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Access Louisville
An education leader's take on Downtown Louisville
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Anne Kenworthy has her hands full.
As president of Spalding University, she's in charge of leading an educational institution at a challenging time for that sector. In addition to everyday challenges, like keeping current on the artificial intelligence tools that are available to students, post secondary education is also facing an expected enrollment cliff (related to declining birthrates) as well as skepticism about the return on investment for a college education.
Kenworthy, who was named as Spalding's president in 2024, talks about all of the above, and more, on this week's Access Louisville podcast. We even talk about how Spalding fits into downtown Louisville and some of the development taking place around there
She said when she came into the job many people told her about Downtown's past — but she's interested in it's future.
"I'm excited about what is happening ... even just the last 18 months of downtown," she said. "I think the redevelopment of downtown is strong and just keeps getting stronger. You're publishing these stories every day where people are making significant investments into downtown."
She praised the leadership of Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, Louisville Downtown Partnership and others. [By the way, if you like podcasts about downtown — also be sure to checkout recent live episode Access Louisville: Heart of the City].
Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can also follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which are linked above.
We're gonna talk education and downtown development, plus a little more up next on Access Lobile. Thanks for joining us. My name is David Mann, and joining me today is Shea Van Hoy. Hey everybody! Later in the show, we're gonna be joined by Ann Kinworthy, president of Spaulding University. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. Each week we give you the latest news and plenty of sharp opinions on what's going on here in Louisville, Kentucky. Of course, this podcast is sponsored by Baird. Discover the difference Baird can make in your financial life at rwbaird.com slash Louisville. We'll hear more from Baird later in the show. For now, let's talk about uh this interview that Shay just did with Ann Kinworthy. I guess how did she get on your radar?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, interestingly enough, I had uh interviewed her through a QA uh back right when she was starting in the fall of 2004. She had been announced as the next president, obviously replacing Tori Merd McClure, who's kind of a legend in Louisville as President of Spaulding. And I think while Anne was kind of trying, you know, moving here because she moved from out of town, I sent her some questions. And so I thought it was just a good time to catch up with her. Over the past several months, they've announced some new healthcare initiatives. Um, she'll talk a little bit about their AI initiatives. But also one of the things she talked about both then in 2024 and now was just her commitment and the commitment of spawning to downtown. And so uh obviously we're downtown at Business First. We write a ton about downtown as as uh President Kenworthy will mention. So uh I thought that was really interesting. Part two is just they're they're they're right on the edge of downtown and they're really committed to seeing downtown through and helping it grow.
SPEAKER_04All right. Well, with that, let's go to the interview.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the Access Louisville Podcast Interview. Today I'm joined by Dr. Ann Kenworthy. She's the president of Spaulding University. Anne, welcome to the show. We're thrilled to have you.
SPEAKER_03Very happy to be here today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we we're recording just before Derby, so uh we're all in the festive mood and uh wanted to talk to you about uh what is it? You're you're 18 months in, something. 18 months in, that's right. Yeah. And we did a QA right when you started, so I wanted to check back in and see how things are going um at Spaulding. Uh we're coming up on the end of session, one of the sessions, right? And uh just wanted to ask you your kind of your first full year. How has the how's the school year gone?
SPEAKER_03It has gone great. I mean, our students, our faculty and staff, it has been a wonderful year. Lots of learning took place, right? Yeah, but a lot of innovation. Uh I'm just so proud of everyone on campus because we have just leaned into number one, serving our students well. Golly, um, this year we had the the largest student body we've had in the last five years, so we're seeing that good growth. We have the highest enrollment in our graduate programs in the history of the university, and we have the um the largest undergraduate enrollment since 2019. So you can see in so many ways, we really are growing. We've got the the best retention, right? Because if you want to bring them in, you actually want them to graduate. We've got the best retention rate in the last decade. But you know, this year has been about innovation and partnerships. Um, one of the things that we're doing as course is leaning into, you're going to be surprised by this board, AI. Yes. Of course, everyone's talking about it. And as educators, we have even that much more of a role to play to prepare students for AI. That's tough to do. Right, right. Because as we know, as we all use our tools, it changes so rapidly. But you know, we can't wait. We can't, you know, higher ed, we love to wait until we have the perfect answer. We can't do that. Um, so we're leaning into that. We've created, so let's say you're a business, uh, you've got a business major, you can get a minor in AI for business. That's okay if you're not a business major. We have AI literacy if you want to get a minor. But more than that, we have been on campus having those conversations about how do we build out an infrastructure of AI for learning and of course for running our business. We are a nonprofit business.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was that's gonna say you're too fast at us running the school. You're looking at your students, but also you're managing your workforce, your you know, your hundreds of employees. Exactly. Uh AI could factor into decision making there, or uh, you know, as you expand real estate. And so kind of like on our end, too, especially from our corporate team, there's just just a flood of information, and tomorrow is different than from today. And that's why you said like you can't really just wait because there's never going to be the perfect time, right?
