Monday Memo January 8, 2018

Dean's Message

Dear Colleagues,
 
Happy new year! Please join me in welcoming 2018, during which UofL will experience many changes. I know we will work together to make certain that all the new people and procedures function to the benefit of Arts & Sciences. This should be a very exciting year.
 
To start the semester, I hope that you have many recommendations to nominate for our annual awards. We had great fun last spring and hope that April 13 is even better. Please hold that afternoon on your calendars, and be sure to take the time to nominate your very worthy colleagues. For a complete list of the awards and their criteria, go to louisville.edu/artsandsciences/awards/nominations. Unless otherwise noted, the due date for the award nominations is February 16, 2018. 
 
I also invite you to consider the opening we will have July 1 for Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, as Professor Julia Dietrich will be returning to the faculty full-time after many years of tremendous service. This position is critical for the success of our bachelor degree and minor programs, and in coordination of Arts & Sciences with other colleges on electives and the Cardinal Core. I’ll have an official job announcement within the next two weeks.

Lastly, if you haven't had a chance to download our A&S cardinal computer desktop calendar for 2018, please feel free. Special thanks to Jason Seitz, the A&S web and graphic designer, for the lovely design. 

Sincerely,

Kimberly Kempf-Leonard
Dean

Announcements

After-hours Contact Information for Physical Plant 

  • Business Hours M-F 7:30 am - 4:30pm:  Work Control @ 502-852-6241
  • Nights, Weekends and Holidays: Public Safety @ 502-852-6111

There is one staff member in Zone Maintenance covering Belknap Campus during the “Nights, Weekends and Holiday” shifts. The mechanic is expected to respond to calls, troubleshoot and prioritize the issues and calls in additional staff as needed. They have access to “on-call” staff including Carpenters, Plumbers, Locksmiths, HVAC, Electricians and Life Safety; basically all PPD crafts. They take all calls during off hours from Public Safety. When not responding to calls, they make building rounds to check buildings with stand-alone boilers, dormitories and some temperature sensitive spaces such as the Life Sciences greenhouse.

CCHS sponsors the Museum Professionals Network

The Commonwealth Center for Humanities and Society proudly announces sponsorship of the Museum Professionals Network via its Arts & Culture Partnership initiative. Four times a year, professional staff from area cultural institutions will mingle with faculty and students from UofL at a partner cultural organization. Collaborative magic often ensues at these events, so we hope many members of the A&S community will attend! The inaugural event will take place on January 16, 2018 from 6:30-9:00pm at the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany.

University Writing Center open for Spring  

The University Writing Center serves all UofL faculty, staff, and students. Our individual consultations provide feedback on any type of writing at any point in the writing process. Invite us to your classes or meetings for a brief introduction to our services or a customized workshop. We also facilitate a faculty and graduate student writing group. Visit our website to schedule appointments, view the writing group schedule, browse our resources, and request class visits.

School closure and delays procedures and policies

In cases in which the university remains open during severe weather, students should make decisions about attending based on their particular circumstances. Faculty are asked to accommodate those decisions when possible.
 
Faculty should remember that extended closures require that instruction will continue via electronic means. Please see the Continuity of Instruction website for more information.
 
When possible, decisions regarding morning classes will be announced by 5:30 a.m. and decisions regarding evening classes by 3 p.m. If no announcement is sent, the university is open and operating on its regular schedule.For a list of all our severe weather announcements, go to: louisville.edu/weather/announcements.
 
The easiest way to receive information about school closings is by signing up for UofL Alerts, which will send a text message to your phone and an email to your university account. Sign up for alerts at louisville.edu/alerts. Additionally, we will officially announce the closing in the following ways:

  • A notice on the university home page
  • A recorded message at 502-852-5555 
  • A notice on university telephones 
  • Postings on the university’s official Facebook and Twitter pages.

