WKU News

Effective July 1, Dr. Ritchie Taylor is Interim Associate Dean of Western Kentucky University’s College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). His responsibilities include continuing leadership of CHHS research activities and assuming oversight of all activities related to faculty development.

Dr. Taylor became a faculty member in CHHS in 2002, the year the college was created. Most recently, he served as CHHS Faculty Fellow for Research beginning in the Fall of 2021.

“Under his leadership as Faculty Fellow for Research, CHHS external funding has doubled, the Institute for Rural Health was reactivated, a pathway for external research mentorship was established, and he played a key role in developing the Community Health Sciences Complex to house the CHHS Applied Research Centers and promote research innovation,” said Dr. Tania Basta, Dean of CHHS.

“Students are the focus of all we endeavor to accomplish in CHHS.  Over the past four years, we have worked to build a community of scholarship and research that engages our students in applied community-based research to meet health and human services needs throughout Kentucky and our region.  The applied research conducted by faculty and staff in CHHS informs our teaching and service, thereby enhancing the student experience. A culture of scholarship and research has developed in CHHS, and this will continue to grow," said Dr. Taylor.

Dr. Taylor has a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the University of North Texas. His research and outreach interests include firefighter health, occupational safety and health, environmental health, environmental compliance and stormwater management, workplace health promotion, and emergency management and preparedness.

Dr. Taylor received a master’s degree in biology from Tennessee Technological University and a bachelor’s degree in biology, with a minor in chemistry, from Belmont University.

Dr. Taylor’s previous leadership roles at WKU include serving as program director for the M.S. and B.S programs in Environmental and Occupational Health Science in the Department of Public Health.  He was the founding director of the Center for Environmental and Workplace Health in CHHS, which began in October of 2017.  Over several years, Dr. Taylor has provided leadership for the Department of Public Health as Acting Department Chair during summer terms.  His first leadership role at WKU was as Director of the Center for Water Resource Studies in the WKU Ogden College of Science and Engineering. He serves on various workgroups and advisory committees for Kentucky agencies, as a reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, and has served as a Principal Investigator (PI) on externally awarded grants over his entire tenure at WKU.  Dr. Taylor is currently the PI on a training program grant through the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and another grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Kentucky Emergency Management.