Monday Memo January 23, 2017
Message from the Dean
Dear Colleagues,
First off, I’m delighted that the salary equity raises are being implemented. My office is preparing letters with specific details for the faculty who will be getting adjustments beginning with the January paychecks. Staff who are getting adjustments have already been notified by HR. The campus goal has been to bring both faculty and staff who have salaries that are furthest from our benchmark institutions within competitive market ranges. I will continue to pursue equity in our hiring and to address salary compression until it ceases to be a problem.
It is also good news finally to have a functioning Board of Trustees. In addition to appointing Dr. Greg Postel as our new acting president, the new Board also finalized many administrative appointments of deans, vice presidents, and chairpersons.
Finally, I’m happy to report that we saw a significant participation increase for student course evaluations following implementation of the new format. There was as a 24% increase in responses across the University, and a 27% increase in Arts & Sciences. Since Fall 2010, the percentage of students who completed course evaluations ranged from a 38% to 55%. For Fall 2016, 73% of students completed course evaluations in Arts & Sciences. I’m also very pleased with our overall scores. A&S’s evaluation scores had a median of 4.42, a mean of 4.31, and a mode of 5. I am very happy with your commitment to student success and satisfaction. Your dedication allows Arts & Sciences to play a pivotal role in moving the University toward its goals in this area.
I do hope that faculty will make use of the feedback they received by implementing changes to future courses. If you happen to be one of the faculty with scores less than 3.0, I strongly encourage you to seek out assistance from the Delphi Center. Actually, I highly recommend the Delphi services to all faculty. Several Delphi staff have considerable expertise in teaching methods, including various pedagogies. They can help with syllabuses, classroom visits and feedback, as well as the use of technology and collaborative projects that will increase student engagement.
All in all, I believe the semester is off to a good start!
Sincerely,
Kimberly Kempf-Leonard
Dean
Announcements
Design Basics Courses for A&S Staff and Faculty
The College of Arts & Sciences is offering three “Design Basics” classes from 4-5 pm on Wednesdays, February 8, 15, and 22. They will be taught by Prof. Leslie Friesen (Fine Arts) in the Digital Humanities Lab (HUM 204). Space for each session is limited to 21 people and priority registration is given to A&S staff and faculty who create and distribute promotional material as part of their job duties. For more information and to register: http://attend.com/designbasics.
Funding for transdisciplinary social justice research deadline Jan. 31
The Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research is offering new competitive faculty research opportunities at UofL to begin in early 2017. The Consortium was created to fund social justice research teams, projects, creative activities, and community-engaged scholarship addressing intransigent social problems and systemic inequalities. Applications for student opportunities are available for one doctoral fellowship, seven undergraduate fellowships, and several volunteer student fellowships. The CFP has a late January 2017 deadline and is available on the Muhammad Ali Institute website and the Anne Braden Institute website. For more info, contact Cate Fosl and Enid Trucios-Haynes.
Teaching, Research, Creative Activities, & Service
Prof. Campbell partners with attorney general’s office to address the sexual assault forensic exam (SAFE) kit backlog
Prof. Bradley Campbell (Criminal Justice) will serve as principal investigator on a project to research the issue of backlogged rape kits in Kentucky. His work will aid Kentucky’s law enforcement and victim advocacy communities when responding to sexual assaults, and transform sexual assault investigations and prosecutions. The project, which aims to examine the outcomes of kit testing, identify data-driven, victim-centered responses to sexual assault and provide justice to victims, will receive support through a partnership with Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear’s office. View the press conference featuring Beshear and Prof. Campbell.
CCHS announces 2017-18 Faculty Fellows
The Commonwealth Center for the Humanities & Society Advisory Board is proud to present 6 faculty members that will serve as 2017-18 Faculty Fellows. The Faculty Fellows will be organized around the 2016-17 theme “Affect, Emotion, Sensation.” This cohort includes six professors from five departments across the College: Brendan Depue (Psychological & Brian Sciences) – The Dynamics of Emotion, Affect, and Cognition; Christine Ehrick (History) – Voicing and Hearing Gender in History; Frances McDonald (English) – Forming Laughter; Michael Brandon McCormack (Pan-African Studies) – On Black Joy as Resistance; Karl Swinehart (Humanities) – Endangered Languages and Dangerous Speakers: Indigenous Media in Bolivia; and Joseph Turner (English) – Weeping for Dido: Emotion, Gender, and the Pre-Modern Classroom.
