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The Rise · HBCU

KSU(Kentucky State University)

School colors: Kelly Green and light Gold

Kentucky State University
Normal Op, 2020-06-08, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Frankfort, Kentucky · Founded 1886

Public · Four-year · ~1,700 students

www.kysu.edu · official site

Founding

Kentucky State University was chartered on May 18, 1886, as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, the second state-supported institution of higher learning in Kentucky. The school opened on October 11, 1887, with three teachers, 55 students, and John Henry Jackson as its first president.

Source: History, Kentucky State University, read 2026-09-14.

What the school says about itself

Notable Alumni, as the school lists them
  • Henry E. Cheaney, Ph.D., Educator and nationally-recognized expert on the history of African Americans
  • Anna Mac Clarke, Member of Women's Army Corps during WWII
  • Tom Colbert, First African American Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice
  • Travis Grant, went on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers
  • Cletidus Hunt, played six seasons in the NFL (1999-2004)
  • Paul William Lawrence Jones, Educator, historian & athlete
  • John Merritt, One of the winningest coaches in HBCU football history
  • James L. McCullin, Tuskegee Airman
  • Ersa Hines Poston, Member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission
From Notable Alumni, Kentucky State University, read 2026-09-17. Names as the page lists them.

On the official record

Campus address
400 East Main Street, Frankfort, KY 40601-2355
Control
Public
Students
~1,700 students
Directory id
157058
OPE id
00196800
Student aid
Takes part in Title IV student aid
Title III Part B list, FY 2026
Listed
Location
400 East Main Street, Frankfort, KY. See it on the Ledger map.
Where this location comes fromCampus location from IPEDS 2024-25This campus location comes from the federal IPEDS 2024-25 record, used as published, so the pin on the map is the campus.IPEDS Institutional Characteristics, Directory information (HD2024), 2024-25 collection, file dated 2025-09-21, retrieved 2026-09-14: coordinate 38.201427, -84.855402 as published. The Census Bureau geocoder also matched this address exactly on 2026-09-14.

Across newBWS

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. IPEDS Institutional Characteristics, Directory information (HD2024), 2024-25 provisional data collection. Unit id 157058. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/data/HD2024.zip. File dated 2025-09-21.
  2. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education. Higher Education Programs Eligibility Matrix, sheet 'HBCU', dated 2026-06-08. https://www.ed.gov/media/document/fy-2026-higher-education-programs-eligibility-matrix-june-8-2026-114185.xlsx.
  3. History, Kentucky State University. https://www.kysu.edu/about-ksu/history.php. Read 2026-09-14.
  4. Students: 1,689 total, Fall 2023 (1,546 undergraduate, 143 graduate). IPEDS Fall Enrollment 2023, derived variables (DRVEF2023). https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/data/DRVEF2023.zip. File dated 2024-09-30, read 2026-09-17.
  5. Notable Alumni, Kentucky State University. https://www.kysu.edu/about-ksu/notable-alumni.php. Read 2026-09-17.
  6. School colors: Kelly Green and light Gold. Values as stated. Kentucky State University, Wikipedia (revision 1372827881). Read 2026-09-16.
  7. Photograph: Normal Op, 2020-06-08, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kentucky_State_University_2020.jpg. Retrieved 2026-09-16.
  8. U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder, batch address service, benchmark Public_AR_Current. https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/.

Enrollment is the official 2023 count, rounded. Tap a school for its source.

Machine-readable: /api/v1/hbcus/kentucky-state-university · All HBCUs

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