With COVID-19 restrictions postponing the usual KFC Yum! Center commencement ceremonies, the University of Louisville will provide a virtual graduation celebration at .Ěý

The website will go live at 10 a.m. May 9, the exact time commencement would have started at the downtown arena. Although an in-person commencement ceremony for spring 2020 graduates will be held in December, this Saturday is the day graduates officially earn their degrees.Ěý

More than 3,200 degrees and certificates will be conferred across UofL’s 12 schools and colleges. More than half are bachelor’s degrees, while hundreds of master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as professional and post-graduate certificates, will also be awarded.Ěý

“We cannot be with our graduates physically, we can’t throw up our Ls and pose for selfies with them, but we are a Cardinal family and they are in our hearts,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “We know that our virtual celebration won’t take the place of walking across the stage while loved ones look on, and we are still committed to a formal ceremony later this year, when we are again able to safely gather in larger numbers. What we hope is our newly minted grads will know we share in the joy of their accomplishment. You have done the work, we are so proud of you and this is but one way for us to come together virtually to celebrate this important achievement.”

Visitors to the Spring 2020 graduation celebration website can enjoy special video performances by School of Music faculty and the Cardinal Marching Band and a video message from Bendapudi, which will include a surprise for the graduates. Additional well wishes from university officials and state and local leaders, including a special announcement by Mayor Greg Fischer, will also be included.Ěý

The site also will feature user-generated content gathered from social media posts that use the hashtag #UofLGrads2020, so graduates can share their memories and photos, and loved ones can offer personal words of support and congratulations. Additional content on the site will include: an augmented reality feature, UofL graduate stories, words of advice from alumni, and other fun, interactive components.Ěý

The inauguration is part of a series of events scheduled next week designed to engage all of UofL’s constituencies — faculty, staff, students, alumni and the Louisville community — with festivities planned for all three campuses.

The celebration kicks off on Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 11:30 a.m. at the SAC with a student social. All UofL students are invited to eat lunch with Dr. Bendapudi, which will be served by faculty and staff.Ěý

Later that same day, at 6 p.m., an open reception and panel discussion will be held at the Speed Art Museum. The discussion will focus on UofL’s Town and Gown relationship and includes Dr. Bendapudi, Mayor Greg Fischer and local education officials.

On Wednesday, Oct. 3, those on the Shelby Campus will be able to welcome Dr. Bendapudi with a breakfast, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The HSC faculty and staff social, in the HSC Plaza, begins at 11 a.m. Oct. 3, while the Belknap faculty and staff social is at 2 p.m. Oct. 3 in the Humanities Quad.Ěý

The final event of the week is the Inaugural Celebration, which will be held at 3 p.m. after the formal ceremony on Oct. 4. Faculty, staff, students and community members are welcome to attend.Ěý

The full slate of inauguration events .Ěý

Though Bendapudi doesn’t officially start at UofL until May 15, her early engagement with hundreds of UofL faculty, staff and students has been well received.Ěý

“Dr. Bendapudi is absolutely the best fit for moving UofL forward to continued greatness. Her biography is striking: as an immigrant to this country, she learned early the value of public higher education and its transformative powers. She is an engaged faculty member, enthusiastic fundraiser, and a strong advocate for our students and the student experience,” said Will Armstrong, chair of the Staff Senate.Ěý

“I am not exaggerating when I tell you that the times I’ve had the opportunity to speak with her I have felt genuine electricity. Her enthusiasm is infectious.”

Enid Trucios-Haynes, Faculty Senate Chair, said she “” with the choice of Bendapudi as president.Ěý

“I am so delighted that she wants to be here,” she said. “And that she’s the first woman and person of color to lead our school speaks out loud to our commitment to diversity and inclusion.” 

SGA president Vishnu Tirumala tweeted that Bendapudi’s appointment makes him want to stay in school instead of graduating.Ěý

A number of Bendapudi’s Kansas colleagues expressed their admiration for her via social media and on the record to local media outlets.

Sanjay Mistra, who teaches in the business school at Kansas, described Bendapudi to the as an “enthusiastic go-getter who sets big goals and works very hard to achieve them.” Mistra also pointed out Bendapudi’s fundraising prowess, noting that she led an initiative to build the $70.5 million Capitol Federal Hall on Kansas’ campus.Ěý

On Facebook, Eric Pahls commented: “As a Jayhawk, I cannot tell you how great of a selection this is. While we will dearly miss her, our loss is your gain. She is a gifted leader.” And, on Twitter, a number of Jayhawks expressed their gratitude for Bendapudi’s leadership: 

“Neeli is absolutely amazing. She cares so much about students here at KU and in every interaction I’ve had with her she’s been so genuine. I’m so sad to see her leave KU but I’m glad she’s getting the recognition she deserves,” Katherine Riedel tweeted.

