Lindsey Wilson Board of Trustees votes unanimously to change the name of 122-year-old school.
COLUMBIA, KY. (04/24/2025) Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1.
That unanimous decision was made this afternoon by the Lindsey Wilson College Board of Trustees “to reflect the mission, character and direction of this incredible school,” said Lindsey Wilson Board of Trustees Chair Denny Howell of Louisville, Kentucky.
“This is an historic day for Lindsey Wilson as it continues a remarkable journey that started more than 120 years ago,” said Howell.
Lindsey Wilson President William T. Luckey Jr. said the change was necessary because the school is “far more dynamic than it was even 10 years ago.”
Lindsey Wilson’s 2024 fall enrollment was a record 4,147 students, which included students from 49 countries and six continents. Lindsey Wilson operates campuses in six states, and about 60% of its students are enrolled in graduate or doctoral programs. The college is set to award 876 undergraduate and graduate diplomas at its May 2-3 spring commencement weekend. Combined with its winter class of 843 graduates, Lindsey Wilson will graduate a record 1,719 students this academic year.
Luckey, who has served the college for a total of 42 years, said the change is one he has been “wrestling with and even arguing against for at least 25 years.”
“I’ve always been convinced that the best teaching and learning in the world happens at small, private colleges across the United States,” said Luckey, who is the longest-serving college or university president in Kentucky higher education and has been Lindsey Wilson’s eighth president since 1998. “That is why this move does not change our mission, who we serve or what we do, but rather it reflects the dynamic nature of who we have become.”
Broad support for the change
Before the change was considered by the Lindsey Wilson Board of Trustees, Luckey discussed the idea with the deans and faculty members of Lindsey Wilson’s six schools, the Lindsey Wilson National Alumni Board and the Lindsey Wilson Student Government Association.
The Alumni Board and Student Government Association both unanimously endorsed the change, and the Lindsey Wilson faculty voted for the change 77 to 2 with 10 abstentions.
School of Arts & Humanities Dean Allison Egnew Smith said the transition from college to university has been a “true partnership between the faculty, administration and trustees.”
“What makes this transition especially meaningful is how it began,” said Smith, who is an English professor. “President Luckey, rather than moving forward in isolation, worked side by side with faculty to collectively foster this transition.”
Smith, who has been a member of the faculty for two decades, said the Lindsey Wilson faculty is more than prepared for the transition.
“While our faculty have always been strong — sacrificing time, energy and personal resources to meet students where they are — we’ve grown even stronger both in our distinctiveness and our curriculum,” she said. “As a result, what you find today is a group of academics you would find at a major research institution, except our faculty are laser-focused on serving the Lindsey Wilson student. This move to university status reflects not only our collective ambition, but also the deep, sustained commitment of a faculty that never stops showing up for its students.”
Ready for the change
Lindsey Wilson trustee Carrie Farris ’67 said she has been ready for this change “for a long time.”
“I know this will help our admissions representatives, especially when it comes to working with international students who often confuse the term ‘college’ with ‘high school’ because of where they live,” she said. “This move is very good for Lindsey Wilson’s long-term future, as this school will continue to change students’ lives because of faculty and staff who encourage them and provide them a solid foundation to launch successful careers.”
Lindsey Wilson Student Government Association President Zachariah Lawson ’26 said that he and his fellow students are excited about the change, especially after meeting with Luckey earlier this school year to discuss it.
“The mission of this school is not going to change,” said Lawson, an English major from Williamsburg, Kentucky, who will be in the first class to graduate from Lindsey Wilson University. “Lindsey Wilson is still going to be committed to serving ‘every student, every day,’ which is its greatest strength and what is at the heart of Lindsey Wilson.”
Founded in 1903 as a training school for Vanderbilt University, Lindsey Wilson became a junior college in 1923. The school was transformed into a baccalaureate degree-granting college in 1985, and it offered its first graduate program in 1993. The college now offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program.
Luckey said that people who have supported Lindsey Wilson over the years are often imbued with “this irrational passion for this place that just grabs your heart and soul and won’t let go.”
“There is something unique and special that’s part of our institutional DNA and has been since 1903,” Luckey said. “We are a universe of one with an institutional culture that cannot be replicated or duplicated.”
Lindsey Wilson College is a vibrant liberal arts college in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson has an enrollment of more than 4,000 students, and the college offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The college’s 28 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1. The school was founded in 1903.
William T. Luckey Jr. has been the eighth president of Lindsey Wilson College since 1998, making him the longest-serving college or university president in Kentucky higher education. Lindsey Wilson will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1.
View Online: http://lindseywilson.meritpages.com/news/Lindsey-Wilson-College-to-become-Lindsey-Wilson-University-on-July-1/51062
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson College)