���Ǵڳ�’s online psychology program is rated No. 7 in the nation according to the latest results. Two other programs made the top 50. UofL also received several honors for Best Online Programs for U.S. veterans.��

���Ǵڳ�’s fully ��have consistently appeared in the U.S. News and World Report rankings for more than a decade, earning recognition as some of the best-ranked education opportunities for online students.��

In 2026, the following degrees received Best Online Program honors:����

• Undergraduate Psychology – No. 7
• Undergraduate Business – No. 24
• Graduate ����ֱ�� (Best Online Programs for Veterans) – No. 43
• MBA (Best Online Programs for Veterans) – No. 54
• Graduate Business – No. 82
• Bachelor’s Degree (Best Online Programs for Veterans) – No. 83
• MBA – No. 93
• Bachelor’s Degree – No. 141 ��
• Graduate ����ֱ�� – No. 145��

Kelvin Thompson, ���Ǵڳ�’s vice provost for online strategy and teaching innovation, highlighted the importance of quality online education in advancing lives and careers while offering the flexibility to balance life’s responsibilities.��

“Providing accessible, high-quality online higher education is crucial for American social mobility,” Thompson said. “At UofL, our students come from all��walks of life��and in all manner of circumstances, including first generation, post-traditional and under-resourced students, and recognition from organizations like U.S. News & World Report reaffirms our commitment to excellence in everything we do.”��

UofL recently introduced several new online programs, including its first fully online PhD program, the online��.��

���Ǵڳ�’s online programs are designed for both traditional and non-traditional students, including adult learners, working professionals,��military��and degree-completer��students, as well as anyone looking to earn a college credential through flexible, high-quality online education.��

For more information about ���Ǵڳ�’s online programs, visit��.

The three-story, 4,700-square-foot center at Brodschi Hall features a study room, lounge and meeting space, a lactation room and offices for five full-time staff. There is also flexible office space for support staff to assist military-connected students from the center, kitchenettes and ADA-compliant restrooms with a shower.

Outside, there is a 20-foot flagpole flying the American flag and a Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag and an ADA-compliant picnic bench.

The Center for Military-Connected Students was renovated using $600,000 in state funds. The Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs is using the center as a model for other state institutions, and the center has hosted visits from institutions as far away as California.

“This ribbon-cutting marks the achievement of a long-term goal of creating a dedicated and welcoming space to serve these students, who make up more than 10 percent of ���Ǵڳ�’s student population,” said Kim Schatzel, president of UofL. “I want to thank Gov. Andy Beshear, state Rep. Kevin Bratcher and the rest of the legislature for providing the funding to enable this project. But even while we celebrate this achievement, we remain committed to continually improving how we serve this important population.”

The next phase of the renovation includes a dedicated space for ���Ǵڳ�’s chapter of the Student Veterans of America, an additional study room and lending library in the basement. The basement will also feature a TV, pool table and foosball table for students.

Among the center’s key functions include identifying and tracking military-connected students, policy advocacy, advising use of and processing Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) education benefits, and Military Tuition Assistance processing and residency coding. It also performs undergraduate admissions actions for currently serving members, veterans and dependents using VA education benefits, and advocacy and assistance for graduate admissions.

The center, which moved into Brodschi Hall in October, was formed in 2022 by merging the Office of Military and Veteran Student Services (formerly part of Undergraduate Admissions) and the university’s Fort Knox campus (formerly part of the College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development).

Directed by U.S. Air Force veteran Kyle Hurwitz, the center was cited as a factor in UofL earning the 2023 “Gold” designation from Military Friendly. Of the more than 1,800 participating institutions, UofL was among one of only 33 Carnegie Designated Tier 1 Research institutions in the nation to earn this designation. This recognition highlights the institution’s “commitment, effort and success in creating sustainable and meaningful benefits for the military community.”

Through the center and this new space, the university will increase military-connected student persistence and success rates, as well as enhance their higher education experience through innovation, accessibility, connection and appreciation,” Hurwitz said. “We hope it will be the national model for empowering and supporting military-connected student success.”

Its goal is to improve ���Ǵڳ�’s ability to address the academic, financial, physical and social needs of students who are active-duty service members, in the National Guard and the Reserves, are veterans or dependents or who are Army Reserve Officer Training Corps or Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets.

There are currently 2,356 military-connected students enrolled at UofL.

View pictures from the ribbon cutting ceremony of .��

Miami, Florida, native Ralph Gonzalez is a junior communications major who served in the United States Marine Corps from 2017 to 2021, attaining the rank of sergeant. When he left the Marine Corps, he was an artillery section chief responsible for 12 marines and over $2-million worth of equipment.

