The $500,000 gift comes from the James and Coralie Centofanti Charitable Foundation and will continue the work of the Centofanti Symposium, which has brought speakers and lectures to the university for the past decade.

Applications for the new nursing program at PACCAR Medical Education Center have officially opened for the first cohort, which begins in 2027.

The partnership will give students who complete an associate degree at Kalamazoo Valley Community College guaranteed admission to Western Michigan University.

The new program will launch with the Fall 2026 semester and will award graduates with an associate of science degree pathway in Healthcare Administration.

The grant will allow the university to expand its research infrastructure within the field of pharmaceutical testing.

The two institutions came together at the end of April to expand their existing partnership from nine bachelor degree transfer pathways to 22.

The partnership is intended to strengthen Kentucky’s workforce pipeline and increase student success by removing barriers to attaining a bachelor degree.

The $20,000 gift will go toward the Tommy D. Grider Endowed Scholarship and the new agribusiness program.

The partnership was approved by the Western Kentucky University Board of Regents on April 24, and approval was received on April 27 from the Kentucky Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed House Bill 900, which includes $42 million for an escrow account and $8 million in start-up funding for the proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine.