Koffi C. Akakpo has been chosen as the nineteenth president of Kentucky State University. He will take office on July 1.
Historically Black Kentucky State University in Frankfort enrolls about 2,100 undergraduate students and 144 graduate students, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s latest figures. African Americans make up 63 percent of the student body.
The university has gone through numerous leadership changes in recent years and has experienced financial difficulties. A report from the auditor for the Commonwealth of Kentucky issued earlier this year found “$2.7 million withdrawn from internal endowed funds to supplement cash balances, undocumented credit card transactions, wasteful spending on extravagant bonuses and benefits, and crippling budget and procurement failures, all occurring in a chaotic accounting environment that lacked effective safeguards and responsible management and board oversight.”
“My work focuses on championing postsecondary institutions, tackling the uncertainty they face, and securing their current and future prosperity, particularly through bold thinking, transformational problem-solving, and strategic partnership building,” Dr. Akakpo said. He believes that the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the entire KSU community must unite and do all in their shared power to convert problems into opportunities through intentional, data-informed decisions and bold, futuristic planning.
Since February 2019, Dr. Akakpo has been president of Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington, Kentucky. Before becoming president of the community college, he was vice president for business, administrative, and student services at North Central State College in Mansfield, Ohio. Earlier, he served as deputy director/secretary at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and as director of financial planning and management and an adjunct faculty member at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Dr. Akakpo holds a master’s degree in managerial finance from the University of Lome in Togo, an MBA from Ashland University in Ohio, and a doctorate in higher education administration with a focus on community college leadership from the University of Toledo in Ohio.
