New Partnership for the Advancing Kentucky Together Network

Campus Community,

Last fall, I shared with you the Board of Trustees’ directive calling on UK to be the institution that does more through collaborations than any other in the nation to improve the health of the state it serves. With strong partners across the state, we can do more to improve the health of Kentuckians. As a result, we announced a new partnership with Pikeville Medical Center as part of our Advancing Kentucky Together Network.

This morning, I am pleased to update you on the next phase of this important work as we officially welcome Transylvania University as the first academic partner in the network. This collaboration focuses on working with partners to advance Kentucky by expanding educational opportunities and supporting health care for Kentuckians.

Transylvania University President Brien Lewis and I signed a memorandum of understanding that outlines some of the initiatives our institutions will jointly pursue. Teams of officials from both of our universities are working on projects including:

• Enabling Transylvania students to seamlessly move from their undergraduate studies into a master’s degree program in the UK College of Public Health.
• Exploring potential outreach efforts in the Fayette County Public School system.
• Collaborating on education abroad and internship opportunities.
• Sharing information through the institutions’ human resources areas around technology for employee onboarding and training and hiring needs.

Separated by a few downtown city blocks, UK and Transylvania have a deep-rooted history of partnerships in business, engineering and health care education. An Early Assurance Program helps Transylvania students receive early acceptance into the UK College of Medicine. Transylvania also partners with UK on a pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program.

But today’s announcement formalizes our longstanding partnership and further strengthens the work we do to prepare our students and improve the health of Kentuckians. You can read more about these efforts here.

We are in discussions with a number of other potential partners — in education and health care as well as communities across the state — about what we can do together to advance our state. I’m excited to announce this initial partnership and eager to continue bringing more partners to the table around our shared commitment to Kentucky and her future.

I look forward to what we will do — together — for our community and our Commonwealth in the future.

Eli Capilouto
President