WKU Director of Athletics Todd Stewart joined the Faculty Senate to praise the academic successes of WKU student athletes Thursday, alongside their sports victories.

Stewart, who is in his 14th year as WKU’s director of athletics, opened the meeting with a presentation about WKU Athletics’ successes on fields, courts and in the classroom throughout his tenure. He also answered questions regarding athletes’ academics, program finances and the effects of new collegiate sports developments. 

“We see this as an academic institution first,” Stewart said. “I don’t care how many bowl games we go to or how many conference championships we go to. If we aren’t graduating our athletes, if the grade point averages are poor, then I think that undermines everything.”

Stewart touted a 90% graduation success rate for student athletes, which he said is the highest in the history of WKU Athletics. He also said that the 379 total student-athletes have a cumulative GPA of 3.32 across 59 different majors. 

“We’re here because we’re an academic institution… our student athletes are here to get degrees, and I give our coaches credit,” Stewart said. “We’re very proud of the successes we’ve had.”

During Stewart’s tenure, WKU Athletics has won 59 conference titles across 13 different programs. WKU Volleyball finished in the Associated Press Top 25 for five consecutive seasons from 2019 to 2023. Across athletic programs, WKU has been in 23 NCAA tournaments.

WKU Football is tied for the third most bowl wins in the modern college Football Bowl Subdivision era, with eight in 11 appearances, behind only the University of Georgia and the University of Minnesota with nine. The other college programs with eight FBS bowl wins are the Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Alabama.

“We always say, you’re known by the company you keep,” Stewart said. “Our football program is in very good company there.”

Stewart also said that a study commissioned from the Nielsen analytics firm found that the exposure the university got from its athletics in 2023-2024 would have otherwise cost $44 million. This exposure includes 180 or more games streamed or televised each year nationally.

“Our games are great vehicles… to highlight academic initiatives, academic accomplishments,” Stewart said.

He also discussed the increased influence of money seen across collegiate sports with changes like the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness deals, which allow students to profit on their name, image and likeness.

“Under the new NIL model, it seems that resources are key to attracting and retaining good players, how in the world will regionals like WKU ever be able to compete?” Stewart asked. “That’s a great question, and I wish I had an answer to it.”

Though he believes NIL encourages a pay-to-play dynamic in collegiate sports, Stewart said that changes to the NCAA’s transfer portal system were of greater concern to him. As of 2024, NCAA athletes in all sports are allowed unlimited transfers without any stipulations.

“It’s not in the best interest of an academic institution,” Stewart said. “It’s not in the best interest of pursuing a degree… I think it’s very unhealthy.”

State Legislation

Senior Mathematics Instructor Robin Ayers shared the concerns of the American Association of University Professors and the Coalition of Senate and Faculty Leadership regarding three new bills in the Kentucky House of Representatives.

House Bill 490, which passed the House on Tuesday, “allows tenured faculty to be fired for misalignment of revenue and costs in a particular college department, program or major, among other unspecified financial reasons,” Ayers said. 

HB 497, which is presently in committee, reduces tuition waivers across several groups, including students over 65, and relatives of deceased and disabled veterans and first responders. The bill would also delete the tuition waiver presently available to some state employees.

Ayers said that HB 500, which was presented on Tuesday, proposes to “cut funding for all education, including post-secondary, and proposes massive increases to the healthcare premiums for state workers and many retirees.”

Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Melissa Travelsted, Chair of the Academic Quality Committee, shared the committee’s newest report, which focuses on AI use in the classroom. The report includes resources from the WKU Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning about how to manage AI use in the classroom.

WKU CITL will also be hosting a conference on AI on Friday, March 27.

Campus Life

Fischer congratulated faculty promoted to tenure and said that raises will go out to faculty July 1.

Fischer also said that there were two residence halls under consideration for a new 24-hour space for students.

Fischer said that Monday’s Preview Day, alongside last year’s, were the two biggest since 2020, and applications have reached 8,500.