Duncan School of Law - Student Spotlight

Kyle Douglass Vaughan
Kyle is a resident of Northeast Tennessee and commutes to Knoxville to attend LMU’s-Duncan School of Law. He is member of the inaugural part-time class of 2013. Kyle is a first generation college graduate with an undergraduate degree in business management with a concentration in finance from King College. Kyle spent many years in the management and business sector until giving that career up to attend law school. “Being a lawyer has been my dream since I was an eight year old boy,” says Kyle. “The choice and the opportunity to come to Duncan seemed to be the hand of Divine Providence. I knew I was making the right choice after hearing Dean Syd Beckman speak at the very first open house. I knew that I wanted to be a part and learn from his entrepreneurial spirit. I was impressed at how he and Dean Gordon Russell could dream a dream and bring it to fruition.”

Kyle has taken hold of that entrepreneurial spirit, and under the tutelage and direction of Dean April C. Meldrum and Professor Cheryl George Kyle founded the Lincoln Memorial University’s-Duncan School of Law Black Law Students Association (BLSA). This organization is dedicated to the promotion of diversity through unity and humanitarian efforts throughout the area and abroad. Since the inception of BLSA in the fall of 2010, BLSA has raised over 5,000 lbs. of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank, donated 400 stuffed animals to the Knox County Family and Juvenile Services, donated to the 2011 tornado relief efforts in Tennessee and in Alabama and close to $1,400 for the American Cancer Society for breast cancer research. Kyle believes that the philanthropic endeavors while in school set-up students to continue the legacy and mission of the school to represent the underprivileged population of the Appalachian area which the school lays within the heart of. “None of these philanthropic efforts would have been possible without the support and cooperation of the great students and faculty that I have the pleasure of serving and working with.”

After law school, Kyle plans to practice law in the upper Northeast Tennessee area and even anticipates a future in politics. “Northeast Tennessee has been under-represented for far too long and I plan to help facilitate a change in that region. Based on the teachings of renowned author Zig Ziglar, I believe that your life’s progression should take you from stability to success and from success to significance. Thanks to individuals like Dean Beckman, Dean Meldrum and Professor George encouraging me to step out and do more while in law school, my career will go from stability to success. Thanks to the great legal education and continued collaboration with my colleagues in study, my life will go from success to significance. It’s Divine Providence.”

ShareThis