The University of Kentucky has disbanded its Office for Community Relations one year after its creation, according to university President Eli Capilouto.

Capilouto announced in a message on UKNow that the functions of the Office for Community Relations, which contained learning programs for older adults like the Donovan Scholars and the university’s public radio station WUKY, “will be reassigned to other appropriate units” on Monday, Aug. 4. 

The Office for Institutional Diversity at UK was disbanded in August 2024, almost a year before Kentucky legislators banned diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from public universities in House Bill 4, which became state law in March 2025. In the same announcement of its disbanding, the Office for Community Relations was introduced.

According to Blanton, the recent disbanding of the Office for Community Relations did not have anything to do with House Bill 4.

“We were in compliance with House Bill 4 and we remain in compliance with House Bill 4,” Blanton said. “This move was part of a larger series of moves that have been underway for some time.”

Blanton said there is a current university-wide examination to find ways to combine programs and services to maximize the university’s effectiveness and efficiency.

President Capilouto said the initiative will continue over the next 12 to 18 months.

“The university has done that a number of times over the last several years … areas like philanthropy have centralized,” Blanton said. “Healthcare philanthropy used to be reported differently than central philanthropy … information technology has been going through a centralization process.”

Along with the ending of DEI initiatives overall in August 2024, the organization of different programs was shifted to support the success of all students rather than specific groups.

When the Office for Institutional Diversity was disbanded, WUKY and lifelong learning programs were moved from it to the Office for Community Relations.

Blanton said the disbanding of the office will not result in any job loss for its employees. The lifelong learning programs are moving to the Office for Student Success and WUKY is moving to the Office of University Relations.

Katrice Albert, former vice president of community relations, worked in what Blanton described as “town-gown” relations, referring to the relationships between communities across the state and the university.

Albert moved from the position of vice president of community relations to university adviser.

Capilouto said Albert’s new role will involve her preparing a study of how the university can better establish community partnerships to “advance health, workforce development and educational attainment across Kentucky.”

The Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration, Eric Monday, will also take steps to strengthen government and university relations as the university increasingly interacts with lawmakers, Capilouto said.

“Collectively, these efforts to further integrate important services speak to our commitment to focus even more intently on how … to do more than any institution in the country in advancing the health of the state and the people we serve,” Capilouto said.