Kentucky State University President Raymond Burse presented the keynote address at this week's Black History Month Commemoration at the state capitol. Burse is in his second stint as head of the historically black school in Frankfort. He led KSU from 1982 through 1989. He says his decision to return to Kentucky State is one he took seriously. "It started out with people embarrassing me to come out of retirement and then after starting to do the job, I concluded that it was a job worth doing and was not a one year job," said Burse. "It was a job that required a commitment and I'm committed to it and I'm staying the course."
Burse says committed students, parents, and teachers are essential to making educational gains. "The secret is to regain the progress that we made in the past and that means we've got to rededicate our efforts," he said. "I think that includes the recognition that we have to increase funding for elementary and secondary education, as well as higher education in this state, and we've got to make the investment."
Last year, Burse made national headlines when he opted to decrease his own salary by $90,000 in order to give pay raises to the lowest paid KSU employees.
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