WKU to host honors seminar:

WKU’s Honors College has been chosen to host the first-ever Honors Faculty Institute in Kentucky.

The week-long seminar will bring in honors faculty and administrators from around the country.

The seminar will take place at Mammoth Cave from June 7-12 and is titled “Seeing Beneath the Surface: Kentucky Cave Country.” Motley said participants will use careful observations, reflective writings and seminary discussions to learn about a particular place, and will later use their own techniques at their respected institutions.

Clay Motley, assistant director for academics for the Honors College, said WKU is the first university in Kentucky to host such an event.

“With some of the nation’s top honors faculty and administrators coming here to learn from WKU faculty in our own backyard – this is a great achievement,” Motley said.

Instructors will include Motley; Fred Siewers, associate professor in geography and geology; and Erika Brady, professor in folk studies and anthropology.

Source: WKU News blog

Student named second consecutive WKU Rotary scholar to travel to the UK:

Aric Johnson has become the second WKU student in two years to receive a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.

With the scholarship, he will live and study in Edinburgh, Scotland, for a year.

Johnson is a biology major in the Honors College with a 4.0 grade point average.

He also participates in service with developmentally disabled children. He has volunteered with the Special Olympics in Bowling Green and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

He still plans to attend medical school in the U.S. but will take courses in biomedical sciences, pharmacology, pathophysiology and advanced biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh.

Johnson received support from Amy Eckhardt, Director of the Office of Scholar Development, who said he was “an accomplished scholar, athlete and leader, with a distinguished record of service locally and abroad.”

Last year, Rachel Reetzke of Franklin, Ky., won the same scholarship and is currently studying at the University of Cambridge in England.

Johnson overheard Reetzke talking to his roommate about the opportunity and started to ask questions about it.

“I knew he would be WKU’s next Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar based on his natural desire to serve others,” Reetzke said of Johnson.

Source: WKU News blog