Northern Kentucky University - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

|type = Public

State university system

A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, or a similar entity such as the District of Columbia. These systems constitute the majority of public-funded universities in the country...

|president= Dr. James C. Votruba
|city = Highland Heights

Highland Heights, Kentucky

Highland Heights is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6,554 at the 2000 census.Highland Heights is home to Northern Kentucky University...

|state = KY

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

|country = U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|endowment = $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

Northern Kentucky Norse

The Northern Kentucky Norse are the athletic teams of Northern Kentucky University, located in Highland Heights, Kentucky, United States. NKU is a NCAA Division II school that is part of the Great Lakes Valley Conference...

|colors = Gold, white, and black

|affiliations = Great Lakes Valley Conference

Great Lakes Valley Conference

The Great Lakes Valley Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes at the NCAA's Division II level. Member institutions are located in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin....

|website= www.nku.edu
}}
Northern Kentucky University (NKU) is a public

State university system

, co-educational university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

located in Highland Heights, Kentucky

Highland Heights, Kentucky

Highland Heights is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6,554 at the 2000 census.Highland Heights is home to Northern Kentucky University...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, seven miles (11 km) southeast of Cincinnati, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. NKU is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts

Liberal arts

The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...

institution, but it also features graduate

Graduate school

A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...

programs. Total enrollment at the university currently exceeds 15,000 students, with over 13,000 undergraduate students and over 2,000 graduate students. NKU is the third largest university in Greater Cincinnati and the youngest of Kentucky

Kentucky

's eight state universities, although it is not the last to join the state system, as the University of Louisville

University of Louisville

The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...

did not become a state university until 1970. NKU ranked at 517 of 600 universities on Forbes Magazine's 2009 "America's Best Colleges" ranking.

Early history

NKU history began in 1943, when an extension campus for the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

was opened in Covington, Kentucky

Covington, Kentucky

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...

, known as the UK Northern Extension Center. After 20 years in operation as an extension center for UK, it became its own college in 1968, when NKU was founded originally as 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

Salmon P. Chase College of Law

Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University is a law school in Highland Heights, Kentucky that was founded in 1893 and accredited by the American Bar Association in 1959. The college of law provides both part-time and full-time programs of study that lead to a Juris Doctor degree...

, formerly an independent law school in Cincinnati, merged with Northern Kentucky State College. The main campus moved from Covington to Highland Heights, Kentucky

Highland Heights, Kentucky

Highland Heights is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6,554 at the 2000 census.Highland Heights is home to Northern Kentucky University...

in 1972. NKSC awarded its first bachelor's degrees in May 1973. Northern Kentucky State College was expanded and renamed to Northern Kentucky University in 1976.

Recent history

Since its founding in 1968 and elevation to university status in 1976, NKU has expanded with numerous construction projects, new colleges, and a much larger, more diverse student body. The current president of NKU, Dr. James C. Votruba, is largely credited with transforming the image of the university since his arrival in 1997, helping to build NKU's reputation as a respected academic institution. As part of Votruba's administration, the university has increased its admissions standards and improved the academic performance of its students. NKU also launched a new university logo and branding effort in 2002. In recent years, the university has also concentrated on the construction of new and improved facilities across campus.

Highland Heights

Northern Kentucky University's main campus in Highland Heights, Kentucky

Highland Heights, Kentucky

Highland Heights is a city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6,554 at the 2000 census.Highland Heights is home to Northern Kentucky University...

is situated on about 400 acres (1.6 km²) of rolling countryside along U.S. Route 27

U.S. Route 27

U.S. Route 27 is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at US 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne, Indiana...

, just off of Interstate 275

Interstate 275 (Ohio)

Interstate 275 is an loop in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky that forms a complete beltway around the Cincinnati, Ohio area. It is the only auxiliary interstate that enters three states, including one state that the parent route does not enter . It is the longest loop interstate highway in the United...

and Interstate 471

Interstate 471

Interstate 471 is a long United States Interstate Highway, linking Interstate 71 in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio to Interstate 275 in Highland Heights, Kentucky. South of I-275, the expressway continues south to U.S...

, seven miles (11 km) southeast of Cincinnati, Ohio

Ohio

. The campus was built beginning in the early 1970s, and the first building, Nunn Hall, opened in 1972.

Although most of NKU's students commute daily to the campus, approximately 2,000 students live on campus.

