December 15, 2022 - Tom Harris (UK Philanthropy and the 'Kentucky Can' campaign)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 15, 2022) – The Office of Philanthropy is the fundraising arm of the University of Kentucky. Charged with furthering the university’s mission and vision, the philanthropy staff works with faculty, students, programs, colleges and administration to identify the university’s top priorities. Then, it connects the university to the people, corporations and foundations who can make their dreams a reality.

In 2018, the university launched the $2.1 billion ‘Kentucky Can’ campaign to tackle these challenges by improving opportunities for student success, funding innovative research, improving healthcare for all Kentuckians, strengthening our alumni network and supporting our athletics programs.

The fundraising campaign is the largest in the history of the Commonwealth, and is designed to create thousands of scholarships to expand access to education at the University of Kentucky and to dramatically accelerate UK’s efforts to solve the Commonwealth’s most challenging health and economic issues.

On this episode of ‘Behind the Blue’ Tom Harris, UK’s Vice-President for university relations discusses the need for philanthropy at UK, the current state of the Kentucky Can campaign and its potential impact, the importance of alumni and friends of the university to philanthropic efforts, and more.

Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university.

For questions or comments about this or any other episode of “Behind the Blue, “ email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu  or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue.