contains four multipurpose playing courts with electronic scoreboards and spectator areas in its gymnasium; an eight-lane indoor swimming pool with an adjacent diving well; four racquetball courts equipped with injury-preventing “floating floors”; a fully equipped fitness center with aerobic machines and weight-training equipment; a 2,000 square-foot-dance studio lined with mirrored walls and bars; a gymnastics area equipped with uneven bars, safety mats, and belts; and a second-level jogging track suspended above the gymnasium area.
Cultural experiences are considered an integral part of a liberal studies education. Numerous cultural events are scheduled throughout every academic year —many by the University and many by local organizations that use campus facilities for events open to students as well as to the general public.
Bradford Hall has practice rooms and rehearsal halls available for instrumental and vocal ensembles. The Bradford Hall Auditorium and Little Theatre are available for concerts, lectures, and plays. Art and photography exhibitions attended by the public from Frankfort and the surrounding area as well as by University students, faculty, and staff.
Public figures spanning the spectrum of political and human endeavors appear often at Kentucky State University. Luminaries such as poet Gwendolyn Brooks; United States Senator William Proxmire; actress Cicely Tyson; author Alex Haley; American philosopher Mortimer Adler; UPI White House Correspondent Helen Thomas; former Miss America Debbie Turner; the Reverend Jessie Jackson; NAACP executive director Benjamin Hooks; journalist and former White House press secretary Jody Powell; comedian Sinbad; singers Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.; tennis star Arthur Ashe, Jr.; football star Roderick Hill; classics performer Frank E. Fowle III; professional football coach Dan Reeves; author Terri McMillan; Harvard Professor of Psychiatry Alvin Pouissant; neurochemist Ivan Mefford; poet John Ciardi; high school principal Joe Clark; social commentator Tony Brown; jazz and classical musician David Baker; World Bank official Gretchen Handwerger; former Heavy Weight Champion of the World Muhammad Ali; former U.S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell; former first lady Rosalyn Carter; author and Soviet defector Vladimir N. Sakharov; Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Moneta Sleet, Jr.; Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton; Olympic Gold Medalist Edwin Moses; and social activist Bobby Seals. Most of the Frankfort Arts Foundation's annual presentations—which include symphonic concerts, ballets, play productions, and operas—take place on the Kentucky State University campus.
Frankfort, the capital city of Kentucky and the home of Kentucky State University, lies on the western edge of the state's Bluegrass Region. The city of 30,000, which is more than 200 years old, grew along the banks of the Kentucky River in a small valley bordered by limestone cliffs. Preservation of historic structures throughout the city adds to its picturesque quality. Easily accessible by major highways, Frankfort is within a short drive of Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati.
Frankfort’s history is rich with familiar names and events. Daniel and Rebecca Boone are buried in a cemetery overlooking the city, just a few minutes’ walk from Kentucky State University’s campus. In the old Statehouse, Aaron Burr was brought before a grand jury on the charge of treason. The Military History Museum contains artifacts going back to the Revolutionary War and Civil War periods. Old houses at the Corner of Celebrities, located in the city’s oldest residential neighborhood, have at different times been the residences of governors, Supreme Court judges, senators, and other noted statesmen. The Old Capitol
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