SPEAKER_03Right. Now's the perfect time. And as and as teachers, or I mean as faculty and teachers, you know, we try to prep when we learn everything and conquer it before we teach to our students. We can't do that. We can't wait. Yeah. So one of the things we've done is we've looked ahead, and and this fall, we're going to be rolling out an AI platform. It will have a swath of different AI tools, many to choose from for our faculty, staff, and students. So let's face it, you know, as faculty and staff, we're having to learn alongside of our students. Sometimes we our students teach us, right? Yeah. Because they tend to be pretty quick at this. So we're, you know, we're moving ahead, and by this fall, we're going to launch this. I mean, it really is a fantastic tool because it will give our students and faculty and staff access to many different AI platforms for that. And and to start working on that literacy and how to build into that. And to, we have to embrace it, right? We have to figure out how it impacts our teaching and our learning, but we have to embrace it as a part of that journey.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh one thing I want to talk about we touched on when you started in the QA, um, and uh we can link to that in the in the uh article that goes along this well when you started. Uh, but you're an urban university, you're right, right at the edge of downtown. Uh often I take Breckenridge to work. So we're we're downtown in our our studio right now. So I go go through campus uh often. Um so how do you feel about downtown's momentum right now as someone who is downtown pretty much every day? Um, you know, of course, right now we're in the middle of Derby, it's very vibrant. But uh in general, how do you think how do you feel uh that downtown is is is going right now?
SPEAKER_03You know, it's funny because when I came, you know, I had people trying to give me the context of the past. All I know is when I came in, I I'm excited about what is happening and has even just the last 18 months of downtown. I think the redevelopment downtown is strong and just keeps getting stronger. You know, right? You're publishing these stories every day where people are making significant investments into downtown. The the leadership of our mayor, the leadership of Louisville Downtown Partnership, and the fact that Louisville Business First is on it and covering it and promoting that as well. I think that the momentum is amazing and just continues to grow in just in the short time that I've been here. Well, thanks for the plug. We appreciate it. Yeah, we obviously uh we just I read Louisville Downtown. I read the Louisville Business First, and that's for me, that's what I'm focused on. You're covering it because it helps me understand how Spaulding fits within the growth of downtown. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, that was gonna be my question to you is how do you how do you feel? Uh, you know, obviously a big real estate owner is one thing, um, but also teaching the future workforce. So what and you're as you're you know getting now your feet under you, what do you think Spaulding's role is right now and how could that evolve moving forward?
