Monday Memo January 25, 2016

Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

Last week I attended a very interesting workshop on university culture that was hosted for ACC university administrators. It was reassuring to learn that many of the issues we face here are those faced by other ACC institutions. We are all trying to hold fast to our core values, retain what has made our colleges and universities distinctive, and still be able to thrive in the quickly changing landscape of higher education. We are all experiencing frustration. However, rather than be reactive to external forces, it is important that we be proactive and involved in the negotiating of this change.

One of the messages conveyed by the facilitator was that it is a popular strategy to try to gain efficiencies by breaking down silos. According to her, this is the wrong approach. She argued that effective collaboration isn’t about breaking down silos. Rather, it’s about building portals into and across silos.

We spent some time identifying silos, drawing circles around the various groups typically found within universities, and discussing the ways in which they interact. One important takeaway for me was that the circles typically get drawn too narrowly. This can leave important voices out of the conversation. I hope that as the College grows, we create a culture where we all feel heard and valued, and where we are able to listen to one another as opposed to shutting each other out.

“He drew a circle that shut me out
Heretic rebel, a thing to flout.
But truth and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.”
— Edwin Markham

Let’s look for those portals!

Kimberly Kempf-Leonard

Dean

Announcements

Discourse and Semiotics Workshop for faculty & students
Join fellow faculty and students for a Discourse and Semiotics Workshop on Friday, Jan. 29 from 2-4 pm in Bingham Humanities Building 300. This workshop will examine the construction of three high school students’ identities as particular types of learners (e.g., “visual artist”) and the ways these identities shape the multimodal texts they are producing together. This workshop series provides space for faculty and students to share research on how language and other semiotic resources mediate social worlds. Faculty and students interested in participating in events and the planning of workshops should visit Discourse & Semiotics.

Kudos & Congratulations

Prof. Lutz reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement
Prof. Deborah Lutz's (English) two most recent books, Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture (Cambridge University Press) and The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects (Norton) were reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement (London).

Items of Note

‘International Honor Quilt’ on display
The University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute will display the “International Honor Quilt,” a collaborative feminist art project initiated by famed artist Judy Chicago, in its entirety for the first time Feb. 1 through March 19. There also will be a free, public reception from 6-8 p.m. on Feb. 12 in Hite’s Schneider Galleries during which noted feminist artist Suzanne Lacy, a contemporary of Chicago’s, will speak. For more information, contact Prof. Maggie Leininger.

Film Festivals sponsored by Communication and Classical & Modern Languages departments
Prof. Matthieu Dalle (French, CML) and Prof. Margaret D’Silva (Communication) organize the French Film Festival and International Film Festival each year. Free, public screenings and movie discussions in February and March. Click the links above for the schedules.

In the News

Meet Louisville’s ‘musical twin’: Johor Bahru, Malaysia (Insider Louisville, 1/20/2015) – Prof. Diane Pecknold on the power of Western music and pop labels.

Did You Know?

The College of Arts & Sciences has 388 full-time faculty members and 200 staff in 21 buildings at UofL.