Kudos
Prof. Peteet receives Fulbright research grant
Prof. Julie Peteet (Anthropology) received a Fulbright research award to study in Turkey.
Prof. Running to give keynote address at Gordon Conference
Prof. Mark Running (Biology) was asked to give the keynote address for one of the prestigious Gordon Conferences.
Prof. He’s research published in Nature Human Behaviour
Prof. Zijiang He’s (Psychological & Brain Sciences) research was published in a Nature Human Behaviour article entitled, “Attention modulates perception of visual space.”
Prof. DiBlasi featured in documentary
Phil DiBlasi (Archaeology Lab Director, Anthropology) is featured in the new documentary film, “Facing East,” about the abuse, neglect, and grave desecration that has occurred at Eastern Cemetery in Louisville Kentucky over the last 150 years. The story was also covered by Insider Louisville.
A&S Advisor Matt Church receives award
Advisor Matt Church was selected for the Region 3 Excellence in Advising - Advisor Primary Role Award through NACADA.
Items of Note
University Writing Center available
Invite a University Writing Center staff member to visit your class for a brief introduction to our services or a customized workshop. The Writing Center provides students, faculty, and staff feedback on any type of writing at any point in the writing process. For additional information, visit the website.
Career Center programming for students
This semester, the Career Development Center has scheduled a variety of sessions to aid your students as they move toward graduation and the job market. The Center can also work directly with you to schedule specific sessions for your students/classes. For more information or to schedule please contact Trey Lewis.
Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP)
Faculty with students interested in research and continuing their education should encourage them to apply for the SROP, which provides undergrads who would like to know more about graduate-level education at the university, with a 10-week research-intensive experience in a department that offers graduate degrees. Mentors will provide students with individualized research projects. All UofL departments with graduate programs will be supported. Students should be, preferably, in their sophomore or junior year of study. The deadline is March 1, 2017. For more information, visit SROP.
In the News
Friday the 13th: black cats, broken mirrors and other fears (WHAS-11, 1/13/17) – Prof. Michael Cunningham (Communication) on Friday the 13th superstitions.
A&S series examines trailblazing athletes, women in Kentucky history (UofL News, 1/13/17) – The UofL College of Arts & Sciences’ International, Diversity and Engagement Programs (IDEP) offers free, public forums in partnership with the Yearlings Club.
Lewis - A Lifetime of Action (The Courier-Journal, 1/17/17) – Prof. Dewey Clayton (Political Science) on Congressman John Lewis.
Hite Art Institute looks at art in nature and technology in two new exhibitions (UofL News, 1/18/17) – On two new exhibitions at the Hite Art Institute’s Schneider Hall Galleries and Cressman Center for Visual Arts.
Trump inauguration: Locals share hopes, fears (The Courier-Journal, 1/18/17) – Prof. Dewey Clayton (Political Science) on the Trump presidency.
Amid Call For Outside Investigation Of Police Shooting, Broken Trust (WFPL, 1/17/17) – Prof. Justin Nix (Criminal Justice) on the call for an independent investigation into the shooting of Darnell Wicker by activists involved with the group Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).
High-Ranking Lebanese Police Officers Attend Leadership and Management Training in Louisville, Kentucky (Naharnet, 1/17/17) – The Southern Police Institute’s leadership and management training seminar for 19 high-ranking Lebanese police officials sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
Kentucky has tested just over a third of rape kit backlog (The Washington Times, 1/19/17), Beshear to announce partnership with UofL to deal with rape kit backlog and Beshear's office will partner with University of Louisville to examine handling of unprocessed sexual assault kits (Spectrum News, 1/19/17) – Prof. Bradley Campbell (Criminal Justice) will study kits that were tested versus those that were not in an attempt to find out why. He has worked on similar studies in jurisdictions in other states, including Houston, but this will be one of the first to analyze kits statewide.
Discussion explores women’s roles in the civil rights movement (UofL News, 1/19/17) – Prof. Kaila Story (Pan-African Studies and Women’s & Gender Studies) discussed women’s roles in the civil rights movement as part of events organized for Martin Luther King Jr. Week at UofL.
How can U of L best move ahead? (The Courier-Journal, 1/9/17) – On how UofL can move forward, an op-ed piece by Prof. David Owen (Philosophy).
The Thinker Spring 2017
View the latest issue of The Thinker, the newsletter of the College of Arts & Sciences, online. To request a print copy, email Melissa Moody.
