2020 Distinguished Faculty Award Recipients

Dr. Hall’s research is broadly focused on establishing predictors of substance use and developing and evaluating effective interventions. He currently serves as the evaluator for Kentucky’s Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START), a child welfare intervention for families with co-occurring substance use and child maltreatment. The START program evaluation is currently funded through the Administration for Children & Families Title IV -E Child Welfare Waiver awarded to the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services. Previous studies of the program have shown that children in families served by START are removed from the home at about half the rate of comparison families. Additionally, a recent study demonstrated that medications for opioid use were associated with improved child welfare outcomes.

Ranen Omer-Sherman is The JHFE Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies. In addition to dozens of journal articles and reviews, he is the author or editor of five books including Diaspora and Zionism in Jewish American Literature (2002), Israel in Exile: Jewish Writing and the Desert (2006), The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches (2008), Narratives of Dissent: War in Contemporary Israeli Arts and Culture (2013), and Imagining Kibbutz: Visions of Utopia in Literature and Film (2015). He earned his Ph.D. in English from the University of Notre Dame. After two years as assistant professor at Saint Louis University in Madrid, Spain, he subsequently taught at the University of Miami for thirteen years where he was promoted to full professor of English in 2009. He joined the faculty of UofL in 2014.

His research covers a broad range of topics, including diasporic identities in literature, orientalism, the literature of “passing,” and graphic novels. In addition, his work examines ethnic American literature; British romanticism; Holocaust narrative; Israeli and Palestinian literature, and representations of utopia/dystopia.

J. Christopher States is Professor, Distinguished University Scholar and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. He also serves as Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine and as Director of the Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences. He is currently Co-Chair of the Society of Toxicology Board of Publications and has served as President of both the Metals Specialty Section and Ohio Valley Regional Chapter of the Society of Toxicology. He has authored 114 peer-reviewed research manuscripts and 11 book chapters. He edited Arsenic: Exposure Sources, Health Risks and Mechanisms of Toxicity, a major book discussing the many aspects of arsenic toxicology. He has served on a multitude of peer review panels including a National Academies of Science Committee on Inorganic Arsenic review of the USEPA arsenic IRIS program. He earned his Ph.D. in Pathology and Molecular Biology at Albany Medical College, Union University, and received post-doctoral training at the University of Calgary. He moved to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation where he worked on the human gene first targeted for gene therapy while he launched his own research program in genetics of human DNA repair for which he received his first National Institutes of Health grant. He then moved to Detroit and continued his research in DNA repair at Wayne State University. While there, he developed an interest in arsenic toxicology that persists to this day. He joined UofL in 1999 and developed his international reputation as an innovative leader in arsenic toxicology research. He was promoted to Professor in 2005, and 2007 marked his appointment as Distinguished University Scholar.

Chronic arsenic exposure, primarily via drinking water contamination, is a global health problem affecting more than 200 million people and causes chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Dr. States’ research, currently funded by two research project grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, focuses on dysregulation of RNA metabolism in arsenic-induced skin cancer. In addition to his own research program, he leads the team that recently received a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Core Center grant that funds the Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences at UofL. This Center provides infrastructure support for other environmental health science researchers, develops and mentors junior faculty, assists investigators in translating their basic science research into human studies, and supports a Community Engagement Core that provides outreach and environmental health education to youth groups and healthcare providers in the Louisville region and western Kentucky.

Scott Whittemore received his B.S. in Biology from Middlebury College in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Physiology & Biophysics from the University of Vermont in 1981. After postdoctoral fellowships in neurochemistry at the University of California Irvine and molecular biology at Uppsala University (Sweden), he joined the faculty in Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami in 1986 as one of the founding scientists of the newly formed Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. After 12 years at Miami, where he rose to the rank of full Professor, he was recruited to the University of Louisville in 1998, Department of Neurological Surgery as the Henry D. and Marianna Garretson Endowed Professor of Spinal Cord Injury Research as well as Distinguished University Scholar. Dr. Whittemore is the founding Director of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC), a position he still holds. Over the past 22 years, KSCIRC and its now 22 faculty members have successfully raised over $200 million dollars in research support to investigate treatments for spinal cord injury (SCI). Dr. Whittemore’s research program has continually focused on SCI and has spanned such diverse areas as novel neurotrophic factors, stem cell transplantation, remyelination, and currently locomotor control and novel strategies for neuroprotection. His research has always been at the forefront of these emerging new technologies as evidenced by his continuous research funding for the past 30 years with multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health. He has published over 150 refereed manuscripts and 30 book chapters on his work. He has mentored 18 Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D., or M.S. students, 18 Postdoctoral Fellows and numerous undergraduate and summer medical students. The success of those trainees after they left his laboratory is the accomplishment of which he is most proud.

