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President Otis Singletary
he was poorly educated to do so. This is no longer university with its community colleges, Lexington  
true. Keutuckians now must be prepared to perform and medical center campuses.  
highly technical services to compete with people About 98 percentof`UK’s faculty hasaPh.D. or the :`
from other states, . . liducation has become basic to highest degree attainable in their field. Outstanding I
the creation ofijob opportunitiesZ’ teaching is recognized each year by the UK National
True in the lfltifls, those thoughts are even more Alumni Association in which 103 professors have T
relevant today; lt is a fact that high technology and been honored in the past 24 yearsjust last month
businesses are locating where they can find the best the whole faculty ofthe department ofsociology was
combination of natural resources, skilled labor; a singled out by the American Sociological Associa- A
izm)t—tti»tt- economic and political policy, and educa- tion for recognition ofits teaching excellence. What
tional facilities to draw upon for training, research makes theaward so unique is thatitis the first time an
and the cultural enhancement of their employees. entire faculty has been so honored. And, the soci-
As Kentucky learned during the recent cornpeti- ology program faculty itself is an interdisciplinary I I
tion for the location of the (Leneral Motors Saturn team representing teaching assignments in at least
auto plant, the (Rommonwealth`s entire system of seven other colleges or departments at UK.
education needs a trew, vigorous commitment of 1.ast year’s UK freshman class had the highest
money, public participation and support to make average composite score on the ACT entrance exam
every Kentuckian a winner. ofany class entering a public university in Kentucky.
ln explaining Kentucky`s loss as the site location Furthermore, that class score was a full three points f
for the Saturtr plant, state commerce commissioner above average for all freshmen enrolling in college
(larroll Krricely told KICTV that, "The only single throughoutthe country. Though the figures are pre- —
factor in which Tennessee had an advantage over lirnirrary, this year”s UK freshman class is even better
Kentucky was the fact that Tennessee has already made when evaluated on the basis ofthe ACT mean score. —
over a billion dollar cotnrnitment. over a shorter UK is theonlyinstitution in Kentuckylistedamong
period of` time, for education and has started imple- the federal government’s top l()() recipients ofresearch _
tnentitrg that]` funds. Dr1Syad Nasser in the College of°Engineering
The current (Zouncil on Higher Education (CH li) is one example and one ofonly a few professors in __
drali strategic plan for higher education calls for the the country whose research has been funded con-
development of at least one comprehensive institu- tinuously for 20 years. More recently, UK faculty were I
tion nationally recognized for the quality ofits schol- also granted patents in new concepts for administer-
arship, research and graduates. ing drugs which received national media attention.
The l`niversity of Kentucky is already charged Seryices provided to the citizens of Kentucky by
with that mission by the (ZHIC. A perusal of alutmri the various colleges are numerous. While some ben- Bl
publications ofthe past several years, or_just a close efits can be measured directly by dollars and other m
look at this one issue ofthe alrttnni magrxine, pro- statistics, other programs contribute generally to a St?
videsanrple evidence that the foundation upon which better quality of life. Services range from the op- ` ev
to build such a renowned university here is solid. eration of the Center Information Hotline (l-8()O- hc
lint. as UK President ()tis Singletary points out, ·»l(]ancer) tothe Small Business 1)evelopmentCenter;
"Rhetoric alone will trot make UK a prenrier univer- to clinics operated by the Colleges of Dentistry and t tcl
sitv. ll` the political leadership of the state really Medicine, to the state’s Agricultural Cooperative   tw
believes that Ketrtucky should have a maiorteaching- lixtension Seryice. `  
research university, tlrerr increased funding is neces- Alutnni of the university have also made their m
sary to support that goal]` trrark as leaders in business, science and industry, I th
The acadenric program available at VK is indeed piotreers in space, ambassadors and exemplary m
ctrmprelrensire and has been promulgrted to rrreet hutnan beings. th
statewide needs. liarly in its history the state and UK Presidetrt Singletary urges all alumni to be better
chose toestablish a public ttniversityaccordingtothe informed and to send the message._]oin the others SP
best traditions of .»\mericau higher education with who have already spoken out. Write your legislators, fm
both a liberal arts curricula and a rrrttrrber ofprofes- talk to yottr local community leaders, generate sup- VC
sional attd applied programs that have ratlrerspecific port for highereducation in the Commonwealth and l Su
vocational goals. The resrtlt today is a »l2l.f)ff()-strulertt for The University of Kentucky. Cf
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