Campus News

Campus community invited to celebrate UK Founders Day Feb. 22

Photo courtesy of UK Alumni Association.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 20, 2023) — The University of Kentucky Alumni Association invites the community to celebrate the day John Bryan Bowman founded the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky University in 1865 with an array of activities, games, giveaways, snacks and music. Participants will celebrate the 158th birthday of the University of Kentucky on Feb. 22, 2023, during the UK Founders Day Festival. The festival will be held on the second floor of the Gatton Student Center from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. EST.  

The second annual Founders Day Festival is commemorated in a limited-edition UK Founders Day T-shirt.  

The event is free and open to the campus and community. For more information, visit www.ukalumni.net/FoundersDay.  

Get a preview of the fun to come at this year’s event. Check out the photos from the 2022 UK Founders Day Festival here

The UK Alumni Association is committed to fostering lifelong engagement among alumni, friends, the association and the university. For more information about the UK Alumni Association, visit www.ukalumni.net or call 800-269-2586. 

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.