A member of the first graduating class of Hopkinsville Community College (HCC) has been selected as the 2019 Bill Franklin Volunteer of the Year Award by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Recently retired Christian County Attorney, Mike Foster was selected from nominees across the southeastern U.S. A release says Foster was nominated by HCC President/CEO Dr. Alissa Young, who says this is an enormous honor and accomplishment to have a volunteer leader like Foster recognized by CASE, competing with four-year, two-year and private institutions across several southern states. Dr. Young adds they are very pleased that Foster’s dedication and support of HCC and community college education particularly is being honored and recognized on a national level.
According to information from the college, Foster was one of 220 students in the inaugural graduating class of 1967, the first in his family to graduate from college; a true first generation college student. He continued on to the University of Kentucky where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and earned his Juris Doctor in 1972 from U.K., and returned to his hometown of Hopkinsville to practice law. Foster was elected as County Attorney in 1982 and retired from the seat in August 2018.
Foster has served multiple terms on the HCC board and as President of the HCC Foundation, Inc. He has also represented HCC in multiple other ways, including representing the college on the Kentucky Inter-Alumni Council for the Kentucky Council on Post-Secondary Education and elected its president.
In addition, Foster has made many donations to the college over the years, including raising funds for HCC’s Foundation’s annual golf scramble which was renamed in his honor in 2010. In the 28 years since the golf scramble’s inception, over $300,000 has been raised for textbook scholarships and HCC Foundation initiatives.
Foster will be honored during the opening plenary session of the CASE III District Conference at the Westin Peachtree in Atlanta on Sunday, February 24.
