University of Louisville

The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public, state-supported university located in Louisville, Kentucky.

History

The University of Louisville traces its roots back to April 3, 1798 when eight men set out to establish the Jefferson Seminary and began fundraising. Their idea came to fruition slowly, the Seminary finally being established in 1813, and left just as quickly, being closed in 1829.

In 1837 the Louisville Medical Institute (LMI) opened and the Louisville Collegiate Institute (LCI) was chartered. In 1840 the LCI opened and in 1844 it gained control of the land previously belonging to the Jefferson Seminary. In 1846 the Kentucky legislature combined the LMI, the LCI, and a newly created law school into the University of Louisville. The LCI would fold soon afterwards, leaving just medicine and law as the studies.

In the first half of the 20th century many new schools and colleges were added to the university that still exist to this day including a new liberal arts school (1907), a graduate school (1915), as well as colleges for programs in dentistry (1918), engineering (1925), music (1932), and social work (1936).

A college for black students, the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes, was established in 1931, but it was dissolved in 1951 when the university was desegregated.

In the second half of the 20th century, schools were opened for business (1953), education (1968), justice administration (1969), nursing (1979), and urban & public affairs (1983).

In 1970 the university joined the state system because of financial difficulties caused by people deciding to leave the municipality and live in suburbs. In 1998 the university celebrated its bicentennial.

Facts and figures

The 274 acre (1.1 km²) Belknap Campus three miles (5 km) from downtown Louisville is the primary campus, although there are other local campuses in another location in Louisville (Shelby Campus) and in Fort Knox, Kentucky (Fort Knox Campus). Classes are offered in many remote locations, including Panama, Hong Kong, Cairo, Egypt, and Athens, Greece.

The university now consists of 12 different schools and colleges:

• Brandeis School of Law
• College of Arts and Sciences
• College of Business and Public Administration
• College of Education and Human Development
• Graduate School
• J. B. Speed School of Engineering
• 2007, the entire collection of the Kersey engineering library will move to the main library on campus, Ekstrom Library.

As of 2004 the current president is Dr. James R. Ramsey, former director of the budget for Kentucky, he is the 17th president of the University of Louisville. Enrollment for 2003 was 21,464 students, and there are over 100,000 living alumni in the world. The school's mascot is the cardinal, and the school colors are red, black, and white.

Sports

The University of Louisville is part of the NCAA's Division I, and is in Conference USA. In 2005 the school will switch to the Big East Conference.

The school is most well known for its basketball program which gained prominence under Denny Crum who led the team to the NCAA Division I basketball championship in 1980 and 1986. Perennial rivals include the Indiana University (IU) and the University of Kentucky (UK). Adding fuel to the rivalry between UofL and UK was the UofL hiring of Rick Pitino, the former UK head coach, as head coach in 2001.