Campus News

‘Behind the Blue’: Eric Monday on how partnerships are essential for advancing UK’s mission

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 9, 2024) — For Eric Monday, the start of a new fall semester is marked by the dynamic energy of returning students, along with the opportunity — and challenge — of creating a lasting first impression as an educator.

Beyond his role as UK’s executive vice president for finance and administration, Monday also continues to teach an undergraduate course on personal investing and financial planning. Through this teaching role, he directly witnesses the importance of infrastructure investment in fostering student success and supporting the university’s growth.

Monday describes the university’s record-setting budget for the fiscal year as a reflection of its values and its mission to advance the Commonwealth. These investments touch every facet of the institution, from academics to health care, underscored by a strategic refresh of the UK HealthCare system. In this initiative, Monday serves as co-executive vice president for health administration alongside UK Provost Robert DiPaola.

On this episode of “Behind the Blue,” Monday discusses how the university is working to best support its student population, the vital need to invest in faculty and staff, and UK HealthCare’s goals for delivering advanced specialty care while developing a true academic health system.

“Behind the Blue” is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university.

For questions or comments about this or any other episode of “Behind the Blue,” email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue. Transcripts for this or other episodes of Behind the Blue can be downloaded from the show’s blog page.

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As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.