In recent years, NKU has been in the process of expanding its campus and facilities. The $60 million Bank of Kentucky Center is a recently completed 9,400-seat arena. It serves as the primary venue for athletics on campus, and also as a venue for entertainment, such as live bands and concerts. The arena is named after The Bank of Kentucky, which made an endowment of $5 million toward construction.

Additionally, a new $37 million, 144000 square feet (13,378 m²) Student Union building, which opened to students in August 2008, largely replaces an old university center and is designed to accommodate student needs on campus. The building includes cafeterias, stores, a game room, offices for student life programs, and other amenities for students.

Other recent projects included the construction of a new parking garage to accommodate the arena and a European-style roundabout for traffic control and flow management.

The most recent NKU master plan envisions a massive expansion of the campus by the year 2020, including multiple new academic buildings, housing developments, campus quad areas, athletic fields, parking lots, and connector roads.

The Landrum Academic Center houses an Anthropology Museum. The NKU campus is also the first educational institute in the world to have a laser-projection planetarium, as part of the Dorothy Westerman Hermann Natural Science Center.

Other locations

NKU's Covington campus, located in Covington, Kentucky

Covington, Kentucky

, closed at the end of 2008. It mainly served nontraditional and adult students and also hosted the Program for Adult-Centered Education and Emergency Medical Technology programs.

NKU's Grant County Center, located in Williamstown, Kentucky

Williamstown, Kentucky

Williamstown is a city in Grant county in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 3,227 as of the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Grant County....

, is a partnership between the Grant County

Grant County, Kentucky

Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1820. As of 2000, the population was 22,384. Its county seat is Williamstown...

Foundation for Higher Education and NKU. It houses NKU educational programs and the Williamstown Innovation Center.

Greek life

Northern Kentucky's Greek Life consists of five fraternities and five sororities. The members of these organizations are very involved in campus life.

Fraternities

Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega
Alpha Tau Omega is a secret American leadership and social fraternity.The Fraternity has more than 250 active and inactive chapters, more than 200,000 initiates, and over 7,000 active undergraduate members. The 200,000th member was initiated in early 2009...

- Theta Omega
Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha is a Greek social fraternity with over 230 chapters and colonies and over 250,000 lifetime initiates in the United States and Canada.-History:...

- Eta Rho
Sigma Phi Epsilon - Kentucky Eta
Tau Kappa Epsilon - Pi Omicron
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin...

- Pi Pi

Sororities

Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...

- Sigma Eta
Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma is one of the oldest and largest women's fraternities in the United States and Canada, with its Executive Offices based in Columbus, Ohio.-History:...

- Zeta Sigma
Delta Zeta
Delta Zeta
Delta Zeta is an international college sorority founded on October 24, 1902, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Today, Delta Zeta has 158 collegiate chapters in the United States and over 200 alumnae chapters in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada...

- Kappa Beta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Delta was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School , in Farmville, Virginia. It is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university...

- Eta Eta
Phi Sigma Sigma
Phi Sigma Sigma
Phi Sigma Sigma , colloquially known as "Phi Sig," was the first collegiate nonsectarian fraternity, welcoming women of all faiths and backgrounds...

- Gamma Tau
Theta Phi Alpha

Colleges

Northern Kentucky University has grown to include six colleges. The newest college at NKU is the College of Informatics, founded in 2006, replacing the College of Professional Studies.

College of Arts and Sciences
Haile/US Bank College of Business
College of Education and Human Services
College of Informatics
College of Health Professions
Salmon P. Chase College of Law
Salmon P. Chase College of Law
Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University is a law school in Highland Heights, Kentucky that was founded in 1893 and accredited by the American Bar Association in 1959. The college of law provides both part-time and full-time programs of study that lead to a Juris Doctor degree...

Honors programs

Northern Kentucky University features a university-wide Honors program as well as individual chapters in numerous honor societies. NKU's Alpha Beta Phi chapter of Phi Alpha Theta

Phi Alpha Theta

Phi Alpha Theta is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history.The society is a charter member of the Association of College Honor Societies and has over 350,000 members, with about 9,500 new members joining each year through 860 local chapters.-...

, the International History Honor Society, has won 18 consecutive best chapter awards.

Libraries

NKU's main library is the W. Frank Steely Library, completed in 1975 and named after the first president of the university. A $9.1 million renovation and expansion project was completed in 1995. The library's five floors contain over 300,000 volumes, more than 18,000 bound periodicals, and approximately 1.4 million microforms. The library also houses the Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium Media Collection.

