EKU kicked off its centennial celebration and launched its first comprehensive capital campaign Friday, Sept. 23, as 400 donors, alumni and friends gathered at the Fitness & Wellness Center to hear President Joanne Glasser and EKU Foundation Board Chair Dustan McCoy formally announce the public phase of the $25 million effort.

Approximately 150 law enforcement officials from throughout the U.S. and more than 15 foreign countries are expected to converge in Somerset Oct. 10-11 for an international roundtable on “Police Challenges in the 21st Century.”

The event, sponsored by EKU’s International Justice & Safety Institute along with the National Institute of Justice Office of Science and Technology and G&H International Services, will be held at the Center for Rural Development.

Tasia Rader and Ben Jager were crowned queen and king during Homecoming 2005 ceremonies at EKU on Saturday, Sept. 24, by President Glasser. Rader is a senior nursing major from Pineville who was sponsored by the Nursing Student Network; Jager, a junior occupational therapy major from Edgewood, was sponsored by Delta Zeta. The coronation came at halftime of the Colonels’ 52-3 rout of Tennessee Tech.

An EKU geography professor and a group of his students are joining in the efforts to preserve and restore the long-neglected “Old Soldiers” Cemetery off Four Mile Avenue in Richmond.

Armed with Global Positioning System (GPS) units, Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. Dan Weir and students will converge on the cemetery Saturday morning, Oct. 15, to begin a mapping project they hope will determine where the approximately 300 burial plots are located.

October is Americans with Disabilities Awareness Month and the ADA Awareness and Accessibility Committee is coordinating a number of activities throughout the month.

Dr. Judy Spain, second from left, and Dr. Rick Fern, third from left, have received the Jack L. Dyer Excellence in Teaching Awards at EKU. Spain, who teaches in the Department of Management, Marketing and Administrative Communication, was cited for her “passion” for ethics education. Fern, who teaches in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Information Systems, was honored for his involvement in national accounting education conferences and for his efforts to develop distance and web-based courses. Dyer, at right, taught at EKU for 32 years and served as director of its MBA program for 13 years until his retirement in 2002. Each recipient received a $500 cash award, a personal plaque and inscription of their names on a permanent plaque for EKUBusiness. At left is Dr. Bob Rogow, dean of the College of Business & Technology.

Gary Marshall, an experienced senior manager with a background in management, marketing, sales, engineering and production, has been named executive director of the Eastern Region Innovation and Commercialization Center at EKU.

Part of a statewide network of six regional offices and several rural Innovation Centers, focused on helping Kentucky entrepreneurs, scientists and engineers perfect their business strategies and build successful high-performance businesses, the Eastern Region ICC covers 46 counties throughout eastern and southeastern Kentucky and currently has more than a dozen active clients.

The Kentucky Workgroup on Civic Literacy and Engagement and Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson will visit Richmond Tuesday, Oct. 18, as part of an ongoing initiative to educate citizens about government and their communities and to encourage citizen participation.

“An absolute original.”

“A poet who deserves to be read.”

That’s how fellow poet Steven Cope describes EKU Foundation Professor Harry Brown, whose 37 years of work is chronicled in “Felt Along the Blood: New and Selected Poems.”

Students from colleges and universities in southeastern Kentucky have the opportunity to turn great business ideas into successful ventures by entering the second annual Southeastern Kentucky Concept Challenge, sponsored by EKU, Berea College and the Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation.

EKU’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is moving, but not far.

Effective Monday, Oct. 3, the SBDC will be located at 675 Monticello St., Suite 1, in Somerset, just a few blocks from its previous location in the Center for Rural Development, and only a half-block off the busy US 27 corridor.

Karin Sehmann, professor of music and associate chair of the Department of Music, is featured in this ongoing series designed to allow EKU leaders to discuss their roles as well as campus issues. Sehmann, who joined the EKU faculty 15 years ago, holds a Ph.D. in music from the University of Iowa, a master's degree in horn performance from the University of Akron, and a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Northern Iowa.