Dr. Gary A. Ransdell was named the ninth president of Western Kentucky University on September 12, 1997.
Dr. Ransdell, 57, received his bachelor’s degree from WKU in 1973 in mass communications, a master of public service degree in public administration in 1974, and a doctor of education degree from Indiana University in 1978.
Dr. Ransdell joined WKU after serving four years as Vice President for Administration and Advancement and seven years as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.
His previous professional experiences at WKU also include service as a field representative in the Office of University School Relations from 1974 to 1976 and as Associate Director of Alumni Affairs from 1978 to 1981.
Dr. Ransdell became Director of Alumni Relations at Southern Methodist University in 1981, a position he held until 1987 when he was named the Vice President at Clemson.
Dr. Ransdell and the WKU Board of Regents are leading the campus through a dramatic transformation from a university of regional importance to a leading American university with international reach. WKU has been the fastest growing university in Kentucky for ten straight years, with enrollment swelling from 14,500 to 19,500. The applicant pool has doubled to over 14,000 and student retention has grown from 67 percent to 76 percent.
A key element in the transformation of WKU is growth in private support. WKU completed its first capital campaign on June 30, 2003, with $102 million in gifts and pledges. A second campaign with a goal of $200 million was launched in September 2007, and $120 million of that goal has been raised. The “New Century of Spirit” campaign will be completed in 2112.
Another priority is a complete rebuilding of the WKU campus. Some $300 million in campus construction has been completed since 1998, $150 million is currently under way and $200 million more is scheduled to be completed by 2012.
Other measures of progress include a dramatic push in sponsored research, which has grown from $11 million to $31 million since 1998; growth in federal appropriations from $1 million to $15 million per year; significant progress in faculty/staff compensation; the growth of new degree programs in electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering; a new Division of Extended Learning and Outreach; and a new emphasis on the commercialization of intellectual property and the transfer of WKU technology to the Kentucky workplace; growth in the three WKU regional campuses in Glasgow, Owensboro, and Elizabethtown; the creation of the Gatton Academy of Math and Science; Kentucky’s first federal research lab; Kentucky’s only Honors College; and expanded study abroad programs. True to its plan, Western has the largest number of distance-learning courses and the largest distance-learning enrollment among Kentucky’s eight universities.
WKU’s athletic programs have won four Sun Belt Conference all-sports titles and has become the NCAA’s newest Division I-A football member under Dr. Ransdell’s leadership. He served as President of the Sun Belt Conference in 2000.
Dr. Ransdell received the Outstanding Professional Award for Public Relations from the WKU Department of Journalism in 1997.
Dr. Ransdell has served on the Board of Directors of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, and as the
1999 Chair of the Warren County United Way Campaign. In 2004, Dr. Ransdell completed a four-year appointment on the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Dr. Ransdell currently serves on the Local Advisory Board of BB&T and on the Board of the Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Dr. Ransdell and his wife, Julie, met, dated, and were married while at WKU pursuing their undergraduate degrees. They have two sons—Patrick, 29, who graduated from WKU in 2002 and is the Assistant Director of Athletics at Coastal Carolina University, and Matthew, 25, who graduated from WKU in 2006 and is a third-year law student at Stetson University. Both Patrick and Matthew were lettermen with the WKU baseball team.
Patrick and Brooke (WKU ’04) were married in August 2004. The Ransdells are proud owners of two Labrador Retrievers named Topper and Spirit!
Download High-Resolution (300 dpi) images of Pres. Ransdell:
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|
