WKU Names Knicely Center Board Room In Honor Of Ward And Ann Elliott

August 30, 2007

Bowling Green, Ky. - For the past 12 years, Western Kentucky University’s Carroll Knicely Conference Center at the South Campus has been like a second home for Ward Elliott.  Mr. Elliott, a highly respected Bowling Green Realtor, owns and operates the Ward Elliott Institute of Real Estate, which he established in 1982.  Since the Knicely Center opened, Mr. Elliott has operated most of his classes—both pre-license and continuing education courses—out of the Knicely Center’s board room. 
           
Thanks to a generous commitment made by Ward Elliott and his wife, Ann, that room will now bear their name.
           
Dr. Don Swoboda is dean of WKU’s Division of Extended Learning and Outreach (DELO), of which the Knicely Center is a part.  “Ward Elliott is, and has been, our longest-standing and most frequent client,” he said.  “As such, he is a role model for how a significant partnership can develop and expand for the joint benefit of our mutual businesses.”
           
The Elliotts recently made a $100,000 commitment to the Knicely Center, and WKU made the decision to name the board room in their honor.  “This gift will allow us to create the first stage of an endowment for the Knicely Center, which will be used for continuous maintenance, refurbishing, electronic teaching technology and conferencing enhancements, and operations to allow us to continue to offer state-of-the-art conferencing and event facilities to the Bowling Green Community and beyond,” Dr. Swoboda said. “The first priority for proceeds from this endowment will be for the enhancement of the Ward and Ann Elliott Board Room.”
           
Dr. Swoboda says this gift is the beginning of what he hopes will be an increased engagement of other partners, like the Elliotts, to join with DELO and the Knicely Center. These partnerships would help to guarantee that the facility continues to serve the needs of customers at the highest level possible, as well as positively impact the many other programs offered through Division. 
           
“This Center is the physical focal point for our Division and, as such, creates an atmosphere of quality that reflects on the learning opportunities we offer as the major outreach unit of WKU,” he said.
           
Ward Elliott earned his B.S. at WKU in 1956 and originally planned to become a teacher.  Though his career led him to enter real estate, he was later able to combine his skill in real estate with his love for teaching.  He began teaching courses in that area in 1976 and officially opened his institute 16 years later.  Ann Elliott is a 1966 WKU graduate and is a real estate executive for Crye-Leike Realty.
           
“Ann and I are both graduates of WKU, and we wanted to contribute to the continued growth of the University,” Mr. Elliott explained.  “I have been having classes at the Knicely Center longer than anyone else.  It is a great facility.  In the past 12 years, I have held hundreds of classes there.  I can’t think of anywhere I would rather have my name than there.”
           
“Ward has not utilized the Board room exclusively for his real estate training, but it has been his favorite and preferred teaching spot at the Center,” Dr. Swoboda said.  “During the course of our partnership he has grown his Institute of Real Estate into an extremely successful business.  We feel proud, as one of his major providers of training space and services, that we have played a small part in that success.”

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For more information, contact Tom Hiles, (270) 745-6208, or Don Swoboda, (270) 745-1900.