University of Louisville president stepping down as governor reorganizes university’s board

In a press conference Friday morning, Gov. Matt Bevin announced that University of Louisville President Jim Ramsey will be stepping down from his position as head of the school and along with a new president, the university will get a new board of trustees to give the school a “fresh start.”

Bevin said Friday that he has had many conversations with Ramsey over the last several months and they both believe his resignation is the right thing for the university. Bevin also said Ramsey’s resignation could be immediate or could wait until a new board is in place.

In response to questions from reporters, Bevin said the changes coming to the school have “been needed for some time” now and that there was no one thing that led to these decisions.

At the same time, Bevin stated there is uniform agreement that the board as it exists currently is “not functional.”

Through executive order, Bevin will reorganize the board in order to, according to Bevin, improve efficiency, economy and the administration of the board and university.

Current board members will be removed and within two weeks the Council on Post-Secondary Education (CPE) will be asked to give Bevin a list of names to replace that board. Instead of a 17 member board, there will be 13 members.

CPE will deliver a list of 30 names to Bevin in the next two weeks. From those names, Bevin will choose 10 individuals to appoint to the board with three current faculty, staff and student representatives that will remain on the new board.

During the next two weeks, an interim board is being appointed by Bevin through a second executive order. Three members chosen by Bevin include Benita Black, Dr. Ron Wright and Junior Bridgeman, names which Bevin says he hopes to see come back as recommendations from CPE in the coming weeks.

Bevin said he is focused on improving the academic needs of the university and the workforce development coming from the school and said he hopes that this new board “takes their job seriously” and choose a strong leader who is “for all things University of Louisville.”