UofL students sort supplies as part of a five-day alternative service break in Chicago focused on environmental and housing justice.
It’s the week before school starts and instead of packing for her first day of school, first-year UofL student Stevelle Anderson was kayaking down the Chicago River, braving a capsize to clean up trash.
“We had a quick demo on how to kayak at the dock and after I started paddling, I quickly got the hang of it. However, when I was collecting trash, I felt something brush up on me, presumably a spider and started freaking out and capsized,” said Anderson, a student in the School of Public Health. “Luckily a friend nearby helped me get back on. Even though I did fall, it was still a great first experience I never would’ve had if not for the ASB service trip.”
This summer, the Office of Service Learning and Civic Engagement led six UofL students on a five-day alternative service break (ASB) trip to Chicago. Unlike typical vacations, ASB programs prioritize direct service and addressing the specific needs of local communities.
“Students are expected to approach the experience with flexibility, a servant-leadership mindset and a willingness to step outside their comfort zone,” said Alarah Gillum, UofL’s community engagement specialist.
The students worked with two organizations: one focused on environmental justice and another on housing justice.
The first site, Urban Rivers, a nonprofit focused on restoring city waterways, introduced students to grassroots efforts using floating piers to reintroduce natural habitats. Located on the Chicago River’s Wild Mile, the floating dock, made of recycled materials, provides shelter for fish, animals and insects.
Urban Rivers staff taught the students how to kayak, and they then set out on the Chicago River, collecting trash along the way.
Stevelle Anderson kayaks down the Chicago River.
“This experience was eye-opening and transformative,” said Isaiah Cruz, a first-year biology student in the College of Arts and Sciences. “The trip made me realize how much is out there in the world and how complex it is. Working with Urban Rivers, I was able to see how people are working to clean the river and make it a place of growth for the community.”
The second site, Ignite Promise, serving over 500 unaccompanied youth, introduced students to the causes and consequences of youth homelessness in Chicago. UofL students volunteered at Belfort House, a transitional shelter, by weeding, cleaning and decorating rooms.
“Seeing how Ignite was able to house kids from across the country was also very interesting, I loved learning about how they undertake their mission and the steps they take to ensure that the youth go into society with the skills needed to be successful,” said Cruz. “This trip made me realize I want to work closer with legislation so that projects like these can be supported instead of restricted.”
One of the biggest treats for students was the ability to connect with alumni. The University Alumni Center arranged a meeting with Bri Salsman ’08, an author and certified life coach. When Salsman learned about the students’ visit to Chicago, she eagerly agreed to not only meet with the students, but to also volunteer alongside them.
“Having worked in higher ed in the early part of my career, it’s always a treat to get to interact with college students,” Salsman said. “When I learned they planned to serve the community, and I couldn’t help but serve alongside them. We shared meals, exchanged stories, and helped improve the living conditions of neighbors getting on their feet.”
Students interested in serving locally alongside other students can sign up now for the Office of Service Learning and Civic Engagement’s first West End Weekend, Nov. 9-10, 2024, in the Portland neighborhood West End Weekends are a local opportunity for students to volunteer in their own community. Students will stay on campus but be transported to service sites in the West End of Louisville, working with non-profits on Saturday and Sunday.
The next out-of-state trip for ASB will be to Flagstaff, Arizona in March. Applications are due Jan. 15.
For more information, follow @UofL_SLCE on Instagram.
“Carrying the floss had nothing to do with me wanting to do dentistry,” she said. “It had everything to do with me not liking things in between my teeth.”
But McPheeters knew she wanted to be some type of medical professional.
“I would look up anatomy in encyclopedias, intrigued with the human body and thinking, ‘wow, this is inside of me.’”
Tiffany McPheeters, an assistant professor at the UofL School of Dentistry.
She said a mentor from her hometown of Chicago who helped minority students pursue professional careers was instrumental to guiding her to dentistry. After dental school graduation from Indiana University in 2016, she began her career in public health dental practice, but always with an eye towards academia later in her career.
That timetable was unexpectedly accelerated after her second child, Joshua, was born in 2018 with Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards Syndrome – a very rare genetic condition that causes severe developmental delays. The syndrome has no treatment and is usually fatal before birth or within the first year of life, but miraculously Joshua continues to beat the odds.
The demands of a special needs child and the arrival of COVID-19 prompted McPheeters to explore a career shift to academic research. In January 2021, she joined UofL and couldn’t be happier with the transition.
Her son’s special needs also became the inspiration for the professor’s decision to conduct oral health care research for special needs children.
