University of Louisville

University of Louisville International Student Insurance

The University of Louisville, located in Louisville, Kentucky, was established in 1798. It was founded as the Jefferson Seminary and opened its doors in 1813. It closed in 1829. The Louisville Medical Institute (LMI) opened in 1837 and the Louisville Collegiate Institute (LCI) was chartered that same year. LCI was quickly renamed Louisville College and by 1844 had inherited the land formerly used by Jefferson Seminary. In 1846, the Kentucky Legislature created the University of Louisville by merging LMI, Louisville College, and a newly created law school. The university flourished in the first half of the 1900s, adding a Graduate School in 1915, a School of Dentistry in 1918, the Speed Scientific School in 1925, and School of Music in 1932. 

Today, the University of Louisville enrolls more than 20,000 students and counting each year. The school colors are red and black, and its athletic nickname is the cardinals.

Academic Opportunities and Research Achievements

The university offers undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, and professional degrees across its 12 academic colleges and schools. Among them are the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Development, the School of Dentistry, the Brandeis School of Law, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the Speed School of Engineering. 

The university is known as the site of the first artificial heart transplant surgery (2001), the world’s first successful hand transplant (1999), and the nation’s first emergency department (1911). 

On Campus

Points of interest on campus include the Rauch Planetarium, the Hite Art Institute, and the burial site of former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, underneath the entrance to the Brandeis Law School. In addition to its main campus, the university operates two other campuses in Louisville: the Health Sciences Campus and the Shelby Campus. It also runs a sister campus in Panama City, Panama.

Notable Alumni

Notable University of Louisville alumni and attendees include U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; author Sue Grafton; former NPR host Bob Edwards; Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli; news anchor Diane Sawyer; and Gina Haspel, the first female director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

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