Dr. Kayser’s research focuses on 1) the understanding of interpersonal and cultural factors that influence the adjustment to cancer and 2) how to make system changes to improve the delivery of cancer prevention programs and psychosocial care to cancer patients and their caregivers. She conducts research on cancer-related stress with individuals, couples, and families both in the United States and internationally. Her recent research addresses the critical need for effective cervical cancer prevention programs for subpopulations that are at high risk for cervical cancer. Using a Community-based Participatory Research approach, she has launched two projects to prevent cervical cancer in rural Kentucky and in inner-city Louisville.

Dr. J. David Richardson is a native Kentuckian who received his M.D. from the University of Kentucky, and did his general surgery and thoracic surgery residencies at the University of Texas in San Antonio. Currently, he is Chief of Surgery and Director of Emergency Surgical Services at University Hospital, and Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery. He holds the endowed Berel L. Abrams, MD, Chair in Surgery at Department of Surgery at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Dr. Richardson joined the faculty of the University of Louisville School of Medicine in the Department of Surgery in 1976. During his 44 years on the faculty, he has held various leadership positions within the department and has held a myriad of important committee assignments within the university. Additionally, Dr. Richardson has held several of the most important positions in American surgery. He has served as President of the American Association for Surgery of Trauma, Southeastern Surgical Congress, Western Surgical Association, and the Southern Surgical Association. He has also served as Chair of the American Board of Surgery and Vice Chair of the Residency Review Committee for Surgery. In 2012, he served as Chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. In October 2015, he was named President of the American College of Surgeons, which has 85,000 surgeon fellows.

A prolific scholar, Dr. Richardson has contributed 363 peer-reviewed articles, 55 book chapters and 2 books to the surgical literature. He has delivered numerous named lectureships and over 100 visiting professorships. He has received the University of Louisville Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, the School of Medicine Distinguished Educator Master Teacher Award, the Alumnus Association Red Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching at a University Level, the Educational Achievement Award presented by the Kentucky Medical Association in 2000, and the Ephraim McDowell Kentucky Physician of the Year 2011. He received the University of Louisville Distinguished Faculty Award in Service for Career of Service in 2016. He has been honored as outstanding teaching faculty within the Department of Surgery on four occasions. In 2005, Dr. Richardson assumed the editorship of The American Surgeon journal, which he has relinquished at the end of 2019.

Professor Rothstein has been a faculty member at the Brandeis School of Law for 20 years, and she has been in legal education for 44 years. She joined the faculty in 2000 as Dean, and served in that role until 2005. In 2006, she was awarded the status of Distinguished University Scholar in recognition of her scholarly work, primarily in the area of disability discrimination law. During her time at the University of Louisville she has been honored for her teaching, research, and service. In 2001, as dean, she worked with Professor Cedric Merlin Powell to initiate the law school’s partnership with the Central High School Law and Government Magnet Program. Community service is a key value for her. She served as Co-Chair of University of Louisville University Community Partnership Advisory Board from 2007 to 2017. Although she stepped down from the chair position in May 2017, she continues to serve as a member of the UCP Advisory Board. Her commitment to community is facilitated by connecting Louisville concerns in her teaching the course of Poverty, Health and Law, in which community members (including the Legal Aid Society, Doctors Lawyers & Kids, and the Louisville Bar Association) are involved in shaping the classroom discussions and guiding group projects.

Dr. Sar’s research focus is on identification of factors and practices for the improvement of quality of life of vulnerable families and children. The emphasis is on community-based research utilizing multiple perspectives and methodologies to better understand child and family functioning and wellbeing in the context of the broader community and societal conditions and circumstances. Some specific topics of interest are trauma, services impact and effectiveness, workforce training and development, and curriculum development, implementation and evaluation.

Currently, Dr. Sar is the Principal Investigator of the 1) SAMHSA funded and National Child Traumatic Stress Network NCTSN partnered Center for Promoting Recovery and Resilience (CPRR) (2012-present) which partners with community based child serving organizations to provide evidence-based trauma informed interventions to traumatized children and adolescents, 2) the SAMHSA funded Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) for Allied Professionals (2018-present) who provide services to children and youth in settings other than mental health, 3) the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) funded Survivors of Torture Recovery Center (STRC) (2019- present) which focuses on trauma informed care of refugees and immigrants with past history of being victimized by torture, and 4) the Director of the Credit for Learning Program (CFL) (2002-present), which aims to professionalize the child welfare workforce through teaching and coaching new and tenured child welfare workers on critical elements of delivering.

