Monday Memo, December 4, 2022

Dear A&S Faculty and Staff,

A reminder that the nomination period for A&S Awards is November 17–December 7, meaning you have only three more days to submit your nominations at this link. The forms will close at 11:59 pm on December 7, 2022.

On December 1 the Employee Success Center also began accepting nominations for presidential, university-wide awards at these links:

• Cardinal Principle Champions
• George J. Howe Distinguished Staff Award
• Outstanding Performance Awards
• Outstanding Supervisor Award
• Team Impact Award
• Distinguished Faculty Awards

Note that most A&S awards are not linked to university-wide awards: you can nominate someone for an A&S award, or for a university-wide award, or both. They are different awards, with different due dates, and different adjudicating committees. The exception is the Distinguished Faculty Awards, for which the presidential committee does not accept direct nominations; instead, A&S winners become nominees for the university-wide awards.

I hope you will nominate your colleagues who deserve our recognition.

Sincerely,

Julie Wrinn, Chief of Staff

Undergraduate Spotlight

Military service is a family tradition for senior Austin Brimm, including one grandfather who served in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II, made famous by the Band of Brothers miniseries. With plans to be a pilot when he commissions after graduation, Austin chose geography as a major, specializing in geotech so he could study satellite imagery, mapping, weather and other subjects that would benefit his Air Force career. Austin joined the UofL Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) detachment, eventually earning honors his junior year as a field training Distinguished Graduate – completing his summer field training in the top 10% of his 600-cadet class. Read more.

A Graduate Student's Podcast

Katie Cross Gibson, staff member in the Department of Communication and M.A. student in Interdisciplinary Humanities, interned with the Kentucky Humanities council over the summer to conduct interviews and create a podcast miniseries about the life and legacy of activist, critic-philosopher, and prolific author bell hooks, who died on Dec. 15, 2021. Over four installments of the Think Humanities miniseries bell hooks: becoming, being, beyond, listeners will learn from nine of the people closest to hooks—including writers Silas House and Crystal Wilkinson and political activist/theorist Zillah Eisenstein—about how this Hopkinsville native and longtime Berean fought against imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy throughout her life, and how her work continues to live on. Episodes release Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, 14, and 21. You can listen to the Think Humanities podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or SoundCloud.

Commencement News

The A&S Outstanding Graduate and Banner Bearer at the December 2022 Commencement ceremony is Olivia C. Kaiser, who is completing B.A. in Psychological and Brain Sciences.  She is a member of the University Honors Program, a University Honors Scholar, and an A&S Dean’s Scholar. During her time at UofL, Olivia engaged in undergraduate research in Dr. Marci DeCaro’s Learning and Performance Lab, where she investigated topics such as problem solving and means to improve instructional methods. Olivia also completed a Senior Honors Thesis, mentored by Dr. DeCaro, that included a collaborator in Germany and examined the role of insight during exploratory learning. On campus, she contributed at REACH as a Tutor for introductory French courses and a Master Tutor training and facilitating the work of other tutors.

Call for Applications: 2023-24 Bingham Faculty Fellows

New Resource for Research on Indigenous Kentucky

The English Department’s Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition planning team is pleased to announce a new annotated list of resources: Indigenous Louisville and Kentucky. It is a living document that we hope will be useful to colleagues in A&S and across campus, and we welcome suggestions for additions or revisions.

Hidden Talents

Above, left to right: brothers Joe and Brent Marshal are MA-BO Grillin'.

Recently A&S Advisors were recognized by the Student Government Association for their “dedication and continuous efforts and commitment to aid students succeeding at UofL.” Who are these valuable Academic Counselors that are so critical to our students’ success? One of them is Brent Marshall.

With degrees from Kentucky State University and Bellarmine, Brent has the academic credentials and experience to help students navigate their years at UofL, and he likes reminding them that “college is a marathon, not a sprint. Never forget to take time to appreciate this chapter of your life.”

When he’s not keeping our students grounded and on track, Brent owns a BBQ catering business with his brother called MA-BO Grillin'. Brent’s favorite ways to stay fit are playing basketball and lifting weights, and the best piece of advice he ever received was: “Looking in the rearview mirror will never help you see your future.” Sounds like a wise perspective for all of us in A&S!

Many thanks to Brent for sharing these facets of his life. If you would like to reveal some of your extracurricular side in this newsletter, please get in touch with julie.wrinn@louisville.edu.

Kudos

Congrats to Hilaria Cruz, Assistant Professor of Comparative Humanities, whose work on Chatino orthography was featured in Duolingo’s blog,

Congrats to the organizers of the 50th annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture, whose keynote speaker, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan, just had her most recent novel, The Candy House, named one of the 10 Best Books of 2022 by the New York Times.  The conference will be held February 20-25, 2023, and has a new website launching soon.

