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With each step, we move forward. Taking big strides, our progress continuing on an upward
trajectory. At the University of Louisville we win by working together. We give our students
and faculty the tools to succeed. Tools like the new Student Rec Center on the Belknap
Campus or the high tech clinical and translational research building on the Health Sciences Center
Campus. But the transformation at UofL goes far beyond new places to eat, live, work and
play. Our newest students keep getting better and better. The average ACT score of our incoming
freshmen is the highest ever and more of our seniors win Fulbright Scholarships than all
other Kentucky schools combined. Just having them from the get go, being there to support
me and showing me the opportunities, giving me advice to like different things that I
might want to try out in my college career that might be the right path for me so helpful
and instrumental to getting here for my post grad life. And our athletes are doing as much
winning in the classroom as they are on the field of play. Producing academic all Americans
and our athletes have an overall grade point average of 3.1. I've loved it. I got on campus,
a few weeks in, I realized I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. People are friendly,
all my teachers really want me to succeed and my coaches all want me to succeed. I feel
like the team has had my back since day 1. I've got a family here and they always challenge
me to do my best in and out of the pool so the Cardinal experience so far has been the
most amazing part of my life. The family is no longer a commuter family. UofL now has
more 5,000 students living on campus, more than double 10 years ago. Those students also
understand the commitment their school has made off the campus, improving the lives of
Louisvillians. The lawyering profession is a service profession and it's about helping
people. And so this I think helps put it in perspective for everybody that what we're
going to do for the rest of our lives is service.So there's a lot of different ways that we can
do that, this is just one of them. It's really awesome to be out here and actually see something
other than classroom and actually serving. And we're proud to be Kentucky's most diverse
campus community. As many of the different areas say, it takes many shades of colors
to make Cardinal Red, yes diversity, I know that phrase. I love it because it's true.
It's true. You can come here regardless of where you're from, your background, your ethnicity,
your race, your religion, whatever it is you feel at home at UofL. We have nationally ranked
programs in engineering, business, social work, education, dentistry, nursing, law,
and others. All because of the committed faculty who teach and mentor our great students. I
care about them.They're going to be our future doctors and our future dentists and I really
want them to be prepared so just having that opportunity to work with them is probably
the biggest reward. Our faculty, staff, and students are focused, working hard to keep
improving our graduation rate, which has already increased nearly 60% since 2002. And we're
charting our course for the future with a campaign that has raised more than $1 billion
for student scholarships, new facilities, and faculty research. Our researchers are
doing life changing work, fighting cancer, using stem cells to regrow heart tissue lessening
the need for anti-rejection drugs after transplant and moving paraplegics toward walking again.
The discoveries we've made with epidural stimulation would likely not have been possible if we
hadn't had that unique combination of basic scientists, and clinicians and clinical researchers
working together. Funding research is just a small part of UofL's economic impact on
Louisville which also includes new construction, jobs that go with it, as well as the startup,
aging care health related companies that UofL Foundation and Nucleus are fostering proving
that growing jobs in environmental stewardship can go hand in hand. UofL once again rated
among the nation's greenest schools by the Sierra Club. We'll face the next steps one
at a time through the University of the 21st Century Initiative, we're looking at ourselves
and asking how we can be better in research, finances, in teaching, coming up with effective
and strategic models to keep moving UofL forward. Taking a big step forward in athletics. Joining
the AC will also put UofL in a neighborhood with other great research and academic schools.
The way Dr. Ramsey has impacted just the overall profile of the university is phenomenal, it's
remarkable. And I've joked at Tom Jurich that he needs to write a book because this is not-
this is impressive. As a fan of athletics and a fan of building system, I'm- it's an
honor to be part of this. Moving forward, taking big strides, continuing to believe
it's a great time to be a Louisville Cardinal.