Part of the growth in numbers comes as the result of major strides in the areas of affordability, access and equity, meaning Cardinals from a variety of backgrounds can take advantage of learning opportunities and experiences with reduced financial burden. This academic year, UofL announced the expansion of its Border Benefit Award that allows students from some neighboring states to attend UofL at in-state tuition rates, along with the investment of $2.4 million toward the Cardinal Commitment Grant for in-state residents.

UofL jumped 15 places in the 2023-24 U.S. News and World Report  ranking, from No. 146 to No. 131, and also topped the list of “best values” among national universities in Kentucky. In the past few years, Cardinals have graduated with the second-lowest student debt among all Kentucky four-year public universities.

New leadership helps guide the way

Taking the helm in early 2023, UofL’s 19^th president, Kim Schatzel, spent six months in some 40 listening sessions to learn what was important to UofL’s students, staff and faculty, as well as community and government leaders.

She outlined her first eight priorities in September, and those priorities became the basis for a new 2023-2025 . Schatzel was officially inaugurated on Sept. 29 in a joyous ceremony filled with music and tradition that was held on The Oval outside Grawemeyer Hall. The historic event took place during UofL’s yearlong celebration of its 225th anniversary. In recognition of her leadership, Schatzel was named among Louisville Business First’s Power 50 for 2024, which identifies the city’s most influential people in business and related communities. The Louisville Defender Newspaper also named Schatzel as one of the “Women Who Choose to Challenge” in the publication’s women’s history recognition edition.  

In spring 2024, the university chose Gerry Bradley as permanent executive vice president and university provost. No stranger to the Cardinal community, Bradley had served as dean of the  since 2016 and as interim provost since July 2023. He previously held that same role from January 2022 to February 2023.

Several other top leadership positions have been filled throughout 2023 and 2024, including: Karlis Kaugars, vice provost for information technology services and chief information officer; Dayna Touron, dean, ;��John W. Miller Jr., dean, ; and Kathryn (Katie) Cardarelli,����𲹲�, . This summer, Whitney Nash becomes dean of the , which celebrates 50 years of educating and preparing nurses for distinctive careers.

UofL also welcomed Pat Kelsey to lead the men’s basketball program, infusing excitement and enthusiasm into Card Nation.

Renovations, new infrastructure boost student success

The university is updating facilities and building new infrastructure to ensure students have the physical space to unleash their potential.

�ճ����Center for Military-Connected Students debuted its newly renovated offices in Brodschi Hall on Belknap Campus. The center focuses on meeting the needs of the more than 2,300 military-connected students enrolled at UofL. At the , construction of a new four-story, $90 million student success hub is underway. It will help us produce the next generation of engineers.

And thanks to a tremendously successful legislative session, the state budget appropriated $260 million toward a new Health Sciences Center Campus simulation center and collaboration hub. That’s the largest amount of funding for a single project in UofL’s history. It also is the largest project being funded in Louisville and represents the most general fund support for any single project among Kentucky’s colleges and universities this session. UofL also received about $69 million for needed repairs on some existing facilities.

UofL’s research and innovation powerhouse flourishes

Research and innovation continued to soar to new heights in academic year 2023-24. Just a few highlights were:

• More than $22 million in funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration was awarded to the Schools of Medicine ($16 million)���Ի���Nursing ($6.5 million) for physician and nurse training to help increase Kentuckians’ access to health care, particularly in underserved rural and urban areas.  
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded four grants totaling $11.6 million to researchers affiliated with UofL’s to study factors affecting heart health. Through these projects, they hope to better understand how environmental exposures and tobacco products can affect the cardiovascular system, as well as how remodeling takes place in the heart after a heart attack.
• UofL researcher Cheri Levinson has received an $11.5 million grant from the NIH to continue her work addressing the devastating effects of eating disorders.
• UofL researchers Susan Harkema, Charles Hubscher and collaborators recently won a $1 million grant from the NIH aimed at helping spinal cord injury patients regain function. They are now among four teams exclusively invited to participate in another competition with a potential prize pool of $5 million.
• More than 100 UofL researchers are among the top 2% most-cited in the world, according to a new compiled by Stanford University and Elsevier. Citations show the value other researchers around the globe place on UofL research.
• Research conducted in UofL’s Micro/Nano Technology Center is investigating whether the antibacterial properties of cicada wings can be turned into an antimicrobial for use in places like food service, health care facilities and medical devices. 
• More than 80 of UofL’s top researchers, scholars and artists were honored in October at the 2023 Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Awards ceremony.
• Four University of Louisville innovators have been selected by the prestigious National Academy of Inventors for its 2024 class of Senior Members. The four inventors selected from UofL–the only ones from Kentucky–are: Thad Druffel, Nobuyuki Matoba, Thomas Roussel and Jagannadh Satyavolu.

Commitment to serve, transform the community 

Throughout the 2023-24 academic year, Cardinals have utilized knowledge and resources to advance the mutual needs of the university and the community. Earlier this spring, more than 400 students danced for 18 hours at the annual raiseRED ���������ٳ�Dz�.��

The students raised more than $516,000 for Norton Children’s Cancer Institute and the . This is UofL’s largest student philanthropic effort. It has raised more than $5 million in its 11-year history.

In the mean time, former firefighter James Cripps was awarded one of the  for teaching firefighters throughout Kentucky about occupational cancer and mitigation strategies. A manufacturing administrator at the UofL Health , he hopes to eliminate some of those risks.

