UofL Online Learning – UofL News Tue, 21 Apr 2026 21:06:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 After more than 20 years, this UofL grad made a longtime goal reality /post/uofltoday/after-more-than-20-years-this-uofl-grad-made-a-longtime-goal-reality/ Tue, 13 Dec 2022 17:00:44 +0000 /?p=57728 In 2001, Matt Crouch moved from the small town of Springfield, Kentucky, to Louisville to attend the University of Louisville. He settled into Unitas Tower with his friend, and they both decided they’d pursue a computer information systems degree.
Crouch loved UofL – especially the sports teams – but after a year or so, he took a well-paying full-time job and stopped taking classes.
“I decided, ‘I’m really not enjoying class anyway,’” he said. “I’m not sure this is for me. I’ll finish it later.”
Later turned into almost two decades of working full-time jobs around Louisville. He became a husband, then a dad. He remained a diehard UofL sports fan.
“I always told my wife, ‘I want to go back to school,’” he said. “My parents both graduated from college and I felt like the oddball without a degree. And obviously, I knew a degree would help me at some point. I just had this passion to graduate from UofL.”
With years to reflect on his interests and strengths, Crouch decided would be a perfect fit, and tested the waters by taking one class in the spring of 2020. When the pandemic caused him to be furloughed from his job that semester, he stayed home with daughter Lucy (day care had also shut down) and took his class while his wife continued working.
“I got an A in the class, which was really exciting because I don’t think I got many of those when I was initially there,” he laughed. So he plunged in, taking as many classes as he could.
By May of 2021, the Crouch family grew again with the addition of a son, Cooper, and dad Matt continued to care for the children while working on his degree. His goal was to finish by the time he was 40.
By the summer of 2022, an internship at Churchill Downs had blossomed into a full-time job in the human resources department. Determined to finish by August, Crouch spent the summer taking classes, caring for his family and working full-time. At the age of 40, he had earned a 4.0 GPA for the summer semester and completed his degree.
“It was honestly miserable, but I made it,” he said. “It makes me a little emotional to talk about it because it was tough.”
Crouch said he never could have achieved his dream without the flexibility of the all-online degree program. He also leaned heavily on the consistent support he received from his family – his wife, Jessica, is an optometrist who cheered him on – and UofL.
In his new role at Churchill Downs, he participated in a campus job fair and had the opportunity to visit Belknap Campus for the first time since he first attended UofL.
“It’s a great place,” he said. “It was actually surreal. It looked so different.”
He said he is excited to walk across the stage at December commencement with his family and friends watching from the stands at the KFC Yum! Center. He hopes his children, now 3 and 1, will remember the celebration.
“It’s going to be a moment for sure,” he said.
]]> UofL student and Coast Guard lieutenant is ‘Semper Paratus’ (always ready) /post/uofltoday/uofl-student-and-coast-guard-lieutenant-is-semper-paratus-always-ready/ Wed, 27 Jul 2022 15:26:13 +0000 /?p=56902 Matthew Ross is a Lieutenant in the United States Coast Guard and a University of Louisville Online Master of Science in Criminal Justice student.

He and his spouse Shelby live in the Los Angeles area where he is the Operations Officer for the Maritime Safety and Security Team, Los Angeles Long Beach. Ross oversees all training, deployments, and operations for a unit whose primary missions include Maritime Law Enforcement, Drug/Migrant Interdiction, Search and Rescue, and Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security.

Originally from San Diego, Ross joined the Coast Guard in 2015 and was stationed in Seattle for one year where he worked in base security and port operations. After attending Boatswain’s Mate “A” School, his next assignment took him to San Diego, where he served as a Non-compliant Vessel Pursuit Coxswain and Search and Rescue Coxswain. During this period, he was the small boat operator and person in charge during law enforcement, search and rescue, and migrant/drug interdiction cases on the maritime border of the United States and Mexico.