Dr. Sar has been previously funded by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau to develop and evaluate Culturally Specific Trauma Services for Spanish Speaking Refugees and Immigrant Families Impacted by Domestic Violence (2013- 2017), by the Administration for Children & Families, Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) to implement a demonstration project that promoted academic stability and success of foster youth in 6th thru 8th grade at risk for dropping out of school (2012-2014), by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), to investigation of the effectiveness of a developmental mentoring model as an intervention/ prevention strategy for juveniles of varying levels of risk among middle school youth (2011-2013) and Training and Evaluation of Preventing child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency through evidence based community education and intervention (2007-2009) , and by the U.S. Children’s Bureau to implement and evaluate the strengthening marital relationships and post adoption services through community of care teams (2006- 2011).

Professor Enid Trucios-Haynes joined the faculty at the Brandeis School of Law in 1993. She is a nationally recognized scholar in immigration law and she has been in the field for more than 30 years. Professor Trucios-Haynes teaches constitutional law, immigration law, international law and race and the law. Her research and scholarship focuses on immigration law, constitutional law and race and the law with an emphasis on issues affecting Latinos. Professor Trucios-Haynes was the founder and director of the Brandeis School of Law Immigration Mini-Clinic (1998-2000), a pilot project and the only live-client clinical experience available to students at that time. Professor Trucios-Haynes served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the Brandeis School of Law from 2004-2007.

Professor Trucios-Haynes is the Director of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice, a diversity unit within the Office of the Senior Associate Vice President for Diversity and Equity, since 2014. As Director, she supervises the Muhammad Ali Scholars Program, several research initiatives and collaborations with the Muhammad Ali Center.

She is the Co-Principal Investigator for a 21st Century Research Innovation Grant creating the Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research, which she has co-directed since January 2017. The Consortium is dedicated to translating social justice community engaged research into policy and building a social justice research community of scholar-activists.

Professor Trucios-Haynes is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Brandeis Human Rights Advocacy Program, which was established in Spring 2014 and focuses on immigrant, noncitizen and refugee rights. She is the co-recipient of the 2017 Exemplary Designation Award from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards for HRAP's scholarship responding to the urgent need for legal outreach in the local undocumented immigrant community.

From 2016-2018, Professor Trucios-Haynes served as the Chair of the Faculty Senate, the elected representative of the faculty of the University of Louisville, and as a Trustee of the University of Louisville. From 2010 to 2016, she served as the University’s Faculty Grievance Officer

Professor Trucios-Haynes graduated from Stanford Law School where she served as Associate Editor of the Stanford Law Review, Co-President of Women of Stanford Law and a member of the Stanford Latino Law Students Association. Her legal experience includes volunteer service at the Kingston Legal Aid Clinic in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies, which she acquired during a "semester abroad" work-study program while attending Stanford Law School, as well as participation in the inaugural year of the school’s Immigration Law Clinic.

After graduation, Professor Trucios-Haynes worked in the litigation and real estate departments of Rosenman & Colin (now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP) in New York, New York. Professor Trucios-Haynes practiced immigration and nationality law as a Senior Associate at the law firm of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP, the largest immigration law firm worldwide, where she represented Fortune 500 companies and high-net-worth individuals including Sir Paul McCartney and his band during his 1992 World Tour.

Professor Trucios-Haynes has received numerous awards during her career at Brandeis School of Law including the 2012 Distinguished University Award in Service, the 2012 Richard and Constance Lewis Fellows Award, University of Louisville 2001 Award for Exemplary Multicultural Teaching, the Brandeis School of Law Alumni Teaching Excellence Award (2001) and the Ann Oldfather Fellowship for Public Service in 1998, among others.

Professor Trucios-Haynes serves on the Metro Louisville Ethics Commission by appointment. She served as President of the board of the ACLU of Kentucky from 2013 to 2016, and continues to serve on its Executive and Litigation Program Committees. She also is the co-President of the board of the Hispanic-Latino Coalition of Louisville, and a member of the board of directors for La Casita Center. She serves in a leadership capacity in a number of University of Louisville committees including the Campus Climate Committee of the Commission on Diversity and Equity, and the Latin American and Latino Studies Program Steering Group.