Additional policies regarding delayed or canceled classes:

  • Delayed classes policy: If we announce a delayed schedule, we will cancel classes up to a certain time and begin with our full class schedule at that point. For instance, if we delay opening until 10 a.m., classes that end before 10 a.m. will be canceled. Students who normally would be in class at or after 10 a.m. should go wherever they would be at that time unless they have received other instructions from their instructor in advance, which should be included in the course syllabus.
  • In cases of severe weather, evening classes will be defined as classes beginning at or after 4:15 p.m.

Research & Creative Activity

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation announces the February 8 deadline for the Teacher-Scholar Awards Program

The program supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences in departments that grant a doctoral degree. Based on institutional nominations, the program provides discretionary funding to fatuity at an early stage in their careers. Criteria for selection include an independent body of scholarship attained early in their independent careers, and a demonstrated commitment to education, signaling the promise of continuing outstanding contributions to both research and teaching. Additional details are given at the Foundation Web site.

2018 (Spring) Internal Grants Program deadline is March 27

The call for proposals for the EVPRI Internal Grants Program is reinitiated and the EVPRI will be accepting applications for Spring 2018 review.  The Internal Grants Program (Research I, Research II and Undergraduate Research Grants) aims to assist faculty and students in new highly productive research projects. All grant categories are open to full-time faculty, including full time faculty who mentor students for the Undergraduate Research Grants projects. Information and applications forms available online.

Olorunsola Award for full-time, tenure-track assistant professors in A&S

A&S is soliciting applications for the Victor Olorunsola Endowed Research Award, which is awarded to faculty in their first four years of teaching. One award of $2,000 will be made this year. The deadline for applications is March 9, 2018. Guidelines and additional information.

A&S Research and Creative Activity Grant for tenured or tenure-track faculty

A&S announces funding opportunities to promote research and creative activities of faculty members with the purpose of increasing the extramural research funding, and the number of scholarly publications, refereed exhibits, and artistic performances of the college. The deadline for submissions is March 9, 2018. Guidelines and proposal template.

A&S Research and Creative Activity Grant for graduate students

A&S announces funding opportunities to promote research and creative activities of Graduate Students with the purpose of increasing the extramural research funding, the number of scholarly publications, refereed exhibits, and artistic performances of the college. The deadline for submissions is 4:00 PM on March 23, 2018. Guidelines and proposal template.

Teaching

Note from Acting Provost Billingsley Regarding Midterm Grades (Edited for Audience and Format)

SGA officers presented a statement and a resolution requesting that “midterm grades” be available to students far enough in advance of the withdrawal deadline that they can make informed decisions whether to remain in their courses. I had interpreted the SGA request to mean some substantive guidance about academic performance, whether in formal response to a graded assignment or by an appropriate informal means. Blackboard and CardSmart are already available for this purpose, the latter platform providing both individual course progress reports and an overall view of “academic health.” By this note, I ask faculty to know how CardSmart works so that it can be used to address the SGA resolution in the Fall 2018 term and after. Further explication of this request will follow later in the term.
 
Meantime, however, I am encouraging students to be active in the pursuit of the information that they request by reaching out individually to their instructors when they are uncertain about their standing in a course. E-mail notes can elicit the grade information, but without other contact, they are usually ineffective for course mentoring. Face-to-face encounters—almost always more productive by appointment or during office hours than in the hurly-burly beginning or ending of a class session—can both provide guidance and open the possibility for continued mentoring. I have already asked SGA leadership to work with me and the deans in determining the faculty responsiveness to their request so that we can increase both student satisfaction with the response and increase the retention that it intends overall. I encourage students to attend to and, indeed, to ask their instructors about the availability of “midterm grades” as their classes begin. 
 
Faculty and other instructors are already familiar with and regularly demand formative assessment as part of their career development. This SGA request differs in degree but not in kind or intent. I hope that all instructors will provide this information as requested and will commit to doing so this term as each course begins this week. 

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation announces the February 8 deadline for the Teacher-Scholar Awards Program

The program supports the research and teaching careers of talented young faculty in the chemical sciences in departments that grant a doctoral degree. Based on institutional nominations, the program provides discretionary funding to fatuity at an early stage in their careers. Criteria for selection include an independent body of scholarship attained early in their independent careers, and a demonstrated commitment to education, signaling the promise of continuing outstanding contributions to both research and teaching. Additional details at the Foundation Web site.

