UNIVERSITY of the CUMBERLANDS: 125 Alumni Careers

About the Book

Alumni record as of date of last alumni directory,2011,categorized in 125 career categories; individual biographical information on around350 alumni whose stories have been told in the past alumni magazine or other University /College publications.

About the Author

James Harold Taylor arrived on the Cumberland College campus as a traditional student of age 18. Growing up in Waterford Township, Michigan near Detroit, he worked full-time during his senior year of high school at Pontiac Motor Division loading trucks for teamsters and boxcars for United Auto Workers while maintaining honor roll status. The old-fashioned values of hard-work and honesty have driven Taylor while in college and in employment. Remaining at Cumberland after graduation he taught speech, argumentation, and debate. His duties have included serving as Assistant to the President, Director of Alumni Activities, Director of Admissions, and Director of Development. For a short time, he served as Vice President for Development at Scarritt College in Nashville, Tennessee, before returning to Cumberland as Vice President for Development and eventually as President. Taylor holds two doctorate degrees: one in higher education and administration from Nova University in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and a second in general studies from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Under his leadership, the endowment has increased from $6,775,349 in 1980 to over $70 million. Every building on campus has been renovated and updated during Taylor’s tenure. The land holdings on campus have increased from twenty acres and fifteen buildings in 1980 to one hundred acres and forty-two buildings during the Taylor administration. The main campus footprint consists of 1.2 million square feet of usable space. The off campus properties have grown from 8,000 acres to 13,000 in land, admittedly roughly contoured land with not much of a way to develop it at this time. University acquisitions include multiple rental properties comprising thirty-seven apartment units and fourteen houses. In addition, the University leases and operates an 11,000 square foot facility for the Northern Kentucky Campus, the Richard Knock School of Lifelong Learning. University enrollment figures (FTE) for the 1979-80 school year totaled 1,924. Today the FTE stands around 4,000 with the most dramatic increase in school history coming in 2009 with the rapid addition of new undergraduate and graduate programs. Today headcount enrollment has reached an all-time high of nearly five thousand combined undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Taylor dedicates over 180 days per year on the road visiting donors and attending meetings and conferences representing the University and often represents SACS in program reviews of some 30+ colleges and universities to date. Although there have been many defining moments during the Taylor administration, the most significant came when Taylor and his wife, Dinah, lost their son, Jim, at the age of 18 in a single car accident in 1991. Time and again, the Taylors have reached out to others who have lost loved ones at the peak of adolescence through bereavement groups, extending compassion where needed and providing inspiration at life’s lowest point. As a testament to their work, three domed murals painted by Cumberland alumnus, Jerry Wayne Taylor, Class of ’72, stand in memoriam on campus. During Taylor’s tenure the graduate programs have expanded from one to seven. New undergraduate academic programs have also expanded, athletic facilities built or updated, classroom buildings built or updated, parking lots constructed, infrastructure replaced or increased, internet technology added, endowment funds increased, retirement packages enhanced, faculty, staff, and retiree recognition programs added, and many other programs too numerous to list added or enhanced. Taylor’s imagination and perception have certainly paid off for the University in his 34 years as president.