UK President to visit Maysville Wednesday, March 21, 2007 3:34 PM EDT
Not only is this year the 30th anniversary gala of the club, but a special speaker, Dr. Lee T. Todd Jr., president of the University of Kentucky, will be present. "We were finally able to convince him our 30th anniversary dinner would be a good time to come to town," said Stice. "We're encouraging everyone to come out and hear Dr. Todd. It's not very often we get him here." Todd became the 11th president of the University of Kentucky on July 1, 2001, after serving as senior vice president of IBM's Lotus Development Corp. He is the sixth UK alumnus to hold the presidency. Since assuming the leadership of the university, Todd has directed the consolidation of several colleges and campus units to eliminate duplication and improve the overall quality of academics at UK. Stice said Todd's speech will likely be about UK "in general," but will also focus on the new STEM initiative, which is a taskforce for science, technology, engineering and math. Stice said Todd's appearance in Maysville is "great recognition" for Maysville, and will allow Todd to see the impact the smaller clubs of UK alumni make. The Mason County UK Alumni Club has about 120 people. If Todd's appearance is not enough of a motivator to attend the event, money raised from the gala will benefit the Dr. Harry Denham Alumni Scholarship Fund, Stice said. The Mason County club has been saving money to create an endowment. It takes $10,000 to create the endowment, and Stice said the club is more than halfway there. Once it is created, the local club will be able to offer annual scholarships of $500 to students. The Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club are assisting in promoting the event, and Stice said organizers are hoping to have at least 80 people attend.
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