The two-floor Chase Law Library, NKU's other library on campus, contains more than 313,000 volumes and 57,000 monographic and serial titles.

Athletics

Northern Kentucky University is an NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

Division II school that is part of the Great Lakes Valley Conference

Great Lakes Valley Conference

. The university's teams for both men and women are nicknamed "Norse". The Norse field teams in men's baseball, women's softball, men's and women's basketball, soccer, cross country, tennis, golf and women's volleyball. The men's and women's basketball teams play their home games in NKU's The Bank of Kentucky Center.

Club sports

Students have also organized club teams in ice hockey,men soccer club, taekwondo, fencing, boxing, lacrosse, rugby, kickball, skeet & trap, and Brazilian jiujitsu. These clubs are primarily organized through the Sport Club program.

Public media

NKU is host to the award-winning public radio station, WNKU

WNKU

WNKU is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Album Alternative format. Licensed in Highland Heights, Kentucky, USA, it serves the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati area. The station is currently owned by Northern Kentucky University...

, founded in 1986. The public can listen to the station live in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area on 89.7 FM, the Middletown

Middletown, Ohio

Middletown is an All-America City located in Butler and Warren counties in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. Formerly in Lemon, Turtlecreek, and Franklin townships, Middletown was incorporated by the Ohio General Assembly on February 11, 1833, and became a city in 1886...

/Dayton

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

area on 105.9 FM, the Portsmouth

Portsmouth, Ohio

Portsmouth is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Scioto County. The municipality is located on the northern banks of the Ohio River and east of the Scioto River in Southern Ohio. The population was 20,226 at the 2010 census.-Foundation:...

/Ashland

Ashland, Kentucky

Ashland, formerly known as Poage Settlement, is a city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States, nestled along the banks of the Ohio River. The population was 21,981 at the 2000 census. Ashland is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of the 2000 census, the...

/Huntington

Huntington, West Virginia

Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...

area on 104.1 FM or worldwide at WNKU.org.

NorseMediaTV is the Educational-access television, Public-access television

Public-access television

Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...

cable TV station run by Northern Kentucky University. It telecasts on channel 18 on Insight Cable

Insight Communications

Insight Communications is the 13th largest multiple system operator in the United States with approximately 692,000 customers in the three contiguous states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio...

of Northern Kentucky. NorseMediaTV produces many original programs, such as Northern Lights hosted by Dr. James C. Claypool, which won the 2006 Blue Chip Cable Access Award for the best news/talk show in the professional division. NorseMediaTV also produces live telecasts of NKU volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

and softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

games. Students in the Electronic Media & Broadcasting program at NKU are invited to assist in producing studio programs, but the university itself retains creative control over the station. NorseMediaTV is online at norsemedia.nku.edu.

Student-run media

The Northerner is NKU's award-winning, independent, student-run newspaper. It is also published online at TheNortherner.com via the College Publisher Network. The university is also home to an independent, student-run Internet radio

Internet radio

Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...

station, Norse Code Radio, online at NorseCodeRadio.com.

Civic engagement

NKU is a national model of civic engagement and economic development initiatives. Corporate and university partnerships include The Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement, the Fifth/Third Entrepreneurial Center, the Metropolitan Education and Training Services Center, The Center for Applied Informatics, and Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments

FMR LLC or Fidelity Investments is an American multinational financial services corporation one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world. It was founded in 1946 and serves North American investors. Fidelity Ventures is its venture capital arm...

.

Other centers on campus include the Institute for Freedom Studies, the Center for Applied Ecology, the Small Business Development Center, the Institute for New Economy Technologies, the Center for Environmental Education, the Center for Integrative National Science and Mathematics and the Chase Local Government Law Center.

Lecture series

The university also hosts yearly lecture-style debates between well-known conservative and liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

guests. NKU's Alumni Association Lecture Series has featured such guests as politicians Mario Cuomo

Mario Cuomo

Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...

, Alan Keyes

Alan Keyes

Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S...

, Steve Forbes

Steve Forbes

Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. is an American editor, publisher, and businessman. He is the editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes as well as president and chief executive officer of its publisher, Forbes Inc. He was a Republican candidate in the U.S. Presidential primaries in 1996...

, Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich

Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....

, George McGovern

George McGovern

George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....

, Bob Dole

Bob Dole

Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

and John Edwards

John Edwards

Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...

; political strategists James Carville

James Carville

Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...

, Mary Matalin

Mary Matalin

Mary Joe Matalin is an American political consultant, well known for her work with the Republican Party. She was an assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney until 2003. Matalin has been chief editor of Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing imprint...

and Paul Begala

Paul Begala

Paul Edward Begala is an American political consultant and political commentator. He was an adviser to President Bill Clinton. Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign, which carried 33 states and made Clinton the first Democrat to win the White House in sixteen years...

; journalist Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward

Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....

; and commentators George Stephanopoulos

George Stephanopoulos

George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...

, George Will

George Will

George Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics...

, Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson

Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson is an American political news correspondent and conservative commentator for the Fox News Channel...

, and Al Franken

Al Franken

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

. Most recently, the 2007 lecture featured former Republican political candidate Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...

, and former Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Tom Daschle

Tom Daschle

Thomas Andrew "Tom" Daschle is a former U.S. Senator from South Dakota and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader. He is a member of the Democratic Party....

, and the 2008 lecture featured Karl Rove

Karl Rove

Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...

, the Republican political consultant and former Deputy Chief of Staff

Deputy White House Chief of Staff

The White House Deputy Chief of Staff is officially the top aide to the White House Chief of Staff, who is the senior aide to the President of the United States. The Deputy Chief of Staff usually has an office in the West Wing and is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the White House...

to George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

, and Dee Dee Myers

Dee Dee Myers

Dee Dee Myers served as White House Press Secretary for the first two years of the Clinton administration, from January 20, 1993 to December 22, 1994.-Early life and education:...

, the Democratic strategist and former White House Press Secretary

White House Press Secretary

The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....

in the Clinton administration.

Notable alumni, faculty, and staff

Notable alumni

J. Warren Bettis
J. Warren Bettis
John Warren Bettis was an Ohio jurist who served as a judge on the Ohio Court of Claims.-Military service:...

, jurist who serves as a judge on the Ohio Court of Claims, earned his law degree from the Chase College of Law in 1952.
Rich Boehne, president and CEO of the E.W. Scripps Company, the Cincinnati-based media company, graduated in 1981.
Raymond J. Brune, four-time Emmy Award-winning media producer and co-head of Yani-Brune Entertainment. Brune has produced more than 15,000 hours of live network, cable and local television.
Steve Chabot
Steve Chabot
Steven Joseph "Steve" Chabot is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously represented the district from 1995 to 2009.-Early life, education and career:...

, U.S. Representative from Ohio's 1st Congressional District, earned his Juris Doctor from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 1978.
Actor George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...

briefly attended NKU.
Actor Adam Gregory (actor)
Adam Gregory (actor)
Adam Gregory II is an American actor.-Life and career:Gregory was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Adam Gregory I. He was born Adam Salling, but changed his name so he wouldn't sound ethnic. He graduated from Oak Hills High School in 2006, and was enrolled at Northern Kentucky University but...

from television and film: 90210
90210 (TV series)
90210 is an American teen drama television series developed by Rob Thomas, Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, and the fourth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise created by Darren Star. 90210 is the first series produced by CBS Productions under the company's re-launch, but is now produced by CBS...

, Hannah Montana Movie)
Reality star Diane Henry from CBS Big Brother
Wrestler "Wildcat" Chris Harris
Chris Harris (wrestler)
Christopher Eric "Chris" Harris is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he was formerly one-half of the tag team America's Most Wanted along with partner & Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion James Storm.-World Championship...

attended NKU for two years.
Hunter Frederick, a celebrity publicist.
Ken Lucas
Ken Lucas
Kenneth Ray "Ken" Lucas is an American politician. Lucas, a Democrat, was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky's 4th congressional district from 1999 until 2005....

, former U.S. Representative from Kentucky's fourth congressional district
Kentucky's 4th congressional district
Kentucky's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Located in Northern Kentucky, it is a long district that follows the Ohio River...

from 1999 to 2005, received an honorary doctorate from NKU. Lucas was a founding regent at NKU, where he served for 23 years on the Board of Regents, 13 of those as chairman. After his term in Congress, Lucas donated his congressional papers to the Schlachter Family Archives in NKU's Steely Library. In 1994, Lucas had a building on campus named after him: the Lucas Administrative Center.
David Mack
David W. Mack
David W. Mack is an American comic book artist and writer, best known for his creator-owned series Kabuki. Mack is known for his unique painted and collage-like work...

