The 2025 academic year marks the 60th anniversary of the Potter College of Arts and Letters. According to WKU’s website, the anniversary celebrates the “past, present and future” of PCAL.
Alongside festivities, according to WKU’s website, PCAL is undergoing a restructuring. It is projected to be complete by the 2027-2028 academic year. One of the key components, according to the website, is to move the eight current departments into four to five schools.
According to WKU’s website, the eight current departments are Art and Design, English, History, Modern Languages, Music, Political Science, Society, Culture, Crime, and Justice Studies, and Theatre and Dance.
PCAL Dean Terrance Brown said that when thinking about the next 60 years, it is a strategic plan.
“We’ve done great things,” Brown said. “Now, we’re doing our PCAL forward push.”
Brown said he has been a part of the college for the past five years as a dean. He said he has focused on creating interdisciplinary approaches and efficacy to education within PCAL. Brown said that the college has impacted him just as much as he has left his mark.
“I will say that the most important thing for me that I’ve learned is that I am a lifelong learner,” Brown said. “Every day is a new learning experience for me to learn how to be a better leader for this college and for the people that are in it.”
While promoting collaboration and success is the focus of the restructuring, Brown said a driving force of the move is fostering community within the college.
Jessica Luna, the communications and events specialist for PCAL, said she thinks the PCAL community is very connected.
“I think our majors are kind of intrinsically connected to communication, which then leads into community and connection,” Luna said.
Luna said she has been a part of PCAL since 2021. She said she learned about WKU from a previous position at a community college.
She said she was driven to come to WKU after being “impressed with the level of programming.” Luna also said she enjoys the variety and diversity of programs within the university.
“I think we do a really good job of opening up different opportunities to students, but also encouraging students and empowering students to seek out opportunities,” Luna said.
David Serafini is a professor in the history department. He said he began teaching in the department of history in 1998.
“In PCAL, we’re not only a group of scholars in our different fields,” Serafini said. “We’re also a family in our own right.”
Serafini said he graduated with undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from PCAL in 1994 and 1997.
When he was a student, he said the college was named the Potter College of Liberal Arts. Since then, departments have been added, and the School of Media and Communication was founded, according to WKU’s website.
He said that while the college has changed, the community and engagement from students has been a staple.
“In these past 60 years, I don’t think you can point to any alumni of the university who have not gone through PCAL,” Serafini said. “Even if they weren’t one of our majors, we have touched the lives of every Hilltopper, from 60 years ago to you and me sitting here right now.”
In particular, Serafini said the Dean’s Council of Students are good students to work with.
Senior DCS member Joshua Gillespie said that DCS acts as ambassadors for PCAL along with the departments within it.
“We’re here to kind of spread the word for PCAL and connect with some of the people out in the community,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie said that he has been a part of DCS since 2023. He said it acts as an ambassador for PCAL, along with the departments within it.
Through DCS, he said has been able to network within different majors in PCAL, both students and alumni. He said he has also observed the community that spread throughout departments.
“We all have things like the liberal arts and PCAL, the classes that we take together,” Gillepsie said. “But I just think there’s something so special about the community that we have within PCAL.”
Additionally, Kristen Miller is a PCAL alumna from 1997 who graduated with a print journalism major and a government minor. These programs have since been renamed to journalism and political science.
“That’s one of the great things I think about [PCAL and] about Western too,” Miller said. “You know that they embrace you as much, if not more, for the rest of your life as they do when you’re a student.”
Miller said she currently serves as the chair of the PCAL Advisory Council, an organization that deals with involving alumni in supporting changes on campus.
“It’s up to us to contribute, whether it’s time or financially, to make sure those experiences not only exist but continue to get better for the students who are on campus now,” Miller said.
Miller said that seeing Brown embrace PCAL has been more than what she could have imagined.
“We’re in the business of making better humans,” Brown said. “The college has made me a better human.”