Monday Memo May 23, 2016

Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues:
Due to the forthcoming departure of two directors and reduced funding, I have decided to roll some of the activities of our Center for Arts & Culture Partnerships into the Commonwealth Center for Humanities and Society (CCHS). I am excited to say we are accepting applications for a director of the new Commonwealth Center for Humanities and Society.

The CCHS offers several programs designed to highlight our faculty scholarship and to help make the University a cultural center for the city and the Commonwealth. Effective July 1, the CCHS also will have responsibility for building and facilitating intellectual relationships between Arts & Sciences faculty and students and our Arts and Culture Partners to the benefit of the community.

Some of the director’s other duties will include:

• Promoting humanistic inquiry in research and learning, not just in humanities departments but across the range of departments in the College.
• Helping coordinate and promote existing scholarly events and hosting programming to the extent that funds allow.
• During academic year 2017, leading a cohort of six Faculty Fellows in the Humanities Research Lab working on the theme of Mapping the Humanities.
• Managing a small fund for subvention of academic publications.

The director will report to the dean and have staff support. The expectation is that the director will work ten months. Compensation will include one course reduction each semester and an increase to base salary of one-ninth.

If you are interested in the position, please send a letter of interest and your CV to Jackie Gutterman between now and June 15.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Kempf-Leonard
Dean

Announcements

Faculty committee elections
The following members of the A&S faculty were elected to serve on standing and/or university committees:

A&S STANDING COMMITTEES
Academic Discipline and Student Grievance: Tracy K’Meyer, HIST (SS) and Tomarra Adams, PAS (SS alternate); Admissions and Appeals: Wendy Yoder, CML (HUM) and Karen Christopher, WGST (SS);
Committee on Committees: Joy Hart, COMM (SS) and Elaine Wise, ENGL/HUM (HUM); Curriculum Committee: Christine Ehrick, HIST (SS); Faculty Salary: Genevieve Carlton, HIST (SS), Perri Eason, BIOL (NS), Suzanne Hopf, SOC (PTL), Susan Jarosi, WGST/ARTH (SS), Manuel Medina, CML (HUM), Natalie Polzer, HUM (HUM), Thomas Stewart, Jr., HUM (Term), David Swanson, MATH (NS); Planning and Budget: Joseph Steffen, BIOL (NS) and Lauren Heberle, SOC (SS—Fall 2016 sabbatical replacement); Research: Gung-Min Gie, MATH (NS) and Matthew Ruther, UPA (SS); Technology and Facilities: Shira Rabin, BIOL (NS)

UNIVERSITY-WIDE COMMITTEES
General Education Course Committee: Steven Seif, MATH (NS); Graduate Student Grievance Committee: Mary Rosner, ENGL (HUM), At-Large Representative; Graduate Council: Elaine Wise, ENGL/HUM (HUM); Undergraduate Council: Hamid Kulosman, MATH (NS)

FACULTY SENATE
John Ferré, COMM (SS), Dawn Heinecken, WGST (SS, Fall 2016 sabbatical replacement), David Simpson, UPA (At-Large), Clare Sullivan, CML (HUM), and Beth Willey, ENGL (HUM)

Ann T. Allen Scholarship accepting applications
Faculty and Staff: If you know any students deserving of the Ann T. Allen Endowed Scholarship, please encourage them to apply. Applications are currently being accepted for single parents enrolled in the College of Arts & Sciences. The deadline to apply is Friday, June 17, 2016 for the 2016 fall semester. For more information, visit Ann T. Allen Scholarship.

Kudos & Congratulations

Quiz Bowl team ranks 11th in the nation
The UofL Quiz Bowl team is ranked 11th in the country in the just released Quizbowl Resource Center postseason poll. This is the highest ranking the team has ever achieved and was an increase of seven over our previous ranking. The team of Nick Conder (PhD student Urban and Public Affairs), Kurtis Droge (MBA Student), Ramapriya Rangaraju (CECS Student), and Megan Seldon (English and Humanities major) finished 14th at the NAQT Intercollegiate Championship Tournament and 10th at the ACF National Championship. The team is ranked two spots ahead of Oxford, four spots ahead of Harvard, and nine spots ahead of Northwestern. Additionally, U of L finished a full eleven spots ahead of the next ACC school, Georgia Tech. Kurtis Droge was voted the eleventh best player in the country. Kurtis was not ranked on the preseason ranking, but his strong performance at the national championships, capped by a selection to the Division I All Star team at ICT allowed him to jump into the rankings at eleven, one spot ahead of U of L Quiz Bowl alum and current Stanford player Austin Brownlow.

Teaching, Service, Creative Activities & Research

Prof. Lutz interviewed for Slate Magazine
Deborah Lutz was interviewed by Laura Miller for Slate Magazine, about Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, on May 18.

Items of Note

Conflict of Interest policy reminder: Students and visiting participants
As summer approaches and students and visiting researchers will be added to projects, please be advised that any individual receiving any portion of their compensation through an externally-funded project and any individual participating in research under the auspices of UofL, regardless of compensation, is required to have a current annual Attestation and Disclosure Form (ADF) completed. This includes students and all visiting scholars, student, researchers, scientists, etc.

Additional Information can be found online or by emailing coioff@louisville.edu.

In the News

Belize-Guatemala Border Tensions Put Needed Cooperation at Risk (World Politics Review) – Prof. Margath Walker on the border dispute between Belize and Guatemala.

WHAS Radio (5/12/16) –  Prof. Tim Dowling (Physics and Astronomy) discussed recent planetary findings from the Kepler spacecraft mission and Prof. Dewey Clayton (Political Science) discussed Kentucky’s role in the national campaigns.

The NRA’s Economic Impact In Louisville Is Expected To Be Huge (WFPL, 5/20/16) – Prof. Janet Kelly (Urban & Public Affairs) on the economic impact of the NRA convention in Louisville.

I think, therefore I INQUIRE

Biology Prof. Lee Dugatkin’s book, Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose: Natural History in Early America, tackles ideas of historical European supremacy and American inferiority through the lens of natural history. To learn more, read the Q&A with Dr. Dugatkin.