SPEAKER_03Our role is to partner, our role is to lean into our community, and our community is downtown. This last year we have we have done that at lightning speed. We have embraced it across the campus. I'm gonna give you a list of partnerships and you're gonna tell me to okay, enough, right? But it literally all within this year. And a real simple one. I'm gonna start with the simple one. Um, you know, we saw an opportunity to give our students a little bit of variety in their food and also support a local business. We are fortunate to have Noble Funk right here in our neighborhood. And so this uh January we switched and we said, okay, look, Saturday meal services at Noble Funk. That is a win. Uh, trust me, our students think it's a win. That is a win for our students. It's a win for Noble Funk, and it feeds back into our community to keep that thriving. Also, we're thrilled to announce that we have a new partnership with Trayton Oak Towers. Okay, yeah. Fascinating. So we are working with them, and we will be uh establishing two living learning communities where our students will live in Trayton Oak. And so you've got this intergenerational experience. Uh, and it's it's there's some programming around it. It's not just flinging the doors open, right? They're living learning communities for our honor students and for our healthcare students. So, you know, just finding ways to gap the generational gap and build upon it, particularly when you talk about the you know, senior living, and oftentimes they're dealing with health care, health care um concerns. So bringing these two generations together right here in our downtown neighborhood, so excited about that. It also increases the the options for our students in terms of housing. Sure. We also are rolling out a new partnership with Blue Mine Health. So Blue Mine Health um has about 15 locations. We're adding a downtown location right on Spaulding's campus. They provide primary health care. It's a concierge service, it's a subscription model gone through employers. So we're providing the facilities, they're bringing their clinic to downtown, we're providing membership to our employees and to our students. So it broadens that access to primary health care. It's easy to get to. And also it's now for downtown employers. This gives them an opportunity to provide an additional health benefit. Um, right, because it's going to be in downtown and on Spaulding's campus. Okay, but wait, there's more. I tell you, I'm telling you it's been a busy year. We're also working with the LMPD. We're developing an associate's degree in criminal justice specifically tailored to their needs and also to account for the fact that they've already had some training that will feed right into that program through the police academy. We're partners with Greenprint Initiative. You're familiar with Greenprint? No, I don't think so. Oh my goodness. Okay, so you know, the Traeger MicroForce? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that's a Greenprint Initiative. Okay. So we're developing some projects. We've we're not quite ready to announce them yet, but we're a green print partner, Spaulding is, and we're developing some projects that we will bring to Spaulding's campus. The whole point is to create a healthier, you know, greening of downtown, partnering with them, Family Scholar House. Who doesn't love Family Scholar House? They're a neighbor. They were one of the first neighbors that I tapped into, Kathy Dykster, who doesn't love that. Um, we have our social work and our clinical psychology students who do practicums. What that does for Family Scholar House is it expands their services they can provide through our students. What they give us is so much, but one of the things they help us with is they have a calling center. So we can say, hey, will you call this group of students and see if they have what they need to make sure that they're successful? They call them, they have those conversations, they provide that to us, keeps our students on track. Great, yeah. Told you it's been a busy year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned uh Noble Funk and Trayton Oaks, two places we had events in the past couple years, uh, or past two years, yeah. Uh so you mentioned you briefly touched on healthcare though. Right. Uh and I know last year you launched three new programs uh for healthcare, three new healthcare programs. Um and how what sort of need did you see in the community that helped tailor those? I mean, you you mentioned also the blue mine situation, which obviously kind of down in and around downtown, access to healthcare isn't that great. It's a little bit of a desert. But as far as these programs go, what did you see the need and how did that help tailor uh how you set those up?
SPEAKER_03Well, I think the most important thing is when anytime you develop a product, right, you have to listen to the market. And that's exactly what Spaulding does as well. And so we listen to the market. What's the market? You know, uh Baptist Health. Uh, we've also, matter of fact, just yesterday we had a great conversation with Home of the Innocents. What do they need? They need healthcare workers, healthcare employees. You know, Spaulding, we've been we've been educating nurses and occupational therapy and physical therapy, and the list goes on. But now we're going to expand that um into more skilled types of healthcare positions. So this fall, uh, we're launching radiologic technology, medical assisting, and medical coding. These are these are the support skills that that support the healthcare system, and we're hearing that. The pipeline isn't there. It's funny because we were just talking about um another program, respiratory therapy, which I'll tell you about in just a second that we're looking at. Um, and in order to have more respiratory therapists, they of course we want them to do training, but it's it's one-to-one. Well, you're trying to expand the workforce, and yet you have to have the clinical sites. It's tough. Yeah. So the respiratory therapists who are out there doing the work, they're having to help us by training the employees that we're trying to put into the pipeline. Just yesterday, uh we were talking with Home of the Innocents. We are working on a collaborative project to start respiratory therapy. You know, the Home of the Innocents is in the middle of a pretty significant expansion project. They're adding right, like six, 76 to 126 beds. They need respiratory therapists. So we're partnering with them. We think it may take us about a year to get the program up and running, but together, we're meeting their needs, we're meeting the healthcare needs, and we're providing more educational opportunities for our students. Great. Uh well, just higher ed in general.
SPEAKER_02It's been a tough couple of years, funding-wise, uh, you know, uh a lot of things uh front or um enrollment cliffs, everything. So uh what do you think the biggest issue is facing higher ed right now, and specifically small private universities like like the one you lead?
