Founders Day, celebrated on April 3, commemorates the eight Louisville leaders who raised the initial support necessary to open the doors of higher education in this community. Croghan, Bullitt, Meriwether, Thruston, Churchill, Anderson, Taylor, and Thompson are names that left legacies far more important than historic landmarks. They helped create the University of Louisville as it is today.

Whenever I think my day is too busy, all I have to do is think of U of L’s second president, James Guthrie. He ran U of L while serving a term in the U. S. Senate, a stint as treasury secretary for President Franklin Pierce, and launching the L & N railroad.

But among all the greats in U of L’s past, none stand taller than the giants who have taught — and continue to teach — here. The pioneering work in medicine of Drs. Samuel Gross, Daniel Drake, and R. Arnold Griswold lives on today with internationally respected faculty at our Health Sciences Center. James Speed, Attorney General for Abraham Lincoln, lectured in our law school. With teachers like these and the many who followed, is it any surprise that our graduates are among those who lead organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Dental Association, and who are honored as National Teachers of the Year?

Recognition from former students stands as one of the highest honors that a teacher can receive. The Alumni Association’s Red Apple Award, which was presented last fall to Lilialyce Akers, John Anderson, William Mansfield, Robert Shultz, and Hugh Spencer, does just that. One of the great challenges I face as a college president is to assemble the resources to retain and attract faculty like these Red Apple Award winners, who are recognized as the best teachers and scholars in their fields.

A recent Courier-Journal column lamented that too many of our best students leave Kentucky because of top-ranked national programs in out-of-state schools. The need to keep our best students at home is something on which almost all Kentuckians can agree.

Universities create "endowed chairs" as one tool to attract and retain top scholars. Endowment earnings, not annual appropriations, support these professorships. We currently have 28 at U of L and our Challenge for Excellence calls for almost 50 more by 2008 to help us achieve the highest possible ranking for national research universities.

Kentucky Governor Paul Patton backs an innovative program called "bonds-for-brains" that is being considered by the General Assembly. This measure, if approved, would generate much needed resources for U of L and the University of Kentucky to compete with other national schools for the best scholars to teach our students. The concept could support between 25 and 33 chairs when fully funded. Matching funds and/or internal reallocation from the university budget must match the state-appropriated resources.

We wholeheartedly support this investment in our future. By attracting the best teachers, we will keep more of our best students at home. Also, we will become a magnet for other top-notch students from around the nation and the world. Wouldn’t it be great for our state to return to the "frontier" of opportunity that attracted the first Kentuckians?

We can’t predict who the next Bullitt, Griswold, Speed, or Akers might be, but we do know that Louisville’s future depends on them.

John W. Shumaker