At final commencement weekend before transformation to university, Lindsey Wilson awards 890 degrees; Class of 2024-25 a record 1,733 graduates.
COLUMBIA, KY. (05/03/2025) Graduates at the final commencement weekend held by Lindsey Wilson College were reminded of the importance of community support during wartime and the transformative power of higher education.
At three ceremonies held on Friday, May 2, and on Saturday, May 3, in Biggers Sports Center, Lindsey Wilson awarded a total of 890 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees at its 121st commencement. It was the largest number of spring graduates in the college’s 122-year history.
Combined with 843 degrees awarded at last December’s winter commencement, the Lindsey Wilson Class of 2024-25 is a record 1,733 graduates.
Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1, making this weekend’s commencement the final group of graduates awarded a Lindsey Wilson College diploma.
“You will forever be the last class to ever graduate from Lindsey Wilson College,” Lindsey Wilson President William T. Luckey Jr. told the Saturday morning graduates. “Although our name will change, the faculty and staff who have been pouring themselves into you will continue to do the same for the next generation of students.”
But for this weekend, the focus was celebrating the graduates who were closing out the Lindsey Wilson College era.
“We don’t just walk across a stage — we walk into our calling,” said Erin Kershaw Guy of Hendersonville, Tennessee, who gave the student address at the Saturday afternoon ceremony and graduated with a master of education degree in counseling. “And that the degree we hold today is not just a symbol of what we know but of who we’ve become in the process.”
Support during the Ukraine-Russian War
At the Saturday morning ceremony, Anatoliy Voloshyn of Cherkasy, Ukraine, recalled in the student address how the Lindsey Wilson community has supported him and fellow students from Ukraine throughout that country’s more than three-year war against Russia.
When Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Voloshyn said he was “gripped by an overwhelming fear for my loved ones, consumed by darkness and shock, and paralyzed by the gut-wrenching feeling of helplessness — unable to protect my family, my home or my country from across the ocean.”
“Over the past three years, I have seen my friends and people I grew up with being killed defending Ukraine,” said Voloshyn, whose family members watched him receive a bachelor of arts degree in business administration with a minor in political science online from their homes in Ukraine. “One of my former coaches was killed in the first year of the full-scale invasion. Meanwhile, my parents have slept most of the nights in their basement, seeking refuge from Russian missiles. Each day I open the news to witness the suffering and pain my people are enduring.”
Voloshyn said that “I don’t know if I would have been able to endure all of this if I hadn’t received so much help and support from our Lindsey Wilson community.”
At Lindsey Wilson, Voloshyn said he found a place where people “care deeply for one another, where it doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are — you will always be welcomed and judged only by the rule of law and where you can become whoever you want to be.”
‘Part of someone else’s healing’
At the Saturday afternoon ceremony, Guy said she also found support from the Lindsey Wilson community while dealing with personal adversity.
“What I found at Lindsey Wilson College — not just academic knowledge, but personal transformation,” said Guy. “This place, these professors and the people in this community helped me discover that I am not defined by what I’ve lost but by how I rise. That my story can be used to serve others. That my scars can become part of someone else’s healing.”
At the Friday evening ceremony, Ujjwal Bhattarai of Nashville, Tennessee, said in the student address that his Lindsey Wilson experience “unlocked something within me, helping me not only learn but also step into my own as a leader.”
“Eight years ago, I took a leap, an adventure that brought me across oceans to this amazing country,” said Bhattarai, a native of Nepal who earned a master of science degree in information technology management. “And you know what? I’ve genuinely loved every bit of it. From the cities to the quiet corners, the warmth of the people, the sheer variety of experiences — it’s been an incredible ride.”
Lindsey Wilson College undergraduate Anatoliy Voloshyn of Cherkasy, Ukraine, gives the student address at the morning spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 3, in Biggers Sports Center. Voloshyn, whose family watched his commencement address back in his war-torn country, earned a bachelor of arts degree in business administration with a minor in political science. Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1, making this weekend’s commencement the final group of graduates awarded a Lindsey Wilson College diploma.
Lindsey Wilson College graduate student Ujjwal Bhattarai of Nashville, Tennessee, gives the student address at the Friday, May 2, spring commencement ceremony in Biggers Sports Center. Bhattarai earned a master of science degree in information technology management. Looking on, from left: Vice President for Academic Affairs Ray Lutgring, Chaplain the Rev. Tyler Brumfield, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Seale and President William T. Luckey Jr. Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1, making this weekend’s commencement the final group of graduates awarded a Lindsey Wilson College diploma.
Lindsey Wilson College graduate student Erin Kershaw Guy of Hendersonville, Tennessee, gives the student address at the afternoon spring commencement ceremony on Saturday May 3, in Biggers Sports Center. Guy earned a master of education degree in counseling. Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1, making this weekend’s commencement the final group of graduates awarded a Lindsey Wilson College diploma.
Lindsey Wilson College President William T. Luckey Jr. welcomes graduates and guests to the morning spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 3, in Biggers Sports Center. Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1, making this weekend’s commencement the final group of graduates awarded a Lindsey Wilson College diploma.
Lindsey Wilson College President William T. Luckey Jr. welcomes graduates and guests to the afternoon spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 3, in Biggers Sports Center. Lindsey Wilson College will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1, making this weekend’s commencement the final group of graduates awarded a Lindsey Wilson College diploma.
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 — which will become Lindsey Wilson University on July 1 — 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.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson College)