Filled with music and rich academic tradition, the investiture ceremony on The Oval outside Grawemeyer Hall and livestreamed was the highlight of a year that also commemorated the 225th anniversary of UofL’s founding.

“As the world looks for solutions, let the world look to the University of Louisville as a national research powerhouse that creates knowledge and inspires innovation to answer the grand challenges of our time and by doing great work that changes the world,” said Schatzel, who took office Feb. 1 as leader of the $1.6 billion university enterprise that includes the affiliated $2.5 billion UofL Health health care system.��

She is one of only 2% of university presidents nationwide with extensive corporate and entrepreneurial C-suite experience. During her inaugural address, she noted she was the first in her family to go to college “like over 35% of UofL students.”

Dozens of her family members attended, including her husband, Trevor Iles, an entrepreneur and former business executive, and their children and grandchildren.

The presidential platform party included Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, Robbin Taylor of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office, Board of Trustees members, and members of the administration.

McConnell, an alumnus of UofL, delivered remarks on the U.S. Senate floor Sept. 29, recognizing the inauguration of Schatzel.

“UofL is a special place. For me, it was the first place in Kentucky where I felt at home. And it’s somewhere I continue to find fulfillment in my personal and public life,” he said. “Throughout its 225-year history, UofL has hosted a long line of visionary leaders who have shaped its success, and today I’m proud to welcome President Schatzel to these ranks.”

Raymond Burse, vice chair of UofL’s Board of Trustees, invested Schatzel as president and presented the Presidential Medallion. The medallion features the UofL seal, a likeness of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom.

“She serves as an example for the thousands of students who attend the university in hope of gaining the knowledge and insight that will benefit them for the rest of their lives,” Burse said, noting that Minerva was also known as the goddess of trade, the arts, medicine, poetry and strategy in war, symbolizing fearlessness and strength.

“This combination of traits was unique among the gods. And it mirrors the strengths possessed by our president, Dr. Kim Schatzel,” he said.

2023 marks 225 years that UofL has been the higher education leader in Kentucky’s largest metropolitan area. It was April 3, 1798 when a group of Louisvillians declared their intention to establish an education institution called Jefferson Seminary and began raising funds for their plan. Today, more than 22,000 students attend UofL, which boasts three campuses.��

This fall, UofL welcomed 3,130 incoming students, breaking a record for the second year in a row.

UofL researchers win hundreds of millions of dollars annually in competitive research funding. The school is among a small percentage of higher education institutions designated a Research 1 doctoral university with very high research activity by the prestigious Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher ����ֱ��. The funding supports groundbreaking research in areas such as robotics, cybersecurity, climate change and social indicators of public health.

In addition, UofL has earned recognition as a university by the Carnegie Foundation. Of more than 4,000 universities in the country, UofL is one of only 80 that can claim both distinctions.

With 12 schools and colleges, the university offers professional certificates, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate programs in hundreds of disciplines, is a consistent leader in diversity and inclusion and is recognized nationally as a “Best Value” institution. It has more than 163,000 .

Earlier this month, Schatzel gave her first campus-wide address, outlining her initial eight priorities as president.��

View photos for the event on .��

Lawrence keynoted the school’s commemoration of Constitution Day 2023, which kicked off a in celebration of as UofL’s 19^th president and was part of the yearlong series of events marking the university’s 225^th anniversary.

Lawrence today is the secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and was previously president of Brandeis University and dean of George Washington University’s School of Law. His topic was the role of universities in a fully functioning democracy.

He opened with a quotation from Justice Louis D. Brandeis: “If we are to be led by the light of reason, let our minds be bold.” And he closed with a quote from Brandeis’ protégé, Justice Felix Frankfurter: “To regard teachers—in our entire educational system, from the primary grades to the university—as the priests of our democracy is … not to indulge in hyperbole.”

“It is the special task of teachers to foster those habits of open-mindedness and critical inquiry which alone make for responsible citizens who in turn make possible an enlightened and effective public opinion (needed to create a functioning democracy),” he said.

“A renewed and strengthened national commitment to accessible and inclusive education will not only permit members of our society to live more meaningful lives, and more productive lives, but it will allow our nation to resist authoritarian impulses and embrace the openness of mind and spirit that are as essential today for a self-governing people in a democratic society as they were … 236 years ago when the framers signed the Constitution. …

“Indeed, the ultimate authority of their signing and the ultimate authority to which we must continue to appeal and which our nation is duty bound to educate, is, ‘We the People.’”

Lawrence’s address was followed by a spirited panel discussion that included Brandeis Law professors Cedric Merlin Powell, Enid Trucios-Haynes and Joe Dunman and UofL General Counsel Angela Curry.

The presentation can be viewed in its entirety A photo gallery from the event is

Of the approximately 3,650 students who applied for degrees and certificates, more than 2,000 have indicated they will take part in the ceremonies, the first to be held during UofL’s yearlong celebration of its 225^th anniversary. Commencement ceremonies also will be held in December.

Student speakers are Thomas Hulse from the College of Arts & Sciences (morning ceremony) and (afternoon ceremony).��

Hulse, who will pursue a Ph.D. in applied physics at Rice University after graduation, will earn a bachelor of science in physics and a bachelor of arts in political science with minors in mathematics and German. Hylen will earn a bachelor of arts in economics with a minor in Arabic. She will work at an organization that connects youth to service opportunities across the country, then plans to live abroad to continue learning language through immersive experiences.

The ceremony will be broadcast live at . Follow #UofLGrads2023 on social media.

In addition, the UofL Graduate School will host a doctoral hooding and graduation ceremony for approximately 70 graduates at 2 p.m. Friday, May 12, on Belknap Campus in the Swain Student Activities Center (SAC) Ballroom, second floor.

Earlier on May 12, UofL’s U.S. Army ROTC cadre, Cardinal Battalion, will hold a commissioning ceremony, also in the SAC Ballroom. Fourteen cadets will be commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army at the 9 a.m. event.

UofL’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 295 will hold its commissioning ceremony at noon, May 12, at the Kentucky Derby Museum. Seven cadets will be commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force.

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