His service in the Marine Corps started with completing bootcamp at Parris Island, South Carolina. After bootcamp, he was assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for his artillery training. His fleet assignment was to 29 Palms, California, and Camp Pendleton. While there he deployed twice with the U.S. Navy, going to Japan, Australia, Thailand and the Republic of South Korea. He was awarded a Navy Marine Corps Achievement medal which he “cherishes to this day,” he said.

Gonzalez chose the University of Louisville for what he called its “sense of community,” adding he felt comfortable in the city and at the university. He is a big fan of Cardinals athletics.

Gonzalez said he appreciates the many people at UofL who have helped him on and off campus, citing the many great professors from the English department. He also singled out Carissa Gentry and Kristen Roy from the .

After completing his undergraduate degree, Gonzalez intends to pursue a graduate degree. His goal is to become an English teacher.

Following a 21-year career in the U.S. Air Force, Raphael Garcia is excelling as a graduate student at the University of Louisville.��

Garcia is an active member of the campus community serving on leadership councils for three student organizations, including as president of the chapter. Through his efforts, the SVA chapter recently earned Registered Student Organization (RSO) status at UofL.����

Academic success is not new to Garcia. During his Air Force career, he excelled in Professional Military ����ֱ��, earning an Academic Award at Airman Leadership School, as well as earning Distinguished Graduate from the Non-Commissioned Officer Leadership Academy.��

His seven assignments included three stateside assignments as well as assignments to Turkey, two assignments to the Republic of South Korea, Germany and Guam. Among his deployments included two tours in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and two tours in Al Jaber, Kuwait. Raphael’s major decorations included the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Army Commendation Medal for direct Army support in Afghanistan, Korea and Washington.��

Among his favorite Air Force memories include shooting mini guns from a Chinook helicopter with the Australian Army during an aerial gunnery training, and leading or supporting fundraising events as well as mentoring children at orphanages in the Republic of South Korea and Germany.����

Travel is something Garcia always appreciated, and the optional overseas immersion portion of ���Ǵڳ�’s program appealed to him. He attended the University Forum for Human Resource Development Conference and other events as part of the Global Human Resources Development course in Dublin, Ireland, calling it an “unforgettable experience.”��

Garcia also identified the new, $600,000-state funded��Center for Military-Connected Students as being vital in supporting and guiding the UofL military-connected community. The center, in Brodschi Hall on Belknap Campus, will hold a ribbon-cutting in October, but was already cited as a factor in��UofL earning the 2023 Military Friendly® “Gold” designation from��®, a program that measures an organization’s commitment, effort and success in creating sustainable and meaningful benefit for the military community.

Garcia, who will graduate in spring 2024, intends to seek a leadership role in talent development or organizational development after graduation.��

Retired Capt. Martha Kotite will present “Telling Their Stories: A Celebration of Women Veterans” at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 22, at Chao Auditorium in ���Ǵڳ�’s Ekstrom Library. Veterans advocate Heather French Henry will emcee.

Admission is free but RSVPs are needed by email at women.veterans@ky.gov. The Kentucky veterans affairs department also will furnish parking for the first 100 people who RSVP.

Kotite will discuss the importance of the female veteran experience and its significance in relating military history, drawing upon the stories she collected in writing five books: “Changing the Rules of Engagement: Inspiring Stories of Courage and Leadership from Women in the Miltary,” “My Name is Old Glory: A Celebration of the Star-Spangled Banner,” “Legacy: A History of the Coast Guard Foundation,” “So Others May Live: Coast Guard’s Rescue Swimmers” and “Innovators: Rock Stars of STEM”. The program will conclude with a book-signing event with Kotite.

For more information, visit the .

About Martha Kotite

Kotite’s leadership style empowered her to be one of the first female officers to serve aboard two Coast Guard cutters with all male crews.��Patrolling the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as well as the Caribbean Sea, she remained true to herself while changing the rules of engagement.

A graduate of the��U.S. Coast Guard Academy��with a masters from Harvard University, Kotite rose to the senior rank of captain and is an award-winning author of five books. Her presentations are influenced by her 29-year career serving at sea and ashore and the courageous trailblazers she has profiled in her books.

Kotite earned numerous personal and team awards for her mobilizations during national disasters, missions saving lives at sea and work as a public relations spokesperson for the Service, the Commandant’s Press Secretary and as a New York City public relations firm’s account director for IBM.

Kotite lead the Coast Guard’s development of emergency crisis management liaisons across the FEMA regions and nation. She deployed on scene for significant national events like the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and numerous catastrophic hurricanes including Sandy and Maria. Hand-picked by the Commandant, she worked in Washington as the Commandant’s Press Secretary and served at sea on a cutter sailing the Pacific Ocean and as executive officer of a patrol boat patrolling the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Today, she lives in Florida with her family.

