Aligned for impact Integrate Blue Strengthening How We Work

One tool to support the growth of the institution has been the creation of Beyond Blue, an affiliated not-for-profit company which serves the university’s activities in support of all aspects of its mission. Beyond Blue, initially founded in 2013, currently serves as a holding company for UK King’s Daughters (UKKD), UK St. Claire (UKSC), Insure Blue and Champions Blue.

As an affiliated corporation, Beyond Blue allows the university to abide by all public entity rules and laws and for the UK board to approve strategies, budgets and investments, while allowing its leaders to have some separation and distinctiveness to focus on one core business.

This management structure framework also maintains the essential oversight and policy-making role of the UK Board of Trustees, which appoints the Beyond Blue Board of Directors, and the directors of any of its subsidiary companies.

Integrate Blue will benefit employees in several ways.

• Standardize Expectations: Individuals performing the same or similar jobs across the organization will have standardized expectations and be evaluated on the same criteria. This will promote organizational integrity and fairness.
• Work that Aligns with Your Skills: Integrate Blue will help to assign individuals with roles and responsibilities that align with their skillsets, enabling employees to fully leverage their expertise and capabilities.
• Effective Resource Allocation: Some units are understaffed. This initiative will enable all departments to effectively utilize the comprehensive resources available within centralized units.

As a result of the Integrate Blue process, no employees will lose their positions. Current UK employees will not experience any changes in their compensation or benefits. While some individuals may become be part of a different organizational structure or report to a different supervisor, the integration will not impact the status of their employment pay or benefits.

Compensation, benefits and an employee’s years of service calculation will not change as a result of the Integrate Blue effort. UK, UKHC, UKKD, UKSC employees will retain their current benefits and compensation even if reassigned to the Beyond Blue Corporation.

Our Strategic Plan — the UK PURPOSE — was adopted by our Board of Trustees in 2021. It doesn’t have an end date, per se, although we regularly monitor our progress in meeting goals relative to each pillar and principle of the plan. You can read more about those principles and key action items here: https://pres.uky.edu/strategic-plan.

Since the adoption of that plan, the Board has regularly assessed progress as well and, in fact, directed the President and the University to accelerate progress in key areas — alignment of our curriculum with workforce needs; assessment of internal, state and federal policy areas to ensure we are positioned to respond quickly to change; and expansion of our efforts to ensure that, working with partners, we are doing more to improve the holistic health of our state and all those we serve.

As part of those efforts — and our ongoing response to policy changes, directives, and laws — we believe we must continue to grow as an institution to do and be more for the state. That will require an administrative support structure even more aligned and efficient in its operations that supports continued growth. That’s the “why” behind these integration efforts — ensuring everything we do administratively supports what we do to advance Kentucky: its health, its economy, and its education.

Beyond Blue is legally a non-profit organization. Any employee who currently receives PSLF would receive it if they move to Beyond Blue.

All decentralized student success functions are in scope. We understand colleges/units may call these slightly different things, but in-scope functions may include: 

• Enrollment Management – Admissions, Enrollment, Recruitment, Orientation, Visitors
• Financial Stability – Financial Wellness, Student Financial Aid & Scholarships
• Belonging and Engagement – Religious & Spiritual Life, Residence Life, Living Learning Communities, Student Organizations & Activities, Fraternity & Sorority Life, Student Conduct, Parent & Family Resources, Veterans Resources, LGBTQ* Resources, Experiential Learning & High-Impact Practices, International Experiences
• Wellness – Case Management, Counseling Center, Crisis Support, Health Education, Therapy, Wellness
• Academic Success – Academic Advising, Career Advising, Community & Professional Development Programs, Graduate/Professional Advising, Internships, Tutoring, Academic Support Services, Transformative Learning

Employees who perform student success functions may either: 

• Move their formal reporting relationship to the Office of the Vice President for Student Success (OVPSS).
• Maintain their current reporting relationship in their current department but may have some of their Major Job Responsibilities (MJR) reallocated to Student Success. 

These changes may result in changes to direct supervisor and/or reallocation of major tasks and responsibilities.

We are currently reviewing all positions; and determinations on impacted roles and responsibilities will be made based on data and stakeholder input over the next several months.

From September 15 - November 30, the UK team is conducting data analysis and validation to compile a validated list of decentralized student success personnel. 

Implementation of centralization for the identified personnel, which may include further data gathering like conducting a modified work analysis, is scheduled for completion by June 2026.