WKCTC Timeline
WKCTC Timeline
West Kentucky Community and Technical College is a product of two inspirational institutions, Paducah Community College and West Kentucky Technical College and is an integral part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) maintained by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
WKCTC is governed by the KCTCS Board of Regents and derives its support largely from student tuition and legislative appropriations. Below are some highlights since the college's history since 2002.
Dr. Barbara McWaters Veazey becomes the first woman president of Paducah Community College and CEO of the West Kentucky Community and Technical College District on May 1, 2002.
The Challenger Learning Center at Paducah officially opened on the West Kentucky campus with June Scobee Rodgers, widow of Challenger Mission Commander Dick Scobee, pronouncing it “a star in the education universe.”
The West Kentucky District Board recommended the name “West Kentucky Community and Technical College” for the consolidated college.
Dr. Barbara Veazey was inaugurated as the founding president of West Kentucky Community and Technical College during the last May graduation of Paducah Community College and West Kentucky Technical College.
West Kentucky was granted regional accreditation on December 9, 2003 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on College (SACSCOC), officially
completing the school’s consolidation
Drs. Barbara Veazey and Tena Payne traveled to Southeast Asia University in Bangkok, Thailand, and the
Nepal School of Nursing in Pokhara as part of an effort to establish an international exchange program.
In December, all of West Kentucky’s 264 employees pledged donations to the West Kentucky “Fulfilling the Promise” fund-raising campaign, raising $134,511 and making West Kentucky the first of the KCTCS colleges to achieve 100 percent employee participation.
On January 19, 2005, educators, students and community leaders marked the fifth year of graduates from the University of Kentucky College of Engineering at Paducah.
West Kentucky received a $1.8 million Title III grant from the
U.S. Department of Education to help ensure first-generation and economically disadvantaged students succeed in college in March 2005.
The Mary Ellen Thompson Health Education Center opened in Elmwood Court. In January 2006, the center was named in memory of the founder of Superior Care home, a family owned and operated long term care facility in Paducah.
Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher presented a ceremonial check for $16.5 million to West Kentucky for the construction of the Emerging Technology Center on June 28, 2006.
On April 17, 2008, officials from West Kentucky, the Lay Family Foundation, and Marshall County and McCracken County schools announced a partnership to open the Commonwealth Middle College (CMC) on the West Kentucky
campus, allowing students to get dual college credit during their last two years of high school.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Emerging Technology Center on July 31, 2008
The Paducah School of Art and Design (PSAD) began offering classes on August 18, 2008 in downtown Paducah at a temporary location at 409 Broadway.
The first “One Book, One Campus, One Community” read project, featured “Rocket Boys” by famed author Homer H. Hickam, Jr. in October 2008.
Skilled Craft Training Center in Hickory, KY opened on October 14, 2009, offering classes in HVAC, nursing assistant and computer.
literacy. The one-story 60,000 square- foot building was purchased with the support of a $1.5 million donation from the Lay Family Foundation and $500,000 provided through the cooperative efforts of the City of Mayfield, the Graves County Fiscal Court and the Graves Growth Alliance.
Skilled Craft Training Center in Hickory, KY opened on October 14, 2009, offering classes in HVAC, nursing assistant and computer literacy. The one-story 60,000 square- foot building was purchased with the support of a $1.5 million donation from the Lay Family Foundation and $500,000 provided through the cooperative efforts of the City of Mayfield, the Graves County Fiscal Court and the Graves Growth Alliance.
In April, West Kentucky selected by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program as one of the nation’s 120 best community colleges - the top 10 percent in the country.
A groundbreaking was held for the Paducah Scholar House in May 2011.
West Kentucky’s Culinary Arts program received accreditation by the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation’s Accreditation Commission in August 2011. Only 213 culinary arts program across the nation and only four in Kentucky had received the accreditation at the time.
West Kentucky is named one of the top 5 community colleges in the nation on December 12, 2011 and received $100,000.
On April 23, 2012, West Kentucky was one of five KCTCS colleges named in the top 10% of community colleges in the nation in the first round of the 2013 Aspen Prize completion.
Dr. Barbara Veazey’s 10th anniversary as the founding President/CEO of the West Kentucky Community and Technical College celebrated on May 1, 2012.
West Kentucky is named one of ten finalists for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence for a second consecutive year on September 5, 2012.
For second consecutive year, West Kentucky was named as one of the top 10 best community colleges in the nation on March 19, 2013.
The College’s West Kentucky College Academy was one of 27 schools awarded accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) during an annual conference in Salt Lake City in July 2013.
The Scholar House of Paducah, an initiative that provides housing for non-traditional college students, celebrated its first anniversary on July 12, 2013. The 48-apartment housing complex, at 1035 Old N. Friendship Road, is home to about 50 college students, most of whom are enrolled at West Kentucky.
In October 2013, the Paducah Junior College Inc., board kicked off the Paducah School of Art & Design campaign to raise $10 million with $2.5 million matched from the local community.
On January 31, 2014, West Kentucky and Paducah’s Murray State University campus were honored as co-Businesses of the Year for creating a virtual education corridor, where members of the community can be trained and take home degrees without traveling to do so.
On February 15, 2014, West Kentucky recognized the 45th anniversary of the college’s 1969 National Junior College Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Tournament National Championship.
The College was named one of 12 institutions in the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network on February 28, 2014. The Network is helping West Kentucky identify and implement strategies for closing achievement gaps and increasing student retention, persistence and completion rates.
