Northern Kentucky

EDUCATION
Northern Kentucky University, a part of the state
public post-secondary education system, has
more than 15,000 students attending its Highland
Heights campus.
The academies teach leadership,
critical thinking, professional writing,
collaboration, projects and proposals,
and presentations.
“All of our academies are geared
toward not just the job market of
Northern Kentucky but the job market
for America,” said Kenton County
School District’s Director of Innovation
Education Francis O’Hara. “Whether
it’s KY FAME or Toyota, all of them are
saying they love our scholars; they love
what we’re doing. A lot of these people
will come back to the Northern Kentucky
area; that’s sort of the dream. We’ve
invested in them here.”
Dozens of gifted local students venture
to the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and
Science at Western Kentucky University to
get a big jump on their college studies. The
Gatton Academy is the state’s first college
level residential high school for students
interested in pursuing advanced careers in
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics. This year, Gatton has
more than 75 students enrolled from
Northern Kentucky.
“Northern Kentucky is certainly
an important part of our mission to
represent the entire state,” said Zack
Ryle, Gatton Academy assistant director
of admissions and public relations. “Our
goal really is, we’re opening the door to
students who have the ability to pursue
further their careers even earlier.”
About 70 percent of the students stay
in the state of Kentucky after Gatton.
NKU’s Health Innovation Center
Other institutions in Northern Kentucky
are investing in students in other valuable
ways, too.
More than 15,000 students attend
Northern Kentucky University in
Highland Heights, where a $97 million
Health Innovation Center is set to
open in 2018. It will be home to the
College of Health Professions and
will also bring together experts from
each of NKU’s six colleges, who will
create transdisciplinary teams to study
health care from new perspectives. St.
Elizabeth Healthcare invested $8 million
to construct and equip the two-story,
state-of-the-art St. Elizabeth Healthcare
Simulation Center.
The College of Informatics at NKU is
one of the most advanced programs of its
kind in the nation and hosts the UpTech
start-up business incubator that attracts
entrepreneurs from across the United States.
NKU also is working with students to
find better jobs during college. In August
2016 the school announced an Education
Northern Kentucky University photo
Research in
Northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky is home to several major
research entities, including Covington-based
Bexion Pharmaceuticals, which recently
received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration to begin clinical trials for its
new cancer drug, BXQ-350.
Also, Cincinnati-based CTI Clinical Trial and
Consulting Services in late 2016 announced it
is moving its headquarters to Covington with a
$36.4 million investment projected to create up to
500 Kentucky-resident jobs.
Giving students and Science, Engineering,
Technology and Mathematics (STEM) teachers
a chance to get their hands dirty with onsite
research, the Ohio River STEM Institute is a
unique partnership between NKU’s Department
of Biological Sciences and the Foundation for
Ohio River Education. The partnership uses the
Ohio River and its watershed as a tool to immerse
students and teachers in STEM disciplines.
The Biology Field Station (known as “River
Station”) at Thomas More College is a one-ofa-kind
center for applied biological research
whose reach is as wide and powerful as the
Ohio River and all its tributaries.
Northern Kentucky is home to some other
unique biotechnology and research companies,
like ViaCord, an umbilical cord blood and
tissue bank; RxCrossroads, a frozen blood
plasma distribution center; Wood Hudson
Cancer Research; and Ethos Laboratories, a
pain management laboratory.
at Work initiative, opening up 200 oncampus
part time jobs.
Meanwhile in Florence, Backfield
College offers a wide range of programs,
including nursing, criminal justice and
paralegal studies.
In Erlanger, St. Elizabeth Healthcare
recently turned the former METS Center
events facility into a state-of-the-art, freestanding
Education and Training Center,
including a rare Simulation Center.
For more traditional liberal arts
education, Thomas More College in
Turner Construction photo
NKU’s College of Informatics is one of the most
advanced programs of its kind in the nation.
48 The Lane Report’s Northern Kentucky Market Review 2017 lanereport.com