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K e n t u c k y ’ s i n d u s t r i a l e l e c t r i c c o s t s a r e m o r e t h a n 2 5 p e r c e n t l e s s t h a n t h e n a t i o n a l a v e r a g e ”
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K E N T U C K Y I S T H E N A T I O N ’ S T H I R D - L A R G E S T P R O D U C E R O F C O A L ”
collect, process and make instantly
understandable and accessible.”
Kentucky’s biggest information mover
may be Xerox Corporation. The same
company most associate with making
copies is also the largest diversified
business process outsourcing company in
the world.
“
We touch everything, from payroll
processing and health information
exchange management to working with
more than 1,700 federal, state, county and
local governments,” says Connie Harvey,
corporate vice president and chief
operating officer of Xerox Services’
commercial services.
Xerox processes more than 4 billion
electronic toll transactions and 20 million
parking tickets every year, as well as
supporting more than 35 million Medicaid
recipients and government health
programs in 34 states.
“
Our realm of services is more diverse
than most people realize,” says Harvey. It’s a
powerful statement many would agree
could apply to all of Kentucky—and those
based there reaching the world from
within its borders.
The region’s global reputation as a
hub of innovation and change starts
with its schools.
There’s Northern Kentucky
University—NKU’s esteemed College of
Informatics is one of only a few in the
nation—as well as the historically black,
liberal arts institution, Kentucky State
University. KSU has been educating
pioneers since 1886, including Moneta
Sleet, Jr. (the first African American to
win the Pulitzer Prize for photography)
and Ersa Hines Poston (the first
African American to hold a presidential
cabinet position.)
The educational game changers are
found in every direction. In Richmond,
Eastern Kentucky University—ranked
among “America’s Best Colleges” for the
past five years by
Forbes
magazine—is
currently researching ways to convert
switchgrass (a perennial grass easily
grown by the state’s farmers) into
biodiesel fuel through its Center for
Renewable Alternative Fuel Technologies.
On the opposite side of the state,
there’s Western Kentucky University.
“
Our vision is to be a leading American
university with international reach,
using the knowledge we have to identify
and solve problems,” says president, Dr.
Gary Ransdell.
WKU is already hard at work doing
exactly that, conceiving cleaner ways to
burn coal, as well as preparing
tomorrow’s college students for a global
economy—its Confucius Institute has
helped place 35 teachers who teach
Mandarin Chinese in more than 40 public
schools across the region.
“
We have a long history and rich
tradition of collaborating with partners
around the globe,” says University of
Kentucky’s president, Eli Capilouto.
As a land grant research flagship
university, UK has one of the only
60
clinical translational research
centers in the country funded by
NIH, and its College of Pharmacy—
which has the largest college of
pharmacy building in the world—is
internationally known for its
pharmaceutical sciences research.
Last but never least is the University
of Louisville
(
pictured above
)
.
The fourth
fastest growing research university in the
nation, UofL is currently guiding
biotechnology projects that include
devising cheaper ways to produce Gardasil
(
the only FDA-approved cancer vaccine on
the market) using tobacco plants, and
using cardiac stem cells to help regrow
heart muscle a er a heart a ack.
“
The wave of the future will be in
heart regeneration,” says UofL president
James Ramsey, “and we plan to be among
the leaders internationally when that
day happens.”
BLUEGRASS BRAINPOWER
PHOTO
GETTY IMAGES
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