SPEAKER_03Well, that's the problem. There isn't one issue. Okay. It really is that storm of issues. Of course, if students aren't born, we can't educate them. So when we talk about the demographic demographic cliff, of course, if they're not born, so there's just fewer students in the pipeline. But also, you know, and really started with COVID, the demand for employees, it's low unemployment rate. Yeah. And so a lot of employers are actually reaching into the high school. So, you know, if you're coming out of high school and you have this choice, do I go directly into the workforce or do I continue my education? It's a challenge to compete with that. Um, and then there's the the general skepticism. Right now, there's the skepticism about the return on the investment. Well, let me tell you, there is a return on the investment. I mean, the research is there. The average return on investment for a bachelor's degree is 680%. For a professional degree, it's over 2,000. But it is hard to combat a lot of these uh questions and skepticism. Do we want education to go away or diminish? No. We want educated employees, we want educated neighbors. Now it's it's more important than ever. So I think what's really special about small colleges is we know our communities, right? It's we know our communities. We're able to have those conversations and we can step into the gap. And we don't have to do it in big ways. We're a small university. We can see the small gaps that our community needs and step in and create those programs to train people to need to fit the needs of what our community is. We're not trying to do the big school one size fits all. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. Uh well, uh one thing you you mentioned, obviously Spaulding's been educating people since 1814, I believe, right? That's correct, yes. And this struck me when you were uh hired, and I know I know your predecessor, who I think everyone in Louisville knows, Tori Merton McClure, had been there for quite some time. But so we're talking what 212 years old your math is good. Yeah, I can do math in my head. That's one of my skills. Uh, but you're the only the 11th president. So that's that's over that time, that's shown some really good stability. So, what is like to steward something that's that old and has been only overseen by 10 people other than you? It's just kind of unique.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, I can consider it a burden, but it's not. It is an honor. I mean, so you know, the the Spaulding was started by Mother Catherine Spaulding, right? The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. And so ultimately, I mean, I want to live up to that and live up to that standard. It is an honor. And the sisters um still offer a tremendous amount of guidance. We just lean into into the the path that they've laid. You know, our mission, which is reflective of the sisters, is meeting the needs of the times. And it just goes back to what I've been talking about as community. So um, so it sometimes it can feel a little bit daunting, but it we don't have to create where we need to go and what the vision is and what the mission is. We just have to live it out. And that's by reaching into the community, having these conversations, figuring out what the needs are and partnering together. It is the best job ever, I can tell you that.
SPEAKER_02That's and your your background is kind of working in and at faith, some faith-based universities, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I came from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee. Yeah. Um, also a small Catholic university in the city, serving the city. So so for me to come into Louisville, you know, there's that Memphis Louisville rivalry, but I'm having to set that aside. But coming into Louisville, it's it's been a pretty easy transition. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02We um we have a sister paper in Memphis, and uh we still get their print edition here, and I see like so many sort of parallel lines between Louisville. We're kind of the same size, um, you know, uh maybe not growing as fast as some other parts of the country, have our challenges. Um, so it's been it's interesting to keep up on what's and then obviously with the the blue oval plants, the the initial part of that that there was one in Memphis too, and so we were talking to their reporters quite a bit on on that. So you mentioned um enrollment. I think you can update this, but our last count last fall was around 1,600 uh students. Um, but you mentioned growth. Uh what is a what is comfortable growth? Uh where you know, five years from now, where where would you like to see enrollment at?
SPEAKER_03You know, it's funny because it's this balance. I think it's important to have steady growth. Um, particularly when you're a small organization, we don't want to get out of our skis. We, you know, we have a bandwidth. And so we have to make sure that as we grow, we maintain the quality that we need. So it's that steady growth, but also balanced with being nimble and responding quickly. I mean, I think uh the example of creating these allied health programs, respiratory therapy or or uh radiologic technology and moving quickly to meet that need. So it's it's balancing that that growth, steady growth, not getting, not trying to go too far too fast to make sure we're maintaining that quality, but keeping on that pace and knowing, you know, so you know, we've got these projects, but we've got two years, three years, four years, five years looking ahead to make sure that we're continuing that clip.
SPEAKER_02And uh kind of a side question that like how are you approaching uh development and fundraising like at the school? Like how what's yeah, where where are you at with that?
