For Release: 2008-09-29 12:50:00
Renee speaks with Mary Evans Sias, president of Kentucky State University, on the next Connections, airing Friday, Oct. 17 at 4/3 p.m. CT on KET2 and Sunday, Oct. 19 at 1:30/12:30 p.m. CT on KET1.Sias discusses recent successes at KSU, including academic progress, increased enrollment, improved housing facilities and a new classroom building. She also talks about the challenges presented by recent state budget cuts and rising tuition costs, which KSU deals with by initiating need-based financial assistance programs. Need-based assistance, Sias says, helps students who have average grades but cannot afford tuition.
Sias explains how and why KSU strives to serve students whose test scores and grade point averages may not be exceptional. And, she discusses the remedial work that often needs to be done when students graduate from high school unprepared for college-level work.
The university president also talks about KSU’s distinction as one of 104 historically black colleges and universities in the nation. Sias says that although KSU was created initially for African-American students, it is now the most diverse higher learning institution in the Commonwealth, with people who are not African-American making up 40 percent of the student population and more than half of the faculty.
Finally, Sias discusses her reputation as a no-nonsense disciplinarian, her expectations for her students and the power of the question “How’s it going?”
Connections with Renee Shaw is a KET production, produced by Shaw and Carolyn Gwinn. More information about Connections, including streaming video, is available at www.ket.org/connections. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.
Contact: Amanda Stroud
###
Download this release as an RTF file - 18 Kb
View or link to a public version of this release.
- Downloadable image(s) included. Please 