Western Kentucky University

▪ university, Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States

      public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Bowling Green, Kentucky, U.S. It comprises five colleges: Potter College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Gordon Ford College of Business; the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences; Ogden College of Science, Technology, and Health; and Bowling Green Community College of Western Kentucky University. The university offers undergraduate, specialist, and master's degree programs, and a doctoral program is offered jointly with the University of Kentucky (Kentucky, University of) and the University of Louisville (Louisville, University of). In addition to the main campus, there is a branch campus in Glasgow, Kentucky. Research facilities include the Center for Local Government Services and the Center for Automated Space Science. Total enrollment is approximately 16,000.

      The institution was established in 1906 as Western Kentucky State Normal School. Classes began on the campus of its precursor, the Southern Normal School. In 1911 the school moved to a location atop a hill overlooking Bowling Green; it became a four-year teachers college in 1922. Western Kentucky merged with Ogden College in 1928. Bowling Green College of Commerce was added in 1963. Three years later Western Kentucky was elevated to university standing.

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