RELEASED: October 17, 2001

DANVILLE, KY—The Centre College board of trustees held its fall meeting Friday, October 10, on campus.

Thursday evening, the board attended a ceremony in honor of the late Lon and Jessie Reynolds Rogers.

A brick area adjacent to Old Carnegie was dedicated and named in memory of the Rogers in gratitude for their vision and generosity in establishing the Rogers Educational Trust. The trust has made a Centre College education accessible for generations of Kentucky students. Twenty-five members of the Rogers family were on campus for this special event.

Lon Rogers, who grew up on an Ohio County farm, was unable to attend Centre because of financial reasons. Upon his death in 1946, scholarships and loan funds from the Rogers Educational Trust first became available, and hundreds of students have benefited. When Jessie Reynolds Rogers died in 1966, her will established a similar trust for young women. The two trusts were combined in 1989 to form the Lon Rogers and Jessie Reynolds Rogers Educational Trust, which today is assisting 50 Centre students each year in meeting their educational expenses.

The board approved an endowed scholarship at the meeting. The R. Thomas Carter Memorial Scholarship, established by gifts from family and friends of R. Thomas Carter, is awarded to students who have lost a parent because of cancer, who have a financial need, and who have demonstrated academic excellence, moral leadership, and integrity.

The board was also shown positive results from the past academic year:

• For the 15th time in 17 years Centre College has the nation's highest percentage of alumni participation in alumni giving. Centre had 66.4 percent of its alumni make donations to the 2000-2001 Annual Giving Campaign. That was nearly six percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor.
• Centre also had its highest freshman retention rate since 1994.
• In addition, the board heard reports on this year's freshman class that pushed opening enrollment to a record 1,070 students.

The board approved emeritus status for professors C. Eric Mount and Roberta White.

Two new trustees attended their first meeting of the board. Avery Crounse of Paducah, vice chair of Crounse Corporation, and Kevin Taylor of New York, a Centre graduate who is a vice president at the insurance company American International Group (AIG), were present.

J. David Grissom of Louisville serves as chairman of the board. John Roush is president of the college.

The board will meet again this January in Louisville.

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