Northern Kentucky State College

Northern Kentucky University

Seal of Northern Kentucky University
Type	Public
Established	1968
Endowment	$89 million
President	Gerard St Armand
Provost	Sue Ott Rowlands
Academic staff	1,006
Administrative staff	1,021
Students	15,405
Undergraduates	13,206
Postgraduates	2,199
Location	Highland Heights, Kentucky, United States 39°01′55″N 84°27′55″W / 39.03194°N 84.46528°W / 39.03194; -84.46528Coordinates: 39°01′55″N 84°27′55″W / 39.03194°N 84.46528°W / 39.03194; -84.46528
Campus	Suburban, 425 acres (1.72 km2)
Colors	Black and Gold
Athletics	NCAA Division I Horizon League
Nickname	Norse
Affiliations	GCCCU
Mascot	Victor E. Viking
Website	www.nku.edu

Northern Kentucky University is a public, co-educational university in northern Kentucky located in Highland Heights, seven miles (11 km) southeast of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The university is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution, but it also features graduate programs. Total enrollment at the university currently exceeds 15,000 students, with over 13,000 undergraduate students and over 2,000 graduate students served by nearly 2600 faculty and staff. Northern Kentucky University is the third largest university, behind the University of Cincinnati and Miami University, but before Xavier University, of Greater Cincinnati's four large, four-year universities and the youngest of Kentucky's eight state universities, although it is not the last to join the state system, as the University of Louisville did not become a state university until 1970.

Notable among the university's programs are the Salmon P. Chase College of Law and the College of Informatics, founded in 2006. The university has been cited for academic quality and value by such publications as CIO Magazine,U.S. News and World Report, and Forbes. The university issues an annual report that recaps significant achievements by students, faculty, and staff.

Northern Kentucky University began in 1948, when an extension campus for the University of Kentucky was opened in Covington, Kentucky, known as the UK Northern Extension Center. After 20 years in operation as an extension center for UK, it became an autonomous four-year college under the name Northern Kentucky State College (NKSC). In 1970, Dr. W. Frank Steely was hired as the first president. 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 May 1973. Rapid expansion resulted in the school being upgraded to university status in 1976.