2012 Highlights Include Record Enrollment, Faculty and Winter Commencement

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- A record enrollment, the largest winter commencement in college history and the largest faculty in college history were among the 2012 highlights at Lindsey Wilson College.

Other highlights of the year include: establishment of a visiting scholar program to promote health and safety; three individual and one team national titles; the 15th anniversary of the John B. Begley Chapel; and the first Blue Raider to compete in the Olympic games.

Enrollment Reaches Record 2,677; Faculty Also at Record Level
LWC opened the 2012-13 school year with a record number of students and faculty. A record 2,677 students enrolled at LWC -- a 2.9 percent increase over the 2011-12 school year's enrollment of 2,600 students. LWC also has a record 114 number of full-time professors -- 66 more than were on faculty a decade ago. The college's 2012-13 enrollment includes 2,217 undergraduate students and 460 graduate students. LWC's 598 new undergraduate students are the most academically prepared freshman class in the college's history. They entered LWC with an average ACT score of 21.3 and an average cumulative grade point average of 3.25. Also, a record number of students are living LWC's residence halls; a total of 1,099 students live on campus in 2012-13, 47 more than the previous record, set in 2010. The student body also includes 95 international students from 34 countries. Since fall 2007, LWC's overall enrollment has increased by more than 47 percent. Click here to read more.

Largest Winter Commencement
LWC awarded a record 381 degrees at its 96th commencement ceremony, held Dec. 15. A total of 194 undergraduate degrees and 187 graduate degrees were awarded. LWC's previous record winter class was 365, which was graduated in 2010. Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who gave the commencement address, and retired LWC administrator and faculty member George Kolbenschlag of Columbia received an honorary doctorate from the college. Click here to read more.

Blue Raider Competes in London Olympics
Danny Caluag made history in August when he became the first LWC student or graduate to compete in the 2012 summer Olympic games in London. Caluag competed in BMX, representing the Philippines and all of collegiate cycling as the only active competitor at the games. Click here to read more.

V.P. Henry Auditorium Renovated, Rededicated
V.P. Henry Auditorium received its first major renovation in more than 80 years. Almost $200,000 was spent to install new seats, a theater lighting system and sound system, and a new stage to make the space the official home of the Lindsey Wilson Players, who are directed by Assistant Professor of Theatre Robert Brock. The space was rededicated in November during Homecoming Weekend activities. During 2012, the Lindsey Wilson Players presented two productions, Godspell and Don't Dress for Dinner and The Long Christmas Dinner. Click here to read more about V.P. Henry Auditorium. Click here to see pictures from the Lindsey Wilson Players' performances.

Visiting Scholar Program Focuses on Health & Safety
The Dr. Henry Baughman Visiting Fellows Program was inaugurated in the fall with a pair of public talks by the program's namesake. The Baughman Visiting Fellows Program annually invite a scholar in the field of health, safety and wellness to give a public talk and meet with students. Modeled on the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows program, the Baughman Visiting Fellows Program enlightens area residents and LWC students about critical life issues. Click here to read more.

Anniversary of Begley Chapel Celebrated
At LWC's annual annual Church Celebration Day in the fall, the LWC community celebrated the impact of the John B. Begley Chapel, which was dedicated 15 years earlier. "A temple was planted in our midst -- a building whose only purpose was to glorify god," LWC Dean of the Chapel Rev. Terry Swan said at the ceremony. "And it became the symbol of the school … I don't even think we grasped the significance of it at the time." Click here to read more.

Students Come Within 1 Electoral Vote of Predicting Presidential Election
A dozen LWC students came within one electoral vote of predicting the correct outcome of the 2012 presidential election. The students, who are members of the LWC John B. Begley Scholars Program, correctly predicted all of the states' outcomes -- with the exception of Maine, who they thought would give one of its four electoral votes to Romney. Click here to read more.

Fourth Largest Class Graduates in May
LWC conferred 158 undergraduate and graduate degrees at its 95th commencement ceremony, held May 12 in Biggers Sports Center. Combined with the degrees awarded at the 2011 winter commencement in December, LWC graduated a total of 445 undergraduate and graduate students in 2011-12, the fourth largest class in college history. The Rev. Wayne Meisel of the Cousins Foundation of Atlanta was the commencement speaker. Meisel and longtime trustee Sue Stivers both received an honorary doctorate from the college. Click here to read more.

