Dear Thorobred Family,

As Kentucky State University moves through the implementation of Senate Bill 185, our next important step comes on July 1.

By that date, the University will submit required documentation to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), our regional accreditor, for review of program closures and related teach-out plans approved through public processes before the Kentucky State University Board of Regents and the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE).

This is an important step, but it is not the end of the process. Accreditation review helps ensure that academic changes are handled responsibly, with appropriate attention to students, academic quality, faculty responsibilities, and institutional obligations.

As implementation moves forward, questions will remain about areas ranging from academic programs, advising, and student balances to enrollment, financial oversight, and institutional operations. The University will continue to provide factual updates through the Onward and Upward webpage, and I encourage students, faculty, staff, alumni, families, and supporters to use that page as the central source for the most current, confirmed information available as decisions are finalized and next steps are identified.

In advance of the July 1 submission, it is helpful to restate where the public process stands.

On June 12, CPE approved six academic areas of study for Kentucky State: Applied Sciences, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Technology. These areas are not the same as individual majors. They provide the framework for organizing Kentucky State’s academic portfolio around applied learning, workforce alignment, and the University’s continuing mission as Kentucky’s only public HBCU and an 1890 land-grant university.

Under the approved structure, Kentucky State will maintain 28 academic programs. Four undergraduate programs were approved for closure: Music Education, Music Performance, Political Science, and Child Development and Family Studies. University enrollment data included in the public review materials show 32 students enrolled across those four programs. Each of those students matters, and each must and will be supported through an appropriate path to degree completion.

Kentucky State is carrying its mission forward with greater focus, stronger systems, and renewed accountability to students and the Commonwealth. As this work continues, I ask each of us to pursue the facts, ask questions in good faith, and rely on confirmed information as we talk with one another about what comes next.

As we do this work, our responsibility is to remain steady, communicate clearly, and keep students at the center of every decision, guided by the mission Kentucky State has carried since its founding 140 years ago in 1886.

Thank you for your continued commitment to Kentucky State University.

Onward and Upward,

Koffi C. Akakpo, Ph.D.
President
Kentucky State University