HAPF is a year-long program designed to prepare leaders who will work to improve health and aging policy relative to health care for older adults. Applicants to the program must demonstrate a commitment to the health and aging issues of older Americans, as well as the potential to be health policy leaders.��

According to Trager Institute Executive Director Anna Faul, the fellowship will allow Furman to introduce the institute and its mission to people who have the power to change the field of geriatrics, not only to address the needs of older adults but to redefine the aging experience.

UofL News asked Furman about what drew her to the fellowship and what she expects to gain and learn during her year in D.C.

UofL News: How did you hear about this fellowship and what interested you about applying for it?

Christian D. Furman: I first heard about the Health and Aging Policy Fellowship when I was an innovation advisor for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) about ten years ago. While I was a CMMI innovation advisor, they encouraged us to apply for the fellowship. As I teach geriatrics, I always discuss policy issues that need to be corrected. I thought now was the time to change these policies. Instead of just talking about it, now was the time to do something.��

ULN: What are your expectations going into the fellowship?

Furman: I expect to learn how state and federal policies are made. I expect to learn who makes these policies. I expect to make a network of professionals who I can work with in the future to advocate for policy changes to improve the lives of older adults.

ULN: What excites you the most about being part of this fellowship?��

Furman:��I chose the residential track and will be relocating to Washington during this one-year fellowship. I am excited to be in an environment where I will meet people daily who can change policies to improve the lives of older adults!

ULN: Do you have any specific goals you want to accomplish while in Washington?��

Furman: My goal during the fellowship is to change the Hospice Medicare Benefit to include room and board at the nursing home. When I was chief of hospice and palliative care at the VA, I would discharge dying patients to the nursing home with Hospice so they could have a peaceful death in a home-like setting. A few weeks later, they would arrive back at the VA emergency room (ER) actively dying. The ER is not the best environment to die.

The reason this occurred is when the patient arrived at the nursing home, the nursing home said that if the patient wanted to use their Hospice Medicare Benefit, they needed to pay room and board (about $250/day) or they could stay at the nursing home at no-charge and use their Skilled Medicare Benefit. Most patients choose free services, so they used their Skilled Medicare Benefit and not their Hospice Medicare Benefit. Therefore, when they start to actively die, there is no specialized care team that knows what to do (Hospice), so the patient is sent back to the ER. While these dying patients are receiving Skilled Medicare Services, they are forced to do physical therapy and walk up and down the halls when they are very weak and would rather stay in bed. I have seen this same scenario play out again and again over my past 22 years as a geriatrician. Now is the time for me to try to change this policy. This fellowship will give me the skills necessary to advocate for this change.��

ULN: You’ll continue your role as the medical director at the Trager Institute/Republic Bank Foundation Optimal Aging Clinic while you’re doing this fellowship. How do you plan to stay connected with the Trager Institute during your absence?��

Furman: I am very grateful for the support from Toni Ganzel, dean of the UofL School of Medicine and Anna Faul, executive director of Trager Institute, in allowing me to pursue this fellowship. I will retain the Smock Endowed Chair and be able teach advocacy and policy to our learners at Trager during the fellowship. I will join Trager meetings and conferences virtually and speak daily to our practice manager. The other geriatricians and our nurse practitioner will care for my patients during this time. I am extremely blessed that we have a wonderful team!

Interview by Samantha Adams.

The inaugural 5K Louisville H.E.R.O. – Honor Earned. Remembrance Owed. – Run/Walk/Ruck will honor military personnel who have died while serving and those who died because they have borne the battle, said Jason Beare, race organizer and research manager with the University of Louisville’s Cardiovascular Innovation Institute.

The family-friendly event welcomes participants of all fitness levels, ages and abilities and will be held at ���Ǵڳ�’s Track and Field Stadium, 2125 S. Floyd St.

Proceeds will benefit the newly established UofL Veteran and Dependent Scholarship Fund, as well as Veterans Club Inc. The 5K route will leave the track and field stadium,��take participants through the University of Louisville campus and finish on the track. There also are options for participants to take part in virtual runs on the

All races begin at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, June 4. Advance registration is available on the race website. Packet pick-up will be held Friday, June 3, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Mission BBQ, 4607 Shelbyville Road, and from 7:30-8:30 a.m. on race day at Cardinal Park, located adjacent to the track stadium.

Cost is $20 for all active military and veteran personnel and $25 for all others. Children 12 and under can race free of charge in the 100-meter Kids Run.