Professor Trucios-Haynes is a regular speaker on immigration issues and is active in local immigrant rights organizations. She directs an Immigration Externship at Brandeis School of Law, as well as an immigration public service placement in the Samuel L. Greenebaum Public Service Program. This placement involves "Know Your Rights" presentations which offer an opportunity for students and community volunteers who are interested in immigration law. Professor Trucios-Haynes leads the team of volunteers on monthly visits to the Boone County Jail where immigration detainees are held in the custody of the ICE bureau of the Department of Homeland Security. The work is coordinated by the Detention Project of the Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center.

Dr. Karen Christopher is an associate professor of sociology and received her PhD in sociology from University of Arizona in 2000. Her articles and book chapters explore the intersections of gender, race and class in the family, labor market, and welfare state.

Dr. Christopher's recent research projects include a comparative study of U.S. and Canadian mothers with young children; articles from this project appear in Gender & Society and Advances in Gender Research. Two other projects explore work/life conflict among nurses, and parenthood in academia; see her CV for publications and papers under review from these projects.

She teaches Sociology of Families, as well as several cross-listed courses with Women's & Gender Studies: Gender and Work, Feminist Research Methods in the Social Sciences (graduate), and Masculinities. In her spare time, she enjoys coaching her children's sports teams, reading fiction, and hiking.

Kristen Lucas is an associate professor in the Management Department and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Business. Her teaching expertise focuses on managerial “sharp skills”: strategic business communication, crisis management, and team dynamics. Most notably, she has developed an innovative competency-based business communication curriculum that has been adopted by numerous business schools around the country. Her pedagogical articles appear in outlets such as Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, Communication Education, and BizEd Magazine. She has won numerous teaching awards, including the prestigious Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award from the Association for Business Communication and the Outstanding New Teacher Award from the Central States Communication Association. She also regularly teaches workshops and short courses on how to implement competency-based approaches into business communication courses, consults with business schools adopting the curriculum, and speaks at curriculum conferences for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. She earned her PhD in organizational communication from Purdue University and joined the UofL faculty in 2012.

Kimberly Meyer received her MSN in nursing from the University of Kentucky in 2002. She then worked as an acute care nurse practitioner with the University Of Louisville Department Of Neurological Surgery, specializing in neurotrauma. In 2008, she transitioned to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center in Washington DC, where she played an integral role in the development of wartime traumatic brain injury policy. While pursuing her PhD at the University of Louisville, she became an instructor in the School of Nursing. Upon graduation in 2016, she was named Program Director for the AGACNP nurse practitioner track. Dr. Meyer has authored chapters in books such as Brain Injury Medicine, the Textbook of Critical Care, and the Core Curriculum for Neuroscience Nurses, among others. In addition, she has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury, and hemorrhagic stroke. She received a “Best Abstract Award” from the World Federation of Neuroscience Nurses for her presentation, “Visual and Vestibular Complications Following TBI”. Dr Meyer is an invited speaker on regional, national, and international stages.

Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses. She remains on faculty in the University Of Louisville School Of Nursing and in the Department of Neurosurgery. She is an avid teacher, using situation based scenarios and situation-based examples in the classroom. She is frequently seen providing education on health promotion and disease mitigation to patients and families or critical care concepts to nurses, physicians, and ancillary medical staff. Research interests include the identification and management of paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity after TBI and non-opiate pain control techniques in the neurosurgery patient population.

Professor Angela Orend graduated from the Department of Sociology at the University of Louisville with her MA in 2004. Her research focuses on issues of commodificaton with respect to the body and popular culture. Specifically, her research explores the sociological factors underlying the increasing popularity of corporate logo tattoos as a form of postmodern consumption. She has recently published this research with the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Additionally, she has worked with Dr. Mark Austin and Dr. Patricia Gagne' examining the commodification of the biker in American culture.

Lori Paris is a part-time instructor at the Kent School of Social Work. Ms. Paris received a MSSW from Kent School of Social Work in 2007 with a specialization in gerontology. She also has an MA in Human Resources Development. Ms. Paris is a licensed clinical social worker in Indiana and Kentucky and has worked at Department of Veterans Affairs for the past eight years as the Medical Foster Home Program Coordinator and Veteran Community Partnership Coordinator. She is also the Chair of the Professional Development Committee for all social workers in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ms. Paris joined the faculty at Kent School of Social Work in 2013 and has a passion for teaching. She has taught courses across multiple specializations within the Kent School. Ms. Paris also works as a therapist at Associates in Counseling and Psychotherapy in New Albany, IN and specializes in working with all ages who have experienced trauma. She is also a trainer for EMDR Consulting which trains therapists throughout the country on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy.

