Lindsey Wilson Day Celebrated at Hazard Community & Technical College

'We want to work alongside our schools, businesses, organizations, families and community leaders to help build a stronger future for Eastern Kentucky.'

by Duane Bonifer

HAZARD, Ky. (09/02/2026) — It was a day of celebration and gratitude as students and officials from Hazard Community & Technical College and Lindsey Wilson University were joined by community partners on Tuesday, Sept. 1, for Lindsey Wilson University Day.

The event, held in the First Federal Center of the Hazard CTC HWY 15 Campus, marked nearly a quarter-century partnership between the two schools. Since 2002, the Hazard CTC-Lindsey Wilson partnership has allowed Hazard CTC graduates to seamlessly transfer into majors in Lindsey Wilson's Education Outreach program.

That includes bachelor's programs in business administration, communication, criminal justice, human services and counseling, and nursing; and graduate programs in applied machine learning and AI, business administration, counseling, cybersecurity management, data science and technology management. The academic programs in LWU Educational Outreach are offered in traditional, online and hybrid formats.

"We are equally committed today as we were in 2002," said Lindsey Wilson Educational Outreach Director of Enrollment Ryan Vitatoe. "We want to continue to serve this area as best as possible. I'm really proud of the work we've done in the last 24 years, and I'm really excited about what's to come."

'Felt like home'

Lindsey Wilson Associate Vice President for Educational Outreach Tommie Saragas said university staff and faculty have always felt at home whenever they were on a Hazard CTC campus. The partnership started on the Lees College Campus, then moved to the HWY 15 Campus.

"This has always felt like home to us," said Saragas. "This is a day of celebration, a day of gratitude from Lindsey Wilson to Hazard Community & Technical College and the University Center of the Mountains."

Founded in 2004 and housed at the Hazard CTC HWY 15 Campus, the University Center of the Mountains is an educational partnership between Hazard CTC and several universities that allows area residents to earn advanced degrees without having to leave the region. In 2005, Lindsey Wilson became the first private school to join the University Center of the Mountains.

Lindsey Wilson "has been one of our very best partners," said Hazard CTC Vice Chancellor of Student Services Deronda Mobelini, who was the University Center of the Mountains executive director from 2009-21. "We've been very fortunate in the partnership with Lindsey Wilson and the number of students we've been able to serve as a team."

Saragas said that a chief reason for Lindsey Wilson's success is because not only does the university employ a full-time staff member on the Hazard CTC HWY 15 Campus, but many LWU staff and faculty members are area residents.

"We are from this community, we are working in the community and we are here," said Saragas.

Placebound but heartbound

In addition to celebrating the partnership of more than two decades, Lindsey Wilson Day also featured representatives from a half-dozen regional employers and organizations. Connecting graduates with those groups over the years has been a major boon to the region's placebound residents, said Saragas.

"People are placebound, but they are also heartbound," she said. "People don't want to leave. They want to stay and grow their community, so we came to where the need was."

And many are also committed to helping their community, according to Lindsey Wilson Regional Academic Director Kimberly Brown.

"Our students literally are trying to change their communities," said Brown. "That is so powerful because our communities are hurting, all of them for varying reasons. Our students are trying to fight for the health of their communities."

Leanna Perkins, who is enrollment coordinator for Lindsey Wilson in Hazard, said all of that adds up to a strong partnership that will benefit the region.

"We're not just here to educate students -- we're here to be a partner," said Perkins. "We want to work alongside our schools, businesses, organizations, families and community leaders to help build a stronger future for Eastern Kentucky. Because when our students succeed, our communities succeed. And when our communities succeed, we all win.

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