Monday Memo November 20, 2017

Announcements

"Ask the Dean" meeting tomorrow at 3pm
Bring your question and concerns to tomorrow's "Ask the Dean" meeting for A&S faculty and staff. Tuesday, 11/21 at 3pm in SRB 139. 

Entire University shutdown for Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017
As a sign of appreciation, UofL will be shut down the entire day off on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, rather than the half-day that had been previously scheduled. Because some services simply must be maintained even when the university is closed, everyone should check with your supervisor to ensure this opportunity applies to them. Employees who are required to work on Wednesday will be compensated appropriately. Timekeepers in the departments will receive detailed instructions on how to do that. NOTE: This is a one-time event and not a permanent change to the university schedule.

Dean Leonard giving away men's basketball game tickets
If you are interested in being added to the drawing for two tickets, please email asdean@louisville.edu and indicate which of the games listed below you are interested in. Drawings will be held 2 days before the game. All games are at the KFC Yum! Center.

  • Indiana  12/9 Saturday 2pm
  • Bryant 12/11 Tuesday 7pm
  • Grand Canyon 12/23 Saturday 1pm

Research & Creative Activity

Guidance on salary cap for DHHS & NIH sponsored programs
The Office of Sponsored Programs Administration has developed guidance related to salary cap requirements for Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS) sponsored programs. The guidance includes a worksheet to aid in the calculation of salary that can be charged directly to DHHS awards as well as salary “over the cap” that must be booked and tracked separately per Federal requirements. The salary cap requirement applies not only to NIH awards but also to CDC, HRSA and other DHHS awards.
Additional information: website, 852-7308, or brigitte.fasciotto@louisville.edu

The Commonwealth Center for Humanities & Society announces the 2018-19 Faculty Fellows theme and call for applications.
The deadline for applications is December 15th, 2017.  The theme for 2018-19 is Intersections/Boundaries/Transgressions. Intersectionality is a widely-used framework in the humanities and social sciences. It allows us to talk about the intertwined, overlapping categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, citizenship status, (dis)ability, and centers power as an analytic framework. The related themes of boundaries and transgressions encourage explorations of the limits of these categories and the ways that lived experience and cultural representations reflect such complicated and shifting formations. This year’s theme is intended to prompt innovative theoretical, sociocultural, critical, historical, and artistic approaches to these issues. Please see the attached CFA for details.

In keeping with its core mission, CCHS seeks to foreground forms of humanistic inquiry in research and advanced learning not only in humanities departments but also across the whole range of departments of the College. Fellows will receive one course release as well as a supplemental research/travel stipend from CCHS. Applications require a current CV, a proposal of up to 1000 words stating the project to be pursued while a Fellow, and a brief letter of support from the department chair. Please visit the CCHS website. Inquiries can be sent to john.gibson@louisville.edu or janna.tajibaeva@louisville.edu.

Teaching

Upload course content early for Spring 2018: Blackboard will be offline January 5-7 for a scheduled upgrade
In order to accommodate the university’s Winter Session, the Blackboard upgrade is moving. Blackboard upgrade will start on Friday, January 5 at 6 p.m. and run through Sunday, January 7 at 8 p.m. and will be unavailable during that time. Applications integrated with Blackboard will also be unavailable, such as Panopto and Collaborate. Questions? Visit http://louisville.edu/delphi/blackboard or call 502.852.8833.

Winter Dissertation Writing Mini-Retreat Applications Open
PLEASE SHARE THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT WITH YOUR GRADUATE STUDENTS: The University Writing Center and the UofL Graduate Student Council announces its first Winter Dissertation Writing Mini-Retreat We encourage all writers currently working on their dissertations to apply. In past retreats, we have worked with writers representing a range of disciplines from Public Health to Engineering to Social Work to Humanities. The mini-retreat is scheduled for January 20th and 27th. Visit our website for more information and application details.

Kudos

Dugatkin's How to Tame a Fox is a finalist for the AAAS/Subaru Award for their Young Adult book prize
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Subaru of America, Inc. announced that How to Tame a Fox (And Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution by Prof. Lee Dugatkin (Biology) and co-authored by Lyudmila Trut is on the longlist (alongside Neil deGrasse Tyson and others) for the 2018 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prizes for Excellence in Science Books in the Young Adult category. The Prizes celebrate outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults and are meant to encourage the writing and publishing of high-quality science books for all ages.The finalists will be announced in November and the winners will be announced in January 2018.

Stansel's novel meeting with critical acclaim
The latest novel of Prof. Ian Stansel (English), The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo(published in July 2017), is one of Amazon's Top 100 Books of the Year, as well as one of Library Journal's High-Profile Debuts. The Amazon ranking is based on professional reviews. 

Biologists developing a system for drying blood
Prof. Michael Menze (Biology) and colleagues have been working on developing a unique system for drying blood. If this process is successful, it would mean the blood would have an indefinite shelf life and could be reconstituted for use when needed. The process has wide applications for many different cell types.  Menze and his colleagues have been involved with the Nucleus program and were the winners of the Fall 2017 LaunchIt internal pitch competition www.nucleusky.com.  They have recently been nominated to the National I-Corps program.  This has already resulted in bringing in research funding for Menze’s lab.  He has already been a feature on UofL Today with Mark Hebert and Mark has him lined up to be on a WHAS morning TV program this coming Monday morning.

Criminal Justice profs co-investigators on cybersecurity grant
Profs. Michael Losavio, Rodney Brewer, and John Reed (Criminal Justice) were three of eight UofL investigators awarded a grant from the U.S. National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. For further information, visit www2.cecsresearch.org/csi.

Historian Kelland publishes new book
Prof. Lara Kelland (History) published Clio's Foot Soldiers: Twentieth-Century U.S. Social Movements and Collective Memory with University of Massachusetts Press. Click for or a book description.

