Transcription
A Leading American University with International ReachSAFE COMMUNITIES – WKU
A Leading American University with International ReachVice PresidentThe Spirit Makes the Master1ILETTER OF INTENT
A Leading American University with International ReachOffice of the PresidentThe Spirit Makes the MasterWestern Kentucky University 1906 College Heights Blvd. #11001 Bowling Green, KY 42101-1001phone: 270-745-4346 fax: 270-745-4492 web: www.wku.edu&RVBM &EVDBUJPO BOE &NQMPZNFOU 0QQPSUVOJUJFT t 1SJOUJOH QBJE GSPN TUBUF GVOET ,34 t )FBSJOH *NQBJSFE 0OMZ 2ILETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICALetter of Intent .1Letter from the President .2SECTION 1: Contact Information .5SECTION 2: Community Description .6Western Kentucky University’s History .7Mission Statement .7President .7Governance .8Degree Programs .8Facilities .8Being Unique .8Seeking Designation .8WKU Safe Community Leaders .9SECTION 3: Areas of Competency .10I. Sustained collaboration .11Safe Community Leadership Coalition .11Future Goals .11Task Groups .11Sustaining the Safe Communities Program.12Seeking and Sharing Information .12Integrated Communications Plan .13II. An Understanding of Community Data .13Demographics of Our Community .13Students (2012-2013 academic year). 13Gatton Academy Students (2012-2013 academic year) .14Faculty and Staff (2012-2013 academic year) .14Alumni .14Injury Data and Trends .14Data Collection .17Setting Priorities.18Development of New Programs .19International Travel .19Distracted Texting . 20Distracted Driving .20III. Programs Addressing Injuries .21Motor Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety .21Motor Vehicles .21Parking Operations .21Transit Operations .22Pedestrian Safety .22Fall Prevention .22Drug Overdose Poisoning .23Alcohol Awareness .23Alcohol and Drug Programming .23Alcohol 101 .23On and Off-the-Job Workplace Safety .243ITABLE OF CONTENTS
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICAEnvironmental Health and Safety Department .24WKU Police Department.24Department of Facilities Management .26Violence and Suicide Prevention .26Interpersonal Violence Awareness.27Suicide Prevention Outreach .28LGBTQI Issues .28Crime Prevention Programs .29Emergency Preparedness .29StormReady Designation .30Fire Emergencies .30Situational Safety .31Lighting .31Escort Service.31Emergency Phones .32Automated External Defibrillators .32Health, Fitness, and Wellness .32Intramural-Recreational Sports .32Health and Fitness Lab .32WellU .32Sport Clubs.33Employee Wellness Program .33Workplace Ergonomics .33Residential Life Safety .34Security of Residence Halls .34Staffing .35Training .35M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan .36IV. Evaluation Competency.36Pedestrian Safety .36Shoes for Crews .36Alcohol 101 .37Original Assessment .39Updated Assessment for spring 2014 .39Results of Assessment to Date .39Environmental Health and Safety Department Training .39Clery Act .40StormReady Program .42Workplace Ergonomics .43M.A.S.T.E.R Plan .44Appendix A .46Appendix B .47Appendix C .48Appendix D.49Appendix E .504ITABLE OF CONTENTS
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICA
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICASECTION 1Contact InformationAnita A. Britt, Environmental Air Quality SpecialistWestern Kentucky University, Department of Environmental Health & Safety1906 College Heights Blvd. Bowling Green, KY 42101anita.britt@wku.edu270.745.2333Rafael Casas, SergeantWestern Kentucky University Police Department1906 College Heights Blvd. Bowling Green, KY 42101rafael.casas@wku.edu270.745.25485ICONTACT INFORMATION
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICA
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICASECTION 2Community Description6
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICA
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICAWestern Kentucky University’s HistoryWestern Kentucky University (WKU), home of Big Redand the Hilltoppers, is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky.WKU has a vision statement of becoming A LeadingAmerican University with International Reach. The Universitywas founded in 1906 as the Western Kentucky State NormalSchool and officially became Western Kentucky Universityin 1966. In those 60 years, many changes occurred includingbeing authorized to grant four-year degrees, merging withOgden College in 1927, merging with Bowling GreenCollege of Commerce in 1963, and in 1965 three morecolleges were formed: the Potter College of Liberal Arts, theCollege of Education, and