Monday Memo, October 24, 2022

A Newsletter for Faculty and Staff of the College of Arts & Sciences

October 24, 2022

Dear A&S Faculty and Staff,

The A&S Dean’s Office is pleased to present a reading and conversation by historian Emily Bingham, Ph.D., of her latest work, My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song. This book concerns a subject of interest to many in the UofL community, as the state song is frequently performed by UofL students and was again at the Kentucky Derby in 2022. This event is co-sponsored by:

  • The School of Music
  • The Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society
  • The Department of Comparative Humanities
  • The Department of History
  • The Department of Political Science, and
  • The Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research

The evening will include a Q&A moderated by Anne Braden Institute Director Brandon McCormick, Ph.D., followed by a book-signing and refreshments. Details are: Wednesday, October 26 at 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Free admission, in-person only at Strickler Hall 101/ Middleton Theatre, 2010 S. Avery Court Walk , Louisville, Kentucky, 40208. R.S.V.P. at www.tinyURL.com/BinghamLecture or with the QR code on the attached flyer

Please spread the word using the flyer below and encourage your students to attend. We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Julie Wrinn, Chief of Staff

 

Research Agenda

Congratulations to Matt Kolmann, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, on the publication of “Diverse histological phenotypes and prey processing behaviors in pacus.” See below for a figure from the multi-author paper, which has been garnering widespread interest since its publication in Anatomical Record this month. 

“The vegetarian cousins of piranhas, pacus, have flexible dexterous lips, a lot like the trunk of an elephant or our own tongue,” explained Professor Kolmann. “We describe how these lips work and their diversity. If you search 'pacu' on Google, you'll probably get images of fishes with frighteningly human-like teeth. That’s because these fishes eat fruit in the Amazon—they help to spread the seeds of rainforest plants, thereby tending and growing the forests in the rainy season. They're cute and rather 'derpy' fish (I am biased however).” 

 

Homecoming Highlights

 

The A&S Advising Office has some pretty amazing students serving as CONECT mentors this year, and two of them were named homecoming Queen and King. Congratulations to (above, left to right) Emmanuel Markin, a senior Biology major, and Jordan Murrah, a senior in Public Health and CONECT president. Way to represent A&S!

CONECT stands for "Caring Of New Students Experiencing College Transition." The CONECT program provides peer advising for the encouragement of positive academic and social interactions and to promote a unified community among Black students. These efforts strengthen Black student retention and encourage high academic standards, leadership development, and academic and social success to achieve graduation.

 

The UofL Alumna of the Year, Lucy Helm, was celebrated at the Alumni Awards dinner on October 20. With a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law, Helm launched a highly successful career that included stints as Corporate Counsel and head of Human Resources at Starbucks. Pictured at the awards dinner are (below, left to right) A&S Interim Dean David Owen, Interim President Lori Gonzalez, Lucy Helm, and Dean of the Law School Melanie Jacobs.

During her visit to campus, Helm also had lunch with 10 political science students and faculty members Jasmine Farrier and Tricia Gray, along with Dean Owen, Denise Bohn, and Julie Wrinn, to share her wisdom about careers in law, politics, advocacy, pro bono work, and the importance of composing a resume that tells a story and possesses a "point of view."

 

Finally, the A&S Alumni Fellow of the Year, Lois Cronholm, Ph.D., born in 1930 (!), is in fine health but opted not to make the trip to Louisville for Homecoming Weekend. Instead, we hosted a Zoom reunion for her with faculty who fondly remember Lois from her days at UofL, which included stints as Biology Chair and A&S Dean. Pictured below are Dr. Cronholm (below, middle row, far left) along with current and emeritus faculty members Thomas Van, Tom Maloney, Linda Fuselier, David Owen, Elaine Wise, Chuck Ziegler, and Margaret Rohmann. Dr. Cronholm's stepson attended the awards dinner to accept the award on her behalf.

 

Doctoral Hooding Dates

 

Attention, doctoral candidates: any doctoral candidate planning to participate in the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony this fall will need to bear in mind the following dates given in the graphic below. More information can be found online at uofl.me/doctoral-commencement.

 

Day of Giving

 

Many thanks to all the faculty, staff, and alumni who served as ambassadors or made contributions during Raise Some L on October 18-19. Preliminary numbers indicate that A&S had over 331 unique donors for a total of $73,885, and we finished #2 on the overall leaderboard. We should be extremely proud of ambassador participation from nearly every A&S Department, Institute, Center, and Program.

 

Kudos

 

Congratulations to the following faculty members on being selected to participate in the first cohort of the Passport to Teaching Effectiveness Program: Mary Ashlock, Bonnie B. Fonseca-Greber, Junghwa Kim, and Ryan Luke.

Kudos to the Department of Theatre Arts for producing the inaugural episode of a new podcast, "Voice of the Griot," from the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. This episode, "Traveling While Black: Louisville's Struggle to Desegregate Public Transportation," features the story of one community’s resistance to racist efforts to create a segregated society by depriving African Americans of equal access to public transportation in Louisville during the post-Civil War years. It highlights the courageous actions Mary Victoria Cunningham Smith took to desegregate Louisville’s Trolley system. It’s a wonderfully told story produced by UofL’s Theatre Arts students and narrated by Department Chair, Nefertiti Burton. Listen on Soundcloud at: https://soundcloud.com/voice-of-the-griot.