“I had this idea to come up with some things to teach the community,” she said. “We have home nursing, however most clinicians don’t have any training on how to brush teeth or care for the mouth because most of the times they’re focused on things like, ‘Hey, is their heart working OK?’”
She applied for and received a Gheens Community Engagement Mini Grant to create a curriculum to help providers with oral care training for special needs patients.
“Most times we don’t see special needs patients until they’re in their 20s or 30s, and they need a full-mouth teeth extraction because someone hasn’t brushed with them, so I knew there is a need in that area. There are specialty clinics, but they have a two-year waiting list, so being on the prevention end will be helpful in so many ways.”
With the grant, she collaborated with local company Ohio Valley who provides home health services, and stocked them with special dental supplies for the community. McPheeters will present results of her initial community engagement research in March 2025. With the success of the Gheens grant, she plans to apply for larger grants that will allow her to continue and expand the work.
Coming from a big city, McPheeters has appreciated a slower pace and friendly vibe that is more aligned with family and work-life balance. She said she loves UofL’s emphasis on welcoming diversity.
“I never wake up dreading coming in to work, and when I come here, it brings joy to my day. I could be having a really tough morning, but if I’m able to mentor a student and touch their life in a way where I can encourage them and give them some good advice, it makes my day.”
Jasmyne Moore and Maggie Fagala receive fellowship awards at the 2023 Breonna Taylor Lecture on Structural Inequity. Pictured (l to r) are: Jasmyne Moore, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Maggie Fagala and Melanie Jacobs, dean of Brandeis Law School.
The University of Louisville announced a $1 million donation in April 2022 from Amy Sherald, the artist who painted the iconic Breonna Taylor portrait that appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine in 2020. The donation was designated to fund the Brandeis School of Law’s Breonna Taylor Legacy Fellowships and the Breonna Taylor Legacy Scholarship for undergraduates. The gift was the result of distributions from the trust Sherald established through the sale of the painting to the Speed Art Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The annual fellowship awards stipends of $9,000 for up to three law school students with 60 or more credit hours who secure a legal volunteer position over the summer with a social justice nonprofit organization or agency.
The 2023 inaugural fellows, Margaret (Maggie) Fagala and Jasmyne Moore, are now graduating with their law degrees and will participate in the school’s convocation on May 12. UofL News followed up to learn more about their fellowship experiences and how it has inspired their future goals.
UofL News: What was your reaction when you learned you had been selected for the Breonna Taylor fellowship?
Fagala: I felt incredibly excited and very, very thankful. It’s hard to explain how grateful I was for the financial help. There is a lot of work in legal spaces that are entry level positions or internships and not with big law firms or personal injury work; if you want to do public service, they’re usually unpaid. The fellowship is designed for this, and it’s great there’s an opportunity for people who are accepting those jobs that don’t offer money or very little money to help offset the financial costs. This fellowship made it easier for me to take that unpaid job and still pay rent.
Moore: I loved it. Often public service work, especially for minority communities, does go severely underpaid – if paid at all. I think this was the right step for UofL which is dealing with a lot of the DEI issues.
UofL News: Where did you complete your fellowship and what kind of legal work was involved? What was one of your biggest takeaways?
Fagala: I spent my summer with work focused mostly on capital cases in my home state of North Carolina. The biggest thing that I took away from my experience was just a better knowledge of the way that the death penalty is being used as a weapon across the country. There are multiple variances in how different states use the death penalty, but in any place where human beings are still capable of being sentenced to die, I can’t think of a more powerful weapon than the ability to leverage a person’s life.
Moore: I worked at a local nonprofit called Hope Village, which helps clothe, feed, and provide other services for the unhoused and some of the population with mental health challenges. I was able to help them prepare contracts and do house general counseling.
My biggest takeaway was seeing many similar Black women doing similar work as me – women that could have been Breonna Taylor. Being in rooms with them helped to empower me. In Kentucky, there are fears with new initiatives surrounding diversity coming down the pipeline. There is a phenomenon of “brain drain” and it felt good being in a room of similar minded, similarly educated people all struggling to figure out how to keep us. There’s just not a lot of incentive for young people to stay in Kentucky. Just being able to help with my little bit of experience in property law – to help Hope Village secure a new building with no liens attached – that was a big victory and a milestone.
UofL News: What influence did your fellowship experience have on your future career plans?
Moore: I think it just solidified my intent. Even before law school, I was politically active. I believe that I have done everything I could with my bachelor’s degree in political science, law, and public policy. Now, my JD (juris doctorate) degree is going to give me and my community a chance to fight even bigger battles that we just don’t know are on the horizon.
UofL News:How does the legacy of Breonna Taylor continue to inspire you?
