Kentucky State University has the most culturally diverse student body and faculty among all higher education institutions in Kentucky and one of the most diverse in the nation. In a typical year, the institution’s student body is equally divided between African American and Caucasian students. About two percent of the students come from 14 foreign countries. The faculty is comprised of 35 percent African Americans, 50 percent Caucasians, and 15 percent from other ethnic origins.
KSU ut ilizes o nly facu lty a s te achers; n o g raduate assistants te ach courses. More than two o-thirds of the University's full-time faculty members who teach in the institution's baccalaureate and master's degree programs have terminal degrees.
Three percent of the openings in Ke ntucky's publicly-supported law, dental, and medical schools have been made available to Kentucky State University graduates who are Kentucky residents. No other institution of high education in the Commonwealth has this guarantee.
The University has the most comprehensive liberal studies requirements of a NY public hi gher e ducation institution in the state. KSU’s L liberal Studies Requirements constitute a carefully designed program of 53 semester credit hours of courses selected from various academic offerings. An important feature of these requirements is the sequence of Integrative Studies courses. The Integrative Studies Program elicits from faculty and students a commitment to analyze and interpret a body of knowledge that links the perennial questions of human life with the greatest works of history, literature, art, philosophy, and the sciences. The program consists of seven seminars—three in the Western and four in the non-Western traditions. With the exception of the students in the Whitney M. Young, Jr. College of Leadership Studies, all baccalaureate degree-seeking students must successfully complete the Liberal Studies Requirements of which 12 semester credit hours must be in the Integrative Studies Program.
The University’s Paul G. Blazer Library is one of the most comprehensive in Kentucky with more than 600,000 volumes and 1,200 serialized journals. The library is totally computerized and offers faculty and students access to the collections of other regional libraries through the Kentucky Library Ne twork (KLN), a nd t he Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET). A lso through the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL), patrons have access to over 40 index, abstract and full-text databases, with free access available from your home, school, or local library. The library’s s atellite with bot h Ku an d C bands provi des access to national teleconferences and educational programming. Blazer Library is a selective depository for United States Government Document Publications, and houses an expanding collection of federal and state documents. As stipulated in its mission in Kentucky public higher education, KSU is the major repository in Kentucky for the collection of books, records, and a rifi- facts relative to the history and status of African-American citizens of the Commonwealth and elsewhere. A bout 140,000 patrons visit the Blazer Library annually.
houses an expanding collection of federal and state documents. As stipulated in its mission in Kentucky public higher education, KSU is the major repository in Kentucky for the collection of books, records, and a artifacts relative to the history and status of African-American citizens of the Commonwealth and elsewhere. A bout 140,000 patrons visit the Blazer Library annually.
KSU is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and the Un iversity hol ds fu ll mem bership i n a nd/or accreditation from 53 state, regional, and national educational or professional o rganizations. K SU's a cademic programs are ou tstanding and a re exemplified by the recent a ccreditation of the Sc hool of Business by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). Few Schools of Business nationwide have received this prestigious accreditation.
Kentucky State offer s the Applied Math ematics (pre-engineering) major, a five-year course of study in cooperation with four other universities. Students may choose the University of Kentucky, the University of Maryland at College Park, Vanderbilt University, or Florida A&M University for completion of the program. Students attend KSU for three years of study in the pre-engineering area and then transfer to the second institution for two additional years of work. Upon successful completion of the first year at the second institution, students are awarded the Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics by Kentucky State. Students are awarded the Bachelor of Science degree in their selected fields of engineering by the second institution after the final year of study.
Kentucky State is one of only two Land Grant higher education institutions in the state and one of the seven eennational 1890 Land Grant institutions mandated by the Second Morrill Act of 1890 to conduct research, extension, and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences. This mandate enables KSU to offer many opportunities for students interested in learning more about the food and agricultural sciences. The Land Grant Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The only aquaculture research program in Kentucky is located at KSU. Under the tutelage of the institution’s Land Grant program, aquaculture research is assuming an ever-increasing emphasis among Kentucky’s farmers. To complement this research effort, the University has added to its curricula a master’s degree and a minor area of concentration in aquaculture.
KSU e established in 1992 a National Center for Diversity. This Center is a partnership of Cooperative Extension programs at Kentucky State, the University of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania State University, and the Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Through diversity training conducted at the Cooperative Extension program facility on the KSU campus and across