A premier metropolitan research university. What does that mean? What is that?
(Researchers)
It’s the discovery by University of Louisville researcher Dr. Roberto Bolli
that’s a game changer for heart patients.
Bolli and his team have discovered that healthy stem cells can be taken from a person’s heart,
re-injected into the damaged part to grow new healthy heart tissue, and give those people new life.
It’s pretty remarkable that here in Louisville we’ve got a university that has an atmosphere
where creators like Dr. Bolli, and I’m sure there’s many others, can come here;
they can have an idea and they have an environment to let that idea grow until it becomes all it can be.
UofL’s Spinal Injury Program has also gained international acclaim.
Dr. Susie Harchem and Jonathan Hodes have discovered that a severed spine has a memory.
They found a life changing process to get former paraplegics,
like former Oregon State baseball pitcher Rob Summers, out of their wheelchairs,
standing, maybe even walking again.
I knew right away this was the right place to be.
Out of any other option I had in the world, I knew that here at the University of Louisville,
with everything that they’re doing behind the research, it was an amazing opportunity.
Another key mission at UofL continues to be fighting cancer.
School of Public Health faculty completed a nationally acclaimed study which found Hispanic
women have a higher incidence of breast cancer.
While the Brown Cancer Center is collaborating with an Owensboro Company to use the tobacco plant
to deliver the only FDA approved vaccine for cervical cancer.
Answers to Cancer continue with a partnership between DataSeam, UofL, and Kentucky schools,
harnessing the power of more 10,000 school computers to do cancer research.
A typical cancer drug discovery run takes about 300 years on one computer,
but on those computers, over 10,000 of them, we can do that in two to three days.
We’ve activated tax increment financing in downtown Louisville
to pay for economic development projects.
And our NUCLEUS initiative is close to completing its first building on the old E-market
property, with labs and office space for entrepreneurs, start-ups and research based companies.
We’ve finished one iconic building on the Shelby Campus,
which is the new home to Churchill Downs, NTS, Semonin Realtors and Stifel Nicolaus,
and we’re planning two more buildings there.
And we’ve just broken ground on a new road into our most ambitious project yet,
a new 39 acre research park for engineering and applied sciences on our main campus.
All of these initiatives will bring income, research, innovative thinkers,
and jobs to UofL and our region.
We’re also proud of what our human capital is doing in our own community;
we’re collaborating with historically black Simmons College to reach students
who had little chance of continuing their education.
The old addicts, we don’t care about how much you know until we first know how much you care.
And from the perspective of the community,
what makes UofL a stellar institution is not just its head, but its heart.
UofL’s signature partnership is operating at several Jefferson County Public Schools,
providing mentoring, social workers, and teacher training to help prepare
disadvantage students to be the first in their family to go to college.
Our job right now is to supports those households; if you lend a little bit of hope,
to those families out there that think there’s no hope at this particular point in time,
and encourage and be that intrusive force in the life of youth out there whose not
had these opportunities that sometimes second, third or fourth generations youth enjoy.
In terms of the ability to not think that college is so far off that it is removed, but it can happen for them.
We’re also reaching out to all students and giving them a chance at a college degree.
We graduated the first student from our Cardinal Convenient Program;
that gives a free ride to students whose family income is less than 150% of the federal poverty level.
Growing up in Crofton was a little interesting, as we have a caution light;
it’s a very very small town. I wanted somewhere where I could be in a bigger city,
and have more to do and get a better education.
To go to a school that’s willing to invest the money to help you get an education is a big deal;
it means that they’re willing to take a risk in a sense that these students
are going to turn out to be quality scholars and quality alums.
Kentucky’s elementary school teach of the year got her national certification with help from UofL.
One thing I always wanted to do was get my National Board Certification,
and it’s very costly for teachers to pay for that and I didn’t have the financial means to do that.
The university paid for us to get our National Board Certification,
so having the financial means to do that and the support from the university helped me to achieve
that and I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it at this point in my life without them.
Uofl’s Faculty and students are also excelling, providing free health and dental care
to thousands of Kentuckians, many of whom have never been to a dentist.
There are patients that are in a situation where they can’t make it to a private practice clinic.
Maybe the school is their next options, and there’s patients who can’t make it to the school.
This gives you the chance to help those patients that this is their last resort;
this is their last chance at getting that dental care.
Overall, more than 12,000 UofL students logged 270,000 hours of community service,
landing us on the national list of best neighbors among all colleges and universities.
And those students are some of the best in America;
UofL boasts 8 full-bright scholars this year, 68 since 2003, placing us among the top Full Bright
producing schools in the country, on par with the likes of Norte Dame, Duke, and NYU.
Most of those students come from our top-notch College of Arts and Sciences.
Our freshmen class has the highest average A.C.T score in UofL history;
25.0, an A.C.T score that’s been climbing every year and far above the statewide average.
Recruiting those better students has meant better retention and graduation rates.
It hasn’t hurt that those students now have eating and housing choices
which are as nice as any campus in America.
The newest edition is Cardinal Towne, restaurants and student apartments
built where the old Mastersons Restaurant used to be, across the street from the Belknap Campus.
In all, nearly 5,000 UofL students now live on campus or in affiliated housing.
That’s five times as many as a dozen years ago,
helping UofL burnish it’s long ago image as a commuter school.
UofL is also enhancing its image as an up and coming academic institution.
Our College of Business is tops in Kentucky, among the top 10% nationally,
and produced the student winners of the Super Bowl of business plan competition in 2011.
The Entrepreneurship MBA Program guided us to our path of success;
we could not have done without Dr. Claus and his teaching of perfection.
We now, being TNG Pharmaceuticals, and the University of Louisville
have become a team not only to be reckoned with, but a team to be feared.
The school of Education and Human Development and the Ekstrom Library are both rated in the top 100,
the Speed School of Engineering and the Kent School of Social Work both place high
in national rankings and are making a difference in peoples’ lives.
The Music School has a top 3 choral group, (singing).
The Brandeis School of Law is rated a top 40 best buy,
and our nursing school graduates pass their licensure exams at a rate far above national average.
That’s what a Premier Metropolitan Research University is. That’s UofL.
The University of Louisville