Fagala: It’s something that has really impacted my life in a unique way because I’m not from Louisville. I wasn’t here when it happened, but I was very aware of it and now, since coming to school here and being given this fellowship, her life and her legacy have affected me in a way that I never expected. I hope that I will be able to carry that opportunity the fellowship gave me into my career and give back, because that’s what the fellowship is designed for – people who are in any way doing the work that needs to be done.
Moore: When I am applying to more conservative fellowships or with conservative judges, I remove all my Kentucky Young Dems work, in fact I remove a lot of stuff. One thing I will never remove is being an inaugural Breonna Taylor Fellow, because a Black woman had to die for me to become that. I think this experience gave me hope that those with the means to do so will support people whose work they admire. Being on the list of Forty under 40, or 25 Attorneys to Watch in the Future; all those titles are beautiful, but they don’t pay my bills. I think people are realizing that if you want the work to continue, whether you are doing it or not, you do have to find a way to support those doing the work.
UofL medical students and surgeons coauthored a journal article on the impact of the Future Healers Program.
A study focusing on the impact of the Future Healers Program has been published in The American Surgeon, showcasing how the prevention program influences youth at risk for gun violence.
The study surveyed 92 children and 64 caregivers who were participating in the program at the time—52% responded to the questionnaire, leading to the results published in The American Surgeon.
Students in the UofL Student National Medical Association (SNMA) worked closely with UofL Health trauma surgeons and Christopher 2X Game Changers to create the Future Healers Program in 2020. The program helps Louisville youth who have been affected by violence to navigate the trauma, and inspires them to build a better future for themselves and their communities by introducing them to opportunities in the medical field. The partnership has brought more than 100 kids to the program, and its success has inspired Vanderbilt University Medical Center to replicate the initiative in 2023.
The study found that children and their caregivers with significant exposure to gun violence had a positive overall perception of the health care community, a compliment to the longtime goal of the Future Healers founders.
Louisville has seen a significant increase in gun violence within the last decade. The health care response from the UofL Hospital – J. David Richardson Trauma Center, paired with the Future Healer Program, aims to create hope for the kids in this community.
After a successful first year, the Central High School (CHS) Dental Magnet Program is returning and growing in the 2023-2024 school year.
The program began in the spring of 2023 as a partnership between the University of Louisville School of Dentistry (ULSD) and Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS). The goal of the program is to create interest in dentistry careers among the next generation, while also creating pathways into higher education for CHS students.
Rodshay Brooks, and 2013 University of Louisville dental hygiene graduate, leads the Dental Magnet Program. Brooks says the program met and exceeded its goals in the first year. “Students responded to the program with enthusiasm and the hunger to have a dental career intensified,” she says. “As an alumnus of CHS and ULSD, I am excited to continue the CHS/ULSD Pipeline.”
During the first year of the program, Central High School juniors and seniors visited the ULSD radiology clinic. During these visits, they had an opportunity to practice and test their skills taking X-rays.
In addition, selected students pursuing the dental assistant career pathway visited the school once a month. During these visits, they observed patient treatment in some of the dental school’s patient care clinics and participated in hands-on activities with ULSD faculty.
All participants had the chance to learn about the wide range of career options in dentistry, as well as the dental education programs at UofL.
Brooks says this combination of activities gave participants confidence to pursue a dental career. As an added bonus, she says they built a connection with the University of Louisville. “Upon graduating from the ULSD program, students felt a belonging on the campus,” she says.
For the 2023-2024 school year, the program will expand in two ways. The scope of the program will be broadened to include more activities and it will accept more students. The first cohort will begin their activities at ULSD in late September.
The Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) is pleased to announce that Henry R. Cunningham, Ph.D., University of Louisville, was awarded the 2023 Barbara A. Holland Scholar-Administrator Award. Now in its sixth year, this annual award recognizes the growing need for research-informed leadership in higher education.
“On behalf of our board of directors, I want to congratulate Dr. Cunningham,” said Valerie Holton, Ph.D., executive director of CUMU. “It’s clear that the depth and breadth of his scholarship, applied practice, and humility in leadership has helped to make University of Louisville a model for community engagement while also advancing the public mission across higher education.”
Dr. Cunningham is the inaugural director of community engagement at the University of Louisville (UofL) and is the co-founder and co-director of UofL’s International Service-Learning Program, which twice has won the national award from the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals (NASPA) as best international program in the United States.
“Dr. Cunningham has been recognized for his exceptional contributions to community engagement. Through his leadership and scholarly work, he has demonstrated how academia can make a real difference in addressing important challenges facing urban and metropolitan areas,” said Douglas Craddock Jr., Ph.D., vice president for community engagement at UofL. “This is a prestigious honor, reserved for scholars who have shown outstanding leadership and intellectual impact in the field of higher education. It is evident that Dr. Cunningham will play a crucial role in addressing key urban issues through his ongoing academic pursuits.”
