LWC to Graduate Record Winter Class, Dedicate Building and Break Ground on Another

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Lindsey Wilson College will graduate a record number of students at this year's winter commencement, to be held at 10:30 a.m. CT on Saturday, Dec. 11.

The college will award a total of 365 degrees -- 214 undergraduate degrees and 151 graduate degrees -- when it holds its 92nd commencement ceremony in Biggers Sports Center.

Following the ceremony, the Lindsey Wilson National Alumni Association will hold a reception for graduates and their guests in Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center.

Kentucky Community and Technical College System President Michael B. McCall will deliver the keynote address. McCall and former LWC faculty member and administrator Doug Moseley of Bowling Green, Ky., will both receive an honorary doctorate from the Lindsey Wilson Board of Trustees and the college's faculty.

Also on Dec. 11, the college will honor alumni who graduated from LWC in 1950 or earlier by inducting them into the Golden Alumni Society. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with the winter commencement ceremony.

But the largest winter commencement in the college's history is only part of the weekend's events. On Friday, Dec. 10, the college will dedicate a new building and break ground on another.

At 10 a.m. CT on Friday, Dec. 10, the LWC community will dedicate Harold J. Smith Hall. The ceremony will be held in front of the residence hall. Opened this fall, the four-story, 186-bed residence hall is the largest on the college's A.P. White Campus. It is named in memory of the late Harold J. Smith of Crestwood, Ky., who was a Lindsey Wilson trustee for more than 20 years.

At 1 p.m. CT on Friday, Dec. 10, a ground-breaking ceremony will be held to celebrate Lindsey Wilson's next classroom building. The ceremony will take place next to the Jim & Helen Lee Fugitte Science Center.

Construction on the 26,000-square-foot, two-story building actually began earlier this semester so that it will be ready for the start of the 2011-12 school year. The cost of the project is about $3 million.

The new academic building will house the LWC's School of Professional Counseling and its fledgling nursing program.

"It's hard to describe what an exciting commencement weekend this will be for the Lindsey Wilson community," said LWC President William T. Luckey Jr. "We not only will graduate our largest winter class, but we will also commemorate the life of one of the college's greatest trustees as well as celebrate the growth of our academic programs.

"Although it's great to dedicate a new building and celebrate the beginning of another, the weekend's real story is our graduates. More than 80 percent of our graduates are first-generation college students who will return to their communities to make a difference through their profession."

This will be the seventh consecutive year Lindsey Wilson has held a winter commencement. The previous largest winter class was 325 students in December 2008. To put this year's winter commencement in perspective, LWC awarded 312 degrees in 2003-04, the last year the college held only one commencement ceremony.

As founding president and chief executive officer of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, McCall oversees a system of 16 individually accredited comprehensive community colleges with 68 campuses serving more than 100,000 students. KCTCS has an annual operating budget of about $713 million, and since 1998 has touched the lives of more than 500,000 citizens. 

McCall has served for more than 40 years in community and technical colleges. He has been recognized for his advanced collaborative partnerships, economic development, innovative use of technology, and the utilization of team-oriented management.

Few people have been more important to LWC than Moseley. Moseley came to the college in 1960 as a religion professor. He later served as chair of the religion department, then was assistant to the president for development for more than a decade.

Moseley's ministry included serving as pastor of: Park City Methodist Church, Russell Springs United Methodist Church, Trinity United Methodist Church in Columbia, Albany United Methodist Church and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Campbellsville.

From 1974-1986, Moseley served as a Republican member of the Kentucky State Senate. His Senate district included Adair, Clinton, Cumberland, Green, Metcalfe, Russell, Taylor and Wayne counties and at times Casey County and a part of McCreary County.

Moseley has also served on the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission, the State Personnel Board, the Kentucky Parole and Probation Board, and has been a district superintendent of the Kentucky Parks Department.

Lindsey Wilson College's 92nd commencement ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. CT on Saturday, Dec. 11. For more information about commencement, the Golden Alumni Society induction ceremony, or Friday's dedication and ground-breaking ceremonies -- contact the college at info@lindsey.edu or (270) 384-8212.