Monday Memo October 19, 2015

Announcements

Athletic brawn is matched with A&S brains this Homecoming week-end!
This week’s All Stars Pre-Game event will feature an all alumni panel discussing “Going Local! Why What You Put in Your Brain, Body, Bag, and Backyard Matters.” Horticulturalist, farmer and UofL anthropology professor, Jeneen Wiche, will moderate the alumni panel of experts that includes: English alumnus Stephen George (Louisville Public Media's executive editor); Fine Arts alumna Mo McKnight Howe (artist and owner of Revelry Boutique Gallery); English alumnus Myron Hardesty (medical herbalist and Weeds of Eden owner); and Biology alumnus Preston Pipal (ecosystem ecologist). Co-sponsored by Gheens Science Hall & Rauch Planetarium and Heine Brothers Coffee. Doors open at 9:30am for coffee and conversation; the presentation itself will begin promptly at 10am/ Seating is free, but reservations are strongly recommended. RSVP or learn more.

UofL Day of Giving Oct. 20
Tomorrow, Oct. 20, is UofL’s Day of Giving. #UofLDayOfGiving is a 24-hour, social media campaign encouraging people to give. The goal is to have 1,798 (1798 is UofL’s founding year) donors come forward. Give an undesignated gift to A&S or designate a specific A&S department, program, center or institute at uofl.me/as-donate.

December 2015 commencement
If you are planning to represent the College of Arts & Sciences at the December 2015 commencement exercises, please register online. There are separate links for those who need to order apparel and those who do not. Should you have any questions, please email the Commencement Office.

Drawing for Football Tickets
Dean Leonard would like to share her football tickets to Saturday’s game against Boston College. If you would like your name to be put in the drawing for 2 tickets, please email asdean@louisville.edu by Thursday, 10/22 at 2:00pm. Winners will be emailed on Thursday and can pick up tickets any time before Friday at 4:30pm.

‘Thursdays in Pink’ for Breast Cancer Awareness month
A&S staff and faculty are invited to participate in “Thursdays in Pink” in October for breast cancer awareness month. Every Thursday, if someone wants to wear jeans with something pink, they have to make a minimum $1 donation to A&S Advisor Kourtney Hall’s team for the Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk. Each office can collect the money and then turn it in to Kourtney by Friday, 10/23. You can also stop by the Dean’s Office and put your donation in the container at the front desk or make a donation online.

A&S Student Council Art Show
The Arts & Sciences Student Council will be hosting its annual Art Show on Wednesday, October 21 from 11am – 3pm in the Red Barn. Stroll over and check out the student submissions.

Spring Book Orders
Please remember to submit your book orders for spring before pre-registration begins in early November. If you are not requiring any textbooks, please click the "no texts required" box. Here's the link to the bookstore's site: www.facultyenlight.com.

Teaching, Research, Creative Activities & Service

Announcing CCHS Faculty Fellowships
The Commonwealth Center for Humanities and Society is excited to announce a new direction for the Center, supported by the members of the CCHS Advisory Board and Dean Kimberly Kempf-Leonard. Beginning next year, CCHS will organize around an annual theme providing the foundation for the academic year's events and for a Humanities Research Lab. In keeping with its core mission, CCHS seeks to foreground forms of humanistic inquiry in research and advanced learning across all of the A&S departments.

To this end, CCHS invites applications for up to six Faculty Fellows around the theme for 2016-2017: “MAPPING THE HUMANITIES.” Fellows will receive at least one course release as well as a modest research/travel stipend. Applications are due November 19. Please see the CCHS website for application guidelines and other details. Forward inquiries to Aaron Jaffe or Tracy Heightchew.

Human Rights Advocacy Project
Please see the Brandeis School of Law report [LINK] and resource guide [LINK] stemming from the Human Rights Advocacy Project. The report details the needs and challenges facing the Kentucky immigrant, noncitizen, refugee population. The report involved extensive outreach and collaboration with the local community and the service providers. The HRA project is an exciting model that builds student leaders, fosters strong community connections, and makes a meaningful impact in the community.

Kudos & Congratulations

Prof. Swagato Banerjee (Physics & Astronomy) has been selected as one of U.S. ATLAS Scholar for 2015-2016.  Each year, the U.S. ATLAS Analysis Support Centers (ASCs) at Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) host distinguished research scholars in a program to foster physics collaboration and enhance U.S. contributions to the ATLAS physics program. Prof. Banerjee will work on upgrades to the ATLAS detector, which will extend the searches for new physics and improve our understanding of the Higgs boson.

