This article originally appeared in the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.

KWC to hold Cousins’ inauguration Friday

By Scott Hagerman, Messenger-Inquirer  

Dr. James Cousins has been president of Kentucky Wesleyan College since July of last year.

But at 1 p.m. Friday at Settle Memorial United Methodist Church, 201 E. Fourth St., Cousins’ inauguration as KWC’s 36th president will be held.

“Inaugurations are a time for everybody to come together and celebrate the college, kind of in familiar ways and unfamiliar ways,” Cousins said. “We get together and celebrate what we’re doing in a way that’s unique from commencements or baccalaureate ceremonies, or convocations — it’s a different idea, but a lot of the same sort of feelings, emotions. Alumni come together and trustees with faculty and staff and students and celebrate the college. But this is a different way of doing that.

“Historically what inaugurations mean are a new chapter, a turning point, celebrating what was past, what is present, and what’s coming in the future. That might be embodied in a convocation or commencement address, but this is an opportunity to really focus on that specifically.”

Cousins, who had served as KWC’s provost and vice president of academic affairs since 2021 until being named president, said the inauguration will represent the “fulfillment of a dream.”

“It means the world,” he said. “In my entire adult professional life, everything I’ve done in my professional trajectory is building toward this moment in a sense. I’ve been in the seat for almost a year now. But it means a lot to me. It means a lot to my family. It means a lot to me personally, because so much of what we do is personal.

“(This) profession allows me to pair what my values are with what I do for a living. I’m never off the clock, and I’m really never on the clock. This is my job.”

Cousins said he’s very pleased with how his first year leading KWC transpired.

“It went really well,” he said. “I spent four months in the archives looking at the distant past, but really focusing on the last 74 years. Part of that was to better understand the institution and help lead, and part of it was there would be some interesting asides for the inauguration. But what I discovered is an institution that’s survived over 74 years because of the community, because everyone rallied around the college. Owensboro-Daviess County brought Kentucky Wesleyan to Owensboro, and it’s survived, in tough times and lean times.

“That’s what I’m excited about going forward — what did we learn from the past and how can we put that learning into action. I’ve seen time and time again the college has been there for the community in different ways; we’ve kind of grown up with Owensboro. Owensboro has taken some pretty big leaps into the future, so how do we best serve our community?”

Cousins is excited about the school’s level change application to teach graduate classes, and he’s also pleased with the “explosion” in online learning.

The school’s finances are also a source of pride.

“What thrills me is the financial condition we’re in right now,” he said. “We are incredibly stable and efficient, and that efficiency is what I tried to spend the first year on, getting my arms around the institution as much as I can, operations, that CEO and that COO role that smaller institutions really need. It is possible to spread yourself too thin, but this first year was about spreading myself thin and running really fast, but we’re in a much better position.

“But I need to go out and advocate for the college, talk to community leaders about the college, talk to potential students and parents about the college, and our donor base about the college, and alums about the college. I needed all of this, and I needed that in-depth analysis to be able to be able to do that to the greatest possible degree.”

Cousins said he has a great cabinet and team in place, and he’s excited about the strategic plan that was launched in February.

“As soon as I got the word (on the presidency), we went full force into a strategic planning effort that gives us goals and benchmarks, so we’ll be executing on that over the next three years,” he said. “I think we have all the pieces we need to be exceptional, to be what the community really deserves, and setting the basis for that has been what this first year has been about.”

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