SPEAKER_03Tell them the story. Yeah. I mean, that's the most important thing. We can't, you know, the worst thing for an organization is to be the best kept secret, right? We do not want to be the best kept secret. Spaulding is amazing. Our our students are oh I love our students. They are so thoughtful, they're so dedicated, our faculty nurture them, and we are here for the city. And so our job is to talk about that and to invite people into the spalling community, which we are doing. That is increasing the number of people coming onto campus, using our facilities and partnering and going out and telling the story of spaulding. That's how we continue to garner that support. You have to tell people how you're doing and what you're doing. Right.
SPEAKER_02And uh last question before we move on to kind of the lightning round, we have some fun questions. Uh Louisville itself, you're now, you know, now it's now in town, you're now a leader in Louisville, you talk to other leaders in Louisville. You have one of the great things I think about Louisville is things like this is um you have pretty good access to leaders. I mean, it it's for the most part, I hope you found it this way. It's you know, not too hard to get a coffee with someone or a meeting or uh, you know, like I thanks you I you had less than a week notice and you came came in to to record this. Uh so as you're talking to folks and learning about the city, uh, what do you think is key to our city's growth? And and not, you know, not Nashville growth or not Charlotte growth, but just like you mentioned, steady growth where we're moving forward. What what are some things that could help Louisville with that and maybe drawn from your experience in other cities?
SPEAKER_03What's interesting is that um I get the sense as someone coming from the outside coming in, uh Louisville's kind of hard on our ourselves. Like I can say our now, right? I agree. Louisville's kind of hard on ourselves. And yet what I see is intentional conversations and infrastructure are around coming together and building and growing. A lot of cities don't get to that point. If you look at what the the change that's happened with one Louisville, I I see a city that does not rest. I see a city that's willing to have the conversations and talk to each other, impetus. I mean, so many different organizations that come together to say what can we do to support Louisville. So I that that foundation's already there. The focus is on keeping the talent, of course, and growing the talent. For me, of course, my perspective is downtown Louisville, I think it's really important that we develop downtown Louisville also as a place to live. The the investment in tourism and it's been phenomenal and will bring jobs and will be a tremendous impact for the economic health, not just of Louisville, but of Kentucky. But to truly grow Louisville, we have to have places to live. So where tourism that tourism feeds the economy, it's it's the community that really defines it. And particularly when you're trying to recruit earlier talent, right? People who are earlier in their careers, they want some place where they can live their life. And having more places to live downtown, that is what will allow them to build community, and that will be the the growth that we're looking for. For.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we definitely need the cot the the uh density of residents downtown. Residents, and I think that's maybe, like you said, sort of the one missing piece of uh, especially now if you go to market or Maine on any given day, it's sort of back really vibrant. Um, you know, once you get south of there, it gets a little less vibrant. Um, but I think housing could fill that in, including some of the projects like the Brown Brothers Cadillac, which would be just, you know, a couple blocks from you all. I know that's down the line of some of LDG's projects, but um, and then some of these, you know, some of these conversions that are, I think, going to happen uh because people are able to snatch up the buildings for relatively so cheap. I mean, you're getting people are literally getting sky, and I one of our sister papers did a story on this too. Literally 30-story skyscrapers are selling less than less than for some houses in cities, including ours for at times. So then obviously, if you don't, not as much upfront cost, a little more money to put into revitalizing it. So uh well, moving on to the lightning round, some quick answers to get to know you a little better for our audience. Um, what has surprised you most about Louisville, good or bad, uh, or both, uh, since moving here?
SPEAKER_03You know, I don't think I had any preconceived notions when I moved here. Well, I think it was just too busy packing boxes and trying to buy a house and all that. But the thing that that blew me away, the and was people are so sincere. Um they're just so sincere. When people say to me, Hey, you know, I I'd love to connect you with somebody, right? They do it. Yeah, I mean, they'll do it with by the end of the day most times. But then the next day, when people say, Hey, let's talk about this, or let's part, they follow through the sincerity and the commitment of people has blown me away. So I've learned to, you know, I have to be respectful of that, you know, not to make some little comment about, well, let's get together sometime because we're going to get together sometime. So that has been the the welcome, you know. There's there's friendly, then there's that taking that next step and then bringing me into community, bringing me into different groups and introducing me to people and making those connections. This city is amazing connectors.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I agree. And I think that part of our role here at Business First is is you know, facilitating those uh uh those connections as well. So uh well, what's a lesson uh or some advice over the years that you took from a previous educator that either you were that you learned from or you worked with, uh that that you still use in your day-to-day life uh to kind of guide you?
