Midway University presents Spotlight Awards, looks to its future as a fully coeducational institution

Midway University upheld its traditions at its annual Spotlight Awards dinner last night as it looked forward to a very different future, very soon.

The university presented former Lexington Vice Mayor Isabel Yates its Pinkerton Vision Award, named for the founder of the Kentucky Female Orphan School, which evolved into a college and became a university last year.

The Legacy Award went to the family of James Bowling, whose widow Ann and daughter Belinda Metzger have followed him as trustees of the school.

"Long live Midway University," Ann Bowling said as she accepted the award.

Nearby was another sign that will need changing before too long.

In an effort to ensure its survival, the university will become fully coeducational this fall. That "is a move that was not considered in haste but one that will allow Midway University to reinvent itself at a challenging time for private higher education," President John Marsden told the crowd.

The school announced the change May 16, four days after its trustees unanimously approved it. At the time, Marsden said "We cannot continue to preserve something that is unsustainable merely for nostalgic purposes."

The crowd did its part to support the school, spending $12,541 on bids and donations through an auction of specially engraved Woodford Reserve bourbon bottles on each table, said Scott Fitzpatrick, vice president for advancement. Brown-Forman Corp. was one of the dinner's sponsors.