Friday December 5, 2025
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Those who want to experience and learn more about virtual reality will have their chance tomorrow during a free, public event 2-3 p.m. at the University of Louisville’s Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium.

Two virtual-reality clips will be shown on the planetarium’s 55-foot, immersive dome:

  • Growing Up Girl” gives viewers a chance to experience a day in the life of a Kenyan girl as she copes with extreme poverty. The video shows the young girl as she travels vast distances to fetch water, gather wood and, after dark, walk to a nearby town so she will have lights to complete her school work.
  • Be Who You Are/Love Who You Are” shows the exuberance of gay pride parades from around the world. The clip was first shown during a 2016 LGBTQ event in Louisville and was so popular attendees rated it as the best session of the conference.

After the clips are shown, there will be a discussion about how to harness of the power of virtual reality filmmaking in the Louisville community.

The conversation will be facilitated by Aukram Burton, executive director of Kentucky Center for African American Heritage; Dean Otto, curator of film for the Speed Art Museum; Leo Osborne, founder of a video and digital communications firm; and Nathaniel Spencer, who runs a video services company and is a Louisville Film Commission advisory board member.

The Associated Press has been ranking the best teams in college basketball for more 68 years with over 1,100 polls.  Through all that, a total of 200 schools have been ranked with 59 of them earning the number one spot.  The AP recently came up with a formula to rank the Best College Basketball Team of All Time using data from those polls with the University of Kentucky squeaking out a win in the top spot.

The Wildcats’ all-time-best victory by a margin of just 1.17% over runner-up UNC might be some small measure of consolation for #2 seed UK fans after last week’s 73-75 loss to the #1 seed Tarheels in the 2017 NCAA tournament quarter-finals.

To rank the all-time Top 100 teams, the AP formula counted poll appearances at one point each to reward consistent winners and awarded two points each when teams appeared in the number one spot to acknowledge elite programs. National championship wins are not factored into these rankings since the Associated Press does not release a poll after the tournament.

University of Kentucky’s Wildcats appeared in more than 75% of all AP polls with 124 No. 1 rankings, earning them a total of 1,111 total points, just ahead of UNC’s 1,098.  The Tarheels had more overall appearances in polling but only 110 appearances in the top spot.

After a sharp drop-off in overall points, Louisville fans were not left out; the Cardinals finished the ranking at No. 7 behind Duke, UCLS, Kansas, and the Indiana Hoosiers.  The Cards earned 627 overall points with appearances in more than 54% of AP’s polls and two No. 1 appearances.

Arizona, Syracuse, and the Cincinnati Bearcats rounded out the top 10 positions with Jacksonville and Mississippi only just making the cut tied for #100.  Maryland toped the list of “never Number Ones” at #17 all-time, one of only two top-25 teams to have never earned the top spot in any AP poll.

The 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament continues with semi-finals games Saturday between South Carolina and Gonzaga at 6:09 PM and UNC facing Oregon at 8:49 PM.  The winners of those games will face each other April 3rd to determine the 2017 champion.

The University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law is marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to the school with a free, public celebration today.

The noon – 1:30 p.m. event in Room 275 at the law school will feature a speaker panel including Stephen Porter, a 1968 law school graduate who invited King to speak at UofL in 1967.  Porter, a local attorney, will share his memories of the event and discuss King’s legacy.  Other panelists will be professors Ricky Jones, Pan-African studies, and Cedric Powell, law.

“He loved to speak at colleges,” said Porter in a 2014 UofL video about King’s visit. “As a matter of fact, the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, he gave that dozens of times before he gave it in Washington and he gave it mostly to college groups.”

According to researchers in the law school, King came to Louisville many times during the 1960s but March 30, 1967, was the only time he visited UofL.

In 2014 the university unveiled never-before-seen photos of King’s law school stopover. The photo negatives were found among some old files and records. Those photos were reprinted and are now part of a permanent exhibit in the foyer of the school’s Allen Court Room.

“This was not a very big room, so there were people outside, people literally hanging from the windows,” said Porter, recounting the overwhelming student interest in the event.

Another university MLK-focused 50th anniversary celebration will be hosted April 4 by the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research.  That event marks the anniversary of the civil rights leader’s notable anti-war speech. The 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. event will feature a reading of the speech; an open house will follow from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

March Madness is in full swing with the Sweet Sixteen Round starting tonight. Even if the Louisville Cardinals losing to Michigan wrecked your bracket, or maybe it was Middle Tennessee or University of Rhode Island, there is still hope.