Andreas Elpidorou, professor of philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences, was interviewed by the New York Times's “The Well Newsletter” regarding his work on boredom. He and two other experts are featured in an article, “How to be Bored and What you can Learn from it” that discusses the nature of boredom and its potential uses.

Kudos to Assistant Professor of Interior Design Laura McGarity, whose advice about choosing a paint color was quoted in House Digest.

English professor Andrea Olinger and English Ph.D. students Caitlin Burns Allen, Michael Benjamin, and Alex Way have co-edited a special issue of the journal Writers: Craft and Context titled Conferencing toward Antiracism: Reckoning with the Past, Reimagining the Present. The special issue is based on presentations from the April 2021 Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition. The issue will be of interest to anyone who attends or plans conferences and is interested in antiracist practices and policies. The cover of the journal was designed by Art & Design B.A. ’22 Diamond Wade.

On November 3 Dr. Imani Perry delivered the 16th Annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture; on November 16 she was announced as the winner of the National Book Award in nonfiction for South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation. Watch her acceptance speech here. The Anne Braden Memorial lecture, organized by the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research (ABI), drew over 150 students, staff, faculty, and community members for an evening of critical thought and discussion around racial and social justice themes from Perry's book.

Ana J. Prata (University Honors Program, MLK Scholar, and Criminal Justice major) recently presented her co-authored work, "Sexual Assault Reform and Police Training in Kentucky," at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Atlanta.  Congrats, Ana!

Dr. Jianhua (Andrew) Zhao, Associate Professor of Anthropology and President of the AAPI Faculty and Staff Association, has recently completed a four-month long Leadership Accelerator Program offered by Leadership Louisville Center. Dr. Zhao is among 20 members, selected from various companies and organizations in Louisville, of the inaugural class of the program. Leadership Accelerator is a new initiative designed to accelerate the growth of an organization’s diverse talent, grow skill sets in individuals, and deepen connections between affinity group leaders and beyond.

Winter Holiday Donations

December 6 is the final day to donate to C.O.N.E.C.T Peer Mentoring's winter holiday donation drive. We are donating the items we collect to Portland Elementary school in the West End. As you may know, the West End has some of the most impoverished families in Jefferson County. Each year, especially since Covid, these families have struggled to pay bills and can barely make ends meet. We are accepting donations in Gardiner Hall, 1^st floor and lower level in the C.O.N.E.C.T. office, of:

• Hats (toboggans)
• Gloves
• Coats
• Scarves
• Socks
• Sweatshirts

We are also accepting monetary donations so that we can buy some of these items. If you or your organization would like to donate, please send all payments to $ULCONECT on cashapp.

Human Resources

The transition from PeopleSoftHR to WorkdayHR will take place the week of January 9, 2023. Use of the WorkdayHR software impacts all university employees. To prepare you for the transition, the Office of Human Resources will host two more HRtalks sessions in December:

• Friday, December 9th from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Friday, January 6th from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

These sessions will showcase the WorkdayHR system and review self-service actions that will be completed by employees in WorkdayHR. These sessions, along with the videos and quick reference guides on the WorkdayHR website, will serve as important resources for employees who need assistance completing the actions in WorkdayHR after go-live.  Register for one of the WorkdayHR Overview sessions here. Find other WorkdayHR training resources here.

Upcoming Events

The Hite Institute's Fall 2022 BFA Thesis Exhibition is ongoing through December 14, featuring the work of eight graduating BFA Students: Alex Edwards, Brynn Anderson, Caitlin "Lin" Smith, Grace Keller, Haley Baker, Riley Gregor, Tristen Foster Weller, and Virginia F. Birkhead. With work ranging in media from photography, printmaking, painting, and digital drawing, each of our students has created a unique and cohesive body of work that represents their individual artistic practices and theoretical interests. The completion of their thesis exhibitions is a testament to the dedication and hard work over the course of their undergraduate careers and a glimpse of their future art careers! The Schneider Hall Galleries are open Monday-Friday 9am-4:30pm and Saturday 11am-4:00pm.

Fall Virtual Health Care Ethics Speaker Series: New Research in Health Care Ethics - "Reducing Hospital Readmissions by Addressing the Social Determinants of Health" by Beth Munnich, Ph.D. Economics, UofL. Wednesday, December 7 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Virtual Event: see UofL Calendar.

Interim President Lori Gonzalez invites all university faculty, staff, and students to the President’s Winter Break Reception on Friday, Dec. 9, from 2 to 4 p.m., in the Grawemeyer Hall Rotunda. Join us for food, fun and holiday cheer!