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Lindsey Wilson University Announces Phil Hanna Cultural Affairs Series

Gifts of more than $100,000 will support university's efforts to attract artists, authors, musicians and speakers to campus.

by Duane Bonifer

COLUMBIA, Ky. (11/25/2025) — For more than 20 years, the late Phill Hanna helped enhance Lindsey Wilson University's living-learning environment by leading the Lindsey Wilson Cultural Affairs Series.

Now, thanks to several major gifts, the series he led will now bear his name -- the Phil Hanna Cultural Affairs Series.

Recent gifts to the Cultural Affairs Series fund total more than $100,000, which will support an annual budget to bring speakers, musicians, authors and artists to campus. The largest gift comes from Hanna's estate.

"These gifts -- as well as future gifts to the Phil Hanna Cultural Affairs Series endowment fund -- will significantly enhance the university's cultural affairs programming," said Lindsey Wilson Vice President for Academic Affairs Ray Lutgring. "The gifts will have an impact not only on our campus but also on the greater community as well, as Lindsey Wilson continues to strive to provide cultural affairs programming that appeals to both our students as well as to area residents."

Appealed to a 'broad swath'

Hanna was involved with the Lindsey Wilson Cultural Affairs Series from 1996 until his retirement in 2017, serving as series chair for all but four of those years.

"One of the many great things about Phil's leadership with the Cultural Affairs Series was that he programmed such a rich diversity of campus guests," said Lindsey Wilson Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities Allison Smith. "He worked so hard to make sure that Lindsey Wilson's cultural affairs programming offered events that appealed to a broad swath of our campus community, as well as to area residents."

Hanna, who died in 2024 at the age of 72, served in the Lindsey Wilson Katie A. Murrell Library from 1993-2017.

"Lindsey Wilson is where everything came together and Phil found his calling -- a combination of being an ambassador of knowledge, a welcoming adult to international students, and a provider of cultural enrichment for the camps and greater community," said Natalie Lund of Glasgow, Kentucky, who was Hanna's longtime friend and contributed to the Phil Hanna Cultural Affairs Series endowment fund.

A heart for students

Hanna was Lindsey Wilson's director of library services for his final 17 years at the school. Under his leadership, the Murrell Library offerings and services were expanded while remaining laser-focused on serving students.

"I think the feeling that our students are the most important thing is a constant," Hanna said in a 2017 interview. "That's always been the case. Even with faculty growth, the focus on students has always stayed the same. We've definitely tried to follow that same philosophy here in the library."

Hanna lived in the country of Lebanon from ages 3-17 because of his parents' overseas work as missionaries in the Presbyterian church. As a result of spending part of his life overseas, Hanna became involved with Lindsey Wilson's international student population, participating in the Lindsey Wilson International Student Programs host family program.

After Hanna retired from Lindsey Wilson, he remained involved with the Cultural Affairs Series and also became involved at the Adair County Library, where he volunteered as a genealogist at the library's Adair County Genealogy & History Research Center.

Hanna earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Transylvania University, master's degrees in divinity and social work, and a master's degree in library science. He was awarded a Lindsey Wilson honorary doctorate in 2017.

"The most rewarding thing about my job is that I like the idea of making knowledge accessible to people and helping them find a new way of looking at things," Hanna said in the 2017 interview. "That's what I like. I want people to see things in a new way. I want to be available to see knowledge come to life. Everything I do here is ultimately to make that possible."

For more information about the Lindsey Wilson University Phil Hanna Cultural Affairs Series, contact the university's alumni office at alumni@lindsey.edu or 270-384-8400.

Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university's 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.

Media Attachments

Former Lindsey Wilson University Director of Library Services Phil Hanna, right, pictured with Lindsey Wilson President William T. Luckey Jr. in 2017. Hanna was involved with the Lindsey Wilson Cultural Affairs Series from 1996 until his retirement in 2017, serving as the series chair for all but four of those years. The university has renamed the series the Phil Hanna Cultural Affairs Series.

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