---

The Kentucky State University Board of Regents voted to approve the creation of The Center for Research on the Eradication of Educational Disparities (C.R.E.E.D. Center) during its regular meeting Sept. 6 at the Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm.

Kentucky State University Interim Provost Dr. Lucian Yates III said the new center will research education disparities and ways to close educational gaps.

Yates said Kentucky State was able to recruit Dr. Roger Cleveland, an expert on educational disparities, to lead the center.

Cleveland, director of the C.R.E.E.D. Center, said the center will have a three-pronged approach.

The primary focus of the center will be research, followed by becoming the leading university in the Commonwealth to provide educator training.

“When people discuss academic disparities in the Commonwealth, we want them to think about the work we do at Kentucky State,” Cleveland said.

The final prong, Cleveland said, is human engagement.

“We want to engage the community to help prepare students in the Commonwealth,” Cleveland said.

“I applaud Kentucky State for doing something to close these gaps,” Kentucky State University Board of Regents Chair Dr. Elaine Farris said. “The disparities are very real. Some of us have been reading about it for 30 years and haven’t seen any change.”

Kentucky State University President M. Christopher Brown II said even prior to its approval, educators around the state started reaching out to Kentucky State for help on closing educational gaps.