Why I’m Proud of Our Wildcat Family

Campus Community,

It’s easy to get lost in the blur and pulse of daily headlines, stories and announcements. 

But in recent weeks, I’ve also encountered many moments that demonstrate the best of us and that continually make me thankful for what we do and for who we are. 

The UK Men’s Basketball team returns this evening to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen for the first time in several years. Think about it. A new coach. An entirely new ballclub and a daunting schedule through the nation’s toughest conference. 

Yet, this team — beset by injuries but led by a relentlessly positive and thoughtful coach — has taken an improbable journey, filled with change and challenge, setbacks and no small amount of joy for all of us, fueled by a clear love and passion for the game. They personify resilience in the face of adversity. And in them, so many of us have found joy.

That team is not the only one we can celebrate and take pride in right now. The UK Women’s Basketball team, led by an exciting new coach as well, garnered national prominence seemingly overnight. With an exciting brand of ball — and almost an entirely new team — they helped debut for our state a spectacular renovation to Historic Memorial Coliseum. It’s a vibrant venue and a stirring monument to Kentuckians who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

The UK Rifle team, a perennial contender for national championships, hosted the NCAA tournament and finished as national runners-up. UK Gymnastics, nationally ranked again, is poised for another deep tournament run while the UK Volleyball squad won its eighth straight SEC championship.

People often say that athletics are a front porch to the University — a welcoming space, inviting guests to learn more and become excited about an institution. But it’s also a back porch — a place where many people come together as one Wildcat family to spend time, enjoy community and share a tie that binds.

In the past week alone, I’ve seen quieter, less visible but no less important, victories and accomplishments across our campus.

On Wednesday, Transylvania University became the first educational partner in the Advancing Kentucky Together Network. This network is a response to the charge the Board of Trustees gave us in October: to be the university that works with partners to do more than any other institution to improve the health of the state we serve.

Together, we hope to widen the pipeline for students, preparing them for careers in health care and other critical areas our state needs to advance. Transy joins what I believe will be a growing set of affiliations — all working together as partners to make our state healthier, wealthier and wiser.

This week, our Markey Cancer Center team, led by Tim Mullett, medical director of the UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate and Research Networks, is showing members of the national press the work we are doing to defeat cancer in our state. The team is highlighting a program in Morehead that educates the next generation of doctors to serve rural Kentucky communities, a cancer outreach event in Irvine that informs residents about the importance of screening and a community provider and partner’s cancer clinic in Hazard. 

All of them are partnerships. All of them bring hope and healing to Kentucky.

And, as always, we learn from those we are here to educate — our students. This weekend, the 20th annual DanceBlue Marathon will take place in Historic Memorial Coliseum, with more than 800 students participating in a 24-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon to raise money for pediatric cancer efforts at Kentucky Children’s Hospital.

The first marathon in 2006 raised nearly $125,000. Over the past 20 years, more than $23 million has been raised “For The Kids.” It is another testament to the power of “we” and the compassion of a community like no other.

All of those efforts — those teams, collaborations and accomplishments — continually lift my spirits and renew my sense of our people and this place. Ours is an enduring and durable mission — built on 160 years of a commonly held commitment to an uncommon and uncompromising mission: to make Kentucky, each day, a little better, a little stronger and a little healthier than it was the day before.

We are only fragile and vulnerable when we forget that purpose, when we don’t focus on that promise, and allow ourselves to be divided by discord and distracted by disinformation.  

To be sure, we’ve had some bumpy days. There will be more. Those we inherited this legacy from faced adversity too — world wars, global pandemics, depressions, recessions and questions. But they invariably focused more on the promise than the problems. I see that in our community too — with your unrelenting commitment to serve our state and the capacity to find joy in our work together.

Let’s watch our teams and share in their joy. 

Let’s focus as a community on how powerful and purposeful we are together. 

Let’s continue to do what only we can do, with partners, to advance this state — our home.

Eli Capilouto

President