The EKU Board of Regents, meeting in regular session on Monday, June 11, approved a 2012-13 operating budget of $235,769,831 (not including restricted funds), an increase of approximately 1 percent over the previous year.

Municipalities and universities nationwide and beyond are struggling to do more with less.

For one week this summer, more than 200 city and campus officials from throughout the U.S. and several other countries converged on the Eastern campus to explore ways they can pool their resources and work together to meet current and future needs.

Dr. Deborah Whitehouse has been named dean of EKU’s College of Health Sciences.

Dr. Roger Cleveland, associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at EKU, has been honored by the Kentucky Association of Blacks in Higher Education.

In April, a Kentucky coffee tree was planted in the New Science Building wetlands classroom as part of the observance of National Arbor Day and Earth Days. The ceremony also commemorated EKU's designation as a 2011 Tree Campus USA. The national program, launched in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota Motor North America Inc., honors colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation. Public Relations Photo by Stephanie Cole

Rich Byrd, associate professor of music, was commissioned by the Great American Brass Band Festival to write a fanfare for double trumpet choir that was performed by former Vince DiMartino trumpet students (including Byrd) from across the country on June 9.

Betina Gardner has been named dean of libraries at EKU.

EKU has selected educator and former Peace Corps volunteer Bill Holmes as director of the Office of International Education.

Jillian Watts, Educational Talent Search educational coordinator at EKU, is featured in the April 26 edition of Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine, the nation's only news magazine dedicated exclusively to minority issues in higher education.

Dr. Qaisar Sultana, professor emeritus of special education, was chosen as one of six Visiting Scholars by a consortium of universities in Norway, Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic, Uganda and Sudan.

The new executive director of the Innovation and Commercialization Center (ICC) at Eastern is a familiar name and face to many in the central/eastern Kentucky business community.

EKU faculty members often travel beyond the scope of their job descriptions for their students. But one EKU professor recently traveled an even greater distance for her students when she jumped out of an airplane at 10,000 feet.

Students in Dr. Diane Vance’s special topics course, “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” bought her a gift certificate to skydive to show their appreciation for her teaching. Vance, also the director of Forensic Science, performed the jump in early June. To see a video of her experience, visit chemistry.eku.edu/insidelook/forensic-science-professor-skydives-students.

Eastern honored 2,207 degree candidates at its annual spring commencement ceremonies on May 5.

Singer/songwriter Chad Warrix, who gained fame in the country music duo Halfway to Hazard, urged Rockcastle County High School students to never give up on their dreams.

The Center for the Arts at Eastern Kentucky University has played host during its inaugural season to more than 50,500 guests from more than 30 states and abroad.

by Stephanie Cole
Student Writer, EKU Public Relations

Avery Scherer, the daughter of Doug and Anne Scherer, of Jeffersonville, Ind., received the President’s Outstanding Senior Award at commencement ceremonies on May 5.

For the third time in four years, an EKU graduate has received a Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship for graduate study.

Shortly after graduating magna cum laude as an Honors Scholar with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at EKU’s spring commencement ceremonies, Michael Mazzotta of Apex, N.C., learned he was one of approximately 50 recipients nationwide of a Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship valued at $5,000.

EKU junior Christian Wyler earned second place in the eighth annual Appalachian Ideas Network Showcase.

Andrew Napier, a senior biology/pre-medical science major from Richmond, is one of 59 Tillman Military Scholars nationwide.

Katie Wiedmar, a senior PGA golf management major from Louisville, received the 2011-12 S.J. Garner Student Excellence Award at the PGA Golf Management spring awards banquet in April.

A team of five Eastern accounting majors came in second place at the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accounts’ annual Promote and Encourage Accounting in Kentucky (PEAK) competition in Louisville, April 27.

Students from the School of Business and College of Business and Technology were inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society at a formal ceremony on April 24 in the Executive Conference Room of the Business and Technology Center.

Jessica Jacobs, left, Leitchfield, a sophomore at EKU and one of two college students nationally to receive an Access Path to Psychology and Law Experience (APPLE) research scholarship, was honored recently by Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes, center. Grimes personally presented Kentucky Colonel commissions to Jacobs and her EKU faculty mentor, Dr. Dustin Wygant, right. “It was a privilege to meet Jessica and Dr. Wygant in my office and present to each of them commissions to become Kentucky Colonels,” Grimes said. “Talented, motivated students like Jessica are the key to Kentucky’s future, and we count on dedicated educators like Dr. Wygant to mentor them and ensure they achieve their fullest potential. I enjoyed hearing their first-hand account of Jessica’s path to the elite APPLE program; their experience is a shining example of the aspirations and perseverance that will lead Kentucky to its brightest future.” Jacobs is a 2010 graduate of Grayson County High School and plans eventually to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology.

Kelsey Hawkins, Frankfort, a human resource management major at Eastern, was elected vice president of Kentucky Phi Beta Lambda recently and will join the state officer team at the business fraternity’s National Leadership Conference this summer.

Trisha Brockmeyer, third from left, and Madeline Frenzl, far right, both students at Model Laboratory High School, were honored recently by Sixth District Congressman Ben Chandler, second from left, for their winning entries in the annual Congressional Art Competition. In each Congressional district in Kentucky, an overall winner is named as well as winners in various media categories. In addition, an overall winner is named for each county. Brockmeyer was the overall winner for Madison County and Frenzl won the district honor for printmaking. Each student received a certificate and an embossed leather Congressional folder. At left is Model Lab art teacher Jeremy Newell.

Students Logan Duderstadt, left, a junior from West Chester, Ohio, and Parker Brandt, a sophomore from Ooltewah, Tenn., represented Eastern at the PGA Golf Management University Leadership Conference April 14-15 in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

The Madison County adult education program at EKU will honor GED® graduates at a ceremony on Thursday, June 14, at 7 p.m. in the Perkins Building.