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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (April 30, 2002) — WJHL-TV11 station manager Jack Dempsey will present the W. Hanes Lancaster, Jr. Scholarship to a Milligan College communications student at the college’s annual awards ceremony on Thursday, May 2, at 11 a.m. in Seeger Chapel. The scholarship is one of more than 50 awards and 10 scholarships being presented to Milligan students on Thursday.
The W. Hanes Lancaster, Jr. scholarship is named in honor of the founder of WJHL-TV, who served as station manager for 36 years. Lancaster and his father, Hanes Lancaster, Sr., founded the station with Jay Birdwell in 1953, and aired their first television broadcast on October 26 of that year. Hanes Jr. managed the station from 1953 until his retirement in 1989, when Dempsey was named general manager of the CBS affiliate.
“Hanes was, in the truest sense of the word, a pioneer in television broadcasting,” said Dempsey. “He has also been a lifelong advocate and friend of higher education.”
The $1,000 W. Hanes Lancaster, Jr. Scholarship will be presented to a rising senior communication major at Milligan, who has been selected by the communication faculty as an outstanding and deserving student. This is the first year that WJHL will offer the scholarship to a Milligan student.
“Our communication students are first-rate and it pleases us to see them recognized by our local media,” said Milligan President Don Jeanes. “We are pleased that WJHL has partnered with Milligan in providing scholarship assistance to a worthy student and in recognizing the contributions of Hanes Lancaster, Jr. to higher education.”
Many of Milligan’s other academic areas and majors will also honor students for their academic performance and leadership at Thursday’s program, including the English Award, the Humanities Award, the Lone L. Sisk Award for Chemistry, and numerous others. Three of the most revered awards to be presented include the Student Leadership Award, the Ivor Jones Outstanding Senior Award, and the Faculty/Staff Appreciation Award.
The college will also announce 10 outstanding scholarship recipients. The scholarships will be awarded on the recommendation of the faculty and by the guidelines established by the donors who made the awards possible. All are based at least in part on academic excellence. Each year Milligan awards more than $3.5 million in institutional scholarships, grants and work studies, with more than 92 percent of students receiving aid.
Milligan’s Awards Convocation is open to the public. For more information, call 423-461-8683.