Our commitment to transparency and accountability Campus Message

Campus Community,

With more than 33,000 employees, the University of Kentucky is one of the state’s largest employers. 

We serve every community of the Commonwealth. We extend care to each region of Kentucky. And among our nearly 39,000 enrolled students is at least one from each of the state’s 120 counties. We are Kentucky’s university. 

We are, of course, an educational institution with teaching, research, care and service central to who we are and what we do. In the corporate world, we might be called a public corporation, with the entire state in effect our shareholders. And, critically, we are a public trust, with so many people investing their time, talent and treasure in this place and our mission to advance Kentucky.  

In a time of so much change and challenge, I believe it is critical to do even more to report about what this university is doing to honor your trust. In that spirit, consider this — at the start of a new year — our first report among many to you, those who invest so much in this place and our mission.

Our Strategic Plan — the UK PURPOSE — is our road map for how we work to advance Kentucky. Over the course of 2026, we will regularly update and communicate — to you and to the entire state — about the five principles in the plan in ways that demonstrate our commitment to advancing Kentucky.

Our commitment to transparency is the first principle we want to discuss. We have a special mantle of responsibility — to communicate and explain more about what we do, how we do it and why. 

At this webpage — https://pres.uky.edu/strategic-plan/ensuring-greater-trust-transparency-and-accountability— we’ve brought together key information about the business operations of our institution in one accessible, easy-to‑navigate place.

Here are some details:

One topic that has generated questions — posed to both university leaders and other community leaders — is travel by members of the senior administration. To provide clarity, we have published three years of travel records, detailing each trip’s destination, purpose and cost. We will update the records quarterly, so our community can consistently see how and why these investments are made.

There have been more than 160 trips in that time period at a total cost of $292,000. Every trip has a defined purpose, and several examples and the outcomes produced are described below. 

The bottom line is that these trips have helped secure tens of millions of dollars in partnerships and donations that directly benefit our students and employees, millions more in investments in infrastructure, improvements across our campus and still others that offer the potential of improved access to learning and health care for people throughout Kentucky.

Our Advancing Kentucky Together (AKT) Network is an essential project we are charged with by our Board of Trustees to work with partners to do more than any other institution in the country to advance our state. 

Our recently announced partnership with Microsoft is valued in the millions of dollars and will make accessible to everyone on our campus artificial intelligence tools that make work easier and more efficient — tools that less than a handful of institutions across the country have access to right now.

We will also use this advanced technology to expand access to care in rural areas of our state and improve the patient experience here in our hospitals and clinics. And we will seek internship and employment opportunities for students. 

UK King’s Daughters and UK St. Claire — along with other community and regional health systems — are now members of the UK family. The result: expanding access to specialty care that only we provide. Still other relationships — Fidelity in establishing UK Invests and Apple through our Smart Campus initiative — have created invaluable opportunities for students.

Building these partnerships requires face-to-face conversations and negotiations, and we will continue that work in the future — whether it takes us to Pikeville or the Pacific Northwest. We will disclose this travel in a timely manner, consistent with our commitment to transparency and to strengthen trust in our work.

We also are posting more information about campus initiatives underway that speak to the business of UK. We’ve put links to both Integrate Blue and our Enterprise Services Partnership initiatives on this new site. We’ve also included Champions Blue — our Athletics Department — that is exploring significant investments that will help ensure a more sustainable financial future.

Greater integration of functions is more important than ever. We will be aligned in our message and mission. We must minimize and mitigate risk. And we will work more seamlessly across a growing enterprise to deliver service faster and better. 

Thank you for all you do, each day and in so many ways, to advance Kentucky.

Eli Capilouto