UofL’s James Ramsey and UK’s Eli Capilouto will serve on the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement (BEAM) board.
The board, chaired by Lexington businessman Jim Host, held its first meeting in Frankfort Nov. 21.
According to Host, the purpose of the initiative is to get Kentucky’s two largest cities and universities collaborating on education, technology and workforce issues to grow Kentucky’s share of the world economic pie.
The deans of the education and engineering schools at UofL and UK attended the first BEAM meeting, outlining their existing collaborations and pledging to do more.
Speed Engineering School Dean Neville Pinto told the group that the four deans have agreed to focus on “strengthening the pipeline from K-12 to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees, particularly engineering degrees” to better meet the demands of 21st century companies. Data from the Brookings Institute shows Louisville is 66th out of the top 100 U.S. metro areas in worker education levels matching employer demands.
Host said “two great universities working together is historic” and added “they can fight like the dickens on the field, but on this initiative they’re joined at the hip.”