, acclaimed creator of the comic book Kabuki
Kabuki (comics)
Kabuki is a comic book series created by artist and writer David Mack, first published in 1994 by Caliber Press and later by Image Comics. It is a story of an assassin who struggles with her identity in near-future Japan. The most recent miniseries, Kabuki: The Alchemy, was published by Marvel...

and former writer/artist of Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...

, graduated from NKU in 1995 with a BFA in graphic design.
Actress Jenny Robertson
Jenny Robertson
Jenny Robertson is an American actress who has appeared in Heart of Dixie, Bull Durham, Rude Awakening, A Little Piece of Heaven, Reno 911! and Notorious . She is married to actor Thomas Lennon. She is sometimes credited as Jenny Lennon.-External links:...

, who has appeared on such television programs as Law and Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

and Reno 911!
Reno 911!
Reno 911! is an American comedy television series on Comedy Central that ran from 2003 to 2009. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically COPS, with comic actors playing the police officers. Most of the material is improvised, using a broad outline, and...
Shawn Nordheim, Mrs. Kentucky 2006, has an associate's degree in nursing from NKU.
Gary Webb
Gary Webb
Gary Webb was a Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist.Webb was best known for his 1996 "Dark Alliance" series of articles written for the San Jose Mercury News and later published as a book...

, a Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

-winning journalist, attended NKU and was on staff of the student newspaper, The Northerner, before dropping out and joining The Kentucky Post. He later worked at the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...

, where his series, "Dark Alliance," alleged that the U.S.-supported Contra rebels in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

sold drugs in America and were largely responsible for introducing crack-cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

into the U.S. There was debate about the accuracy of the series, although it was soon found to be accurate. Webb committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

in December 2004.
Tricia Macke, a TV news anchor at WXIX-TV
WXIX-TV
WXIX-TV channel 19 is the Fox Broadcasting Company affiliate in Cincinnati, Ohio. The station's city of license is Newport, Kentucky, across the Ohio River...

in Cincinnati.
Sheree Paolello, a TV news anchor at WLWT-TV in Cincinnati.
Broadway legend Faith Prince
Faith Prince
Faith Prince is an American actress and singer known primarily for her work on Broadway. Prince has won the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical and received three Tony nominations.-Life and career:...
Brigham A. McCown, the Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) at the U.S. Department of Transportation, earned a law degree from the Chase College of Law in 1997.
Ryan Abeo (RA Scion), MC of Common Market
Common Market (band)
Common Market is a hip hop duo based in Seattle, Washington with members RA Scion and DJ/Producer Sabzi. The two members were individually active hip hop artists in the Pacific Northwest since 2002, but collectively combined their talents in 2005 to form Common Market.Sabzi started his career as...

, a hip hop duo based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, attended NKU.
Suzanne Fitzpatrick, television writer for shows including The Nanny
Nanny (TV series)
Nanny is a BBC television series that ran between 1981 and 1983. In this historical drama, Wendy Craig stars as nanny Barbara Gray, caring for children in 1930s England. When Barbara Gray leaves the divorce court she has no money, no job just an iron will and a love for children. The third series...

, 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

, The Dooley and Pals Show
The Dooley and Pals Show
The Dooley and Pals Show, sometimes shortened to just Dooley and Pals, is an American children's television series.The main character is Dooley, a friendly alien who has landed in a backyard on Earth. He explores the planet with the children of the neighborhood as his guides. The show is meant to...

.
Tom Luken
Tom Luken
Thomas Andrew Luken is a politician of the Democratic Party from Ohio.Luken received his high school diploma in 1942 from Purcell High School. During the Second World War, Luken served as a U.S. Marine. In 1947, he earned a bachelor of arts degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati, after having...

, former mayor of Cincinnati, U.S. Representative from Ohio, and father of former Cincinnati mayor Charlie Luken, earned his Juris Doctor from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 1950.
Rockin' Ron Schumacher, 1983 graduate of Northern Kentucky University with a Bachelor's degree in Radio/Television/Film. He's worked at WCLU in Covington, 55KRC in Cincinnati and since 1990 has been hosting the midday show on 103.5 WGRR Cincinnati's Greatest Hits.
Joe Zerhusen, the public-address announcer for Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

home games at Great American Ball Park
Great American Ball Park
The Great American Ball Park is a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the home of the National League's Cincinnati Reds. It opened in 2003, replacing the Reds' former home, Cinergy Field, which was known as Riverfront Stadium from its opening in June 1970 until the 1996...

