mcconnell center — a new beginning for a continuing mission Foreword By James Ramsey President, University of Louisville As the President of the University of Louisville, I am proud to contribute this Foreword. The McConnell Center has had a tremendously successful first fifteen years, and with the Center’s move into its new headquarters in Ekstrom Library, it really is an appropriate time for a word on moving forward. Quite simply, the McConnell Center is one of the most exciting programs on campus. It enriches all of our lives through the students it helps us recruit and its programs and publications that enlighten and entertain. With its new teaching and learning spaces, the Center is already helping the University move forward with richer partnerships in the community and adding in its own way to our growing national prestige. It is fitting that the University have a center of excellence on campus named after one of our most prestigious alumni. Mitch McConnell has never forgotten his days as a student leader and never shrinks from helping his alma mater. His service to our community is a model of how men and women at the peak of their professional lives can still find time to touch other lives and leave their worlds a little better than they found it. The McConnell Center has given more than $1.7 million in scholarships over the last fifteen years and impacted nearly every corner of our Commonwealth. McConnell Scholars have come from 66 counties across Kentucky and represent a diverse and talented group of young leaders. In our increasingly shrinking world, the McConnell Center has helped our students travel to China, Scotland, Belize, South Africa, Ghana, India, Germany, Italy, Japan, Ireland, Mexico, Portugal, and Venezuela. Among its speakers have been four Secretaries of State, a member of the United States Supreme Court, Pulitzer- prize winning authors, and various ambassadors, cabinet members, and even one Head of Government. As the University of Louisville continues its march to national prominence, I am pleased the McConnell Center will be helping to lead the way forward. 1 mcconnell center — a new beginning for a continuing mission A Letter From Mitch McConnell Louisville has been my home town since I was eight years old. It was not hard for me to decide that I wanted to stay here through my college years and then to settle down and begin a career of public service. Many people contributed to the education I received back when the University was a fraction of its current size and was relatively unheralded nationally. After achieving my goal of serving Kentucky in the United States Senate, I wanted to give something back to help the University give even better opportunities to the young people that began coming through their door thirty years after I left. In those early days we had to raise money for nothing but a dream. Thanks to those early donors and the leadership of the only two directors the program has known, Paul Weber and Gary Gregg, that dream has been met and exceeded numerous times over. More than 100 students have now received scholarships to attend the University of Louisville. Many of them have gone on to prestigious graduate, medical, and law schools. Some have decided to work in government or non-profits and others are beginning to have families and are becoming leaders in their communities. I am as proud of the development of the McConnell Center as anything with which I have been involved. With the continued strong support of President James Ramsey, Provost Shirley Willinghanz, and the University’s Board of Trustees, I know the Center will continue to grow as it holds fast to its ultimate mission of serving Kentucky by nurturing its next generation of leaders. Senator McConnell and Secretary Chao tailgate with students prior to a Cardinal football game. 3 mcconnell center — a new beginning for a continuing mission A Letter From A Letter From Gary L. Gregg II, Ph.D. David Huber Mitch McConnell Chair in Leadership Unites States Attorney Director, McConnell Center Chairman, McConnell Center Board of Advisors It has been a privilege to serve the University I graduated from the University of Louisville of Louisville as Director of its McConnell more than forty years ago and could not have Center these past six years. What impressed imagined the progress my alma mater would me most about the Center from the very make in just a few decades. In the fields of beginning was the commitment the medicine, sports, scientific research, and University and Senator McConnell have given engineering, U of L has made great strides to making it great. toward its goal of being recognized as one of America’s greatest metropolitan research universities. I have traveled to other institutes on campuses across the nation, but I have yet to find the equal of the McConnell None of the many good developments at the University have Center. What makes our Center unique is the commitment of given me more pleasure than watching the McConnell Center its Founders that established it as a living and vibrant place grow from a simple idea for a scholarship program to the for nurturing young people. Many institutions across the maturity it has achieved in recent years. From that first class nation are dedicated to serving professors or simply hosting of fifteen students, the Center now reaches thousands guest speakers and conferences. The McConnell Center’s annually through its various programs and publications. mission from its earliest days has been to find and nurture Each year I look forward to participating in the Center’s outstanding young people. This is what makes the Center annual interview day as it gives me the chance to interact such a dynamic place of work and play. directly with some of Kentucky’s most outstanding young Our growth over the past few years has made it necessary people. Its hard to look in those bright young eyes and not that we open our new headquarters, and we are pleased it is feel sanguine about the future of our Commonwealth and our to be in Ekstrom Library. Like a living library, the McConnell nation. Center has been bringing top authors and academics to If more McConnell Centers existed across America, our campus to add to our community’s intellectual and cultural nation and our world would be a better place. landscape and mentor our young leaders. We look forward to an exciting new partnership with the University’s outstanding library community. Though our mission will continue to grow, our central goal will always be the same: to find and encourage outstanding young people who show the potential of improving our community through leadership and service. 5 mcconnell center — a new beginning for a continuing mission New Beginning A 6 mcconnell center — a new beginning for a continuing mission ONNE A New BeginningcAC New BeginningL The McConnell Center marks the beginning of a new era by HistoricL Displays: In conjunction with its programming in rededicating itself to its core emphasisM of providing civic education and leadership, the Center’s new home will outstanding leadership and educational programs for feature historic displays about leadership in Kentucky and McConnell Scholars. This mission will expand and grow in will educate students and the public who visit the West Wing the years ahead as the Center works to reach its potential as of Ekstrom Library. The displays will include a replica of the one of the nation’s outstanding scholarship programs. Senate desk once used by Henry Clay and currently used by Senator Mitch McConnell and an original statute of Clay that A New Home for our Programs and Students: In 2006 the was commissioned by the University of Louisville. McConnell Center moves into its new home in Ekstrom Library. The additional office, instructional, and library space will increase the Center’s ability to serve its students and the public. This new headquarters will include Sa library of great books, the PaulC J. Weber Student Lounge, S and areasH for McConnell R Scholars to gatherO and Llearn.A New Logo: The McConnell Center will continue to use its traditional “shaking hands” medallion (which is based on a close-up of the Kentucky flag) as a mark of NN distinction for graduating scholars. The CO EL c L Center’s growing diversity of programs and M student majors, however, has brought about S the opportunity to rethink the image of the C S H O L A R Center and its programming. The Center has developed a new logo that blends the permanence and refinement of a Corinthian column with the continuing vitality of the flame of knowledge. The column is modeled after those that adorn the original Senate Chamber in Washington, D.C. and the logo announces the Center’s dedication to “Leadership, Scholarship, and Service.” 7 mcconnell center — a new beginning for a continuing mission & Diversity Distinction 8 mcconnell center — a new beginning for a continuing mission DistinctionDistinction & Diversity & Diversity The McConnell Center’s Distinguished Lecture Series Transcription of a letter dated Nov 23, 2001 Dear Dr. Gregg: I wish to express my sincere appreciation for the invitation and opportunity to address the McConnell Scholars on November 19. I particularly enjoyed the question-and-answer session and commend the students for their far-reaching and thoughtful questions. It is clear they are well informed on the matters of world affairs and foreign policy! The center does such crucial work preparing today’s young people for positions of civic responsibility. I hope my visit encouraged some of your students to consider careers in foreign affairs and perhaps internships with the Department of State.