‘Women of Vision’ endows Kay O’Brien Legacy Scholarship

^{President Charles A. Fowler presents Women of Vision Chair Debbie Bean with a certificate of appreciation for the organization’s recent endowment of a scholarship for upperclassmen in the Young Women of Promise student organization. Pictured from left to right are Board of Trustees Chair Bob Gay, Fowler, Bean and Amy Stover, Women of Vision past chair.}

(Feb. 25, 2019) JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — Rising junior and senior students in Carson-Newman University’s “Young Women of Promise” organization will soon benefit from a newly endowed scholarship.

The “Kay O’Brien Legacy Endowed Scholarship” came as a gift to the University from the Women of Vision organization in O’Brien’s honor.

O’Brien, who served as the University’s first lady from 2008 to 2018, served alongside then-Vice President of Advancement Vickie Butler to launch Women of Vision.

“It was Kay O’Brien’s vision to start a women’s organization that would partner with others to seek ways to support Christian education and service at Carson-Newman, under the ideals of truth, beauty and goodness,” said Amy Stover, immediate past chair for Women of Vision. “Through Kay’s leadership, since 2011, Women of Vision has raised over $1.2 million dollars to fund improvement projects, and has renovated 100-plus spaces all over campus. In addition, several scholarships have been funded and the student organization, Young Women of Promise, was founded.

“Five hundred members strong, Women of Vision continues to impact student lives by answering the question, ‘What has God placed in our hands, and how are we going to use it for His glory?’” Stover added.

The organization gave $35,000 to endow the scholarship. It was O’Brien’s vision that the scholarship benefit upperclassmen students in the Young Women of Promise organization, which is the student branch of Women of Vision.

Young Women of Promise provides a springboard of friendship and service through regular meetings and campus projects that are making a lasting difference.

Founded in 1851, Carson-Newman is a Christian liberal arts-based university affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. The University is located in Jefferson City, Tennessee, among the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and has over 2,700 students. Carson-Newman offers 50 undergraduate majors, as well as associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.