Monday Memo, December 13, 2021

A Message from Chief of Staff Julie Wrinn

Dear A&S Colleagues,

In my first two weeks as Chief of Staff, the highlight has been meeting many Dean’s Office staff on my tour of Gardiner Hall last week. Thank you for the warm welcome and for helping me get oriented, as I absorb the vast amounts of information about the structure and status of the College of Arts & Sciences. To those of you in other buildings, I hope you’ll swing by Gardiner #232A to introduce yourself, as I genuinely want to meet and get to know all of you. (And I’m open to any office decorating tips you may have!)

To give you a little about my background: I began as an editor in book publishing, after which I became Director of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference at the University of Kentucky for 15 years, where I also served as a Philanthropy Writer. I earned my B.A. and M.A. degrees at the University of Virginia and a subsequent M.F.A. at the University of Kentucky. I grew up in Pennsylvania in a family of Pitt alums. (My father played football for Pitt, as did two of his brothers.) I have two college-aged sons who live in Lexington, and they’ve played their fair share of sports as well, as have I, though none of us past the high school level. Cheering for UK has been a big part of our lives, however, I enthusiastically embrace opening up a piece of my heart to the Cards.

As many of you probably know, the Chief of Staff position hasn’t existed in A&S for some time. I intend to devote my first few weeks and months to energetic listening and learning how the College functions, what we do well, and how and why we have come operate as we currently do. I want to learn what our needs are and how I can communicate these effectively to Dean Owen. I am already impressed by how much he truly cares and is committed to strengthening Arts & Sciences at UofL, and I in turn am committed to strengthening his leadership, even as I work to integrate your work and interests with his.

Again, I am so glad to get to know all of you. I have much to learn, and my door is always open to hear your concerns and ideas. In the meantime, I wish all of you a meaningful and restful upcoming holiday season.

All best wishes,

Julie Wrinn, Chief of Staff

Announcements

Tornado Response

For those interested in helping with tornado recovery efforts, the radio station WFPL has compiled a comprehensive list of ways to do so here.

Important Deadlines for Bi-weekly Staff and Supervisors

The pay period 12/3/2021 to 12/16/2021 will lock early on Tuesday, December 14th. The timesheet will lock at 7AM for employees to enter and submit time. Employees must pre-populate any time scheduled for Tuesday, December 14, through Thursday, December 16th. The timesheet will lock at 10AM to supervisors to review and approve hours. Thank you in advance for your attention to this important deadline. —MaryPat

Kudos

Congratulations to the following A&S students and faculty recently featured recently in the news:

Lenora Bradley celebrates an 18-year journey towards her B.A. in Sociology and is now enrolled at the Kent School of Social Work: https://www.uoflnews.com/post/uofltoday/december-graduate-triumphant-after-18-years/.

Chris Church’s passion for history, first sparked by an early course in historical methods, prepared him for his role as assistant director at the Conrad-Caldwell House in the Old Louisville neighborhood: https://www.uoflnews.com/section/arts-and-humanities/uofl-alum-takes-history-degree-to-historic-houses.

Chemistry professor Michael Nantz and his team collaborated with the UofL Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research biomass conversion and biofuels group to invent a technology for using whiskey waste products: https://tech.einnews.com/article/557119649?lcf=mA_vyH9VrbBg_UowzRTldb87XIjRE6XuNTwWA8Tbsvo%3D.