Bettering our best

Dear UC Community, 

The conclusion of another academic year always brings joyful affirmation of our mission, vision and values as our campus community celebrates Commencement. UC’s largest spring graduation class in history – 6,496 strong – is expected to receive degrees this weekend. Thank you to each and every one of you whose dedication, hard work and support helped our students achieve this success.

This year has been a time like no other, marked by the launch of our Next Lives Here strategic direction as well as the unveiling of our Boldly Bearcat theme for the university’s upcoming Bicentennial to launch in 2018-2019. 

Through our collective efforts, UC continues to better our best. Looking back on the year, here are some examples:

• A fifth straight year of record-setting enrollment with more than 44,700 students.

• Board approval of a tuition freeze for 2018-19 – our fourth straight year of holding tuition steady for all undergraduate and graduate students (except for Pharmacy and Medicine).

• Headline-making faculty research ranging from unearthed masterpieces in classical archaeology to potential treatments for cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

• Topping off two major new buildings under construction – the Lindner College of Business and the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute – and the official dedication of our newest residence hall, named in honor of civil rights icon, UC alumna and 2018 William Howard Taft Medal recipient Marian Spencer.

• Progress in the pursuit of our Next Lives Here vision, with implementation led by Provost Kristi Nelson. Among the first outcomes: the new Staff Success Center, which opened earlier this month.

• American Athletic Conference Championships in women’s indoor track and field and men’s swimming and diving as well as a regular season and conference tournament championships for the men’s basketball program, which competed in its eighth-straight NCAA Tournament. Our cheerleading team also won the 2018 Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) Game Day National Championship. 

• And the triad of anniversaries marked by the College-Conservatory of Music (150 years), UC Blue Ash (50 years) and the College of Allied Health Sciences (20 years).

 Your contributions to our success matter so much to who we are and how we make a difference. Thank you for your partnership, collaboration and willingness to go the extra mile. 

With gratitude,

Neville G. Pinto
 President