Monday Memo August 14, 2017

Dean's Message

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the start of academic year 2018! Special greetings to our newly appointed A&S department chairs Craig Grapperhaus (Chemistry) and Diane Pecknold (Women’s & Gender Studies), and to our 8 faculty with new full-time appointments: 

  1. Rhonda Jennings-Ayre (Classical & Modern Languages, American Sign Language)
  2. Hilaria Cruz (Comparative Humanities, starts next year after she completes her post doc)  
  3. Adam Enders (Political Science)
  4. Nicholas Hindy (Psychological & Brain Sciences)
  5. Benne Holwerda (Physics & Astronomy, started in January)
  6. Remington Smith (Communication)
  7. Lee Thompson (Chemistry)
  8. Charlton Yingling (History)

Student move-in day is tomorrow, and there will a number of fun events during the week, including the Alumni picnic and Speed Art Museum open house on Friday. (We’ve renewed our agreement with the Speed, so UofL faculty, staff and students will continue to enjoy free admission and discounted membership!) We will have our own festive fall party for A&S faculty and staff at the Red Barn on Monday, August 28 with beer and pretzels. Think Oktoberfest in August! Please do come, as it will be a great chance to greet colleagues from across the college. My State of the College address isn’t scheduled until September 29, so we’ll forego the traditional reception after that for this get together.
 
An item of business regarding the upcoming solar eclipse on Monday, 8/21: both Belknap and HSC will operate on their usual schedules. However, I join with Provost Billingsley in hoping that faculty will be generous in forgiving the absence of students, especially around noon.
 
As we commence with a new semester, I hope we all keep in mind our roles in student success. Students have many choices, and they need to know how glad we are that they chose UofL. Jenny Sawyer and her recruitment staff have made sure our freshman class remains strong academically. These students need to continue to appreciate the amazing expertise of our faculty, helpfulness of our staff, and beauty of our campus. We need to push them to do their best, and make sure they get the help they need when they struggle. REACH, the Writing Center, and the Student Care Team are just some of the campus resources to help students. Our retention remains at about 55%, and our closest ACC peer is at 74%. As we try to narrow that gap, let’s try not to lose students because they haven’t found their way or aren’t engaged with all we offer.
 
Recall that AY18 is our “bridge” year in transitioning to a new budget model. We will all be happy to cast off the traditional budget model which hasn’t worked very well for A&S. The new model will align better with enrollment, both in terms of headcount of majors and student credit hours so A&S should fare well. Meanwhile, this year we really need to be fiscally conservative as the University finds funds to meet a $48 million shortfall. The President’s plan divides the effort across personnel attrition, procurement, utilities/services, and clinical revenue. Our budget begins with a 3% reduction from last year and we have lost 15 faculty and 13 staff. This is no doubt a sobering situation, but it is one we will get through together.
 
In the meantime, let’s stay focused on our research, teaching, learning, and collegiality. We are moving in the right direction. Today feels like the start of something very good. This morning, in fact, we received a new $2 million gift agreement. AY18, let’s go!

Sincerely,
Kimberly Leonard
Kimberly Kempf-Leonard, Ph.D.

Announcements

SAC renovation updates

  • New stairs for SAC west have been installed and will be open later in August
  • Wendy’s renovations are continuing and will reopen for the fall 2017 semester.
  • The MarketPlace, a new set dining venues, on the west side, is almost done. The concepts include:
    • Olilo: Mediterranean Cuisine, created through an exclusive partnership with first female Iron Chef Cat Cora. All items will be 100% Halal certified.
    • Prime Grill: grill concept comparable to a Five Guys, but will also serve breakfast
    • Southern Traditions: local & southern favorites
    • Aqua Sushi by Drakes: a variety of made to order sushi rolls created on site by their trained Sushi Chefs
    • The Exchange: rotating restaurant concept (very similar to a pop up shop) where the restaurant and menu will change every 3 weeks. 
  • Construction on the full service Chickfila is underway next to the MarketPlace and is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of fall semester.  
  • Short term (30 minutes or less) parking spaces will be available adjacent to the Floyd Street Garage at the beginning of the fall semester.
  • The first floor east side will have finishing work taking place in late August.
  • Existing areas of the west side will have construction activity taking place throughout the fall semester. Work on the existing Multipurpose room is underway and will continue into the fall semester.
  • The addition continues to take shape with concrete being poured for the roof deck. The addition is expected to be completed in June 2018.
  • It is strongly recommend that drivers avoid the service drive along the railroad tracks because of congestion due to deliveries and construction.

Research & Creative Activity

Research websites down
The NSF website, FastLane, and Research.gov will be unavailable from Friday, June 30 at 8:00pm until Tuesday, July 4 at 6:00pm. During this outage period, there will be no access to these websites, proposals cannot be submitted in FastLane, and project reports and cash requests cannot be submitted in Research.gov. However, previously saved information and uploaded documents in FastLane and Research.gov, including in-process proposals and reports, will be accessible after the Data Center move.

Kudos

Prof. Omer-Sherman to serve on Frankel Institute
Prof. Ranen Omer-Sherman (Comparative Humanities) has been appointed to serve on the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies Academic Advisory Board for a 5-year term. This board of distinguished scholars in Judaic Studies reviews the work of the Institute and helps choose its annual fellows.

In the News

City allows Fourth Street Live to continually close block without permits (Courier-Journal, 8/7/17) - Prof. John Gilderbloom (Urban & Public Affairs) weighs in on allowing Cordish to close Fourth Street without a permit.

Passion for learning and social change drives UofL professor (UofL News, 8/9/17) - About Prof. Kaila Story (Women's & Gender Studies and Pan-African Studies)

U of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute presents New Recruits (Kentucky Monthly, 8/9/17) - On Fine Arts' exhibition of new faculty work.

Artful geography: Hite Art Institute shows professor’s work exploring place (UofL News, 8/10/17)  - About Prof. Meena Khalili (Fine Arts) and her art project “New in Lou,” 365 drawings in seven accordion style notebooks documenting her observations as a newcomer to the city of Louisville.