SPEAKER_03Well, this is uh this is uh very practical, but frankly, I think it's been the best advice I've been given. And this is not gonna be earth-shattering, but it is family first. And that and it's like, okay, yeah, family first. But I found that when I had leaders who allowed me to put my family first, I think about that when my mother had her health crisis and my father's decline and those kinds of things. I think I may have been that that was when I was the best employee, right? Because to have that support, say family first, um, it really is the best advice, not only for your own life, but when you're working with others, it all works out. If if you encourage people and you nurture people and support people so that they make sure that they can take care of their family and themselves first, everything else works out. But you know, I'll tell you a piece of advice that I give. Um, as an educator, when people come to me and say, Oh, you know, I'm I'm interested in leadership, teach. When you teach, you're on the spot, you have to figure out how to communicate and you have to adapt to who your audience is. That is the best advice that I give as an educator. And teaching doesn't always have to be a formal class, it can be training, it can be, you know, in your churches and then on your civic groups, but teach. That to me is the best way to develop your leadership skills.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. And also, uh, you know, mentioning kind of going back to family, um, you know, that also I think just breeds, you know, uh loyalty and then people help picking up for one another and everything like that. So uh and all and also to back up uh talking about teaching and and uh mentoring, I wanted to also thank you for participating in our mentoring Monday program uh in a variety of ways, being a mentor and and a sponsor as well. So thanks, thanks for that. Uh really important uh program we do every February uh here in town where hundreds of uh um well people at all stages of their careers come to learn from some uh female mentors in town. So we appreciate you doing that. Um as far as uh your your uh your free time, what are you watching, listening to? I don't know if you're a podcaster, streamer, music fan. Uh so I'll just throw that out. Like, what what are you into right now?
SPEAKER_03Well, most of my free time uh it's music. It's music that gets me energized and focused. And when you're having a stressful day, I'm bit right now, because I switch it up right now. I'm big into Shania Twain. Yes, I know that's a bit of a throwback, but she's got some new music. I would say new stuff, new Shana? Yeah, she's got some really good new stuff, and that that gets me going. Uh uh John Batiste has some, he's his he's got that gospel feel, you know. Maybe that's my Memphis roots, I don't know. Um, but you know, I'm I'm really kind of a geek. Um, I listen and it's mainly listen to CNBC every day. Okay. Um of course I just finished Hail Mary to get ready uh to see the movie, but also like I I'm an armchair economist, and so Barry Knapp does Ironside Macroeconomics, which um I listen to and watch, and I you know, I'm just I'm a little bit of a geek that way. Hey, that's good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I I've always I get answers all over, you know, all over the map. But when I learn someone's a music fan, then I'm right in because that's that's my my thing too. And uh so are you are you uh I always ask like to ask this question, where do you listen like uh a car, headphones in the background?
SPEAKER_03Well, so I listen to the car for sure because it it to me it sets it for the next wherever I'm going, it just gets me in that right mood. Right. But I will say, um, I come into the office and I blast my music. And it is usually music that I am dancing to until 8 30 a.m. Some folks come in at 8, everybody rolls in by 8 30, and so I turn it off. I mean, you can hear it across the building, and that is my one line of caddy. That you're welcome to. Everybody knows it.
