08/01/24 - Campus update and good news from June and July 2024

Dear Colleagues,

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and that you are all as excited as I am to welcome our students to begin a new academic year.

There are a couple opportunities over the next few days for us all to come back together and reconnect, starting with our faculty and staff picnic today at Cold Spring Municipal Park from 4-8 p.m. There will be plenty of food and fun for you and your families. I hope to see you there. Then Saturday is NKU Night at the Reds. The game starts at 7:15 p.m., but you will want to be there early to see me fire a strike for the ceremonial first pitch (I hope you can sense my smirk here)!

Fall Convocation is on Monday, Aug. 12, at 1 p.m. at the Votruba Student Union. It will be my first convocation as president, and I am looking forward to joining you as we celebrate the start of the 2024-2025 academic year. I plan to share updates on the major progress we’ve made in key areas over the past year as well as look ahead to opportunities in the coming year for our students, community, and region.

Throughout that week, I will attend several college convocations and back-to-school celebrations as we prepare to welcome our students back to classes on Monday, Aug. 19. That includes Move-In Day on Thursday, August 15. I encourage you to volunteer to help that day because we need all the support we can get to welcome our new incoming Norse. You can sign up here.  

Campus activity and momentum continued this summer. Here are some highlights from June and July:

• Early this summer, we learned NKU is one of eight Kentucky institutions chosen to participate in a five-year, statewide climate change research project funded by a $20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. We will receive $296,269 over the next five years to provide research opportunities in stream ecology and changes with climate, geography and land cover for undergraduates. This is a unique opportunity for students, as this level of research is typically conducted at the graduate level.
• We also learned that the United States Department of State awarded NKU a $35,000 grant as part of the Diversify Education Abroad for US Students (IDEAS) program. We are one of 37 colleges and universities selected to receive the grant to develop institutional study abroad programs in support of U.S. foreign policy goals. It will allow us to provide study abroad programs that will help future leaders build important cross-cultural relationships and develop relevant job skills.
• We hosted nearly 300 students from universities and high schools across the country on July 16 for the 8th annual intern summit where IT students enjoyed valuable opportunities to learn from senior industry leaders from companies like Procter & Gamble and GE Aerospace.

That is only a small sample of the great things happening at NKU. You can read more about everything happening at the NKU Media Center.

Thank you for all you do for our university, our learners and the community. I can’t wait to see you all on campus in the coming weeks.

All my best to each of you,

Cady Short-Thompson, Ph.D.
President, Northern Kentucky University