Tonight,  the men start the Sweet Sixteen round of the tournament. Even if you are a Cardinals fan, you can still cheer on the Kentucky Wildcats in hopes that the tournament win comes back to the great state of Kentucky. The Wildcats will be televised on CBS tomorrow night at 9:39 PM. The full schedule for the Sweet Sixteen is as follows:

  • #3 Oregon vs #7 Michigan – tonight, CBS 7:09 PM
  • #1 Gonzaga vs #4 W Virginia – tonight, TBS 7:39 PM
  • #1 Kansas vs #4 Purdue – tonight, CBS 9:39 PM
  • #11 Xavier vs #2 Arizona – tonight 10:09 PM
  • #1 UNC vs #4 Butler – tomorrow, CBS 7:09 PM
  • #3 Baylor vs #7 S Carolina – tonight, TBS 7:29 PM
  • #3 UCLA vs #2 Kentucky – tomorrow, CBS 9:39 PM
  • #8 Wisconsin vs #4 Florida – Tomorrow, TBS 9:59 PM

If you just cannot bring yourself to cheer on the Wildcats, then rest assured that the Louisville Lady Cardinals are still in the tournament. As usual, the women’s tournament is usually a day behind the men. The Lady Cardinals will be in the Sweet 16 this weekend in hopes to make their third appearance in the final game and it would be the first win for the Lady Cardinals (and first win by a Kentucky college) since the tournament started in 1982. The schedule for the women’s:

  • #1 Notre Dame vs #5 Ohio State – tomorrow, ESPN 7:00 PM
  • #3 Washington vs #2 Mississippi – tomorrow, ESPN2 7:00 PM
  • #3 Texas vs #2 Stanford – tomorrow, ESPN 9:30 PM
  • #1 Baylor vs #4 Louisville – tomorrow, ESPN2 9:30 PM
  • #3 Maryland vs #10 Oregon – Saturday, ESPN 11:30 AM
  • #1 UConn vs #4 UCLA – Saturday, ESPN 2:00 PM
  • #1 S Carolina vs #12 Quinnipiac – Saturday, ESPN 4:00 PM
  • #3 Florida State vs #2 Oregon State – Saturday, ESPN 6:30 PM

University of Louisville and Kentucky State University announce BA/BS-MS offering for KSU students

UofL, KSU leaders formalize collaborative

Employment growth in careers related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), underscores the importance of a new degree collaboration between Kentucky State University and the University of Louisville. The initiative allows KSU undergraduates majoring in math to study seven semesters (3.5 years) at KSU, and three semesters (1.5 years) at UofL, earning a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science (BA/BS) in math at KSU and a master of science (MS) in biostatistics from UofL. Students benefit by completing six years of study in five years.

“We continue to see a growing demand for a more highly educated workforce throughout the Commonwealth,” said UofL’s Interim President Greg Postel, M.D. “This collaborative effort will expose underrepresented groups to graduate education in a degree that will lead to high-demand, high-paying jobs and help Kentucky continue to move forward in an ever more competitive economy.”

“We are pleased to partner with a great institution like the University of Louisville, and I thank the KSU and UofL faculty for their innovative and creative thinking; our aim is to build a strong P-20 pipeline to serve Kentucky and this initiative helps meet that goal,” said KSU Interim President Aaron Thompson, Ph.D.

Interested students are identified in the early stages of their study at KSU and are mentored for the graduate program. They must take the GRE and apply for admission to UofL. Upon admission, students study the spring semester of their senior year at UofL and take courses that count toward a bachelor’s degree in math at KSU and the master’s degree in biostatistics at UofL. The balance of the master level courses are completed in the fifth year toward the MS degree in biostatistics.

Kentucky State Senator Gerald A. Neal, 33rd District, is an alumnus of both KSU and UofL and says the initiative is a significant inter-institutional collaboration.   Continue reading

The University of Louisville grounds keeping staff will show off its environmentally friendly lawn equipment March 28 at a free Green Lawn Maintenance Vendor Fair on Belknap Campus.

The event, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., will be held at the UofL Grounds Shop, 1820 Arthur St.

“We will be demonstrating how advanced ‘clean’ has become,” said Greg Schetler, supervisor of UofL’s Grounds Shop.

UofL’s fleet of lawnmowers runs on propane rather than gasoline, a change made in 2011 to use less fuel and help reduce the university’s carbon footprint.

The event is sponsored by the Partnership for a Green City, a collaboration among UofL, Louisville Metro Government, Jefferson County Public Schools and Jefferson Community & Technical College.

For more information, contact Brent Fryrear, 502-852-8854 or visit louisville.edu/sustainability.

The UofL Alumni Association will host local and national events for alumni and fans to celebrate the NCAA Tournament play this week.

UofL’s #2-seeded men’s team will face #15 Jacksonville State at 2:45 p.m. Friday in Indianapolis in the first round, while #4 women’s basketball will face #13 Chattanooga at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.

On Friday, March 17, in Indianapolis, two locations are available for UofL alumni and fans to gather. They are: Colts Grill at 10 a.m. and Scotty’s Brewhouse at 11 a.m.; both are one block from Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Entry is free and the first 50 fans at each location will receive a special giveaway. Seating is first come, first serve with no reservations. If the Cardinals advance, the pre-game gathering locations will remain the same for Sunday’s games.

Fans are also invited to support the 12 Cardinals competing in the NCAA Division 1 Swimming & Diving Championship, which will be March 15-18 at IU Natatorium.

On Saturday, March 18, the UofL and UK alumni chapters in Indianapolis will co-host a Collaborative Community Service Project from 9 a.m.–noon at Gleaners Food Bank. While rivals off the court, the two schools will come together to give back during the event.

Alumni regional chapters will also host national game watches in more than 30 locations across the country including the Sport & Social Club for local fans. A full list of men’s and women’s tournament-related news can be found at: UofLalumni.org/UofLNCAA.

For more information, on-site interview opportunities or photos, contact Lindsay Wehr, Director of Advancement Communications, at 502-262-5434 or lawehr01@louisville.edu.

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