SPEAKER_02I need it to set my day. Awesome, awesome. Well, final question before you we let you get out of here. Uh, what's uh either or both on this one too? What's something that most people don't know about you, or what's something crazy that you've done uh that people will be like, wow, I didn't know Anne would do that uh in your life?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, that's always a scary way to answer. Let me let me lean into things that probably aren't uh noticed uh every day. I I do home projects and I'm not good at them. Uh but I I don't know, there's something about zero in on so for example, for right now my home project, I was about a couple months ago, I guess it was. Um there was a heavy rain, I had the garage door open and I hear this thunderous noise. I look in my garage and half the ceiling in my garage fell, right? It's like, okay, great. And first I was like, you know, I gotta call somebody, whatever. It's like, no, I'm gonna do this project. And it's just figuring it out. Um, so I did get Lowe's to deliver the eight-foot sheets of of uh drywall. I did do that, okay. Um, but then trying to figure out I, you know, that's 60 pounds. I can't lift that up. So I figured out how to cut it into two foot. So I am installing drywall on the ceiling of my garage, um, mudding it. It won't look awesome. It's a garage, so it's okay. Um, I have done my last house, I replaced every socket, every light fixture. I have done tiling. I've renovated two bathrooms. I've installed toilets. Uh, you know, it sounds like you're pretty good though. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I do not claim that. Um, but there is something about zeroing in and just totally focusing on that and trying to figure it out. It it's it's a I mean, I like to fly fish too, but I don't get to do that as often. You know, you do. I remember that cruise. Yeah, I love it. It's been a little bit. I got a trip coming up in July. Um, but I probably the wildest thing I've done is raised a daughter, right? You know, because when you install a toilet, that may sound daunting, but you just follow the instructions. I mean, it's not pleasant, but you follow the instructions. God doesn't give you the the the how-to guide on raising a daughter, right? So I would probably say that that's the wildest thing I've done.
SPEAKER_02Okay, great. Well, you I think the home improvement stuff is I I have zero of that skills, but I think it's more I have my pay I don't have a lot of patience for like I probably wouldn't be good at fly fishing either. Because like I'm fishing in general, I like being on the boat, but if I don't catch something soon quick, then I'm like, you know, I'm done here. So where are you going?
SPEAKER_03What part of the country do you think? I'm still going to Arkansas. Great fishing. Uh Mountain Home, which has the Norfolk and the Wright River. We got a group of us, we have it's my river family, and we go every year, four families. We've got multi-generations now, and uh, we head out every morning. It's just beautiful. But I I I can if I catch a fish an hour, if it's fly fishing, right? Yeah. If I can catch you know a fish an hour, I'm fine as long as I'm out there on the water.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I lived in I moved here from Fayetteville. I lived in Arkansas for a couple of years. Well, yeah, yeah. And with uh Beaver Lake and all that stuff up there. Yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, exactly. Well, uh one before we let you out of here, and uh what's uh something on campus coming up that you want to plug? And if you if you aren't prepped, we can kind of sort of on campus.
SPEAKER_03So we've got graduation. Um we've got graduation in just a week from now. We are so excited because our commencement speaker is the Olympian Dominique Dawes. Ah, awesome. And what I think is a great fit for that is you know, she is about resilience, she's about determination and teamwork. And it is a great fit for the year that we've had and what's happened on our campus. So we are thrilled about having her.
SPEAKER_02Cool. Well, President Kenworthy, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. Uh, we look forward to connecting with you soon and keep enjoying Louisville.
SPEAKER_03Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate the invitation this time today.
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SPEAKER_04Okay, great interview. I love how she does home improvement projects. I thought that was pretty fun.
SPEAKER_02I was almost bringing you into it because I know you do it and I do not do it. Uh so, but yeah, I'm impressed with I just people that have that ability to know because she even she talks about this to know that they might not get it perfect, but they still like the process. Yeah. And I just can't, that is not my brain.
SPEAKER_04I get what she's saying about just honing in on something.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Just start looking at it and like, well, I can I can do that part and that part. Okay, I can do this.
SPEAKER_02Then I can do it all. I once turned my like dryer washer needed something, and I looked it up on YouTube and I like started taking it apart, and then I went, no way. Even though it was already broken, I couldn't make it worse, right? Really? Yeah, that's true. Yeah, but she's got a definitely that's one that's one of her passions, and uh she talks about a big project she's doing now.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's uh that was cool. Uh so with that, we'll go ahead and wrap up the show there. Um, let's see, before we go, Shay, uh I guess where can people find you on social media?
SPEAKER_02Sure, on LinkedIn where I share some of our stories, uh, and then on blue sky at my name at Shay Van Hoy.
SPEAKER_04All right, and you can find me under my name at David Aman on LinkedIn. Um, if you like this podcast, please consider subscribing to it on all the popular podcast services or just your favorite. We're on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and many others. Uh thank you very much, Shay. Thank you, Anne Kenworthy, for joining us. And of course, thank you, Baird, for the support, and you guys out there for listening to us, and we will see you next time. Bye.