WKU President Timothy Caboni and the Board of Regents discussed Friday how Artificial Intelligence can be better utilized throughout campus instead of ignored.
Provost Robert Fischer said AI has changed higher education. He said “everybody is concerned” about AI and how it’s being used.
Fischer said there is a committee at WKU constantly discussing AI and its role on campus.
Fischer said that to grow as an institution, WKU has been setting guidelines to help faculty and students better utilize AI within specific majors.
He said WKU has had about 12 professional development opportunities throughout this semester for faculty members to learn how to incorporate AI in a classroom and use it in a positive way. WKU also created a website with AI Resources for faculty and staff to utilize.
Caboni added that AI needs to be utilized in specific ways for all curricula across WKU’s campus.
“This is a tool, and we have to equip our young people to be able to use that tool in whatever context they’re working in,” Caboni said.
GASB 101 and audit information
Jennifer Williams, WKU partner with the external audit firm Forvis Mazars, said there was about a $74 million increase since 2024 in net capital assets for the Athletic Field House and Gordon Ford College of Business construction and process. She said that federal and state grants had about a 12% increase since 2024.
Williams said the university adopted a new standard titled under the Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 101, “Compensated Absences” during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025.
Caboni said GASB 101 includes state and federal aid, which makes it look like there’s a decline in net tuition for the university when it could be growing in reality.
“When we talk about net tuition, we exclude those things as an institution, which is why it goes up,” Caboni said. “I just wanted to make that clear because as we talk about gains in net tuition revenue, GASB makes it look like it goes down.”
2025-26 First Quarter Statement of Revenues and Expenditures
Susan Howarth, executive vice president for strategy, operations and finance, said that following the start of the budget realignment strategy, WKU experienced “break-even” operations in Fiscal Year 2025. She said WKU had a balanced budget with a $29,028 surplus, and the surplus wouldn’t all be spent in one place.
In the 2025-26 first quarter statement of revenue and expenditures, Howarth said that unlike last year, non-tuition revenue for WKU’s grants and contracts are trending lower this year, mainly due to the decline in Pell eligible student enrollment.
Caboni said House Bill 4 prevents WKU from using the Cornelius A. Martin Scholarship to recruit based on certain demographics.
HB 4 prohibits a public postsecondary education institution from providing differential treatment or benefits on the basis of an individual’s religion, race, sex, color or national origin, according to the Kentucky General Assembly’s website.
“Unfortunately, due to some of the changes with federal legislation, we’ve just not been able to recruit some of those students that we did in the past,” Howarth said.
Howarth said there was about a 9% decrease in extramurally funded research grants from outside the college in the first quarter. She said this is a national trend with all the federal things going on right now.
Howarth said other non-tuition revenue this first quarter is slightly higher due to a one-time contribution from the WKU Research Foundation. She said there was some money or cash transferred into the university because of the dissolution of that foundation.
Howarth said personnel is slightly down in full-time employees and student employees due to the school no longer accepting visas that were previously accepted in the spring. There was also a 22% increase in debt service issued due to the completion of Chandler Hall and the Fieldhouse.
Brian Russell, chief facilities officer, said that WKU currently has about 70 projects that are using funds from the asset preservation pool. The largest single user of those funds is Cherry Hall.
Russell asked the Board of Regents for approval to fund three projects using the asset preservation pool including renovations to the Kentucky Museum, South Campus’ Academic Wing and the Industrial Education Building.
Caboni announced at the Board of Regents meeting Friday that the university reached its highest first-to-second-year retention rates this fall.
Presentations and other news
Caboni said WKU’s first-to-second-year retention rates reached 79.4% this fall, and WKU has also had “tremendous success” with its graduation rate.
The Student Affairs Committee did a student presentation about the Kelly Autism Program Circle of Support, which can be watched on YouTube under the video of the meeting. The Board of Regents also listened to a presentation by Gretchen Macy, public health professor, about “Strengthening Firefighter Wellbeing: A Total Worker Health Approach in Rural Kentucky.”
According to reports from the committees, the Board of Regents also;
- Approved suspension for the Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biotechnology with implementation in Fall 2026
- Approved faculty emeritus stats for Molly Kerby, Stacy Wilson and Margaret Gripshover
- Accepted the Auditor’s Report and Financial Statements for the year ended June 30, 2025
- Accepted request for filing the Statement of Revenues and Expenditures for the Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2025 and 2024
- Approved faculty and staff personnel actions and one-time payments
- Approved acceptance of ownership and transfer of title for 2311, 2315 and 2319 Nashville Road. The properties are currently used for WKU large equipment storage, an iGo Motors lease and a community farmers market lease.
- Approved to convey an easement to Warren County Water District across property owned by the university located on Elrod Road, Bowling Green, Kentucky
- Approved authorization to convey an easement to Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation across property owned by the university located on Elrod Road, Bowling Green, Kentucky