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of attendees out on the plaza about doubled this year. He reflected on Mr. Montelf s remarks regarding the Student Government Association's support for the Top 20 Business Plan. He said that he doubted there are many presidents in universities around the country who have a Student Government Association president talk about endorsing an administrative strategy. It certainly was not the case when he was a student at UK. Mr. Montelf s remarks were very well received. UK alumni Tom Hammond was the emcee for the event again this year. President Todd said that it was a great occasion, and he expressed appreciation to the members that attended the event.
President Todd reported that the university had a record year for applications for admission. The target was 4,000 students for the freshmen class, and the final number of applications was 4,044. Don Witt and his team delivered once again. The preliminary undergraduate enrollment is 19,000, and the overall enrollment is 27,000.
Minority enrollment increased significantly with African-American enrollment reaching an all time high of 341 in the freshman class. This is a 32 percent increase over last year. The changes in the admission process for the last couple of years have begun to help this number, and that is due to a lot of efforts by a lot of people. Hispanic enrollment is at 61 this year, a 39 percent increase, but more work needs to be done in that area. The ACT score increased from 24.3 last year to 24.4 this year, and the average GPA increased from 3.48 to 3.52.
President Todd reported that the Governor's Scholars and Governor's Performing Arts Scholars had a record high of 389 in the freshman class this year. He said that there were 125 scholars when he took office, and he started putting some scholarship offerings out to these students. He will not hesitate to mention that it did cost the university some money. He noted that three freshmen were accepted in the jazz group. This is the first time for freshmen to be in the jazz group. There are also freshmen in the orchestra, and the orchestra had a tremendous performance with only four weeks into the semester. Miles Osland, Director UK Jazz Ensemble, and John Nardolillo, Director of UK Orchestras, give credit to the strong quality of students in the Governor's Scholars and Governor's Performing Arts Scholars.
UK continues to be a leading presenting sponsor of the international IdeaFestival, which was a vision of President Kris Kimel, Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation. The UK College of Design's $100,000 Curry Stone Design Prize was awarded for the first time. Former Dean David Mohney was instrumental in bringing that gift forward, and there is a lot of recognition for that gift.
Dr. Pearce Lyons, the founder, president, and CEO of Alltech, asked for an idea to attract more students into PC programs in America, and Alltech put up an extraordinary deal called Margin of Excellence program. Anne Koontz, a graduate student at UK, has been named the first Alltech - University of Kentucky Margin of Excellence Fellow. In addition to the graduate fellowship and the tuition that UK provides, Alltech provides $40,000 cash per year up to a maximum of five years, plus travel money and bonuses under certain conditions. Dr. Lyons wants to solicit funding from other businesses in Kentucky who want to create PhD growth in the state.