Bellarmine University

According to the school, the University’s Mission is: Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university serving the region, nation and world by educating talented, diverse students of many faiths, ages, nations, and cultures, and with respect for each individual’s intrinsic value and dignity. We educate our students through undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts and professional studies, within which students develop the intellectual, moral, ethical and professional competencies for successful living, work, leadership and service to others. We achieve these goals in an educational environment committed to excellence, academic freedom, and authentic conversations that are not dominated by particular political or other narrow perspectives. Here we seek to foster a thoughtful, informed consideration of serious ideas, values and issues, time-honored and contemporary, across a broad range of compelling concerns that are regional, national and international. By these means, Bellarmine seeks to benefit the public interest, to help create the future, and to improve the human condition. Thus we strive to be worthy of our foundational motto: In Veritatis Amore, In the Love of Truth. The Premier Independent Catholic University in the South: Bellarmine University is a vibrant community of educational excellence and ethical awareness that consistently ranks among the nation’s best colleges and universities. Our students pursue an education based in the liberal arts, and in the distinguished, inclusive Catholic tradition of educational excellence, the oldest and most rewarding in the western world. It is a lifelong education, worthy of the university’s namesake, Saint Robert Bellarmine, and of his invitation to each of us to learn and live in veritatis. Bellarmine is growing rapidly, not only with great new campus amenities and academic programs, but also in regional and national prominence. As we grow, more and more people are adding Bellarmine to their lists of top schools. Around here, we say “BELL-er-mun” in LOU-a-vuhl." This is one of the friendliest campuses and places in the world, so we’ll still love you no matter how you pronounce these names. BU is named after Roberto Bellarmino (1542-1621), the brilliant Jesuit, who was a Cardinal and who was canonized in 1930. A Campus on the Move: Our lush, 137-acre campus currently comprises more than 30 buildings, including the world-class W.L. Lyons Brown Library, the Norton Health Science Center, and halls that are home to the nursing, education, and the arts and sciences. Bellarmine boasts six residence halls (with a seventh currently under construction), a pristine architectural gem of a chapel, campus center, and university quadrangle. Our recreational facilities include indoor and outdoor tennis courts; fitness center; golf course; and athletic fields including a state-of-the-art Frazier Stadium that’s home to lacrosse, soccer, field hockey, and track & field. Our campus on three hills and our award-winning architecture, evoke the beautiful Italian hill towns of Tuscany, birthplace of our patron. History: Established as Bellarmine College, a men’s college and offered first instruction at postsecondary level in 1950; awarded first degree (baccalaureate in 1954; merged with Ursuline college, a women’s college, and changed name to Bellarmine-Ursuline College, in 1968; adopted present name Bellarmine University in 2000. Institutional Structure: Governing Board: Authority and responsibility for the affairs of Bellarmine University rest with its Board of Trustees, which is broadly representative of the community that the University serves. Officers and members are elected by the Board membership. The Board presently has 34 members, including the Archbishop of Louisville and representatives of many religious faiths and fields of professional and business leadership. Two faculty members and one student serve as non-voting members of the board.