All finishers will receive a commemorative coin. The top male and female age-group finisher also will receive an award. The age categories are 13-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 and over.��

Out of the 1,800 institutions that participated in the Military Friendly survey, UofL was one of only 37 Carnegie Research 1 institutions to earn a “Designated” status, and the only institution in the Atlantic Coast Conference to earn “Gold” status.

For the past 11 years, UofL has achieved designated status; however this is the first time UofL has received “Gold” status, identifying “leading practices, outcomes and effective programs.”��

Institutions are evaluated in six weighted areas: Academic��Policies & Compliance, Graduation & Career Outcomes, Culture & Commitment, Military Student Support & Retention, Admissions and Orientation and Financial Aid & Loan Repayment.��

“Earning this designation is validation of our ongoing work to make UofL a great place to learn. I want to recognize the hard work and contributions of the many people across campus who made this designation possible,” said UofL Interim President Lori Gonzalez. “While we celebrate this achievement, we remain committed to continually improving how we serve this important population.”

Examples of ���Ǵڳ�’s commitment to serving this population include the key functions provided by the Office of Veteran and Military Student Services, creation of a Military-Connected Student Advisory Council to build on efficiencies and to share best practices in serving this population, working with veterans to reactivate the Student Veterans Association chapter, creating a virtual military-connected student resource website and offering waived undergraduate and graduate application fees, and offering priority course registration to this population.

This year, UofL is creating a Center for��Military-Connected Students. It will enable the institution to increase military-connected student persistence and success rates, enhance our ability to attract military-connected students and enhance the experience of this student demographic.

The Center will include office space for fulltime staff, flexible office space for support staff from student services areas, a meeting space, a military-connected student lounge and kitchen and a military-connected student study space. Renovation of Honors House is expected to begin in Fall 2022 and to last through Summer 2023.

In 2021, the Kickoff Kids for UofL home football games were all children of local military members. They had the important job of retrieving the tee after the game’s opening kick. While the 2021 edition featured Kickoff Kids from U.S. Army families from Fort Knox, next year the program will expand to include children from the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Kentucky Air National Guard.

This initiative is part of UofL Athletics’ wider Salute to Service program. The program shows recognition and appreciation to the institution’s more than 1,000 veteran students and approximately 10% percent of staff and faculty who are veterans, as well as to the local military community.

“We are thrilled that so many veterans are fans of the UofL football program. The Salute to Service program is a way to keep our veterans and their families involved in our games and in the community. We owe our veterans a huge debt of gratitude and this is our way of saying thank you,” said Rocco Gasparro, ���Ǵڳ�’s associate sports information director, football.��

One of the cornerstones of the Salute to Service programs is UofL Football’s annual open practice event for veteran student, staff and faculty. This group is afforded a behind-the-scenes tour of the football facility, including Lamar Jackson’s Heisman Trophy. The group then attends practice and meets the coaching staff and players. It culminates with attendees being provided tickets for themselves and up to three guests for the military appreciation football game, where the veterans are recognized on-field.

A separate component of the program sees a veteran student, staff, or faculty member identified as the Salute to Service Honoree for home football games. The honoree and guests receive tickets, are invited to the President’s pregame tailgate, and then the honoree is recognized on the field.

The annual military appreciation game is also part of the program, featuring numerous activities and events recognizing and celebrating members of the Armed Forces and veterans. In 2021, the honorary captain for the game was an active-duty U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant who is a UofL Online Student chosen from amongst dozens of nominations. The individual who sounded the team’s train horn was an active-duty U.S. Army Sergeant First Class from Fort Knox. She was nominated by her chain of command for superior performance.

Each year, Athletics distributes several hundred tickets to the veteran students, staff and faculty and the local military community for the military appreciation game. This year’s military appreciation game coincided with the retirement of Lamar Jackson’s number 8 jersey. ��

Expansion of the Salute to Service program to include military children as Kickoff Kids comes on the heels of the football team visiting Fort Knox this past summer. While there, they conducted the Field Leadership Reaction Course, competed against the U.S. Army Recruiting Command’s E-sports team, and signed autographs for the local community.

Salute to Service has also since spread from just the football team to numerous other teams, including men’s and women’s basketball. Both teams host a specific Salute to Service-themed game, and both recognize a veteran student, staff, or faculty member at select home games. The men’s team also hosts an open practice event, where veterans tour the facility, meet players and coaches, and then attend practice. Like football’s event, these attendees are provided tickets to a subsequent game for themselves, and guests and they are recognized on-court.

“We are proud that many veterans choose to make UofL home. The sacrifices they make every day for our country and all of us cannot be overstated, and we are honored by their presence on our campuses,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “The Salute to Service program is one small way we recognize and celebrate our veteran community, and hopefully contribute to our strategic goal of making UofL a great place to work.”