Monday Memo November 5, 2018

Dean's Message

The awards keep coming! Please join me in recognizing the following faculty and students who have received recent recognition for their terrific work.

  • Prof. G.B. Hammond, Endowed Chair in Organic Chemistry, will receive the biennial ACS Division of Flourine Distinguished Service Award in January, in recognition of teaching, writing, research, and administration that has substantially and uniquely enhanced the field of fluorine chemistry. G.B. is very deserving of this award, not only for his significant research achievements and service to the profession, but also for his successful mentoring, and major efforts to recruit minority students.
  • Prof. Leslie Friesen (Fine Arts), Power Agency designer in residence at the Hite Art Institute, was recognized by AIGA for her contributions to the Louisville design community.
  • Student Evan Gora (Biology) - Prof. Steve Yanoviak, mentor - will receive the Guy Stevenson Award for a doctoral degree recipient who excels in scholarship, leadership, and other areas within their discipline. Evan will carry our banner and give the commencement speech in December. Evan was a NSF Graduate Research Fellow and one of four who represented UofL at the ACC ACCelerate Festival at the Smithsonian in 2017.
  • Student Ashlee Warnecke (Psychological and Brain Sciences) - Prof. Richard Lewine, mentor - will receive the John Richard Binford Memorial Award to a doctoral degree recipient whose scholarship and leadership are superior.
  • Student Allan Day (Anthropology) - Prof. Angela Storey, mentor - will receive the Alice Eaves Barns Award in recognition of his displayed tenacity in the face of adversity, while attaining excellence in both the classroom and outside endeavors.
  • Student Meagan Taylor (Anthropology) - Prof. Julie Peteet, mentor - will receive the Virginia “Jenny” Madden Award in recognition of her leadership through service to her program, college, discipline, the University as a whole, and/or the community. 

Sincerely,

Kimberly Kempf-Leonard, Ph.D.
Dean

In Memoriam

Professor Emeritus Tom Crawford (Chemistry) dies

November 1 marks the passing of a UofL icon. Prof. Crawford was inducted into the inaugural class of the A&S Hall of Honor in 2007. He was inducted because of his extraordinary service to his students, his profession, the College, the University, and the community. He served as acting dean of A&S, acting provost and, as long-time associate provost for internal and external affairs. His death marks the end of an era. Everyone who knew him will grieve his passing. His obituary can be found here.

Special Announcement: A&S Staff Meeting

This semester's A&S Staff Meeting will be on Thursday, 12/6 at 9AM in the Chao Auditorium. The Dean will provide an update on the staff reorganization and the Staff Morale Adhoc Committee will present its suggestions for feedback. Come early to mix and mingle with muffins from 8:30-9:00AM in the lobby outside Chao. 

Great Place to Learn

A&S student is an LFPL artist-in-residence

Laura Fleming Ospital (Fine Arts) will be an artist-in-residence at the South Central Library combining her painting and photography talent with a peace-building perspective developed through UofL's Peace, Justice and Conflict Transformation program. Some of her workshops are open to all ages, other for grades 3-8. More info: see flyer.

The UofL Quiz Bowl team strikes again

Congrats to the U of L Quiz Bowl team for an excellent showing this weekend at the ACF Fall tournament at Ohio State. The A team finish 8th and the B team finished 14th in a very difficult field. Competing in a tournament alongside national powers Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Carnegie Mellon, the A team finished second in their preliminary group with a 4-2 record and finished the tournament with a 6-4 record. The win over Michigan A is the first in program history. The A team consisted of Mohammad Hindi (Chemistry),  Travis Liebert (Psychology), Christian Vennemann (Sports Administration), and Amos Zoeller (Chemistry). Playing in their first collegiate tournament, the B team posted a 4-6 record for a commendable 14th place finish. Individually, Mohammad Hindi was the 12th leading scorer in the tournament. Congrats to the team on an excellent performance.

Watson Conference a success

The 12th biennial Thomas R. Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition hosted 470 scholar-teachers at the University of Louisville on October 25-27, 2018. The three-day conference featured 6 keynote speakers, 12 featured speakers, and more than 100 concurrent sessions focusing around the theme "Making Future Matters." The conference team includes Director Dr. Mary P. Sheridan and Assistant Directors Cooper Day, Joseph Franklin, and Ashanka Kumari.

