University of Louisville

The University of Louisville  is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky, a member of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west

 of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General Assembly to be a "Preeminent Metropolitan Research University enrolls students from 118 of 120 Kentucky counties,all 50 U.S. states, and 116 countries around the world.

The University of Louisville School of Medicine is touted for the first fully self contained artificial heart transplant surgery as well as the first successful hand transplantation. The University Hospital is

 also credited with the first civilian ambulance, the nation's first accident services, now known as an emergency room, and one of the first blood banks in the US.

Between 1999 and 2006 was one of the fastest growing medical research institutions according to National Institutes of Health rankings. As of 2006, the melanoma clinic ranked third in among 

public universities in NIH funding, the neurology research program fourth, and the spinal cord research program 10th.
is also known for its Louisville Cardinals athletics programs, several of which are among the most successful in the country. Since 2005

 the Cardinals have made appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball Final Four in 2005, 2012, and 2013 champions, football Bowl Championship Series Orange Bowl in 2007 champions and Sugar Bowl in 2013 champions, the College

 Baseball World Series 2007, 2013, and 2014, the women's basketball Final Four in 2009 runner up and 2013 runner up, and the men's soccer national championship game in 2010. The

 Louisville Cardinals Women's Volleyball program has as champions of the Big East Tournament 2008, 2009, 2010, and were Atlantic Coast Conference Champions in 2015. Women's track and field

 program has won Outdoor Big East titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and an Indoor Big East title in 2011.

 Talk of U of L joining the public university system of Kentucky began in the 1960s. As a municipally funded school meaning funding only came from the city of Louisville, the movement of 

people to the suburbs of Louisville created budget shortfalls for the school and forced tuition prices to levels for most students. At the same time, the school's well established medicine and law schools

 were seen as assets for the state system. Still, there was opposition to U of L becoming public, both from faculty and alumni who feared losing the small, close-knit feel of the campus, and from universities already in the state system who feared funding cuts

. After several years of heated debate, the university joined the state system in 1970, a move largely orchestrated by then Kentucky governor and U of L alumnus Louie 

The first years in the public system were difficult, as enrollment skyrocketed while funding was often insufficient. Several programs were threatened with losing accreditation due to a lack of funding, although schools of nursing  and urban & public affairs  were added.

John W. was named U of L's president in 1995. was a very successful fund raiser, and quickly increased the school's endowment from $183 to $550 million. He developed the REACH program to encourage retention. In 1997, he hired

 athletics director Tom , who restored the athletics program and raised over $100 million to raze abandoned factories and old parking lots next to campus and replace them with on-campus athletic facilities, which vastly improved the aesthetics of the

 Campus. Academically, U of L moved closer to parity with the state's flagship University of Kentucky as retention rates and research funding increased, and average and ACT scores were much higher for incoming freshman.

The school's current and 17th president James R. Ramsey, is the former state budget director. Since Ramsey's arrival, he has continued the endowment and fund raising growth started by . Although, Ramsey has added more emphasis on improving the

 physical aspects of the Campus. To this end, he started a million dollar "campus beautification project" which painted six overpasses on the Campus with a 'U of L theme' and planted over 500 trees along campus streets, and doubled the number of on campus

 housing units. The school's federal research funding has also doubled under Ramsey, and three buildings have been built for

 nanotechnology and medical research. U of L's graduation rate has also increased from 30 percent in 1999 to 52 percent in 2012.

 Thinker in front of the main administrative building,  Hall. The grounds of the campus were originally used as an orphanage, several of the original buildings used.

 Acquired in 1923, the Campus is the school's main campus. It is located three miles 5 km south of downtown Louisville in the Old Louisville neighborhood. It houses seven of the 12 academic colleges and features one of the casts of Auguste Rodin's The

The Campus has expanded greatly in recent years, with land housing abandoned factories in the area being purchased and redeveloped. Projects built since 1998 include Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and adjacent Center , B. Frazier Cardinal Park which

 includes Stadium for softball, Stadium for field hockey, Cardinal Track and Soccer Stadium, Bass Rudd Tennis Center, locker rooms, a playground and a cushioned walking path, Jim Patterson Stadium 

for baseball, Ralph R. Wright , Brown Frazier Sports medicine Center, and a lacrosse stadium. With new parking at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, non-resident parking was moved there and the

 parking lots near campus were redeveloped with new dormitory buildings, including the Bettie Johnson Apartments, Hall,  Hall, and Community Park.