Ms. Paris is the President of the Mental Health and Aging Coalition and is currently working on a grant through the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health focused on trauma-informed care with older adults. Ms. Paris has received awards from the Social Work Leadership Institute at the New York Academy of Medicine, the Dr. Jef Frank Recognition Award from Kent School in 2018, and a Distinguished Practitioner Award for services in the Field of Gerontology in 2019 at the Optimal Aging Conference. She has presented at several national conferences including The Council for Social Work Education, National Association of Social Workers, Aging in America, and the National Area Agency on Aging. Ms. Paris and is one of the opening panel speakers for the Indiana National Association of Social Workers scheduled for September 2020.

Dr. Sara Robertson has served as a faculty member in the School of Nursing Since 2006. In her time at the school she has taught across the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral programs. Her area of specialty is Pathophysiology and Pharmacology, courses which she has taught in all three program levels. She was the first nursing faculty to teach both the undergraduate and graduate Pharmacology course, developing the courses after the decision was made to move the courses into the School of Nursing from the Pharmacology Department. She was also instrumental in developing the curriculum for the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, an important milestone for nurse practitioner education to put it on par with other clinical doctorate programs. She has lead student service learning trips to both Haiti and Puerto Rico.

Dr. Robertson was nominated by students for the faculty favorite award 8 times and in 2011 was designated a “top 11 faculty favorite in the University.” Additionally, she has won the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award 4 times. This student nominated award is given to a graduate faculty member who demonstrates breadth of knowledge, strength of character, serves as a role model for others and is inspirational. Dr. Robertson was also awarded the “Edge Runner Award,” one of the two highest awards given by the American Academy of Nursing for her leadership at the nurse practitioner run clinic, the Kentucky Racing Health Services Center where she served as clinical director for six years and remains there as a practicing nurse practitioner. The Edge Runner initiative recognizes nurse-designed models of care and interventions that impact cost, improve healthcare quality and enhance consumer satisfaction recognizing nurses who are leading the way with new ideas to transform the health system. A part of the application to receive this prestigious award is to highlight the number of students in both clinical and internship models that have learned under her direction at the clinic. Finally, in May of 2018 Dr. Robertson was sited in Oprah Magazine as a healthcare hero: nurse’s edition. This recognition of her knowledge and compassion as a nurse practitioner and primary care provider echoes in the experiences of the students who have had the fortune of training with her at the clinic.

Sharon Sanders graduated from Kent School with a specialty in Comprehensive Health. She has been teaching at Kent since 1997, and has taught all the practice courses for both years along with the electives Social Work and the Law, and a former elective Child and Family. Sharon has also been an active field liaison. She currently teaches the second year practice courses, the elective Social Work and the Law and serves as a field liaison. She also teaches in the online program. Prior to teaching at Kent School, Sharon taught at Carver School of Social Work.

Sharon's professional work history has centered on children and families. Her professional social worker history includes working as a CPS investigator and also was one of the social workers in the pilot program of pairing social workers with police officers to respond to high risk situations (this now has evolved into Crimes Against Children team), working at Home of the Innocents, and at Seven Counties in the Child and Family Division. While her last years have been spent in management, supervision and training she has an LCSW. Currently, Sharon serves on the Kentucky Board of Social Work. Research interests: children and families; mental health; child abuse, neglect and dependency; teaching, training and developing new social work professionals.

JoAnne Sweeny teaches Lawyering Skills and Writing For Practice. Prior to coming to Louisville, she was a Westerfield Fellow at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law where she taught legal research and writing as well as a seminar in comparative constitutional law.

After graduating Order of the Coif from the University of Southern California Law School, she clerked for the Honorable Ferdinand F. Fernandez at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Professor Sweeny then practiced as an employment litigator at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP before returning to academia. In 2009, she completed her PhD in law at Queen Mary, University of London. While studying at Queen Mary, Professor Sweeny taught British constitutional law and legal writing to first year law students.

Professor Sweeny's current scholarly interests include comparative constitutional law, freedom of expression, law and gender, and legal history. Some of Professor Sweeny's most recent research has focused the present and historical criminalization of consensual sex, such as the prosecution of teenagers under child pornography laws because they have "sexted" each other nude or erotic photos of themselves. Her comparative work focuses on the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Professor Sweeny is the co-EIC of Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD.