Kentucky State University (KSU, or less commonly, KYSU, to differentiate from Kansas State University) is a four-year institution of higher learning, located in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state's capital. The school is an historically black university, which desegregated in 1954. About half of the student body is African-American today. The current president of the university is Dr. Mary Evans Sias.

History

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The school was chartered in 1886 and opened in 1887 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons. In 1890, the state of Kentucky gave the school a land grant. In 1902, the name of the school was changed to the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons, which was changed again in 1926 to the Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons. In 1938, the school became known as the Kentucky State College for Negroes (the "for Negroes" was dropped in 1952). The college became a full-fledged university in 1972. In 1973, Kentucky State offered its first graduate programs.

An adjoining high school was in operation from the late 1890s until the early 1930s.

Notable alumni

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• Ersa Hines Poston, first black person to head the United States Civil Service Commission
• Cletidus Hunt, professional football player
• Moneta Sleet Jr., photographer for Ebony, won a Pulitzer Prize for his picture of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Tom Colbert, first African-American Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice
• Elmore Smith, NBA basketball player, 7.0 foot Center for the Buffalo Braves 1971-1978, 3rd overall pick in the 1971 NBA draft
• Dr. Harrison B. Wilson, became the second President of Norfolk State College in 1975

External link

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• University website

Historically black universities and colleges in the U.S. | Land-grant universities | Universities and colleges in Kentucky