Western Kentucky University is a coeducational public institution which has been in Bowling Green, the third largest city in the state, since 1911.
Established as Western Kentucky State Normal School in 1906, it has been known as Western Kentucky University since 1966. Over the years, WKU has incorporated Southern Normal School, Ogden College and Bowling Green College of Commerce.
In total, the university teaches more than 200 subjects. Nursing, elementary education, management and biology are the most popular at undergraduate level, while recreation & sport administration, organizational leadership, speech-language pathology and educational leadership are chosen by the highest number of postgraduates.
Bowling Green is 110 miles south of Louisville, the state’s largest city and home of the Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race in the country. It is 30 miles north of the Tennessee state line and 60 miles north of Nashville.
WKU also has three regional campuses across Kentucky, in Glasgow, Elizabethtown-Fort Knox and Owensboro, which make up more than 15% of the university’s population between them. Glasgow is 30 miles west of the main campus, Elizabeth is in between Bowling Green and Louisville, and Owensboro is 70 miles north west.
Matt Shultz, lead singer from London-based rock band Cage The Elephant, Michael Rosenbaum, the actor who played Lex Luthor in Superman TV series Smallville, and Claire Donahue, a gold medal-winning swimmer at the London 2012 Olympics, are some of WKU’s many alumni.
