significant portion of the city’s 1.85 percent occupational tax, which pays for the majority of Bowling Green’s $100 million budget.

According to a 2011 report by the WKU Center for Applied Economics, WKU accounts for nearly 26 percent of the expenditures, 14 percent of the jobs, and 10 percent of the earnings in Warren County. The report also found that over the last decade, about 3,000 more jobs have been added, 6,000 more people have been added and $12,000 in median housing value has been added as a result of WKU’s effect on the local economy.

During the few years after the economic recession of 2008, when many communities experienced economic turmoil, Bowling Green and the surrounding areas experienced economic

growth through construction projects extending from WKU’s campus onto Bowling Green’s downtown area.

According to a 2013 article in The Lane Report by Debra Gibson Isaacs, Bowling Green experienced a nearly $1.4 billiondollar boom in construction projects, which largely had to do with Ransdell’s involvement in a 2007 Signature Tax Increment Financing district, or TIF, called the “WKU Gateway to Downtown Bowling Green.”

The 52-block district, which starts at the Augenstein Alumni Center on campus and ends at the Medical Center Health Sciences building on US 31-W, was designed to give incentives such as tax advantages for development between WKU and downtown Bowling Green.

The TIF district essentially takes

property tax funds and uses them to encourage growth and investment within the district.

WKU’s partnership with Bowling Green in the creation of this district helped in the creation of many successful projects including the SKyPAC, the Hyatt Place Hotel and the Bowling Green Ballpark. According to a 2014 New York Times article by Keith Schneider, it is estimated that the project will give $200 million back to the city and county governments by 2037.

Gorman said the Gateway Project allowed the Bowling Green area to prosper when many communities around the country were struggling financially.

“That construction growth fed a lot of families and helped the local economy perform much better than our surrounding counties and the state in

The view of WKU’s campus during the night on top of the 27th floor of Pearce Ford Tower on April 4. Photo by Tyger Williams/HERALD

general,” Gorman said. “The easy decision would have been to halt all growth until the rest of the country caught up. The hard decision was to continue judiciously on the path of growth.”

Gorman also pointed to WKU’s cooperation with the Medical Center in Bowling Green to create a facility to house the university’s nursing and physical therapy programs in 2013 as a major partnership with the Bowling Green community. “‘The College of Nursing’ move to the Medical Center campus would never have happened without the benefit of the TIF and without the foresight of Dr. Ransdell to make such a bold move,” Gorman said. “That single event tripled the number of nursing degrees that could be earned and will change the face of healthcare in South Central Kentucky for generations.”

Brian Goff, economics professor at WKU and former director for the WKU Center for Applied Economics, said the Bowling Green area also avoided some of the effects of the 2008 economic recession since WKU provides for steady employment in the community.

“Overall, university employment is relatively insensitive to many economic downturns as enrollment stays steady or even increases,” Goff said. “Given the size of WKU in the local economy, this helps offset some of the decline in the auto industry and construction.”

Gorman said Ransdell’s leadership style is to credit for his transformation of not only the Hill, but also the town it’s located in.

“The term ‘visionary’ is used to describe too many people in my estimation. In Dr. Ransdell’s’ case, I believe the term is a fitting description of his view of where the university is 20 years after he arrived here,” Gorman said. “He has had a solid plan for academic growth, student body population growth, degree confirmation, physical campus transformation and connectivity with the Bowling Green community.”

Reflection on Ransdell Ransdell looks back on two decades as WKU’s ninth president Story by Monica Kast

D

uring the last two decades, the Hill has seen growth, development and transformation– new buildings, new policies, new people.

Each story is unique, but somewhere along the way, President Gary Ransdell is connected to them all.

“There’s been so many special moments, personal and professional,” Ransdell said.

He mentioned his sons and daughter-in-law graduating from WKU, one son and daughter-in-law getting married on campus and all of the commencements he’s been a part of.

“I cannot imagine a more exhilarating or satisfying two decades than what I’ve been fortunate to spend here since 1997,” he said.