Blue Raider Hits Shot Seen Around the World
Chase Spreen's three-quarter court shot beat visiting Georgetown (Ky.) College 79-78 Jan. 14 at Biggers Sports Center and wound up as the No. 2 "Play of the Day" on ESPN SportsCenter. The shot also advanced to the finals of the 2012 GEICO College Basketball Play of the Year contest. Click here to read more. Click here to see the Spreen shot, which has more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

Lindsey Wilson Singers Tour, Perform in Switzerland and Italy
In June, 13 LWC students participated in the Rome International Choral Festival. The students, who were part of the Lindsey Wilson Singers Program, joined more than 150 other American singers to give concerts at St. Peter's Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Maria Sopra Minerva. Student Chelsea Pike of Campbellsville, Ky., gave a solo at a performance at the Basilica of Saint Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome. Click here to read more.

56 Nursing Students Honored at 'Ceremony of Blessing & Transition'
Lindsey Wilson College honored 56 students in 2012 who took the next step toward becoming nurses. In the spring, 29 students were honored at the Ceremony of Blessing and Transition, and then 27 students were honored at a fall ceremony. The ceremony recognizes students' acceptance into the baccalaureate nursing program. A total of 70 students are classified as nursing majors at the college, and the first nursing cohort is on track to graduate in May; an additional 104 students are declared pre-nursing majors.

National Titles in Cycling, Women's Soccer & Wrestling
LWC athletics teams won three individual national titles and one team national title in 2012. Women's soccer beat Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University 3-2 Dec. 1 to win the program's third NAIA National Championship. LWC senior midfielder Mia Persson was named 2012 Select Sport America-NAIA National Player of the Year. Cyclists Stephanie Caluag and J.D. Swanguen won national titles in October at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships. And Charlie Pingleton claimed LWC's first wrestling national title in March when he won the 157-pound title match.

Student Journalists Win in State Competition
Staff members of RaiderView, the LWC student newspaper, received 26 awards at the annual Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association. The awards, which recognize journalistic excellence at Kentucky's colleges and universities, were for work published in 2011. LWC students compete in the 5,000-and-under enrollment category. Click here to read more.

Record Number of High School Seniors Compete for Begley Scholarship
A record 162 high school seniors from 49 Kentucky counties and 11 U.S. states competed in February for one the John B. Begley Scholarships awarded to incoming freshmen. Named in honor of LWC Chancellor John B. Begley, who was LWC's seventh president from 1987-97, the scholarship covers a student's tuition, room and board. Its four-year value is about $145,000. Two freshmen received the scholarship: Rebekah Sanders of Waynesville, Ohio, and Abigail Calhoun of Lexington. Click here to read more.

Malvina Farkle Day Celebrates Community Service
More than 1,500 LWC students from the A.P. White Campus in Columbia and at most of the community campuses participated in the college's Malvina Farkle Day in the fall. The annual day of community service celebrates the college's commitment to scholarship and service-learning. Click here to read more.

Lindsey Wilson Players Meet With Broadway Cast, Perform 'Godspell'
Before performing the Stephen Schwartz classic Godspell in April, members of the Lindsey Wilson Players and Assistant Professor of Theatre Robert Brock met with the cast of the Broadway revival at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Click here to read more.

Late Kentucky Statesman Walter Baker Honored
In May, a portrait of the late Walter A. Baker was unveiled in the college's Katie Murrell Library. The portrait is a copy of the one made when he was appointed to the Kentucky Supreme Court in 1996. Baker attended Lindsey Wilson Training School before being a member of Adair County High School's first graduating class in 1954. Click here to read more.

Tribute to 1971-72 Men's Basketball National Champions
LWC's first national champs -- the 1971-72 LWC men's basketball team -- was honored in February. The team won the National Little College Athletic Association championship. Click here to read more.

Blue Raider Sports Win Mid-South Conference's President's Cup
A stellar 2011-12 season for LWC athletics produced the most points and the most lopsided win in the history of the Mid-South Conference President's Cup. For the second time since joining the conference, LWC won the cup -- given to the conference's top program. LWC scored 115.5 points out of a possible 120 in 2011-12. Click here to read more.