Monday Memo October 24, 2016

Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

Please join me in thanking Prof. Andrew Rabin (English) for his two years of service as chair of the A&S Assembly. He led us well, and used his gavel sparingly. We welcome Prof. Karen Christopher (Women’s & Gender Studies/Sociology) to the leadership role for AY17, and especially thank her for her willingness to accept this role. I’ve offered her this Monday Memo forum to share her vision for the year.

The next staff open forum will be on Thursday, October 27 at 9:00 a.m. in Chao Auditorium (Ekstrom Library). Coffee and donuts will be available from 8:30 to 9:00 am in the foyer outside of Chao. This is an opportunity for staff to ask me or my staff questions, as well as to have their voices heard. I encourage all staff members to attend and supervisors, if possible, please grant your staff leave to attend.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Kempf-Leonard

Dean

A special message from new Faculty Assembly Chair Karen Christopher

Dear Colleagues,

In light of Governor Bevin’s approach towards higher education, as well as recent transitions in our own university administration, faculty governance is vitally important. We share institutional memory and a long-term commitment to the success of our College. Through Faculty Assembly, we speak with a collective voice about our interests and concerns; if we don’t speak up, we won’t be heard.

This year the Assembly will consider changes to our Gen Ed program, and we may weigh in on changes to A&S Personnel policies. We will also have input on the University’s QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan). In Assembly this past Friday, our committee on salaries called for increased faculty input on equity adjustments to our salaries. These issues affect all of us in A&S.

I encourage all faculty—across our Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities divisions—to attend our monthly meetings. We work in 24 different departments, and these meetings are the best (and only) opportunity for us to come together and hear one another’s concerns.

Our next meeting is November 18, 2-3:15 pm, in Strickler 102. Please send me agenda items by November 11.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as chair. I welcome your feedback at: klchri01@exchange.louisville.edu.

Karen Christopher, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Women’s & Gender Studies and Sociology

Announcements

Communications-related job function survey: Input needed
The A&S Communication Team is updating its contact list and assessing communication-related needs college wide and needs your input. We are asking all staff and faculty who play a role in communication-related activities (web, design and print, event promotion, writing and content creation, social media, etc.) to take this 5-minute survey. We also would like your input if you are involved in event coordination. If you have questions about the survey, contact Lindsey Ronay.

Governor’s Scholars Program recruiting faculty instructors
The Governor’s Scholars Program is recruiting instructors for 2017. Applications are due by January 7. To download an application or for more information, visit gsp.ky.gov.

Classes Canceled on Election Day, Nov. 8
Please be reminded that Election Day is a University holiday and that all classes will be canceled on November 8.

Faculty and Staff: Changes to Monday Memo 
The following Monday Memo, on October 31, will be events only, and will include events for November and the first two weeks of December. Anything submitted between now and Nov. 2 will be featured in the November 5 edition of the Monday Memo. If you have any questions or comments, please email Melissa Moody.

Benefits Open Enrollment through October 28
Employees will have the option to choose their 2017 benefits online through 5 p.m. on October 28. To learn more about your benefits, attend one of the following upcoming benefit fairs: Belknap Campus, Get Healthy Now Wellness Center (the old Humana Gym), 601 Presidents Blvd., October 25 and 26, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In Memorium: Prof. Eric McCord

Prof. Eric McCord (Criminal Justice) passed away on Oct. 18. Prof. McCord will be greatly missed by all of us in the College of Arts & Sciences. He received his B.A. in Criminal Justice from Chapman University, his M.A. in Criminal Justice from California State University, San Bernardino, and his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Temple University. Prior to his academic career, Prof. McCord served as a police officer for 26 years on two southern California police agencies: Stanton Police Department (1978-1981) and Chino Police Department (1981-2004). Prof. McCord’s research interests included the spatial analysis of crime and crime mapping, CPTED and environmental crime prevention, problem-oriented, and third party policing. He also had a special interest in the relationship between land use and crime, an area in which he authored several publications. 

Teaching, Research, Creative Activities, & Service

Prof. Petrosino presents work from upcoming book
Prof. Kiki Petrosino (English), a Residential Fellow of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, presented poems from her latest book-in-progress, White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia. According to the VFH, Prof. Petrosino’s book “contemplates what it means to be a mixed-race Virginian in light of the region’s fraught racial history,” and “explores the complex intersections between public and private history from Monticello to the Falls of the Ohio.”

