Above: Senida Husic (Honors Program), Gilman Scholar to United Arab Emirates, Spring 2007. She was traveling in Egypt at the time of this photo.

In 2005, as part of Western Kentucky University’s strategy to gain national prominence, I was hired to transform the Honors Program into an Honors College. Although an Honors College is one of many ways to earn a reputation as a “leading American university,” it can take years to gain the desired reputation. So, when, on my first day at WKU our president asked me if I could get our honors program national ranking and recognition within five years, I said “No, sir.” Needless to say, the look on his face told me it was not the answer he wanted to hear. It was now up to me to explain why it just was not possible in that time frame and that if national recognition was the goal, a much quicker route would be through the scholarship process. I discussed the range of scholarships I had in mind with our president and how we could benchmark WKU against more prestigious and developed scholarship programs. He loved it and that is the process we are currently pursuing.

Prior to 2005, very few students at our institution applied for prestigious scholarships; those that did apply met with minimal success. Knowledge of the scholarships, understanding of the application process, etc. was absent. In short, our university lacked a “culture of scholarship.” To rectify this situation, the Honors Program opted to take the lead in developing this culture. Although the development of a scholarship culture is a multi-year process, we are cognizant of the need for short term successes in order to build long-term support and resources. Because the recipients of post-graduate awards (e.g., Gates, Marshall, Rhodes, and Mitchell) are not on campus, nor do they typically return to campus after their awards period, they generally do not participate in those activities (e.g., panels, talking with other students, etc.) that lend themselves to nurturing a scholarship culture. With this in mind, we put our primary emphasis on scholarships applicable to underclassmen (e.g., Gilman, Freeman-Asia, Goldwater, and Udall). Additionally, we believe that successful sophomores and juniors will produce a cadre of competitive applicants for these post-baccalaureate awards.

In the second year of our project, WKU students applied for over 30 scholarships (a 15-fold increase over the previous five year average). To date, they have earned fifteen national scholarships including: five Gilman, two Freeman-Asia, two Goldwater (and an Honorable Mention) scholarships, and two Fulbright Grants. When compared to many schools, our results may be modest; nevertheless, we are delighted with our early success. The rewards for the students are obvious as well as of primary importance to us; but who can argue against the institutional rewards that have accrued as a result? Our top administrators are very pleased with their “return on investment,” the quantity and quality of media attention, which has led to the influx of new resources allowing us to begin creating a fully developed scholarship office.

Over the next couple years we will use these additional resources to further put in place the necessary foundation to develop a culture of scholarship thereby continuing to play our part in the institutional transformation of WKU: “A leading American university with international reach.”