the Ogden College of Scienceand Technology.Along with academic recognition,WKU is known for the famousBig Red mascot. Big Red wascreated in 1979 by a businessstudent named Ralph Carey andmade his first appearance to thepublic at a basketball game onDecember 1, 1979. This lovablefurry creature has become a hugeicon for WKU and is only gainingmore recognition as the yearscontinue. Many people see this mascot as just a red blob ofconfusion however, Big Red has become a cherished aspectof the university with regular appearances on campus and atevents. Big Red has made appearances on local and nationalcommercials, has been in competition for being named thebest mascot, and he can even be rented out for private eventssuch as weddings. Though he can’t be defined exactly, BigRed is a symbol to Western Kentucky University.In 2013, Western Kentucky University was profiled inPrinceton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges. WKU wasthe only public Kentucky institution to receive this award.The efforts in demonstrating a strong commitment tosustainability in academic offerings, campus infrastructure,activities, and career preparation enabled WKU to beawarded this honor.Today, WKU houses six colleges which include:College of Health & Human ServicesCollege of Education and Behavioral SciencesGordon Ford College of BusinessOgden College of Science & EngineeringPotter College of Arts & LettersUniversity CollegeMission StatementWKU also houses the Gatton Academy for Mathematicsand Science, which is a residential program, offered tohighly motivated Kentucky high school junior and seniorstudents. These students show interest in pursuing careersin science, technology, engineering, and mathematics andtake college courses in these areas. Gatton Academy wasnamed the number one high school in the U.S. in 2012and 2013 by Newsweek. It is also the only state-supportedresidential high school in Kentucky. Another unique trait toWKU is that it has the first and only independent HonorsCollege in the state. The College is a small intimate learningenvironment while being housed and using resources of thepublic university.President······7IWestern Kentucky University (WKU) prepares studentsof all backgrounds to be productive, engaged, and sociallyresponsible citizen-leaders of a global society. The Universityprovides research, service and lifelong learning opportunitiesfor its students, faculty, and other constituents. WKUenriches the quality of life for those within its reach.Dr. Gary A. Ransdell wasnamed the ninth president ofWestern Kentucky Universityin 1997. Under his leadership,WKU has been the fastestgrowing university in Kentuckyfor fourteen straight years.Enrollment has increased from14,500 to 21,000 students.WKU also leads the Sun Belt Conference in academicperformance since Dr. Ransdell has become president andwill move to Conference USA in 2014.COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICAGovernanceFacilitiesWKU is governed by an eleven body committee knownas the Board of Regents. There are faculty and staffrepresentatives whom are elected by their peers and there aremembers whom are appointed by the Governor from amongnominations submitted by a nominating commission. ThePresident of the Student Government Association is alsopresent as a representation for the student body. The Boardof Regents appoints a President for the University.The main campus consists of 84 buildings and 2 libraries.Bowling Green also houses the agriculture farm and expocenter. The University also has regional campuses inOwensboro, Elizabethtown/Fort Knox, and Glasgow. Theseregional campuses comprise one-quarter of WKU’s totalenrollment. Courses at these campuses are offered face-toface, interactive video services, and online.Degree ProgramsBeing UniqueThere are several programs offered by the Universityincluding: 26 undergraduate certificate programs, 27graduate certificate programs, 16 Associate programs, 95Bachelor’s programs, 51 Master’s and specialist programs,and 3 Doctoral programs. There are a total of 98 majorprograms, 102 minor programs, and pre-professionalprograms offered at WKU. The average class size is 24students. The top ten undergraduate programs with thelargest enrollment are:Elementary EducationNursing- RN TrainingBiologyInterdisciplinary StudiesManagementSociologyNursingExercise Western Kentucky University has a special Spirit, whichdefines the campus experience. As the university missionstates, WKU prepares students of all backgrounds to beproductive, engaged, and socially responsible