WKU began its search for a new Director of Environment, Health and Safety on Thursday.

Bradley Coyle, currently an environmental safety consultant for Linebach Funkhouser in Louisville, gave a 20-minute presentation before fielding questions from the audience in the first of two open forums for the position.

Coyle, who graduated from WKU in 2000 with bachelor’s degrees in Geography and Geology, said WKU plays a major role as a university in keeping people safe.

WKU should seize that opportunity to set a standard in environment, health and safety programs, Coyle said.

“As a university, we want to try and get our programs out there to people and say, ‘Yeah, we are doing that and frankly, it’s working pretty good for us,’” he said.

Coyle also said he hopes to get students, faculty and staff to “march to the beat of the same drum” in order to seize that opportunity.

“Everyone’s a stakeholder here,” he said. “We’ve got resources out the yin-yang. We need to make sure we utilize all those resources.”

The second forum will take place at 3 p.m. Friday at for candidate David Oliver, the current supervisor of health and safety at the General Motors plant in Bowling Green.

Bryan Russell, head of the search committee and director of Planning, Design and Construction, said there is no definite time frame for filling the position after the forums conclude.

“Once this is done, we’ll sit down as a group and talk,” he said. “If we have a consensus, we’ll check his references and move forward to putting a job offer in, but there is not a time frame.

“We’re looking for the right candidate.”

Coyle said his management style should set him apart as that right candidate, helping WKU to prevent safety issues before they start.

“Once the drum is beating, make sure the bunny has Energizer batteries,” he said. “Don’t get complacent. As a manager, I feel very strongly that it is a leader’s job to provide the resources for their people to execute their job at a high level.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”