New President Sends Pride Message to Campus Community

On Friday, June 15, new University of Louisville President Dr. Neeli Bendapudi emailed the campus community in celebration of Pride Month, sending a strong message about her commitment to diversity and inclusion. She followed up by attending the Kentuckiana Pride Festival celebration on Saturday wearing a tee shirt featuring the university's logo in rainbow colors.

Pictured: (left) Stacie Steinbock, Director LGBT Center Health Sciences satellite office, (right) Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, University of Louisville President

President Bendapudi's message: 

UofL Family,

As our community prepares for the Kentuckiana Pride Festival, the University of Louisville celebrates the LGBTQ community and sends a message of support and welcome.  For three years in a row, UofL has been named one of the “Best of the Best” of LGBTQ-friendly campuses in the United States and the only public university in the South to be so honored.

We have so many points of pride and important firsts:

• The first university in the South to establish an LGBTQ Studies minor, under the direction of Dr. Kaila Story, who also holds the country’s first endowed chair in LGBTQ studies
• First in the country to infuse the LGBTQ competencies created by the American Association of Medical Colleges into the medical school curriculum
• First school in Kentucky to offer health insurance benefits to LGBTQ couples, to open a staffed LGBTQ Center, to offer LGBTQ study abroad trips, to host an LGBTQ alumni council, and to launch a themed housing community for LGBTQ students and allies.
  
  

All of this, and UofL is home to one of the country’s largest LGBTQ archives, the Williams-Nichols Collection.  As we aim to celebrate diversity, foster equity and achieve inclusion, we commit to building on the strong legacy of intersectional inclusion in our LGBTQ community.

Go Cards!

Neeli