citizen-leadersof a global society. The University provides research, serviceand lifelong learning opportunities for its students, faculty,and other constituents. Additionally, WKU is a leadingAmerican university with International Reach. WKUenriches the quality of life for all within its reach.Seeking DesignationA safety conscious CEO once said that safety is powerfulbecause it engages everyone in the organization. It is ourgoal that safety will become as valuable to faculty, staff,and students, as well as the visiting public. With increasingvalue, the members in our community will become engagedin promoting safety both on our campus and off-campus.Safety should belong to and is driven by everyone on campus.Acquiring the Safe Communities designation shows we are asafe organization. It is our hope that our proactive approachto becoming a safe environment will spread next to the cityof Bowling Green, Kentucky, and furthermore to WarrenCounty as a whole.COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICAThis initiative is an important designation to WKU becauseit helps unite our community culture of promoting safety.Campus and community members already recognize WKUas a safe community. We are seeking the designation inhopes that we will have an official proclamation of suchfrom the National Safety Council. This designation will beprominently used by WKU to assure future students andparents that the campus community places a value on safety,as well as promoting safety among close allies in the BowlingGreen and Warren County area.WKU Safe Community LeadersHoward Bailey, Vice President of Student Affairs at WesternKentucky University first became interested in achieving theSafe Communities designation. A constant strive to improvethe campus community and well-being prompted him toapproach the WKU Police and Environmental Health andSafety departments.Anita Britt has taken lead in organizing this effort. Not onlyhas she been a Bowling Green resident for the majority of herlife, she is also a graduate from undergraduate and graduateWKU programs. Additionally, she is an active member of theEnvironmental Health and Safety department at Western.She is extremely proud to be a Hilltopper, and is excited tohelp WKU achieve the Safe Communities designation.Rafael Casas partnered with Anita in driving the effortstoward achieving the Safe Communities designation.Sergeant Casas has been involved with the WKU PoliceDepartment for 13 years, currently serving as the SpecialEvents and Crime Prevention leader. He is instrumental incoordinating with WKU staff members to organize securityfor special events, athletics, and student run events to ensurethe safety and security of those attending. Sergeant Casasalso serves on numerous task groups and coalitions focusingon the safety and security of WKU students, faculty andstaff. Additionally, he is an instructor for both the R.A.D.program and self-defense programs. Sergeant Casas is atrue believer in WKU, and is dedicated to the safety of ourHilltopper family.9ICOMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICASECTION 3Areas of Competency10
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICA
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICAI. Sustained CollaborationFuture GoalsThroughout the Safe Communities designation process,WKU strengthened its internal communication betweendepartments. Establishing the WKU Safe CommunitiesCoalition brought together all the campus entities involvedwith the safety of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.We believe that an important aspect of creating a successfulatmosphere is to envision the future. The Safe CommunitiesCoalition has looked ahead into the future and determinedseveral future goals that we hope to accomplish. The firstis to sustain the Safe Communities program designation.Monitoring and maintaining current safety programsand partnerships will accomplish sustaining the program.We hope to establish methods to measure qualitative orquantitative data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of ourcurrent programs.Safe Community Leadership CoalitionName:WKU Safe Community CoalitionMembers:Leah Ashwill, Director, ALIVE CenterBob Austin, Environmental Health & SafetySteven Briggs, Housing and Residence LifeAnita A. Britt, Environmental Health & SafetySergeant Rafael Casas, WKU Police DepartmentCynthia George, Environmental Health & SafetyLindsey Gilmore, Enrollment ManagementChris Hancock, Student ActivitiesBrandon Higgins, Worker’s Compensation & HRAshley Koehler, Environmental