UofL Today with Mark Hebert features alumna Elmer Lucille Allen who let's us know it is never to late to learn

Elmer Lucille Allen is an artist and award winning community volunteer. She's also a UofL graduate, who's 87 and still taking classes. The segment can be found on YouTube.

Tracing the Opioid Crisis: Global Sources to Local Epidemic presented by the World Affairs Council

On Thursday, November 15, James A. Walsh, the second-highest official of the State Department's narcotics control division, will participate in a panel on the opioid crisis. He will be joined by Lt. Col. LaVita Chavous of the LMPD, Van Ingram of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, and Jennifer Hancock of Volunteers of America Mid-States, who will discuss local impact and efforts. The discussion will be moderated by Stephen George, President of Louisville Public Media. Student tickets are only $10 each, and a small number of free tickets are given to students via a raffle. Purchase tickets and/or enter the raffle.

Great Place to Work

Campus Store offers computer discounts for Nov. 16 Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day

Computer pre-orders accepted Oct. 25-Nov. 5, Faculty and Staff Appreciation sale is Nov. 16, UofL Campus Store, Student Activities Center
Just in time for the holiday season, UofL’s Campus store will celebrate Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day on Nov. 16. During the sale, faculty and staff can receive discounts on new and clearance technology products including Mac, iPad Pro, and Windows Computers, as well as sales on other bookstore items throughout the day. Pre-orders for computers will be accepted Oct. 25-Nov. 5 in order to ensure purchase availability for the Nov. 16 sale. Details are available at the store. Faculty and staff may also apply for Human Resource’s interest-free computer purchase program by Nov. 8 for use during the one-day sale. Additional information: Email

Attention faculty and staff on H-1B or 0-1 Visas!

if you are currently on an H-1B or O-1 visa and have plans to travel abroad over the winter break without a valid visa stamp and require an employment verification letter for their visa interview, please contact the Office of University Counsel. They will provide you with the letter to present at their visa interview, if necessary.  Due to the University closing a week earlier for Winter Break, they ask that requests are made no later than Monday, December 10, 2018. If you have questions, email Carcyle Barrett.

AAUP meeting on 11/9

The UofL chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) will hold its fall membership meeting on Friday, November 9 from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. in Belknap Academic Building 218. AAUP is an organization dedicated to academic freedom, shared governance, and the advancement of higher education. University Provost Beth Boehm will be our guest speaker. The meeting is open to all full- and part-time faculty, post-docs, and graduate students.

Open Enrollment now through this Wednesday, Nov. 7

Open Enrollment is your once-a-year opportunity to make changes to your benefit elections. Changes you make during Open Enrollment are effective January 1, 2019. Visit the Open Enrollment website for more information about your 2019 benefit options and to make your elections. Open Enrollment ends Nov. 7.

Further your professional and departmental reach on social media

Do you have a a Twitter or Facebook that you use to promote your professional research? Do you want to widen your reach? Please check to see you are doing the following:

  • Tag the College of Arts & Sciences on Facebook and Twitter @UofLASThinker and consider using the hashtag #WeAreUofL when posting on Twitter.
  • If you are in charge of a Facebook departmental  page, please rename it as "UofL DEPARTMENT NAME" so that we can more easily tag you in A&S posts. For example, the Department of Political Sciences should be named “UofL Political Science.”
  • If you don’t think we are aware of your page or pages, please private message us or email your accounts handles to artsandsciences@louisville.edu

Phi Beta Kappa Membership Survey

If you are a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society - the oldest liberal arts and sciences honors society in the country - AND work for the University of Louisville, please take one minute to fill out this form.

Great Place to Invest

A&S Raised Some Serious L

In addition to the amount raised by 228 individual donors (approximately $15,000), we won a number of Raise Some L challenges!

  • $15,000 in unlocked funds from Dean Kimberly Kempf-Leonard and Dr. Charlie Leonard
  • 1st Place in Early Bird Challenge (Most donors by 12 Noon) $500
  • 2nd Place for total number of donors $1000 
  • Prof. Leslie Friesen (Fine Arts) won the Ambassador Challenge for securing the highest number of donations (66!) $500 
  • An additional $35,000 gift from Dean Kimberly Kempf-Leonard and Dr. Charlie Leonard

All this together, brings the A&S total to approximately $67,000!

