The Black Male Initiative formally began at UofL in 2011 as the African American Male Initiative. In its 10 years, the student success program’s objectives haven’t wavered – increase the retention, graduation, engagement and overall success of Black males.

The program has done this in a number of ways; for example offering academic coaching, community service and leadership workshops. However, perhaps the most effective initiative is the BMI’s laser-sharp focus on creating connections among peers.

Those connections have become ever more critical now in a largely virtual environment, and Brandyn Bailey, assistant director at the Cultural Center and adviser of the BMI, touts the work the team has done to ensure programs and discussions on topics like mental health continue. One such initiative that is ready to launch, for example, is a new video series on YouTube called Wednesday Wisdom. The idea is to increase access to mentors – both on and off campus – virtually, and cover topics like financial literacy, healthy relationships and internships.

Bailey has overseen the BMI since October 2018 after a stint at the Muhammad Ali Institute. Prior to that, he was part of a program called the Campaign for Black Male Achievement and was selected from a national pool to be a part of the inaugural Building Beloved Community Leadership Fellowship. He has taken much of what he learned from that program to create his vision for the Black Male Initiative into its second decade.

“I want to make Black male achievement at UofL the expectation and not the exception and doing so by building out an infrastructure that supports Black male students who are not athletes or are not on scholarship,” he said. “Those are the students most affected by adverse circumstances outside of the classroom.”

Such circumstances can make it hard to even get into UofL, let alone get a degree. Bailey said a number of students he works with have to work to make ends meet, and that’s when balancing classes and grades becomes a particular challenge.

To navigate this challenge, he has recruited staff and faculty across campus who identify as Black males and who represent a variety of professional fields to be mentors.

“I want to create a large enough network so if a student tells me he wants to be a social worker, I can connect him with someone on campus who looks like him and who has social worker experience so they can show what that profession looks like on a daily basis,” Bailey said. “The goal is for them to build relationships with those individuals, and myself, so they have multiple people as accountability partners and so their idea of success no longer remains in this esoteric space, but is something that is achievable.”

Bailey pulls his motivation and this strategy from his personal experience growing up in Louisville and attending Noe Middle School, where he witnessed fights “literally every day and a lot of students living far below poverty levels.”

“All of this stuff was happening, these traumatic pieces that you take in at 11 or 12 years old, and you’re still expected to pass a math test in the middle of the afternoon. My priority is making sure our students have folks around them to not only make sense of all of their experiences but also helping them get through,” Bailey said. “We have to take this hands-on approach because these students might not have people in their lives who reflect the future that they want to have.”

The BMI uses a platform called Cardsmart to match students to specific advisors or academic coaches who work with students based on an identifying marker. Bailey said there is a lot of growth opportunity with this networking program. At the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, there were about 980 students who identified as a Black male. A few are distance or nontraditional students, others are student-athletes or scholarship awardees, and 100 or so are Metropolitan College students employed by UPS.

“That leaves about 400 or 500 students I’m trying to get to. The others are going to be OK. I want to get to them, but they have resources, or at least not as many barriers,” Bailey said.

Bailey has also put into place a BMI Wise Council, which gives students even more networking opportunities.

“I believe the council will be a difference maker. In theory, if there are more people to choose from for mentorship or coaching, then we’ll be able to see more students a year,” he said. “We have to accept that a vast majority of education in the scope of higher education happens independently of the classroom. That’s where the rubber meets the road. In that scope, I want to provide healthy and artistic platforms for our students to build community and self-esteem with that ultimate goal of graduating everybody.”

It’s hard not to see some progress here. According to a recent report card from the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center,. Scores were based on factors like the percentage of Black undergraduates and the six-year graduation rate for Black students.

Still, much work remains. In 2018, UofL’s six-year graduation rate for Black students was about 47%, compared to the school’s overall graduation rate of 53.2%. Boosting these rates is a priority of President Neeli Bendapudi, and the Black Male Initiative has been .����

Bailey is up to the challenge and is extremely optimistic about the program’s future.

“We have a foundation now and it’s time to grow it and scale it,” he said. “We also want to sustain it to make sure sophomores and juniors in high school see UofL where they can come and foster a path to success, so they know there are folks here to support you.”