Health & SafetyElizabeth Madariaga, Counseling & Testing CenterJennifer McLeod, Department of Facilities ManagementDavid Oliver, Director, Environmental Health & SafetyKathy Penick, Environmental Health & SafetyWade Pinkard, Employee WellnessStephen Rey, Director, Intramural & Recreational SportsHelen Siewers, Planning, Design, and ConstructionKathryn Steward, Health ServicesStacie Sutter, Health ServicesMorgan Temple, Student Worker, EnvironmentalHealth & SafetyJennifer Tougas, Director, Parking & Transportation ServicesJosh Twardowski, Department of Facilities ManagementDate the group formed:November 19, 2013Meeting notes from last two meetings:See Appendix A and Appendix BAccomplishments to date:Safe Communities Coalition formedStrategic Direction for Safety Communitiesapproach established··Establishing additional task groups by utilizing existingpartnerships will also help sustain the Safe Communitiesprogram. Current task groups are Pedestrian Safety, Drug andAlcohol Prevention, Emergency Preparedness, and CampusPartners. Ideally, additional task groups will be formed inthe future. We hope to foster collaboration between differentgroups across our community in order to determine solutionsto problems that may arise, discover trends involving differentdepartments, and create new programs.Understandably, a secondary goal we have is to seek redesignation after 5 years. Ideally, achieving our primarygoals will help achieve this secondary goal. During thisre-designation, we hope to involve additional internal andexternal partners. These new partners could incorporateindividuals who are involved with Bowling Green city andWarren County. Our last, but not least, goal is collaboratingwith the city of Bowling Green and Warren County to helpthem achieve future designation.The coalition determined these goals based on what we envisionfor the future of Western Kentucky University as a whole.Specifically, the coalition focused on the overall experienceof the perception and reality of WKU regarding safety.11IAREAS OF COMPETENCY
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY – SAFE COMMUNITIES AMERICATask Groups1. Pedestrian Safety Task Group - The Pedestrian SafetyTask Group was created to look proactively at issuesrelated to Pedestrian Safety in general with an emphasison pedestrian/vehicle interface issues. The groupincludes staff from Environmental Health and Safety,WKU Police, Parking and Transportation, PlanningDesign and Construction, and Facilities Management.In addition, representatives of Student Governmentalong with municipal public works officials are regularlyincluded in meetings.2. Drug & Alcohol Task Group - The excessive use ofalcohol and the use of illegal drugs have long beenconcerns facing universities. WKU established a formalgroup to monitor and address situations involvingdrugs and alcohol usage. This group not only works torespond to incidents and address violations of universitypolicies, they also bring together student groupsand university faculty and staff to develop awarenesscampaigns, provide safe transportation for those whomay be impaired, and to link at risk students withcounseling and other services to help address issues withsubstance abuse.3. Emergency Preparedness Core Team Task Group The Emergency Management Core Team Task Groupis a standing committee that oversees emergencyplanning and response initiatives for the university. Thecommittee is jointly co-chaired by the Department ofEnvironmental Health and Safety and the WKU PoliceDepartment. The group is cross-functional includingsenior leaders from Student Affairs, Police, EH&S,Information Technology, Facilities Management,Parking and Transportation and Human Resources. Inaddition, the group includes representatives from thefaculty and Student Government Associations.4. Campus Partners - The Campus Partners Team (CPT)consists of University personnel with expertise in lawenforcement/threat assessment/tactical applications,university centers operations, medical knowledge,Greek life, judicial affairs, residence life, sexualassault, counseling, academic retention and studentprogramming. CPT uses a collaborative effort to assessdisruptive behaviors and depending on th
· University College WKU also houses the Gatton Academy for Mathematics and Science, which is a residential program, offered to highly motivated Kentucky high school junior and senior . created in 1979 by a business student named Ralph Carey and made his first appearance to the public at a basketball game on December 1, 1979. This lovable
