LEXINGTON, Ky. (January 8, 2026) – As we welcome students, faculty, and staff back to campus for the spring 2026 semester, this episode of Behind the Blue offers a moment to pause, reflect, and look ahead.
In December, UK President Eli Capilouto sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about the year behind us and the momentum carrying the university forward.
On this episode of Behind the Blue Capilouto reflects on the close of 2025 and what it means to begin a new year with students back on campus—celebrating milestones like commencement, growing enrollment, and the continued success of first-generation and Kentucky students. He also discusses how the university has navigated a changing external landscape, staying grounded in core principles like dignity, respect, and a steadfast focus on putting students first.
The conversation explores major moments of pride from the past year, including transformative philanthropic investments supporting children's health and the arts, the breadth of disciplines that make UK uniquely positioned to tackle complex challenges, and the continued physical transformation of campus tied directly to talent, infrastructure, and opportunity.
President Capilouto also looks ahead—highlighting the Advancing Kentucky Together Network, UK's expanding role as a partner of choice in artificial intelligence, and the university's responsibility to lead with both caution and promise as new technologies reshape education, research, and healthcare.
Throughout the conversation, one theme remains constant: the university's mission to advance the Commonwealth—to help build a Kentucky that is healthier, wealthier, and wiser—and the people across campus who make that work possible every day.
"Behind the Blue" is available via a variety of podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Subscribe to receive new episodes each week, featuring UK's latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists, writers and the most important news impacting the university.
"Behind the Blue" is a production of the University of Kentucky. Transcripts for this or other episodes of "Behind the Blue" can be downloaded from the show's blog page.
To discover how the University of Kentucky is advancing our Commonwealth, click here.