, meanwhile, celebrated a milestone: 200 years of compassionate care, medical innovation and serving the underserved. It was Kentucky’s first hospital, first admitting patients in a facility downtown in 1823. Now, to address a real need for citizens south and west of Louisville, UofL Health recently cut the ribbon on UofL Health – South Hospital in Bullitt County just off Interstate 65.

As part of UofL’s ongoing effort to collaborate with five K-12 schools in West Louisville, Central High School Pre-Medical Magnet Program students received white coats this spring, recognizing their hard work and encouraging them to stay focused on their goals. Students shadow UofL doctors and get to practice performing simpler procedures, like sutures, through this immersive curriculum.

Recently, UofL’s McConnell Scholars and others heard a presentation by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, who spoke about the importance of respect and trust in building relationships to address the country’s most pressing issues. A guest of the McConnell Center, Britt spoke as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series. Celebrating its 30th year, the center also brought Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, to Belknap Campus Oct. 30. She gave a public talk and met separately with the McConnell Scholars.

Students begin their next chapter at commencement

On May 11, more than 2,000 of the approximately 3,100 students who applied for degrees and certificates, will go across the stage at the KFC Yum! Center signifying their academic success.

This Commencement holds particular significance for the high school class of 2020, which graduated at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, it will be their first chance to celebrate their educational achievement by taking part in a complete traditional ceremony.

UofL President Kim Schatzel will preside at both the 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. ceremonies. �ճ���� also will host a doctoral hooding and graduation ceremony for more than 100 graduates at 2 p.m. Friday, May 10, on Belknap Campus in the Swain Student Activities Center (SAC) Ballroom, second floor. All of these ceremonies will be broadcast live at .

So far, the plan is working. In the past few years, Cardinals have graduated with the second-lowest student debt among all Kentucky four-year public universities.

In 2024, the university is supporting students with an infusion of need-based aid. “We’re dramatically increasing aid, going to a 20% increase in need-based aid,” said Jim Begany, vice president for enrollment management.

By expanding the Cardinal Commitment Grant, including additional states eligible for the Border Benefit award and investing in merit-based scholarships, UofL continues to remove financial barriers to college for students who go on to strengthen the community and state.

Cardinal Commitment Grant

UofL is investing $2.4 million toward the Cardinal Commitment Grant in 2024. The grant helps to close the gap between eligible Kentucky students’ financial aid and the cost of attendance, which includes tuition, dining, transportation, books and other expenses.

Previously available only to Pell Grant students, the Cardinal Commitment award expanded to include students with financial need who do not qualify for Pell Grants. All first-time freshman Kentucky residents who have been accepted to UofL and have a demonstrated financial need based on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are eligible for the automatic Cardinal Commitment Grant.

“Part of our mission is to move the needle on social mobility and really attract first-generation, low-income students and others by which a college education could transform the lives of not just them but also their generations of family and family members,” said Jenny Sawyer, executive director of admissions. “This grant allows students to really maximize the opportunities at UofL and puts them in a position to not just be able to afford to go to school, but also afford to have a deep, impactful experience while they’re here.”

Border Benefit Award

Students from outside Kentucky can also access an affordable education at UofL through the Border Benefit program, which gives residents of select bordering states and metropolitan areas the chance to attend UofL at in-state tuition rates.

Beginning in fall 2024, the Border Benefit award will expand to include transfer and first-time college students in all counties in Ohio and West Virginia. The award is already available to students from all Illinois and Indiana counties, select Ohio counties and some counties surrounding the Nashville and St. Louis metropolitan areas.

Students residing in regional areas can receive an estimated $16,000 per year award, which reduces their tuition to the equivalent of Kentucky in-state tuition. In fall 2023, Border Benefit students made up over 13% of the incoming freshman class. 

Merit-based scholarships

UofL’s efforts to make college affordable also include high-achieving students through expanded investments in merit-based, competitive scholarships such as the Grawemeyer Scholarship, McConnell Scholars, Martin Luther King Scholars, Woodford R. Porter Scholarship and Henry Vogt Scholarship programs.

These niche scholarship programs encourage research, innovation and intellectual curiosity at the university and attract students who took rigorous high school curricula and are committed to creating positive change in the commonwealth and beyond.

Benji Kostic, a Vogt Scholarship recipient, is a first-generation American whose parents moved to Louisville as refugees from Bosnia. The biology major, who will graduate in May, works in clinical research at the Norton Leatherman Spine Center and as a chemistry tutor at UofL and hopes to one day become an orthopedic surgeon.

“The Vogt Scholarship allowed me to explore various opportunities at UofL because I didn’t have a financial burden,” Kostic said. “I was able to join clubs and get involved without also getting a job to pay for my schooling. It made me feel very free.”

Beginning with the fall 2024 semester, the Border Benefit award will expand to include transfer and first-time college students in all counties in Ohio and West Virginia. The Border Benefit is already available to accepted first-time freshmen and transfer students from all counties in Illinois and Indiana as well as select Ohio counties and some counties surrounding the Nashville and St. Louis metropolitan areas.

Students residing in regional areas can receive an estimated $16,000 per year award, which reduces their tuition to the equivalent of Kentucky in-state tuition. Since the award’s inception in 2022, 465 students have received the Border Benefit award. In fall 2023, Border Benefit students made up over 13% of the incoming freshman class. 

“The Border Benefit expansion is just one example of UofL’s dedication to increasing access to and affordability of education,” said Jim Begany, vice president of enrollment management. “We’re eager to help more students find success and earn their college degree without an overwhelming financial burden.”

Incoming students automatically receive the renewable award upon admission to UofL. No additional application is required. Students must submit a to apply before May 1. UofL guarantees the Border Benefit award until May 1 for students entering UofL in the fall.

For more information on the Border Benefit award, visit