Aaron Calhoun receives UofL Trustees Award

The University of Louisville's faculty create learning experiences and environments that shape the entire student - academically, professionally and personally. This wholistic approach to instruction connects what students learn in the classroom to their real-life situations, making lessons more relevant and meaningful.

That commitment to student success recently earned Aaron Calhoun, a tenured professor of pediatrics in UofL's Division of Critical Care Medicine and an attending physician in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Norton Children's Hospital, the 2026 UofL Trustees Award.

The UofL Board of Trustees established the Trustees Award in 1989 to honor faculty who individually impact the future of our students. The award is intended to recognize faculty (full- or part-time; undergraduate, graduate or professional; even groups of faculty) who have had, currently or in the past, an extraordinary impact on students.

Calhoun was formally acknowledged as the Trustees Award recipient at the April 23 UofL Board of Trustees meeting.

In her remarks at the Board of Trustees meeting, Trustee Sherrill Zimmerman said, "Aaron is an exceptional teacher and mentor to UofL students, residents, fellows and faculty. His extraordinary talent for teaching has led to important national and international roles in education - broadening his impact beyond our university."

Calhoun's overall philosophy of learning is based on two basic axioms: learners in healthcare need to move past the "what" of the subject matter into the "why," and learners can make this journey best when taught in engaging, psychologically safe environments. He focuses on embodying his philosophy of learning by developing and implementing immersive physiology-based, teamwork and communication-oriented scenarios set within the clinical environment using established adult learning theories.

From the nomination, one of Calhoun's students said, "(Dr. Calhoun) is, by nature, energetic and full of action. He is a good listener and a calming presence during challenging circumstances. As a teacher and mentor, he always responds to a call for aid or advice, but often in a way that helps you find your own answer and grow in your own experience. He has a gift for knowing what his team, students, patients and their families truly need in the moment."

Calhoun was presented with the award at the April 28 Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards Reception.

"I was surprised and honored to learn I had received this award and am deeply grateful to the Board of Trustees for selecting me," Calhoun said. "It is humbling to think that students I taught more than a decade ago still have such positive memories of the experience. Since I first came to the University of Louisville, I have loved teaching here and have felt it to be a place where you can put down deep roots as a faculty member and make a real difference in the future of our students. I look forward to continuing that in the years to come."