As director of community engagement, he has developed policies, programs, structures, and has collaborated with academic and administrative units and community partners to institutionalize community engagement on his campus.
“As an R1 designated institution with a health science campus, we worked to develop an approach to community-based learning that is relevant to the entire campus. Today, there are hundreds of CBL courses being taught in every school and college, affording students the opportunity to engage with the community in meaningful activities to enhance their learning and contribute to the region,” said Cunningham.
Dr. Cunningham was instrumental in developing UofL’s Signature Partnership Initiative in 2007. Since data collection began in 2009, there have been over 21,000 instances of student engagement, and over 4,200 instances of faculty and staff engagement in hundreds of research projects, community-based learning projects, and outreach activities in west Louisville, in collaboration with over 200 community partner organizations. UofL has garnered over $30 million in grants and contracts for service and research projdects that directly benefit west Louisville residents. This work informed multiple publications, including in Metropolitan Universities.
“As an urban institution, community engagement is one of the pillars on which the University of Louisville stands,” said UofL President Kim Schatzel, Ph.D. “Since the early days of our coordinated community engagement effort, Dr. Cunningham has been the driving force behind so many of our programs and activities. He has left an indelible mark on the university, our city and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The Holland Scholar selection committee, composed of emeriti CUMU presidents and chancellors, identified Dr. Cunningham as a distinguished scholar-administrator—like Dr. Holland—whose leadership and intellectual voice illuminates the transformative power of urban and metropolitan higher education in the lives of individuals and communities.
“Scholarship is an important part of my work and guides decision-making in developing practices and policies to institutionalize community engagement,” said Cunningham. “Engaging in the creation of new knowledge adds to the field and allows me to pull from research as well as personal experiences when working with faculty and others in promoting and guiding community engagement.”
In addition to his role as an administrator, Dr. Cunningham is a faculty member of the College of Arts and Sciences. Originally from Belize, he developed and continues to teach Introduction to Caribbean Studies, a required community-based learning course for Pan-African Studies minors and majors.
Dr. Cunningham contributes to the larger community of scholarship by serving on the executive board of the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, where he also serves as co-chair of the governance committee. Since 2018, he is co-editor of International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IJRSLCE). Most recently, he was appointed by the American Council on Education as a reviewer for the 2024 cycle of the elective classification in community engagement.
“Receiving this award is uniquely special for me, and I am indeed honored to be walking in the footsteps of Dr. Holland,” said Cunningham
Dr. Faisal Aqlan, Raymond Lawrence, William Leung, Jon McCarrick and project mentor Patrick Piuma-Director of UofL’s Urban Design Studio.
As the University of Louisville gears up to face off against Notre Dame in this weekend’s highly anticipated football showdown, there’s another exciting collaboration taking place between these two esteemed institutions. Beyond the gridiron rivalry, UofL and Notre Dame are joining forces to drive community change and empower the leaders of tomorrow.
The University of Louisville’s Aqlan Lab team, within the Speed School’s Department of Industrial Engineering, recently wrapped up its second summer hosting an intensive internship program aimed at engaging undergraduate and high school students in community-focused projects. Funded by the National Science Foundation, this dynamic program involved twenty-one interns working on six projects over an eight-week period. The initiative, led by Dr. Faisal Aqlan, focuses on improving educational environments to bolster the regional STEM workforce and effect positive changes in the Louisville Metro community.
“The second summer of the program went exceedingly well this year,” says Dr. Aqlan. “Moving forward, we hope to continue to grow the program, connect with even more community members, and make a profound impact on the Louisville Metro.”
Notably, this program collaborates with the University of Notre Dame, creating a synergy that goes beyond football rivalries. Together, they’ve formed a Community Engaged Educational Ecosystem Model (CEEEM), aimed at revitalizing Midwest cities by retaining local talent and encouraging research-driven community engagement. The ultimate goal of the project is to establish an interconnected network of STEM education initiatives to benefit the regional workforce.
The impact of the 2023 projects was profound, addressing various local challenges such as food justice, walkability improvement in Downtown Louisville, waterway cleanup, virtual reality applications, and the preservation of native species. Throughout the internship, students were exposed to professional development workshops, including design thinking, networking, diversity, and time management.
The diverse group of interns, hailing from various institutions, collected and analyzed data to develop practical solutions for their respective projects, subsequently presenting these ideas to the community. This program not only equips the next generation of STEM professionals with valuable skills but also instills a strong sense of civic responsibility and community engagement.
