Monday Memo October 23, 2017

Dean's Message

Dear Colleagues:
 
In coming weeks and months, I hope we will have many conversations about how best to develop capacity within Arts & Sciences to teach 30,000 students and maintain our Research I designation. I am eager to hear all suggestions.
 
As I mentioned in my State of the College presentation, I see three options for us to be able to accommodate significant growth in students with limited growth in salary dollars. The first potential solution - one I hope we will reject - is that we lose our research focus. I want us to preserve our research mission and continue to advance knowledge.
 
A second route would be to rely even more heavily on contingent faculty. However, even if we completely set aside our aspirations to shelter a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa which we’d prefer not to, I don't believe it is in anyone's best interest that the the majority of our students be taught by instructors who didn’t design the curriculum and who, in most cases, don't even have voting privileges.
 
The third option - a middle of the road solution -  is one in which we assign differential work loads. I think this is our best option in the long run. We already have differential teaching loads based on an existing guideline. However, I detest the unfairness of this guideline and have been thinking about setting it aside. However, I cannot abandon this long-followed protocol without something better in its place. And, because of our need for more, rather than less, teaching, I cannot dictate a 2:2 teaching load for everyone. My dream would be to have all assistant professors on a 2:2 load during their probationary period. The same load would apply for all tenured professors with significant and regular scholarly production. (Obviously, we’d have to agree on what constitutes significant, regular, and maybe even a product, but I believe that’s doable.) This means that most other faculty would need to take on more courses. Unfortunately, at present, teaching is perceived as less valuable that scholarship. That’s the major hurdle we need to overcome before any real and lasting change can take place. Honestly, I suspect that a scenario like this will need to be implemented at many public research universities if they too wish to thrive or even survive. 
 
For this and other reasons, I want us to commit to better valuing teaching. At least within A&S, UofL already has the upper-hand over many research universities because we do value teaching. Even so, we need to do more. To better value teaching, we need to be able to identify when it is being done especially well. We also need to have means to acknowledge it, elevate it, and reward it in ways that count, including financially. This is critical if we are to grow to serve 30,000 students and remain a research university. 

Sincerely,
Kimberly Leonard
Kimberly Kempf-Leonard, Ph.D.
Dean

Announcements

Encourage students to register for Winter Session
Please share the following announcement with your students: "Get ahead this winter with a 3-week course offered 100% online. Whether you want to accelerate your graduation date, need to catch up on a course you missed or just want to squeeze in an elective between semesters, Winter Session is the perfect opportunity. All Winter Session courses are offered 100% online in three intensive weeks. Enrollment is open to current, new, transfer or visiting UofL students. More information at louisville.edu/wintersession." 

BAC website up and running
The Budget Advisory Committee website recently launched, and can be accessed at louisville.edu/provost/budget/bac. The site is home to the Authorization to Hire (ATH) Process including instructions, flowcharts, and reports as well as other items of interest.  (The hiring freeze reports require a login.) Additionally, it serves as a secondary location for BAC agendas and meeting notes - as part of the committee's quest to remain transparent and non-obtrusive.  

October Faculty Senate meeting minutes available
Final minutes for October 4, 2017 meeting of the UofL Faculty Senate temporarily can be found here. They will eventually be archived on the Faculty Senate website

Research & Creative Activity

Women's & Gender Studies affiliated faculty information/interest meeting
Due to the timing of the memorial service for Prof. Hanchette, WGS is rescheduling their affiliated faculty meeting to Wednesday, Oct. 25, 5-6:30 PM in HUM 300. Full announcement as follows: please join WGS for a glass of wine and some productive brainstorming. We will offer updates and solicit feedback on new initiatives in the Women's & Gender Studies, ask for feedback on how the department can support you in your work, preview our research forum series for 2017-18, and discuss research support grants for affiliated faculty. Email Jan Rayburn if you wish to attend. And feel free to invite non-affiliated colleagues whose research and teaching areas include gender and sexuality and who might like to become affiliated faculty.

