UK President Eli Capilouto: New year, new opportunities to showcase the 'power of we’
Video produced by UK Public Relations and Strategic Communications and UK Marketing and Brand Strategy. To view captions for this video, push play and click on the CC icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. If using a mobile device, click on the “thought bubble” in the same area.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 25, 2025) — President Eli Capilouto shares this message to the entire campus community about the “power of we” as the 2025-25 academic year begins.
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Campus Community,
This is one of my favorite times of the year.
Each August, I get to talk with students as they move onto campus, meet the families who support them and spend time with the faculty and staff devoted to helping our students succeed — experiences that energize the start of another academic year.
In the video above, I met new students and their families as they shared their hopes and dreams for their UK experience. I also had the opportunity to speak with current students as they helped new Wildcats feel at home during Big Blue Move-In.
These moments remind me why community is so important. As we begin another academic year together, I want to share what I talked about with our first-year students on Friday night during Big Blue U, a highlight of K Week. Please click here to view the full remarks.
These young and eager learners are now entrusted to your care, too, as we seek to advance this state in all that we do. I hope the words had some meaning for them, and I thought they might resonate with you, as well.
You know better than most — because you live it each day — what the “power of we” means for UK and for the Commonwealth we serve.
Throughout the coming year, I hope we remember that there is so much more we can and must accomplish together.
Eli Capilouto
President
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.