Congratulations to Alan Golding, Professor of English, on the publication of his new book, Writing Into the Future: New American Poetries From The Dial to the Digital in the University of Alabama Press's prestigious Modern and Contemporary Poetics Series. Golding’s collection of 13 essays is described as defining poetry’s future and how we rewrite the past for an unfolding present.

Benne W. Holwerda, associate professor of Physics and Astronomy, and his collaborators finished a joint Hubble and Webb Space Telescope project to capture a stunning image of a pair of overlapping galaxies. Interstellar dust is highlighted magnificently in the foreground spiral galaxy, and the team even got a bonus of a gravitational lens in the background elliptical galaxy. NASA released the image in their online article, “Webb, Hubble Team Up to Trace Interstellar Dust Within a Galactic Pair,” dated Oct. 5.

 

In Memoriam

 

A message from Tricia Gray:

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Arlene Brannon (1949-2022) who was staff in the Department of Political Science for nearly three decades. Arlene was much more than an employee; she was part of the Ford Hall family and culture that welcomed and nurtured faculty and students alike.

She was a HUGE UofL athletics fan, and part of Cardinal Dames, a ladies booster club who "adopted" athletes, providing them support and encouragement and making a scrapbook that followed their athletic careers at UofL. She was a second mother to many—myself included as an undergrad—and everyone who knew her was better for it! She was beloved by us all, and my heart breaks for her beautiful family that she loved and cherished, especially her husband, Tom, of 54 years of marriage.

 Her obituary can be found here. Please share your memories of Arlene and what she meant to you.

Rest in peace, Arlene. You will be missed and live on in our hearts and memories.

—Tricia Gray, Department Chair, POLS Alumni 1992

 

Upcoming Events

 

The Center for Asian Democracy presents The 2022 Annual Lecture on Asian Democracy featuring Professor Sheila Coronel, Director, Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia Journalism School, and Magsaysay Award Winner for Journalism. The lecture is entitled, “Democracy, Disinformation and the Struggle for Historical Memory.” Thursday, October 27, 4:00 P.M. EST, Student Activities Center W201, University of Louisville. Reception to Follow. Prof. Coronel directs Columbia Journalism School's Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and won "Asia's Nobel Peace Prize" for investigative reporting in the Philippines. She will address journalism and challenges to democracy in Asia and beyond.

 Join the Department of Geographic and Environmental Sciences for its Fall speaker series. All presentations take place in BAB 130 on Tuesdays at 2:30 unless otherwise specified.

  • October 25: Andrew Mehring, UofL Biology, “Zoogeochemistry and the Effects of Waterbirds and Invertebrates on Wetland Greenhouse Gas Emissions”
  • November 8: Megan Poole, UofL English, “Classroom + Community: University of Louisville Students Serve as “Air Justice” Change Agents”
  • November 16 (Weds): GIS Day in Geographic and Environmental Sciences! Multiple presentations and demonstrations will take place throughout the day related to Geographic Information Systems. Schedule and locations of GIS Day events will circulate prior to the event.

The Latin American and Latino Studies Program enthusiastically invites you the following events that they have organized, in tandem with other departments and programs, to join the University’s efforts to celebrate Latinx and Hispanic cultures. All events are free and open to the public.

  • 29th ‘Reel’ Latin America Film Festival. In person:  Oct 6 to Nov 1 (with limited virtual screenings after the live festival ends). http://www.medina502.com/reel_latinamerica_2022/index.php. Organized by the Department of Classical and Modern Languages with the support of the Modern Languages Fund, LALS program. Hispanic, Latinx  Indigenous Initiatives,  Al Dïa en América,  the Student Activity Board and Pragda Spanish Film Club. 
  • Day of the Dead celebrations: 1) Ekstrom Library (basement) Oct 31 – Nov 3. Altars erected by UofL Students and friends of the Department and LALS program. 2) 4th Streel Live Day of Dead. Nov 2, 2022.  5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Organized by Organized by the City of Louisville Office of Globalization, the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, LALS program. Hispanic, Latinx  Indigenous Initiatives,  Al Dïa en América,  schools from JCPS.

The 16th Annual Anne Braden Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Imani Perry, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a faculty associate with the Programs in Law and Public Affairs, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Jazz Studies. Dr. Perry's lecture will be based upon her most recent book, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation. Learn more about Professor Perry and read her latest articles here. Please register for the lecture here: bit.ly/ABILECTURE. Nov. 3, 6 pm, Strickler 101/Middleton Theatre.

The DECC Office invites you to attend the President's Inclusive Excellence Forum (see 2nd flyer below) featuring a keynote address from educator, author, and advocate Dr. Freeman Hrabowski. Wed., Nov. 9, 1:30 - 3 pm, PNC Suite, Cardinal Stadium.

More Monday Memo

To submit an announcement, review submission criteria and deadlines, and view this and past Monday Memos, go to uofl.me/as-mondaymemo.