Kenneth W. Winters

Kenneth W. Winters (born June 24, 1934) is a Republican former member of the Kentucky State Senate from Murray in western Kentucky, who formerly served as president of Baptist-affiliated Campbellsville University.

Winters was born in Crittenden County, Kentucky, and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Murray State University. He subsequently was awarded a master of science from Indiana University in Bloomington and the Doctor of Education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Winters served in the United States Army and the Army Reserve. He was dean of the College of Industry and Technology at Murray State. He served from 1988 to 1999 as president of Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, the seat of Taylor County in central Kentucky.

Winters turned seventy in June 2004, the month after he was nominated by his party for the state Senate seat. He won the 2004 general election and was reelected to a second term in 2008, when he defeated the Democrat Carroll Hubbard, a former member of the United States House of Representatives, by 54 to 46 percent. Through his experience in the field of professional education, Winters served as the chairman of the Senate Education Committee; the vice chairman at the time was Vernie McGaha of Senate District 15, which encompasses Russell County. McGaha, who retired from the Senate in 2013, is a retired educator and an alumnus of Campbellsville University.

Winters' other Senate committee assignments included (1) Agriculture, (2) Economic Development, Tourism and Labor, and (3) Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protections. In the 2009 legislative session, Senator Winters voted to freeze gasoline taxes. He supported legislation to require physicians to perform an ultrasound test on pregnant women and inform the patients of the ramifications of abortion. Winters has been rated 100 percent by the Kentucky National Federation of Independent Business, received a grade "A" from the NRA, a score of 61 by the Kentucky Club for Growth, and 100 percent by the Kentucky National Federation of Independent Business.

He is a former president of the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities. While in Campbellsville, he served a year as president of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Council on Postsecondary Education and the Experimental Aircraft Association. He is a deacon at First Baptist Church of Murray. He also holds membership in the Lions Club and the National Rifle Association. He is a former president of the Mid-South Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and a former member of the Council of Presidents of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. He is a member of the editorial board of Technology Today magazine.

Winters and his wife, Shirley A. Winters (born January 22, 1937), reside in Murray. They have a daughter, Lisa.

Listed in alphabetical order are the seventeen most southwesterly counties which made up Senate District 1 during Winters' tenure: Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, Trigg, Union, and Webster.