“The CEEEM Internship was the best experience, and I couldn’t be more grateful for all that I learned through the program,” shares Ella Swigler, a 2023 CEEEM intern. “This opportunity allowed me to design a research project, work with very supportive team mentors, and meet some incredible community members in my field of study. Thanks to the CEEEM Internship, I have discovered my research passion for urban waterways- and even greater, I have gained the skills needed to apply scientific study to community change.”
As the University of Louisville and Notre Dame take the field, they also stand united in their commitment to creating a brighter future for their communities. The collaboration internship program not only equips the next generation of STEM professionals with valuable skills but also instills a strong sense of civic responsibility and community engagement. Together, they aim to foster an environment that encourages participants to remain engaged in the Louisville Metro and other Midwest cities, ultimately leaving a lasting positive impact on the regions they serve. Through this program, students are gaining hands-on experience and contributing to the bet
Speakers present at Startup Week Louisville. Credit: Charlie Garwood
The University of Louisville and partners will fund 15 promising solutions to improve health equity as part of a $1.5 million innovation challenge.
The Reconstruct Challenge is led by the UofL Health Equity Innovation Hub (HEIH), in partnership with Render, an innovation studio, with funding from the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s Office of Health Equity and the private operating foundation, Access Ventures.
Each of the 15 winners will be awarded $100,000 grants to further their ideas and will participate in a 12- to 18-month proof-of-concept phase where they will work with community partners and UofL researchers to pilot their innovations in the Louisville region. After this period, innovators will have the opportunity to receive additional follow-on funding to scale their innovations, maximizing their impact.
The winners, listed below, also will present their solutions and projected impact at showcase events open to the public during three consecutive evenings at Startup Week Louisville from Sept. 18-20.
More than 100 organizations submitted proposals for this iteration of the Reconstruct Challenge focused on health equity, with applications from across the country. Proposals were evaluated by a panel of experts from the Louisville community, industry experts, and academic researchers. Of those receiving grants, 80 percent are women-led, and 67 percent are led by Black or brown founders. Eight of the 15 winners are from the Louisville area with the remaining seven originating from across the US.
In addressing challenges marginalized and low-income individuals and families face surrounding health equity, these innovative solutions include autonomous grocery stores, care communication platforms, fresh food vending machines, and mobile dental clinics.
“We’recalling on our city to embrace these innovators,” said Stacy Brooks from EDI Foundations, an expert in corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives who is working with winners to facilitate deployment of solutions in Louisville at industry partner pilot sites. “The Louisville business community has a unique opportunity here. By collaborating with the Reconstruct winners, they can contribute to the development and implementation of cutting-edge solutions that directly address health disparities. This is about forming meaningful partnerships that yield tangible and sustainable impact for the foreseeable future.”
This Reconstruct Challenge builds on the work of UofL’s Health Equity Innovation Hub, an innovative partnership including UofL, Humana Inc. and the Humana Foundation. The Hub aims to remove the structural barriers to health for the populations it serves and focuses on solving important health equity challenges through research, innovation, and talent pipeline development. The challenge follows the prior successes of the two previous Reconstruct Challenges launched by Access Ventures in 2019 and 2022 addressing housing and barriers to employment, respectively. This Reconstruct Challenge series, executed by Render, is funded by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Access Ventures.
Guided by its namesake’s commitment to public service, UofL’s Louis D. Brandeis School of Law is constantly seeking opportunities to support, grow and engage with the local community.
Having served for years as the alma mater for many of the lawyers based in Jefferson and the surrounding counties, the law school makes its mission to serve the broader Louisville community while also helping law students obtain the practical legal experience they need under the guidance and supervision of experts in the field.
In pursuit of these goals, the Brandeis School of Law built three robust law clinics in the past 15 years. The Ackerson Law Clinic, Entrepreneurship Clinic and Trager-Brandeis Elder Law Clinic have become integral parts of the school in the tradition of Brandeis, the Louisville native and former U.S. Supreme Court associate justice for whom the school is named.
The three clinics operate throughout the academic year and cater to community residents who need support in areas such as housing and family law, business startup and estate planning, but who do not have the means to hire private law firms.
Expanding help across the community – Ackerson Law Clinic
Founded in 2009, the Robert and Sue Ellen Ackerson Law Clinic is the longest running of the law school’s clinics, and has helped more than 1,400 domestic violence victims to date. It was created to work with emergency protective order hearings, divorce actions and housing cases, with many clients referred from the Legal Aid Society of Louisville. In its 14 years, it has expanded to include a mediation clinic. Most recently, a new translation pilot program has been pioneered with UofL’s classical and modern languages department to serve even more members of the community.
