VIDEO: UK President Eli Capilouto Shows Why 'It's All Here' on Campus Walk

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (August 23, 2017) — Today, the University of Kentucky campus comes alive once again as the first classes in the 2017-18 academic year begin!

Students, faculty and staff are arriving to a transformed campus.

During the past six years, the University of Kentucky has invested more than $2.3 billion in facilities designed to support students. In addition to the new residence halls, innovative classrooms and learning spaces, modern labs and re-imagined dining facilities create boundless opportunities for students to learn and discover inside and outside of the classroom. 

Some areas of campus are still in the middle of construction as work continues on Research Building 2. The first phase of this $265 million building (funded half from the state of Kentucky, half from university resources, including private gifts) is scheduled to open in summer of 2018. The new space is designed to foster multidisciplinary research targeting the health disparities that most impact Kentuckians: cancer, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases including stroke, and substance abuse. 

The idea is for researchers to discover new knowledge and move those findings from the bench to the bedside by teaming up with clinicians at UK HealthCare, which was recently ranked No. 1 in Kentucky in the latest U.S. News Best Hospitals Rankings.

With students starting class today, UKNow wanted to spend some time with University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto to get this thoughts on the upcoming academic year.

Since our president loves to walk the campus, we caught up with him on a recent stroll to talk about what he finds most exciting about UK's newest academic and research spaces and the innovative Lewis Honors College. Capilouto also talks about the potential impact researchers, working with UK HealthCare clinicians, could have on the health of all Kentuckians. Watch the final two segments of our walk by clicking on the playlist above to discover how this new and improved campus will create opportunities to learn, discover and heal and why Capilouto is so thankful to the donors who help make it all possible. 

You can also click here for segment 3: https://youtu.be/ph-4tnQVMS8?list=PL0vC9-Q8LFcyQ2Ka8e4oMlkZtuaFBWJCc and here for segment 4: https://youtu.be/tNlCpMaEaVc?list=PL0vC9-Q8LFcyQ2Ka8e4oMlkZtuaFBWJCc. 

These videos are part of a new, bi-monthly UKNow series called "Campus Walks." The idea is to get out of the office and onto campus with members of the UK community, so we can have in-depth, authentic conversations about our university with the people working so hard to advance our mission of education, research and service.

If there is someone on campus you would like to see featured on a future Campus Walk, please email us.