CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. (May 24, 2022) — Thomas More alumna Judith A. Marlowe ’69, Ph.D., chair of the Thomas More board of trustees, is making educational goals a reality for current and future students through two endowed scholarships. With values aligning to the University’s mission, Marlowe is dedicated to service and seeks to foster this dedication in future generations.

The Dr. Judith A. Marlowe ’69 Leadership and Service Scholarship rewards Thomas More University students who demonstrate commitment to leadership, involvement, and service to the University and local communities. The scholarship provides financial assistance in the form of tuition, books, or other direct educational expenses. “I want to encourage today’s students to take advantage of the opportunities that are more accessible in a small institution, to expand their horizons and excel,” says Marlowe. She states that the scholarship, “is intended to promote active participation in a leadership role that will prepare the student for future opportunities to demonstrate the benefit of their values-based Thomas More education and elevate the reputation of this University.”

Marlowe’s dedicated leadership and service to the University began as a student in 1965 in programs such as Model United Nations Assembly, Jesture student literary publication, and the Student Government Association (SGA), serving as SGA President in 1968-69. She also played an instrumental role on the Dedication Steering Committee and in the dedication ceremony attended by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which celebrated the new Crestview Hills campus and renaming of the college from Villa Madonna to Thomas More in 1968. President Johnson subsequently invited her to the White House which earned further media and press recognition for Thomas More.

In a second expression of commitment to students, Marlowe established the Evelyn’s Opportunity Scholarship, which holds a special place in her heart, honoring the memory of her mother, Evelyn Taylor Middendorf. This award is dedicated to funding Thomas More University students who are the first in their families to pursue a university education. Marlowe’s mother was offered a scholarship to Villa Madonna College in 1941, however she was unable to accept given the family’s financial position in the aftermath of the Great Depression and their need for her to seek gainful employment. “My mother volunteered as a member of the Villa Madonna College Women’s Guild at the 1968 Dedication,” says Marlowe. “I felt that it would be a fitting memorial to establish a scholarship at her ‘almost alma mater’ in her name to enable others to pursue the college degree that eluded her.”

After Marlowe obtained her undergraduate degree at Thomas More in 1969, she immediately continued her education. It was while attending the Speech Pathology & Audiology graduate program at the University of Cincinnati that she participated in a research fellowship which prompted her to recognize the importance of early identification of hearing loss in infants. This became her passion and in 1983, she established the first hospital program that routinely screened every baby’s hearing at birth, a decade before formal recommendations to do so, spending the following 34 years educating and advocating on behalf of early hearing detection before clinicians, as well as private and public health leaders, and designing similar programs around the world. Today, the screening is standard care for every newborn in virtually all developed countries, the highlight of her successful career in audiology, enabling her to have an impact upon thousands of babies and their families. “All of this experience has now directed me to the governance work that I do on behalf of Thomas More,” explains Marlowe.

As an alumna, Marlowe has served in many significant capacities, most notably as a member of the steering committees for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the college in 1971, the 50th anniversary of the Crestview Hills campus dedication in 2018, and as co-chair of the Centennial Celebration Committee in 2020-21. She received the Thomas More Medallion, the University’s most significant honor, in 2002, and was awarded the Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award in 2003. Additionally, she served as an adjunct honors professor in the James Graham Brown Scholars program and as adjunct professor in the Ethical Leadership Studies graduate program. She was employed as vice president of Institutional Advancement at the University at one time, and is now an active member of the Board of Trustees (2014-present), serving as chair of the Presidential Search Committee in 2018, and is current chair of the Board.

“Treat your time at Thomas More as though it were a sumptuous buffet,” says Marlowe, offering wisdom to current and future students. “Sample as much as you can and try something new. No matter what future education you may pursue, the liberal arts foundation that you create at Thomas More will enable you to achieve MORE, be MORE, and contribute MORE to making the world a better place. And that will bring you MORE happiness than you can imagine.”

For more information about Thomas More University, visit www.thomasmore.edu.

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About Thomas More University

For 100 years, Thomas More has created a university for the student who wants to Be More, Do More, Seek More, Win More, Achieve More, and Create More. Since its founding in 1921, Thomas More has provided a mission-driven, liberal arts education that is based in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Students learn to harness the power of human reason to solve problems and discover truth, which allows them to begin the journey to become the person they were created to be. Entering into the second century, it’s time for More. Serving more than 2,000 students, Thomas More aspires to be the premier Catholic university in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region, build upon its excellent return on investment (ranked #1 among private universities/colleges in Kentucky by MSN Money in 2021 and ranked #2 for long term gain in Kentucky in Georgetown University’s 2022 study), and share with this generation the transformative power of the Thomas More experience. To find out more, visit thomasmore.edu.

MEDIA CONTACT: Lyna Kelley, director of communications and PR, [email protected], 859.344.3309