Journal

Journal

Champions of Cheer
	In April, both U of L cheerleading squads snared titles in the National Cheerleaders Association’s national competition in Daytona Beach, Florida. The co-ed squad won the Division I competition, while the all-women squad took top honors in that competition, open to schools of all sizes. It was the co-ed squad’s seventh title since 1985, while the all-women squad won on U of L’s first try in that division.

U of L’s Kent School of Social Work marked the 100th anniversary of the social work profession in March with a lecture and performance by Si Kahn, a civil rights, labor, and community organizer. Kent School’s roots date to 1918, when the Louisville Welfare League began offering courses for social welfare workers. Courses were first offered to undergraduates at U of L in 1923, and a graduate program was established in 1936.

Volunteers took an active role in protecting water quality this spring in a program co-sponsored by U of L. The university’s Kentucky Institute for the Environment and Sustainable Development joined the state Division of Water, the Sierra Club, and the Metropolitan Sewer District in the Salt River Basin Watershed Watch. Volunteers collected water quality and biological samples at various locations throughout the region, which will result in an October 24 conference to discuss the sampling results and develop recommendations for agencies working in the river basin. U of L, state, and MSD researchers will analyze the information, which will then be available to the volunteers and other interested citizens and groups. This spring, the university also offered free waste reduction workshops around the state to teach businesses, industries, educational institutions, and government agencies about reducing wastes and buying recycled materials. The workshops were organized by U of L’s Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center and the Kentucky Institute for the Environment and Sustainable Development.

U of L has a new leader in its top post at the Health Sciences Center. Joel A. Kaplan, who most recently served as senior vice president for clinical affairs at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, will become U of L’s vice president for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine July 1. A respected scientist in the field of cardiac anesthesiology, Kaplan succeeds Donald R. Kmetz, who had served as dean since 1981 and as vice president for health affairs since 1992. The Health Sciences Center encompasses the schools of Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Medicine, and Nursing; University of Louisville Hospital; and affiliated programs.

Building a Better Barn

The Red Barn continues to serve as a center of fun on Belknap Campus. To keep the parties going, the Barn recently received donations of $45,000 from the Student Government Association and the offices of the President and Development for improvements. Funds were used to purchase a large-screen TV and cable installation, a neon "open" sign, a marquee sign to advertise events, outdoor speakers, landscaping, and windows.

A new $1.5 million "simulation clinic" at the School of Dentistry, the only one of its kind in the country, is helping students make the transition from classroom work to real patients. The clinic holds 40 dentist’s chairs, each equipped with a television monitor so all students can watch instructional broadcasts. Each chair also has a "phantom head," designed to resemble a real human head and mouth, unlike the plastic "teeth on a stick" with which first and second-year students previously practiced. The school will also soon incorporate an interactive program on laptop computers that will assign students to fill cavities, make crowns, and extract teeth, as well as provide mock X-rays, dental histories, and medical records for the practice "patients."

Emmy Award-winning actress Hattie Winston donated the scripts of 75 plays and movies written by African-American writers to U of L in April in conjunction with the African-American Theatre Program’s production of The Wiz. The Hattie Winston Collection— which includes plays by August Wilson and Langston Hughes and screenplays such as The Women of Brewster Place, Amistad, and Jackie Brown—will be housed in the Rare Books and Special Collections section of Ekstrom Library. Winston, who has appeared in major motion pictures such as Jackie Brown and Beverly Hills Cop 3, visited the university to lecture on African-American women in film and dedicate the collection. Her husband, Broadway composer Harold Wheeler, accompanied her and taught a class titled "Putting the Soul in The Wiz." Wheeler orchestrated The Wiz on Broadway and the opening music for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Winston says she chose U of L because it is the only university to offer an African-American theater program.

U of L will become part of a national exchange this fall—a domestic alternative to studying abroad that gives students the opportunity to study for two semesters at another college at no cost beyond U of L tuition. The National Student Exchange, which includes 145 schools in 47 states and three U.S. territories, will be in place for the 1998-1999 semester. Students must have at least a 2.5 grade-point average. Eligibility is for no more than two semesters, although the semesters do not have to be spent consecutively on exchange or at the same institution. For information, call (502) 852-5787.

U of L recently established a Department of American Sign Language in the College of Arts and Sciences and began offering introductory courses in the discipline. American Sign Language 101 and 102 can both be used to satisfy U of L’s foreign language requirement. The department’s organizers are working toward creating a minor in American Sign Language, which would be offered in conjunction with Eastern Kentucky University.

Lewis Brings Laughter to Commencement

U of L awarded comedian and actor Jerry Lewis an honorary doctorate in public service at the 1998 Commencement ceremony in May. Lewis, who has spent the last 50 years raising resources to help fight neuromuscular disorders through the Muscular Dystrophy Association, gave a short address in which he told graduates they have "tremendous value" by reaching their educational goals. An honorary doctorate was also given to native Kentuckian Marvin Smith, who spent his lifetime photographing Harlem.

In an effort to address pressing social service and economic needs in the community, U of L and the Urban League of Louisville have formed the University Partnerships for Urban Development, an initiative that will offer programs dealing with housing, pollution prevention, technology, health, career development, and family stabilization. Pilot projects include a computer lab, evaluation of a mentoring program for young African-American males, and a library of information about local environmental hazards.

Photo Archives Garners Preservation Award

Photographic archives recently captured an award for its work in preserving the architectural heritage of the region. The Louisville Historical League honored the 31-year-old U of L service for preserving community history. The department’s work includes loaning photos to museums and galleries, such as a recent documentary exhibit on early dairy farms at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh; an exhibit of the work of African-American photographer Gordon Parks at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; and an exhibit of the work of the late Ben Shahn, who photographed rural America during the Great Depression, at Harvard University.

Pitching College to Abused Teens

A partnership between U of L and Maryhurst School, a local home for girls from abusive family situations, pairs students from each institution in a unique learning project. U of L faculty and members of the Mortar Board Honor Society visit Maryhurst students for the university’s Great Stories Seminar, in which all participants read a work of literature in advance and discuss related issues, using the reading as a stepping-off point. On another day, Maryhurst girls "shadow" Mortar Board members, attending classes and having lunch on campus. The "twinning" project, now in its sixth year, is designed to spark the Maryhurst girls’ interest in attending college. "This project can change lives... it’s happened again and again," says Bob Schulman, coordinator of the Great Stories program and director of U of L’s Center for Humanities and Civic Leadership. "Many of these girls go on to U of L or to other universities because of this exposure to the experience of higher education."