Clinic Director Heend Sheth has been with the Ackerson Clinic since 2018, serving as interim director for two years before her recent appointment. She sees the value to local law firms in hiring students who served in the clinic.
“Each student goes through intense training and is in the courtroom as soon as possible. They are first-chair on their cases in a matter of three or four weeks. I can’t describe how helpful this experience is when you are a new lawyer; we are sending students into the workforce having had real trial experience. Most of our students practice between 10 and 15 cases per semester,” Sheth said. “It’s amazing.”
The Ackerson Clinic’s work gives vital support to people of all backgrounds in the local community; thus, the Interpretation and Translation Pilot program was set in motion this year. Third-year law student Jason Raff conceived the program to help the clinic include potential clients for whom English is a second language, while also supporting the development of language students.
Having previously worked with the Kentucky courts system as an interpreter, Raff’s experience came to mind when he came to Brandeis School of Law. “I felt the Ackerson Clinic had possible language needs that were going unmet,” Raff said. “When I had more contact with the clinic, the idea began to crystalize and take shape.”
Given its success in the first year, Sheth can see this project expanding. “I see a lot of opportunity for growth here, including adding the mediation clinic to the mix,” she said.
Helping startups with their start – Entrepreneurship Clinic
The Entrepreneurship Clinic was founded in 2012 to provide law students with experiential learning opportunities by offering legal support to the Entrepreneurship MBA program at UofL’s College of Business. Here, MBA students are the clients, and representing them takes many forms. Law students at the Entrepreneurship Clinic help frame articles of organization, operating agreements, independent contractor agreements and option agreements for technology while offering opinions of counsel. The clinic runs as a corporate department of a law firm might, with weekly firm meetings covering agreements, accounting, intellectual property, ethics, Food and Drug Administration approval and other topics.
Abi McFarland, a third-year law student, participated in the Entrepreneurship Clinic’s cohort this year to expand her knowledge of the field. “The Entrepreneurship Clinic was a great way to learn practical skills and network with experts in the community,” she said.
With the supervision of clinic directors Will Metcalf and Carlos Hernandez Ocampo, McFarland and her fellow students gained real-world experience. “We were able to apply principles from our doctrinal classes to client interactions with University of Louisville students,” McFarland said. She and her fellow students also receive support from other members of the law faculty and several local firms. Students in this clinic also meet with MBA professors to develop an understanding of their student clients’ ideation process.
McFarland is one of many who benefit from the opportunity to engage with the everyday problems they will encounter in the business field after graduation. She and eight other students worked with the Entrepreneurship Clinic in the past semester, totaling 78 students who have benefited from the clinic in the past five academic years.
Respecting elders with legal aid – Trager-Brandeis Elder Law Clinic
The law school recently developed the Trager-Brandeis Elder Law Clinic in conjunction with the UofL Trager Institute. Designed to meet two important needs, it supports law students through real-life interactions and experiences in the field of estate planning and provides valuable legal advice to those with limited access to resources and legal representation.
The Elder Law Clinic, hosted at the Trager Institute, opened its doors in 2021. The original concept was brought to fruition by Clinic Director Misty Vantrease, an experienced and well-regarded local elder law attorney. Under her supervision, the clinic successfully served 22 clients in just its first year and provided client-facing experiential training to 19 students.
Emily Monarch, co-director of the Elder Law Clinic, is enthusiastic about its mission. “The clinic provides each client with important end-of-life documents such as a durable power of attorney, health care surrogate designation, living will and last will and testament,” Monarch said. “Many clients would not otherwise have access to this service.”
Sydney Dazzo, a third-year law student, demonstrated the impact the clinic has on both the community and the students.
“In talking and working with the clients, it was clear that our efforts were making an impact in their lives as well. The clients I worked with were so appreciative to be getting their estate planning documents in order, Dazzo said. “Being able to help actual clients with their estate planning needs while still in school was a great feeling and has made me even more excited for my future legal career.”
Vantrease is ambitious about the clinic’s future. “As the clinic prepares to take on more clients, we have a dream of one day being a full-time, five days-a-week law clinic. With the support of the community and the University of Louisville, the little clinic that exists today is just the beginning,” she said.
The critical services that these clinics provide are immeasurable and grow with each year. As these programs continue to grow, so do their legacy, true to the school’s namesake and his commitment to public service.
The STEM+ Hub in the Miller Information Technology Center hosts K-12 students on UofL’s campus, inspiring them to pursue careers in STEM and health care fields. UofL photo.
A new space dedicated to hosting K-12 students for summer camps, class field trips and after-school activities is now open at the University of Louisville. The STEM+ Hub, designed and operated by the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, is located on UofL’s Belknap Campus in the Miller Information Technology Center.
The STEM+ Hub is equipped to facilitate a variety of K-12 student enrichment opportunities, as well as activities such as hackathons, junk bot racing, rocket building, VEX and First Robotics competitions, mentoring, learner workshops and teacher workshops. The suite consists of a large makerspace with 12 3D printers, instructional space, a conference room and two offices.
“This space, which already has hosted summer camps and after-school enrichment activities for hundreds of local students, is dedicated to welcoming those who aspire to be the next generation of engineers, computer scientists and technicians. It also provides UofL students and prospective students with access to advising, makerspace technology and other resources to help them pursue their dreams,” said UofL President Kim Schatzel.
This engagement is critical to increasing the pipeline of students interested in working in STEM and health care disciplines in engineering and other academic areas and will help recruit undergraduate students to the STEM+H degree programs at UofL.
“The STEM+ Hub is something we are very excited about at Speed School. Though it is an outgrowth of our outreach activities, we want the UofL community to know that this is not a “Speed School space” but one that is available to the entire UofL community,” said Emmanuel Collins, dean of engineering. “It is our experience that the type of activities that STEM+ Hub hosts can have a lasting impact on the young people who participate. We look forward to seeing and hearing about the life transformations this space helps facilitate.”
Through outreach initiatives such as those taking place in the STEM+ Hub, Speed School exposes and engages students in various areas of engineering careers and provides them with a boost in their preparation for these STEM careers.
Dr. Jackson Williams (left), division chief of pediatric global health and Humana Endowed Chair in International Pediatrics at the University of Louisville, works with colleagues in Tamale, Ghana, as part of the AMPATH partnership.
The University of Louisville recently joined the AMPATH Consortium of academic health centers around the world with a focus on enhancing pediatric care in the AMPATH Ghana partnership.
“Our University of Louisville Pediatric Global Health team has been working with partners in Tamale, Ghana, for the last 14 years,” said Jackson Williams, MD, FAAP, DTM&H, division chief of pediatric global health and Humana Endowed Chair in International Pediatrics. “When we learned that AMPATH would also begin working at the same hospital and medical school in Northern Ghana, our group was thrilled at the idea of partnering with a consortium which has such a strong track record of effective global health collaboration.”
AMPATH is the Academic Model Providing Access to Health Care. UofL joins 14 other universities and medical schools around the world working in partnership with public sector hospitals and medical schools in Ghana, Kenya, Mexico and Nepal.
As part of the AMPATH Ghana partnership, UofL will embrace the AMPATH philosophy to “Lead with Care” by continuing to provide pediatric clinical care that supports research and education in child health. This will include augmenting sub-specialty care in pediatrics, hosting two-way exchange of learners, initiating research grants focused on child health and broadening UofL’s institutional support with partners in Tamale, Ghana.
“The AMPATH Consortium welcomes the University of Louisville and we look forward to working together to both enhance their existing work in Ghana while learning from their expertise in international pediatrics to grow all of the AMPATH partnerships,” said Adrian Gardner, MD, MPH, executive director of the AMPATH Consortium.
“We are very excited to work with our colleagues at University of Louisville to grow pediatric medicine education, research and care in Tamale, Ghana,” said Professor Stephen Tabiri, MD, PhD, FGCS, FACS, FWACS, MEd (Adm.) dean of UDS-SoM. “We are looking forward to a very fruitful partnership.”
Dr. Adam Atiku, CEO of Tamale Teaching Hospital added, “We are looking forward to further collaborating with our colleagues from the University of Louisville, with whom we have had over a decade-long partnership, as they join the AMPATH Consortium to continue in our collective quest to improve pediatric and child healthcare to clients within northern Ghana and beyond. We are very excited to see what we can achieve together for children in northern Ghana.”
The AMPATH Ghana partnership is based on a collaborative model that has helped to build a sustainable healthcare system over the past three decades in western Kenya.
“AMPATH Ghana’s long-term partnership model presents a unique opportunity for University of Louisville faculty and trainees. We look forward to building relationships with our counterparts to strengthen pediatric care delivery in Tamale and northern Ghana,” Rajesh Vedanthan, MD, MPH, MS, director of the Section for Global Health at the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity and associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone.
In April, UofL faculty and residents traveled to Ghana and stayed in the AMPATH Ghana House with full-time faculty from NYU Grossman School of Medicine while working and training alongside Ghanaian faculty and residents.
“That experience further solidified our strong desire to be a part of the AMPATH Consortium. Seeing first-hand the projects which have already been started, how well they are partnered with our colleagues in Ghana, and how smoothly they managed the logistics in Ghana sealed the deal for our plans to join AMPATH,” said Williams.
