James R Ramsey

Background

Ramsey earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Western Kentucky University in 1970, and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Kentucky in 1972 and 1974, respectively. He also served in the United States Army Reserve from 1970 to 1977.

Ramsey served twice as Kentucky's budget director and worked as the state government's chief economist. He has also directed Kentucky's Office of Financial Management, been the state's chief Economic Analyst, and worked in the Office of Investment and Debt Management. He also worked as interim commissioner of Kentucky's Office of the New Economy.

Ramsey was an economics professor at five other universities: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Loyola University, the University of Kentucky, Western Kentucky University, and Middle Tennessee State University.

Work as president of the University of Louisville

Since Ramsey became president, his administration's main goals have been to continue the school's large gains in research activity and endowment, and to improve infrastructure and aesthetics of the university's Belknap campus. At the suggestion of his wife, Jane, a $1 million campus beautification project was begun, which planted hundreds of trees on the roads around the campus and painted five overpasses with a UofL theme. In addition, he has worked with city and state officials to modify the nearby I-65 area to provide better access to campus, improve Stansbury Park, and redevelop vacant industrial buildings near campus into upscale housing or athletic facilities.

Major academic accomplishments completed since Ramsey took office include an increase of over $200 million in the schools endowment, the doubling of federal research funding, an increase of two points in the school's average ACT scores among new students, improvements in retention, and an increasing enrollment from areas outside the Louisville area. Major physical projects include the completion of a new nanotechnology research building, an expansion of the Ekstrom Library, three new student residence halls, new natatorium, lacrosse field, Indoor Football practice facility, and baseball stadium and adjacent sports medicine complex. Work is ongoing for a new heart disease research building and a state of the art medical laboratory on the school's medical campus.

The last several years of Ramsey's tenure as president of the university were marked with "numerous scandals", including an escort sex scandal involving basketball playing recruits between 2010 and 2014 that led to a postseason playing ban for the 2015–16 season, a gaffe involving him and his staff dressing up as stereotypical Mexicans for a Halloween party, and his holding dual roles as both president of the university and president of the university's charitable foundation.

Costume controversy

In October 2015, Ramsey and his wife hosted a Halloween luncheon at the university presidents' mansion, at which he and his staff dressed in costumes as stereotypical Mexicans, wearing sombreros and large fake mustaches. They posed for a group photo holding maracas, with Ramsey wearing a colorful striped poncho. Ramsey and his Chief of Staff later apologized after this was criticized as being culturally insensitive.

Dual role as president of the University of Louisville Foundation

Ramsey received criticism for holding the position of president of the University of Louisville while also being the president of the University of Louisville Foundation, a $1.1 billion fund-raising entity associated with the university. He received $2.8 million in compensation from the Foundation in 2014. The relationship between the university and the foundation has been under investigation by the Kentucky State Auditor Mike Harmon.