Professional News

Nominations open for 2025 Founders Day Award

Janie McKenzie-Wells, president of the UK Alumni Association, and Eli Capilouto, UK president, with 2024 UK Founders Day Award recipient Mira Ball (center). Mark Cornelison | UK Photo

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 11, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Alumni Association is accepting nominations for the 2025 Founders Day Award to recognize an individual who personifies goodwill and demonstrates, through work, service, mission and spirit, a dedication to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and its residents. 

The Founders Day Award commemorates the founding of the University of Kentucky on Feb. 22, 1865. The recipient will receive an award medallion, and a one-time monetary donation will be made in the recipient’s name to an existing university philanthropic fund of their choice. Past recipients include notable alumni Mira S. Ball and Tom Hammond.

Nominations will be accepted until Dec. 6, and can be submitted at www.ukalumni.net/FoundersDayAward. A selection committee appointed by the UK Alumni Association’s executive director will review and choose the recipient.

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.