WKU News

Western Kentucky University is extending its strategic plan through 2031, building on eight years of progress and establishing priorities to guide the University toward its 125th anniversary.

President Timothy C. Caboni shared details about the extension, Climbing to Greater Heights: 2026-2031, during WKU’s annual Faculty and Staff Convocation on Monday, August 17. The amended plan extends the University’s existing Climbing to Greater Heights strategic plan by three years and refines institutional priorities to reflect the evolving higher education landscape and emerging opportunities for WKU.

“It builds on the strong foundation we established in 2018 and affirms our responsibility to cultivate a campus environment where we support students, faculty and staff, encourage innovation, elevate discovery and wisely steward resources,” Caboni said.

WKU began its comprehensive strategic planning process in 2017, resulting in Climbing to Greater Heights, a decade-long roadmap that has guided the university since 2018. Centered on student success, the plan called for strengthening the student experience, attracting and retaining exceptional faculty and staff, deepening engagement across the region and providing a global context to the WKU Experience.

Eight years into the plan, WKU has made significant progress on key measures of student success.

The University’s six-year graduation rate has increased from 50.7% to 59.1%, an 8.4 percentage-point increase that places WKU within reach of its 60% goal for 2028. WKU’s most recent four-year graduation rate also has surpassed 50%, exceeding the rate of one of Kentucky’s two Research 1 universities.

The fall-to-fall retention rate for first-time, first-year students has increase from 69.9% to 79.4%, a 9.5 percentage-point increase that puts WKU within reach of its 80% goal for 2028. 

Additionally, WKU continues to exceed its 90% goal for counseling students with outstanding financial aid needs prior to enrollment, with 90.3% of students receiving this support.

To evaluate the existing strategic plan and ensure it remained responsive to current challenges and future opportunities, President Caboni convened a Strategic Planning Executive Committee last year. The committee was co-chaired by Dr. Corinne Murphy, Dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, and Bryson Davis, Student Financial Assistance Director, and supported by three subcommittees representing Our Students, Our Hill and Our Community and Beyond.

Nearly 50 faculty and staff members participated in the strategic planning process throughout the spring semester, contributing their expertise and perspectives to the effort. Subcommittees presented preliminary recommendations to the Executive Steering Committee in March, after which the recommendations were compiled and shared with the WKU community through a university-wide webinar for feedback.

The committee concluded its work this summer, and the Strategic Plan extension was shared with the WKU Board of Regents at its annual retreat last week.

Climbing to Greater Heights: 2026-2031 builds upon the University’s existing commitments while strengthening alignment among institutional priorities, current realities and emerging opportunities. Key priorities include:

• Improving Affordability, Accessibility and Transparency by ensuring the WKU Experience remains affordable and accessible to every qualified student.
• Promoting Student Completion, Success and Support by intentionally structuring academic pathways and resource deployment so students can progress efficiently toward completion without avoidable delays or unnecessary credit accumulation. A key strategy is expanding WKU’s Living Learning Community model to second-year Hilltoppers.
• Preparing Students for Career Readiness on a Global Stage by strengthening the hard and soft skills graduates need to thrive in their careers and communities.
• Strengthening Campus Engagement, Belonging and Community by using WKU’s housing transformation to intentionally design residential communities as platforms for engagement, not simply accommodations.
• Making a Commitment to Care and Excellence for Employees by creating a workplace where faculty and staff feel valued, are supported and heard, strive for excellence and promote accountability.
• Prioritizing Stewardship of Place, Facilities and Infrastructure by investing in WKU’s physical and virtual environments to foster community, advance academic excellence, facilitate engagement, strengthen recruitment and promote long-term institutional success.
• Strengthening the Financial Foundation through responsible stewardship, alignment with strategic priorities, data-informed decision-making and continuous improvement.
• Making Recruitment a Shared Responsibility by embedding recruitment and enrollment as shared institutional priorities and implementing a comprehensive strategic enrollment management plan informed by shared data, regular reporting and coordinated planning.
• Becoming a Community Catalyst by advancing WKU as a collaborative engine for economic development through partnerships, research, talent development and innovation.
• Making Workforce and Lifelong Learning a Priority by expanding workforce-aligned degree pathways and lifelong learning opportunities that strengthen talent development and economic competitiveness.
• Prioritizing Unified Engagement and Voice by creating a coordinated and accessible approach for external stakeholders to engage with WKU through aligned systems, leadership and institutional messaging.

The extension also reinforces WKU’s commitment to providing an affordable, high-quality education, preparing graduates for meaningful careers, strengthening communities and demonstrating the lasting value of a WKU degree.

To learn more about Climbing to Greater Heights: 2026-2031, visit https://www.wku.edu/strategicplan/.

Contact: Jace Lux, jace.lux@wku.edu

- WKU -

Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.