Since its inception as a liberal arts college in 1950, Bellarmine University has served as a beacon of intellectual curiosity and rigorous academic inquiry in Louisville and throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As part of its Catholic identity and through its close relationship with the teachings of Thomas Merton, Bellarmine has also maintained a commitment to serve student, faculty, staff and community populations who represent a vast array of demographic characteristics and worldviews. Thus, in both an academic and a missionary sense, Bellarmine University has a long-standing dedication to promoting diversity.
Student Diversity
Diversity—a core element of Bellarmine's Mission—informs various student initiatives on-campus, including recruitment, advising and career discernment, the design of general education requirements and the development of academic program curricula.
The Office of Identity and Inclusion (OII), part of the division of Student Affairs, coordinates efforts to help students and other constituents consider diversity in all its forms around Bellarmine's campus. OII's Diversity website is a multi-disciplinary effort that highlights opportunities for students, staff and faculty to expand and deepen their awareness of diversity. In addition, Bellarmine is planning a new Center for Social Responsibility, which will pool the resources of OII with the Office of Faculty Development (Academic Affairs division) and the Office of Service & Leadership (Student Affairs division). The Center is in development and is slated to launch in 2019. These initiatives underscore Bellarmine's commitment to diversity and are fundamental to its new Quality Enhancement Plan.
Demographic Reports
To improve knowledge and wisdom about diversity trends on-campus, the Office of Institutional Research & Effectiveness monitors enrollment, retention and graduation trends among full- and part-time students at both the undergraduate and graduate academic level.
Enrollment Reports
The links below represent a sample of the standing reports published by IR&E that illustrate Bellarmine's diversity across several demographic categories: ethnicity-race, sex, first-generation status and recipients of Federal Pell Grants.
Additional enrollment reports are available on IR&E's Data and Reports page.
Retention Reports
Undergraduate retention rates are reported as a percentage of first-time, full-time student cohort students who returned to Bellarmine in fall of their second, third, and fourth years. A midyear report includes retention data through spring of each cohort's first, second, third, and fourth years. The latest versions of these two reports are linked below.
Graduation Reports
Graduation rates are reported by percentage of freshman students completing an undergraduate bachelor's degree in four years, five years and six years.
Transfer Out Report
Transfer-out rates are reported as a percentage of all new undergraduate students (both first-time, full-time freshmen and transfer students) who did not complete a bachelor's degree at Bellarmine within eight years but subsequently enrolled at another two- or four-year institution. For undergraduate students who entered during academic year 2009-2010, the eight-year transfer-out rate was 19%.