Administrative Changes Ahead at College National Champion WKU
30 Jun
After nine years of coaching together on the WKU Forensic Team, Judy Woodring and Jace Lux expect Thursday, July 1, will be just another day at the office.
Woodring and Lux will still occupy the same offices in the Garrett Conference Center, but they’ll be in new positions. After two decades of directing WKU’s award-winning speech and debate programs, Woodring is retiring as director. Lux, who has been associate director for the past three years, is taking over as director.
“I’m incredibly happy that Jace is going to stay here and take over this program,” Woodring said. “He’s the ideal person. It takes a special person to work with coaches and students and he’s that special person.”
Lux, a native of Evansville, Ind., was a member of WKU’s Forensic Team from 1998 to 2000 and was a team coach for six years before becoming associate director. “Judy has done everything she can to make sure I’m prepared for this role,” he said. “You don’t often get the chance to work with the person who is the best in the world at their position, but I’ve done that for the past nine years. I’ve learned from the best.”
The National Forensic League recently honored Woodring with the Brother Gregory “Rene” Sterner Alumni Lifetime Service Award at the NFL National Tournament Awards Assembly in Kansas City, Mo. Woodring received the award for her decades-long commitment to speech and debate at both the high school and college levels. The award was presented by one of her standout alumni, recording artist and daytime television star Kassie DePaiva.“I was truly surprised,” Woodring said of the award. “I was very honored.”
“This award is yet another recognition of Mrs. Woodring’s exceptional leadership in building and advancing forensics program opportunities for students,” WKU Provost Barbara Burch said. “She is widely recognized for her talent, dedication and exceptional achievements in building the forensics program at WKU, and this award affirms the impact of her influence and leadership nationally as well.”
President Gary Ransdell agrees. “Judy Woodring has, as much anyone at WKU, helped us understand that WKU can indeed become a leading American university,” he said. “She has taken a good forensics program and turned it into the best in American higher education.”
Woodring, a 1965 WKU graduate, taught speech and debate at Webster County Union County high schools before returning to the Hill in 1988 as director of the Kentucky High School Speech League then becoming director of the forensic program in 1989.
In the past two decades, the program has built a tradition of state, national and international championships.









