UK closes office created after elimination of DEI unit last year
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- University of Kentucky closed its Office of Community Relations after one year.
- The office was created after the Office for Institutional Diversity closed last year.
- Former diversity lead Katrice Albert reassigned as adviser to President Capilouto.
The University of Kentucky is closing an office created last year after it eliminated its Office for Institutional Diversity, President Eli Capilouto said.
The Office of Community Relations was created in August 2024 when the university dissolved the Office for Institutional Diversity in the wake of bills targeting diversity, equity and inclusion on college campuses. Though no bills banning DEI were passed in 2024, House Bill 4 was passed in the 2025 legislative session, requiring all public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System to dismantle and defund all DEI initiatives.
UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said Monday the Office of Community Relations had been disbanded, about one year after its creation. Units within that office will be reassigned across campus and Katrice Albert, who was the vice president for community relations, will move into a university adviser role working with Capilouto, the president said in a statement Friday.
The move is part of a “closer review of how we better integrate services and functions across campus,” which will occur over the next 18 months, Capilouto said.
“In a time of challenge, it’s important that we continually examine our organization and operations and ask how we can maximize the effectiveness of our efforts as we seek to advance Kentucky in all that we do,” Capilouto said in a statement announcing the changes. “Such a process is underway in earnest now with a closer review of how we better integrate services and functions across the campus.”
Albert, who was hired as UK’s vice president for institutional diversity in 2021, changed roles last year when the university eliminated its DEI office. At that time, Albert became the vice president for community relations. Blanton said Albert’s salary, which is $393,000, will not change in her adviser role.
In her new role, Albert will look at UK and its relationship with the community, “as we seek to establish and solidify more partnerships that enable us to advance health, workforce development and educational attainment across Kentucky,” Capilouto said.
Responsibilities relating to government relations and university relations that were previously within the Office of Community Relations will move to Eric Monday, executive vice president for finance and administration, Capilouto said.
“Collectively, these efforts to further integrate important services speak to our commitment to focus even more intently on how, working with partners in our community and across Kentucky, to do more than any institution in the country in advancing the health of the state and the people we serve,” Capilouto said.