Kim Schatzel has resigned as the president of the University of Louisville effective immediately after roughly two years serving as the institution’s president, officials announced Wednesday.
“The University of Louisville Board of Trustees thanks Dr. Schatzel for her two years of service, which have seen her build a team that has increased enrollment and retention and grown the university’s reputation as a research powerhouse,” board chair Diane Medley said in a statement. “We wish Dr. Schatzel well in her future endeavors.”
The board also voted — without opposition — to name Gerard “Gerry” Bradley, previously UofL’s executive vice president and university provost, as her successor effective immediately.
“With this opportunity and the team we have in place, we can take UofL to new heights,” Bradley said.
During a news conference following Bradley’s appointment, Medley said the board is confident that Bradley is fit for the job of president and felt that naming him as the permanent president rather than opening a national search was the best option for the university.
“In this case, we were very fortunate to already have someone in place, Dr. Bradley, who was so well suited for what we needed for the next stage that we felt like it was in the best interest of everyone to go ahead and name him as president so he can hit the ground running,” Medley said. “It was more of a logical decision rather than a departure from precedent.”
The university will pay Schatzel $400,000 outright plus an additional $300,000 in six monthly installments as part of her separation, according to a term sheet provided by the university.
More: Who is Kim Schatzel? What to know about the former University of Louisville president
Schatzel’s departure comes in a year of record-breaking enrollment and retention rates at UofL. Enrollment at the university for the 2024-2025 academic year reached an all-time high of 24,073 students, including its largest-ever freshman class, according to a news release from last fall. Student retention rates also reached a university record of 81.5%.
The university garnered more than a half billion dollars in funding from the Kentucky legislature during the 2024 legislative session, Schatzel and the board said in a joint statement following the announcement.
Medley said the board was pleased with UofL’s relations with the Kentucky legislature and other programs initiated under Schatzel’s administration but alluded to shifting goals between her and the board.
“With any position, times change. The goals of Dr. Schatzel changed, our goals changed, and we were very fortunate to have the ability to name Dr. Bradley, who had already been here so we wouldn’t lose any momentum,” Medley said.
Bradley arrived at UofL in 2016 as the dean of the School of Dentistry. He said the opportunity to become president arose in the past several days.
On March 18, the University of Cincinnati announced Bradley was chosen as the university’s new executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, but in a Tuesday announcement, UC President Neville Pinto said the university will reopen a national search to fill the role after learning that Bradley was “pursuing other opportunities.”
“From the outside it may look like it was abrupt, but conversations go on all the time. This board is very involved with the leadership of this university,” Medley said. “I keep in front of mind: What does the university need? And this coincided with her resignation in a way that worked for all parties.”
Schatzel became UofL’s 19th president in 2023. She arrived in Louisville from Maryland’s Towson University, where she helped grow the university into the largest in Greater Baltimore and the second largest in the state, according to her biography.
Her higher education experience also includes stints as interim president, provost and executive vice president of academic and student affairs at Eastern Michigan University and as dean of the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Business.
Prior to becoming a higher education leader, she spent more than two decades in business in the advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at kbaarlaer@gannett.com or @bkillian72 on X.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: University of Louisville president Kim Schatzel resigns
