Monday Memo May 9, 2016

Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

Graduation week is here! This academic year has seemed especially long in regards to administrative tasks, but it also feels like just yesterday we were celebrating Welcome Week and greeting our new faculty. Many thanks to everyone for your dedication to our students. I know that you have both challenged and encouraged our students to succeed. We have nearly 800 students earning degrees this week, and we can be very proud of their achievements. I am resting up my right hand in happy anticipation of the congratulatory handshakes at commencement! Please reach out to those graduating students that you know and encourage them to keep in touch with us. Our alumni are important to us. We want to follow their professional and educational successes; invite them back to mentor current students and attend academic events; and ask them to support our development initiatives.

For those of you who will soon be pursuing research projects off campus, best wishes for success. For those of you teaching this summer or whose creative activities will take place on campus, I look forward to seeing you in the sunny days to come. We will continue to send out a “mini” Monday Memo announcing events and achievements, but we will try to save anything major for August when everyone is back. If we need to announce something this summer we will make the importance clear in the message line.

Best wishes for a happy summer,

Kimberly Kempf-Leonard
Dean

Announcements

Repertory Company celebrating 40 years at UofL
Theatre Arts is celebrating over 40 years of the UofL Repertory Company with a fundraiser reception on June 18 at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. They will be honoring the founder of the rep company, Prof. Emeritus Bert Harris. Tickets are $40.00 per person. For more information, contact Jessica Key.

Kudos & Congratulations

Advisor Matt Church wins national award
A&S Advisor Matthew Church was named the winner of the National Academic Advising Association’s Outstanding Advising Award.

Teaching, Service, Creative Activities & Research

Prof. Lutz gives lecture at Smithsonian
Prof. Deborah Lutz (English) gave an invited lecture entitled, "The Brontë Sisters: Their Stories in Keepsakes," at the Smithsonian Museum, in Washington D.C., on April 20.

Prof. Campbell’s reports published by National Institute of Justice and the journal Violence Against Women
Prof. Brad Campbell (Criminal Justice) had his co-authored final peer-reviewed report to the National Institute of Justice released online by NCJRS. The NIJ funded project, "Unsubmitted sexual assault kits in Houston, TX: Case characteristics, forensic testing results, and the investigation of CODIS hits," examined 493 cases in which a sexual assault kit was collected but not tested. Another study, "The Use of Forensic Evidence in Sexual Assault Investigations: Perceptions of Sex Crimes Investigators," was published in the "Violence Against Women" journal last month.

In the News

Public reacts to judge's order temporarily halting removal of Confederate monument from U of L campus (WDRB, 5/2/16) – Prof. Ricky Jones (Pan-African Studies) on the removal of the confederate monument.

University of Louisville students named Fulbright scholars (WLKY, 5/2/16) – On the 14 Fulbright scholars, nine of whom studied in A&S.

Flat Spiders Can Fly With Precision (Seeker – A Discovery Digital network, 5/9/16) – Prof. Steve Yanoviak (Biology) on his research into flat-bodied spiders in Panama and Peru.

Bowling Green woman named Fulbright Scholar (Bowling Green Daily News, 5/3/16) – Shelby Lawson, a 2014 graduate of the College of Arts & Sciences (Spanish) and College of Business (economics) from Bowling Green, named a 2016 Fulbright Scholar.

Why Does Louisville Have One of the Shortest Lifespans in the Nation? Junk Science and Negative Impacts of Pollution (The Huffington Post, 5/2/16) – Prof. John Gilderbloom (Urban & Public Affairs) on why Louisville has some of the shortest life spans in the U.S.

When Derby is done, it’s time for you to be the tourist (Insider Louisville, 5/7/16) – A study by the Urban Studies Institute shows that Louisville hosts more than 16 million visitors annually with an impact of $1.4 billion on the local economy.

Donald Trump All but Clinches G.O.P. Race With Indiana Win; Ted Cruz Quits (The New York Times, 5/3/16) – Prof. Dewey Clayton (Political Science)

Meet 2016 Diversity Champion Derrick Brooms

Brooms’ research focuses on African American identity and culture.