Prof. Abbott presents at Berea College
Prof. Jason Abbott (Political Science/director of the Center for Asian Democracy) gave two talks at the Center for International Education at Berea College. He presented on “Malaysia, An Embattled Semi-Democracy,” and “China's (Re)emergence as a regional and global power.”

Prof. Hutcheson presents at Library of Congress
Prof. Greg Hutcheson (Classical and Modern Languages) was invited with Josiah Blackmore (Harvard University) to present at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, on the topic of Queer Iberia, a volume Hutcheson and Blackmore co-edited with Duke University Press in 1999. Their October 13 presentation, which covered Queer Iberia’s reception and subsequent impact on medieval and early-modern Iberian studies, formed part of a series of events organized by the Library of Congress’s Hispanic Division to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month.

Faculty Fellows present research to campus community
CCHS Faculty Fellows Professors Kiki Petrosino (English), Daniel Krebs (History), Lauren Freeman (Philosophy), Lluís Baixauli-Olmos (Classical & Modern Languages), Lara Kelland (History), and Andreas Elpidorou (Philosophy) are working as a collaborative, multidisciplinary research group sharing their research with each other and the campus community throughout the year. Prof. Elpidorou will present the first fellows’ talk, “On the Value of Boredom,” Oct. 27 at 2:30pm in Humanities room 300. Learn more about the Faculty Fellows program.

Faculty, students to present research at KAS conference
A number of A&S faculty members and students from the Departments of Biology, Geography & Geosciences, Anthropology, Physics & Astronomy, and Chemistry will present their research at the Kentucky Academy of Science’s Annual Meeting, which will be held at the University of Louisville’s Belknap campus November 4-5, 2016. The conference will be utilizing twelve classrooms in Davidson and three classrooms in Strickler. Both Strickler auditoriums will be utilized for the keynote with live streaming to 102. Poster sessions will be in the lobby and hallways of Shumaker Research Building and Bigelow Hall in MITC. The KAS keynote presentation, “A Visit with Marie Curie,” opens the meeting and is open to the University of Louisville community. It will be held in Strickler Auditorium, Friday, Nov. 4, at noon. Planning for the conference has been underway since September 2015. For more information about the conference, contact Holly Hogue (College of Arts and Sciences Research Office).

Faculty, staff to lead discussions for Speed Cinema series
Prof. Fran McDonald (English), Prof. Matthieu Dalle (French) and Tracy Heightchew (CCHS) will introduce and lead post-screening discussions for the Speed Art Museum’s Scared Smart film series, a selection of horror film classics Oct. 28 through Oct. 30 with special programming assistance by the Commonwealth Center for Humanities and Society. For more information, visit the Speed Cinema.

Items of Note

Faculty invited to attend teaching & learning workshop
Faculty are invited to attend the workshop, “Teaching and Learning across Cultural Strengths,” which will take place on Monday, Nov. 14 from 2:00-3:30 pm in the TILL Classroom, third floor, Ekstrom Library. This visually and narratively dynamic and interactive session will introduce participants to a model of cultural frameworks in facilitating learning – offered with story, humor, and pragmatic teaching examples.

In the News

City ready for everything Shakespeare (The Courier-Journal, 10/14/16) – Highlighting events leading up to the Nov. 10 opening of the First Folio! Exhibit at the Frazier History Museum including performances by the Theatre Arts Department and lectures, special classes and other activities led by the Departments of English, Fine Arts, and more.

Louisville attack survivor subject of NRA ad (WAVE-3 News, 10/18/16) – Prof. Jason Gainous (Political Science) on the NRA’s latest political ad supporting republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, showcasing a local woman who shot her attacker.

2016’s Greenest Cities in America (WalletHub, 10/16) – Prof. John Gilderbloom (Urban & Public Affairs) on why cities should “go green.”

Male, Manual rivalry turns into social media cyberbullying (WAVE-3 News, 10/19/16) – Prof. Karen Freberg (Communication) on cyber bullying.

A&S Fulbright Scholar featured on UofL Today with Mark Hebert

A&S alumna and geography graduate student Ariel Weaver earned a Fulbright Study/Research Award to Namibia. She will focus on using remote sensing and geographic technology to look at patterns on the landscape, and use that information to inform policymakers and stakeholders in the community to manage land more effectively. Read more.