MANCHESTER, KY — Dr. Aaron Thompson, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE), received a 2025 EKLF leadership award for Eastern Kentucky natives whose public service contributes to the betterment of the region. Dr. Thompson was honored at an awards banquet on April 24 as part of the 37th Annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Manchester.
Thompson grew up in rural Clay County. His father was an illiterate coal miner and farmer, and his mother ended her formal education in eighth grade. Despite economic hardships Thompson graduated from high school and enrolled in Eastern Kentucky University, the first in his family to attend college.
Thompson earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology and political science from EKU and pursued advanced degrees in sociology from the University of Kentucky. After receiving his Ph.D., Thompson returned to EKU as a sociology professor, eventually rising through the administrative ranks to serve as associate vice president for academic affairs.
In 2009, Thompson began his career at CPE, first as senior vice president for academic affairs and then as executive vice president. After a brief stint as Kentucky State University’s interim president, Thompson received the top job at CPE, the first Kentucky native and African American to serve in this role.
“As CPE president, I’ve made it my mission to demonstrate that higher education matters,” Thompson said. “Higher education matters to individuals by enabling them to reach their highest potential. It matters to our state by improving productivity and economic opportunity. I feel blessed that my public service has opened doors for thousands of students like me, who discovered their purpose through higher education.”
In addition to this recognition, Thompson has received the 2024 Exceptional Leader Award from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), the Lucy Harth Smith-Atwood S. Wilson Award for Civil and Human Rights in Education and the Health Care Governance Leadership Award from the Kentucky Hospital Association. In 2019, he was inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame.
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