POW History Conference at Filson this week-end
"From Colonial Encounters to the Iraq War: Prisoners of War and Their Place in History" - Presentations will include twenty talks by historians from many different institutions, including a keynote address Forgotten Casualties: POWs in Modern Warfare by Dr. Paul Spring (Air War College) this Friday. Conference will be held October 27-28 at The Filson Historical Society, 1310 S. 3rd St., Louisville, KY. Conference co-convened by Daniel Krebs (History). Expenses underwritten by the C.E.& S. Foundation. Program brochure here. Register here.

Teaching

Request space in BACB starting Nov. 1
If you wish to teach in the new Belknap Academic Classroom Building in Fall 2018, you can request to do so starting November 1. Additionally, if you already know what you are teaching for the spring semester, you can make those requests in advance. Room options here. Request form here.

Mark your calendar: Blackboard will be offline Jan. 5-7 for 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. Additional Information: Website, 852-8833

Items of Note

UofL’s Service and Emotional Support Animal Policy

Available for download on the ADA Coordinator’s page: louisville.edu/titleix/resources/ada. Important facts to recognize regarding SAs: 

  1. Service dogs can be of any breed, or any size. 
  2. Though the purpose of some service animals is more outwardly obvious than others (e.g., guide dogs for individuals who have visual impairments are usually easily identifiable), many individuals whose disabilities are not readily apparent also require the assistance of a service animal to perform more subtle tasks (anticipation of seizures for persons who have epilepsy, for instance). The rights and obligations of all service animals are treated the same under the law.
  3. Though service animals are trained to perform particular tasks**, handlers of such animals NEED NOT possess or carry documentation of the animal’s having been trained, nor can the animal be required to wear a vest identifying it as a service animal (though many do), nor must handlers carry or produce documentation of the nature or extent of their disabilities. 
  4. Service animals are generally allowed to accompany their handlers anyplace the handler is allowed to go, even if the usual practice or policy of the facility or activity in question is to prohibit animals. This includes but is not limited to restaurants, food service lines, theaters, sporting events, intramural fields, classrooms, and meeting rooms. 
  5. Public entities, including public universities like UofL, are severely restricted in what inquiries their employees are allowed to make to a person with a service animal. The ADA permits only two questions to be asked of a person accompanied by a service animal:  (1) "Is this animal a service animal?". And if so, (2) "What task(s) does it perform?" However, as noted above, the questioner may not ask the handler to produce documentation of either their disability or the service animal’s credentials or training. If the handler affirms that the animal is an SA that performs a particular task, it must be allowed to accompany the handler to the location or event without further inquiry. Any questioning about the specifics of the person’s disability (even asking “What is your disability?") is unlawful and inappropriate.
  6. Please note that animal species other than dogs and miniature horses do not qualify as SAs under the ADA, and need not be permitted to accompany their handlers to public campus areas as SAs must be.  

 **Under Kentucky state law, a service animal in training is treated the same as a service animal for purposes of the animal being allowed to accompany its handler to all public locations.

General rule: when a person affirmatively states that the animal accompanying them is a service animal, do not challenge that assertion.

In the News

Political apathy and obsession with entertainment have a price (Courier-Journal, 10/18/17) - Ricky Jones (Pan-African Studies) on religion and entertainment.

Poison in the Ivy (Inside Higher Ed, 10/17/17) - W. Carson Byrd (Pan-African Studies) how college diversity programs can result in students overattributing success to factors like merit and hard work, while ignoring systemic or institutional problems.

Provost, deans and department chairs call on UofL board of trustees to reverse decision on closed presidential search (Insider Louisville, 10/10/17) - Faculty members protest BOT meeting on closed door president search.

In Louisville, Journalist Suki Kim Talks Going Undercover In North Korea  (WFPL 89.3, 10/18/17) - The Center for Asian Democracy hosted this event and speaker Suki Kim.