WKU Student Publications has been invited to join the Association of University Student Media Managers, a business-oriented group founded in the 1940s that selects student media programs for membership.
WKU was extended membership by unanimous vote at the AUSMM conference in Tempe, Arizona, in May, where it had been invited as a guest program for the second year. WKU’s student media program becomes the only AUSMM member not based at an Carnegie-ranked R-1 or R-2 university. Two other guest student media programs — The Independent Florida Alligator at the University of Florida and The Daily Nebraskan at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln — also were granted membership at the Tempe conference.
“We’re honored to become members of AUSMM,” said Chuck Clark, director of WKU Student Publications. “It says that we have a quality student media program, from our flagship Talisman and College Heights Herald to our business and support operations through Cherry Creative and Student Publications Advertising.
“We’re a small program, but we’re being recognized as being among the very best overall operations in the country.”
AUSMM was founded in the early 1940s as the Western Area University Printing Managers, a business group that started among major programs in the West. The group changed its name from Western Area University Publications Managers to AUSMM in 2024 to reflect its nationwide membership, which is by invitation only.
In addition to the three new members, AUSMM schools are:
- Arizona State University, The Arizona State Press
- University of Arizona, The Daily Wildcat
- UCLA, The Daily Bruin
- University of Hawaii at Manoa, Ka Leo
- University of Southern California, The Daily Trojan
- University of Utah, The Daily Utah Chronicle
- University of Washington, The Daily UW
- Washington State University, The Daily Evergreen
- Colorado State University, The Rocky Mountain Collegian
- Iowa State University, The Iowa State Daily
- Kansas State University, Kansas State Collegian
- Oklahoma State University, The O’Collegian
- Texas Tech University, The Daily Toreador
- University of Kansas, The University Daily Kansan
- University of New Mexico, The Daily Lobo
- University of Iowa, The Daily Iowan
- University of Texas-Arlington, The Shorthorn
- University of Texas-Austin, The Daily Texan
- University of Minnesota, The Minnesota Daily
- Duke University, The Chronicle
- Indiana University. Indiana Daily Student
- Kent State University, The Kent Stater
- Michigan State University, The State News
- Northwestern University, The Daily Northwestern
- Purdue University, The Exponent
- University of Alabama, The Crimson White
- University of Illinois, The Daily Illini
- University of North Carolina, The Daily Tar Heel
- University of Pennsylvania, The Daily Pennsylvanian
- University of Georgia, The Red & Black
- Oregon State University, The Daily Barometer
- Cal State-Northridge, The Daily Sundial