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Former name | Northern Kentucky State College (1968–1976) |
|---|---|
| Type | Public university |
| Established | 1968; 57 years ago (1968)[1] |
Academic affiliations | GCCCU Space-grant |
| Endowment | $119.2 million (2022)[2] |
| President | Cady Short-Thompson |
| Provost | Diana McGill |
Academic staff | 1,006[3] |
Administrative staff | 1,021[3] |
| Students | 15,370 (fall 2024)[4] |
| Undergraduates | 10,327 (fall 2024)[4] |
| Postgraduates | 5,043 (fall 2024)[4] |
| Location | , U.S. 39°01′55″N84°27′55″W / 39.03194°N 84.46528°W /39.03194; -84.46528 |
| Campus | Suburban, 425 acres (172 ha)[5] |
| Colors | Gold and Black |
| Nickname | Norse |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division I Horizon League[6] |
| Mascot | Victor E. Viking |
| Website | www |
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Northern Kentucky University is apublic university inHighland Heights, Kentucky, United States. Established in 1968, it is the youngest of Kentucky's eight public universities. The university has seven constituent colleges in arts and science, business, education, informatics, health, and theSalmon P. Chase College of Law.[7]
Northern Kentucky University began in 1948, when an extension campus for theUniversity of Kentucky was opened inCovington, Kentucky, known as theUK Northern Extension Center.[8] After 20 years in operation as an extension center for UK, it became an autonomous four-year college under the nameNorthern Kentucky State College (NKSC).[1] In 1970, W. Frank Steely was hired as the first president.[9] The following year, the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, formerly an independent law school in Cincinnati, merged with Northern Kentucky State College. The main campus moved from Covington to Highland Heights, Kentucky, in 1972. NKSC awarded its first bachelor's degrees in 1973. Rapid expansion resulted in the school being upgraded to university status in 1976.[10]
Since its founding in 1968 and elevation to university status in 1976, Northern Kentucky University has expanded with construction projects, new colleges and a larger, more diverse student body. The university has increased itsadmissions standards.
Northern Kentucky University's main campus inHighland Heights, Kentucky, is situated on 400 acres (1.6 km2) of rolling countryside alongU.S. Route 27, just off ofInterstate 275 andInterstate 471, seven miles (11 km) southeast ofCincinnati, Ohio. The campus was built beginning in the early 1970s, and the first building, Nunn Hall, opened in 1972.[10] Although most of the university's students commute daily to the campus, approximately 2,000 students live on campus. In recent years, the university has been in the process of expanding its campus and facilities. TheTruist Arena is a 9,400-seat arena completed in 2008. It serves as the primary venue for athletics on campus, and also as a venue for entertainment. A Student Union building opened in 2008. The Landrum Academic Center houses an Anthropology Museum. The university campus is also the first educational institute in the world to have a laser-projection planetarium; it is part of the Dorothy Westerman Hermann Natural Science Center.
The campus located inCovington, Kentucky, closed in 2008. It mainly served nontraditional and adult students and also hosted the Program for Adult-Centered Education and Emergency Medical Technology programs.[11] Northern Kentucky University's Grant County Center, located inWilliamstown, is a partnership between theGrant County Foundation for Higher Education and Northern Kentucky University.[citation needed]
TheJapanese Language School of Greater Cincinnati is aweekend supplementary Japanese school held at the Mathematics, Education and Psychology Center (MP), formerly known as the Business Education Psychology (BEP) Building.[12][13] It was scheduled to move to NKU in July 1993.[14]
Northern Kentucky's main library is the W. Frank Steely Library,[15] completed in 1975 and named after the first president of the university. The library contains over 850,000 volumes, more than 18,000 bound periodicals, and approximately 1.4 million microforms. The two-floor Chase Law Library is Northern Kentucky's other library on campus, contains more than 313,000 volumes and 57,000 monographic and serial titles.[16]
Corporate and university partnerships include The Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement[17] the Fifth/Third Entrepreneurial Center[18] the Metropolitan Education and Training Services Center,[19] the Center for Applied Informatics,[20] andFidelity Investments. Other centers on campus include the Center for Applied Anthropology,[21] the Institute for Freedom Studies,[22] the Center for Environmental Restoration[23] the Small Business Development Center[24] the Institute for New Economy Technologies[25] the Center for Environmental Education[26] the Center for Integrative Natural Science and Mathematics[27] and the Chase Local Government Law Center.[28]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Forbes[29] | 640 |
| U.S. News & World Report[30] | 382 (tie) |
| Washington Monthly[31] | 338 |
Northern Kentucky University's academic programs are organized into seven colleges. The College of Informatics, founded in 2006, replaced the College of Professional Studies. In July 2015, the School of the Arts was created, uniting the Music, Theatre & Dance, and Visual Arts programs within the College of Arts & Sciences. In 2018, the former Honors Program became the Honors College.
Northern Kentucky University students are also a part of individual chapters in numerous honor societies. Northern Kentucky's Alpha Beta Phi chapter ofPhi Alpha Theta, the International History Honor Society, has won 18 consecutive best chapter awards.
Northern Kentucky University only considers for admission applicants with a 2.0 or above unweighted high schoolGPA, those with a 2.75 and greater unweighted high school GPA are admitted regardless ofACT orSAT scores, and the university has a 90% acceptance rate.[39][40] For those submitting test scores, the 2021–2022 final release data byIPEDS reflects scores of admitted students that were 1020-1240 for the SAT and 20-26 for the ACT.[40]
| Race and ethnicity | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 76% | ||
| Black | 7% | ||
| Hispanic | 5% | ||
| International student | 4% | ||
| Two or more races | 3% | ||
| Asian | 2% | ||
| Unknown | 2% | ||
| Economic diversity | |||
| Low-income[a] | 30% | ||
| Affluent[b] | 70% | ||
There are several fraternities and sororities on campus. There is a Student Government Association.[42]
The Northerner is Northern Kentucky's student-run newspaper.[43] The university is also home to an independent, student-runInternet radio station Norse Code Radio.[44] Northern Kentucky University formerly hosted the award-winningpublic radio station,WNKU, founded in 1986, until the station was sold in 2017.[45]
NorseMediaTV is the PEG accessPublic-access televisioncable TV station run by Northern Kentucky University.[46] It airs on channel 818 onCincinnati Bell Fioptics cable and 18 digital/96 analog onInsight Cable of Northern Kentucky. NorseMediaTV students and faculty produce many original programs, a weekly talk show, various sporting events, and entertainment programming. Many NorseMedia programs have won awards at the local (Blue Chips),[47] regional (Philos) and national (Telly) levels, usually in the professional categories. Students in the program at NKU are invited to create and assist in producing the Electronic Media & Broadcasting programs for the station.[48]
The university's teams for both men and women are nicknamed "Norse". Their mascot is named Victor E. Viking.[49] Northern Kentucky University joined theHorizon League on July 1, 2015, after leaving theAtlantic Sun Conference.[6] The 2016–17 school year was the first in which NKU is eligible for NCAA Division I championships, following the completion of its four-yearreclassification period to D-I.[50] The university fields teams in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's track and field, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball.[citation needed]
Students have also organized club teams in bowling, ice hockey,[51] men's soccer club,[52] taekwondo[53] fencing,[54] boxing, lacrosse,[55] rugby, kickball, skeet & trap, and men's wrestling. These clubs are primarily organized through the Sport Club program.[56]
Northern Kentucky University has over 60,000 living alumni, approximately 41,000 of them in Ohio and Kentucky. Many have gone on to achieve success in a variety of fields, including athletics, journalism, business, and government.[citation needed]
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