“I remember her explaining what a one-of-a-kind program GEMS was, how those selected had unique opportunities in undergrad that others would not have until much later in their medical careers and how the GEMS were a close-knit group seen around campus together,” Smoot said. “Overhearing that one conversation affected my whole life.”

For 30 years, GEMS has provided mentoring and support for nearly 300 academically-talented youth from across Kentucky interested in becoming physicians by providing a clear path to complete college and enter medical school. Each academic year, about 10 students are admitted to the program as freshmen entering UofL.

Established in 1988, GEMS paves the way for the students selected for the program as they enter UofL as undergraduates knowing they will have automatic admission to the UofL School of Medicine as long as they maintain certain academic standards. In addition, GEMS students have the opportunity to shadow practicing physicians and faculty, participate in seminars, serve the Louisville community and build relationships with other students who have the goal of becoming a physician.

The students retain their automatic admission to the UofL School of Medicine as long as they have maintained a 3.4 cumulative and science grade point average in undergraduate work, scored at or above the national mean on each section of the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), and participated fully in program activities.

Kevin Trice, MD, MBA, now a director of sleep medicine at Baptist Hospital in Madisonville, said GEMS gave him the confidence and freedom to pursue medicine.

“It completely changed my trajectory. I was interested in medicine, but planned to pursue engineering since it was easier and I had a better chance,” Trice said. “Once I was accepted, it relieved me of the anxiety and stress common in undergraduate pre-med students.”

James Frazier, MD, was a member of the 1990 GEMS class and graduated from the UofL School of Medicine in 1998. Now the vice president of medical affairs at Norton Healthcare, Frazier said the GEMS program was life changing.

“I owe everything to GEMS. They took a chance on me right out of high school. It took a lot of pressure off that I saw my future classmates going through,” Frazier said. “You would see those who were trying to get in, how stressed they were about MCAT and maintaining their GPA. It definitely gave me an advantage not having to worry about maintaining perfect grades.”

Frazier said the freedom from stress allowed him to broaden his undergraduate education.

“Because of that reduced stress, I got to take more well-rounded classes – history, economics, finance – than if I had to maintain a 4.0 GPA. It helped me when I started private practice to have a little knowledge about the business world and how to run practice,” Frazier said.

Scott Sullivan, MD, a member of the 1989 GEMS class and 1996 alumnus of the UofL School of Medicine, credits the program with providing resources he needed to enter medicine.

“I doubt I would be in medicine without the program.��Living in a rural area and never having much exposure to medicine, I lacked mentors and direction.��The program provided both, which proved to be invaluable,” said Sullivan, who is from Ballardsville.

Now an ob/gyn and specialist in maternal-fetal medicine, Sullivan is a professor at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina.��

“Having access to dedicated and experienced mentors at the age of 18 was incredibly helpful,” Sullivan said. “They got me on the right track very quickly. They gave mentorship not only about how to become a physician, but how to be interested in public health, education and community involvement.”

Another advantage for students who have participated in the program is the relationships they built with colleagues and mentors that enrich their college and medical school experience, including physicians, researchers and faculty in the School of Medicine.

“The most valuable part is the people you meet and you are with for four years in undergrad and medical school. For those eight years you are extremely tight. I am still in close contact with all the people in GEMS with fair regularity,” Frazier said. “We have a 20^th reunion coming up and I am looking forward to seeing them. Having that network of people here in town is invaluable.”

“The program was very forward thinking at the time as a way to keep Kentucky physicians in the state, and I believe they have done a pretty good job,” Frazier said. “It was a very progressive thing for UofL to have done 30 years ago, and I’m happy the school has supported it for so long.”

Smoot was admitted to the GEMS program in 1997 and graduated from UofL School of Medicine in 2006. She now is a pediatrician at Juniper Health in Campton, Kentucky.

“I often wonder if I had not happened to overhear a chance conversation, being from Eastern Kentucky, would I have gone to UofL for my undergraduate years, and then on to UofL medical school?” Smoot said. “Looking back now, I can’t imagine a different past, and I certainly would regret missing out on the friendships I made at UofL 20 years ago that still mean the world to me.”