On July 1, Tim Caboni will become the 10th president, and Ransdell will enter a short period of retirement, spending time away from an office.

Next year, he’ll become president and CEO of Semester at Sea, a study abroad program that takes students around the globe on a ship.

“Julie and I will travel a little bit,” Ransdell said. “I’ll set up my office at home. I may write a little bit, forward a lot of things from my 20 years to the

university archives. It’ll be a sorting out period, and then I’ll begin gearing up for Semester at Sea duties, you know, in November and December, and be ready to go for Semester at Sea.” However, Ransdell said he has no intention of slowing down between now and his last day as WKU’s president. He said a few weeks ago, he went through his desk, and decided what he would try to accomplish before his last day.

“I’ve got a stack on my desk of the things that I want to focus on and achieve by then,” Ransdell said. “I’m all in until June 30.”

1973-1974

1978-1981

Ransdell graduated WKU with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications in 1973. He received a master’s degree in public administration in 1974.

Ransdell received a doctorate degree in education from Indiana University in 1978 and returned to WKU to serve as associate director of alumni affairs until 1981.

1974-1976 Ransdell served as a field representative in the WKU Office of University School Relations.

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1981-1987 Ransdell worked as the director of alumni relations at Southern Methodist University.

The Spirit Masters welcome President Gary Ransdell during a Board of Regents meeting in Wetherby Administration Building. The board named Ransdell as the university’s ninth president.

Photo by Stephen Frazier

SELECTION

I

n May 1997, WKU’s eighth president, Thomas Meredith, left the university. Shortly after, the search for the next president began, with interviews on campus and in Nashville.

Kristen Miller, student regent and member of the presidential search committee at the time of Ransdell’s selection, said Ransdell’s interview stood out from all of the others.

“He kind of whipped into the room like a tornado,” Miller said with a laugh. “His energy was off the charts.

There was no masking his energy and enthusiasm.”

Miller said Ransdell was the last candidate to be interviewed and the only one who had questions for the

selection committee. Miller said at the end of his interview, he pulled out a binder “that had to be at least four inches thick,” and began asking questions about campus. He cited specifics about campus and referenced previous university budgets. After the interview was over, the committee “just sat in silence,” Miller said.

“I could tell he wasn’t leaving until he got this job,” she said.

Ransdell recalled the interview process, and said Donald Zacharias, WKU’s sixth president, originally nominated him. After multiple interviews with the Board of Regents and presidential selection committee, Ransdell left the final interview in fall of 1997 with a challenge to the Board of Regents.

“My challenge to the board was, ‘It’s time for you all to make a decision,’”

Ransdell said.

Ransdell said he hoped to make it clear that he wanted to be a “difference maker” at WKU. “I made it clear to the board… don’t hire me if you want a caretaker president,” Ransdell said.

He said the board responded by saying they were looking for a “transformational president.”

Ransdell told the board, “I’m your man.”

After the interview, he went to his hotel room and waited.

“They came and knocked on my door about an hour later that night and said congratulations,” Ransdell said.

Ransdell was announced as the next president several days later and officially began on October 31, 1997, according to WKU Archives.

1987-1997

May 1997

July 1997

Ransdell served as vice president for administration and advancement at Clemson University in South Carolina for four years and as vice president for institutional advancement for seven years.

Thomas Meredith left WKU in May 1997 to become chancellor of the University of Alabama System.

Barbara Burch, vice president for academic affairs at the time, was named as interim president until a replacement could be found.

The Board of Regents announced Ransdell as one of the final four candidates for the open position. James Ramsey, WKU vice president of finance and administration at the time, was also a finalist and had support from a large portion of the faculty and staff, who believed his experience with WKU administration made him the best candidate. Known especially for his fund-raising abilities, Ransdell impressed the Board with his experience in institutional advancement.

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WKU president Gary Ransdell prepares to announce his resignation at the Regents Board meeting at the College & Career Center on WKU’s Elizabethtown campus on January 29, 2016. Ransdell’s retirement from his presidency will be effective June 30, 2017.

Emily Kask/HERALD

STRUCTURE

R

ansdell said when he started, his main priority was “raising our sights.”

