By Linda Waggener, marketing and media relations coordinator

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Campbellsville University's news and publications coordinator, Joan C. McKinney, was awarded the Beth K. Fields Award, the highest award presented by Kentucky's Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) at the annual conference Friday, Dec. 12, in Louisville.

The Fields Award, considered to be a lifetime achievement honor, was established to honor advancement professionals who epitomize the profession and continually go above the call of duty.

Mimi Ward of the University of Kentucky, president of CASE KY, said McKinney's “efforts working with the CASE KY annual conference by leading and organizing the communications/PR track have been tireless, very competent and complimentary.”

McKinney has served as a member of the board of directors of CASE KY since 2006.

Ward said, “Her judgment in policies and discussion with the CASE KY Board is valued and respected.

“Joan is most deserving of the Beth K. Fields award for distinguished service to advancing education in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

The Beth K. Fields Award was established by the CASE Kentucky Board of Directors in 1994. The award was created in memory of Mrs. Fields who served as director of unit associations for the University of Louisville Alumni Association. She was an active CASE Kentucky Board member and admired advancement professional.

The award is designed to recognize someone who continually goes over and above the call of duty and epitomizes the advancement profession. Recipients must have served the advancement field for at least ten years.

McKinney has worked in the communications area at Campbellsville University since 1980.

John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president who oversees the Office of University Communications, said, “Congratulations to Joan McKinney on receiving the Beth Fields Award

presented by the Kentucky CASE organization.

“Her many years of work in the field merit the recognition and attest to her dedication to promoting the mission of Campbellsville University. We are very happy

for her and join her many friends and colleagues in extending our congratulations and best wishes in this time.”

Also at the conference, Campbellsville University received eight awards pertaining to publications, writing and photography. Two of the awards were grand, three were excellence and two were merit.

The grand awards were for the alumni magazine, the Campbellsvillian, edited by McKinney; and the other was for a Kentucky Heartland Institute for Public Policy election story by Ashley Zsedenyi, staff writer in the Office of University Communications.

Linda Waggener, marketing and media relations coordinator, won an excellence for a story on a CU international student helping secure a local business. Other excellence awards were for a series of photographs taken by staff and students pertaining to Homecoming 2008; and the Student Update, which is written in conjunction with the Office of Student Services.

Merit awards were for Tigers' Den Athletics, a publication with whom the office works with Bryan Blair, sports information director; a photo series on Kentucky Heartland Outreach by Zsedenyi; and a Kentucky Baptist Convention ad by Waggener.

“I am extremely appreciative that CASE KY presented me with the Beth K. Fields Award,” McKinney said. “I am among a very talented group of education professionals who have won the award previously, and I am honored to be in their midst.”

“I am also excited about our awards at the conference. Our team at CU works well together, and it's great to get validation of your hard work,” she said.

McKinney is a native of Manchester, Ky. She received her bachelor of arts degree in journalism from Eastern Kentucky University in 1974 and has worked on both the Advocate-Messenger daily newspaper in Danville, Ky., and the semi-weekly newspaper, The Sentinel-News, in Shelbyville, Ky.

McKinney is married to Stan McKinney, assistant professor of journalism at Campbellsville University, who worked in the newspaper profession over 20 years before becoming a full-time professor.

They have a daughter, Calen, who is a staff writer at the Central Kentucky News-Journal in Campbellsville. She is also a CU graduate and teaches at CU as an adjunct instructor in communications.

McKinney is the daughter-in-law of Norvell McKinney of Princeton, Ky., and the late Gurtha May Sisk McKinney. She is the daughter of the late Joseph and Delora Mills Cottongim of Manchester.

CASE Kentucky is a statewide organization that serves advancement professionals at all levels who work in alumni relations, communications and development at over 70 colleges, universities, private secondary and elementary schools, as well as other educational organizations.

Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,601 students who represent 93 Kentucky counties, 27 states and 31 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report's 2009 “America's Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South for the second consecutive year. CU has been ranked 16 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America's Best Christian Colleges®. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his tenth year as president.