Education

The First Lady urged  the students at Eastern Kentucky University to apply the same resilience and hard work in school to their lives beyond campus and to seek out people with different beliefs.

Mrs. Obama paid tribute to more than 600 graduates Saturday night in a commencement ceremony at the school. She received a warm welcome from several thousand attending the ceremony at the campus arena in Richmond. She said that the work ethic and resilience that got the students to graduation day will serve them well as they face life's ups and downs.

Owensboro's Kentucky Wesleyan College says it will begin offering four-year graduation guarantees to incoming freshmen this fall. The school also plans to offer a three-year degree option.

KWC director of admissions Rashad Smith told the Messenger-Inquirer that the college will pay for up to one year of additional coursework for students who don't graduate within four years. He said the program is being launched to foster lasting, helpful relationships with students in the beginning of their college experience.

WKU didn’t have to look too far for the school’s new Assistant Vice President for Alumni Relations.

Rick Dubose is a familiar face to many on the WKU campus. He graduated from WKU in 1973, and returned to the hill in 1997 to serve as the first major gift officer for the Potter College of Arts and Letters and the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences.

Since 1999, he’s been WKU’s director of corporate and foundation relations.

Dubose starts in his new position May 15, taking over from Donald Smith, who was recently named President of the College Heights Foundation.