In 2019, Kentucky State reaffirmed its accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The University received the best possible review with the committee finding KSU in full compliance and offering no recommendations or requests for continued monitoring. SACSCOC reaffirmed Kentucky State's accreditation for the next 10 years.

Kentucky State demonstrates its high bar of excellence with national accreditation of many of its academic programs, including Education, Nursing, Social Work, Public Administration, Business Administration, and Music.

As part of the reaffirmation process, Kentucky State developed a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): “Learning that Works.” This program seeks to introduce students to essential skills for career readiness through a required freshman-level class, “Navigating the Technological World,” that focuses on the past, present, and future of technology. As part of the class, the students learn several approaches to critical thinking and problem-solving, including design thinking, systems thinking, and ethical thinking. The skills are acquired through a teamwork-based approach which culminates in a group project that seeks solutions for problems brought about by the contemporary, technology-driven world.

In 2020, Kentucky State University became the first public historically Black institution, the first college in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and only the

second Morrill Land-grant Act of 1890 institution to be granted membership in the prestigious Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC). Founded in 1987, COPLAC has 29 current members. Membership is limited to public universities and colleges that demonstrate a dedication to liberal arts education as the best and most comprehensive preparation for a life of purpose and meaning within society.

As a land-grant college through the second Morrill Act of 1890, Kentucky State conducts research, provides cooperative extension services, and teaches programs in the food and agricultural sciences that serve the state and nation. KSU’s 882-acre campus includes a 307-acre agricultural research farm and a 306-acre environmental education center. The School of Agriculture, Communities, and the Environment (ACE) offers two undergraduate and two graduate degree programs and multiple certificate programs. The ACE has nationally and internationally recognized research programs in aquaculture (fish farming), organic agriculture, sustainable biofuel feedstock production, alternative fruit and nut crops, ecological entomology, alternative pesticides and water quality, global information systems, agroforestry, goat production, biotechnology, obesity and human health, and apiculture.

Kentucky State and Bulleit Frontier Whiskey recently announced a partnership that includes an annual scholarship of $25,000 to students in the Master of Science in Environmental Studies program over a five-year period. Diageo North America, the holding