Kudos

Gibson elected as ASA trustee

Prof. John Gibson (Philosophy) was elected a trustee of the American Society for Aesthetics (2018-2021). The announcement is here.

Rhet Comp PhD candidate receives Dream Award

Ashanka Kumari, PhD candidate in English/Rhetoric and Composition, has received a 2018 Scholars for the Dream Award from the Conference on College Composition and Communication. This is a prestigious national award for emerging scholars from historically underrepresented groups.

Prof. Petrosino's Witch Wife named among New York Times Best Poetry of 2017 

David Orr, columnist for the New York Times Book Review, has listed English Prof. Kiki Petrosino's book, Witch Wife, among The Best Poetry of 2017. "Petrosino is a canny, wide-ranging and formally nimble writer with a magician’s command of atmosphere." Full review.

In the News

The reason people use pet names for their partners (IOL, 1/8/18) - Prof. Frank Nuessel (Classical & Modern Languages) on why men and women use baby names to reference their romantic partners.

Experts say census citizenship question would stifle response (WFPL.org, 1/5/18) - Prof. Matthew Ruther (Urban & Public Affairs) weighs in on whether or not to include a question regarding citizenship in the census survey.

Amid Louisville's triple-digit murders, a family's painful wait for justice drags out (Courier-Journal, 1/4/18) - Prof. Viviana Andreescu (Criminal Justice) discusses the numerous factors that can lead to "violent pockets" of the city, ranging from wealth disparity to a fear of speaking up. 

'Misplaced' Arctic air sends Louisville into deep freeze, maybe thanks to climate change (Courier-Journal, 1/3/18) - References a 2016 CJ article regarding research from Prof. Keith Mountain (Geography & Geosciences) on the impact of global climate change on Louisville weather.

University of Louisville arts, sciences professors share expertise from politics to film (Lane Report, 1/2/18) - Provides a list of Meet the Professor lectures for Spring 2018 semester. 

Articles on the Kentucky State Data Center population report (12/28/17):

Kentucky's universities brace for 'bigger cuts than they’ve ever seen' (Courier-Journal, 12/21/17) - Prof. Dawn Heinecken (Women's & Gender Studies) and Prof. Avery Kolers (Philosophy) quoted regarding impact of already constrained university budgets. 

What do Louisville’s monuments have to say about us? (WFPL.org, 12/21/17) - Prof. Chris Reitz (Fine Arts) weighs in on the impact of public art on our understanding of history.

Louisville's rental eviction rate among highest of 50 largest US metro areas, new housing report says (WDRB.com, 12/12/17) - Prof. Kelly Kinahan (Urban & Public Affairs) quoted on the importance of incentivizing affordable housing development.

Black drivers are still more likely to be searched during Louisville traffic stops, report finds (WFPL, 12/11/17) - Discussion of the 2015 AND 2016 VEHICLE STOPS REPORT authored by Prof. Deborah Keeling and Angela Schwendau (Criminal Justice).

Louisville police searched black drivers more often than white drivers in 2016, study shows (Courier-Journal, 12/11/17) 

ESPN exposes financial troubles, Jurich’s lies, and fraud at the University of Louisville (Kentucky Sports Radio, 12/10/17) - Professor Emeritus Tom Byers (English) quoted regarding the inequitable funding of athletics and academics at UofL. 

After Cassini, where to next? (WFBO Buffalo, 12/9/17) - Article based on an interview of Prof. Tim Dowling (Physics & Astronomy) from Science Friday‘s recent live show at the Brown Theater in Louisville, Kentucky in which Dowling discusses future of planetary exploration. 

Staff Pick: ‘Altered State: Painting Myanmar In A Time of Transition’ (LEO Weekly) - An exhibit cosponsored by the Louisville Free Public Library and UofL’s Center for Asian Democracy.  Context provided by Prof. Jason Abbott (Political Science).