.
Steven Beattie
Steven Beattie
Steven Beattie is a Irish footballer.- Youth & College :Arguably one of the most dominant athletes to ever wear a Norse uniform, Beattie ran roughshod against opposing defenses during his four-year career at Northern Kentucky University, scoring 77 career goals and adding 30 assists...

, a professional soccer player from Dublin, Ireland who was drafted out of NKU 13th overall in the 2011 MlS supplemental Draft.

Notable faculty

Brian Robertson is a Theatre professor best known for working on such movies like Dirty Dancing and the Jackal. He also worked on Beverly Hills 90210
Denis Mueller is a communication professor who is best known as the director of the Academy Award semi-finalist film Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train.
Mark Hardy, Broadway actor, appeared on Broadway in Titanic: The Musical
Titanic (musical)
Titanic is a musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone that opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical...

, Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

, and Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

.
Ken Jones, playwright and screenwriter, Best known for the plays Darkside, The Middle of Yesterday, A Red Eagle Falling, Victims of the Ice Age, and The Great Easter Egg Hunt. Wrote the book for the musical Burgertown. Previously head writer for Lightpoint Entertainment at Disney/MGM Studios.
Gary McGurk, an actor from Home Improvement and Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...

, is a current acting professor at NKU.
James Ramage, a faculty member in the history department, is a well-known Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

expert who has a Civil War museum
James A. Ramage Civil War Museum
The James A. Ramage Civil War Museum seeks to tell the untold story of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky's involvement in the American Civil War. Although there were no major battles set there, the people of the area resisted a strong push by the Confederate army in 1862. This museum is set on one...

in Fort Wright, Kentucky
Fort Wright, Kentucky
Fort Wright is a city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,723 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Fort Wright is located at ....

named in his honor.
Robert Trundle
Robert Trundle
Robert Christner Trundle, Jr. is an American philosopher, author, and college professor. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Fate Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in Ufology in 2005 based on his book Is E.T...

, a philosophy professor who Fate Magazine named as one of the 100 most influential people in Ufology in 2005 based on his book Is E.T. Here? and an article published in Science and Method in the Netherlands
Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

pianist Sergei Polusmiak
Sergei Polusmiak
Sergei Polusmiak , "Merited Artist of Ukraine", Artist in Residence, is the Tom and Christine Neyer Family Professor of Music at Northern Kentucky University. He is first prize winner in the Lysenko International Music Competition...

, an internationally-renowned concert artist and master teacher, is artist in residence and professor in the music department.
NKU double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

instructor Owen Lee is a published artist who has gained international acclaim as a musician, including a spot on the cover of Bassist Magazine. He is currently principal bassist in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
Jimmie Manning is a communication professor who was selected for the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality , formed in 1957, is a non-profit, professional membership organization that says it is "the oldest professional society dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about sexuality." It reports to have more than 1,000 members and has a quarterly...

Young Professional Award based on his sex research.
William Brian Hogg, Director of Jazz Studies at NKU, is an internationally recognized jazz performer and educator, and is also the founder of the EMPOWER program, a community outreach program designed to return the roots of African American heritage to "at risk" and "urban" youth.
Joan Ferrante is a sociology professor who is best known as the author of several popular sociology textbooks, among them Sociology: A Global Perspective.
Stephen Leigh
Stephen Leigh
Stephen W. Leigh is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, artist, and musician. He also works as a lecturer at Northern Kentucky University, teaching creative writing.Steve Leigh lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.- Works :...

, a novelist, is a lecturer at NKU.
Hazel Barton
Hazel Barton
Hazel A. Barton is a professor of microbiology at Northern Kentucky University , and co-star of the 2001 IMAX film Journey Into Amazing Caves...

, cave-exploring microbiology professor that has been featured in national and international press, TV and film.

Northern Kentucky University Presidents

Dr. W. Frank Steely, 1970–1975
Dr. Ralph Tesseneer, 1975-1976 (interim)
Dr. A.D. Albright, 1976–1983
Dr. Leon Boothe, 1983–1996
Jack M. Moreland, 1996-1997 (interim)
Dr. James Votruba, 1997-2012*

Dr. Votruba has announced his intent on retiring at the end of the 2011-12 Academic Year.

External links

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Early history

Recent history

Highland Heights

Other locations

Greek life

Fraternities

Sororities

Colleges

Honors programs

Libraries

Athletics

Club sports

Public media

Student-run media

Civic engagement

Lecture series

Notable alumni, faculty, and staff

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Northern Kentucky University Presidents

See also

External links