Frankie D. Scott Hager ’57, the oldest of 12 children, came to Owensboro from Louisville as a KWC freshman in 1953. She was appointed to the Kentucky Wesleyan Board of Trustees in 1972 and was board secretary in 1975 when she resigned to earn her law degree at Salmon P. Chase School of Law. After graduating from law school, Hagar became Owensboro’s second female attorney. She served again on the KWC Board of Trustees from 1991 to 2006.

Hager is secretary and treasurer of the Lawrence and Augusta Hager Educational Foundation, Inc., which she and her husband established in 1989 to help disadvantaged children and families. She is a member of Wesleyan Heights United Methodist Church. She has served the local church and the conference in numerous leadership roles.

Community involvement is a hallmark of her life, with emphasis on the needs of children and the arts. She has served on many boards, and is the former president of the Kentucky Municipal Attorneys Association and the League of Women Voters. KWC honored Hager with the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1995 and an honorary doctorate in 2002.

Dr. Thomas C. Meredith ’63 developed a love for the classroom as a child in the Owensboro public schools. After graduating from Kentucky Wesleyan College, he taught at Owensboro High School for six years, where he also helped coach basketball and baseball. He earned a master of arts in education administration from Western Kentucky University and a doctor of education in administration and supervision with an emphasis in secondary and higher education from the University of Mississippi.

After serving in various capacities in secondary and higher education, Meredith was president of Western Kentucky University from 1988 to 1997. He was chancellor of the University of Alabama System and then chancellor of the University System of Georgia with oversight of 34 universities and colleges. He became Mississippi Commissioner of Higher Education for the state’s eight public universities in 2005.

Dr. Meredith has chaired the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and currently serves as president of the National Association of System Heads.

He volunteers in many ways at the local, state and national level, including the National Roundtable Committee for Higher Education Presbyterian Church (USA). KWC honored Meredith with an honorary doctorate in 1989. He was the first recipient of the Alumni Association’s Alumni Achievement Award in 1999.