On March 25, 2014, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges reaffirmed West Kentucky Community & Technical College’s accreditation with no recommendations, a distinction achieved by 25 percent of the colleges and universities that underwent fifth- year review in 2012-2013.
Paducah Bank announced on April 8, 2014 a $150,000 pledge to a fundraising campaign to complete West Kentucky’s Paducah School of Art & Design’s campus project.
West Kentucky is one of 11 colleges - the only one in Kentucky - to earn accreditation from the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) in May 20114. The organization ensures that college courses offered in high schools are equally rigorous as those available at the sponsoring post-secondary institution.
Murray State University and West Kentucky signed an agreement on May 23, 2014 allowing students to earn a bachelor’s degree in logistics and supply chain management from MSU without leaving Paducah.
On June 4, 2014, West Kentucky President Barbara Veazey was one of four community college presidents to participate in a 13-member panel in Washington D.C. to discuss issues relevant to preparing a skilled work force.
On August 15, 2014, West Kentucky hits the $2.5 million mark in its fundraising campaign for the art school thanks to a $400,000 from the Carson-Myre Charitable Foundation.
West Kentucky named one of ten finalists for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s preeminent recognition of high achievement and performance in America’s community colleges on September 4, 2014.
Open house for the Sculpture Building and a community celebration of the art school is held on September 30, 2014.
For the third time, WKCTC was recognized on March 18, 2015 as a top community college in the nation, coming in second for the prestigious Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence as a Finalist with Distinction.
A grand opening for the Inland Logistics and Marine Institute was held on August 10, 2015 in downtown Paducah.
For a fourth consecutive time, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program named WKCTC as one of the nation’s top 150 community colleges eligible to compete for the 2017 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence and $1 million dollars in prize funds.
The final phase of the Paducah School of Art and Design’s three building campus is completed. The 29,400-square-foot 2D and Graphic Design building opened in January 2016.
In February 2016, the colleges announces plans to raise $5 million to continue funding the Community Scholarship Program for 10 more years.
The late Kam Chumbler, a WKCTC student, was honored on February 27, 2016 during a basketball game involving Chumbler’s former teammates.
Murray State University and WKCTC sign an agreement allowing a set of designated courses in criminal justice to be transferable between the two schools beginning in the fall of 2016.
On February 28, 2016, WKCTC partnered with St. Thomas More Catholic Church to host Super Sunday 2016 to encourage Latino and African- American students to get a college education.
New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash visited WKCTC on March 8-9, 2016 to discuss his novel and his writing process as part of the 2015- 2016 One Book Read.
A nose cone from an U.S. Air Force Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program from the early 1960s was donated to the Challenger Learning Center in Paducah in March 2016.
On March 11, 2016, Dr. Barbara M. Veazey, the first president of WKCTC, announced she would retire in June 2016 after serving as president for 14 years.
Georgiana Roberts of Mayfield was named a 2016 New Century Scholar. She received the award for achieving the state’s highest score in the All- USA Community College Academic Team competition.
More than 500 people walked through the Paducah School of Art and Design’s anchor building during its grand opening ceremony March 31, 2016.
In April 2016, WKCTC announce that it would relocate its practical nursing classes from the Weaks Community Center in Murray to the Allied Health Building on WKCTC’s main campus in Paducah.
Concord Elementary School fourth-grade science and reading teacher Ramona Patton was named the 2015-2016 Challenger Learning Center at Paducah’s Outstanding Educator with a surprise presentation during a school wide program April 21, 2016.
In April 2016, Joel Cates, an assistant math professor at West Kentucky Community & Technical College since 2011, was named the school’s 2016 teacher of the year.
Retirement held for Dr. Barbara Veazey on May 3, 2016.
Nancy Robins of Paducah has been named the 2016 Award of Excellence for Support Staff Member for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Robins, student affairs assistant III in WKCTC’s registrar’s office, was nominated to represent WKCTC at the college level in April, and received the overall support staff system honor in May.
In May 2016, West Kentucky Community and Technical College was one of four colleges in Kentucky and Kansas to partner with Jobs of the Future in implementing a $950,000 grant from the ECMC Foundation to develop accelerated career technical education.
West Kentucky Community & Technical College’s Seniors Learning for Fun organization celebrated its 20th anniversary with a reception in the Emerging Technology Center on May 17, 2016.
The Donning Publishing releases, “West Kentucky Community and Technical College: Formative Years, 2000 to 2016” in June 2016.
Dr. Charles Chrestman began his services as interim president/CEO of WKCTC on July 1, 2016.
The rededication and open house for West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s Mary Ellen Thompson Health Education Center was held August 12 in the Anderson Technical Building.
Dr. Anton Reece named the second president of WKCTC by KCTCS President Jay Box on August 19, 2016.
For the fourth time in a row, West Kentucky Community & Technical College has been named one of 10 finalists for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, a national recognition of high achievement and performance in America’s community colleges on September 13, 2016.
Dr. Anton Reece officially starts as the second president of WKCTC on October 1, 2016 by participating in the KCTCS Celebration of Philanthropy Awards Dinner in Louisville.
In November 2016, WKCTC was one of 10 community colleges in the nation to be named a finalist for the 2017 Bellwether Awards from the Community College Future Assembly in the Planning, Governance & Finance category.
Lee Emmons, Child Watch Counseling & Advocacy Center executive director, was named vice president of institutional advancement and development for WKCTC in November 2016 and started in January 2017.
On December 12, 2016, Dr. Anton Reece presided over his first commencement ceremony as president of West Kentucky Community and Technical College.