Psych professor the recipient of a Young Investigator Grant

Prof. Brandon Depue (Psychological & Brain Sciences) is the recipient of a Young Investigator Grant. The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation annually awards grants totaling more than $13.8 million to 200 of the world’s most promising young scientists. The grants are intended to support the work of early-career scientists with innovative ideas for groundbreaking neurobiological research seeking to identify causes, improve treatments and develop prevention strategies for psychiatric disorders. Prof. Depue will use his grant to explore the distinction between fear and anxiety. Dr. Depue believes that fear responses have often been studied at the expense of sufficient attention to true anxiety responses, and that this distinction is critical. To address this issue, Dr. Depue will examine a brain region called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which responds when a potential—but unconfirmed—threat is detected.

Additional Kudos

Lutz an invited speaker 

Deborah Lutz, Endowed Chair in English, was invited to speak at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston on November 1. She was part of a panel entitled “‘No Ideas But in Things’: Writing Lives from Objects,” the latest installment of the New England Biography Seminar. Her talk was on her research at Harvard, Yale, the British Library, and the New York Public Library on George Eliot’s journals, notebooks, and the material qualities of her writing process.

In the News

Local calls to rape crisis line surged in past two months, says The Center for Women and Families (Insider Louisville, 11/5/18) - A&S alumna Jenny Kuerzi (Psychological & Brain Sciences), the supervisor of crisis response at the Center of Women and Families weighs in on impact of sexual trauma triggers in the media. 

Experts urge voters to scrub information: Experts say some of the biggest threats to elections aren’t from potential hacking, but rather from misinformation campaigns (WDRBnews.com, 11/5/18) - Prof. Jason Gainous weighs in on impact of misinformation campaigns on social media to election results. 

Theatre Arts presents new take on Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’ (UofL News, 11/1/18 - Prof. J. Ariadne Calvana (Theatre Arts) talks about her inspiration for her directorial approach to The Taming of the Shrew.

SEE IT: University of Louisville's new home for the Hite Art Institute (Courier-Journal, 10/31/18) - On the renovation of the new Portland building to create space for the MFA in Studio Art & Design program. 

Pittsburgh synagogue and Kroger shootings: We can't just mourn and move on (Courier-Journal, 10/31/18) - Oped by Prof. Ricky Jones (Pan-African Studies).

Social Media for the Win (Voice-Tribune, 10/31/18) - Features communication students led by Prof. Karen Freberg (Communication) who take over Breeder's Cup social media.

Students take over Breeders’ Cup social media (UofL News, 10/31/18) - Features communication students led by Prof. Karen Freberg (Communication) 

More than 100 local artists participate in Open Studio Weekend, attendees get first glimpse of new Hite Portland studios (Insider Louisville, 10/30/18) 

It's the 'year of the woman,' but not for the Louisville Metro Council (Courier-Journal, 10/30/18) - Prof. Anne Caldwell (Political Science) weighs in on female representation. 

Eating disorders need personalized treatment, UofL researchers say (UofL News, 10/26/18) - Features Prof. Cheri Levinson (Psychological & Brain Sciences) and the Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab. 

American Airlines adds nonstop flight to Los Angeles from Louisville (Courier-Journal, 10/25/18) - Quotes statistics from the Kentucky State Data Center. 

Hite Art Institute’s Open Studio Weekend showcases UofL artists (UofL News, 10/24/18)

Confrontation at Louisville restaurant example of new in-your-face politics (WDRB.com, 10/22/18) - Prof. Dewey Clayton (Political Science) weighs in on the lack of civility in today's politics. 

Elizabeth McCall of Woodford Reserve: FACES of Louisville (Style Blueprint) - Featuring Elizabeth McCall (alumna of Psychological & Brain Sciences) as the assistant master distiller of Woodford Reserve at Brown-Forman.

Nov 2: Day of the Dead Louisville on SoFo (Style Blueprint)  - Mentions UofL's Latin American & Latino Studies program as a sponsor of the event on S. 4th St.