U of L and the ACC

July 1 was truly a spectacular day for the University of Louisville. We officially moved into a new athletic conference and joined an exclusive neighborhood of academic institutions. Becoming a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference opens the door for many great opportunities for U of L. Avid sports fans know what this means for our athletic programs: better competition and exciting games. But there are other, perhaps more exceptional, benefits to joining the ACC that fewer people are talking about — the benefits to U of L, our state and region in terms of academics and research.

Even before we officially joined the ACC, our faculty, staff and students had begun meeting and collaborating with their counterparts from other ACC schools on research presentations and projects. We also attended the ACC financial officers' meetings where the financial challenges facing higher education were discussed. These have been tremendous learning opportunities which we have not enjoyed previously.

And now that we're in the ACC, U of L students will receive conference scholarships and fellowships each year to support undergraduate research. Our faculty will continue their partnerships with several ACC schools including Virginia Tech, the University of Pittsburgh, Boston College and Clemson University. These partnerships range from examining the early use of plasma in emergency situations to help save lives to a study and documentary on the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami. This kind of collaboration and research is contributing to world knowledge while making U of L a better institution.

What's the best part? It's only the beginning.

U of L has worked hard to become a premier metropolitan research university as mandated by the commonwealth, and the increasing collaborations we hope to create through the ACC will help us reach this goal. Being recognized with such schools as Duke University, the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill will continue to lift the academic and research reputation of U of L.

We know the successes of U of L's sports teams are what caught the eye of ACC officials. But it was the 10-year upward trajectory of our academic profile — a 60 percent increase in graduation rates, a huge jump in freshman ACT scores and more prestigious Fulbright Scholars than all other Kentucky schools combined — that helped seal the deal for the ACC. That, and the role our ACC affiliation will play in improving the quality of life in Louisville and beyond, is something worth talking about.

Dr. James Ramsey is president of the University of Louisville.