Thomas A. Spragens
Encyclopedia
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
and served as president of Centre College
Centre College
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, USA, a community of approximately 16,000 in Boyle County south of Lexington, KY. Centre is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution. Centre was founded by Presbyterian leaders, with whom it maintains a loose...
in Danville, Kentucky
Danville, Kentucky
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 16,218 at the 2010 census.Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Boyle and Lincoln counties....
from 1957 to 1981.
During his tenure as president, the college's enrollment and the size of its faculty nearly doubled and its endowment grew ninefold. Spragens is also credited for the Fund for the Future Campaign, which raised about $34 million. Many of the buildings that stand at Centre today were constructed during his presidency, including the Regional Arts Center (renamed the Norton Center for the Arts), Grace Doherty Library, Young Hall, and a number of dormitories. During his lifetime he was also very active in the community of Danville and the commonwealth
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, as well as in civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
issues, Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
politics, and the Presbyterian Church.
Spragens died February 11, 2006 in Columbia, SC at age 88.