Department of Geography and Geology - Scholarship Information

Departmental tuition support scholarships are available through the Wayne Hoffman Memorial Fund, the Department's Excellence Fund, and the Gildersleeve Fund for Geology Excellence for Academic Year 2013-2014.

In addition, a $1000 scholarship from the Dr. James Leslie Davis Scholarship Fund is also available for 2013-2014 (go to WKU's scholarship site to complete an application for this fund no later than April 15 each year).
For Undergraduate and Graduate Students studying geospatial topics (GIS, Remote Sensing), a merit-based scholarship from the Syed Reza Ahsan Scholarship Fund for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis is available for those students with financial need. Applicants for these two scholarships MUST complete the WKU (not the departmental) Scholarship application form (go to WKU's scholarship site to complete an application for this fund).

For Graduate students studying geography (cultural, GIS, planning), a need-based scholarship from the James and Avo Taylor Scholarship is available that provides 1/4-time funding for the academic year. Applicants for this scholarship MUST complete the WKU (not the departmental) Scholarship application form (go to WKU's scholarship site to complete an application for this fund), and the recipient cannot be receiving any other form of financial aid.

For the departmental academic-support scholarships, competitive funding is available for freshman BS Meteorology students, outstanding returning BS/BA geology students, and outstanding returning BS geography/meteorology/GIS majors. Incoming freshmen students should have high ACT/SAT scores and an outstanding record of achievement in their high school. Returning students should have a 3.5 GPA or higher, have demonstrated financial need, or have a compelling reason to justify funding support.

In addition, the Dr. James Leslie Davis Scholarship Fund is open to any student majoring in the Department who has a 3.2 GPA or higher, and the Syed Reza Ahsan Scholarship is merit based. Both of these scholarships have a WKU application deadline of April 15 each academic year. The WKU scholarship form (not the departmental form) must be submitted by April 15 to qualify for these two awards.

A departmental Application Form is downloadable here.

The Scholarship Committee will consider GPA, financial need, and other relevant information.

DEADLINE for departmental applications is August 15, 2013 for the 2013-2014 academic year.
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***NOTE: The WKU deadline for scholarships is APRIL 15 - this deadline includes the department's DAVIS and AHSAN scholarships.

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Travel scholarships are available for Geography and Geology majors and Geoscience Graduate students for the 2013-2014 academic year:
(1) Students must be attending an approved local, regional, national, or international conference and be sponsored by a department faculty member;
(2) Priority funding support is given to those students who are presenting a paper or poster at a conference, and who are supervised by a faculty member;
(3) Students seeking travel support must request funding from their faculty supervisor using the approved travel request form, who should then forward the request for funding to the Department Head;
(4) Students should submit a budget of their anticipated expenses with their request for funding using the approved form;
(5) Students should share costs wherever possible (hotel, driving, etc.) and should be prepared to contribute their own funds to the professional development activity as departmental budgets are extremely limited;
(6) The department does not pay per diem; it only reimburses reasonable and normal travel expenses. Students should keep all receipts as no reimbursement can be made without an accompanying receipt;
(7) Students should seek funding support from other sources as well, including the Ogden Dean's office, the Honors College, faculty grants, etc.
(8) All claims for reimbursement MUST be made within 30 days of completion of travel. NO reimbursements will be processed after the 30-day deadline;
(9) Requests for non-travel support such as equipment rental, sample processing, etc., should be made directly to the faculty supervisor with a justification for requesting support;
(10) For more information, contact your faculty advisor or the Department Head.

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Research Facilities

There are several educational, research, and public service facilities housed within the Department that provide fascinating opportunities for a combination of theoretical and practical work. The Center for Cave and Karst Studies serves as a major research center dealing with all aspects of cave and karst studies, with an emphasis on solving environmental problems associated with karst terrain. The Hoffman Environmental Research Institute is a consortium of scientists and students dedicated to research and higher education at the frontiers of environmental science. Its primary mission is to be a leader in the development of innovative, basic and applied research programs aimed at understanding the dynamics of human-landscape-atmosphere interactions. A major goal of the Institute's activities is to actively involve undergraduate and graduate students in all aspects of this research as an integrated part of their academic programs with the purpose of nurturing their intellectual growth, critical thinking skills, and technical experience in the environmental discipline.
The Advanced Materials Institute (AMI) coordinates and promotes educational, research, and public service activities for various groups in WKU’s Department of Geography and Geology, Department of Chemistry, other Ogden College of Science and Engineering Departments, and the Applied Research and Technology Program. The AMI is also active conducting third-party testing of materials for regional and national businesses.
The College Heights Weather Station maintains a fully equipped weather station with remote radar capability. The Kentucky Climate Center is staffed by the State Climatologist and maintains an extensive set of Kentucky climatic data. The Kentucky Mesonet is a network of automated weather and climate monitoring stations being developed by the Kentucky Climate Center at Western Kentucky University to serve diverse needs in communities across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Department also has several computer labs with numerous GIS applications, statistical packages, database programs, and Internet applications. The Department's state-of-the-art Geographic Information Science (GIS) Laboratory contains advanced microcomputers, ARCGIS software, and other computer-mapping software. A map library is also maintained. Applied and basic field research by faculty and students is conducted continually in the local area, surrounding states, and throughout the world.

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Search the Department of Geography and Geology Site Index.

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To contact the site administrator, click on: david.keeling@wku.edu

Last updated on 3/28/13