List of presidents of the University of Kentucky

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The University of Kentucky is a public research university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded by John Bryan Bowman in 1865 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky (A&M), a publicly charted department of Kentucky University (now called Transylvania University), under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act.{{cite web|title=UK Chronology|url=http://libraries.uky.edu/libpage.php?lweb_id=311&llib_id=13#2000|website=University of Kentucky Special Collections Library|publisher=University of Kentucky|accessdate=15 March 2015}} James Kennedy Patterson, a professor at Kentucky University, became the first president of A&M in 1869. Nine years later, amid concerns about a private religious university receiving public land-grant funding, A&M split from Kentucky University and moved to its present campus in downtown Lexington.{{cite web|title=Our Affiliation with the Disciples of Christ|url=http://www.transy.edu/about/disciples.htm|website=About Transylvania|publisher=Transylvania University|accessdate=15 March 2015}} The institution was renamed State University, Lexington, Kentucky, upon reaching university status in 1908, and eight years later, was again renamed the University of Kentucky. Today, the university is the state's largest and its flagship.

The office of the president is housed in the Main Building.{{cite web |title=Office of the President |url=https://www.uky.edu/president/ |publisher=University of Kentucky |accessdate=27 October 2019}} Finished in 1882, the Main Building was one of the original three State College buildings.{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.uky.edu/uk150/history |website=UK 150 |publisher=University of Kentucky |accessdate=27 October 2019}} Patterson personally financed the construction of all three. Maxwell Place, an Italianate villa located off Rose Street in the heart of campus, serves as the residence of the president.{{cite book |last1=Bryant |first1=John |last2=Fuller Jr. |first2=Paul |title=Maxwell Place |date=1992 |publisher=University of Kentucky Publishing Services |url=https://www.uky.edu/president/sites/www.uky.edu.president/files/Maxwell%20Place%20History%20%281992%29.pdf |accessdate=26 October 2019}} It was originally constructed for James Hillary Mulligan and his wife Mary in 1872, and was acquired by the university in 1917 after Mulligan's death.{{cite web |title=Maxwell Place completed |url=https://www.uky.edu/uk150/maxwell-place-completed |publisher=University of Kentucky |accessdate=26 October 2019}} Frank L. McVey was the first president to reside at Maxwell Place.

The president is the chief executive officer of the university.{{cite web |title=Governing Regulation, Part III: The President of the University of Kentucky |url=https://www.uky.edu/regs/sites/www.uky.edu.regs/files/files/gr/gr3.pdf |website=Office of Legal Counsel |publisher=University of Kentucky |accessdate=2 January 2020}} The president is appointed by the Board of Trustee and can only be removed "for incompetence, neglect of or

refusal to perform duties, or for immoral conduct," and then only after notice and hearing.KRS 164.220KRS 164.230 The president is the chair of the University Senate and an ex officio member of the Staff Senate. While the Board has delegated most administrative power to the President, it retains the right to approve certain major decisions, including the annual budget and establishing academic councils. In the event of a vacancy, the provost serves as president until the Board appoints an interim or new president.

Twelve men have served as president of the University of Kentucky.{{cite web |title=Past Presidents |url=https://www.uky.edu/president/about-office/past-presidents |website=Office of the President |publisher=University of Kentucky |accessdate=21 January 2020}} Of those, five were graduates of the university or its predecessor institutions, and another attended without graduating.The five graduates were Herman Lee Donovan, Frank G. Dickey, A. D. Kirwan, Charles T. Wethington Jr., and Lee T. Todd Jr. The attendee was Henry Stites Barker. See their individual biographies, linked in the table above. A. D. Kirwan served only in an interim capacity, but was retroactively named the seventh president by the Board of Trustees.{{cite web |title=A. D. Kirwan |url=http://libraries.uky.edu/libpage.php?lweb_id=326&llib_id=13 |publisher=University of Kentucky |accessdate=22 December 2019}} The twelfth and current president, Eli Capilouto, assumed the office in 2011.{{cite web |title=Short Bio |url=https://www.uky.edu/president/about/short-bio |website=Office of the President |publisher=University of Kentucky |accessdate=22 December 2019}}