Following this assignment, Ross attended Officer Candidate School in 2018, and was assigned to New Orleans as the Deputy Enforcement Division Chief and Command Duty Officer, responsible for coordinating all law enforcement and search and rescue cases in Louisiana. From Louisiana, Ross moved to his current position in Los Angeles.

During his time in the Coast Guard, Ross has qualified as a Deployable Team Leader, Flood Response Team Leader, Counter Drug Boarding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Fisheries Boarding Officer, and Non-Compliant Vessel Pursuit Coxswain. He has traveled across the country for operations from Alaska to Puerto, as well as deploying 10 times in support of hurricane responses across the Gulf of Mexico.

His favorite Coast Guard memories come from periods when deployed for hurricane responses and mass rescue operations. He said hurricane deployments are especially rewarding because you are often, “on your own with minimal resources and you must find a way to rescue people with often no means of communication.”

During hurricane response in 2018, Ross and his team located an elderly care facility which had been without power for over 24 hours, had no communication, and their generators were about to kick off. The team was able to procure school busses and the team loaded 127 senior citizens and their life-sustaining equipment onto the busses and took them to safety.

Ross’ awards and decorations include One Coast Guard Commendation Medal, Three Coast Guard Achievement Medals, Three Letters of Commendation, One Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, One Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Advanced Boat Forces Insignia, and various other team/unit awards.

­He started UofL’s Online Master of Science in Criminal Justice program in spring 2020 and is in his final semester. He said he chose UofL due to the university’s great reputation, and because a friend highly recommended UofL Online to him. As a UofL Online student, he has been able to continue his education while taking classes from five different states over the past three years.

He hopes to use his Master of Science in Criminal Justice degree to help compete for promotion to Lieutenant Commander, and then to use the skills he learned as he continues his career as a law enforcement supervisor.

Not only has UofL challenged him as a student, but he has become “a better leader and thinker.” Ross said he has enjoyed taking courses which pushed him outside of his comfort zone and challenged him to be a critical thinker, adding that the entire Criminal Justice Department is “tremendous.”

On Aug 4, 2022, UofL recognizes and celebrates the 232nd birthday of the U.S. Coast Guard and its precursors, the Revenue Marine, the Revenue Cutter Service, and the U.S. Life Saving Service.

]]> UofL Online student is also a U.S. Space Force officer /post/uofltoday/uofl-online-student-is-also-a-u-s-space-force-officer/ Thu, 16 Dec 2021 16:51:19 +0000 /?p=55342 David Lacourrege is a graduate student in UofL’s online Master of Science in Human Resources and Organization Development.

He is also an active duty U.S. Space Force Officer assigned to the 613th Air Operations Center at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Specifically, he serves as a bounty hunter liaison officer.

Lacourrege, who hails from Ridgeland, Mississippi, originally entered the Air Force in 2016 as a space operations officer. In 2020, he was among the first servicemembers to transition into the new U.S. Space Force. In addition to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, his other assignments include Vandenberg Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, and Peterson Space Force Base.

During his time in the Air Force and the Space Force, he’s attended schools like the Satellite Vehicle Operator Initial Qualification Training, the Advanced Payload Engineering Course, and the Advanced Satellite Communications Planner Course. He’s earned the Air Force Commendation Medal, Remote Combat Effects Campaign Medal, Combat Readiness Medal and Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal.

Lacourrege said community environment and welcoming accommodations were factors in him choosing UofL. He also cited ease of access to university amenities, certification programs, and academic tools which make it simple for him to prepare for success in his degree program.

“UofL feels like a family even though I may be a distance student,” he said.

Lacourrege said CEHD’s Ron Sheffield, his academic adviser, and Nina Marijanovic, coordinator of admissions, as well as Delphi Center’s Veronica Johnson have been extremely helpful during his transition into the M.S. HROD program.­­

Not only does he plan to learn mastery of the subject through his M.S. HROD degree, but he plans to utilize the knowledge and skills he acquires to be able to implement effective leadership qualities in his Space Force career.

UofL recognizesLacourrege in celebration of the second birthday of the U.S. Space Force on December 20, 2021.

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