“It was my belief at that time, in 1997, we were too complacent as a university,” he said.

“There was a sense of being satisfied with our lot in life.”

Part of that, included making physical improvements to campus, which he called “tired and in a pretty serious state of deterioration,” and improving the “quality of life” for students.

Information provided by Bryan Russell, chief facilities officer, showed over $703.1 million dollars

September 12, 1997 After a six-month presidential search, Ransdell’s selection was announced at a Board of Regents meeting. He officially took office on Nov. 10 of the same year.

had been spent on construction from 1998 to 2016. The list seems nearly endless: dorm updates, new academic buildings and new restaurants.

Over 261 construction projects have been initiated since 1998, some small, like replacing a roof, and others much larger, like the construction of Ogden College Hall, which is slated for completion later this year.

The construction that began under Ransdell will continue after his retirement. Hilltopper Hall, the newest residence hall on campus, is set to be completed in fall of 2018. A new parking structure at the bottom of the Hill will be completed later this summer. Other residence halls

1998-2003 A five-year fund-raising campaign raised $102 million from private support. In 2003, WKU received the highest in alumni giving compared to all other Kentucky public universities.

are set to undergo construction as well in the next several years.

Faculty regent Barbara Burch said improving the physical infrastructure of campus was one of Ransdell’s most notable contributions. When Ransdell was hired, improving the campus infrastructure was one of the major concerns, she said.

“We were in a growth mode,” Burch said. “We were poised to grow. And he came to the table with ideas about that.”

Burch said Ransdell’s ideas for campus was one of the things that made him stand out from other candidates at the time.

“He made it a point to learn about us,” Burch said. “And so did Dr. Caboni, I might add.”

2004-2006 Ransdell approved the addition of a winter term in 2004, giving students the additional opportunity to earn credit hours in a timely manner. The three-week January term was added to WKU’s calendar in 2006.

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2007 The Honors Program transitioned into a college in 2007 and became first Honors College in Kentucky, following significant growth within the program after being made a priority by Ransdell in 2004.

FUNDRAISING

U

pon his selection, Ransdell stood out among the other candidates particularly for his ideas and experience with fundraising. Burch recalled university finances were a major concern at the time.

According to a Herald article from 1998, Ransdell “was hired for being a good fundraiser,” and “Western has come into several millions because of his diligence.”

Since his arrival, Ransdell has conducted two capital campaigns. The first was completed on June 30, 2003, with $102 million donated to WKU. The second was completed on June

2007 Gatton Academy, a residential program for high school juniors and seniors, opened for the 2007-2008 school year. Each year, the academy admits approximately 95 students interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to its website.

30, 2012 with $202 million donated to the university, according to WKU’s website.

Ransdell said the capital campaigns and fundraising provided a “psychological boost” to campus.

“People were willing to invest in WKU, and that goes a long way toward giving confidence to our faculty and staff and our alumni and our students that we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.

Additionally, Ransdell grew WKU’s endowment, which is money donated and then invested to be used by the university. Ransdell said during his time at WKU, the endowment has grown from $16 million to $150 million.

“People come and go, buildings come and go, general assemblies

come and go,” Ransdell said, “but it is a university endowment that makes it permanent. Endowments last forever, and we needed to build an endowment of consequence.”

Burch noted the importance of fundraising during Ransdell’s time at WKU. “He built the foundations for meaningful development and advancement,” she said.

Jay Todd Richey, Student Government Association president and student regent, said he doesn’t always agree with Ransdell’s decisions, but they always agree on issues revolving around higher education funding.

“We couldn’t have a better champion than him,” Richey said of Ransdell’s work in funding.

2011

2010 Confucius Institute at WKU opened in 2010, one year after WKU began offering the Chinese Flagship program.

The Institute recruits Chinese teachers to teach in K-12 schools throughout Kentucky and serves as a center for teacher training at WKU.

39

Named after Ransdell by the Board of Regents, the new College of Education building, Gary A. Ransdell Hall, opened in 2011. Later that year, the building received gold-level certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It was the first building on campus to be built with LEED certification in mind.

