By Richard LeComte  

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Starting in the Fall 2021 semester, the University of Kentucky’s College of Arts & Sciences will implement a one-course Race and Ethnicity requirement for all majors, starting with incoming freshmen.   

The College’s Race & Ethnicity Ad Hoc Committee developed the plan, which the UK Provost’s Office approved. Students will be able to select from a list of classes that address issues of race and ethnicity in more than 50% of its materials, lecture time and assignments. Students also will be able to use the Race and Ethnicity class to satisfy UK Core and other requirements at the same time.  

The committee acted under the leadership of Christina Alcalde, former dean of Inclusion and Internationalization, who is now vice president for institutional diversity and inclusion at Miami University of Ohio.   

“This is part of a national trend in higher education for many years as universities are looking at ways to diversify their curriculum,” said Christian M.M. Brady, interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. “We have hired so many amazing faculty members in the past few years who lend a tremendous amount of expertise to the teaching of these topics.” 

The College has a review process through which faculty submit their courses to the A&S Diversity and Inclusivity Committee. After reviewing the courses, the committee sends them to the College Educational Policy Committee. Once approved, the courses can be included in the program. The College has a wide array of classes from which students can choose.  “Overall, the requirement will help students broaden their liberal arts education, no matter which major they choose,” Brady said. “We are eager to offer these classes to our student body across the University.”  

Additional information on the requirement can be found here: https://www.as.uky.edu/race-equity-classes and https://www.as.uky.edu/race-anti-racism-and-equity.