Monday Memo March 21, 2016

Announcements

DEADLINE MAR. 24: Faculty Nominations for Woodcock Medal
The A&S Honors Thesis Committee is seeking letters of nomination for the Woodcock Medal on the basis of a student's record and at the recommendation of members of the faculty. Students eligible for nomination include those who graduated in Dec. 2015 and those who will graduate in May 2016. Prof. Joy Hart (Director, Honors Program) will inform the student and ask her/him to submit a summary of accomplishments or résumé. Please send letters to Prof. Hart by campus mail (University Honors Program, Etscorn Honors Center) or email (joy.hart@louisville.edu) by Thurs., Mar. 24 to facilitate distribution of materials to the committee.

Awards and Grants

DEADLINE MAR. 25: Spring Internal Grants Program
The Office of the EVPRI is accepting applications for the Internal Grants Program. The Internal Grants Program (Research I, Research II and URG) aims to assist faculty in new highly productive research projects. All grant categories are open to full-time faculty. Application forms are available online.

DEADLINE MAR. 25: A&S Research & Creative Activities 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. Any doctoral or Master’s student in good standing in the College of Arts and Sciences is eligible. Deadline for submissions is 4 pm on Mar. 25. Guidelines and proposal template.

Teaching, Research, Service & Creative Activity

Prof. Story keynote speaker at Harvard symposium
Prof. Kaila Story (Women’s & Gender Studies and Pan-African Studies) was the keynote speaker at the 4th Annual Lesbians of Color Symposium at Harvard Law School Mar. 19.

Prof. Buchanan keynote speaker at Ohio State colloquium
Prof. Rhonda Buchanan gave a keynote presentation, “Translation Bliss and Blues,” at the 20th Annual Spanish and Latin American Colloquium at Ohio University.

Kudos & Congratulations

Criminal Justice program ranks 15 in U.S.
The Department of Criminal Justice ranks number 15 among criminal justice programs in the United States based on the publication productivity of faculty. As is noted in the rankings, one important dimension of the quality of a graduate program is the quality, and productivity, of its faculty.

UPA rises in US News & World Report rankings
The Department of Urban and Public Affairs has risen 10 spots in the 2017 US News and World Report rankings of programs – from #87 to #77 – and remains the highest ranked program in Arts and Sciences.

A&S sweeps Provost’s Awards for Exemplary Advising
Matthew Church (Coordinator, A&S Advising) and Prof. Kristopher Grady (Political Science) were honored for their exceptional undergraduate advising by the Provost’s Awards for Exemplary Advising, which awards two advisors from across UofL for their work with students. Matthew was given the award for the professional advising category and Prof. Grady was given the award for the faculty advising category.

University Honors Program staff win advising awards
Katherine Rucker (Academic Counselor) and Luke Buckman (Assistant Director for Student Programming and Development) in the University Honors Program have been selected for NACADA Region 3 Excellence in Advising awards. Katherine has won the New Advisor award for the state of Kentucky, and Luke has been selected for the Primary Role award for the state of Kentucky. Their awards will be presented at the April NACADA regional meeting in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  

Prof. Buchanan receives NACADA advising award
Prof. Rhonda Buchanan (Latin American & Latino Studies) has been selected as the recipient of the NACADA Region 3 Excellence in Advising – Faculty award for the state of Kentucky.

English alumnus awarded prestigious Stanford Fellowship
A&S alumnus Dominic Russ-Combs (English/Creative Writing) has been awarded a 2016 Wallace Stegner Fellowship in fiction from Stanford University. These highly selective fellowships are named for American novelist Wallace Stegner, who founded Stanford's creative writing program in the 1940s after graduating from the Iowa Writer's Workshop. The workshop-based program does not grant a degree but fully funds Fellows for two years of study with senior faculty in poetry and fiction. Only five writers in each genre are awarded Fellowships each year. A partial list of past Fellows includes Wendell Berry, Raymond Carver, Phillp Levine, ZZ Packer, Samantha Chang, Tobias Wolff, and Robert Pinsky.

ABI Coordinator Dionne Griffiths performs in We Are Kentuckians
On March 7, Dionne Griffiths (Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research) was featured in Insider Louisville for the 3rd annual We Are Kentuckians: Celebrating Our Common Heritage, a production created by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. The performance held on March 10, 2016, celebrated black women in Kentucky and Dionne recited original poetry about black female identity and African American culture and she choreographed and performed a contemporary dance solo. Dionne is the Program Coordinator for the ABI.

International, Engagement, and Diversity Programs

March work-restricted holy days
A&S recognizes the importance of allowing students, faculty and staff who observe work-restricted religious holidays to do so without jeopardizing their academic standing or work-related activities. March work-restricted holy days include Naw-Ruz (Baha’i) Mar. 21, Holi (Hindu) Mar. 23, Magha Puja Day (Buddhist) Mar. 23, Purim (Jewish) Mar. 24, and Good Friday (Christian) Mar. 25. For additional information on this policy, the work-restricted holidays calendar or other information, visit International, Diversity, and Engagement Programs.

Inclusion and Equity internship deadline April 1
IDEP is currently accepting applications for the Inclusion and Equity internship program and would like to encourage A&S staff and faculty to spread the word. For more information visit the IDEP website.

Items of Note

UofL Debate program highlighted on RadioLab
The University of Louisville Debate program was featured in a podcast presented by RadioLab, WNYC's Peabody Award-winning program about ‘big ideas’ and one of public radio’s most popular shows. The podcast can be found HERE.

In the News

27 must-see art exhibits this week (The Courier-Journal, 3/17/2016) – On the Hite Art Institute exhibit Judy Chicago: Fire Works, which ends April 16.

It’s frightening, it’s corrosive: Fears Trump campaign violence will prove costly (The National, 3/16/2016) and Political expert calls violence at Trump rallies 'very disturbing' (WLKY, 3/14/2016) – Prof. Dewey Clayton (Political Science) on violence at Trump campaign rallies.

Dr. Meeks Gives Us Six Things To Do for Someone Older (Today’s Woman, 3/21/2016) – Prof. Suzanne Meeks (Psychological & Brain Sciences) on maintaining positivity in aging.

I think, therefore I LISTEN.

Meet Humanities Alumna (‘08) Savannah Barrett
In this Q&A with an A&S alumna, we learn how rural and urban people and places work together in Kentucky. And where to find the best swimming holes in the state.