LEXINGTON — The University of Kentucky has made improvements in gender equity, but still has a long way to go, a report said.

        The report, “Blueprint for Gender Equity at America's Next Great University,” was put together by a Faculty Senate committee that first looked at the issue in 1990. It was unveiled Wednesday at a luncheon attended by about 300 school employees, most of them women.

        “There are far more things that need to be done than have been done, but that speaks to the size of the problem, and the fact that it hasn't been properly addressed,” said Carolyn Bratt, a law professor who chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women when it examined the problem in 1990.

        Kristi Branham, a graduate student in English who attended Wednesday's luncheon, called the report “inspiring.” She said she's noticed some resistance from male professors when it comes to things such as women's studies.

        “A lot of what I do is fight against preconceived notions of what women's studies is,” she said. “Somehow, it's still threatening to them.”

        The committee members acknowledged that UK has moved closer to equality. For example, in 1989, women made up half of the graduate population but received only 43 percent of fellowships. Today, the fellowships are equally awarded, the report said.

        The university also has given more financial support to the women's studies program, and created the Women's Health Center, the report said.

        But much more needs to be done, the report said.

        One criticism was that since 1989, 10,000 staff and faculty members and students at the UK Medical Center have had mandatory sexual-harassment training, but there is no such requirement on the Lexington campus, where most of UK's students are enrolled.

        “Very little was done to implement the suggestion of the first study; it was virtually ignored,” said Joan Callahan, a philosophy professor who also teaches in the women's studies program. “There has not been leadership at the top.”

        Other recommendations from the 1990 report appear again in the new one, including a task force or commission on women and a university-wide analysis of salaries.

        The report also looks at attitudes toward women on campus. For example, UK has 10,000 employees, but its child-development center has room for only 84 children and is closed during summer.

        The report applauded UK's new ad campaign, which features women as future scientists and doctors. “That campaign has set a standard by which UK must measure itself,” Ms. Bratt said.

        UK President Charles Wethington said Wednesday he had not seen the report and could not comment on it.

        Two committee members, Ms. Bratt and Susan Scollay, met with incoming president Lee Todd and said they were optimistic he would consider the report's recommendations when he takes office on July 1.

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