Eastern Kentucky University is a student-centered comprehensive, regional, public university dedicated to high-quality instruction, service, and scholarship. After almost 100 years of higher education on the Richmond campus, the University's role has grown far beyond its original mission of teacher education. Today, as a school of opportunity with 168 degree programs, the University serves more than 16,000 students from more than 40 states and 30 countries on its beautiful main campus and at educational centers in Corbin, Danville, and Manchester. To meet the needs of students in outlying areas who might be place-bound because of jobs or families, Eastern offers distance learning via satellite, the Kentucky Telelinking Network, and the Internet.
Through its five colleges and the GraduateSchool, Eastern offers degrees at the associate, baccalaureate, master's, and specialist levels; numerous certification programs; and cooperative doctoral programs with the University of Kentucky. EKU students and faculty may also participate in two study-abroad programs. Since students and learning come first at Eastern, the University remains highly committed to excellence in teaching and has a student-faculty ratio of 17 to 1. Classroom learning can also be combined with practical on-the-job experiences in business, industry, and government through the Cooperative Education/Internship programs.
The success of Eastern's programs is best shown through alumni who have distinguished themselves in nearly every profession, including education, medicine, law, media, science, government, entertainment, private business, the military, and research.