UK President Eli Capilouto: New year, new opportunities to advance Kentucky
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 12, 2026) — Today, the University of Kentucky welcomes students back to campus for the Spring 2026 semester.
On this episode of “Behind the Blue,” UK President Eli Capilouto reflects on the past year, describing both the challenges faced by the university community and the momentum across campus and around the Commonwealth to advance Kentucky.
Capilouto said that UK is uniquely positioned to do more and be more for Kentucky, thanks to the vast array of programs and disciplines situated on one contiguous campus.
“The challenges we face today don’t lend themselves to solutions uncovered by one discipline,” Capilouto said. “It takes transdisciplinary approaches to tackle the big issues. And that’s a strength at our university. So, we’re a place where we’re going to prevent more disease, we’re going to treat and heal more people who suffer from disease. We’re going to educate more, discover more, especially when it comes to challenges that most Kentuckians. We’re going to be that place of opportunity.”
Capilouto also discusses recent record-breaking gifts to the university, the ever-expanding Advancing Kentucky Together Network, along with the Board of Trustees’ directive for UK to be the “partner-of-choice” for developments in artificial intelligence as part of its overall mission to advance the health of the Commonwealth.
“Behind the Blue” is available via a variety of podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify. Subscribe to receive new episodes each week, featuring UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists, writers and the most important news impacting the university.
“Behind the Blue” is a production of the University of Kentucky. Transcripts for this or other episodes of “Behind the Blue” can be downloaded from the show’s blog page.
Learn more about how the University of Kentucky is advancing our Commonwealth.
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.