While much has been made of all the time needed to hire the new President, the University of Louisville Board of Trustees was not wasting any time filling some other key positions. A number of their recent actions will enable Neeli Bendapudi to focus on other priorities when she assumes the office on May 15th.

Bendapudi had to be pleased that the Vince Tyra has already been hired as Athletic Director and that Tyra had named Chris Mack as Head Basketball Coach.  Starting from scratch wasn’t an option, the positions needing to be filled quickly to avoid losing basketball players from the current team.

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But there were other openings, equally if not more important to the University, that needed to be addressed. 

Just this week UofL announced the choice for the new Dean of the J.B. Speed Engineering School, vacated by Neville Pinto who filled in f0r the UofL Presidency on an interim basis before becoming President at the University of Cincinnati. Emmanuel Collins, chairman of mechanical engineering at Florida A&M-Florida State, will be Dean starting July 1.

An appointment that didn’t get much attention a while back was that of Colin Crawford as the 24th dean of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.  Previously he had served as a professor of environmental law at Tulane University. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School and degrees in modern history from Cambridge and Columbia Universities. 

With so many key positions already filled, Bendapudi will be able to turn her attention to marketing and fundraising, which are her areas of expertise. The direction of the school’s fundraising efforts is in limbo, with Bryan Robinson, who last year succeeded Keith Inman as Interim Vice President for Advancement, having resigned in February.

Before becoming Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at Kansas, she was Dean of the School of Business, where she increased  undergraduate enrollment in the school by 62 percent, improved undergraduate job placement from 55 percent to 77 percent, and oversaw almost $200 million in fundraising for the school.  She also received many department, school and national teaching awards.

With the appointment of a woman, a person of color, and an individual with a foreign heritage, the UofL Board of Trustees has scored a major public relations victory with the liberal mainstream media. The media agenda of advancing diversity for the sole purpose of diversity is clear, and these advantages can not be overstated.

Marketing expertise is exactly what the University of Louisville needs right now, and Bendapudi is uniquely qualified to provide the leadership that has been sorely missing over the last two years.  The new President has a strong track record of success and, early indications are that she is supremely confident, has amazing enthusiasm, and is determined that UofL will be a much greater university.

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

One thought on “UofL Trustees cleared some obstacles for Bendapudi”
  1. Even though I don’t know anything about the new President, except what I have read. I really like what I have read and what I have seen of her. She seems really personable and a fun loving person and has worked at some top university. I agree being a top fund raiser at Kansas, is something that Louisville could use at the moment. She is a business person along with academics I hope she is the person to take us to the next level. Congratulations to Dr. Bendapudi.

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