  • "Clio’s Foot Soldiers is an important book that successfully illuminates the importance of collective memory activism in the many different social movements of the 1960s and 1970s."—Renee C. Romano, author of Racial Reckoning: Prosecuting America’s Civil Rights Murders
  • "This book will contribute significantly to our understanding of the still-improbable victory of so many marginalized groups engaged in ‘collective memory’ practices."—Van Gosse, author of The Movements of the New Left, 1950–1975: A Brief History with Documents and Rethinking the New Left: An Interpretative History“Modern Human Origins and Dispersal”

Hannah O’Daniel (M.A. Public History) received the first Kentucky Public History Intern Award
O’Daniel's exemplary work ethic and diligent attention to the research process led to her receiving the award. She never hesitates to take on a new challenge, to expand her own knowledge and skills, and to continue to make history relevant and accessible.
 
O’Daniel had internships at the Filson Historical Society, where she processed archival material to make it available to researchers, and at the Kentucky Historical Society.
 
At KHS she was involved with several projects:

  • She worked with the Kentucky Oral History Commission and helped write the KHS manual for using a system that makes oral histories more widely accessible and searchable.
  • She was among the first graduate research assistants who worked with the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Edition (CWGK). CWGK is making thousands of documents available to researchers for the first time. (Info here.) As a GRA, Hannah transcribed documents and researched people mentioned within them to help build the comprehensive database behind CWGK.
  • At the CWGK summer symposium this year, Hannah acted as a “reporter,” tweeting it so people who could not attend could learn from the experts gathered there.

Prof. Shiping Hua (Political Science) received the “Outstanding Service Award” & started co-editing a book series
Prof. Shiping Hua (Political Science) received the “Outstanding Service Award” from the Association of Chinese Professors in Social Sciences (USA), at its annual meeting at High Point University, North Carolina, on October 22, 2017   

Prof. Shiping Hua, political Science and Asian studies, has just started to co-edit a book series “China Studies—International Outlook,” with City University of Hong Kong Press.  The series is published in both English and in Chinese.   Dr. Hua’s other three books series have already published 36 books with University Press of Kentucky, Routledge, and Renmin University Press in China.

Miracle Monocle surpasses $1,200 crowdfunding goal
Congrats to faculty, staff and students involved in the Miracle Monocle, the University's online literary magazine. They launched their crowdfunding efforts on October 11, during the UofL Day of Giving. That day, they ranked 7th place (among 250 projects up for funding) in number of unique donors. Most of those gifts came from English Department faculty and friends, a powerful statement of support in a challenging fundraising climate. Through assiduous follow up in the week after 10/11, they garnered contributions from a total of 35 donors, among them UofL alumni and former faculty, and friends in the local and national literary community. As a result, MM staff will be able to advertise in respected trade journals, expand the student editorial experience, and offer a named award to an emerging writer whose work will be featured in Issue 10. Special kudos to Miracle Monocle director, Prof. Kiki Petrosino (English), and Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sarah Strickley. Dr. Strickley wrote the promotional copy, made the video that appeared on the Elevate site, and spread the word about the campaign on social media. 

Item of Note

Handcrafted ceramics by Hite Art students and faculty artists will be available for purchase just in time for holiday shopping
The university’s annual ceramics sale will be Fri., Dec. 1 from 8am to 8pm, and Sat., Dec. 2 from 10am to 2pm, in the ceramics studio in the Studio Arts building, 2314 S. Floyd St. Many items will be available in the $10-$30 range including plates, mugs, bowls and other tableware. Additional items including large vases, serving bowls and platters also will be available. Proceeds from the sale benefit the UofL Hite Art Institute’s Ceramic Arts Organization and help fund free public workshops with visiting artists and student travel to art conferences.

In the News

University Receiving Grant to Expand Cybersecurity Training (US News & World Report, 11/20) -  About a  a $580,000 federal grant to expand cybersecurity programs. The grant will support two interdisciplinary programs across three schools — the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business.

The Closing Bell: Oxmoor Farms wants to add apartment complex; Kindred, UofL team up on HIVE; Landbank sells 50 vacant sites; and more (Insider Louisville, 11/17) - Louisville-based Kindred Healthcare and UofL formed a partnership to create technology that helps aging Americans - HIVE. The university said that HIVE's space had a “startup vibe, with bee-themed decor and graphic design pieces from students at the UofL Hite Art Institute.”

Des Moines can reverse history by changing streets (Des Moines Register, 11/16) - References a three-year study by the Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods (Urban & Public Affairs) that found that traffic collisions fell by 60 percent on one street and by 36 percent in another, even as the number of cars increased. 

How Bourbon and Big Data Are Cleaning Up Louisville (Politico, 11/16) - References UPA graduate student Dwan Turner and Prof. John Gilderbloom (Urban & Public Affairs).

In A Time Of Activism, Some Blacks In Louisville Seek Alternative Religions (WFPL, 11/15) – Prof. Tomás Edison (Classical & Modern Languages) on centuries of many African Americans seeking healing from alternative religions.

UofL presidential search continues along with faculty concerns about the process (Insider Louisville, 11/15) – Faculty concerns regarding the UofL presidential search process.

UofL celebrates cybersecurity education grant (UofL News, 11/14) – Profs. Michael Losavio, Rodney Brewer, and John Reed (Criminal Justice) were three of eight UofL investigators awarded a grant from the U.S. National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. 

Academy for males of color coming to Louisville (WAVE 3, 11/13) – Prof. Theresa Rajack-Talley (Pan-African Studies) on W.E.B. DuBois Academy, a new school geared towards males of color that will open in West Louisville in the fall.