Campbellsville College
Campbellsville, KentuckyRussell Creek Academy opened for class work in 1907, and became Campbellsville College in 1924. Lathey Ernest Curry was the first President of Campbellsville College, serving from 1922 to 1925. Curry was President of Barbourville (KY) [Knox County] Baptist Institute from 1920 to 1922. He was ordained to the ministry at Georgetown, and graduated from Georgetown College in 1917. He was born in Green County, Kentucky, February 24, 1879, and died September 30, 1948 at the age of sixty-nine years.
In 1933, Campbellsville was admitted with other institutions in the state into the Kentucky Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. After John M. Carter's coming to lead Campbellsville in 1948, the college was fully accredited as a junior college in 1949 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and the transition to four-year status was completed in 1959. The student body was more than 1,500 during his presidency.
He was followed as President by Randolph (Randy) Davenport.
Kenneth W. Winters, who had been an assistant professor and dean at Murray State University was the President from 1988-1999. The enrollment had fallen to 660 students and increased to 1,600 during his term. Upon his retirement, he was followed by Michael V. Carter, the current President, who was formerly the provost at Carson-Newman College [TN].
Campbellsville College has grown to University status. *
=============== [*Adapted from Frank M. Masters, A History of Baptists in Kentucky, 1953, p. 566; and James D. Bolin, Kentucky Baptists, 1925-2000, 2000. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall. (2021)]
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