The AMPATH Consortium is led by Indiana University and includes Brown University, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, Duke University, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Linköping University (Sweden), Mount Sinai, NYU Langone Health, Purdue University, Stanford University Center for Innovation in Global Health, University of Alberta, University of California San Francisco, University of Toronto and the University of Virginia.
The division of pediatric global health at UofL was established as the international pediatrics division by George Rodgers, MD, more than 25 years ago with a partnership in Romania and other eastern European countries. The Humana Foundation generously provided funding for the division’s creation. Faculty in the division include Jackson Williams, MD; Nicole Bichir, MD; Sheridan Langford, MD; Bethany Hodge, MD, MPH (completed a rotation in AMPATH’s Kenya partnership in 2009); Dan Stewart, MD; Dan Blatt, MD; Mirzada Kurbasic, MD; and Kelly Frazier, MD. The division also has a partnership in Ecuador.
“UofL is committed to its role as an engaged institution passionate about partnering and collaborating with external constituencies and communities. This partnership between the university’s Trager Institute and its partners is a win-win for both UofL and the community,” said Douglas Craddock Jr., UofL’s vice president for community engagement. “The university benefits from engaged scholarship, and our elderly citizens receive necessary services that help them live their best lives.”
In 2015, the Trager Institute led efforts to support Louisville’s participation in the Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities by AARP and the World Health Organization (WHO), resulting in Louisville becoming the 120th U.S. Age-Friendly city.
With 40 percent of Louisville’s population projected to be 60 years or older by 2050, creating an environment where seniors could age well in place was essential to promoting well-being and ensuring the city continues to thrive. The Trager Institute guided the creation of a strategic plan using a needs assessment and participatory community engagement approaches, including listening sessions, concept mapping methods and presentations to the public.
“The Trager Institute started on this journey in 2015 to engage community partners in the vision of Age-Friendly Louisville. Community-based organizations, local government and residents across Louisville have worked tirelessly on the strategic plan to realize the dream of becoming age-friendly for all regardless of one’s age or abilities. It has been such an honor to engage in this collaborative leadership,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the Trager Institute.
The Trager Institute partnered with Metro Louisville, AARP and KIPDA to successfully implement Age-Friendly Louisville’s long-term plan to address the needs of the aging population and promote inclusive and accessible communities for people of all ages and abilities.
The internal nominating process for the award was coordinated by UofL’s Office of Community Engagement, which provides coaching and mentoring to faculty prior to final submission. UofL has been recognized for all five award nominations submitted in the past. These awards help to enhance UofL’s national profile in community-engaged scholarship.
APLU also announced that four of its member universities have been selected as regional winners of the 2023 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. North Carolina State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Pittsburgh and Texas A&M University will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced at the 2023 APLU Annual Meeting in November.
Since 2007, APLU and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have partnered to honor the engagement scholarship and partnerships of four-year public universities. The award recognizes programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery, and engagement missions to deepen their partnerships and achieve broader impacts in their communities. The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005.
“Congratulations to the regional winners of the Kellogg Community Engagement Scholarship Awards and exemplary projects,” said APLU President Mark Becker. “Community engagement is a critical part of public universities’ mission and we’re pleased to highlight the work of institutions that are engaging communities to solve challenges. From the underserved areas of their communities and states to overlooked regions of the world, public research universities are engaging communities to solve the most pressing problems they face.”
A team of community engagement professionals from public research universities judged this round of the award. A second team will pick the national winner following presentations at the 2023 National Engagement Scholarship Conference.
“On behalf of our board of directors, I want to congratulate Dr. Cunningham,” said Valerie Holton, Ph.D., executive director of CUMU. “It’s clear that the depth and breadth of his scholarship, applied practice, and humility in leadership has helped to make University of Louisville a model for community engagement while also advancing the public mission across higher education.”
As the University of Louisville and Notre Dame take the field, they also stand united in their commitment to creating a brighter future for their communities. The collaboration internship program not only equips the next generation of STEM professionals with valuable skills but also instills a strong sense of civic responsibility and community engagement. Together, they aim to foster an environment that encourages participants to remain engaged in the Louisville Metro and other Midwest cities, ultimately leaving a lasting positive impact on the regions they serve. Through this program, students are gaining hands-on experience and contributing to the bet
rtium welcomes the University of Louisville and we look forward to working together to both enhance their existing work in Ghana while learning from their expertise in international pediatrics to grow all of the AMPATH partnerships,” said Adrian Gardner, MD, MPH, executive director of the AMPATH Consortium.