“I’ve been affiliated with KU in some form for 31 years and would be hard pressed to name a Jayhawk who represents us better than (Neeli Bendapudi). UofL got a good one!” – Nick Kallail

When she was introduced last week, Bendapudi told the UofL community that it “is not about any leader having the magic bullet or having the secret sauce. It’s about helping me help you to make sure our best days are ahead.

“I so appreciate your trust and the confidence you’ve placed in me and I give each of you my word, I promise you. Every single day, every single moment – in big things and small – I will try to do my very best for this university.”

Check out some behind-the-scenes footage from her whirlwind introductory week below. Additional photos from the Belknap and HSC welcome ceremonies are .Ěý

Video by Mark Hebert.

Trucios-Haynes said she remains “unsettled” about the search process, but added that none of the top candidates, with the exception of internal candidates, would agree to an open search/interview process. She added that Bendapudi was her top choice out of the 50 candidates.

“I am so delighted that she wants to be here,” Trucios-Haynes said. “And that she’s the first woman and person of color to lead our school speaks out loud to our commitment to diversity and inclusion. I could not be more pleased with this choice.”

The Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution thanking Dr. Greg Postel for his interim leadership during a challenging time at UofL.

In other news, Trucios-Haynes reported that the UofL Foundation has agreed to add constituency trustees to its board. The bylaws were amended at the end of March indicating that the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate and SGA will now be represented on the ULF board.

Senators discussed the budget bill in Frankfort and its implications for program closure. A draft of guidelines for program closure was presented by the senate APC and P&B committees, led by David Owen and Jasmine Farrier. The two circumstances proposed to cause closure are financial exigency and the “result of academic considerations.”

“In both cases, we believe faculty deliberation and governance must place a central role in the decision-making process since the faculty possess the requisite expertise to judge the academic value of a program,” the guidelines read.

As Farrier notes, these proposed guidelines are not new. “This is just a collection of procedures that already exist.”

“The goal is to have something concrete so that we have the ability to determine the process internally,” Trucios-Haynes said. The committee will work with the executive committee to update language in the draft and a vote is anticipated during the May meeting.

Trucios-Haynes said a statement has also been drafted by the Kentucky Coalition of Senate & Faculty Leaders strongly opposing any budget bill provision that would permit the summary dismissal of tenured faculty. This draft will also be brought to the executive committee for refinement.

Interim Provost Dale Billingsley provided an update from his office, including an announcement that his last day in that role is June 1. Beth Boehm, dean of SIGS, will fill the interim provost role until the search process concludes, which is anticipated by January 2019.

Billingsley strongly urged the Faculty Senate to document what went wrong during the presidential search process to avoid these types of issues in the future.

He also provided an overview of the SACS visit in March, which was “a normal accreditation visit.” He said the visit was “very positive,” including a SACS endorsement of UofL’s QEP program. UofL did receive two recommendations from the accrediting body – the first in regards to the transcripting of transfer work and the other in response to the university’s financial stability after a downgrade in bond ratings. UofL has until September to address these recommendations.

Billingsley chimed in on HB 200 about program closures, mentioning he attended a graduate school that had an extinct languages program with five professors and no students.

“Culturally, it’s a threat to say there are certain types of knowledge we don’t need to know anymore. Declaring that bodies of knowledge are no longer useful is dangerous,” he said, noting that someone once declared, “physics is dead.”

Two dean searches continue and Billingsley said he hopes the Speed School dean will be named within the next two weeks. Nursing is down to three finalists. There are three decanal reviews this year – SIGS, Music and SPHIS.

The ombudsman job is posted and will be filled “hopefully” by July. Finally, Rhonda Bishop has been named the new VP of Enterprise, Risk Management and Compliance and she starts later this month.

In other news, the Redbook committee passed revised bylaws, and the committee on committees and credentials is looking for nominations. There are currently three vacancies on the committee. Elections will be held during the May meeting.

The next Faculty Senate meeting is May 2 in Chao Auditorium.