GEMS by the numbers��

• Number of students participating in GEMS 1988-2018: 290
• Number of GEMS students who have graduated from UofL School of Medicine: 148
• Number of GEMS students currently enrolled in UofL School of Medicine: 27
• Number of GEMS students enrolled or graduated from another school of medicine:19
• Number of GEMS students currently enrolled in UofL as undergraduates: 39
• Number of GEMS students who were Kentucky Derby Festival princesses: 5 (1 Queen)
• Number of Kentucky counties represented by GEMS students: 49
• Number of GEMS students who have completed or are enrolled in MD/PhD programs: 6

Postel met with Pitino and Jurich separately Wednesday morning to inform them of the decision, which comes after allegations that a men’s basketball coach participated with an apparel company and others in a scheme to pay a recruit to come to the university.

That player has been notified that he has been removed from team activities.

“The allegations are serious,” Postel said. “It is vital for this university to strictly adhere to NCAA rules and, of course, federal law. Doing nothing would be a tacit endorsement of potential criminal and unethical behavior.”

Jurich has been suspended with pay, effective immediately, pending the next meeting of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees. Pitino has been suspended without pay, effective immediately.

Postel said he will work quickly to name an interim athletic director and, together, they will name an interim head men’s basketball coach. He said he hopes to announce those appointments within 48 hours. Decisions regarding coaches named during the investigation will be made by the interim athletic director.

Postel stressed that the university will cooperate fully with law enforcement and NCAA officials.

The press conference is available below:��

While we are just learning about this information, this is a serious concern that goes to the heart of our athletic department and the university. UofL is committed to ethical behavior and adherence to NCAA rules; any violations will not be tolerated.

We will cooperate fully with any law enforcement or NCAA investigation into the matter.

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1.) Dr. Pinto was born in Bombay, India, and experienced a childhood “as different from Louisville as you can imagine.” He credits his parents for their commitment to education as enabling him to succeed.

“They invested heavily in our education and that gave me an advantage and prepared me for my future,” he said.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in India, Dr. Pinto went on to Penn State University, where he earned his MS and PhD in chemical engineering and served as a teaching assistant. This sparked his interest in teaching as a career and he honed this interest as a professor at the University of Cincinnati before joining UofL as Dean of the Speed School of Engineering in 2011.

This was not the path he expected.

“My original plan was to come back (to India) and work with my dad on my business. But I started to love academics and gain an interest in research as a graduate student. At Cincinnati, I met students whose path was different from mine and it was a sort of an evolution once I understood my true job: exposing them to the highest level of education you can have – that’s what’s driven me.”

2.) Dr. Pinto believes UofL exists because of the students: “They are the center of our decisions. That is how I approach my responsibilities.”

He shared some strategies for student retention and student success that he hopes will enhance the university’s reputation. These strategies will focus on resources and how to be strategic in investments, including with the new Student Success Center, expected to open in the new Academic Building in the fall of 2018. The building will include more open spaces, career advising and academic support spaces and more. The SAC renovation scheduled for completion at about the same time also revolves around student spaces, encouraging learning outside of the classroom.

“Student engagement is important to every aspect on campus. In that context, we have a strong commitment to success of our students,” Pinto said.����

3.) International recruitment is also a priority for Dr. Pinto.

“For a university of our stature, the goal is globalization and the impact that’s going to have on our students in the future is something we have to address very aggressively,” he said.

The number of UofL students who have international experience has steadily remained around 800 to 900 throughout the past few years, and Dr. Pinto recognizes economic barriers in raising that number dramatically.

“There is a different way of doing this and that is to bring the world here and to have a diversified group of students peppered in with our students,” he said. “International students benefit from their education here, and our students benefit from them being here as well.”��

4.) Dr. Pinto was asked how to boost morale of faculty and staff on campus and he said it’s important to remain focused on why we’re here.

“The work we do is so important to society that we have to focus on the reason we do this. There are factors we can’t control, but we can control what we choose to focus on and be energized by,” he said. “It all goes back to why are we doing this – because it’s important and worth it and we can make a difference.”��

5.) Dr. Pinto hopes to achieve his goals by better anticipating the future and promoting education’s benefits.

“Can we be known nationally for original thinking, for new paradigms that will help us change the game?” he asked. “To do that, you have to ask the big questions. What will education look like in 30 or 40 years?”

Dr. Pinto added that it’s incumbent upon faculty to get out there and tell people why education is important.

“We can’t just sit back and wait for the applications to come in,” he said. “Universities are a big part of the engine of progress in this country. We’re repositories safeguarding society’s values.”