Two New Buildings to Help Open New School Year

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Lindsey Wilson College's A.P. White Campus will be a little more crowded when 2011 fall classes begin next Wednesday, Aug. 17. And not just because college officials expect more students to be enrolled and living in residence halls.

In addition to a record number of students, the college will also have two more buildings on campus -- a new residence hall and a new classroom building.

"During one of the nation's worst economic periods, Lindsey Wilson continues to out-perform its competitors," said LWC President William T. Luckey Jr., who has been the college's eighth president since the 1998-99 school year. "The students who will graduate from Lindsey Wilson this school year have witnessed a major addition to the campus every year since they enrolled as freshmen four years ago."

Before the new residence hall and classroom building were opened this month, LWC opened the Lindsey Wilson Sports Park (which includes Blue Raider Sports Stadium, Egnew Park and Blue Raider Softball Field), the Pines at Lindsey Wilson, Norma and Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship, Bob and Doris Holloway Health & Wellness Center, and Harold J. Smith Hall.

LWC students started to move into residence halls last weekend as fall sports teams and members of the marching band began to practice. They were followed by student leaders and residence-life student employees. New students will move into residence halls on Saturday, Aug. 13; upperclass residential students will return on Monday, Aug. 15. Classes for the 2011 fall semester begin on Aug. 17.

During their first week on campus, new students will take part in several activities and team-building events that will introduce them to college life.

"We have a wonderful combination of fun activities that will acclimate them to college life mixed in with several informational sessions that will explain their responsibilities as a college student," said LWC Director of Student Activities Jayne Hopkins, who coordinates the college's opening week. "We don't want new students to be overwhelmed by their new surroundings, but we also want them to understand what it takes to be a success in college."

This year's opening week activities includes a couple entertainment events for all LWC students.  Singer-songwriter Trevor Davis, whose recordings have drawn attention on the West Coast, will give a free concert at 7 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Aug. 16, on the Public Square. And comedian Lachlan Patterson, who has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, will perform at 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Aug. 19, in V.P. Henry Auditorium. (Click here for a schedule of opening week events and activities.)

LWC officials expect to enroll more than 2,500 total students this school year, and more than 1,000 of them will live in college housing.

LWC's latest residence hall will open a year after the college opened its largest residence hall, four-story, 186-bed Harold J. Smith Hall.

The new residence hall -- located on the eastern edge of campus -- will house up to 156 female students in 16,100 square feet of space. It will include 52 rooms and a resident hall director. The cost of the one-story building is about $800,000. It has been named Kendrick and Jerry McCandless Hall, after LWC trustee Jerry McCandless and his wife, Kendrick, of Campbellsburg, Ky.

LWC housed a record 1,052 students in 2010-11, and more than 1,000 students are expected to live on campus during the '11-12 school year.

LWC alumna Chelsey Key of Lafayette, Tenn., has been named director of the McCandless Hall. Key, who was a four-year member of the LWC women's golf team, will also be working on her master's degree in sports management and coaching at Western Kentucky University and also serve as assistant coach to the LWC golf program.

"I'm really exciting about being in the new residence hall - it's an incredible new building, and I think the students will really enjoy living here," said Key, who graduated from LWC in May with a bachelor's degree in biology.

The new classroom building will house LWC's baccalaureate nursing program and nationally accredited School of Professional Counseling. The 26,000-square-foot, two-story building, which cost about $3 million to build, sits next to the Jim and Helen Lee Fugitte Science Center, creating a science village on LWC's A.P. White Campus.

Among the academic building's features are interactive classrooms that will provide nursing majors with cutting-edge technology and technological innovations that will help the nationally accredited School of Professional Counseling work with its more than two dozen locations in five states.

LWC students will also be greeted by a new choice of soft drinks this school year as Coca-Cola products will be served at Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center, in the college's vending machines and also at LWC intercollegiate events.

In addition to the soft drinks, Coke will also provide coolers, cups, menu boards, and Powerade sports drink for LWC's athletic teams.

The change affects 23 vending machines, five foundation units and about 20 standup coolers on the A.P. White Campus. LWC servers about 750,000 fountain dinks a year and distributes about 40,000 drinks from vending machines, according to Director of Business Services and Director of Food Services Jeff Willis.

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