They are why we are here. Whether it is a maintaining a modern curriculum that prepares our students for success, providing appropriate support for graduate students or ensuring that doctoral students start and complete their programs successfully, we must put students first.

We will only accomplish our mission of advancing Kentucky when our people are compensated - in terms of pay and benefits - and supported in ways that lead the state, too.

How do we embed innovation and discovery into every aspect of our institution? The breadth and depth of programming and offerings on one campus makes us distinctive in higher education. How do we incentivize the spark of ingenuity throughout our campus?

We are Kentucky's institution. And that mantle holds with it heightened responsibilities around accountability and transparency. But we need to do more to instill a sense of trust in each other on issues ranging from shared governance to open accountability for how we perform and what we measure.

UK is among the most diverse communities in the Commonwealth. Our students will enter a world riven by divisions, but more interdependent than ever before. How do we model unity amidst diversity for our state?