WKU News

The Board of Regents Academic Affairs Committee approved University Distinguished Professor status for WKU Professor of Music John Cipolla.

The Western Kentucky University Board of Regents held its first committee meetings of the calendar year on Friday, January 21.

The Academic Affairs Committee approved University Distinguished Professor status for Dr. John Cipolla, WKU Professor of Music. As a woodwind specialist, Dr. Cipolla’s music career has taken him across the globe, including engagements in Italy, Spain, Peru, and on Broadway in New York.

Being named a University Distinguished Professor is among the highest honors a WKU professor can achieve at the university. The WKU Distinguished Professorship program is designed to recognize faculty members who have served the University with distinction and have compiled an outstanding record of achievement in teaching, research, and service. Dr. Cipolla’s University Distinguished Professor of Music status will go into effect July 1, 2022.

The Academic Affairs Committee also approved a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Data Analytics program. The program will be delivered entirely online, and is geared toward working adults who are interested in pursuing careers in a variety of fields or enhancing their current employment. It will first be offered during the fall 2022 semester. Provost Robert “Bud” Fischer indicated that the program will be aggressively promoted to prospective students throughout the spring and summer.

The Finance and Budget Committee approved a number of personnel actions, most notably, a 1.5% salary increase for eligible employees. The committee approval pertains to personnel actions that took place and have been approved through administrative channels between September 27, 2021, and December 31, 2021.

Other items of business from the committee meetings included:

• Approval of sabbatical leave for a number of faculty members
• A review and acceptance of auditor’s reports and financial statements for WKYU-TV and WKYU-FM radio
• A review and acceptance of the accountants’ report on applying agreed-upon procedures for the previous fiscal year, as required by the NCAA
• Acceptance for filing the statement of revenue and expenditures for the six months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
• Approval of authorization to grant utility easement across university-owned property to Chick-Fil-A for a new Bowling Green location
• Jennifer Breiwa Smith, WKU’s Executive Director of Government and External Relations, provided the Regents with a legislative update, including a review of the budget recently approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives. That budget will now be passed to the Kentucky Senate for review.

The committee approvals will be presented to the full Board at its first quarterly meeting of 2022 on March 4.

Contact: Jace Lux, (270) 745-4295

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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.