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While the University of Kentucky in Lexington carries much name value, it’s far from the only prestigious school in the Commonwealth. 

Recently, the Rotary Club of Winchester received such a positive reminder. 

Amy Scarborough, who serves as chief government, community, and corporate relations officer at Eastern Kentucky University, stopped by for the club’s local meeting at Winchester Country Club to talk about the school and its positive impact for all, including Winchester. 

“[It’s] so good to be with you all today,” said Scarborough. “I will do my best to kind of give you an update on EKU and the future of what we see in terms of higher education in central Kentucky.” 

Scarborough is no secret to assisting Clark County, as noted by one of the afternoon’s guests, former Winchester Mayor Ed Burtner. 

“Amy Scarborough has meant a great deal [to] Clark County,” Burtner said, noting that her previous work with AT&T helped lead to cell phone service being incorporated within the then newly-built George Rogers Clark High School building. “AT&T did so and did not charge the county anything…that is critical because when emergency responders come to GRC, they…often use cell phone service.” 

After providing some background knowledge, Scarborough also explained Clark County’s positive impact on Eastern Kentucky University. 

“We have 232 students from Clark County and more than half of them are first generation college students,” she said. “I think that’s amazing!” 

A variety of academic fields are represented. 

“[I] just want to give you an idea of what these students from Clark County are majoring in at EKU: education, nursing, criminal justice, business, [and] biomedical science,” she said. “Those are the jobs that kind of build the economy and that’s our mentality.” 

Scarborough also presented numerous statistical information. 

Over 2,200 students were trained in workforce development and community engagement classes. 

Positively, the school achieved its highest graduation rate in history in 2022, and free textbooks are provided to 100% of students through the EKU BookSmart Program. 

With a student enrollment of $15,026, over 80% of which are from Kentucky, the school represents all areas of the Commonwealth. 

EKU has been consistently ranked as a #1 or #2 Best for Vets: College in the Nation by Military Times, and was recently recognized as one of America’s Best Colleges by the Wall Street Journal. 

The school even recently launched an online elementary education program and launched in the fall of 2023 what to date is Kentucky’s only Manufacturing Engineering Program. 

“We have a fantastic banking and insurance program. We have risk management. We have…supply chain management,” she added. “We introduced the financial technology and cybercrime [program]. That was done in conjunction with Congressman Andy Barr.” 

Yet even with such accomplishments, there’s always room to strive for more. 

“We would like to become the first public osteopathic medical school in Kentucky,” Scarborough said, noting that the school has various health programs that prepare students. 

While much more can continue to be learned, Scarborough noted that she was grateful for her time to speak with rotarians. 

“This whole community is so wonderful,”  she said.