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.”
Gerry Bradley, UofL’s executive vice president and university provost, has been named her successor, also effective immediately, officials said.
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, according to news release from last fall, including its largest-ever freshman class. Student retention rates also reached a university record of 81.5%.
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.
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 is “pursuing other opportunities.”
This is a developing story and will update.
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
