A&S Centers and Institutes

• Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research
• Center for Asian Democracy
• Center for Geographic Information Systems
• Center for Regulatory and Environmental Metabolomics
• Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society
  
• Cressman Center for Visual Arts
• Institute for Democracy and Development
• National Crime Prevention Institute
• Southern Police Institute
• The Writing Center

Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research

The mission of the Anne Braden Institute is to bridge the gap between academic research and community activism for social justice. To do so, we stimulate and support interdisciplinary scholarship on social movements, citizen participation, public policy reforms, and social, racial, gender and economic justice.

Center for Asian Democracy

The mission of the Center for Asian Democracy is to promote research and teaching about democracy and the prospects for democratization in Central, South, Southeast and East Asia. Through publications, conferences, workshops, visiting scholars programs, colloquia, and research projects in Asian countries, the Center creates a forum for studying political dynamics in this vital region. The Center for Asian Democracy is administered by the Institute for Democracy and Development, within the University of Louisville’s Department of Political Science. The Center is funded by a $5 million appropriation from the Federal Governement and a $1 million match from the University of Louisville. The Center currently has about 20 full time Faculty Affiliates from different disciplinary backgrounds.

Center for Geographic Information Systems

The University of Louisville Center for Geographic Information Systems (ULCGIS) was established in 1996, and is located on Belknap Campus in Lutz Hall. As an integral part of the Department of Geography and Geosciences, the facilities of the ULCGIS are available to faculty, students and staff, and are used to assist other university departments in research and mapping. The Center offers training, software, data sources and other services.

Center for Regulatory and Environmental Metabolomics

The Center for Regulatory and Environmental Metabolomics (CREAM) will develop cutting-edge methodologies and approaches for the emerging metabolomic and system biochemical research. This area of research has the promise of revolutionizing biological research in the 21st century for the ability to resolve biological complexity. Thus, metabolomic development will find applications in a broad array of pressing societal problems ranging from human health, biotechnology, to environmental pollution and ecosystem health.

Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society

The Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society is charged with enhancing humanistic scholarship, research, creative activity, teaching, and public awareness at the University of Louisville, in the Louisville metropolitan area and, in collaboration with other universities, colleges, and humanities organizations, throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Cressman Center for Visual Arts

A new downtown center houses the university's glass and sculpture programs thanks to a $1 million commitment by retired physicians and art collectors Elizabeth and Frederick Cressman to launch the center. The 12,000-square-foot Cressman Center for Visual Arts is located at First and Main streets. The center features a creative laboratory approach to three-dimensional art in glass (hotshop and coldworking), wood and metal and offers exhibition galleries and a seminar room. Street-level windows allow the public to watch artists work.

Institute for Democracy and Development

The mission of the Institute for Democracy and Development (IDD) is to promote research, while providing teaching, learning and service opportunities to the community of faculty, staff and students at the University of Louisville on issues related to democracy and development.  Through singular and collaborative efforts, IDD exists to cultivate new knowledge about the process of democratic development in a diverse, rapidly changing world.

National Crime Prevention Institute

The Institute, which is a division of the Department of Justice Administration, focuses on prevention through education by offering a series of workshops and programs designed for local and state police, campus safety officials, school administrators, juvenile justice personnel, architects and structural engineers, and municipal planners. Topics include intervention strategies, preventing workplace violence, terrorism, environmental design and grant writing. The Institute also offers a campus security certification program. 

Southern Police Institute

The Southern Police Institute, which is a division of the Department of Justice Administration, is an advanced education and training institute with the mission to enhance the professional development of law enforcement practitioners. The Institute accomplishes this mission by providing educational and career development programs that are designed to challenge and to prepare law enforcement practitioners for the demands of today and tomorrow. The Southern Police Institute consistently is ranked among the top law enforcement educational and training schools in the nation. Since the creation of the Southern Police Institute in 1951, its program of instruction has been grounded in the belief that law enforcement is a demanding activity requiring the highest level of professional preparation.

Urban Studies Institute

The Urban Studies Institute is an applied social policy and economic research center serving the Louisville metropolitan area and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Faculty and students in Urban and Public Affairs work closely with USI staff and maintain offices in the USI facility.

 Six research centers are housed within USI:

• Kentucky State Data Center
• Kentucky Population Research
• Survey Research Center
• Center for Environmental Policy and Management
• Center for Hazards Research and Policy Development
• Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods

The Writing Center

The Writing Center offers one-on-one consultation, workshops and other services to assist students in enhancing their written communication skills. The Center, which is a part of the English Department, is located in Ekstrom Library and is open to all UofL students. Through the Writing Centers Research Project at the University of Louisville, the Center also conducts and supports research on writing center theory and practice and maintains a research repository of historical, empirical, and scholarly materials related to Writing Center Studies.