WKU’S SYMBOL

I

n his 20 years, Ransdell has become almost as recognizable as Big Red. In his own way, he has become something of a mascot for the campus.

Burch said she thought Ransdell’s high level of visibility and accessibility made him a recognizable figure.

“He’s been here for 20 years,” Burch said. “He’s been a visible part of the campus and community.”

During those years, Ransdell has parachuted with the U.S. Army Parachute team at Homecoming, taken part in the ice bucket challenge to raise awareness for ALS and dressed as a Dr. Seuss character. He is seen at almost every sporting event and is around campus nearly every day, greeting and talking with students, faculty and staff.

Burch said Ransdell’s genuine love for people and students has made him a memorable president.

“I’ve never seen someone who genuinely loves students the way he does,” Burch said.

Ransdell has also led WKU through an increase in enrollment. In 1997, WKU’s enrollment was 14,453 students, according to the WKU archives. In 2017, the enrollment is 18,581 students, according to the spring 2017 enrollment

January 29, 2016 Ransdell announced his retirement at the Board of Regents meeting on Jan. 29, 2016, beginning a nearly one-yearlong presidential search.

report.

“We’re now the intellectual heartbeat of Kentucky,” Ransdell said of the enrollment increase and improvements made to academics.

Miller commented on the impact of Ransdell’s relationship with those at WKU, saying she’s seen students at basketball games and other sporting events hold up “a giant Gary Ransdell head,” something she thought would have never happened under the previous president.

“It’s a very personal relationship he’s created,” Miller said.

Richey agreed with Burch, and said someone who has “devoted a substantial portion of his life to a university is deserving of respect.”

“He has dedicated his heart, mind and soul to WKU,” Richey said

LEGACY

R

ansdell will likely be remembered for many different things. Some are physical, like changes to campus, but others are less tangible.

“Sometimes it’s hard to describe the legacy of someone when they’re still here,” Burch said.

However, Burch noted Ransdell would likely be remembered for his

January 27, 2017 After a closed search, the Board of Regents announced Tim Caboni as the preferred candidate for WKU’s next president. Caboni was unanimously named the 10th president of WKU by the Board of Regents on January

40

love of WKU. “Dr. Ransdell’s love of Western just flowed,” Burch said. “He was able to connect that to his goals, ambitions and hopes for the campus.”

From that love of Western, Burch said Ransdell has impacted and changed a wide variety of aspects on campus.

Burch listed the physical improvements to campus, the movement of WKU athletics to Division 1 and new programs at WKU. “His energy and ‘upbeatness’ is almost as much a part of his legend and legacy,” Burch said.

Miller said the thing about Ransdell that’s impressed her most is, “he can see what others can’t.”

“He has this ability to see a future that no one else can even imagine, and go out and make it happen,” Miller said.

Richey said although he doesn’t always agree with the decisions Ransdell has made, Ransdell has been a “change agent” for the university.

“He’s someone who really put WKU on the map,” Richey said.

Calling back to what he told the Board of Regents at his final interview in 1997, Ransdell summarized how he hoped to be remembered: “As a transformative president who made us more nationally competitive, who rebuilt the campus, and who created a culture of philanthropy.”

February 8, 2017 Ransdell was announced as the next president and CEO of the Semester at Sea study abroad program.

June 30, 2017 Ransdell will officially step down from his 20-year position as the ninth president of WKU.

Congrats DR. RANSDELL

President Ransdell,

Thank you for your vision and commitment to The Center for Gifted Studies and The Gatton Academy!

Gatton Academy Expansion Dedication, 2015

Thank you, President Ransdell, for being an essential element of WKU for 20 years!

Gatton Academy Opening Dedication, 2007

GR 20

GARYRANSDELL 1997.2017

Thank you, President Ransdell

y For 20 years of leadership and service at WKU z

c WKU COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

UNFORGETTABLE YEARS

Dr. Gary Ransdell, thank you for your support through the years.

You will always be a part of the DNA of Western Kentucky University.

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