Need help finding your way around the Kentucky State University campus? Want to check the latest headlines, watch videos or listen to the Thorobred fight song at will?

If you have an iPhone, you’re in luck.

KSU launched its first iPhone application this month. It features a GPS-enabled campus map, polls and a calendar of events. There are news headlines, sports news and schedules, photos and video, and campus weather.

The app was designed by Tulsa, Okla.-based Straxis Technology. The company has created apps for 23 colleges and universities, including Vanderbilt University, Boston College, the University of Kansas and West Point.

KSU spokeswoman Felicia Lewis says the university’s Office of Admissions wanted to use mobile technology to reach potential students. 

The university also uses Facebook and Twitter to get information to students, staff and alumni.

“The reason they decided to launch an iPhone app was to be able to contact prospective students using the technology that students today use with each other,” she said. “It’s increasingly going that direction.”

The new app is free, and is available in the App Store by entering “Kentucky State University” in the search function.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs told developers in June that there are now more than 225,000 applications for the iPhone, iPod and iPad, according to AppleInsider.com. 

There have been more than 5 billion downloads since the App Store opened in 2008, he said.

KSU isn’t the first college in Kentucky to have its own iPhone app. 

In spring 2009, Northern Kentucky University rolled out iNKU, developed by the university’s Office of Information Technology and students in the College of Informatics. 

This year NKU upgraded with more features, including a campus directory, GPS-enabled maps, campus trivia, a city bus schedule, and access to grades, class schedules and a GPA calculator.

“Looking around campus, most of the students have iPhones or androids,” said Chris Rider, senior technical architect at NKU.

“That’s basically the trend of this generation – they want small devices, and they want access 24/7.”

NKU offers a course to teach students how to write iPhone apps – some are free downloads, and others are sold through NCIT, a company owned by the university. The revenue pays for student workers in the department, Rider says.

Students have developed mobile severe weather alerts and flash cards, and an app for the fire department in San Ramon Valley, Calif., that shows a real-time map of 911 calls.

They designed myTANK for the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky, with on-demand bus routes, times and trip-planning tools.

“The goal there is so the students get real world experience working for us and developing these apps,” Rider said. 

“They also have something nice on their resume when they graduate and hands-on experience.”

NKU also created iMSU for Morehead State University, and iEKU for Eastern Kentucky University. 

WEKU 88.9, Eastern’s public radio station, has its own app that allows users to listen to live broadcasts. 

Murray State University students can stay connected through an app called RacerMobile, and Western Kentucky University operates iWKU, which features images and maps of campus, a calendar, news headlines and a course catalog. Students can also search for books in the university’s library on the go.

But KSU is one of the first groups in Frankfort to go mobile.

A quick search for “Frankfort” in the App Store reveals dozens of results for the city’s German counterpart – Frankfurt walking tours, travel guides and German language lessons – but only one statewide travel guide that includes information about Frankfort.

But Kentucky is well represented.

Somerset, Danville, Winchester, Bardstown, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, Oak Grove and Marion have their own apps. 

The one for Marion – in Crittenden County – boasts that the city is “home to Kentucky’s largest Amish community.” The free app allows users to find Amish businesses, and fittingly, its icon is the silhouette of a horse-drawn buggy.

There are countless apps for college basketball and football, including University of Kentucky coach John Calipari’s official “interactive media guide.” For just $2.99, iPhone users can track Calipari across the nation, listen to sound bites and play trivia games.

TV news stations in Lexington and Louisville have apps, and there’s traffic and weather information available at the tap of a finger. 

There’s an app for tracking federal campaign contributions from Kentucky, and another for checking out local shops and services with the Better Business Bureau. 

iPhone users can prepare for the Kentucky driver’s license exam, check the fate of their lucky lottery numbers, or find the four-legged winners on the racetrack. There’s also an app for the upcoming World Equestrian Games.

Kentuckians with iPhones can sign up for speed dating too. Need a place to dine? Try the Kentucky Fried Chicken Finder. It’s $1.99, but it’ll provide directions to the nearest drive-through using the iPhone’s GPS.

Residents of that other Frankfort across the pond have their own app for finding fried chicken: KFC Find DE, which only shows locations of the chain restaurant in Germany.