Prof. Aaron Jaffe (English) has been invited to join 14 distinguished scholars from across the U.S. as part of the Society for Critical Exchange Winter Theory Institute taking place in February 2016. He was also named Distinguished Lecturer at Rice University in the John E. Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Culture, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, for 2015-16.

Luke Buckman (University Honors Program) was presented the National Academic Advising Association’s (NACADA) Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Advising at the NACADA Conference in Las Vegas.

Julie Peteet (Anthropology and MEIS) has been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of Kentucky Refugee Ministries.

Congrats to the U of L Quiz Bowl team for their performance at the Kentucky Collegiate Quick Recall League tournament held this past Saturday on campus. The Division I team went 6-1 and finished second after losing to a very strong team from UK, while the Division II team went 6-0 to finish first.

International, Diversity & Engagement

ICE is back!
The ICE (Inclusive Campus Environment) Program is a group of staff that meets regularly in order to create environments that are more inclusive and equitable for all. This informal group meets monthly over lunch in SRB 139. 2015-16 DATES: November 3; December 8; January 12; February 9; March 8; April 26; May 3; June 7.

To learn more, please attend the information session on November 3rd. To register or get more information, contact Marian Vasser. (Registration required if you wish to have lunch.)

Items of Note

On October 14th, the Department of Chemistry hosted 45 eighth grade students and chaperones from St. Agnes Middle School for a chemistry demonstration led by Professor Emeritus Thomas Crawford and tours of the instrument labs led by graduate students Elisha Otome and Kelly Moaupi.

In the News

America’s hippest cemetery is on Capitol Hill (Washington Post, 10/11/15) – Prof. Deborah Lutz (English) on death in the Victorian age

ReSurfaced is three days of art on 10th Street (Courier-Journal, 10/13/15) – Mentions UofL’s Urban Design Institute

Can social media change the way lawmakers connect with constituents? (Christian Science Monitor, 10/15/15) – Prof. Jason Gainous (Political Science) weighs in on the effectiveness and the timeliness of communication between constituents and legislators via social media.

Ky. Distillers Association hopes to ease restrictions on distilleries in next year's session (cn2, 10/15/15) – cites Urban Studies Institute study regarding tax revenue from Kentucky’s bourbon industry

Pick 2 | 'Polaroid Stories,' dance collective, (Courier-Journal, 10/15/15) – On the Department of Theatre Arts’ production of “Polaroid Stories”

University of Louisville holding forum next week on fear and racism (Daily Journal, 10/16/15) – on International, Diversity & Engagement Program (IDEP) sponsored NETWORK event scheduled for Thursday, October 22

In Louisville, Writer Etgar Keret Shares ‘Seven Good Years’ (WFPL, 10/16/15) – Featuring 10/16 talk sponsored by Jewish Studies Program

The weather on Mars is both totally alien and somewhat Earth-like all at once (Washington Post, 10/18/15) – Cites Prof. Tim Dowling (Physics & Astronomy) for “his valuable input for this story”

Labor Force Decline Behind 14-Year Low Unemployment Rate (WFPL, 10/19/15) – Prof. Matthew Ruther (Urban & Public Affairs and Kentucky State Data Center) on the reasons behind the declining unemployment rate in Kentucky

Meet A&S Alumni Fellow Joe McSweeny

Mr. Joe McSweeny (1971, BA in Mathematics) will be honored this Thursday, October 22 at the 33rd Alumni Awards. He will also be recognized on the field at half-time of Saturday’s Homecoming game. Find out more about Mr. McSweeny and what makes him tick!

Did You Know?

The A&S Hall of Honor was instituted in 2007 during the College’s Centennial Celebration in order to recognize the A&S alumni, students, faculty, administrators, staff and other supporters who have made the most significant and lasting contributions to the College, the University, the local community and the larger society since the establishment of the College in 1907. Members include the likes of Harriete Simpson Arnow, Marsha Norman, Sam Gilliam, Junior Bridgeman, Sue Grafton, Thomas Crawford, Lucy Freibert, Eliza Atkins Gleason, and J. Blaine Hudson. Nominations for induction in March 2016 are now being accepted.