By Natalie Hamren
NKyTribune reporter

Before Northern Kentucky University President Ashish Vaidya came to NKU, he knew of its importance to the region. Even when he was working and living in California, he knew that NKU was a regionally-engaged university that serves not only to benefit its students but the community as well.

This was one of the reasons Vaidya applied to be NKU’s sixth president. Since then, Vaidya has made his own impact on the region by reconnecting the university to its community, nurturing relationships with local businesses and leaders, and encouraging people to be active members of a democracy.

For all these reasons and more, Vaidya has been named one of the NKyTribune’s NewsMakers of 2020.

“The whole region has benefitted from Ashish Vaidya’s leadership,” said NKyTribune Editor Judy Clabes. “He has immersed himself in the community and embraced the responsibilities of stewardship of one of our most critical institutions. By force of his intellect, his personality, and his genuineness, he is making his mark in meaningful ways.”

Community ties

Vaidya said he doesn’t take all the credit for having ties to NKU’s regional community; he shares the credit with former NKU presidents who built relationships with businesses and leaders in the region.

Since NKU’s inception in 1968, the university has grown in terms of awareness, enrollment and programs. Vaidya said when he first became president and introduced himself to various community members, they knew about NKU.

“It wasn’t this, ‘NKU, what’s that?’ It wasn’t so much that I had to overcome,” Vaidya said. “I think it was more of, ‘Who is this? Who’s this guy? Where is he coming from? He’s from California?’ There was this little intrigue about who I was and what I represented. I think allowing myself to introduce myself to the region also helped me continue the story of NKU.”

Vaidya said he came to NKU with the mindset that everybody — community, business, nonprofit and government leaders — help embody NKU. He said he went around to the key people in the region and asked them what NKU could be doing better for them and if they had any advice for him.

“They appreciated the fact that under my leadership, NKU will continue to pay close attention to what the needs of the region are, and that we are going to be active listeners and active participants in this region’s prosperity,” Vaidya said.

One of the community relationships Vaidya inherited was with St. Elizabeth Healthcare and the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine. Vaidya said he wants to continue nurturing the relationship and taking it to another level. In recent months, NKU offered St. Elizabeth surge space in BB&T arena due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the BB&T arena.

During his time as president, he’s also formed new community ties. In February of 2019, NKU opened its new FUEL NKU location in the Albright Health Center in partnership with Kroger. Created in 2013, FUEL NKU is an on-campus food pantry that supplies food and essential items to students.

“I’m always looking for ways in which we can extend the impact and the influence of the university by having other partnerships,” Vaidya said.

Creating his own legacy

Despite being NKU’s president for just over two years, Vaidya has already made an impact at NKU, and in the region, by creating programs and events that benefit everyone.

January of 2019 was the first NKU Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Community Service. Vaidya created the day to commemorate MLK’s legacy by organizing community service projects all over the region.

In February of this year, NKU and Gateway Community & Technical College created the River City Promise Program, which offers free tuition to Pell-eligible high school students from Bellevue, Dayton, Holmes, Lloyd, Ludlow and Newport High School.

Vaidya created this program because he noticed that NKU and Gateway weren’t getting many students from these schools.

“I think part of the challenge probably is that many of [students] just think college is out of our reach … We really wanted to eliminate that mindset, if possible, that financial barriers should not be what prevents you from coming [to] college,” Vaidya said.

NKU created the Young Scholars Academy with the Kenton County School District, which allows juniors and seniors in KCSD to dually enroll in NKU while they’re still in school. Once they graduate high school, they’ll also earn an associate degree from NKU. More recently, in September, NKU unveiled its new Collaborative for Economic Engagement hub in Covington.

Vaidya’s goals

Vaidya said it’s important to provide voting resources for not only the campus community but also the region. The Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement has been encouraging people to vote and be active members of their community this election season.

“It’s a reminder how NKU continues, I hope, to be a powerful reminder to the campus and to the community that without an engaged, informed, educated citizenry, our democracy will not survive,” Vaidya said. “And that’s what we need.”

Ensuring that NKU remains an important and powerful voice in supporting a thriving democracy is something that Vaidya is most proud of from his time at NKU.

Vaidya said NKU’s purpose is to be the engines of economic, social, and civic prosperity for the region it serves. He sees NKU as both an indispensable and integrated part of the region’s continued success and future prosperity.

“The communities that are going to thrive and prosper well into the 21st century and beyond are going to be those that value good health, value good education, and good community vibrancy,” Vaidya said. “NKU plays a role in that aspect, and in so many ways. I think it’s a vital part of who we are.”

Natalie Hamren is a freelancer for the NKyTribune and editor of The Northerner, NKU’s independent student newspaper.

NewsMaker 2020

The NKyTribune’s “NewsMaker 2020” awards program has gone virtual this year, due to the pandemic. This week we will be celebrating our five award winners with a feature story a day honoring their success. Tomorrow: Alecia Webb-Edgington of Life Learning Center. See NewsMaker Catrena Bowman-Thomas’s story here. See NewsMaker Brent Cooper’s story here and NewsMaker Bob Hoffer’s story here.

This annual fundraiser for the nonprofit NKyTribune depends on sponsorships, virtual ticket sales and a silent auction. If you want to join the sponsors below, email judy@nkytrib.com or call 513 324 4178. You can buy virtual tickets and bid on auction items here. Please help make our fundraiser a success.